I’m not typically an angry person, but this book absolutely infuriated me. It made me want to scream, cry, punch a wall-- anything just to express my outrage.
So what is it about?
This book is a collection of stories from different people who are all connected to the Guantanamo Prison. It includes stories from military officials who were stationed at Guantanamo, stories from lawyers who worked to free the prisoners at Guantanamo, and of course stories from prisoners who were held at Guantanamo. Each and every story helps paint the bigger picture of just how unjust it is that Guantanamo even exists.
I’m not gonna lie to y’all, this is a tough read. Reading about how there are still people there who have been there for YEARS without being charged with any crime with no end in sight, how prisoners who were tortured and imprisoned for years (again, without being charged with anything) got released without so much as an apology or an acknowledgement of their innocence from the United States, how some people have tried to stand for what was right only to lose everything and not be able to make a change-- it all feels horrifying and heartbreaking and hopeless.
It would be easier to let ourselves forget, but we can’t. These people deserve more. They deserve to be seen, to be heard, to be remembered and acknowledged and cared for. They deserve more than this country could ever give them, quite frankly, but that doesn’t mean we should just do nothing and forget about it. This can’t be another thing that our country brushes under the rug with all the other dirt we refuse to confront or take responsibility for.
There are 40 prisoners still there today, and they deserve justice, along with the ones who have been released, and the ones who never made it out.
This book will make you angry, but it’s the type of angry that makes you want to take action-- and that’s a good thing! I have no doubt that this is going to be one of the most important books I read this year, and I couldn’t recommend it enough.
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