The View from a Drawbridge

One of the best takeaways I got from the No Kings Rally here in Seattle was a laminated card that lists your basic rights if you are confronted by Ice. It’s a sad day in America when carrying something like that brings one comfort, but it does. And here I am, as White Anglo-Saxon Protestant as they come. I can’t imagine what it’s like for those who are not.

But we’ve all started thinking and doing things we never thought we’d have to think or do, haven’t we? For example, when I heard that ICE was purchasing “guided missile warheads”, I was horrified, but at the same time, I wasn’t particularly surprised. Any agency that is willing to fire teargas at people within its own country when no war has been declared, and does not think twice about raiding neighborhoods and ripping families apart without even a hint of due process, clearly has no moral compass and is capable of just about anything.

I was really relieved to discover that the “guided missile warheads” story turned out to be false. This is not the first time I’ve been grateful for Snopes, and it won’t be the last. However, this particular debunking article still gave me pause, because it basically said, don’t worry. They just mislabeled other purchases, such as a f**kload of teargas and other distraction devices of an explosive nature.

Whew. That’s a load off. Here I thought we had something to worry about with these unrepentant thugs.

Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah. The Know Your Rights cards. I discovered that you can get free printable copies of these cards here, on the No Kings website. And the best part about it is that they have them in 10 different languages.

That got me thinking. I decided to print out a sheet of the Spanish version, cut them out, and keep them in my wallet, too. Currently, it seems that it’s the Latino community that’s most often targeted. If I have those cards and I see something going down, I can pass them out, and I can also stand up and shout the rights out as loud as I can in Spanish to everyone within earshot.

I urge you to do the same. And if you know any community centers for people who speak other languages, perhaps print these things out and give them to them as well, or at least tell them where they can find them. If you know compassionate people who employ a lot of people that ICE might target, have them distribute these cards, too. Maybe drop some off at your local food bank. I’m even planning to put them in my Little Free Library.

I hope you’ll join me in trying to get these cards into the hands of as many people as possible. It makes me sick that it feels so important to do so these days. And yes, they may have the teargas, but that doesn’t mean we have to make things easy for them. In fact, that’s a darned good reason to avoid doing so.

Stay peaceful. Stay lawful. But know your rights. Because they are counting on you not doing any of those things.