We Are Still Far From The America In MLK's Dream

It’s Martin Luther King Day and, you know, we’ve learned a lot, and we’ve grown as a country, from those dark days when MLK spoke.

Haven’t we? Have we?

Last Friday U.S. Magistrate Judge Bernardo Velasco found four women guilty of misdemeanors after they illegally entered a national wildlife refuge along the US-Mexico border to leave water and food for undocumented migrants. Each of the women— Natalie Hoffman, Oona Holcomb, Madeline Huse and Zaachila Orozco-McCormick—face up to six months in prison for the charges and a $500 fine after being found guilty. Velasco’s ruling ruling marks the first conviction brought against humanitarian aid volunteers in ten years.

You know, because feeding people, undocumented people, is a crime; except people have also been fined for feeding homeless people, so maybe we’re a country that just doesn’t give a fuck about the hungry?

In an ever better display of news that would make MLK turn over in his gave, Karen Pence, the wife, or mother, I don’t know, of Michael Elizabeth Pence, the Vice President of this country, has taken a job teaching art at Immanuel Christian School in northern Virginia.

How nice … except the in northern Virginia that bans gay students and parents. In fact, the school has a "parent agreement" posted online that explains their hate-filled policy:

"I understand that the school reserves the right, within its sole discretion, to refuse admission to an applicant or to discontinue enrollment of a student if the atmosphere or conduct within a particular home, the activities of a parent or guardian, or the activities of the student are counter to, or are in opposition to, the biblical lifestyle the school teaches. This includes … contumacious behavior, divisive conduct, and participating in, supporting, or condoning sexual immorality, homosexual activity or bi-sexual activity.”

It goes on, but you know it’s just hate, masked as faith, because everyone knows, especially in the Pence household, that God Hates Fags.

Jilmar Ramos-Gomez served in the Marines, saw combat in Afghanistan and is dealing with the effects of PTSD stemming from his time in a war zone. He is a citizen of the United States, but, last month, federal immigration authorities took him into custody to face possible deportation.

It started in November, when Jilmar was arrested for trespassing onto the helipad area on the roof of a local hospital. He pleaded guilty to that charge, and a judge ordered him released. But instead of releasing him, the Kent County jail turned Jilmar over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] based on, they say, a request from ICE.

Maria Gomez-Velasquez, Jilmar’s mother, contacted a lawyer, who told authorities at ICE that Jilmar Ramos-Gomez was a US citizen, and a Marine war veteran; in fact, even the staff at Kent County jail knew he was a citizen and yet they still turned him over to ICE.

A spokesperson for ICE has no comment; the Kent County sheriff's department is investigating the incident, and claims if there was a mistake, it was made by ICE. But then why did Kent Country turn over Jilmar Ramos-Gomez to ICE in the first place.

Brown skin? Odd sounding name? An accent?

Since MLK died, we’ve barely taken a single step forward, and with this administration in power, we are taking many steps backward.

We have become a country that arrests people for feeding the hungry, a country where one of our leader’s wives can happily work for a hate-filled school, where a US citizen and veteran can be detained by ICE and threatened with deportation.

This most certainly is not the America that MLK dreamt of, and not the one I ever thought I would call home.