I currently live in ICE-occupied territory. Contrary to news reports, Operation Metro Surge is not just in one city, but the suburbs and places nearly as far away as even two hours from the city of Minneapolis. That’s how far west of Minneapolis the city of Willmar is, where ICE agents ate lunch, enjoyed the meal, and came back to detain workers later that day when the restaurant closed. If you cannot count on safety at your place of work, when you are serving the very people who are there to remove your freedom, where can you feel safe?
As a Pagan of color, I am careful where I go, with whom I associate, and ask questions that I have not had to ask for nearly three decades, since I lived for a time in Russia, then the U.S.S.R. The difference is that as a visitor to another country, I was aware of the rules that I needed to obey to have a fulfilling experience for a brief time. Until the start of 2026, the act of carrying papers everywhere just in case one is stopped was a reality foreign to me within the United States of America. For me, it recalls a mentality and a mask worn only in certain locations outside of the United States, not within the confines of the land of my birth.
It reminds me that freedom is restricted, and that peace requires weapons to survive.
Noah Wulf
American Flag
As Americans, we pride ourselves on freedom: the freedom to practice the faith of our choice or no faith at all, the freedom to speak, the freedom for journalists to present the truth in media, the freedom to gather including when we demonstrate our love for our country by protesting, and the freedom to petition our government for redress.
The first amendment of the U.S. Constitution is the crown jewel of our democracy. As one who is living in a forever-changed besieged land, I seek weapons to ensure peace.
We are all immigrants, except for the Indigenous whose lands we have occupied for many decades. Some of us came unwillingly with no recourse to find our homes or families once we were here as enslaved peoples. Others came to escape and to create a new life in a strange land. English is a customary language, but think of how many immigrants arrived speaking another language which two or three generations later descendants would try to claim in exploring or finding their roots? One common variant pattern was one of a first generation wanting to fit in through assimilation of the common language of English, followed by letting the languages of their origins lapse in their children and grandchildren.
Changes in our population developed a greater acceptance of the melange of linguistic jewels that form the many communities in our nation. The goal over time became less about stressing conformation and more about building a unified body of primarily diasporic peoples who come together to build a common home in a new land.
Race and the use of skin color in the United States has taken a social concept with no biological basis and made it into a dominant underlying issue in this country. Everything from birth certificates, to the decennial census that determines the composition of U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, to medical records and the treatment one may received as judged by medical expectations by race, to school enrollment records or college financial aid (FAFSA) forms. Stating that it is for statistical purposes only belies the reality: race is a label that taints each individual living in the United States. The irony of “whiteness” is how it has not remained static over the nearly past two-hundred and fifty years.
The “who” that counted as “white” has evolved. W.E.B. Du Bois reminds readers in his classic, “The Souls of White Folk,” that the notion of whiteness is a recent phenomenon. If the default racial experience is white, then everyone else who arrives and who is not considered white becomes “othered” or less than in a social, and eventually legal, stance. Attaining a status of whiteness implies neutral stance – free of racial discrimination due to the visual presence of whiteness and the privilege which accompanies this label. Many aspects of discrimination based on race, cultural identity, and religious identity reflect negatively on non-whites or perceived non-whites.
Historically, the Immigration Restriction Act of 1921 and the Immigration Act of 1924 (the Johnson-Reed Act) granted favor to whites from Northern Europe while excluding or severely limiting those from other parts of the world. These restrictions shaped the image of what and who counted in America. The expansion and repeal of some of these barriers lasted for just over two generations until the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (Hart–Celler Act) expanded those who could enter and changed the basis for entry from a focus on a homogenous appearance to one where immigrants from Asia, Africa, Southern and Eastern Europe were included.
Think about how the idyllic “American Dream” pictured in the 1950s by who or what it did not include. A family would consist of a male and female parent with two children, a house with a yard and a white picket fence. While media did include portrayals of non-white individuals in films, it was rare and considered more of an exception than a standard. The practice of redlining, among others, ensured that a guaranteed freedom for the pursuit of happiness was based on fitting into this type of primarily image of whiteness. The National Origins Formula as engineered with the implementation of the two aforementioned acts in 1921 and 1924 cemented what would be seen as the “American Dream” as the ideal. Therefore, even though the concepts were universal, the image of what could be created and who could gain that reality was restrained by societal and legal means. The 1960 Census noted a population of 88% white versus 89.3 percent in 1950.
What we have gained in the United States since the 1965 Act has been a blossoming of attempts at diasporic and linguistic acceptance. If we are to be welcoming all, as the often remarked expression on the Statue of Liberty reminds us, then we should behave that way.
In the midst of the crowd at the Minnesota General Strike on January 23, 2026, a sign that reads “ICE OUT!” [Flickr, Lorie Shaull, CC 2.0]
This weekend marks Super Bowl LX with Bad Bunny, one of the world’s most popular entertainers as a part of the half-time show. He is fully American, yet because he sings and speaks primarily in Spanish, his appearance at the Super Bowl has been criticized. However, his ability to do so, makes not only his halftime show, but also the reality of his existence in our society a gift. Our country has no official language, and as such, we have many languages to express how we feel. The last time I checked, Puerto Rico is not only a part of the United States since the 1917 Jones-Shafroth Act, but if it weren’t for certain rulings of the Insular Cases, we could have had Puerto Rico as a state, just as we do our current 50th state of Hawaii. While Hawaii was considered incorporated and therefore on a path to statehood, unincorporated regions such as Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands do not have such considerations. In all cases, they are citizens of the United States.
I view Bad Bunny’s performance as a weapon of peace if only to remind all who listen to his music that he is a part of the choice we make in the United States to fully accept all of our citizens. Besides, his music is positive and filled with love.
Overall, peace while living in these turbulent times requires certain weapons to survive: the choice to shop for our neighbors who fear leaving the house, the decision to look after children or to be on record just in case parents are taken away, to spend money at businesses which align with our values and are run by those from our communities, and to avoid or refrain from enriching the pockets of those who are choosing to cause pain through inflammation of the open lacerated wounds that dot the body of our country.
Our democracy bleeds through the swelling that the increased reduction in perceived freedom brings to those who live here.
My hairdresser immigrated years ago from a country on Trump’s sh**hole list both the 2018 and the 2025 versions. She was the first to remark in 2017 after the inauguration that the president could easily have fit the mold of a traditional African dictator. In January 2026 amidst the turbulence, she remarked that unlike earlier it no longer mattered if you were born here, had a clear American accent, but that if you were a person of color, you needed to carry your papers.
We are in a critical moment as a nation and as peoples who have chosen to stay or to come to this land. The message for those who live peacefully within its borders is a harsh return to the edicts of 1921 and 1924 without pointing out these historical efforts to cut out the “other” as perceived by a white Northern and Western European immigrant majority. Too many areas, similar to what is happening in the state of Minnesota are experiencing an influx of ICE far more than what has been traditionally present in recent decades.
For those reading this, I urge you to remember our history, our shared history as a nation, our family histories, our cultural history, and our religious history. Look to our ancients for guidance, wisdom and tips on how to survive. If you are a fortunate one who lives where there has not been disruption find ways to help and to be present for others, but remember: your safety and sanity are just as important. For those who can protest publicly, thank you and I wish you safety in expressing the rights we have and share. For those who can run errands for neighbors, or be there for the children of the detained or deported, I thank you and wish you good health and strength in your service. For those who can economically afford to boycott companies whose actions or values are not in line with your own, please do so, and I thank you.
We have just under five months before we celebrate a milestone. It is not too late to remember who we are. It is not too late to remember why we are here, whether born or immigrant. It is never too late to remember and to practice what we can do to preserve the freedoms we deserve.
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