Good Riddance: Rage Becomes Her

A trip to the Statue of Liberty, a government terrorizing its people, and my fucking anger.

What will the next generation think of all we’ve done or all we haven’t?

Hi everyone,

We made it through another week, now let’s let some shit go. (Two cuss words before the second sentence should tell you all what kind of mood I’m in.) Join me in the comments below for our weekly series, Good Riddance, where you can let something go or get something off your chest from the week before.

This week every hair on my body rose up with an untamable rage as I watched a now viral video of an immigrant mother named Rosane Ferreira-De Oliveira being arrested by ICE in Massachusetts. (The video is distressing, so I’ve chosen not to link to it, but if you’d like to read more about this case, click here for a recent report from Rolling Stone that does not include video.) As Rosane was detained, her teenage daughter’s face was forcefully held to the pavement by ICE agents while Rosane’s older daughter tried to intervene while still protecting her three-month-old son who she held in her arms. Dozens of neighbors could be seen trying to stop the arrest and the horrific violence taking place. When one concerned neighbor demanded the ICE agent show a warrant for the woman’s arrest, the agent allegedly told her, “We don’t have to show you anything.” The family’s attorney stated, “No warrant was ever shown to [Rosane] or to [her daughter], or to anyone. It seemed the agents were there to take custody of everybody."

All over the U.S., women and minorities are being terrorized in their own backyards, on their way to work, and even in their own hospital beds months after being declared legally dead. Yes, you read that correctly. Right now in Georgia, Adriana Smith is lying brain dead in a hospital room, but is being forced to stay on life support against her family’s wishes because she was nine weeks pregnant when she died. To put it more plainly, her body is being used as an incubator. (Tell me you think we’re nothing more than property without telling me.)

A plaque at the Statue of Liberty Museum showcasing a mural by Megan Lewis titled, “Lady Liberty Please Know Thy Self.”

How can anyone be okay with any of this? What have we become as a country? Or rather, why are we allowing the progress we have ALL benefited from to be savagely stripped away as we return to some of the most horrendous, inhumane roots of America’s history? How are so many people seemingly okay allowing these atrocities to take place all in the name of lowering the cost of eggs? How are people falling for the propaganda as old as time—that immigrants, no matter their legal status, are to blame for the problems in this country instead of the billionaires robbing everyone blind and exploiting workers? How can people refuse to look at the reality of this, let alone start to really understand it?

How much are we going to tolerate? And I mean “we” as in all of us, no matter if you have a red hat or a camo hat hanging in your closet, if you’ve never engaged with politics or attended a protest or even read the news before; where is our line in the sand? When do people start seeing what’s been right in front of them this entire time?

My anger and sadness over all of this was made even more pronounced when I chaperoned my daughter’s field trip to the Statue of Liberty this week. I was so glaringly reminded that we are a nation built largely on the backs of immigrants and a nation, in its later years, that offered the promise of a dream realized: freedom, liberty, and justice for ALL, not just the select few. What happened to the words etched in bronze at the feet of this statue representing all the good we supposedly stand for? What happened to “‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free’”?

The plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty.

Below: Clips from a video that was playing in the museum. The video description reads, “Millions of immigrants and refugees passed by the Statue of Liberty as they arrived in New York Harbor. For many, the Statue embodied dreams of opportunity in their new home.”

As I stood below the gigantic 138-year-old patina statue and gazed up at her sturdy stare while swarms of young children ran around me also looking up in awe, I became overwhelmed with emotion. And I thought about really letting go, of not holding back any of the rage anymore. The devastating reality of this administration’s actions (and of those who are enabling and acting on its behalf) are overwhelming and heartbreaking. The nonstop cruelty is doing what it’s intended to do: overload and exhaust us. And some days, it works on me, even with decades of activism under my belt. On those days, I’m going to let the anger inspire me and the fury force me into the fight. This week I’m leaning into my anger and speaking on it, because I cannot and will not accept any of this, in the name of all we have fought for, and in honor of Lady Liberty. We can and must do better than this, and I will not stop until we do.

What are you letting go of this week, friends?

May’s The Short and Sweet, Saturday, May 24 at 1pm ET: May is my birthday month, and I’m throwing myself a birthday for our monthly series live over Zoom for paid subscribers, The Short and Sweet. I’m going to take you on a deep dive behind the scenes of what it was like to write Dark Sparkler, and open the floor to any and all questions you might have about writing, acting, publishing, or directing, all while wearing a birthday hat and eating a giant slice of carrot cake. Join me with your favorite birthday dessert, we’ll read some poems, celebrate, and chat! May’s The Short and Sweet will take place on Saturday, May 24 from 1pm-2pm ET. The Zoom link will be emailed to paid subscribers about thirty minutes before the start of the Zoom.