Ask César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, holder of the Gregory Williams Chair in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at Ohio State University. Ask Atahualpa Yupanqui (1908-1992), born Héctor Roberto Chavero Aramburu, holder of a guitar in Argentina.

Ask Helen-Marie Lyon-Dalberg-Acton, wife of David Runciman, 4th Viscount of Doxford. Ask Sixtus Dominic Boniface Christopher Rees-Mogg, 6th son of Sir Jacob William Rees-Mogg (elder sibling of Annunziata Mary Rees-Mogg) and wife Helena Anne Beatrix Wentworth Fitzwilliam de Chair. (These are living people as we speak on 16 Mar 2024.)

Do not ask J.R.R. Tolkien, J.K. Rowling, C.S. Lewis, E.M. Forster, G.K. Chesterton, D.H. Lawrence, P.G. Wodehouse, P.D. James, J.B.S. Haldane, H.L.A. Hart or A.S.D. Smith.

As a child I would say, “Mother, I’m a lone, lorn crittur and everything goes contrary with me.” She would raise her eyebrows approvingly and murmur, “Now, now, old mawther.” (Or was it “There, there”?) Mrs. Gummidge’s lament was our bond. Mr. Micawber inhabited our deep lore.

(César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, “This Immigration Bill Was Never Going to Fix the Border,” New York Times, 2-7-24)

César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández is the author of “Welcome the Wretched: In Defense of the ‘Criminal Alien’” and holds the Gregory Williams Chair in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at Ohio State University. [New York Times biotag]

(c) 2024 JMN — EthicalDative. All rights reserved