Democracy Out Loud #459.1:ICE

Border Patrol has arrived in Charlotte. People are stepping up.

Dear Friends,

It is really important how we show up now, because the same brutality we have been seeing in Chicago has now come to North Carolina. As of this weekend, it is Charlotte, but it could soon be Durham or any NC city with a Sheriff who is a Black democrat, especially if that city has a Black mayor. This is just as ugly as it sounds.

Already, at least one American citizen was racially profiled twice, forced from his vehicle, his truck window smashed. There is no indication that people are receiving due process or that the people being kidnapped are criminals. Charlotte has a very large immigrant population, and people are terrorized.

This is a time when we all really need to step up. The most important thing is to attend an ICE training, and even if you have already done that please consider going to the one in Durham this afternoon OR one of the ones in Charlotte. Figure out if you are able to go to Charlotte this week to support the community there. If you have mobility issues, you can still help; one of the options for volunteering involves driving, not walking.

Yesterday I went to Charlotte for the protest (above) and found that it only took two hours each way from Durham. The crowd was incredibly diverse and beautiful. There is a similar protest this afternoon in Raleigh but honestly the training in Durham at the exact same time is more important, even if you have done ICE training before.

My neighbor sent me a note after I alerted our neighborhood association to this training. They said, “Please know it is a criminal felony offense to abet or obstruct law enforcement agents from performing their duties.”
Let’s be clear that our government has turned against the people, and that kidnapping people off the street without due process to fulfill a quota which has to do with for-profit prisons and ethnic cleansing is not lawful and is unconstitutional. What we are doing is trying to protect people, peacefully protest, and document unlawful behavior. We know better than to obstruct people in riot gear who have proved themselves capable of extreme brutality.

Gregory Bovino and his Border Patrol left Chicago for Charlotte after being soundly chastised by peaceful protestors and a judge who told him repeatedly that he could not continue to attack them. The protesters in Chicago and Evanston were amazing, and so was the Chicago mayor and Illinois governor. We must show up now just as faithfully and hold our elected officials to the same standard.

Use 5Calls.org or the Capital Switchboard ((202) 224-3121) to call Senators Tillis and Budd and your Representative. Join our Immigration/ICE affinity group by emailing Marci at Democracyoutloud@gmail.com.

You can also email Marci if you would like to join our book discussion group, which will meet on zoom this Wednesday at 3:30 pm. The book is The Last Anerican Road Trip by Sarah Kendzior, but you can come even if you haven’t read the book.

Everyone is welcome to come to our zoom every Tuesday from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm (if you are new come early; doors open at 11). Everyone is also invited to our guided meditation every Thursday at 10 am. If you need the zoom link, email Jewel at DemocracyOutLoud@gmail.com and tell her a tiny bit about yourself.

Recently I have lost patience with every conversation that begins with what other people should be doing. Forget that. Just think about what you can do. It’s okay if it doesn’t feel like enough. It never does, for any of us. We just have to show up the best we can and hope that there will be enough others doing that same thing so that we will be able to protect each other.

love, Karen