giveaway winners!
The giveaway winners for three paperback copies of The Chosen and the Beautiful are Annika K., Jessia O., and Candace H.! I will be sending out an email to all of you shortly.
You can still buy paperbacks of my books on my website!
Brace yourselves, friends, for I’ve got stuff to talk about today which sadly has nothing to do with books or cheese.
I am, alas, not just a writer, but a writer who occupies a human body located in the physical world. As such, I am plagued by tediously physical emotions, such as fear, anger, and heartbreak, which sometimes prevent me from doing research.
On Tuesday night — three nights ago, as the crow flies — a legal resident of a neighborhood close to mine was surrounded by plainclothes ICE officers and disappeared into an unmarked black SUV. This young woman, Rumeysa Ozturk, is a PhD student at Tufts in the Child Study and Human Development department. As far as anyone can turn up, this arrest is linked to a single op-ed she helped author last year, criticizing Tufts for not taking a stronger stance on Israel’s war crimes in Gaza.
I have read the op-ed. It is measured and professional in tone. There is nothing in it which would suggest to a reasonable person that Ozturk “supports Hamas,” which is the reason the federal government has given for abruptly terminating her visa and kidnapping her to a deportation facility in Louisana. Ozturk was not hugely involved in the protests last year, nor have journalists turned up any ties to foreign organizations.
I live close to Tufts’ campus in a neighborhood of many immigrants. I am afraid and so, so, so angry. If a legal resident can be grabbed off the street by individuals who wear no indication that they are federal agents and do not show any proof of a warrant, how safe are any of us from being detained for our beliefs? Moreover: Ozturk was transported immediately to a deportation facility in southern Louisana. Who is making sure she is safe and not abused for the crime of having an opinion in public? How she is going to make it back to her friends and family?
Over two thousand people showed up for an impromptu rally in support of Rumeysa Ozturk on Wednesday night in Powderhouse Square. One of the speakers bluntly criticized the rally itself, asking the attendees what they were actually going to do for their immigrant neighbors.
We are not powerless. There are things we can do. First of all, if you live in the United States, I would familiarize yourself with the rights of immigrants dealing with CBP and ICE. If you see an interaction with an ICE agent happening, be prepared to film it, and be prepared to share that video online as quickly as possible. Contact your elected representatives at all levels and express your concern about this extreme overreach of federal power. I have sent emails to my governor, my senators, my house rep, and my representatives in the Massachusetts legislature.
You can also donate to or volunteer with organizations in your community fighting for the rights and safety of immigrants. In eastern Massachusetts, this includes the Boston Immigrant Justice Accompaniment Network, La Colaborativa, and the Immigrant Justice Network of MA. I would also consider the Young Center for Immigrant Children Rights, an organization out of Chicago who provide legal advocates for children who arrive unaccompanied in the United States.
Finally: I don’t know what kinds of communities all of you live in, and I don’t know what kinds of relationships you have with your neighbors. Trust can’t be built overnight. But if ever there was a time to start having conversations — even casual ones! — with the people who live and work around you, it is now. Each of us has to expand our idea of who our community includes, and what we owe to that larger community.
The more I do, the less I panic. I hope you will find that to be the case as well.
Take heart,
Sharon