I can imagine the scene: Locked shoulder to shoulder, frightened passengers sweat as the zip-tied, kidnapped victims of immigration enforcement.
The idea that this could be me feels more real than it should as the federal immigration raids continue to hit close to home in recent weeks.
Durham’s Avondale Drive, Raleigh’s Capital Boulevard and Charlotte’s Central Avenue were central sites of these roundups toward the end of 2025; these are now marked as streets that have now betrayed the safety of all who live there. A quiet voice inside me reminds me that I am a “legal” citizen, with natural born citizenship, and I shouldn’t need to care — but chattel slavery was legal once…