Do you remember these placards? People waving them at Trump rallies and at the 2024 Republican National Convention. Every time I saw them being waved it I felt disgust. The people waving them are Moms and Dads, Granddads and Grandmoms, Uncles, Aunts, teachers, business owners, church goers…how did they get to a point where they felt it was a good thing to do to wave a card, “Mass Deportations Now” and cheer about it.
I understand that our immigration system and procedures need revamping, reform, change. That’s not what these people were cheering for. I understand that we need a sensible immigration process. That’s not what these people were waving their signs for.
These otherwise good folks (I choose to give the benefit of the doubt) were cheering for hate. That’s all I saw in those arenas as these signs came out.
Hate
But why?
Would they and others like them cheer if my brother-in-law was part of the mass deportation? I’d like to believe that they wouldn’t and I know that folks that know him would certainly not cheer…but they voted for this. They may not have held or waved a sign but they voted for this.
We have told my brother-in-law not to travel. Yeah, he has a green card as a permanent resident but that doesn’t seem to matter. It certainly doesn’t matter if there is not any opportunity to have due process. “Ahh…but he hasn’t done anything wrong and he came to this country the right way.” Sure…but we’ve already seen where that hasn’t mattered. Now, he doesn’t protest so he’s “safe” there but he’s brown and maybe that’s all it takes to be “disappeared” to Louisiana or elsewhere.
But he’s one of the good ones. Where have we heard that in our history? That just means that you met him, got to know him and found out that he isn’t that dissimilar from you. Why can’t you see that most everybody is not that dissimilar from you so maybe most of us are “good ones.”
”But this will never happen to him.” I’m sure the student on Columbia University’s campus didn’t think it would happen. He was a permanent resident, married with a child on the way. My brother-in-law is a permanent resident, married – not with a baby but they have a cat (named Duke). I’m sure the student from Tufts College didn’t think it would happen. She had all the proper documentations to be in the United States, to attend university. She hadn’t broken any laws. Sure, she wrote an op-ed but isn’t one of the lessens we should teach others in the world – that it’s ok to express viewpoints that might be out of the mainstream…1st amendment and all. My brother-in-law is not a student, a woman nor a protestor but he is brown like she is…maybe that’s enough for the Mass Deportation Now! crowd.
Other “brown” friends of mine are taking proactive steps to try to protect themselves. They are making copies of their passports, making sure every one in their sphere know where they are traveling, sharing their locations on apps like Life 360. A couple of these friends are naturalized US citizens but they are still worried enough to not take anything for granted. I’ve seen articles about “de-naturalization”. Sad…but understandable in a space where due process is not guaranteed.
We should all be up in arms about this – the taking people off the street (kidnapping) and shipping them somewhere without due process, without charges filed without…I don’t know…it’s so frustrating. We are not loud enough about this.
My brother-in-law is a great dude. He is an asset to our country. 70 million “Mass Deportation Now! Voters may disagree and I am disgusted.
MattMunnell.com 