week 1 grad school. can you fucking believe anyone works in public policy
this is the same org that held a meeting to say “in the wake of rising fascism, i know we’re all pretty worried about losing funding. so NOT TO WORRY, we’ve de-wokified our entire website. we’ll still do the woke work, as a closely held secret, but now nobody will ever know we’re woke” and it’s like. my friends, i don’t think this is it. i might not know the optimal path for “it”, but i don’t think this is it
the org i volunteer for is always sending emails like “we’re hemorrhaging employees, none of our volunteers ever know what’s happening, we can’t stop screaming and crying and shitting ourselves, please save us, DONATE NOW”
Are you outside of Minnesota, but want to know what’s going on with the ICE occupation? Check out:
On Site a local independent news organization covering accurate news here.
Toussaint Morrison, who writes for On Site but has a lot of good coverage
Georgia Fort, an independent journalist covering what’s happening on the ground
And of course, the videos being posted directly to social media from people on the ground.
National news is not covering everything that’s happening here. (Almost like that’s on purpose.) But these are helpful, local sources to Minnesota to provide an accurate depiction of what’s really happening here.
MN ICE Watch not only sends updates about federal activity, but also highlights individuals affected where you can donate or send help to our neighbors impacted by ICE.
These links go to those sources’ Instagram profiles. And I will edit this post with more, it’ll remain a living document.
A final note: You may have seen posts on social media about what it’s like here. Believe them. It is that bad. It is that scary. They are kicking doors down. They are demanding to see identity papers if you’re simply walking on the street.
My sister is a teacher, and they were driving around her school yesterday. A middle school.
[“Are homophobic family members evil? Well, not if you believe that evil does not have a human face. Yes, the people who won’t take responsibility for their dying gay son, won’t invite their lesbian sister to their wedding, won’t allow their gay cousin to hold their child, won’t praise their gay co-worker, won’t send their gay son a birthday card, vote for anti-gay politicians, give money to a homophobic church, love films that diminish gay people—those people may have all kinds of great attributes. You may love them. They may have taken you fishing when you were six or made you a quilt for Christmas or had a great sense of humor or looked just like you. That is what evil looks like. Evil knows great old songs, can be weak and vulnerable, can love you, can feed the hungry, can pick out a book because they were thinking of you. Evil can have Alzheimer’s. Familial homophobia is deeply human, as all evil is the product of human imagination.
There is also a generational translation of homophobia that changes its face but comes from the same impetus. Whereas your grandparents may have thought you would burn in hell, your parents may have called you once a month but refused to allow your lover in their home. Your sister may let you and your lover come over for Thanksgiving but not let you be alone with her children. It becomes more flexible, more accommodating, perhaps, as the generational context changes, but it is the same animal. A forty-year-old woman living in New York City today probably cannot tell her friends, or herself, that she hates her brother because he’s gay. Nor can she tell them that she is cruel to him because her parents hate that he is gay, and this gives her more attention from her parents. Instead, she’ll just find another reason that is more generationally suitable. As one straight colleague on a job told me, “It’s not your homosexuality that I hate. It’s your clothes.”]
sarah schulman, ties that bind: familial homophobia and its consequences
