Posted by Nirav Dagli, Chairman, Board of Trustees and Carole Charnow, President & CEO Boston Children’s Museum
Throughout its history, our nation has not only persevered in the face of challenges, but in most cases has triumphed over them. From the revolution for independence, to the Civil War, to the two world wars, and to the struggle for civil rights for all, we have often waved the torch of the American faith in individual freedom as a beacon to the world. We have prevailed over many threats to our democracy and having been the singular super power for the past twenty-eight years, the United States has used its power on many occasions to help those in need around the globe.
Hence it is shocking to see scenes of hundreds and hundreds of children inhumanely separated from their parents and held in detention centers at our borders – scenes that were historically witnessed in particularly cruel dictatorial regimes elsewhere in the world that we fought and overcame. Is this the same America that has led the world in achieving many rights and freedoms of the individual for the last hundred years?
We are a nation of immigrants. In 1774, Thomas Jefferson said: “Our ancestors… possessed a right, which nature has given to all men, of departing from the country in which chance, not choice, has placed them, of going in quest of new habitations, and of there establishing new societies, under such laws and regulations as, to them, shall seem most likely to promote public happiness.”
The right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness applies to all. Almost every one of us is here because of the words on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty “Send these, the homeless, the tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” Regardless of the challenges and the need to protect and support the physical and economic security of all Americans, the recent enforcement undertaken by the current administration is nothing short of cruel and unusual punishment. This lowers our esteem in the eyes of not only the families who are the target of this unnecessary action, but also our allies, and distressingly, our own.
Boston Children’s Museum stands resolute in its support for the well-being of ALL children in the United States and around the globe. We unanimously reject inhumane treatment of any person anywhere. We welcome the involvement of all cultural and educational institutions, businesses and citizens to implore and demand that our lawmakers act immediately to reverse the current injustice.
If we do not act now to end this crisis, the next time we look in the mirror or in the reflection of our children’s eyes, will we see someone who rightfully belongs in the “Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave?”
The Power of Play 