root causes

I really don’t want to write this, but I don't want to say nothing even though I actually disagree with the sentiment that everyone with an instagram login has to say “fuck ICE.” I don’t necessarily want to see a get-ready-with-me video from some botoxed GLP-1ed white lady, but I also don’t expect or even require people like that to Say Something.

Because we have been here before. George Floyd was murdered, and white people were really upset, and they shut the fuck up for a second, and they gave money to Black people, and they employed Black people, and they supported Black businesses and they hated the fucking cops and then it all melted away as soon as we got our first vaccinations, or as soon as we didn't. We were living with direct, tangible change, and it felt hopeful.

And then it didn't.

And then it was the same.

And then it got really fucking bad again, and I get that history repeats itself, which is why I’m so fucking mad that we are also asked to repeat ourselves. To vote for the “lesser of two evils.” When do we get to scream mercy and demand more? For better? For no evils?

Our country has never been welcoming to immigrants. The melting pot we learned about in elementary school is disingenuous because that's not what our country wants; it's just what our country has. Since the beginning of our nation's history, our political record of welcoming immigrants has been tense. We've always used fear tactics like "they're taking your jobs," even in the early 1900s. I'm not a history buff, and I'm not here to give you a lesson, but I pulled up some old articles and ended up getting lost in the sauce because I'm already sitting on the couch with a heating pad, so deeply upset that I can't even put on Gilmore girls. Why not read about America’s immigration history?

I want to eat my fist when people say anything along the lines of "this is because you didn't want to vote for a Black woman,” because what about the Black women who didn’t vote for Kamala Harris? What about the Black women who are sick to death of being told to be complacent and vote for someone who does not give a fuck about their best interests, about their bodies, about their lives? What about nuance in the conversation that just because Donald Trump is the worst person on earth, it doesn’t mean Kamala Harris is the best? Or even good?

Not even two months into Biden's presidency, children from Central America were being kept in borderland holding cells because there wasn't anywhere else for them to go. They do that with American kids, too, by the way, in foster care. They make them sleep in cars, hotels, or social workers' offices until they age out and end up in jail.

I get that Biden inherited a post-Trump presidency and there was no way to fix everything in a few months, let alone four years. But what about when Obama was in office for eight years? Kids were still sleeping in cars then. People were still being deported, sure, maybe with a little more legality behind it, all the time. Black people were still killed in the streets by law enforcement, all the time.

But Obama was fixing the Bush administration, so maybe he didn’t have time to focus on that, and maybe Bush was busy fixing...Clinton? Who was busy hanging out with Jeffrey Epstein, so I don’t know, guys.

I guess I want better.

I want a lot more from my country, from my government, from these fucking politicians. I have gotten into a lot of arguments about "but if Obama" or "but if Kamala," but the truth is, neither of those people aligns with my expectations either.

I've gone through phases of "it's just the way it is," but that doesn't work either. It doesn't stop the rage from bubbling inside me. It doesn't stop people from being murdered by loser authority figures. It doesn't stop our vicious historical cycles of hatred. It doesn't confront white supremacy; it enables it. "It is what it is," but what if it wasn't?

What if we fixed the things that don't fucking work? Why don't we give up the electoral college, since we've seen it fail us time and time again? Why don't these people do something about the policies that allow the most unqualified, disgusting, immoral, heinous, ugly, rule-breaking leaders to take office, not once, but twice? Why don't we make it completely impossible for disgusting rapists to be in charge of anything? Why don't we do away with life-long terms on the Supreme Court? Why don't we start fucking over?

I have seen the government do big things, and do them quickly. I don't think it's asking too much to live in a country with at least a few competent people in power. When COVID hit, they closed the schools, they stopped the sports, they didn't let famous people make their little movies or do their little music tours. They sent us money, made it illegal to evict people from their homes, raised unemployment rates, and started talking about myriad ways to make civilization a little more equitable.

But then we all said, "Oh, capitalism! It is what it is," and let them force us right back into this cruel, horrible world run by the worst people we share it with.

I am not telling you that Kamala Harris would let American citizens be murdered in the streets by ICE, but I am telling you we need a whole lot fucking more than the complacency that someone like Kamala Harris being in office would have given us. It also would have been a really racist and sexist time, and we need to stop pretending it'd be anything different. If you didn't realize how openly racist people were emboldened to be during Obama's presidency, you were probably also gobsmacked by Trump winning the presidency twice.

The way ICE terrorizes our streets, our schools, our children, our people needs to be handled with swift and immediate action, not words, not thoughts, not prayers, not posts online. The president should be forcibly removed, ICE should be immediately disbanded, they should all be fired from their jobs effective immediately, and anyone in an interim presidential role should be forced to come up with strategies that prioritize the health, safety, and lives of the American public.

Will that happen? No fucking way. But it should.

I will never vote for someone because of the color of their skin or their gender identity or how much they made me laugh on SNL or if they listen to cool music and read the same books I read. And I will never again vote for the lesser of two evils because I've been doing that my entire adult life, and look at where we're at today, in January 2026.

At least six people have died in ICE detention centers since the start of 2026. There were something like 30 deaths in ICE detention centers last year. We’re watching people be killed on instagram. Again. We cannot “it is what it is” this. We have to keep demanding better.

We deserve so fucking much more.

I'm still uninterested in having a conversation about ICE or the murders of Alex Pretti or Renee Good. I'm still mostly interested in being very, very angry and unapologetic for my rage. But one thing that felt tangible is some light community organizing. If your favorite spot (coffee shop, bar, restaurant) doesn't have information (zines, etc.) on immigrant rights or available whistles (with directions on use), I'd recommend looking up whistle hubs or anti-ICE organizing groups in your community. I spent most of Sunday doing so and helping arrange safe spaces that I hope are never used. I don't have a direct link because this kind of hyper-local organization shouldn’t have direct links, but please do your diligence and see what you can do to be there for your neighbors.

As this is a bookletter, half of what I have learned about why things are so fucked up comes from Haymarket Books. I'd recommend reading anything they've published that stands out to you.