A QUESTION OF PERSPECTIVE

There's a video of ICE agents detaining a man forcefully because he has an accent. Which, as they're strong-arming him, they explain is the reason for grabbing him. An accent.
No other reason. They make that absolutely clear.

I have an accent. My family has been here since Niew Amsterdam days. We went overseas when I was two. Since returning for college regular American have told me to go back where I came from. So, do I trust a bunch of blinkered inbreds with bulletproof vests and tactical gear who think they're above the law? Mmm, no. Not any further than I can spit.

There are also videos of ICE agents slamming people to the ground, clobbering them, breaking down doors, shoving an elderly man who looks non-white out into freezing temperatures, and breaking car windows to drag screaming people out.

Did I already mention that I have an accent?


The last non-American in the family was three generations ago. My family served in each World War. And in Korea. And in the Civil War on the Union side.

But I have an accent.

Some of my best friends are lily-white Americans with very Waspy surnames who don't have accents. And I'm ashamed to admit it, but because they are lily-white with Waspy surnames, lacking accents, they are a little suspect. They could travel to Kansas or Iowa, or even to the place where my maternal grandfather was from (in Indiana) without raising eye-brows, being questioned about their backgrounds, or being told to go back where they came from.

I also am lily white, with a Waspy surname. If I keep my mouth shut I'm fine.


No, I don't worry that if I visited Kansas or Iowa, or Peru, Indiana, I would be stomped by a xenophobic Christian member of the Elks Club the very moment I asked for hot sauce (!) at the local diner, I am not that paranoid. But there is probably no hot sauce there anyway.
And no reason to visit.

Initial cursory internet research into restaurants in Peru, Indiana, indicate that options for Chinese food, pizza, or Indian, may be a bit limited.


There's plenty of hot sauce in San Francisco.



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