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In a move that baffled much of the world, the U.S. tried to shut down a global resolution to encourage breastfeeding.

For decades, research has tended to show that human breast milk — when it's possible to use it — is the safest, healthiest food for babies around the world. A 2016 series in the British medical journal The Lancet — the most in-depth analysis of the health impact of breastfeeding to date — concluded that more than 800,000 babies and 20,000 mothers' lives could be saved each year with universal breastfeeding, at a cost savings of $300 billion.

A mother in the Central African Republic breastfeeds her child while they wait to see the doctor in a clinic with no running water. Photo via Florent Vergnes/Getty Images.


So when the U.S. delegation to the World Health Assembly voiced strong opposition to a resolution that encourages breastfeeding — not barring access to formula or curtailing mothers' choices in feeding their children but just encouraging breastfeeding — many were understandably flummoxed. The purpose of the resolution was to prevent misleading marketing of breast milk substitutes and limit the promotion of formula in hospitals around the world.

But at the spring 2018 World Health Assembly, the U.S. tried to shut the resolution down, even going so far as to threaten small countries proposing the measure with trade punishments and military aid withdrawal.

Threatening other nations. Over breastfeeding. Yes, really.

President Donald Trump retorted to the Times report with a tweet, displaying a stunning lack of knowledge on the subject.

"The failing NY Times Fake News story today about breast feeding must be called out," Trump wrote. "The U.S. strongly supports breast feeding but we don't believe women should be denied access to formula. Many women need this option because of malnutrition and poverty."

Each sentence of that tweet contains falsehoods:

1. The New York Times has doubled its stock shares since the 2016 election. It has also won more Pulitzer prizes — the highest award in journalism — than any other news outlet. By no measure is it "failing."

2. Nothing in the breastfeeding resolution suggested denying women access to formula. Formula is sometimes necessary, and women should definitely have the option to choose how they feed their babies — but nothing in the resolution would prevent that. It was about limiting the misleading and predatory marketing and promotionof formula.

3. Malnutrition and poverty are exactly why formula should notbe heavily marketed to mothers, especially in developing nations. Formula is expensive, requires clean water to make, and requires bottles to be sanitized. When moms can't afford it long term, formula gets diluted, and babies don't get the nutrients they need. And unless it's severe, a mother's malnutrition doesn't affect the quantity or quality of her breast milk, so in places where poverty and moderate malnutrition are prevalent breastfeeding is especially important.

So why oppose a measure designed to promote the health and save the lives of infants and mothers? Follow the money.

Since the early 1980s, health advocates have fought to protect vulnerable mothers from predatory baby formula marketers, especially in developing nations. Many resolutions have been passed over the years to promote breastfeeding education and limit such marketing tactics.

But it's not in the baby formula companies' interest to have their product promotion hampered. When the U.S. so clearly puts the interests of corporations over the health of moms and babies, we're in a world of hurt.

Photo via Noel Celis/Getty Images.

To be fair, the Trump administration is not the first to put corporate interests ahead of the public.

Kowtowing to big business isn't new to American politics. A landmark 2014 study from Princeton and Northwestern researchers concluded that "economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence."

While the U.S. has been a corporatocracy for much longer than two years, this administration has been far more bold and brazen about it than most. Trump's cabinet has more big business leaders with no government or public service experience than any other president's. Some of them have been leading departments that they directly or indirectly opposed when they were in the private sector. Some (*cough* Ben Carson) have been leading departments they had no experience with. There are real-world consequences to such elections and appointments.

The move to halt the breastfeeding resolution, like so many other moves influenced by corporate money, would have gone unnoticed if not for the Times report.

For a long time, our lawmakers have placed corporate interests above the will of the people — a fact that we would not know were it not for journalists shedding light on what's happening under the radar.

People's faith and trust in the news media has taken a beating with the constant barrage of attacks from Trump and others. But how are we supposed to place faith in our government when we know that policy is being bought and paid for by profit-driven industries?

The press must keep playing its vital role in our democracy — or rather, our corporatocracy — to preserve whatever power the people have left. And the people must use our power at the ballot box if we don't want to continue to be ruled by big business.

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow normally shows her human side with informed outrage or her witty sense of humor.

But the normally stoic news host had to break away during her most recent show while talking about the family separation policy.

At the end of her June 19 show, Maddow was just like any number of countless people responding with a gut check to the heartbreaking news that "babies and other young children" are reportedly being separated from their parents and taken to so-called "tender care" facilities in Texas after their families were detained while attempting to cross the border from Mexico into the U.S.


Image via MSNBC/YouTube.

"This is incredible," Maddow said at the start of her report before trailing off for a few seconds. "Trump administration officials have been sending babies and other children—" she began again before she audibly got a lump in her throat as the emotional impact of what she was reading hit her.

"Hold on," she said, waving a finger to the camera as she tried to compose herself before being overwhelmed with emotion.

After a few more tries of reading the breaking news, a visibly shaken Maddow simply couldn't get the words out, saying, "Think I'm going to have to hand this off." The screen cut to her colleague Lawrence O'Donnell, who himself look surprised and moved by her reaction.

Maddow's reaction captured the pain, shock, and disbelief so many are feeling as more and more details about Trump's "zero tolerance" immigration policy emerge.

Shortly after her show aired, Maddow jumped onto Twitter where she addressed the moment in a series of tweets, apologizing repeatedly and posting the full text of the report she had been trying to read.

But many Twitter users, rather than be offended in any way, were quick to respond with love and support, telling her things like "you rock" and reminding her to "never apologize for showing your humanity."

And it's true — Maddow didn't need to apologize for having human reactions while attempting to process tragic events in real time. Other famous figures like Walter Cronkite and President Barack Obama have had similar moments where their typically stoic demeanor cracked. It's a sign of humanity, not weakness.

Journalists are here to inform us, but they're also human beings. And sometimes their honest reactions are part of the story.

This wasn't a performance or a grab at views. Maddow was hit by the very real weight of what's happening at the southern border of her country — our country. The steady stream of heartbreaking news is shocking and painful. It's appropriate for even the most composed media personalities to struggle while reconciling that, on live television no less.

Maddow's break is evidence that the news of what's happening reaches far beyond partisan politics or views on immigration and into the realm of universal human outrage over an undeniable tragedy.

Facts are great. But when the facts are horrific, sometimes unfiltered reaction is the truest delivery of the news.

Imagine being stuck in a country where you're not allowed to work, go to school, or become a citizen.

You're not being persecuted in this country, and you're relatively safe. But you didn't plan to end up here. It was supposed to be a temporary stop on your way to a country that accepts refugees in an official capacity — but there are far more refugees like you than those countries are willing to take.

So now you're stuck in a nation that's not a part of the 1951 Refugee Convention. The president has agreed not to send you back to the danger you fled in your own country, but you have no other official rights or protections. And you have no way to make a life for yourself here.


What do you do when you have no real options?

Around 14,000 refugees and asylum seekers are stuck in limbo in Indonesia, with little to no hope of being resettled. Photo via Roshan Learning Center.

This is the reality thousands of refugees face in Indonesia, where the inability to earn a living means relying on charity or living on the street.

Heather Biggar Tomlinson and Ashley Berryhill recognized a unique opportunity to work with their refugee friends in Jakarta and help empower a community.

Tomlinson and Berryhill, friends living in Jakarta, saw the growing crisis in 2014. They started asking their friends who are refugees and asylum-seekers how they could work together to mitigate it. They envisioned "a community-led initiative to give adults a meaningful goal and children an opportunity to maintain educational attainment during long days of waiting."

More than simply a school for refugees, they wanted to build a volunteer-based educational initiative with refugees. It wasn't a charity they envisioned but rather a grassroots, community-based project that would provide skills, hope, and purpose to a community with few opportunities.

And from that vision, Roshan Learning Center was born.

Roshan means "light" or "bright" in Farsi — a nod to the Afghan and Iranian people who make up most of the refugee community in Jakarta.

Photo via Roshan Learning Center.

Housed in an old art studio building, Roshan provides education opportunities for refugee youth ages 3 to 18 as well as adults. The center outgrew its first location within a year and has blossomed from a handful of young students to 150 learners of all ages. Most come from Afghanistan and Iran, but they also serve students from Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, and other countries. Kids and youth learn English and Bahasa — the national language of Indonesia — math, science, and art. Adults can learn computer and vocational skills as well.

But the mission of Roshan goes beyond offering basic education. Most of the teachers and administrators at Roshan are refugees themselves. For people with limited options, having a community with purpose is a vital channel for tapping their own potential. And a focus on character and service helps keep people's spirits lifted.

The Roshan website sums up the values of its community with an acronym:

"To open DOORS in the future, we aim to:
Do good for others (to remind ourselves that we are not victims)
Open our minds (to new ideas and people)
Own responsibility (for our lives, learning, environment, and mistakes)
Reach for the stars (to stay hopeful and set high but achievable expectations)
Support our friends (to build community, trust, and trustworthiness)."




People in challenging circumstances thrive when they have an opportunity to uplift themselves and contribute to their community. Roshan has built such an opportunity with the community itself. And it's supported entirely through private donations and volunteer efforts, always centering and empowering the people it serves. It's a beautiful thing.

Photo via Roshan Learning Center.

Community-driven grassroots efforts like this can make a world of difference.

Brandon Baughn, program director at Roshan, tells me that since countries like Australia and the United States have drastically reduced the number of refugees they're taking, there's little hope of Roshan students going to a third country.

"As of late 2017, UNHCR is telling refugees they shouldn't expect to ever be resettled as a refugee through those traditional means," says Baughn. "They're telling refugees that they should start exploring other options. But there really are no other options they can give them — the one exception being sponsorship through Canada. The problem is that's only going to meet the needs for a pretty limited number."

Initiatives like Roshan offer refugees a purpose in the present as well as preparation for an uncertain future. While governments deliberate over who will and won't get help, it's ordinary people doing extraordinary things who offer a bright spot in the darkness.

The stories of parents and children being forcibly separated at the U.S.-Mexico border are unfathomable.

The Justice Department's "zero tolerance" policy for families attempting to cross the border has led to heartbreaking stories. Advocates and lawyers who have traveled to the border describe scenes one might expect to see in a Holocaust film:

— A mother was told by agents that they needed to take her son "to give him a shower," but then she was denied information about when and where she would see him again.


— A 5-year-old girl who'd never before been separated from her mother screamed and vomited when they took her away, and her mother was refused even a moment to comfort her.

— A mother seeking asylum after escaping a country that offered no legal protection from the beatings and attempted murder from her child's father was mocked by border agents before having her child taken from her arms.

Seriously unfathomable stories.

Photo by John Moore/Getty Images.

The border policy being used now criminalizes all attempts to cross the border — even for those seeking asylum. And it's simply cruel.

Border crossings have traditionally been treated as civil offenses, with families being detained together while the administrative logistics are figured out. Family separation is new and has been touted as a deterrent. But tearing a child from a parent's arms when neither knows where the other is going crosses a line into inhumane treatment.

In fact, a recent Washington Post article equates such separation with literal torture. The U.N. human rights council has called on the U.S. to "immediately halt" the practice, stating there is "nothing normal about detaining children" and that the policy "runs counter to human rights standards and principles."

Even some who would normally support conservative politics have voiced opposition to Trump's policy. "There's nothing conservative about illegal immigrant parents being ripped from their children," wrote conservative writer Liz Wolfe in the Washington Examiner.

This isn't a partisan issue; it's a human one. As Glennon Doyle said, "We know immigration is complicated. We understand that. But still — not this."

Photo by John Moore/Getty Images.

Here's what average Americans can do to advocate for these families.

There are two big ways people can help the kids and parents being harmed by this policy:

— Support organizations that provide legal aid and advocacy to migrant families.

The most important thing these families can get is legal representation and advocacy. That doesn't come free, but there are many nonprofit organizations that specialize in this work. Here are a few examples:

ASAP: Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project connects families seeking asylum to community support and emergency legal aid.

The Florence Project for immigrant and refugee rights provides free legal and social services to detained immigrants in Arizona and ensures that people facing removal have access to counsel, understand their rights under the law, and are treated fairly and humanely.

KIND: Kids in Need of Defense ensures that no child appears in immigration court alone without high-quality representation.

Tahirih Justice Center provides a broad range of direct legal services, policy advocacy, and training and education to protect immigrant women and girls fleeing violence.

Photo by John Moore/Getty Images.

— Call lawmakers and demand an end to this policy.

Many of us might not be used to getting on the horn with our reps. The good news is that the folks at Together Rising have done all the legwork to make it super simple to contact your senators and representatives in Congress — even if you have no idea who they are or how to contact them. Just go to this post and follow the directions. It'll take less than 20 minutes. Easy peasy and so, so important.

It's up to citizens to rise up when government falls to cruelty. When we hear stories of inhumane treatment being done in our country's name, we must act. People's lives — and our collective humanity — depend on it.