There are two times in my life where a mother’s screams are seared into my memory.
The first was our neighbor, Marge, an Irish-Catholic widowed mother of four girls who lived next door to us in the projects. I was playing in our living room when screams pierced our apartment walls. My mother dashed next door to see what was wrong. President John F. Kennedy had been shot in Dallas, Texas and Walter Cronkite had just announced he was dead.
Years later, visiting my friend David in the same projects, talking about whatever kids talk about, we suddenly heard his mother scream out. On TV, news of the Israeli Olympic team having been killed by terrorists had triggered her agony.
Those screams were with me in 2002 listening to a little girl in Afghanistan, Amina, telling her story to our interfaith peace delegation. Her mother had asked her to go out to the kitchen and prepare tea for the family gathered in her house, while her parents, cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents continued their conversations. The kitchen was a separate structure from the rest of the house and she was feeling a little lonely as she prepared the tea. Suddenly there was a terrible sound and everything went black. When she came around, the house was destroyed and her entire family was underneath the rubble. She screamed and screamed until neighbors came and started digging by hand to find any survivors. Only her grandfather survived and he had become mute, not saying a word from that day forward. Her home had been mistakenly targeted by an American missile as part of the U.S. response to Sept. 11.
When she finished telling her story a member of our delegation asked her if there was anything she’d like us to tell Americans when we went home. “I hate you!” She yelled. “We didn’t do anything to you. No one in my family was Taliban. No one in my family ever hurt anybody.” Like most Afghans and the vast majority of war victims, she and her family were trapped in the middle of other more powerful people’s conflicts.
Last year I attended a presentation in Palo Alto by two bereaved mothers, one Palestinian, the other Israeli. Each had lost a child in the many years of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Their stories were gut-wrenching, with pain that they and a group called the Parents Circle Family Forum had turned toward peacemaking, creating bonds of friendship out of bereavement. Together, hundreds of Palestinians and Israelis in that circle have been working for reconciliation, peace and a shared vision of the future. Remembering that bereaved mothers were very influential in bringing an end to “the troubles” in Northern Ireland, these mothers gave me hope.
Last week I learned that USAID’s contract with the Parents Circle had been suddenly canceled along with the vast majority of USAID projects around the world. Elon Musk bragged he had thrown USAID into the wood chipper. Vaccines, gone. Medical equipment, gone. HIV, Ebola, Malaria, TB, and other infectious disease prevention and treatment programs, gone. Food for pregnant mothers and starving children, gone. Peacemaking programs, gone. Out of 6,200 programs funded by USAID, 5,800 gone. A program set up by John F. Kennedy in 1961, with funding allocated by congressional legislation and oversight, gone.
How many people will cry out in pain because of this? How much hopelessness will this sow and what will we reap from that sorrow? How many people will needlessly die? USAID was a key part of America’s “soft power,” using funding and people to build connections, friendships and alliances. Diplomatic scholar Joseph Nye said “soft power co-opts, rather than coerces,” causing people to admire, rather than fear another nation. During my time in El Salvador, I saw how USAID’s assistance improved the lives of Salvadorans who had suffered horribly during their civil war, a war fueled by U.S. interests. It reminded me, and my Salvadoran hosts, how the United States could be a source of help and new beginnings despite our previous involvement in pain and suffering. We’ve turned away from all of that now.
Please don’t say that we need to focus on helping Americans “first,” when House Republicans also just voted for a budget blueprint that will slash domestic programs like Medicaid and SNAP to help pay for a $4.5 trillion dollar tax cut. How many mothers will it take to cry out before Congress and the White House hear their voices and change course?
NOTE: The Supreme Court did order $2 billion in USAID funds for completed contracts to be paid, but did not weigh in on the agency’s dismantling. Share your thoughts in comments here at the Daily Journal and visit me on craigwiesner.bsky.social.
Craig Wiesner is the co-owner of Reach And Teach, a book, toy and cultural gift shop on San Carlos Avenue in San Carlos.
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(9) comments
Craig
Do you feel the pain and hear the screams of Laken Riley's mother? Do you feel the pain and hear the screams of Laken Riley's mother? Do you feel the pain and hear the screams of Lizbeth Medina's mother? Do you feel the pain and hear the screams of Jocelyn Nungaray's mother? Do you feel the pain and hear the screams of Jaslyn Adams' mother?
Sorry, my error. I repeated Laken Riley's name. I meant to post... Do you feel the pain and hear the screams of Rachel Morin's mother?
Obviously not, only the sound of crickets from Craig's team.
Craig only hears cries that are compliant with his narrative. How about the cries of over 400,000 migrant children that went missing during Biden's term, the thousands of young women and girls being sexually abused while trying to come to the US. They were abused by the Mexican gangs not by the US. How about the cries of the Afghans who were left on the tarmac or fell off the Air Force plane when Biden pulled out? Look Craig, don't lecture us on morality and your selective acknowledgement of your America Last mindset.
Thanks for your column, Mr. Wiesner, but let’s contrast the screams you’ve highlighted with screams from mothers, fathers, and kids in regards to the murder of their loved ones from Hamas attacking Israel. The screams from mothers of kids murdered by people who should not have been in America. The screams from mothers of soldiers killed in Russia and Ukraine. How many people will cry out in pain because of this? How much hopelessness will this sow and what will we reap from that sorrow? How many people will needlessly die? How many mothers will it take to cry out before Congress and the White House hear their voices and change course? Fortunately for all Americans, the change of course is taking place now, with not much, if any, help from Democrats.
And let’s contrast the contract from USAID that you’ve highlighted with the thousands of other contracts canceled because they are of no value to American taxpayers. There’s a reason thousands of programs from USAID have been canceled. Of course, for those who support the Parents Circle or any other charity, they’re free to donate their money to the cause. BTW, why aren’t leaders of those countries doing what is in the best interest of their country and their people?
It is somewhat amusing, Craig, how easy some find it to deliberately misunderstand your thoughts!
President Musk, Donald Trump, and the compliant and complicit Republican party care nothing for the screams and suffering of the poor, elderly, veterans and needy in this country. They care about their billionaire tax cuts, which necessitate decimating social programs to support. Demonizing immigrants is a tired, but effective strategy. Never mind that most crime and terrorism is carried out by our own homegrown white supremacists. A very sad commentary on empathy in this country.
There is something very sad about commentary that sounds like it came from Democrats assembled last Tuesday in the Capitol.
Ray, I think SmPool is actually AOC in disguise.
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