I Am Collecting a Flower Drawing for all 711 Children Still Separated from their Families
By Hannah Levine, JCJ 2018 Summer Intern
As of 8/10/2018 559 children remain separated from their families.
When the Trump Administration began its policy of separating immigrant children from their families at the border, I was particularly upset. I immediately thought about how I would respond if I were in the position of one of those children, how scared I would be. Or even as a parent, how worried I’d be that I’d never see my children again.
While the official border separation policy has ended, 711 immigrant children remain separated from their parents in U.S. custody. To me, this was a significant number, and so I wanted to do something that could represent each individual child. So I had an idea to draw a flower, and recruit friends, family and others to do the same. My belief was that there would be so many different style and colors that no flower I received would look the same. We need something to represent the individuality of each child at a time when we only know them as a collective number. Once all of the flowers are collected, I plan to use each picture in a collage of a heart to remember that we hold each of them in our hearts.
Another reason I chose flowers is because of their significance in Jewish culture. In Eastern Europe during the Holocaust, flowers were scarce in the Jewish ghettos. Flowers represent renewal and a world of hope, life, and growth. I hope that once these children are returned home, they will be able to recover and have a prosperous life. These drawings must be a reminder to Washington that we are not going to let this go until every single child is reunited with their parents.