I was still groggy, drinking my morning tea, when my phone started buzzing with alerts about ICE hitting a corner within walking distance of my home. At first, it was unclear if they had taken a street vendor who was familiar to many of us. Soon, we learned that the vendor was still there, but that two other neighbors had been seized.
That series of texts would soon activate a neighborhood.
I left my apartment on foot, in the clothes I had slept in, and made my way up Clark Street, watching for any signs of ICE. When I saw a suspicious vehicle, I relayed what I’d seen through neighborhood channels that coordinate ICE watch activity. When I reached the intersection of Clark and Lunt, where the abductions had occurred, other neighbors, including some old friends of mine, were already assembling and taking directions from local organizers who had been preparing for this moment for months…