We will have to save ourselves

People—without weapons, without face coverings—are showing up to protect their fellow human beings who are deserving of respect, whether they have a document or not.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Baltimore on Jan. 29. (ice.gov)

By Shalise Manza Young

It has become increasingly clear that, for at least the foreseeable future, we the people are the only ones that will save each other.

Doing so takes a level of bravery and courage nearly every elected official, across the entire political spectrum, won’t muster. Many of them are whining that they won’t do their job because of threats from overzealous MAGA adherents. They are the ones who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution—you know, the document that says all people in this country no matter their status are entitled to due process, everyone born on this soil is a citizen, the one that stipulates that the president, Congress and Supreme Court are supposed to share the governing instead of giving king-like powers to one hyper-narcissistic, lying, grifting, racist, 34-times-convicted criminal?

“Whining” might seem harsh, but the individuals and small groups we’re seeing in video after video across all social media platforms putting their physical and mental well-being on the line to help others they might not even know took no such pledge. They are the ones standing in the breach.

They are the ones showing what “we the people” looks like.

Earlier this month, armed federal agents (or what looked to be federal agents; when they’re masked and unidentified, they can be any fool with an Amazon account looking to terrorize Black and brown folk) descended on a Manhattan park and approached boys at baseball practice. They began asking questions–where they’re from and if their parents were from the United States—until coach Youman Wilder shut them down. He told the players they had a Fifth Amendment right to not respond, and the agents that the kids had their 14th Amendment rights.

The agents eventually left, but the incident left the kids and their families so rattled that even after Wilder changed practice times, only a few returned.

Wilder told CNN he was willing to die that day to make sure the children got home to their families. And make no mistake: Not only did Wilder put himself on the line that day, he’s putting himself on the line by publicly sharing the story on national news programs.

Healthcare workers at a surgical facility in Ontario, Calif., put themselves between an armed agent and a gardener who had been working on the grounds and ran inside the building when suspected Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrived. The healthcare workers told the agents the building was private property and demanded to see identification and a warrant for the man’s arrest. Unfortunately, the gardener was eventually apprehended.

Also in California, multiple protestors were on hand as ICE raided a farm in Camarillo; that incident included gas-masked agents throwing canisters that held a chemical substance like tear gas. In a photo reminiscent of the tank man from the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations, Rebecca Torres stood in front of a large ICE truck during the raid, stoic and defiant.

Last month, Adrian Martinez, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen, approached heavily armed agents who were questioning one of his coworkers; Martinez was tackled to the ground by multiple men and forced into a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol truck. It was over 24 hours before his mother learned that he’d been brought to the Los Angeles federal building.

Every day, regular people, without weapons, without face coverings—because they are unashamed of what they do—and possibly without thinking of the consequences they could face, are showing up to protect their neighbors, their coworkers, their fellow human beings who are deserving of respect, whether they have a document or not.

Politicians, particularly Republicans, are showing time and again that they truly do not care for their constituents and are only looking out for themselves and their cushy jobs. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) caved to vote for the most destructive legislation in memory—Murkowski after getting some small concessions for her state and Burchett apparently for some trinkets with President Donald Trump’s signature scrawled on them. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) wimped out and voted for Pete Hegseth’s confirmation as defense secretary earlier this year but found his spine only after announcing he would not seek reelection. Tillis voted nay on the BBB (I will not call it by its name), finally voting against harming hundreds of thousands of people in his state.

Yet people like Wilder, Torres, Martinez, the staff at the California surgical facility, and others in cities and towns all over the country have their spines, stiff and strong. They know right from wrong. They see authoritarianism and they fight it. They have the bravery and courage it takes in this moment.

In this moment, we the people are the only ones who will save each other.

Shalise Manza Young was most recently a columnist at Yahoo Sports, focusing on the intersection of race, gender and culture in sports. The Associated Press Sports Editors named her one of the 10 best columnists in the country in 2020. She has also written for the Boston Globe and Providence Journal. Find her on Bluesky @shalisemyoung.

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