There’s been a lot of talk about the diction of the “immigrant child detention centers” used to house hopeful families at the southern United States border. The left wing feels that concentration camps" is acceptable. Meanwhile the right wing feels that concentration camps is an unacceptable term. So, what do we call such facilities where families are separated and some neglected to the point of death? What should we consider calling them where migrants seeking asylum are detained on US soil without basic hygiene? The article in text states that “hundreds of migrant children were left to sleep on the floor, battling the Flu and a lice outbreak.

These atrocities remind me of a book I’m reading, “Shantaram”. In the author’s autobiography, he’s thrown into the Arthur Road prison, in Mumbai. He spends weeks there and discusses in great detail the neglect that he experienced. He suffered from a lice outbreak, regularly pulled maggots out of his clothes to stop them from burying into his skin, had only 1 meal per day, if he was lucky, and received regular, cruel torture from the senior inmates made prison guards. The prison was described at triple its capacity and the food supply was not updated to meet these needs. We expect some level of destitution in 3rd world developing 1980s Mumbai, but surely not in 2019 America.

It’s abominable to the ears and the mind to hear about any such vile camp, center, or facility. Any physical place with such low regard for human life must likely house the world’s most violent and despicable criminals, but children? What kind of society do we live in where a good portion of the population defends these camps? “They broke the law”. “They’re coming here to take our jobs”. “We have to secure our border against these dangerous children”.

So, what should we call them? Derelict facilities where humans should not be housed? Those kids would be better off on the streets of their violent countries? Diabolical border facilities that even the leper would avoid? Concentration Camps? Border camps? Horrible locations where toothpaste is a luxury? Facilities where people are supposed to sleep, but the lights are always on? When you have people suffering and dying at an alarming rate, it doesn’t matter what you call them. Recognize that these places are immoral and that we, as a nation, must stand against these atrocities. Organize and stop this madness! Shun those that defend these criminal transgressions!

“If I am not for myself who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when?” -Hillel