Nothing overtly happened but, damn, I am still shaking, 20 minutes later. On my way to work just now, I got off the bus and heard whistles and honking nearby– – so I walked over to what was some sort of ICE action – –videoing with my phone– – the more footage there is if something happens, the better— for different angles.
I was doing the Little Book of Calm breathing and self-talk, and still my adrenaline shot through the roof. Besides the alarming noises, those ICE guys are SCARY.
I walked past a van load of them sitting with van windows down – –they cover their entire face except for their eyes in black masks. Dual purpose to hide and to intimidate. Worked on me!
But I was SO PROUD of our young people—some were obviously coordinating with each other, on Signal or something— blowing whistles and syncing their movements. At one point a slim young woman sprinted past at full speed, blowing her whistle, toward where ICE vans were gathered —she was like an Olympic gazelle, and my heart ❤️ swells in gratitude for her.
My 22 sec. video below is safe to watch—nothing happens —just loud honking (drowning out the whistles, which actually were very loud!).
It died down – – ICE drove off – – I couldn’t quite tell what had gone down…. Real life is confusing and not like a movie scene.
The person walking & filming in front of me turned around and walked back towards me, and as they came near, I reached out and they gave me a big hug. “For grounding”, they said. We exchanged a few words of sophisticated analysis along the lines of “Those fuckers!”
I hung around for a few minutes—offered a whistle kit to a bystander, who took it—but it seemed the agents had moved on – – to spread fear and to arrest innocent people elsewhere. (I suppose some of the people they arrest are guilty of something, but mostly I’m hearing from coworkers and customers about people seized who’ve done nothing but lack papers. Or not even that.)
Well, I’m glad nothing happened, since this was my first encounter. Trial run, for me.
Maybe I’ll be calmer next time, but I doubt it. As you can hear on the video, the noise alone is enough to alarm and jangle your nerves.
They are just grabbing people... period....sheer intimidation.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, yes, that's it. And it is intimidating!
DeleteAs Renee Good's wife said, "We had whistles. They had guns."