A video recorded last week has ignited outrage online after it captured ICE agents violently arresting two brothers in South Norwalk, Connecticut, in broad daylight without producing a warrant. The men, identified as Ricardo Chavez and his brother, reportedly hold legal status to live and work in the United States.
The footage (credit @alwaysfilmthepolice) shows plainclothes ICE agents forcibly detaining the men in a public area. Witnesses say the agents refused to provide identification or present a warrant when asked, instead resorting to physical force and a taser to subdue the brothers before hauling them away. They also allegedly damaged their vehicle.
Community members who know the Chavez family insist that both men are law-abiding residents with valid documentation. “They work, they pay taxes, and they belong here,” said one South Norwalk resident who witnessed the arrest. “This was nothing short of a kidnapping.”
And beyond racism it is happening in blue cities.
His supporters are primed to think that cities are dangerous places already, and that a city led by liberals is in shambles, and that all the people living there are lawless liberals that deserve punishment.
They are cheering about this because they see it as sending their troops to go hurt others. Whether those people are other because of their race, their religion, their gender, their sexuality, or their political beliefs.
And when these same people find out that something about them or a loved one makes them other they will act shocked. They will protest that they aren’t an other they are in the in-group.
And then they will learn the true nature of fascism. The in-group is constantly shrinking, because there must always be an other to blame. And they will learn that lesson too late.