Friday had the first news story that made me cry. Other stories have made me angry, placed a soul-crushing weight on my chest, or made me rant about my least favorite state senator. But I read of the ban five hours after the order was signed (the first time I actually went that long without checking the news) and shed actual tears.
Because I thought of those I knew, a grad student from Iran who taught my ethics class, a Muslim coworker from my SSLP who became a great friend, and I was heartbroken and furious.
In my sadness, I could not help but look back. Many of us here at Notre Dame are Irish Catholics. If you recall anything from elementary school history classes, remember the pictures of signs in windows: If Irish, If Catholic, Need Not Apply. My ancestors went through Ellis Island at the turn of the 20th century. I know precisely three words of Croatian because my grandmother’s grandparents were immigrants from what was then Yugoslavia, who never mastered English. They dared not speak in public, but are remembered by their descendants by the words for grandmother and grandfather in that very language. If we were once treated this way, it seems idiotic that we would do this to others. But systemic injustice and xenophobia remain. Our collective national memory is short, but it bears repeating that we are a nation composed almost entirely of immigrants.
Our nation’s executive branch may not remember this history, or our more recent shames and atrocities committed in the name of ‘national security,’ but Notre Dame did. Sunday, Fr. Jenkins issued a statement making academic and moral arguments against it, along with a call to rescind the order, and I applaud him. I also have now done two dramatic readings of this statement and excitedly informed my friends that we, as Notre Dame, a school founded by French priests that ended up with an Irish mascot, took a stand. Immigration, apparently, is Notre Dame’s line in the sand. From our statement in support of DACA students to our special intentions for them at our post-election prayer service that featured a Spanish psalm and a reading from the Quran, to the statement this past Sunday, the administration is speaking up.
Weeks ago, my hall choir scheduled songs for mass, and by some act of Divine Providence, our opening hymn this week was “All Are Welcome.” Singing that with my hall community gave me chills. Our hall priest, FJ, opened mass with the statement, “If I had requested a hymn, it would have been that one.” The gospel this week spoke of the beatitudes, and FJ did not hesitate to take a stand in his homily. He spoke of St. Andre Bessette, the first Holy Cross priest to be made a saint, and of his simple job of doorkeeper. He welcomed all visitors and became known for his healings. FJ also spoke of the statement made by Pope Francis, and that of the US Council of Catholic Bishops. The intercessions included multiple intercessions for justice, as well as a specific prayer for those affected by the refugee ban.
So now, we are called to do what every generation of college students has: protest, disagree, get called hippie liberals by our elders, and make change happen. Someday, we will be asked to tell stories, of our time in college, our first jobs, and perhaps most importantly, what we thought when we saw historic events happen, like the election in 2008 (if we even realized how groundbreaking it was). It will be our turn to explain what it felt like to live in this moment in time, just as we have asked our grandparents about things like school integration and watching the moon landing, asked our parents about fashion in the ‘80s or what it felt like to watch the Berlin Wall fall. We will someday be asked our accounts of the big moments, and I hope so desperately that the actions of this administration will be forgettable. I know I am deluding myself, as they have already gone past that point. All we can do now is find ways to tell personal stories we can take pride in, to confidently respond to the questions that have always been asked:
Where were you? What did you do?
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