A loving, protective father and husband lost his life in a brave attempt to provide a better quality of life for his wife and daughter. He was determined to make it to the land of the brave and of the free despite donald j trump. From the New York Times:
The father and daughter lie face down in the muddy water along the banks of the Rio Grande, her tiny head tucked inside his T-shirt, an arm draped over his neck.
The portrait of desperation was captured on Monday by the journalist Julia Le Duc, in the hours after Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez drowned with his 23-month-old daughter, Valeria, as they tried to cross from Mexico to the United States.
And yes, I believe the picture should be shown. Mamie Till refused to allow people to hide from the realities of her day when she bravely allowed the world to see the battered face of her baby boy. The world needs to see the results of Stephen Miller’s Grand Design. The picture sickens me, but it’s not about me. It’s about saving others from similar fates.
The backstory behind these photos, as reported by Julia De Luc in the Mexican newspaper La Jornada, is that Oscar and his wife Tania Vanessa Ávalos were attempting to enter the United States from their native El Salvador to exercise their legal right to seek asylum. They were being held in a migrant camp on the Mexican side of the border, a camp that didn’t have enough food while temperatures soared to more than 110 degrees Fahrenheit.
So they decided to cross the Rio Grande on their own, without permission. At first, Oscar and Valeria made it across. But when Oscar went back in the water to help Tania cross, Valeria — too young to understand what was happening — jumped back in as well. Oscar swam back in to get his daughter, but the current took them both away. Tania could do nothing but watch.
The picture made me break down in tears. The backstory makes me furiously angry. Oscar and his baby are dead today because of hate. And racism.
We have work to do.
In the long run, love will conquer. Hate cannot, must not, and will not be allowed to win.
Rest in peace, Óscar
Rest in peace, darling baby Valaria.
Your dying shall not be in vain. We will not allow it.
Óscar’s wife witnessed his death and that of her baby girl. Let’s hold her in our thoughts.