Christian is an active member of the Chicago chapter of RefuseFascism.org. He sustains the movement at $10/month, and asks below for your involvement and financial support. |
Recently I drove to Portage, IN to join a protest at a Mexican restaurant which was raided by ICE agents when they arrested the owner. I spoke to a family member of the owner who said the community loves the restaurant, but there has been an increase in open racism in the area. I could tell she (I’ll call her Rosella) still seemed a bit shaken.
![](https://refusefascism.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/mexico-lindo.jpg)
Rosella told of being in a store where a woman was yelling at her and her mother to quit speaking Spanish loudly. When Mexicans do every underpaying and grinding job that most Americans would not fathom to do and make something of themselves (such as opening a successful restaurant), that’s still not good enough and they get attacked or deported.
This strangely hit home to my personal life. My own father came to this country and worked as a welder, but had many odd jobs cleaning offices and other menial work. What she told me took me back to a conversation I had with him right after graduating college. He was encouraging me to take up any job for the time being. I threw this attitude saying “I just graduated, I just can’t take any job.” He sarcastically said “that ‘any job’ is what put you through college.”
Talking to her really moved me, and made me re-think what I’m doing in Refuse Fascism. I thought about this really deeply on my drive back. Why have I taken up activism and how to go forward with it? This woman’s reality shook me. It shook me in a way that gave me the perspective I needed. I did not become an activist because I wanted to be popular. I don’t care about avoiding certain causes while championing others because they appeal to more people. I don’t care if there are more or less people supporting me, as long if it’s a fight I personally believe in. My ancestral connection to Europe’s fascist past was my grandfather fighting Franco in Spain and then Hitler a couple of years later. Unlike any of us, he literally had bullets flying at him from the fascist side.
I’ll put it this way. When you feel defeated because not enough people are latching onto your cause, are bullets flying at you and are your loved ones being ripped from you about to be deported or jailed? Throughout this entire country, many people are feeling her pain because they have loved ones dear to them who “pulled themselves up by the boot straps” being deported and jailed.
We might be small as a group right now but if that discourages you, are bullets flying at your head and are your loved ones getting pulled from you at gunpoint? The great life lesson that Jiu Jitsu teaches is EVERYTHING has its own unique strength, even a small size in numbers. That is a fantastic time to get creative and do unique things. Let’s never discourage each other from pursuing creative ideas to push Refuse Fascism’s message forward but demand such things from each other…
I’m currently a sustainer of RefuseFascism.org for $10 a month.
I’m asking YOU to support this movement either actively, financially, or both — before it’s too late.
Christian, Chicago chapter, RefuseFascism.org
P.S. We in RefuseFascism.org see the Trump/Pence regime for what it truly is — illegitimate because it’s fascist — and we are not stopping until the regime is driven out.