The Police State Nightmare Rolls On

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

I have two granddaughters, both are thirteen, and both are very sweet young ladies.  The girls are cousins to each other and live in different parts of the United States, and poor old Pa Rock's opportunities to visit with them seem to decrease with each passing year.  Recently I had an opportunity for an extended visit with one of the girls where I was able to pick up on a couple of things regarding her thoughts on politics.  First I learned that she is no fan of Donald Trump, and then I also found out that the reason for her dislike of Trump is that she lives in constant fear that some of her friends are going to be kidnapped off the streets by Trump's masked ICE goons and sent to live in cages or be deported - never mind that many of them were born in the United States and have always lived here.

Those children of hard-working immigrants live in fear, and because they are rightfully afraid of their own government,  their friends and classmates are scared for them.  What the hell kind of "freedom" is that when children are forced to live in fear?

And in a closely related matter:

Earlier this week I saw photos on the internet of ICE agents and what appeared to be members of the US military using smoke grenades as they rounded up migrant agricultural workers from the crop fields of central California.   After pressure from corporate farming and the hospitality industry a couple of weeks ago, Trump had said that he would cut agricultural and hospitality workers some slack, but apparently Herr Miller and Herr Bannon both rushed into the Oval Office and helped the President to change his mind back to their position of deporting everyone they could grab.  (Stephen Miller, Trump's Deputy Chief of Staff, has set an arbitrary quota of 3,000 migrant arrests per day, and to meet that number he's using a big net with minimal exceptions or safeguards.)

Then yesterday, with the images of those farmworkers trying to run for safety through the rows of crops and smoke still clear in my mind, I received an email from my cousin, Susanna, in California who had been a firsthand witness to the incident.  She has given me permission to share her observations in this blog posting.  It follows:

"Yesterday I drove down our bucolic mountain pass toward an appointment in Santa Barbara.  The views of the sparkling lake, mountains of rugged pink dotted with scrubby fire hardy greenery, and avocado groves placed with an optimist's hand into the hillsides - I can count on this winding hypnotic vision to bring me an overwhelming sense of calm.

"Ventura County is an embarrassment of riches, both in terms of beauty, and good neighbors.

"As I approached the ocean, I saw something I will never forget.  The most sweet and peaceful hamlet turned into a militarized zone.   Men in full combat gear carrying rifles.  Other men, in street clothes and bullet proof vests wearing masks and no identifying ID.  

"ICE agents are kidnapping hard working and gentle people working in agriculture, in restaurants, walking down the street (that happened in my town!).

"The kind people of Ventura County came out immediately to be supportive of these agricultural workers in Carpinteria, and experienced our own military being used against them.

"I did not sleep last night.  I did not even try."

What America is experiencing right now is not freedom, nor liberation, or even some grand re-balance of justice or the economy.  It is fascism and racism, pure and simple.

We are better than that.

This police state nightmare has to end!