As many of you have heard or read in the news, a bus full of Venezuelan migrants was sent to Chicago last Wednesday evening as part of Greg Abbots publicity stunt. While these antics from the Texas Governor is creating a logistical nightmare for many of these migrants, who’ve already traversed an intense journey to even reach the US border, there has been an upswell of support from the immigrant community across the cities that have received these buses.
From Washington DC to NYC and Chicago, stories are coming through of organizers, congressional interns, and city officials collaborating with each other to figure out how to host the migrants, how to provide food and supplies and help them figure out their next step in their immigration journey, making it to their asylum court case.
I witnessed this first hand as an outpour of volunteers from non-profits, churches, city services, local, state and federal leaders came to welcome the migrants early on Thursday evening. The controlled chaos that the volunteer organizers had been able to assemble was a welcoming sight for many of the migrants, who were excited to be able to grab new clothes from the mountains of donations, pick up necessary toiletries that had been eluding them on their trip. The glee that was expressed by several of them as they received cream with SPF or a shampoo was a priceless reminder of how much comfort we take for granted.
However, the day was stolen by the laughs of a little girl, 2 or 3 year olds, who kept running away from the volunteer coordinator who was trying to keep an eye on her. As volunteers who had shown up at 7am to set up and were concerned about how to help plan the next steps in the migrants journey, her laughs helped keep the focus of why we do this work. We turned to her father, who looked exhausted from the journey but thankful for the moment to breathe and relax upon seeing his daughter enjoying the beginning of the new stage in their life, and saw the work paying off.
That little girl will probably know a few more homes before they finally settle down, typical of the journey of many migrants from all over the world. Many of us who have had our lives turned around by the decisions of a few people in secret conference rooms thousands of miles from where we live. Lives upturned because of the lack of resources that have been exploited to make a few profit dividends in the portfolios of investors, to help fundraise campaign money for politicians that support foreign military intervention to continue supporting financial gains, that help keep many of us living a life in comfort to afford gas, commodities or luxury.
This cause and effect of political and economic gain is not a new occurrence that just developed in the last century along with the Industrial Revolution. It is a story as old as the recorded history of empires across the globe. What is new, however, is the fact that we are more connected than ever and can learn from each other’s experiences on the impacts of Imperial overreach affecting our working-class folks on the other side of the planet. A Green New Deal is not just an american policy, but it is one that needs to be shaped by Global Solidarity to truly succeed.
