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Priscilla Flynn's avatar

Ah, I remember it all too clearly. Daily body counts in Vietnam on the nightly news, the draft, and the bombing of Sterling Hall at UW-Madison are indelibly etched on my psyche.

My work with refugees is so similar to yours, Justine. People don’t leave their home country because they want to. The women I interviewed during my career at health clinics left their homes to survive after watching their families murdered in front of them. Rape was more than common during the process. One thing I don’t think many people realize is that refugees don’t choose their country of resettlement; they go wherever they will be accepted. There’s no covert plan to infiltrate the US.

And to yesterday’s display of military might, honestly I haven’t had the stomach to watch the news. I see that and the deployment of the National Guard in CA as testing the waters for declaring martial law.

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Justine Strand de Oliveira's avatar

Thank you for your thoughtful read and reflections, Priscilla. Working with refugees and immigrants profoundly affects how we think about the world, doesn't it? Yes, I agree that setting up conflict in LA (BTW, LA Mayor Karen Bass is a former PA!) is a test bed for creating the justification for broader use of the military on home soil. And in a sadly connected/related ongoing event this weekend, I am so sorry for Minnesota and the tragic assassinations/attempts. God give us strength and bless the USA to be the country of our promise, and to fulfill our promises to peace and democracy.

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Rich Shipley's avatar

I just re-read this. Things here are so disheartening. Almost every day I ask myself if it’s time to talk to a Portugal immigration attorney. Almost every day I ask myself what is my red line? The idea of starting over from scratch at 76 is daunting.

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Justine Strand de Oliveira's avatar

I hear you, on both counts! I'm only a couple of years behind you. Unfortunately, Portugal is in the throes of a lurch to the right. The tax advantages have been removed, and there is a citizenship/visa tightening proposal fast-tracking its way in parliament. It's a worldwide phenomenon, though that said, I'm still so grateful to be here.

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Rich Shipley's avatar

I’ve been watching all of that, and it still looks far better than here. I need to do the immigration consult and put a plan b in place. Give myself options, at least.

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Justine Strand de Oliveira's avatar

I'm not sure you need a lawyer. Join Facebook groups and review their files. You've self-published several lovely books, so I feel confident you can get it done.

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Rich Shipley's avatar

One thing that’s nearly impossible is getting an appointment at a consulate here. It can take trying daily for months. The attorney is connected to the system and can grab an appointment from cancellations. Then the peace of mind of knowing you have everything in order all the way through the appointments in PT. Might be $1000 well spent to have the entire process sped up and smoothed out. And an initial consultation is free.

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Justine Strand de Oliveira's avatar

Understood. Best wishes.

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Vicki Scott's avatar

This brings back so many memories, Justine. I will never understand the senseless cruelty that causes so much human suffering in the world. I know how much your work with immigrants affected their lives positively. When you have left everything you love to escape cruelty, only to be met with hatred and unreasonable obstacles, to have someone see you, hear you and speak to you in your language must be a salve to those wounds.

At the end of George Clooney’s Broadway show, Good Night and Good Luck, which chronicles Edward R. Murrow’s show during the McCarthy era, there is a video montage of some of the assaults to our democracy in the ensuing decades, up to and including Jan. 6 and the current demolition of the constitution with a chain saw. It was incredibly moving and sad.

When will we ever learn?

Thanks for this heartfelt post, Justine.

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Justine Strand de Oliveira's avatar

Vicki, thank you for your kind words and thoughts. We need a kindness revolution, don't we? I think we may be on the brink of one, counterintuitive as it may seem.

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Sharon Hull's avatar

I am so grateful to you for posting this today my friend. I too have had a trajectory like this over my lifetime, minus the cultural transformation for which I respect you so deeply. As I watch my phone anxiously with my family today I know I am privileged and fortunate which makes my responsibility and duty higher. I spent some hours at Kent State while we lived in Ohio meditating about what that day must have been like. I was horrified and said thank God it won’t happen again. I was so naive. I pray today is not the day. Thank you again my friend.

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Justine Strand de Oliveira's avatar

Sharon, thank you. We are all praying together. As I write this we are learning that state legislators in Minnesota have been assassinated. God help us.

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Sharon Hull's avatar

We have learned of this too. God will have to help. We no longer seem capable of humanity as a nation.

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