Hello, my name is Gemma Cooke, and I am an eighth grader at The Liberty School, a school for gifted and dyslexic students here in Durango, where I live. I have been very disturbed by the recent ICE raid that happened in our town. The 15-year-old who was detained was a friend of one of my best friends, and he also attended the same school as her. My friend and I are both very distraught about his detainment, and we are confused because he, his 12-year-old sister and his father did absolutely nothing wrong.
I also read Emmett Kane’s recent Letter to the Editor (Letters, Herald, Oct. 31), and I completely agree with him; history is repeating itself. In school, I am currently learning about the Industrial Revolution, and I recently wrote a four-paragraph essay (which I may publish somewhere) about how the ICE raid in Durango really reminds me of some of the violent events that occurred during the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. That Act was the catalyst for an anti-immigration movement across the country at the time, and I see countless similarities in what’s happening today.
I truly believe this is an important topic for kids my age to discuss. Perhaps the only way we can prevent history from repeating itself is by utilizing ethical resistance: the notion, and eventually action, of noticing unjust, harmful practices, and using ethical thinking and actions to overcome them.
Gemma Cooke
Durango
