Honestly, having had ICE prowling around my fucking city for the last two weeks, being Jewish raised in a Japanese American household, and having spent time talking with Black, Jewish, and Japanese friends alike during this fucked up time — I’m very much of the opinion that both the Gestapo and slave catcher comparisons to ICE are apt. Frankly, I think we should also be including Japanese Americans in our conversations as well because the forced relocation of Japanese Americans into internment camps is also living US memory. I have friends who are only one generation removed from their grandparents losing everything to internment and this is all stirring up those traumas for them as well.
The comparisons are all accurate because there multiple kinds of violence being committed that harken to them all simultaneously. They are all historical events that mirror our current reality that dig up deep generational traumas and fears within our own communities that we’re seeing replay out in real time. This is trauma unearthed over and over and over.
Instead of trying to decide which historical reference point is more accurate and rehashing our traumas back at forth at each other, we should be working together to create support and resources for the communities that are newly impacted by these traumas. How do we, as Jewish, as Black, as Japanese, etc. people who have experienced violence and hatred and dehumanization step up for our immigrant communities so they don’t have to face and struggle through these traumas in the same ways we have?
We’re so focused on being right about our historical comparisons that we’re not actually doing anything for these people and that’s disturbing to me.
I think we should all be more informed about how the police (and subsequently federal enforcement agents like ICE) are born out of slave catching. The Behind the Bastards miniseries, Behind the Police from 2020 [ iHeart ] is a boon of historical information on the direct link between modern American policing and slavery. I think we should all be more informed about how Nazi Germany learned its eugenics from Britain and the United States in the first place [ Radical History ] and simply enacted that violence and eugenics in ways that Britain and the US didn’t do so publicly. I think we should all be more informed on Japanese Internment [ Manzanar NPS ], you can listen to George Takei speak about his experiences in Japanese internment camps here [ FoundationINTERVIEWS ].
I think all of these histories are connected and what is happening with ICE is just another chapter in this history of violence against the perceived other. It’s interwoven now too. That’s just historical fact now. So what do we do about it?
sometimes I talk about disliking copyright/IP on here, and I always try to stress that the reason these conversations matter is because copyright law is used in real life to hurt real people. I want to highlight a current example of this happening which I haven’t seen talked about on my dash yet.
Solar Being is a small business run by two natural hair sculpting artists. their art has gone viral online a few times, and one of their most recognizable creations are their shaped hair puffs:
on Solar Being’s legal defense page they say they “believe [geometric hairstyle] designs should remain free for others to use, reinterpret, and express through their creative and commercial endeavors”. and if these copyright infringement complaints are held up, it will likely affect the rights of other natural hair sculpting artists to create designs like this.
if you’d like to support Solar Being’s legal fund they’re accepting donations now, and I’d recommend supporting them through social media as well. I’m not personally associated with Solar Being and am just repeating what they’ve already said through their website and social media.
lots of people around copyright/IP discussions like to talk about supporting artists, and if you want direct that supportive energy somewhere productive I feel this situation is one that deserves your attention.
men and women are not opposites. men and women are not enemies. men and women are two parts of a broad coalition which fights against a mutual enemy: inkjet printers
you know how “the brain doesn’t finish developing until 25” was a misinterpretation of a study where subject age capped out at 25? and you know how the ongoing Chernobyl meltdown was handwaved away because the radiation readings didn’t seem that high, when they were actually reaching the max level their cheap dosimeters could read and the real amount was thousands of times higher? anyway i’m wondering what other instances of that we’re just living with without realizing
It’s 2026. Stop letting politicians of any party convince you that we cannot protect human rights. It’s a matter of leadership and courage. If they don’t have it, vote them out of office.
Personal information of 4,500 ICE and Border Patrol agents is leaked online
The details from the leak have been uploaded to ICE List, a website that claims to have the identities of ICE agents, collaborators, and leadership personnel
It’s easy to look at these and assume “well, high crime cities need more police,” but i think that’s putting the cart before the horse.
Police make crime worse.
Police take fiscal oxygen out of the room, away from actual social support programs. The money spent on policing could go to housing, nutritional services, healthcare, civil rights, building inspections, labor rights enforcement, street maintenance, public transportation. But it goes to paying guys to sit around idling Ford Explorers all day and hitting poor people with sticks.
Crime follows poverty in absolutely every single case. Every single “high crime city” is because of the fucking poverty.
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