A woman by the name of Amanda (last name omitted by request) has dedicated herself to creating one painting based on a quote by an undocumented migrant in U.S. detention, many of them children, every day until the existence of concentration camps in the country has ended.

Her project is quickly gaining national attention as she has successfully produced a daily painting (except for one day when something important came up) for over a month, starting on July 18, and drawn attention to the plight of real human beings.

So what's with the depressing pictures?

Welcome, yeah, it's a thing. I'm painting a new quote from a person detained at the border each day until this nightmare ends. Come join me. What can you do if you agree this sucks? (From easiest to hardest): — Amanda 🆘 is Painting Daily Border Quotes (@juuust_amanda) August 10, 2019

Amanda gets the quotes from Amplify the Children, which is responsible for Project Amplify, a “national campaign launched to establish legal protections for children in government care so that the brutality discovered on the border in June never happens again.”

Day 35: “I know I’m not from this country, but why am I treated like this? We’re not animals. I can’t bear it anymore.”

-J, adult trans woman from Honduras who has been held in a men’s detention center in Louisiana for 7 months.

Source: https://t.co/jOF8KHyfyr #NeverAgainIsNow pic.twitter.com/HDkeac64vU — Amanda 🆘 is Painting Daily Border Quotes (@juuust_amanda) August 23, 2019

Amplify the Children has partnered with Amanda since she started her project and she will soon be taking over their Twitter account.

Day 18: “He said that we were going to sleep on the floor. He said it was punishment for losing the combs. What he said was true. We all slept in the hard tile floor last night.”

-G, 7 years old, from El Salvador.#DontLookAway #ClosetheCamps #NeverAgainIsNow #ArtasActivism pic.twitter.com/JSPUQvcLRo — Amanda 🆘 is Painting Daily Border Quotes (@juuust_amanda) August 10, 2019

She got her inspiration for her ongoing art project from child right’s advocate and scholar Professor Warren Binford on an episode of Pod Save America. She realized that she could take her anger, frustration, and grief over the news of the appalling conditions suffered by thousands of detained undocumented migrants across the U.S. and channel it into something she loves: painting.

Day 38: “I was taken to court. They shackled my hands and feet and put me on a bus…for two hours. I still did not know where my son was and was terrified.”

-Ruth and her 7 year old son, Honduras#ArtAsResistance #NeverAgainIsNow #CloseTheCamps #AmplifytheChildren #DontLookAway pic.twitter.com/d0loZ8Ulpo — Amanda 🆘 is Painting Daily Border Quotes (@juuust_amanda) August 25, 2019

It was not only something she could do every day, but it was also something she could share on social media to inspire others and focus attention on this one issue while the general population is constantly distracted by the antics of the White House.

“Every time we learn about some new horrible thing happening, the next day there’s something else to distract us,” she told god.dailydot.com on the phone. “It’s overwhelming.”

Why is this happening in 2019? I think part of the answer is that there are so many outrages, tragedies and distractions that we never have time to fully process and respond to any one thing. That is a primary motivation of this project. — Amanda 🆘 is Painting Daily Border Quotes (@juuust_amanda) July 21, 2019

She reasons that if we could only all focus on this one issue rather than being pulled in a hundred different directions at once, we could work together to at least end the horror of concentration camps on U.S. soil.

Day 36: “The guards call all the Guatemalans “burros” or stupid or they say we don’t understand anything.”

-Erick, 16, Guatemala #AmplifytheChildren #NeverAgainIsNow #ArtasActivism #ClosetheCamps #DontLookAway pic.twitter.com/rPmGdToHp4 — Amanda 🆘 is Painting Daily Border Quotes (@juuust_amanda) August 24, 2019

Amanda also believes that there are a surprising number of people who are still largely unaware of the suffering of so many humans for the supposed crime of fleeing deep poverty, intense violence, and persecution in their home countries.

For those of us who are plugged into these issues, it can be easy to forget that the average American may not have even heard the news. Amanda gives the example of her parents who she describes as being quite moderate and who have been quiet on many of the issues that upset her daily. When she finally confronted her mom about it, she was surprised to learn the reason for this silence.

Name calling and dehumanization are never okay. These children are human beings. Keep that fixed in your mind and heart. https://t.co/tJzAm3Heg0 — AmplifytheChildren needs YOUR help! (@projectamplify1) August 26, 2019

“My mom said, ‘If this is really happening, why aren’t we hearing about it?’ … So there are people out there with good hearts who still don’t know these things are happening.”

Day 11: “Nobody takes care of us here. I try to take care of my little brother and sister since no one will take care of them…Some kids are only two or three years old and they have no one to take care of them.”

-K from Ecuador, 11, speaking of his 9 and 7 year old siblings. pic.twitter.com/lkoeM7MT3g — Amanda 🆘 is Painting Daily Border Quotes (@juuust_amanda) August 10, 2019



Word about Amanda’s project has been rapidly spreading as she gains more and more endorsements from activists, including Warren Binford. She has gained thousands of new followers in the space of a few weeks, suddenly finding herself in a position to inspire others to do what they can to help detained migrants.

Her advice to anyone currently feeling angry yet helpless over the situation is to take whatever talents, passions, and spare time they might have to simply do whatever you can.

Day 30: “I have not seen sunlight since I have been staying in the camp.” -Timofei, 16 fleeing religious persecution in Russia#art #ArtAsActivism #DontLookAway #ClosetheCamps #HistoryhasitsEyesOnUs #NeverAgainIsNow pic.twitter.com/ewo9U3dhh8 — Amanda 🆘 is Painting Daily Border Quotes (@juuust_amanda) August 18, 2019

“If you have a talent, do something with that. If you don’t have a talent, do what you enjoy or find small ways to express yourself … I have a friend from Canada who wrote a message on a picnic table in chalk and took a photo of that.”

Amanda is determined to keep painting until significant changes have been made. It hasn’t always been easy, with the paintings routinely taking two or three and sometimes five hours each day. But she is still going strong, rapidly approaching 50 paintings and inspired by the support of so many people cheering her on, including her girlfriend and her Hispanic relatives. Some have even been sending her paints and other supplies via her Amazon wishlist, which anyone can do online, hint hint.

Day 22: “The female guards yelled at my daughter a lot, called her names and made fun of her and the other children…They also called the children filthy…[they] made my daughter and the other girls strip naked in front of them and ogled the girls before their showers.” pic.twitter.com/qnh0rJ9s8R — Amanda 🆘 is Painting Daily Border Quotes (@juuust_amanda) August 10, 2019

If you’re short on funds, you can always share her daily paintings, talk to your friends and family about the concentration camps they may not know about, or write a message in chalk on a picnic table. Just until every concentration camp in the U.S. is shut down. Then we can move onto the next problem.