Hi!
Thanks for opening this email / reading this post.
A PhD student, legally studying in the US, was abducted off the street a few blocks from where I live last week, because she didn’t love Israel enough. Six masked “officers,” presumably recruited by ICE after they were deemed too stupid to become cops, stopped her on her walk to an iftar, brandished weapons (but not ID), and she was sent into a penal system of prison camps scattered across the US.
The abduction of Rümeysa Öztürk shocked my liberal community. She held many characteristics important to people “like me.” She worked very hard, had a stellar education, and was continuing her pursuit of academic excellence. The city was instantly mobilized. I went to a rally that same day, full of families and students. There were two little kids near me, probably not even old enough to be in grade school. They were protecting an uncommonly long earthworm, circling it so that it wouldn’t meet the sole of a Hoka Clifton. Their parents wanted to move along, but the kids couldn’t leave the worm. They asked the adults around them “can you look after him?” and “will you make sure he’s ok?” After a few reassurances from bystanders, the kids left, and the worm was ground into the sidewalk by someone who had no idea it existed.
It can feel good to join something, to shout, to come together with righteous indignation. But I think the real revolution is in watching out for the earthworms. What happened to Rümeysa is something that happens in the United States, under any administration. Policing organizations with outsized power rely on violence every day to intimidate people. The ones in power claim to be persecuted yet face no consequences for the commiting vile crimes. And while we tumble into fascist disarray, it’s so important to cling to humanity. We have to hold tight to the ability to identify inhumanity, so even if the person being thrown into a van and disappeared isn’t a Fulbright Scholar, we feel sick and horrified and react accordingly. Free Rümeysa and everyone else forever.
And a few links for good measure.
The only thing in weeks that has made me feel like someone is watching out for us.
In case you’re wondering.
Tunes to start the week with:
Taking a break from listening to Haim on repeat to sneak in two Little Simz singles ahead of her new record coming early May. “Flood” is so good and deserves to be played loud. I’m pumped - 2022’s NO THANK YOU is a perfect rap album.
xx