LWC, 19: Navigating ICE Terrorism As First-Gens

we talk about the impact on our community and the dangers they face, while ignoring the impact it has on us as "safe" "outsiders"

I know a lot of us don’t actually feel safe. Maybe we have papers, maybe we were born here, maybe we’re white or “white passing” but the reality is that watching state-sanctioned violence against our people- our communities- is having profound effects on our mental health as first gens.

We feel helpless, there’s nothing we can do to stop this
We feel hopeless, there’s no end in sight
We feel desperate for it to end, without knowing what to do

And I feel all of this with you- I’m white af, my last name is fucking SCHWIPPERT for god’s sake, ain’t no human trafficker (aka ICE agent) arresting my white ass. And yet.. I’m still negatively affected by the horrors our people face.

So, I want to use this newsletter as an opportunity to acknowledge how it’s affecting you, me- all of us, and encourage everyone reading this to not gaslight yourself. I know other people “have it worse” (they’re undocumented, they live in more-targeted cities, they’re “browner” than you) - sure. And also we’re watching entire government entities dehumanize us and ethnically cleanse the country of our people. Many of us are afraid to leave our homes, we’re afraid for our parents, siblings, ties, primes leaving their homes… It’s all valid.

And we must take care of ourselves, our mental health, our “cups” to make sure they’re full enough to keep going. This might be a little bit of toxic positivity or something like it, but we really have to rest, feel empowered, and acknowledge that we don’t actually need 50% of the country- 150 million people- to agree with us and fight with us.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott had ~40,000 people participating over the span of 13 months. We do need a lot of people but we don’t need everyone. We need to do what we can in the ways that work for us to continue to spark real, greater change.

Please don’t get discouraged. Please don’t stop. I’m here with you, there are a lot of people who are also doing what they can, feeling the way you feel, and need the reminder to fill their own cups in order to be energized enough to keep fighting the good fight.

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Lo que viene:

I have a podcast episode dropping July 15th-ish. Catch up on past episodes here while you wait.

As a reminder: the LWC is on summer break! I’m spending the summer acclimating to my new anti-depressant, resting, working with clients, and volunteering locally. I have no energy to hang out with friends tbh, but feel free to try to convince me otherwise.

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Book & Pod Rec:

Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut. This book is about funding people rather than wars. I’d like to make it clear that I hate the prison industrial complex that gets the U.S. government hard enough to fuck us all left and right. It’s the reason our schools are so shitty, it’s the reason people of the global majority are terrorized globally. We must divest from all forms of policing. Watch my episode on the book here.

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