F*ck Ice.
I mean, I feel like the title is pretty self-explanatory.
Let me give you a little background.
I had a History teacher in 6th grade, let’s call him Mr. K.
Mr. K was one of those fun teachers, you know what it’s like at that age. You’re mean and you’re angry without a cause. But Mr. K understood that, he understood what we needed and was a relaxed teacher.
He wasn’t very serious though, always joking and picking fun at us. I loved him for that.
Well, one day, I walk into class and everyone is pretty quiet, Mr. K looks serious, standing in front of the classroom, which he never did. He didn’t look angry, just serious and a little stressed. I’ll never forget the words he told us that day.
“Everyone sit down and shut up, I need you to be serious for me for the next couple days. There’s a section in your history books that we’re coming to that I’m about to teach. I have three days to teach you about this awful point in history when I should have a whole month. So, You’re going to sit there and you’re going to watch. Because I’m going to show you these videos unfiltered and uninterrupted. I’m not going to sugar-coat or filter anything that shows up, because I need you all to understand how horrible this event was.”
He said,
“You all are the next generation. Some of you will be lawyers, politicians, presidents, governors, or regular everyday people. You all will be in charge one day, and you need to make sure nothing like this ever happens again.”
I’ve never forgotten those words. And the event he was teaching us about?
The Holocaust.
I never looked away during those videos. I watched every bit he showed us. The whole class stayed silent as we watched people be slaughtered. I made a promise to myself as a kid, that I’d grow up angry. I’d grow up to be this angry powerful force that would stand up in the face of wrong-doing.
And I’ve lived by that. No matter what happens to me, I stand up against people being marginalized, whether I agree with their views or not. And with all the activity I’ve seen around I.C.E. in these past few months, looks oddly familiar to another point in history that we actively condemn.
I don’t care what the f*cking reasoning is for mass deportation, the backbone of our justice system is “Innocent until proven Guilty”, so why are they being treated as Guilty?
They are us, and I won’t let their voices be silenced.