This week in humanity

🟡 Caution, non-birding post ahead.

Back in 2019, in the thick of Monty and Rose mania, I was bumping into a lot of people at Montrose Beach, but I remember one woman in particular. She was sort of hippie-ish and upper middle-aged. I bemoaned the likely music festival set for Montrose, near the plovers’ nest, gauging folks’ opinions on the issue.

Clearly that wasn’t her No. 1 priority, though. She looked me in the eye and said: “There are kids in cages,” referring to the latest immigration initiative coming out of the White House. The conversation ended there, and we went our separate ways. I walked away thinking I admired her focus on humanity.

We’re in a “kids in cages” moment, so I am devoting this post to ways to help out local residents. The rest of the country may not be aware of what is happening here in town. Birding is taking a backseat. We need to talk about people and human rights.

I wanted to share links to a few fundraisers (read all the way down). The first is for the family of our former handyman, who was sadly deported to Guatemala recently. Tony shoveled our building’s snow for a couple of winters and helped us out with an especially difficult storm door. He was nothing but gracious every time I encountered him. He was always upbeat, which is why I’m not surprised at this quote from his wife, about his detention in the Chicago Tribune: “I’m positive he did not tell me as bad as it was.”

Here’s Tony’s fundraiser:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-skokie-salas-family

Second, Silverio Villegas Gonzalez was driving in Franklin Park, a close-in Chicago suburb, when he lost his life in a melee with immigration enforcement.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/silverio-villegas-gonzalez

Third, Ofelia is a 16-year-old cancer patient and CPS student. She may as well be one of my daughter’s high school classmates. Her dad, Ruben, was detained recently at a Home Depot.

https://www.gofundme.com/.../stand-with-ofelia-support...

Marimar Martinez was driving on the Southwest Side of Chicago when she was struck by immigration enforcement’s gunfire on October 4.

https://fundrazr.com/Justiceformarimar...

Last, here is a gift link to a story about the raid on a South Shore apartment building on September 30. Many of us birders have passed by this building a zillion times on our way to visit various places on Lake Michigan. I’d be curious if anyone could read the entirety of this story and say that this was an appropriate action by immigration enforcement.

I know this is just one tiny corner of the internet, but even a few acts of generosity do make a difference. We’ll get back to birding again soon, I hope.