Family Separation Is Numbing, But Going Numb Is A Luxury We Cannot Afford

America is going numb. And if one pays attention to American news, it's not hard to understand how the constant onslaught can paralyze a person.

A Pew poll released last week showed that nearly 7 in 10 Americans “feel worn out by the amount of news there is these days.”  

The Trump administration has provided a wealth of soundbites, actions, and policies to be outraged over, and this month's family separation at the Mexican border is only the latest in a longstanding intensification of inhumane immigration policy. Babies are being ripped from their mothers, with no efforts to make sure that they can eventually be reunited. Asylum seekers who have committed no crimes are being held captive like animals, and women fleeing domestic abuse are no longer to be considered for protection. Pediatricians and social workers warn that separating children from their parents can cause life-long trauma. One Honduran man hung himself after being separated from his family. All, according to the GOP, to deter illegal border crossing. Even naturalized citizens are not safe, as the government considers revoking citizenship from those it deems should never have gotten citizenship in the first place. 

But going numb in the face of this daily onslaught is a luxury. Being able to turn our backs means it is an option not to face current events. But those who are most impacted by the Trump administration, like asylum seekers, the undocumented, those in need of healthcare, the LGBTQ community, Black Americans, Muslims and any combination of each of those groups, cannot turn their backs. 

They also don’t have the luxury of being numb from the news because in some instances what’s on the news is quite literally killing them. It’s on the rest of us to filter out anything that allows us to become paralyzed and to see what is real, all around us—to take real action to affect the real lives all around us.