President Donald Trump has officially decided to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, more commonly known as DACA. Since the program was created in 2012 by then-president Barack Obama, it has granted protection to more than 800,000 illegal immigrants whose parents arrived in America illegally when they were children. In a prepared statement, attorney general Jeff Sessions seemed to portray the action as one built on “law and order”, a staple of Trump’s message since his campaign. “To have a lawful system of immigration that serves the national interest, we cannot admit everyone who would like to come here. It's just that simple,” Sessions said during the announcement Tuesday morning.
In my opinion, this is yet another example of a phenomenon I like to call the “empathy gap”. President Trump and the members of his cabinet have never been in the position of an illegal immigrant. None of them have ever had to live in poor, dangerous, or even life threatening conditions. None of them have ever packed up everything they could carry with them and left behind everything they have ever known for the very small chance that they could have a better, more prosperous life in the United States.
The Trump administration simply does not understand this, as it does not fit within their world view, and Trump and his people have so far been unwilling to expand their horizons, and attempt to put themselves in the shoes of the people that they are trying to deport. Not only do they not understand the perspectives of those different than them, they have no desire to understand. This is the empathy gap.
However, DACA is only a small example; you can see the empathy gap almost anywhere you go in America these days, regardless of which side of the political spectrum you inspect. On the right, many conservative Americans are unfamiliar with the daily struggles of women, minorities, and LGBTQ people. Some have never even met a black person, or a Muslim, or a transgender person. Instead of putting themselves in their position, they call these groups entitled, liberal snowflakes, and believe they want special treatment because they are different. Sometimes, they even dismiss the group altogether.
The problem may be even more pronounced on the left; many Democrats and progressives are quick to label anyone who voted for Donald Trump and the GOP as sexist, racist, homophobic, or xenophobic, but fail to recognize that Donald Trump promised these people representation and renewed economic prosperity after eight years of Barack Obama, a time in which they felt socially and politically alienated from the country they live in, and that they had been forgotten. Leftists have also made the same mistake when it comes to white supremacy, attempting to crackdown on free speech, and claiming that anyone who is not with them is a Nazi. Some Democrats have even encouraged violence against suspected white supremacists.
America is a wonderful country, with so many different, unique people living together as one nation, but that nation is more divided now than I have ever seen it. The two major political parties are polar opposites in their ideas, making it very easy for them to villainize each other. People’s opinions are sacred to them; they are the lens through which they see the world, and what they attach to every fact or news story they see, so challenging these opinions is almost the same as challenging your entire world view. This can make people very angry and fearful, but I urge all of you to look at things from a different perspective. Talk to your neighbor, or watch news from many different stations.
Hell, go to the town hall of a politician you didn’t even vote for, just to see where he or she is coming from. I’m not saying that you have to agree with every new opinion you find. If you stick to your old beliefs, that's fine. You went out there and looked for something different, and as long as you are considering these viewpoints legitimately, it is perfectly okay to retain your old values. Winning people over to your side isn’t the point of this exercise. The point is to gain an understanding of the other point of view.
For America to be united once again, it doesn’t mean one nation under one monolithic ideology. A united America is a nation that understands all points of view, that is willing to challenge its own perceptions of the world, and through this understanding, the divide that is plaguing our nation will slowly begin to close. We can all meet in the middle, and progress can begin again.
