“Homegrown criminals next,” Trump said. “I said homegrowns are next, the homegrowns. You gotta build about five more places.” – Donald Trump speaking to El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, telling him he wanted to send “homegrown criminals” to his country next, according to a video posted by Bukele’s office on X.
Six weeks ago, I received a text from one of my mentors, a seventy-something-year-old Black man in Massachusetts who—after a career of social change and being on the front lines in some cases, as well as a career in technology—refuses to have any in-depth conversations by phone, text, or Zoom. The text simply read: We need to talk soon, it is important. After a few text exchanges to settle on a day and time to meet, I recently found myself in the most nondescript, almost empty Chinese restaurant, not far from Walden Pond.
To know me is to know that I don’t just randomly go meet with people without at least knowing why we are meeting. But when someone has been an important champion in my career for the last decade says that we need to talk—well, we need to talk.
As we settled into our seats at this nondescript restaurant, my old mentor wasted no time talking. He was scared—scared for the future of this country and our work. We talked shop; he wanted to know what I was doing and whether I was staying safe. He also wanted to know if I was still writing this blog. Most of the conversation wasn’t a surprise to me. I am aware that the risk level in my work has risen since that man has returned to office. Every piece I write could be the piece that lands me in the gulag, which is no longer hyperbole. Thanks to the man from South Africa and technology, they have all the pieces to put together a comprehensive database of dissenters and have the means to make our lives very uncomfortable. Lest you are unaware of what I am saying, there was a good piece recently in The New York Times that connects the dots of all the data the DOGE crew now have.
For the most part, my visit with my mentor—while nourishing on the heart level—wasn’t unexpected. We parted with him giving me a hug and telling me what he had said when he was part of the team that voted to hire me over a decade ago: Push all the buttons.
Never be afraid to push all the buttons because that is what we sometimes have to do to create change.
Friends, that lunch meeting has been sitting with me for the last few days. And today, well, today after hearing the snippet of 47 being cavalier in telling Nayib Bukele to build five more prisons for homegrown Americans, it is time for me to tell you: Push all the buttons.
For almost three months now, we have watched this administration take a wrecking ball to our nation’s infrastructure. We have seen the inane executive orders, and the general disregard of our national norms and laws. In the last month, we have seen this administration take law-abiding people, who are lawfully in the country, and have them snatched off the street and kidnapped for daring to not agree with this administration’s vision for the country. Or on suspicion of being gang members or “criminals” based on things such as tattoos. To date, the majority of those being snatched up and disappeared are not white people—but make no mistake, white people have been targeted as well. A common denominator in some cases being people who have expressed their views, which our Constitution gives them the right to do. But this administration is saying “nope, you gotta go.” The thing is, we have quietly tipped over into a full-blown constitutional crisis that isn’t getting the nonstop attention in needs to be getting.
Several days ago, the U.S. Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, made up of some questionable people, told the administration to do something. As of this writing, the administration is like “nah, we don’t think so.”
Last month, Kilmer Armando Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man originally from El Salvador, was one of the many kidnapped and sent off to an El Salvadorian gulag for allegedly being a gang member. But here’s the catch: In 2019, a U.S. immigration judge shielded Abrego Garcia from deportation to El Salvador because he likely faced persecution there by local gangs that had terrorized his family. The Trump administration deported him there anyway, later describing the act as “an administrative error” but insisting he was in MS-13.
Long story short, the Supreme Court instructed the administration to facilitate the release and return of Garcia, but the administration despite admitting their mistake says there is nothing they can do. The president of El Salvador, while sitting with 47, said he can’t release a “terrorist,” so despite numerous court rulings—including the Supreme Court’s weak demand to facilitate the release of Abrego Garcia—as of this writing, it doesn’t look like it will happen.
Friends, there are three branches of government for a reason: to avoid the very situation we find ourselves in. The executive branch is essentially telling the judiciary to eat shit, and apparently no one knows what to do. Or is too damn scared to do anything.
I also don’t believe for a minute that nothing can be done. I mean this isn’t rocket science; someone needs to get on a plane and go get this man. This is a choice. A choice that—if we the people continue to think we can fit resistance casually into our weekly rounds and that the scared-asses in Congress are going to do something—well, means some of us might eventually end up in those prisons. How long before our social media posts lead to knocks on our doors?
White skin won’t save you and neither will being born in this country, especially when the leader of this country can lightheartedly talk about needing prisons for the homegrowns. These people will absolutely try to strip citizenship away from people.
For the last several months, I have taken the approach that we need to maintain calmness and act. Unlike some of my writer/activist/commentator peers, I am not one to fall into what I see as being a purveyor of doom. There is always hope. I still believe that to be true and it is becoming clear to me that when the mainstream media starts discussing the constitutional crisis, our window to act is getting smaller. It is a lot easer to do something when you still can rather than after we are ass-deep into fascism and our communications have been cut.
While people are waking up and people are getting informed and people aren’t exactly sleepwalking through this time, there is still a little too much emphasis on “normal life.” The rest of the world seems to recognize that our house is on fire, but we as a collective still seem to be in doubt about how bad the fire is. Here is the thing: At a certain point, blaming the folks who voted for this is a waste of time. More people didn’t vote than those who did vote. More voters voted for someone other than 47 (Harris or a third party candidate) than voted for 47. So constantly yammering about “those people” isn’t how we build together. Right now, the building we need to do will require broad-based coalitions, including with some of those people.
Increasingly, people will need to confront their risk tolerance. While there has been some good mobilization, it isn’t moving needles in the ways we need. The uncomfortable truth is, history tells us what is next. Whether this administration is following the Project 2025 playbook, the Curtis Yarvin tech bro dreams or some weird hybrid, we know it looks damn identical to what happened to Germany. We also know what happens when nothing happens. How many of us will die? While fears of martial law are high, the truth is they have us in a mental jail already with the illusion of “safety.”
They are stripping our freedoms away and taking a wrecking ball to our country, snatching people off the streets, etc. But we are scared they are going to harm us. They are already harming us. They are stripping our country to the studs, for crying out loud—we may not even get flu shots because of these people. There is a full-blown measles epidemic in certain states and the administration isn’t concerned. Measles is one of the most infectious diseases ever and these people are playing willy-nilly with it. Two children have already died.
People are going to die whether from the mindless automatons carrying out orders or the many ways this administration is looking to reduce the population, which now includes making it harder for poor, hungry people to get food.
It is too easy to rationalize that if the bad shit happens to other people, it’s bad but it’s not really here. Friends, it is here, and this is where we must gather our courage and push back. We know these people are essentially overgrown bullies so if we can push past our collective fears, we can overcome them.
For obvious reasons, I am not going to explicitly say much else on an open channel, but I urge you to start talking with your local organizers and others and ponder how much more you can do.
Though I will say this: If simple rallies and protests are going to have a greater impact, folks are going to need to miss work, and we may need to create some mutual funds to help people do that. Saturday protests aren’t going to have the same punch as midday on Wednesday.
Lastly, I am also going to share a quick primer that my good homie Leslie Mac made a video about. As people do take to the streets, it is important to know the details. To quote Leslie: Not everything is a protest. A march is a symbolic movement, and a rally is a gathering plus information-sharing session. Protest is public opposition and direct action is disruption with a purpose. As she says in her video, if you are showing up, know how you are showing up, because strategy is power.
Things are getting heavy, shit is getting real, and while it is natural to be scared and feel overwhelmed we also must know that we can do hard things. We can work together and push all the buttons.
Friends, as my mentor told me, push all the buttons. It is time.
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Image by Shavr IK via Unsplash
Thank you for writing this. I agree with every word. Get out of our comfort zones and ACT. More and more people are getting hurt every day.