GHOST AMERICA

     "My country tis of thee
      Sweet land of liberty..."
     So I and my classmates would sing every day right after we recited the pledge. It was automatic. It was natural, and for the most part, it was true, at least in our minds. Later on in school we would learn it was not always so, but the best fact about America, about our country, was that it would always try to do better. It was that naïve bit of learning and belief that remained with me for the rest of my life, unto today. But today, yesterday, this past weekend and in fear rippling thru my soul ever since Trump announced and dear lord, since he was elected via the Electoral College - we are now Ghost America, a shell of a country that once was. And it is our responsibility to get it back, to fight for it, to stand up for what is right, for justice - for who we are and whom we are meant to be.
     We, all of us, no matter how long our family has been here in this country, have an immigration story, new or decades old. It can be celebratory or sad, poignant. It can be a story of glee and joy, or a story of what could have been. In my mind and heart, the story that sticks most in my family memory, stays with me every day in the name I bear, is the story of my great grandmother, the person about whom my Bubby could never speak without tears running down her cheeks, silent, painful tears. With my Bubby waiting at home and my Zaydie waiting to greet her and take her home, with my mom and aunt and uncle all a twitter waiting for this to happen, my great grandmother was turned away, deemed to be ineligible due to cataracts and fear she would be a charge on the public. My Zaydie had signed anything and everything put before him, taken an oath that he would support her, but she was sent back. Sent back to a Europe in turmoil, sent back to die in a crowded inhumane boxcar, sent back to a continent where Jews were slaughtered, And so, my name. I bear it proudly for this brave woman who came and tried and was returned to death.
     And if you think that she was alone over the decades, here is another story of one waiting to get in to America or indeed anywhere. "They said to my father and mother, “Sell everything and run.” But we had a problem. We didn’t know where to run. There was no Israel like there is today. There was no place that you could legally go to. It was very hard to get a visa to the United States; it would take years and years. … We felt something was coming, but we couldn’t help ourselves. The doors of the world were closed to us.'
     This woman was the grandmother of Jared Kushner who has noticeably remained silent through all this. What would this woman have said if she had been alive today? Jared Kushner - go look in the mirror. Have at least a bit of self respect or have you entirely sold your soul to your father in law for a bit of power. Remember the judgement that always comes around, here and in the world to come.
     Where are the people of courage that we need? Where are the law enforcement people who know that to enforce this is wrong? Well, we do have some. We have an Acting US Attorney General who refused to carry out these orders for she said  “At present, I am not convinced that the defense of the executive order is consistent with these responsibilities, nor am I convinced that the executive order is lawful,” 
      And so she was fired and replaced by a morally deficient man who would fit into a Nazi Germany or a Fascist America. No backbone there to stand up for what is right. And so what will  we have now, the judges of fascism who said they were merely enforcing the law, forgetting that moral law, right, comes before wrong. We must support all those officials who are doing the right thing and the officers who will refuse to commit the moral sins. We will not allow our gendarmerie to round up the innocents. No!! Not here!! No more!!
     And so we have the rest of the world turning their backs on us and soon it will not matter about trade pacts or anything else for no one will have dealings with us. Yes, there is Islamic extremism and terrorism. Yes, they have to be prevented from entering the country, but walls around us and banning all immigration is not the way to go and leads to only more hatred and no success for it engenders more extremism and feelings of revenge. Imagine the minds of those waiting for a grandmother or a spouse or children they have not seen and imagine the minds of those caught inside, handcuffed!!, forced to sign papers that they could not understand, signing away their rights to enter the country - ever! What goes through the minds and hearts and what awful seeds might be planted. We hope that the sight of thousands of people protesting and the services of lawyers waiting to help, the insistence on follow through- hopefully that will cancel out at least some of the hatred found inside this Executive Order.
     And yet the hatred and the bigotry seem to have no end here. Already an Executive Order discriminating against the LGBTQ  as if they are not worthy of peoplehood, or lawful protection against discrimination. already there is talk of it. And the basis of it all - religious and religion. So the Christians come in first despite most Christian sects horrified over what has been done? Religion again as a tool of horror? Again? Will we ever learn?
      I am afraid not for yesterday it seemed that an ESPN anchor was feeling sorry for the "old people and the kids" who had to walk far in airports due to protesters and that perhaps there could have been less disruptive protests. Truly. I kid you not. Will someone please enlighten her as to the meaning and purpose of protests and the way that messages get thru? Someone? Anyone?
     And by the way, will someone please pass the news to that crazy man in the White House, yes, the man who decided to watch a movie in the midst of all this - Finding Dory - anyway, that yup, there must have been duplicity in the election for here we have Phillips, the man who is ranting about voter fraud - he is registered in three states!! Yup, perhaps we need to rescind the election for it seems that duplicity seems to have been a hallmark of one side in particular. Should we check with Putin? Again, I truly believe that for many reasons, this election is invalid and certainly that man purportedly elected is incapable in any manner of carrying out the duties of his office - certainly not in a sane manner.
     Ghost America. The land where justice once reigned and compromise and talk were the paths to tread. America, where immigrants were welcomed in and even if not so warmly, did become part and parcel of America's fabric and became Presidents and sanitation engineers, shopkeepers and professors, and yes, even criminals, but that did not mean that we excised any person whose nationality was the same! Ghost America, where civil rights was fought for, hard and relentlessly and where we evidently have to fight for it again. Ghost America where the Constitution is weeping in the National Archives. Ghost America, ruled by a fascist attempting to cement his takeover of the country. Ghost America. Will we allow this to be? It is not up to the others to make sure. It is up to us, each and every one of us. You and me.