Red's Wrap
Happiness. It's relative.
They Belong Here with Us Friday Round-Up
It’s a grim day in Milwaukee. Two Milwaukeeans, both undocumented people with families and long work histories, are being deported. Both had been going through the years-long process to obtain whatever they needed to be legal residents, reporting as directed, following all the rules. But none of that matters now as Homeland Security decides that a dishwasher and dad of three and a teacher’s aide and mom of twins are so threatening to our way of life that they must leave the country.
We are paying taxes for this. To deport the dishwasher, Homeland Security relied on ‘evidence’ that the man had threatened the life of the president. The evidence was a handwritten letter in English. The dishwasher doesn’t speak English and cannot write in either English or Spanish. Also, his handwriting looks nothing like the threatening letter. Homeland Security doesn’t budge. It doesn’t matter if they’re wrong, they’re still right. We are paying for their shameless, unrepentant incompetence.
Tonight is Lester Holt’s last broadcast. He does the NBC evening news and is as close as we might come to a modern-day incarnation of Walter Cronkite. He is 65 and wants to do different things, but I wish he would keep doing this one thing – being trustworthy and truthful – and then, at the end of his broadcast, telling us to ‘take care of yourself and each other.’ Okay, even though I feel like I’m being left in the rain next to a shady-looking gas station.
Our cat is on steroids. This is not hyperbole. He is actually on steroids. There is something funky going on with his gut and the steroids are supposed to power up good things for him. As a consequence of the steroids, he is (I think) getting a bit of a thick neck. He is certainly eating way more, but he’s not shown any ‘roid rage’ yet. He remains a gloriously cool cat.
Next week, I’m meeting with a member of the Milwaukee County Youth Commission. I was asked to do this by a County Supervisor who thought I could give this young man ideas about how the Youth Commission could be a more active, advocacy-focused body, you know, like the Milwaukee County Commission on Aging. I loved this end to my week. There’s hope and possibility still lurking in the corners.
10 Comments on “They Belong Here with Us Friday Round-Up”
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Snow Door | wisconsinacademy.org
Listen to Jan read her essay “Billy” presented on WUWM’s Lake Effect
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“Fury Cannot Touch Me,” Modern Love, NYT, 9/29/11
jan – I just read this news below. is Ramon the gentleman who you were referring to who may have been framed? If yes, it is good news for him, but despicable that this was even allowed to happen.
A U.S. man, Demetric Scott, has been charged after admitting he falsely accused an immigrant of plotting to kill Donald Trump. Scott wrote letters pretending to be Ramon Morales-Reyes, the man he was also charged with assaulting, in an apparent attempt to frame him.
Yes, that’s the same person I wrote about. Ramon is still in ICE custody despite being set up. A Milwaukee advocacy group, Voces de la Frontera, is assisting him. Hopefully, he will be released and able to stay in Milwaukee while his case is pending. Such a terrible situation.
because they’ve determined he was set up, it should over, but of course not in this insane political environment we are trapped in
You’re an inspiring community leader. Thanks for sharing your stories. We like the CBS Evening News with John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois—so much better than David Muir/ABC which leads with weather every single night.
Maybe we should try CBS. It’s just nice to have a straight half hour of actual news without the endless commentary you get on cable news. I will really miss Lester, though. He was really solid.
I am utterly heartbroken about the beginning of your post, I read somewhere that this gentleman was being framed, so I am hoping for a reprieve and for the woman as well. I feel like they are just going for easy targets now, going for numbers. nothing to do with criminals, just strictly volume and it is sickening. in my local indivisible group I am part of our’ protection’ committee and we are working on ways to lend support to immigrants, the lgbtq community, and minorities who are being targeted by the administration and his minions. this is a terrifying and tragic situation and cannot be quiet about it. I’m sad about Lester holt leaving too, he is one of the classic news journalists in the truest sense and he will be so missed by so many. hope you cat recovers and uses his new steroid superpowers to fight evil. ) glad you are working with the young man to give him ideas moving ahead, active youth are our hope for the future.
I think the immigration plan now is to inspire fear in everyone and it is working. The capriciousness is so jaw-dropping, it feels like anything can happen to anyone. Awful. And will probably get worse before it gets better.
Love the photo of your cat, but the news about the deportations makes me physically ill. How could so many millions of people all lose their hearts at the same time? It is heartbreaking.
I’m not sure I will ever understand how this could be happening. How any American person could put on a pair of jeans, a flannel shirt, and a mask and go ‘arrest’ people off the street. Who are they? The case of the mom with twins is beyond sickening. She’s been here 14 years, has a work permit, been a teacher’s aide in the public schools for a long time and understood that she was on the path to citizenship. Instead, she was told to ‘self-deport’ in four days. It’s scary and frustrating. There are attorneys and advocacy groups trying to help but it’s to no avail. Horrible situation.
Just one of a plethora of horrible things they are doing. But the worst part is all of the people who seem to be supporting it.