Editor,
Last week, I walked the freezing streets of an immigrant neighborhood in Minneapolis alongside clergy from across the country, scanning for signs of ICE raids. We were there to bear witness and protect neighbors — participating in patrols, mutual aid, interfaith prayer and the statewide strike and mass march.
As a Jewish faith leader, during the month of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, I could not ignore the echoes of our history: families hiding to avoid deportation, people abducted in the night, neighbors punished for offering shelter. Hitler’s regime studied American systems of racial terror, including slave patrols and Jim Crow laws. In preparation for my Bat Mitzvah at Peninsula Temple Sholom, I was taught that “Never Again” cannot mean never again for Jews only. It must mean never again for anyone.
Amid the fear, I witnessed something deeply hopeful. In Minneapolis, “love your neighbor” was a practice. Neighbors organized food deliveries and rent assistance for families too afraid to leave home. Volunteers shuttled children to school. Ordinary people showed up, block by block.
I have seen this same love on the coastside through ALAS (Ayudando Latinos a Soñar). When our community feared ICE activity last fall, care adapted — home food deliveries and handmade beaded bracelets with the Rapid Response number. This week, ALAS is extending that love by sending Valentine messages and mental health sensory care packages to Minneapolis schoolchildren and teachers.
As the Bay Area is spotlighted by the Super Bowl, we have a chance to show the world that hate has no place in our stadiums or our community, and that together with our immigrant neighbors we are one team.
Rae Abileah
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(2) comments
Thank you Rae, for going to Minneapolis to help. And you are so right about the strength of community and the importance of showing love to our neighbors and to the strangers in our midst.
Thanks for your letter, Rae Abileah. Please don’t conflate legal with illegal. If immigrants are here legally, they have no reason to be afraid to leave home and live their life. If they’re not here legally, they should be deported. ICE and CBP are doing the jobs we voted for. If you want to practice “love your neighbor” then shouldn’t you be focused on American citizens living in our streets? Are you offering shelter and food deliveries and rent assistance to help them find housing? If not, why not, they’re our neighbors. More power to ICE and American patriots to help remove criminals and terrorists from our nation. Folks can report incidents to ICE via telephone or online, where they can upload pictures and video. BTW, I hear the Trump administration is suing non-Americans for reimbursement if they haven’t self-deported.
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