Not In My Name

The videos and stories are disturbing. A college coed walking across the street approached by several people, some masked, who show no badges or warrant. They tell her that her visa has be revoked and force her into a car. A man who went to court stopped by three men, one masked, they show no badges or warrant. They tell him they are from ICE and that he must go with them. They handcuff him and put him in the back of an SUV and drive him away. A mother who has recently moved into a new home in Oklahoma with her daughters. Her husband is finishing up matters in Maryland and will be joining them in a few days. In the middle of the night, men break down the door of their home. These men do not share their names, but wear the uniforms of ICE, FBI, and federal marshals. They show no warrant. They take the mother and her daughters from their beds at gunpoint and walk them outside of their home. The gang of men proceed to tear apart the home, take the family’s furniture, and impound all the money they had to live on. They do not abduct the woman and her children because they are American citizens, but they leave them with nothing, empty house, no means of support, and not the names of the people who committed this atrocity nor even a phone number to call about the property and money that was taken.   If police stop you, don’t you expect them to show you their badges, their identification, a warrant, their faces? Aren’t they required to do so? Who are these people? These people who hide their faces, won’t tell their names, who don’t show identification. For all we know, they could be Proud Boys playing cops. Well, whoever they are, they are terrorist. They may be ICE, FBI or marshals, or maybe they are 1%ers or Proud Boys, but they are terrorists. Law enforcement follow the law as they enforce the law. Terrorists terrorize. Whoever these people are they act more like the KKK than the FBI. Their actions are not to enforce the law but to terrorize and send a message. The message to non-citizens here illegally or on visas is “Get the f**k out of our country.” The message they send to the rest of us is “Stay out of our way, or we’ll f**k you up.” That’s why they arrested a judge. They wanted to show us what they will do to anyone who stands against them.   This is our night of broken glass. They have come at night in the strongest of terms and with the weakest authority to terrorize the marginalized. Their shirts may not be brown, but their hearts are just as black. The time has come for good people to stand up and demand they stop such actions for they do it in our name.