What would Mollie do?

December 29, 2018 8:19 AM

"two people from two different Americas — one immigrant, the other native — whose lives were upended by the same moment of violence and then plunged into the center of another divisive national debate about immigration. . . . Two people who were, each in their own way, mourning the loss of family members, with little in common beyond raw need. Two people now trying to translate this unspoken need into something familial..."
posted by drlith (2 comments total)

The factual story of Molly Tibbetts' mother and her compassion and principal, is written with the sensitivity and verisimilitude of a well-composed novel. It sentimentalizes nothing, revealing, I think, the contradictions in our own humanity. Sounds pretentious, I know. I rarely read news stories like this, having written so many in my career. But this one is exceptional.
posted by kemrocken at 11:24 AM on December 29, 2018

I'm bothered by the use of the word "native" here. The Tibbetts/Calderwood family may well be Native, it's not made clear, but the overwhelming majority of people in this country are not--depending on who we are, we're descended from some mix of immigrants, colonisers and people brought here against their will.
posted by hoyland at 6:16 AM on December 30, 2018