Renee Good, woman shot in the head by an ICE agent.
5-year-old boy taken by ICE and used as bait to lure the rest of his family out of the house.
Alex Pretti, man killed by an ICE agent protecting a woman from ICE.
These are only a small portion of the headlines of people getting brutally murdered and kidnapped by ICE.
Two of which, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, were both white. It’s important to note that Renee Good was also a queer woman and that Alex Pretti was a cisgender, heterosexual gun owning man. He was also a nurse. I make this distinction because when ICE is willing to turn to violence against a man like Alex Pretti, white and legally exercising his second amendment right, it is very telling of where our country is headed. Here is this man, who by all definitions fits the definition of what most people would call a model American citizen, especially in the eyes of MAGA. And yet, they were willing to murder him because of one very important detail. By protecting a woman from ICE, he refused to uphold and uplift white supremacy. In doing so, he lost his proximity to whiteness and thus, lost his life.
White patriarchal supremacy is caving in on itself. The people that white supremacy was made to serve are no longer protected under it. And to dismantle the system completely, more people need to realize that they have to be willing to lose the benefits that come with whiteness. Much like Alex Pretti, people (especially white people) must realize that they have to put everything, including their comfort and safety, on the line to protect the most vulnerable.
As I’m writing this, I am finding it hard to put all of my emotions into words. Everyday keeps getting harder and harder. I get up, I go to work, I go to class, I come home. As if everything is normal. I smile at people who smile at me on my way to class. I laugh at some joke uttered by one of my coworkers. And then, when I’m home and in the privacy of my room, I cry. I allow myself a few moments to break down. I go to bed and the cycle starts all over again.
I refuse to look away and prioritize my own peace. Now is not the time to look away. It is not the time to prioritize peace. It’s time to stand face to face with the uncomfortable, the hopelessness, the powerlessness. So, I cry and I grieve and I process. Then I pull myself together to get the hard work done.
I feel as though this has been my life for years. A constant cycle of pulling myself together. There has never been a time where I have felt completely at peace. We have lived in a constant state of dread and turmoil for decades. If we’re really being honest with ourselves, it goes way further than that. Back hundreds of years ago.
I have seen many people compare what is happening in the United States today to 1930s Nazi Germany. The truth, however, is that what this really mirrors is the Jim Crow era South. ICE is more equal to slave patrol than it is the Gestapo. Nazi lawyers were inspired by America’s immigration laws and Jim Crow in order to come up with the Nuremberg Laws.
They adopted anti-miscengation laws which prohibited interracial marriages in 30 of the 48 states in the US at the time. They were also heavily inspired by the “one drop” rule which stated that anyone with any black ancestry was legally black and could not marry a white person. But rather than simply adopting the “one drop” rule as their own, they deemed that a Jewish person was anyone who had three or more Jewish grandparents. Even the Nazis were not willing to go as far as the United States.
The problems didn’t start in 2015 with the rise of Trumpism like many think it did. The problems started when the United States was founded. By colonizers who raped and pillaged native people. Who enslaved native people and black people and stole their land. Who decided that black people were only 3/5s of a human. Property. Not worthy of the rights that colonizers had given themselves.
We have never been a democracy. We just had the illusion of one.
America did not become fascist overnight. America did not become fascist because Trump is president. In fact, Trump became president because America was already fascist. He is nothing but a vessel, a puppet to symbolize the bigger picture.
It has always been like this. It’s been like this to Indigenous people, Native Americans, Black people, Japanese Americans in internment camps, immigrants. All of them. It just so happens that people decided to wake up now. It just so happens that it is more documented with cameras and social media. But if you really look at our history, you’ll see patterns that mirror today. The blueprint has always been there. We all just chose to turn a blind eye to it.
“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
George Orwell, 1984
Only now do white Americans realize that they are not exempt from police brutality. It was never about justice. It was about fear. Fear is what has driven many people to start speaking out. Fear of losing the privilege that comes with whiteness.
The only way to dismantle white supremacy is for white people to start showing up the way people of color have always shown up; ready to sacrifice any and everything for justice. Including your privilege.
If this conversation is making you uncomfortable, you NEED to be uncomfortable.
It is what we people of color have been telling you for forever.
So no, this is not new. This is not “a new and different” America. This is who America is and has always been. A country built on brutalization. A country built on lies. America has never been great. She has always been corrupt. She has always been ugly.
So what do we do about it?
We dismantle it. America needs a reset. America needs civil unrest. Protests in the streets, boycotts. Hit them where it hurts, money.
We must show up for each other. Take care of your neighbors. Show politicians and the government and the world that we still have the ability to care for one another and the ability to refuse division. Where there are people, there is power.
Never stop educating yourself. Knowledge is power. Make art. As my Studies in Creative Writing professor would say, return to first principles; write with pen and paper, start using physical media, document everything in journals and digital cameras, READ. Organize with people close to you to plan protests and walk outs. Do not look away from what is happening and believe your eyes.
And at night, when you’re alone in the darkness of your room, you can let it all out. Cry if you need to. Scream into your pillow. During the day, never stop fighting.