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SURVIVING THE ICE AGE: A Plan for Action

The silence of good people is more dangerous than the brutality of bad people. Martin Luther King

We are a group of concerned citizens---academics, activists, artists, educators, professionals and writers---who believe that policies and actions of the Trump administration are an existential threat to the wellbeing of Latin@s and of our fellow Americans.  Their objectives are to:

·        subvert our democratic and representative order,

·        to designate all who oppose that objective as the enemy,

·        to make democratic institutions--- the judiciary, law enforcement, and the military--- instruments of the state,

·        to weaponize those institutions against all entities that oppose their project,

We further believe that those policies and actions seek to turn over 

·        the direction of the agencies of the state to white supremacists, and

·        the wealth of the citizens and of the state to the already wealthy.

While there are assaults on multiple sectors of American society, our focus is on the detention and deportation of undocumented immigrants, who are overwhelmingly Latino.  The alleged rationale for ICE’s policies and actions is that they are criminals. The true objective is more nefarious:  the undermining of the status of all immigrants, including those who have been granted protected status, permanent residency, or recent citizenship.  These assaults impel us

·        to inform ourselves about ICE policies and actions and the threat that they pose not only to Latinos but to all citizens, in order

·        to educate a broader audience about the threat that ICE actions pose for Latinos, U.S. society and American democracy and its institutions.

To succeed in our initiative, we need to find ways of exposing the ideology, the narrative, the discourse, and the extra-judicial measures being used to demonize immigrants. Our immediate challenge is to counter the ideology, the narrative(s) and the discourse(s) being used dehumanize immigrants, and by extension, to intimidate all Latin@s and Americans who oppose these actions by advancing our own ideology and narrative.

Ideology

The U.S. is a democracy, not an autocracy, a multi-cultural society made up of immigrants from throughout the globe, and is it is governed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, whose protections and rights extend to all its residents.

Narrative(s)

The policies and actions of the Trump Administration, its federal agencies, and those of collaborating state administrations are unlawful, unjust, undemocratic, and un-American.  Its proponents seek to impose an authoritarian, White Supremacist regime, one that serves some and not all citizens. Recent efforts to whitewash American history at the Smithsonian Institutions reveal that brazen agenda.

Discourse(s)

Latin@s are your fellow Americans, your neighbors, your fellow workers, members of your congregations, already are or will soon be your in-laws.  Regardless of their status, they are good citizens, pay their taxes, contribute to the wellbeing of your community. Their children and grandchildren will assure your future.

Audience

The good people of MLK's aphorism, e.g. folks, whatever their ethnic or racial origins, economic status or their political affiliations, whose ethos is that all persons, whatever their status, should be treated fairly and properly and share in the protections available under the Constitution and the Bill of Rights

Our Plan of Action

·        To engage folks who are deeply concerned with the situation, who seek ways to respond to it, and who have talents and abilities we do not possess

·        To use traditional media platforms, i.e. newspapers, journals, television, radio, to communicate with a larger audience

·        to provide actionable ideas, images and stories to colleagues and allies who can disseminate them to a broader audience via social media platforms