Along with his now-famous anti-Trump speeches in England, Bruce Springsteen has released a new, four-song EP of classic Springsteen tunes. The one most relevant to our political context is the haunting “Long Walk Home”
There’s a flag outside of the courthouse
That means certain things are set in stone
Who we are and what we’ll do
And what we won’t.
The most noble and sacred idea of America is that every generation tries to live up to those words in some sense. Everything rides on keeping those things set in stone. That’s conservatism, by the way, at its best and most noble.
Ximena Arias Cristobal is a college student who was brought to the United States at the age of four. On May 5, Cristobal was arrested by a policeman who thought she had made an improper turn.
Because she didn’t have a Georgia driver’s license, she was detained and turned over to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE). The traffic charges were dropped after police determined that Cristobal was not the driver who made the improper turn. But ICE had her.
Cristobal’s case garnered national attention. The Dalton community raised thousands of dollars for legal fees, and there were protests over her detention.
She was released by ICE last week and her lawyer hopes a deal can be reached to prevent her deportation. ICE, however, maintains that her deportation order remains in place. According to her lawyer, her hearing won’t be scheduled anytime this year.
Cristobal is guilty of driving without the Georgia driver’s license that she’s not allowed to get and of obeying her parents when she was four years old. In the past two weeks, she has conducted herself with remarkable grace and dignity.
When she was arrested, Cristobal protested that she had finals the next week and that her family was counting on her. Upon her release, she thanked her family and the Dalton community for their support.
Although she described the conditions at the Fort Stewart ICE detention center as “something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy,” she said she was “thankful for the experience” and that it had made her a better person.
This young lady’s grace and character reflect the better angels of the American character. Regardless of what I’ve learned in church, I’m not sure if I’ve ever been sincerely thankful for suffering.
Cristobal humbles me.
In news stories of her arrest, picture after picture of Cristobal shows the bright, happy smile of an All-American girl, full of innocence, hope, and trust. These things are so fragile!
It should be “set in stone” that we guard innocence, hope and trust—not destroy them!
Luke 17:1 says, “It is impossible that causes of stumbling come not, but woe to that man by whom they come.” Woe to him indeed.
What purpose does hurting this young lady serve? Does anyone actually believe she’s a danger to our country?
Compare Cristobal’s picture to so many pictures of a snarling, angry Trump, so ready to hurt anyone who gets in his way. Compare her noble words to what Trump says on any given day, most recently calling his political opponents “scum” in his Memorial Day message. Which person should America fear more?
Or compare the “threat” posed by Cristobal, as she tries to help her family by taking her finals, to the conduct of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Dalton. Greene supports Cristobal’s deportation because “the laws are laws.”
But it is Greene who has repeatedly called for a “national divorce” between blue and red America. She has openly used her position of power to call for the dissolution of America and in doing so, has assaulted “set in stone” core values that have sustained our great nation through depressions, world wars, and social upheaval.
Who is more of a threat: Cristobal taking her finals, or Greene tearing the country apart?
Will Cristobal ultimately be deported? She is indeed undocumented—“illegal” as immigration hardliners take such relish in saying. So the immigration judge in the courthouse will have the ultimate power to decide her fate.
But her character and her faith reveal her to be so “deeply American,” something Springsteen said President Trump would never understand.
What about the “set in stone” things the flag outside the courthouse stands for? Are we the kind of people who would hurt Ximena Cristobal? Are we still American or do we surrender to the forces trying to destroy the values that have sustained us all these years?
Deporting Cristobal would be tragic, deeply unjust, and one more reason Springsteen is right: it’s gonna be a long walk home.
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McKenzie is a Methodist in Calhoun, Georgia, who teaches high school and holds a doctorate in political theory from the University of Florida.