Separating Migrant Families Is Barbaric. It’s Also What the U.S. Has Been Doing to People of Color for Hundreds of Years.

....... At least five troubling factors are at play here. All five were fully and completely present before this current crisis ever began. They set the tone and created the culture in which something so heinous could ever take place........

.... First, this has happened here before. In fact, it has happened millions of times across the years in this country. Africans forced into slavery in this country were routinely separated from their children.......
And this was no brief period of this nation’s history, but a feature of the institution of slavery that existed in the United States for nearly 250 years.......

....... Not only were enslaved African children routinely separated from their families, but so too were Native Americans in this Country......

.....You’d have a hard time finding an extended period of American history where children and parents of color weren’t forcefully separated from one another by the white power structure in this country. It’s woefully and painfully normal. And it’s because it’s so normal that it is so easy for it to happen again and again in this country. This nation has mastered separating parents and children. Pretending otherwise is to offer a revisionist history......

..... At the root of the current human rights crisis at American borders is white supremacy and bigotry. Trump does not have a problem with immigrants. His mother was an immigrant from Scotland. His grandparents were all immigrants. His first wife, Ivana, was an immigrant from what is now the Czech Republic; Trump’s children with her — Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric — have an immigrant parent. Trump’s third wife, Melania, is an immigrant from Slovenia. She became a citizen in 2006. His son with her, Barron, has an immigrant parent. So no, Trump doesn’t hate immigrants. But he does seem to hate immigrants of color. And this distinction is essential......
...... This nation has routinely mistreated and abused people of color for hundreds of years — and has willfully separated millions of families, sometimes permanently, for sport and profit, on this soil. Speak out against it. Organize against it. But just know that what you are seeing has deep roots..... 

full article on theintercept.com