They stand at Aine’s school playground, these grandmothers. Around their necks they carry pink plastic whistles on pink strings, and they wear bright yellow road-worker vests. At the end of the school day, they gather at the entrances to the schoolyard, vigilant.
They are here because of all the activity that has taken place with ICE in Evanston, IL. Because of the “volatility”, there have already been several safety lockdowns with schools.
Regardless of the politics, the approach being taken by ICE has been similar to whacking a fly with a sledgehammer. It clearly is proving to be the wrong approach to a decades-long festering, political football of an issue. Sadly, this administration has made it clear that it is also intended to aggravate citizens who live in democratically dominated, “sanctuary cities.” In other words, retribution. On the 60 Minutes broadcast this past Sunday, the president said such volatile actions by ICE “have not gone far enough.”
The uncertainty of these operations is based on age-old tactics of terror. Any place, any moment is the name of the game. No accounting for what might be around in terms of schools, nursing homes, churches, temples, innocent bystanders, let alone civilians with the right to protest. If a little tear gas gets used, so be it. If it overwhelms a few kids, too bad. This is the sort of stress that brings the reality of the situation into a cold, hard focus. One can only resist peacefully with an I-phone and a whistle. Thankfully, so far, that seems to be working when it comes to showing the world the overwhelming idiocy of this para-military overreach.
At the schoolyard, one grandmother told me she was there due to her two aunt's examples set during the second World War. They lived in the neutral Irish Republic and decided to go to the UK and volunteer as nurses during the height of the “Battle of Britain.” “My aunts told me it was the right thing to do,” she said. “They could have done nothing, but they knew that it was up to them to make a difference. To stand up for what is right.”
Making a difference is what motivates these grandmothers. They know they will not be able to stop grown men dressed in tactical gear. They can blow their whistles, they can record. They also can shame a person (if that person is capable of shame) because they are grandmothers. It is the moral stance, the moral vigilance that is what is called for during such times. They bear witness to the saying “Love thy Neighbor” even if that neighbor is an undocumented one. It is that example they are setting for all of us who believe in the rule of law and the Constitution.
The grandmother looked at the kids leaving school and sighed. She knew that it was going to take more than a couple of grandmothers to make things safe again. Still, I admired her determination. “My deepest hope is that the children feel that they are being protected by us,” she said.
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