Sometimes I’m a bit slow. I could barely sleep Monday night after reading about all the invasive, cruel horrors authorized by the new executive branch administration. ICE agents authorized to invade churches and schools? I just couldn’t wrap my mind around it. Given that latitude, where would they stop? It wasn’t until the middle of Tuesday that the penny dropped in my mind: the new administration is attempting to render all of us, or at least those of us who don’t agree with them, paralyzed with fear. Unable to act. Unable, even, to hope! A mighty wave rose inside of me: now was the time for turning fear into action!

 

Wow, you sound like Wonder Woman or something!

 

Perhaps on the inside, 9. On the outside, I’m still mild-mannered Susan Matley.

 

It wasn’t an immediate jump from Fear to Action. I had to take a processing detour through an intense surge of anger. As in How dare they!?

 

I would advise those you encounter to back away.

 

I hear you, Lily, but letting blind rage rule my actions would make me even less of a decent human being than my current antagonists. Armed with an upbringing to Defend the Underdog- –

 

Underdog! I have such a crush on him!

 

He is one cool guy, for sure.*

 

But we need to get back to today’s serious topic. Being controlled through fear is called coercive control, a pattern of abusive behavior used to control someone within a relationship through manipulation, pressure and fear. In this case, a relationship between the executive branch of our Federal government and its citizens.

 

It’s not that I didn’t believe they are capable of the insanity of permitting ICE agents- –

 

Who?

 

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, founded in 2002. Their stated mission: to protect the United States from cross-border crime and illegal immigration that threaten national security and public safety. This was in response to something you two probably don’t know about, when terrorists crashed planes into the Twin Towers in New York City, September 11, 2001. It was a horrible event and thousands of people working in the towers, as well as some sent to rescue the survivors, died.

 

It’s easy to see the 9/11 terrorists, who were members of a foreign terrorist organization, were threats to national security and public safety. But now ICE agents have been authorized through the new president’s executive order to arrest immigrants who don’t possess the necessary documentation proving legal status in this country, including those present in churches, schools and courthouses.

 

The president of this country?

 

I know, 9, it’s hard to believe. He talked about doing this exact thing on the campaign trail. A person I know who, I’m pretty sure, voted for him said she thought it was “just talk” when I questioned her about it before the November election.

 

Not so.

 

People fleeing war, persecution and violence in their native countries do not deserve to be terrorized with ICE “raids.”

 

They actually call them raids?

 

They do, Lily. Sad to say, this kind of brutal language is favored by the new administration. In fact, it seems to excite many of its adherents.

 

If they go to schools does that mean they want to raid kids?

 

I’m pretty sure it does, 9. It’s bad enough that there’s so much gun violence in schools these days that students now train in “shooter drills” like we used to in “bomb drills.” They don’t need or deserve the extra trauma of a bunch of combat-ready adults descending on them. This will affect all students (and teachers and other staff), not just those whose legal status in this country is undocumented.

 

Like any other segment of the population, there are a few bad actors among the immigrants being singled out for persecution, but most are just trying to feed their families and keep a roof over their heads.

 

Churches. Courthouses. Schools. These places deserve respect and the people who use them deserve safety. The blatant disrespect for human life and dignity that this executive order engenders makes me absolutely furious!

 

Is it time for action, then?

 

Yes, starting with this blog.

 

I’ve also emailed our Senators in Washington, D. C., and have started asking different institutions that I regularly visit what their plan is to keep their staff and those they serve safe from this threatened show of federally authorized bullying.

 

The night I couldn’t sleep, the image of forming a human chain at entries to schools kept surfacing in my mind. I don’t know if this will happen, literally, but folks, we need to protect each other. We need to use our voices, our actions, and our political currency as U. S. Citizens to fight this egregious wrong.

 

 

 

*The Underdog Show ran Saturday mornings from October 3, 1964, to March 4, 1967, 62 episodes, total. For the uninitiated, or for a walk down memory lane, go here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underdog_(TV_series)