Today, March 25th, is World Cerebral Palsy Day.

Hey Donald (I won’t dignify you with the title you have desecrated forever):

I hear you’re looking for people who might not be Americans who have tattoos so you can ship them away. Well, I’m a first-generation daughter of Italian immigrants and my mother was born here to immigrants who may or may not have been “documented” at the time, way back in the late teens a century ago. 

Here’s my tattoo:

It’s a memory tattoo of my late son’s name. He had cerebral palsy, like your nephew Fred’s son. Remember him? You told your nephew: “maybe you should just let him die.”

And now you’re making that sadistic dream come true for untold numbers of American citizens with disabilities.

Wanna ship me someplace now? Because I won’t be silent about my son. 

We fought for two years for his inclusion in the public school even here in Massachusetts. He was on the honor roll and studied Latin. He was a poet. He brought joy to many people besides us, his parents who adored him. 

One of his works had 

I AM SOMETIMES INVISIBLE

right in the middle of the poem. He insisted on that.

Today is March 25^th, the day we honor the millions of people in the world who have cerebral palsy.

I will make sure my son is never invisible. 

And that your name is forever crowned in infamy.

Sincerely,

Marianne Leone