I’m white and hang out with mostly white people who don’t understand how scary this is.
I ask them if they can prove to me - right now - that they’re a citizen. Lots of them legitimately think a Driver’s License is enough.
I explain that it is not proof of citizenship and that lots of people have licenses without being a citizen. So if they were brown, they might be arrested based on their lack of papers.
And once arrested and sent to a camp, your ability to produce any documentation you may have diminishes to almost nothing.
Get a passport card. It’s valid ID, proves you’re a citizen, and doesn’t have your address on it so cops and the fascists from ICE don’t learn where you live. Keep the original passport somewhere secure, like you said
Demand your white friends show them their green card or birth certificate.
If you think that’s a joke, ask around. I’ve been asked that twice in my life. But because I’m not Default American™, I have to prove a lot harder that I was born here.
Yup. Everyone is quick to forget how the US treated Irish, Italian, and Jewish people in past generations. There really is such a thing as “not white enough”, and when these jerks run out of people to pick on, that’s next.
I’m white and hang out with mostly white people who don’t understand how scary this is.
I ask them if they can prove to me - right now - that they’re a citizen. Lots of them legitimately think a Driver’s License is enough.
I explain that it is not proof of citizenship and that lots of people have licenses without being a citizen. So if they were brown, they might be arrested based on their lack of papers.
And once arrested and sent to a camp, your ability to produce any documentation you may have diminishes to almost nothing.
Also, a bad agent can just get rid of your passport. So carry a photocopy, and let the lawyer your family gets show up with the real one in court.
Get a passport card. It’s valid ID, proves you’re a citizen, and doesn’t have your address on it so cops and the fascists from ICE don’t learn where you live. Keep the original passport somewhere secure, like you said
I have a pdf copy of my passport that I have loaded on my iPhone.
Demand your white friends show them their green card or birth certificate.
If you think that’s a joke, ask around. I’ve been asked that twice in my life. But because I’m not Default American™, I have to prove a lot harder that I was born here.
And if they do, tell them, “no, the long form birth certificate,” since that was demanded of Obama (and it still wasn’t enough).
Yup. Everyone is quick to forget how the US treated Irish, Italian, and Jewish people in past generations. There really is such a thing as “not white enough”, and when these jerks run out of people to pick on, that’s next.
Yeah, but that doesn’t effect them, so why should they care?
/s, obviously.