A few weeks ago, one of my dearest friends called me on a Saturday evening from the floor of his apartment closet, where he was huddled in fear of ICE breaking down his door.
My friend lives on the 25th floor of a 30-story tower in downtown Dallas. To get to any apartment in this building requires a key to get in the building, a key to get in the elevator lobby and a key to make the elevator work. And yet, around 6 p.m. on this Saturday night as he was watching TV, my friend heard what he calls a “cop knock” on his door.
He went to look out the peephole, because it is unusual for him to have unannounced visitors, and there he saw a Dallas County Sheriff and a federal ICE agent. He was smart enough not to answer the door and instead ran to the closet to hide, grabbing his “go bag” of personal information in case he was carted away.
Mark Wingfield
That’s when he called me the first time.
Eventually the knocking stopped, and he ventured quietly to the peephole again and witnessed the same officers across the hall knocking on another door. He watched as they arrested and handcuffed one of his neighbors and hauled them away. He was terrified.
My friend is half Hispanic and half Anglo, although if you saw him, you would say he looks 100% Anglo. Yet he has a Latino last name.
He is entirely legal, was born in the United States to U.S. citizens, and has no outstanding warrants. There was no reason for ICE to be knocking on his door.
The most generous explanation is that the officers had the wrong apartment number — although there is no similarity between his apartment number and the number of the other apartment where someone was arrested. It was not a matter of transposed numbers.
You can understand, given the stories of how people are being disappeared by the Trump administration, how terrified he was both during and after this event. Terrified not only for himself but for the up-close realization of what others are experiencing.
Then last week, I read a Facebook post by another friend who is the mom of a transgender child. I’ve known this family for nearly a decade and have witnessed both parents fight hard to protect their child. They have made more trips to the state Capitol in Austin than I can count and have testified publicly about the reality of transgender identity.
“This moment has been a long time coming and so very heartbreaking.”
Here’s what she wrote: “This post is so hard to write. This moment has been a long time coming and so very heartbreaking.
“We have stayed in Texas to fight the good fight for as long as we possibly could because we have *the best* community. I have always promised my kids that we would stay as long as I knew I could navigate safety for them. And as many of you have probably heard me say, if we have to leave Texas, we will have to leave the country. Sadly, this moment has arrived.
“The kids and I have relocated out of the country. …
“I thought we would just disappear. The thought of sharing with community that we are bailing was just too much. But we realized we will need more support than we had hoped and we will hopefully be able to host community who need respite one day.
“Sincerest apologies to all of you that are surprised by this and those we were unable to connect with before leaving. Holding space for my kids has been my top priority and all-consuming these last months — really since the election. I know in my heart this is the right thing to do and we all know that this is an enormous privilege and it is so hard, especially for my kids.”
My heart broke upon reading this social media post. And yet this is far from the only family with transgender members I have heard from who are considering leaving the country.
What do these two stories have to do with you?
Some of you, whether you voted for Donald Trump or not, have been unwilling to believe the stories we’ve been telling you for years. You have dismissed transgender people as mentally ill or confused or freaks of nature. You have refused to see transgender people as children of God worthy of respect.
As a result, you have allowed elected officials — Democrats and Republicans — to demonize a minority within a minority of our population. You have turned a blind eye to the plight of people you don’t understand.
And some of you, whether you voted for Donald Trump or not, have labored under the false assumption that our country needs to be purged of immigrants. You have bought the line that these people are invaders or thieves or somehow a danger to your personal property — when they are not.
As a result, you have allowed elected officials — this time entirely Republicans — to demonize a minority of our population. You have turned a blind eye to the plight of people you don’t understand.
“What is allowing the Trump administration to run roughshod over every liberty we hold dear is indifference.”
And some of you will say, “But I didn’t vote for this.” Fine. Neither did I. But what are you doing to fight the onslaught against civil liberties and due process and Christian compassion?
What is allowing the Trump administration to run roughshod over every liberty we hold dear is indifference.
What can you do instead?
- Get informed. Stop assuming you know more than you do about people who are different than you. Listen to their stories. Put yourself in their place.
- Offer help. Immigrants and transgender citizens are just some of those living in terror right now. They need friends and support.
- Show up and speak up. If everyone eligible to vote had actually voted in the last election, the results would have been different. If everyone who has the capacity to make their views known to elected officials actually did so, the results would be different. If everyone who has a platform to speak against injustice actually did so, the results would be different. Your vote and your voice matter.
As long as indifference rules the land, ICE agents will knock on the wrong doors and terrorize people. As long as indifference rules the land, transgender people and their families will make plans to flee the country for their own safety.
And as long as indifference rules the land, moms of transgender kids will start GoFundMe pages to support their relocations. Is that really what America should be?
Mark Wingfield serves as executive director and publisher of Baptist News Global. He is the author of five books, including Honestly: Telling the Truth About the Bible and Ourselves.
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