This Is a Time of Monsters — AND It Is Also the Time of Heroes

This is a very moving, deeply important piece written several days ago by a courageous friend who has been engaged in activism on behalf of refugee and immigrant rights for twenty years. Blessed be the truth-tellers, the courageous ones, those who inspire us to step up and engage in any way that we can in the great universal struggle for justice, for democracy, for kindness and caring, for remembrance of our interrelatedness and that all life has value and is worthy of protection. 🙏 Molly

Mahmoud Khalil (left) and Rümeysa Öztürk (right) were detained in March

“I know we are seeing some of the worst of humanity these days.

But I want to point out that we are also seeing the best. Regular folks stepping up to do community defense (which is working, by the way. ICE is very frustrated), setting up mutual aid networks, checking on neighbors' needs, etc....This too is common nowadays.

Today, I just wanted to highlight Rumeysa Ozturk, the Tufts grad student who was just released from jail (she was incarcerated for writing a very basic, non strident pro Palestine op ed). While she was there, instead of focusing on herself, she went around collecting the stories of other migrants who have been swept up in these raids. She has used the media attention she has garnered to advocate for these people as well, and to call out the cruelty of our migrant jailing system.

She is not the only one. Mahmoud Khalil has also been writing moving missives, not just about his case, but about the nature of democracy itself. Many others have been similarly inspiring.

So this is the time of monsters, yes.

But it is also the time of heroes.

Don't let this awful administration make you lose track of this.”