Standing up to the 'Mad King'
ICE attacking Chicago at the will of the Trump Administration
Our own President is trying to terrorize us.
This is not normal; none of this should be tolerated as usual.
Even though the government tries to normalize the presence of troops or other departments in the streets as a means to enforce the lunatic’s agenda, it is horrifying. Militarizing neighborhoods strips people of their sense of safety and transforms everyday life into a battlefield. This isn’t protection, it’s intimidation, and it leaves communities caught in a cycle of fear.
I strongly urge you to use your voice and your skills, whatever they may be. Whether it's through writing articles, photographing history as it unfolds in real time, or speaking out in defense of those who are in too much danger to speak for themselves, every action matters. Checking in on your neighbors and posting “Know Your Rights” flyers matters. The truth is that not all of us have the same privilege to choose how we show up in this moment. Many stay silent not because they lack courage, but because the fear of being kidnapped off the street is real. If you are able to be loud right now, raise your voice. Your work can amplify the truths of those who can’t and resist the attempts to erase them.
When the President of the United States changes the Department of Defense (DOD) to the Department of War (DOW) and one of his first statements online is to blatantly commit treason by attacking Chicago, the third largest city in the U.S., it should not be taken lightly. Too many times, the media looks the other way, even as he tells us precisely what he wants to do. The mainstream media gaslight us, saying we misunderstood his statement or that he didn’t really mean it.
But, everything he promised during his 2024 presidential campaign - to retaliate against anyone who tries to hold him accountable - has happened and continues to happen every day. Now, more than ever, communities across both Red and Blue districts must stand together, because fascism is here, full stop.
White America has seen to it that Black history has been suppressed in schools and in American history books. The bravery of hundreds of our ancestors who took part in slave rebellions has been lost in the mists of time, since plantation owners did their best to prevent any written accounts of uprisings. - Huey Newton
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared. As a naturalized citizen, I entered this country the “right” way through my parents, who adopted me and had me naturalized in 1991. But, it doesn’t change the fact that this administration is working to dehumanize anyone who is an immigrant, treating us as less than human. The fear I carry each night before closing my eyes is real. I’m terrified by the thought that tonight might be the night I’m ripped away from my wife’s loving embrace and thrown into a cage solely because of the color of my skin.
It would be naïve to think it couldn’t happen to me and that one day I might be in the wrong place at the wrong time and detained at a checkpoint, again, only for the color of my skin. I understand this risk and yet, I still choose to use my voice. Authoritarian governments thrive on fear and hope we’ll stand by silently while others are snatched away. We cannot allow that. Today, it may be me. Tomorrow it may be you. And when that day comes, you’ll pray that someone is there to stand with you.
Where the fuck is Congress?
I wish I were being satirical, but the reality is that our government has abandoned the American public. Unless you have an obscene amount of money to line their pockets, officials want nothing to do with you. Elected leaders are supposed to represent us, yet they serve the interests of the wealthy and powerful instead of the people who put them in office.
The growing gap between the rich and everyone else is proof: according to the Federal Reserve, the top 1 percent of households in the United States hold over 30 percent of the nation’s wealth, while the bottom half collectively owns only about 2.5 percent.
Federal Reserve, Distributional Financial Accounts, 2023.
Meanwhile, ordinary Americans are being terrorized by an expanding police state. From 1990 to 2020, U.S. spending on policing more than tripled, rising from $20 billion to over $115 billion. This massive investment in enforcement has not translated into safety for marginalized groups. Instead, it has fueled mass incarceration and aggressive policing strategies that disproportionately target communities of color. The U.S. maintains the highest incarceration rate in the world, with nearly 2 million people behind bars, and Black Americans are imprisoned at nearly five times the rate of white Americans.
Under this administration, racial profiling and immigrant scapegoating have only intensified. According to the American Immigration Council, nearly 70 percent of immigrants detained by ICE are held in private detention centers, many of which have been cited for human rights abuses. Research also shows that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than native-born citizens, yet they are disproportionately surveilled, detained, and deported. If you have more melanin in your skin, you are far more likely to see the inside of a jail cell, to be harassed at a checkpoint, or to face deportation. This is not accountability. It is systemic oppression with virtually no oversight from Congress.
I am begging all of you to please educate yourselves on the matters at hand because this collectively affects every single one of us. Right now, immigrants are at the forefront of being targeted by ICE, and tomorrow it could be another demographic. If we remain isolated and divided, this country will fall. But if we stand up, hold each other up, and lift each other instead of tearing one another down, we can overcome this.
We have to do it together, because our very survival as a society depends on it.
