Keep Going
Giving thanks for those who stand up for freedom in so many creative ways
“If you hear the dogs, keep going, if you see the torches in the woods, keep going. If there’s shouting after you, keep going. Don’t ever stop. Keep going. If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.”
― Harriet Tubman
I am so thankful for those who understand that this country is a place where freedom must be honored, though that has often been in the breach rather than the reality.
But we must keep on going and make freedom a reality.
The resistance to the Trump administration’s Gestapo, aka ICE, is creative and growing.
So many groups are organizing to support those at risk of deportation. For example, child care workers are building networks to care for children if a parent is detained, and others are establishing rapid response networks to help locate community members who have been arrested.
In my neighborhood and around the country, organizations are conducting community trainings to teach people about their constitutional rights when interacting with ICE and provide materials like “red cards” that state these rights.
Some communities, like the Little Village neighborhood in Chicago, have used whistles to alert neighbors to the presence of ICE agents during raids, as shown above.
Some states and cities are using lawsuits to challenge ICE practices, such as New York’s legal challenge against federal law concerning courthouse arrests, according to Stateline.
Activist groups can influence local governments to end their contracts with ICE for holding detainees, as was the case in Glendale, California, notes The New Yorker.
Communities are pushing for and implementing policies that protect immigrants in workplaces and public spaces.
Groups. Communities. Organizations.
That is the common thread and folk learn from each other as the movement grows.
Instead of buying something on “Black Friday” from the corporate conglomerates that support Trump, send money to local organizations that are working for freedom such as United We Dream.