I’ve written before about not joining any of the protests that have become so accepted and normalized since the 2016 elections here in the United States. Back then my anger was all about the late arrival of so many “progressive” peers. Fellow millenials who suddenly cared about politics, who were jolted out of their heads and forced to confront a different reality than their own lived experience.
Back then, I assumed that I needed to practice some self-care and I would be back on the streets and protested. But when these same peers started participating in #AbolishICE protests and the June 30th protests to #KeepFamiliesTogether I did not. I’ve donated to organizations working to unite families along the border. I’ve donated to organizations working to pay the bonds for some of the family members in custody. But I have not attended a protest. Recently, I attended a direct action planning meeting held here in NYC and after two hours, I knew why.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency was established in 2003. It came information at the same time as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in response to the 9/11 attacks. Their sister agency is the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agency which is, in fact, three times larger in personnel. While ICE is responsible for the raids on workplaces and buses within the United States. CBP is responsible for the 100 mile-wide area along the border of the United States. They’re the customs agents you meet when crossing the border or landing from an international flight. CBP is the one actually separating families while the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is actually responsible for the shelters.
Well, that’s officially how it’s all organized. The line gets a little blurry between CBP and ICE right now and has gotten blurry in the past when DHS had budget struggles and still wanted to get their overall mission completed. The hand off of the children to shelters run by HHS is also how it’s supposed to work officially. And this hand off has gotten muddied as well as paperwork has disappeared. Another thing to note is that, well, reports of abuse of children within these shelters is also supposed to go to HHS. Interesting how one is supposed to report abuse from people employed by or contracted to the very same agency, no?
And let’s not forget some of the other things that DHS does. It’s not all about immigration. They’re also responsible for supporting hurricane preparations and other natural disasters. In fact, while they’re supposed to focusing on domestic emergencies that include disaster preparations (which, yes, crosses over with Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department of Energy, and HHS), the main disaster they’re supposed to focus on is terrorism (which, again, yes, crosses over with Department of Justice and other investigative departments). The reason they are connected with immigration at all is the assumption that immigrants and terrorists are connected.
So how does this connect to my lack of protests and the direct action planning meeting? It connects because I walked out of a 2-hour meeting without any clear idea of what people were protesting for and planning actions to effect. While abolishing ICE could certainly have an impact, so could abolishing much of what CBP is doing. It is not hard to imagine that the dissolution of ICE would simply shift those personnel into CBP. No clear reason why ICE should be abolished more immediately than CBP was outlined. No clear reason why a protest to abolish ICE would be more effective over advocacy for all governors to sign pardons for these undocumented immigrants currently within their prisons or out on bail, etc. If Governor Cuomo, for example, were to sign over 50 pardons that are already on his desk today, these individuals would not have to fear CBP or ICE or DHS. They could live a life while immigration reform is advocated for across the federal system. It was devastating to realize that so many of the participants were more focused on the act of protesting than on the purpose of their protest.
Before I get reprimanded for not understanding that protests can have multiple reasons, I am well aware of this fact. Many of the early #BlackLivesMatter protests were demonstrations fueled by grief and horror. Many of the later protests, however, became calls of action and demonstrations of strength to call police departments to account. There was an evolution of purpose that I have yet to see from many of the causes in the last year and a half. Showing up to a protest with a witty sign is one step. What is your next step?
Where do you go from the protest? The next step is channeling the pain, guilt, anger to working towards solutions. Are you learning more about the proposed solutions and why they are or are not right? Are you taking the next step to critically analyze whether the solution would solve the problem or push it to a new extreme instead? Pardons are an immediate move that could help lives now. Holding all police officers accountable for deaths without a grand jury (and not letting settlement payments come out of public coffers) is something that could help lives now. Pardoning everyone currently in jail for weed possession could help lives now. And then, as you fight for the immediate freedom of marginalized individuals, you work towards long-term solutions that empower the communities these individuals represent.
The next step is not infighting and pointing blame because there was a failure to see 2 steps ahead, let alone 5. The next step is not relaxing back into a comfortable life because your sign was witty and went viral. The next step is not kicking back and forgetting about the very people the protest supposedly supported. I said I’d show back up when you showed up for people of all colors, creeds, abilities, genders, etc. I was not able to do so. I was unable to participate in the protest community when I did not trust that the bodies I was going to be surrounded by genuinely cared about the next step, about fighting for a solution. And that meeting proved I was not wrong.
Show up for the next step. I beg of you. Use your presence for more than social media props or finding a community through protest and show up for the next step and I’ll do my best to meet you there. I still have some work to trust the community who is participating now but I will continue to work on it.
