Peter Cook
Last week, while 24-hour news channels and social media were roiling over revelations that President Trump had called Haiti, El Salvador, and African nations “shithole countries,” a talented young college student in Massachusetts, who had immigrated to the United States from Nigeria, died after suffering a severe asthma attack.
Her name was Tiffany. She was only 20 years old.
Paul Friedmann was among the scores of people who attended her funeral on Saturday. Friedmann is an award-winning math teacher at Brooke Charter School in the Roslindale section of Boston, where he had the privilege of teaching Tiffany, as well as her siblings.
Friedmann took to Twitter Saturday evening to remember Tiffany and call out the racist, xenophobic sentiments of our President, who is currently in the midst of a showdown with Democrats over immigration. He gave me permission to share his comments, which I’ve posted in full below.
Not a #shithole: a THREAD: I went to the funeral of a former student today. Tiffany died at only 20, victim of a massive asthma attack. I watched her mother wail over her body; I saw her sister weeping uncontrollably.
— Paul Friedmann (@mathteacherjedi) January 21, 2018
I saw her older brother, another former student of mine, read a loving eulogy. Her younger brother, who will likely be in my class next year, and the youngest child in his family, was held close by his mother and leaned on for support and looked so lost and sad.
— Paul Friedmann (@mathteacherjedi) January 21, 2018
Tiffany was a quiet kid in middle school – kind and unassuming and academically successful. She went to high school at Boston Latin, and was a sophomore at UMass Lowell. There, she was studying biology and was hoping to have a career in biomedical engineering.
— Paul Friedmann (@mathteacherjedi) January 21, 2018
And she was loved. So loved. At college, she was a member of the Alpha Omega sorority and they came out in force to grieve together. Young women of all races and ethnicities crying softly and speaking of her overwhelming compassion and goodness.
— Paul Friedmann (@mathteacherjedi) January 21, 2018
But not just by her friends and family. Tiffany is Nigerian by birth and was an active member in her Church. She taught Sunday school, mentored younger children and embraced her identity as an active member of the Nigerian expat community in Boston.
— Paul Friedmann (@mathteacherjedi) January 21, 2018
And in response of this community to her passing…well, there was not a seat in the church and there were many, many people standing in the halls. She was an example of the success and hard work and love and compassion of her community and they grieved to see it lost so soon.
— Paul Friedmann (@mathteacherjedi) January 21, 2018
Sitting there on a hard plastic chair in overflow seating along the aisle, I had time to think. Thinking about grief and loss and tragedy was a given. I thought about how unfair it is that she was a greater risk of an asthma death because she lived in the inner city.
— Paul Friedmann (@mathteacherjedi) January 21, 2018
But I also thought about how 45, in his infinite "wisdom," decried people like Tiffany and her family and their #shithole country.
— Paul Friedmann (@mathteacherjedi) January 21, 2018
Thing is: the people I saw today, praying to Jesus under an American flag, are the epitome of what makes our nation good. Their love, their dedication, their compassion, their kindness, their hard work and their selflessness are EXACTLY who should be invited here with open arms.
— Paul Friedmann (@mathteacherjedi) January 21, 2018
The fact that the GOP and Trump cannot see this shows that the place in their tiny little hearts meant for values is filled with only one: racism. pic.twitter.com/tqN0OPu11b
— Paul Friedmann (@mathteacherjedi) January 21, 2018
