Thank you to that teacher, and all the others doing what they can. Ethics, honesty and compassion has to win.

This nearly life-long Minnesotan appreciates my neighbors here, and in other states and countries, for what they are doing in day to day small, medium, and large actions to push back on the the authoritarian regime.

Love to those teachers, parents, bystanders/onlookers who aren’t turning away and who are documenting the terror in our communities – and not only ours, but across the United States.

This is not new, but it is grossly amplified and directed at anyone who is not going to bow down and kiss the ring/lick the boot.

“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist.” Hannah Arendt The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951)

I have been ‘reading’ (actually listening to while I wait for my copy to arrive) How Fascism Works – The Politics of Us and Them by Jason Stanley. It’s very accurately describes what has been happening for decades, but has been recently ramped up to the extreme.

We are all one, we are all each others relatives. Be safe everyone!

I’ve had this come up professionally this week. Somebody asked on a discussion board how to reassure employees who are worried about ICE. Somebody said “not to be flippiant….you shouldn’t hire illegals.” I could NOT remain quiet, and pointed out that since SCOTUS’ September 8th decision, ICE has had an open field to target anybody based upon skin colour, accept, or other elements, whether or not they are a citizen, and with complete disregard of citizenship status. Even indigenous persons are being targeted, and they are the furthest one can get from an immigrant.

Others – some anonymously, but not all, and I certainly was NOT going to be – have been piling on to explain to the flip exactly why their response was unthinking, and in one case called unprofessional. At least one gave the example (as I have) that even if you are born in this country, and maybe going back generations, you are now a target because they aren’t checking status, they are just acting – or really, acting out.

And for a so-called police force to be as poorly trained, poorly supervised, and hiding behind masks, is too much KKK and other groups that it’s infuriating to hear our federal leaders supporting them instead of investigating and shutting them down.

I applaud this teacher, and any others who use our white privilege to protect those who need it most. ESPECTIALLY children. But really, ANYBODY.

History is repeating itself. Look for the helpers. And the Righteous.