06/27/2023
from one of my favorite illustrators …. Please take the time to read it, and maybe question yourself if you don’t agree.
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Last week, on World Refugee Day, many of you joined me in my confusion and frustration at the lack of coverage of the ever-growing migrant crisis. Since then, almost 70 migrants are feared lost after boarding unfit vessels to cross the sea.
I fear not enough of us go deep enough to consider the circumstances and conditions these people are fleeing from, and the reasons for doing so.
It gave me pause that enough comments on my post last week said things like; these migrants shouldn’t have got on unsafe boats. That they shouldn’t try to come to ‘our’ country illegally. That they are the criminals for attempting to do so, and should come the official way. There were those that called the true criminals the captains the ships, with some likening the situation to human trafficking.
Many of the so-called third world countries used to be among the richest until we in the west exploited them. The vacuums left by these exploitations create instability and violence. Imagine putting your child on a boat that you know may not reach its final destination. It says a lot about the land you are fleeing that so many parents do so.
It is almost impossible for us in the west to fully understand what this feels like.
If someone were chasing you with a knife down a blind alley, you’d climb the wall at the dead end without knowing what’s on the other side, would you not?
Perhaps reparations, rather than restrictions would be a better use of political effort.
As instability in these regions continues, more people will flee unsafe homes. As our climate continues to change, more people will flee unsafe homes.
We need to drastically change the story we tell ourselves about the mass movement of people. Of what is ‘ours’. For soon, it could be you on the move, seeking the refuge of strangers.