Kids are being torn away from their parents. This Twitter thread provides vital context.
Facts can only do so much.
The Trump administration-authored policy of separating migrant children from their parents has sparked outrage all across the United States. As horrible as the basic facts are to most rational sensibilities, they're easy to distort on paper — as one Gizmodo reporter's Twitter thread makes clear.
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In recent days, news media organizations have gotten the chance to step inside a number of the detention centers that have been established for housing these kids. And for every chill-inducing thread that details their daily reality, there are tweets like this one that work to hand-wave away any concerns.
Media tell us @realDonaldTrump is keeping kids in “cages.” The facility I visited is a dormitory with a school, clinic, and outdoor recreation. They give them new clothes .They have field trips to parks & zoos. They even had a “prom.” Sad situation but not what we have been told.
— Joel B. Pollak (@joelpollak) June 15, 2018
When Gizmodo's Dell Cameron saw the above tweet from the Breitbart News Tonight host, he felt compelled to respond. He wanted to make sure everyone is clear on a key point: New clothes, essential facilities, and field trips don't change the fact that we're witnessing child abuse on a grand scale.
Cameron should know. In a deeply personal thread, he described the experience of being placed in a group home at a very young age as a custody battle played out in Texas courts. It's not about what you're given or granted access to while the state is looking after you, Cameron explained; it's about understanding that the act of ripping families apart is traumatizing.
When on occasion my dad was allowed to visit, watching him leave utterly destroyed me. I mean, I'd fly into insanity. I would pick up things and smash windows once his truck drove around the corner. Then I'd be punished, very harshly.
— dell cameron (@dellcam) June 16, 2018
Drove my family crazy. I was waking up at 6am and cleaning my room, then just sitting, and waiting pass room inspection, for about six months. My brain was broke. Probably would've fit in nicely if they'd shipped me off early to some kind military school.
— dell cameron (@dellcam) June 16, 2018
Now, Cameron can only speak to his own, personal experience. But his thread offers firsthand insight into what someone who's been through a similar situation experienced and felt during and after his forced family separation.
It's a layer of detail that doesn't come out in news reports or even eyewitness accounts from those who have seen the inside of detention facilities.
Facts are more important now than they've ever been. But it's so easy to get caught up in running through the bullet points of What's Wrong in the U.S. in 2018 that we can end up overlooking the human tragedy that's piling up around all of this. Cameron's thread, then, offers a stark reminder of what that tragedy can look like.
Only tweeting this now I guess because it's 5am & I've been drinking. Of course, I'm no stranger to alcohol. It was a friend early on. Rarely is now, thankfully. I am always awake at this hour though. Always. Anxiety is forever with me, every day, for 30 years. Guess why?
— dell cameron (@dellcam) June 16, 2018
Last thing I want to add is that I was able to rebound from all of this—even though I sucked at school & ended up living a criminal life, often on drugs—b/c I'm white, I'm a man, and when you're those two things, society will forgive you. I would've been totally fucked otherwise.
— dell cameron (@dellcam) June 16, 2018
Please make sure to read Cameron's entire thread.
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