The Guardian | June 24, 2018
Slaves knew 'the fearful anguish of broken hearts'. In Trump's America, migrants do too

"I can remember the scene as if it were but yesterday,” formerly enslaved Elizabeth Keckley wrote about her family separation. The sorrow was too much to describe. She recalled her father’s “last kiss; his wild straining of my mother to his bosom; the solemn prayer to Heaven; the tears and sobs – the fearful anguish of broken hearts.”
Americans have been shocked and saddened by the sight and sound of immigrant children being taken from their parents at the southern border. What we have witnessed is eerily similar to tactics used during other periods in US history, most notably, slavery. Enslaved children of all ages had vivid memories of family separations. Infants torn from their mother’s breast were put on the auction block. Some mothers tried to hide children under their clothing. Fathers held their children’s hands tight as tears streamed down their faces. Read more on The Guardian