I was traveling via the 44 bus into Manhattan when a young woman with a toddler and a one month old got on. She was wheeling a stroller. Joan always reminds me of how difficult those things are to maneuver. I offered her and her daughter my seat.
As I stood beside the seat, I noticed a sign for an area by the door specifically designated for strollers. Unfortunately, the young mom couldn’t use it because a guy was sitting in the space, so involved with his phone that he didn’t see the sign directly over his head. When he got off, she moved. She obviously knew it was there. The guy…it probably didn’t matter to him because he wasn’t the one with the stroller.
And speaking of moms…yes, most of my time the following week was spent either reading or thinking about the murder of Renee Good, a wife and mother of three, who was shot dead by an ICE agent after she either struck him with her car or was trying to pull away from him. She was either a mom just dropping off her 6-year-old at school or a member of “ICE watchers,” who had been trolling a Minneapolis deployment of agents, looking for a reason to ram them. The only time it was mentioned that she was gay by any of the media, before her wife decided to speak out, was when Jesse Waters mentioned with a smirk that she used pronouns.
Whatever side you take in this story (and I know we all have a side), you have to ask yourself certain questions. Number one is: regardless of the infraction, is it the right of a law enforcement officer to kill a citizen? He said she tried to run her over. Okay, understandable panic. But then, after shooting her, to utter a phrase that women have repeatedly heard when they’ve refused a man’s advances and to walk to his car and drive away says to me this man hadn’t a second thought about what he had just done. Business as usual.
A friend told me the shooter had been dragged by a car a few months previously while attempting another arrest. Perhaps he should have sought counseling for that or not been deployed in a way that would have put him at risk. ICE doesn’t seem to care. It’s sort of like the DOE…they throw everybody into the deep end of the pool. If you swim, fine. If you drown…well, you weren’t cut out for this kind of work anyway.
“If only she’d obeyed the law…” was a refrain I heard time and again from apologists. How did she break it? By almost (but not actually) running over a man waving a gun at her, trying perhaps to escape? Again, even in the act of committing a crime, is a law enforcement officer allowed to kill the criminal? ICE is not responsible for law enforcement, just immigration. Regardless of that, they were there and their training (or lack of) probably allows them to get involved in situations they perceive as dangerous.
I also read comparisons to Ashli Babbit. Where was our moral outrage when she was killed? Ashli was shot by a Capitol guard on Jan. 6, 2021 as she attempted to break into the Capitol along with thousands of other patriots, 1500 of whom were pardoned by the president, 33 of whom were re-arrested on charges of soliciting sex from minors. Classy group. And, not exactly the same scenario.
But, by a certain kind of logic, they should have also been shot or killed because they were breaking the law. Except, they’re all still free and some folks even think they may have been recruited for ICE. Their boorish behavior would seem to bear that logic out.
Some people think that they’re invulnerable to this kind of scrutiny or situation. They fly their flags and have their “Back The Blue” decals on their trucks and SUV’s. They seem to think that because their name doesn’t end in a certain way that they will be able to convince anybody that they’re American citizens and that they are free from harassment. But, it hasn’t really worked that way. There are countless stories of folks being arrested/detained/held and then let go when it turned out they actually were citizens with no prior criminal record.
Rev. Kenny Callaghan was set free when he refused to show fear and the agent remarked that he was “no fun because you’re white.” Is there a different bounty for people of color, I wonder?
Later that day, on my way home, a man asked me what to do when we left the ferry. I explained and we sat in silence for awhile, scrolling through our phones. He repeatedly seemed to fall asleep, but he leaned forward, not sideways. I gently nudged him each time and reminded him that we were almost there. We both got off the ferry and went our separate ways.
And I thought about small acts of kindness, how, perhaps they don’t amount to much. Giving someone your seat, or just gently watching out for them. Giving someone a smile, holding a door open. Kindly responding to a question. Letting somebody get ahead of you in traffic. Not grabbing the last slice of pizza at a party. Showing concern when someone doesn’t feel well. Small acts of kindness.
But together, they create a warmth and a glow that may light the world.
Please, be kind. We are called to clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. We are called to forgive as G-d has forgiven us.
And we are called to bear witness to evil, to comfort the sorrowful and protect our sisters and brothers to the best of our ability.
Know your rights. Fight the good fight. Shine a light.
And hold those magnificent grey heads higher.
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