While the facts about immigrant detention are important to note, I take issue with the idea that justice and human rights is an “American” value.
First, as I have noted before, it bothers me how the word “American” has been appropriated to mean the United States and exclude Latin America, including Central and South America. This to me is a framing of America that seeks to silence a large portion of the “American” population (the “voiceless” in the MLK quote).

Getting beyond the use of language, is the historical inaccuracy of the idea of “getting back American ideals of justice”.

I’m sure quite a few Native tribes would take issue of how the United States was founded based on justice. Throw in slavery as well, and the myth of the United States gets taken down a notch further.

I understand that this framing is unpopular because it goes against what is taught in our schools and repeated over and over in the media about how we should view the U.S., but I think if any measure of justice is going to attained for anyone, we need to be real, and not just appeal to the mainstream by allowing them to keep their false idea of “America”.

Video Via / Pro Inmigrant