Being backed into a corner is a feeling everyone can relate to, even if we pretend to be stronger and braver than we really are. The machine towers over us with a malevolent indifference and targets the most vulnerable.
This fear keeps me up at night desperately finding information to add to the ledger. So many lives stolen and taken by the hands of a regime that will never know the touch of love. When you lift your head and try to grasp the sheer size of this monolith, it is enough to humble anyone. Propaganda, algorithms, controlled opposition, so many ways they infest the minds of the masses demanding that we accept what we see as the new normal. Berating our senses ad nauseam.
Know this, the feeling of hopeless abandon is a manufactured lie. It is a tactic, a trick, a weapon that has us feeling as if the boot is about to press against our throats, leaving us pleading for one last breath.
That is how they want us to feel, but know this, you are not powerless. We are not gasping for air. We share the air, use our collective strength to lift the boot, and regroup to find unconventional asymmetrical ways to resist.
On the front lines are legal minds that burn the midnight oil, in the foreground are people that keep the ledger, document, advocate, and empower others. Then there are those who may not be outwardly resisting but silently doing so with their wallets, avoiding places like Home Depot that collaborate with ICE or businesses that have contracts with DHS.
Together we are the wood, the iron, and the spearhead. That being said, a spear cannot move without the weight of the community pushing it forward. What this means is hands from all walks of life must be steadfast and in unison.
Activists, researchers, people who refuse to stay quiet, and people doing everything to make sure the truth stays the truth. When people are actually talking about it, it puts real pressure on ICE and the federal government. This is how communities, cities, and states take their power back.
This is how you force the hand of the regime. We must not forget. It is we who have the power, we just have to choose to use that power each and every single day to keep each other safe.
