I know your "who cares" was rhetorical (and right on). I still feel uncomfortable reading this without saying I do care, because the sorrow in all of it is impossible to just let go unremarked.

wow. imagine being arrested in another country and the local authorities not calling the US embassy or your family or friends. that is what these people are going through. the US does not recognize international law--that they have to inform foriegn embassies of the imprisonment of their citizens. it's just crazy... i bet many of the families don't know about their loved one's arrest until the death.

Burn the Borders! Melt the I.C.E.!

Is it pretentious to think I can change the world? I'm only one person, plus I'm brown and a girl. The obstacles so often seem insurmountable, the guilty ones so seldom are the ones held accountable. There's too few of us, and too many of them. So why do I fight when I know I can't win? Why do I push for equality when I know it'll never be the same? Am I just a masochist, enjoying this self-inflicted pain? Will there ever be a cure for poverty, AIDS, racism, or cancer? Why do I ask these questions when I know I'll receive no answer? It feels like my efforts are futile and I'm getting nowhere still. My biggest question is, if I don't try to do something, who will?

Amanda --

I think it might be pretentious to think that one can change the entire *world,* but not so pretentious to think that maybe you can work on changing one person at a time. If enough of us do that, the world *can* be changed.

A hundred years ago, it was my people (eastern europeans, and others, too) being demonized for looking funny, speaking weird languages, having strange religious practices and eating unusual foods. Today, it's no different, except that the xenophobes are freaked out about people who were already here.

Take heart from that example. The people who were being demonized a century ago (e.g. Poles, Italians, Slavs) are part of the mainstream now. In 1907, a presidential candidate named Giuliani would be greeted with a hearty "aw, HELL, no" by the populace. And while I've got no respect for Mr. Giuliani and certainly won't be voting for him, at least he's considered a viable candidate by his party. A century ago, he wouldn't have gotten the red carpet -- he'd have been shown the servants' entrance instead.

At any rate, I think we've got to work on people one at a time. Over time, people's attitudes will change. Sure, it's disappointing that it takes so long to convince people to treat each other like human beings, but I think it can be done. FWIW, I think it *has* been done, and I think we can draw courage from those examples.

And hey, there's nothing wrong with being brown and a girl. I married a brown girl, and nobody better try to come between us. ;)

Perhaps you've already seen this, but these words of Captain America ( in a fictional setting, of course) seem appropriate here:

"Well, I say America is nothing! Without its ideals - its commitment to freedom of all men, America is a piece of TRASH! A nation is nothing!A flag is a piece of cloth!...And the only reason you're not less than nothing is that it's still possible to bring freedom back to America!"
Captain America

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im just waiting for my husband to get shiped back
.
we have 2 kids