ICE Walkouts
I don't usually post political stuff on tumblr (i use other social media platforms for that a lot more) but i did have Thoughts that definitely wouldn't make their way onto there.
People really underestimate how important it is that me and thousands of students across the country united in walkouts, skipping class periods (or in my case, study hall) to protest against ICE brutality.
It was less about making a radical change, because as students we can only do so much. We don't have voting rights, bu that doesn't mean that we don't have a voice, that we aren't the next generation of voters. We've witnessed our fellow adults make horrifying decisions and committing horrifying crimes in broad daylight, without any reprisal.
The walkout I participated as well as documented for an article for my school newspaper made me have a lot of thoughts. For one, I felt extremely lucky that my student government decided to organize an event and I'm glad that they were able to use their popularity/voice to speak out and organize the walkout. I also felt extremely lucky that our principal and admin were supportive of our decision to walk out. Unfortunately, we did have to keep it confined to the school's sidewalk on the side of a busy road as well as the whole school, but I'm glad we participated and showed support regardless. Anyways, not the point: I feel so fortunate that I live in an area that hasn't barred our right to protest. That isn't to brag, but to bring attention to it.
Across the country, thousands of people are being denied rights as simple as the one to protest or to show distaste for systems that have failed millions of immigrants. Despite being the pioneers of our country's economy and making sacrifices for a country that we were told was going to help us, many of us have been failed.
It's hard to feel safe in a society where people are deemed "aliens", "illegals", and "criminals". Frankly, it's dehumanizing.
It's hard to feel safe when masked men are grabbing people off the streets, convicting people of crimes that they have never committed.
It's hard to feel safe when pending citizenship status is being revoked and when your friends and community members are being racially profiled. It was never about protection: it's about discrimination.
Across cities like Minnesota and Los Angeles, protestors are and have been violently losing their power as we speak. It's terrifying when peaceful protesting is being met with violence, and it's so easy to fall victim to the idea that we are losing hope.
The Trump administration and ICE operate on the false hope that we as citizens are weak. As a teenager, it is so easy for me to feel lost and confused sometimes. But it is also so easy to be hopeful: not to say power abuses are not going away tomorrow, or even next week, or even a month from now.
The future remains uncertain.
However, by continuing to resist, to SHOW that we have a voice, to keep speaking up for what is right, by committing acts of micro-activism in general, we continue to bring a better future. There is no more power anywhere then there is in our youth and in our democracy. We have the right to protest, to keep fighting for what is right, to warn people and share resources.
Even if the Trump administration thinks they can scare us away with brutality, the point is that they cannot. We are what gives them power, and the more they lose the people, the more they are susceptible to fall.
We have a voice, even as tragedy and a horrible administration tries to silence that. There's power to the people when they're together, even if they try to tell us we don't have any.
I think this quote by Malcolm X puts it best:
“The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses.”
My point is, never stop speaking up for what you believe is right.
Even to those who want to deny it: it is not normal to be classified and targeted because of the color of your skin, because of your immigration status. We know well by now that freedom of speech is not something to be killed for or suppressed for.
Brutality can never survive when the people come together, and I firmly believe that.
Even if you can't vote, can't protest, etc, never stop believing for what you think is right and never stop spreading awareness in small ways. That is so much more that you can do than just remaining silent.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
Fuck Trump and Fuck ICE.
