Official Review: No More Deaths by Sue Lefebvre
Posted: 23 Nov 2019, 18:39
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "No More Deaths" by Sue Lefebvre.]
No More Deaths by Sue Lefebvre is a nonfiction book that tells the story of a special interest group. Based in Tucson and Phoenix, the organization helps immigrants in many ways. Created in 2004 by many religious groups, No More Deaths provides humanitarian assistance to immigrants at the Mexican border with the United States.
This 672-page book tells the story of volunteers and how they helped immigrants in the desert. This aid goes far beyond just well-meaning people who decided to place gallons of water in the desert so that immigrants will not die of thirst: the support includes legal assistance, medical care, and even an attempt to encourage reform of US immigration policy.
The stories of the various volunteers show the difficulty of this kind of humanitarian aid. No More Deaths would already encounter obstacles not just for the sake of logistics, but for the simple reason that they were operating in a desert. The stories, however, show that the work is even harder than an average citizen can imagine.
Volunteers are not only bullied and legally persecuted, but they also face right-wing militia groups that regularly destroy humanitarian aid. Whether a person is for or against immigration, whether Republican or Democrat, any life-saving activity that helps immigrants trying to cross the border is laudable: it's not a question of political opinion, but a question of human dignity. This story of overcoming and adversity touched my heart. That was what I liked the most about the book.
What I disliked the most about the book is that there are many examples of virtue signaling in it. Don't get me wrong, No More Deaths is a fantastic humanitarian organization, and I'm sure that all volunteers are good people. In some parts of the book, however, the author explicit says that all US citizens are somehow responsible for Mexicans dying at the border.
According to her, after NAFTA became effective, more than 3 million Mexicans have been displaced. Without their land, they had to go north. The weakness of the argument is evident. Even Donald Trump, who is totally against illegal immigration, often says that NAFTA was "the worst deal ever made" and left millions of Americans without jobs. If NAFTA is the leading cause of illegal immigration and even the President of the United States and his supporters who want to build a wall on the border are against it, how absurd is it to say that all Americans are responsible for the death of innocent people at the border? At most, one can blame the politicians of both parties who, in most cases, are puppets of lobbyists. It's obvious why wealthy lobbyists want to take advantage of cheap labor. The American people are not to blame.
All things said, No More Deaths deserves 4 out of 4 stars. There are many examples of virtue signaling (something that I considered a minor flaw). If even I, as a Christian woman, found this annoying and counterproductive, then the reader can imagine what a non-religious person will think. Virtue signaling, however, is not a strong enough reason for me to take one star away. The book is well-edited. The last sentence of chapter 64 is "Kevin" without punctuation, and I found one inadequate spacing between words. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about the humanitarian situation on the US-Mexico border.
******
No More Deaths
View: on Bookshelves
No More Deaths by Sue Lefebvre is a nonfiction book that tells the story of a special interest group. Based in Tucson and Phoenix, the organization helps immigrants in many ways. Created in 2004 by many religious groups, No More Deaths provides humanitarian assistance to immigrants at the Mexican border with the United States.
This 672-page book tells the story of volunteers and how they helped immigrants in the desert. This aid goes far beyond just well-meaning people who decided to place gallons of water in the desert so that immigrants will not die of thirst: the support includes legal assistance, medical care, and even an attempt to encourage reform of US immigration policy.
The stories of the various volunteers show the difficulty of this kind of humanitarian aid. No More Deaths would already encounter obstacles not just for the sake of logistics, but for the simple reason that they were operating in a desert. The stories, however, show that the work is even harder than an average citizen can imagine.
Volunteers are not only bullied and legally persecuted, but they also face right-wing militia groups that regularly destroy humanitarian aid. Whether a person is for or against immigration, whether Republican or Democrat, any life-saving activity that helps immigrants trying to cross the border is laudable: it's not a question of political opinion, but a question of human dignity. This story of overcoming and adversity touched my heart. That was what I liked the most about the book.
What I disliked the most about the book is that there are many examples of virtue signaling in it. Don't get me wrong, No More Deaths is a fantastic humanitarian organization, and I'm sure that all volunteers are good people. In some parts of the book, however, the author explicit says that all US citizens are somehow responsible for Mexicans dying at the border.
According to her, after NAFTA became effective, more than 3 million Mexicans have been displaced. Without their land, they had to go north. The weakness of the argument is evident. Even Donald Trump, who is totally against illegal immigration, often says that NAFTA was "the worst deal ever made" and left millions of Americans without jobs. If NAFTA is the leading cause of illegal immigration and even the President of the United States and his supporters who want to build a wall on the border are against it, how absurd is it to say that all Americans are responsible for the death of innocent people at the border? At most, one can blame the politicians of both parties who, in most cases, are puppets of lobbyists. It's obvious why wealthy lobbyists want to take advantage of cheap labor. The American people are not to blame.
All things said, No More Deaths deserves 4 out of 4 stars. There are many examples of virtue signaling (something that I considered a minor flaw). If even I, as a Christian woman, found this annoying and counterproductive, then the reader can imagine what a non-religious person will think. Virtue signaling, however, is not a strong enough reason for me to take one star away. The book is well-edited. The last sentence of chapter 64 is "Kevin" without punctuation, and I found one inadequate spacing between words. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about the humanitarian situation on the US-Mexico border.
******
No More Deaths
View: on Bookshelves
