I’m too mad to think of a title
The federal government is lying to you. They just executed another person in broad daylight—an ICU nurse for veterans who was trying to help a woman ICE was shoving to the ground and attacking. Five masked agents pepper sprayed him, shoved him to the ground, took his legal firearm from his waist (where are all my 2nd amendment and don’t tread on me folks?) and shot him 8 times? I couldn’t count all the shots.
We existed without ICE before 2003. We can exist without them again. They have gone rogue. They are not following protocol or laws. They are terrorizing neighborhoods and making entire communities unsafe. And they are not providing any evidence that they are achieving their stated goal: arresting violent criminals. Because that was never their goal. Just ask Stephen Miller.
This is not normal. This is not okay. If you are not paying attention and condemning this, you are part of the problem. If you are not demanding that your senators refuse to give ICE more money, and work to abolish them, you are no different than the people who stood by in the US and watched slave hunters drag escaped slaves from Northern states back to the South. You are no different from the people in 1930s Germany who watched their neighbors being dragged from their homes and said nothing.
It’s here. It’s happening. Not everywhere all at once. But it’s ramping up. It’s gaining steam. It’s coming soon to a city near you. And unless we can shame Republican lawmakers and members of the Trump administration into digging deep and finding their humanity, or realizing where we are on the slide towards fascism, the only thing that’s going to stop this out of control federal overreach is states standing up to them. That means civil war. Local cops joining with citizens to stand up to power hungry thugs. I don’t want that. I don’t think anyone wants that. But it’s coming unless we shake these people out of their fucking stupor and make them realize that they are the last line of defense between living in a free society and going to fucking war.
I know it’s hard to process. I don’t want to face it either. I want to stick my head in the sand and try to make myself believe that it’s all going to be okay. Unfortunately, I’m too well-versed in history to make myself believe that lie. Authoritarianism doesn’t happen overnight. It’s not a set of decrees that announce nefarious intentions. It chips away little by little, banking on the fact that most people aren’t paying attention or are too scared to say or do anything.
I can’t stop thinking about all the students I have taught over the years, who had members of their families who were undocumented. Some came here illegally, some legally. Some were working their way through immigration courts. They all wanted a better life for their kids. And their kids just wanted to come to school to learn, to make friends, to grow up in safety and in love. I cannot get Liam Ramos’ face out of my head. I taught so many babies who look just like him. I can hear them giggling and see them dancing in my library. I can feel their sweet hugs and fist bumps and high fives. Liam was ripped away from his family and is now traumatized in a detention facility here in Texas. He will start to deteriorate very quickly and who knows if he will ever be the same. And why? Are all of his caretakers violent criminals who needed to be taken off the streets?
I am so devastated and so enraged for him and his family, for the family of Renee Good and now Alex Pretti. For all of the families who are living in terror, afraid to leave the house, to go to school or work or to the grocery store. Afraid in their own homes that at any time someone could kick down the door, drag them out, slam them into the ground, cuff them, and disappear them to another state or another country with no due process.
EVERYONE IN THIS COUNTRY IS ENTITLED TO DUE PROCESS.
EVERYONE IN THIS COUNTRY IS ENTITLED TO DUE PROCESS.
EVERYONE IN THIS COUNTRY IS ENTITLED TO DUE PROCESS.
It doesn’t matter if you snuck in, if you stole something, if you’re a drug addict, if you murdered 20 people. Due process is what separates us from complete and total lawlessness and tyrannical governments.
Please wake up. Please stop pretending like things are normal. Domestically and internationally. People here can’t afford their rent, can’t afford to buy homes and food. Healthcare costs have skyrocketed. People have to choose between medicine and food. Trump is incinerating the rules-based international order as we speak. Our allies are looking elsewhere and we are aligning with dictators and war criminals.
Things are not going to get better unless we start demanding that they get better. We must demand courage from people who are in positions to stand up to Trump and his cronies. That means politicians, people in the military, the FBI, etc. People are going to have to start defecting and fast or this shit is going to keep spiraling out of control. Talk to your friends and family. Try to persuade them to call their representatives. Donate to mutual aid where you can. Go out into the streets. Boycott companies who support ICE and this administration. Speak up. Speak out. Before it’s too late.
