My nephew asked me why people risk their children's lives at the border.

[Cyrano]

I caught myself before answering. The one word that came to mind, "freedom," didn't seem like an appropriate answer, given the circumstance; -- the circumstance being that my nephew is 20 years old, and has heard the word Holocaust, but doesn't know what it means. And all he reads is what's on his iphone.

I told him I'd get back to him.

Help! If I tell him to get his head out of his ass and read, I'll have lost him forever.

If I try to explain the Holocaust to him, he'll think "That's impossible."

He's not political. He's more interested is sex than anything else. But he's got a kind heart.

I don't know if anyone could have gotten through to me at that age. (Not sure.)

He's not a bigot, since he obviously cares about what's going on at the border.

And he also asked me, a couple of weeks ago, "Why is Trump such an asshole?"

Once again, I ask for help. I have a hundred ways to explain today's world to my nephew, but if I start off the wrong way, I'll lose him forever.

He's nowhere near this site, nor are his friends, so all I can do is hope he never sees this post.

I repeat. Help! Suggestions?

P.S. I don't do personal posts here, but maybe, just maybe, someone can help me from screwing this up beyond repair.

[maxsolomon]

1. Because staying at home is not an option

You give your children up to the gangs or they kill you.

Swimming a river doesn't seem like a bad option at that point.

[Hekate]

2. Kick

[Ms. Toad]

3. Ask him to put himself in their shoes.

whatever they are fleeing has to be worse that what they know they face in trying to enter the United States: arrest, deportation, inhumane conditions in concentration camps, and possibly death - on top of leaving all of their friends, family, and worldly possessions behind. Use his imagination - what might be worse than the image that went viral - that's what is motivating them to come to the US.

[Lars39]

4. They have also closed the entrances where people could apply legally for asylum.

[Caliman73]

5. You can always respond with a question...

Ask him, "What do you think could cause you to leave everything and everyone you know and love, risk your life and the lives of your family, and go to a place where you are not wanted?" "Do you think that people do that, 'just because?"

How much does he know about the history of Latin America? How about yourself?

Immigration from Mexico is actually way down these days. Most of the immigration is coming from Central America. Why? What are the conditions down there and why? The 3 countries where the majority of immigrants are coming from are Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. Those 3 countries are still recovering from civil wars that lasted over a decade, killed hundreds of thousands if not more of their people and in which the US and other countries were actively supporting one side, and the drug trade the other. In other words, policies in the US have directly affected the nightmare occurring in those countries. We are seeing the effects through immigration.

[Control-Z]

6. Desperate people do desperate things.

It is the truth.

[Skittles]

7. THEY ARE FLEEING VIOLENCE

[Cyrano]

8. Maybe I should just slap him in the head and tell him that.

And maybe I should tell him to get his face out of his phone and read something.

There's a huge generational difference here.

I know that every instinct I have is screaming at me to shake him and wake him.

But as I said up front. I don't want to alienate him and, perhaps, leave him totally unaware of reality with no one to fill him in except his friends, -- who don't know any more than he does.

[mcar]

9. Ask him to do some research and come back to you for discussion

I did this with my then 18YO in 2016. He came to me with the "Hillary is corrupt" nonsense. I said to him - you are really good a internet research. Go research the charges against her and come back and we'll talk.

He came back an hour later an HRC supporter and cast his first ever vote for her.

He also spent a lot of time unsuccessfully trying to convince his friends that social media isn't a great source of news.

[Niagara]

10. They risk their lives trying to escape violence that's happening in their own country

An example: El Salvador is considered the murder capital of the world due to gang activities.

If a family already lives in poverty, it might take their last dollar to be able to pass through a street to get to work without confrontational gang violence.

The gangs recruit male children as young as 12 years old to join. Girls are often recruited at the same age to become gang members and/or become sex slaves. Adult women are also targeted for sexual violence.

The gangs also confiscate homes and if the family of that home refuses to turn over their own homes, they are often met with threats and violence.

Gang rivals escalate into even more violence and the streets are not safe for anyone.

I hope this example helps explain what's going on and why they want to escape.

[flamin lib]

11. No one puts their child in the water unless

It is safer than the dry ground you stand on.

[Moonriver78]

13. Hope this helps you.

My son overheard a conversation and asked me almost the same question of why are they coming here when they can either die or the children be put in cages from it loose their moms and dads and be separated. I asked him to just think about it for a moment and let me know if he had any ideas. I just explained to him simply that he knows that I love him so what would it take for me to travel half a continent and put his life at risk? This gave him a moment of pause and I told him its because what you face by staying and what they go through is worse. No one does these things unless what is here is better and unless they believe that what is better may very well save that childs life even at a great cost to get it. Sometimes you only get one chance to make a difference and as mothers and fathers who love deeply they give it to their children even if its the only gift they could ever afford to give them. I left it at that because his little mind will fill in where needed he is innocent enough but he gets it as much as he can at that age.

[lunatica]

14. I would ask him to watch one Holocaust documentary

Netflix has a lot of excellent wwII and Holocaust documentaries. If he watches one he’ll want to watch more of them. If he doesn’t know much about the Holocaust these documentaries will have a profound effect on him. He’ll then know such things can and do happen.

[malaise]

15. Tell him to read this

https://www.academia.edu/7146416/Eduardo_Galeano_The_Open_Veins_of_Latin_America

[Patterson]

16. Tell him the truth.

[Initech]

17. I would say start by teaching him recent American history.

And by recent I mean starting with post-Prohibition and the founding of the FBI and the CIA, the rise of McCarthyism and the Southern Strategy, US meddling in foreign elections, and go from there.

[UniteFightBack]

18. Because it is just that bad in their home country that they leave everything and risk their lives

try to come to a country where half the people hate them. Must be pretty damn bad at home to undertake a journey and the unknown such as that.

It worked with my deplorable racist co worker.