Posted in
January 30, 2026
Dear Friends,
The state of our country feels catastrophic right now. Many people are saying that what we are witnessing looks like Nazi Germany. While that comparison is chilling and, in many ways, accurate, we must also remember that Nazi Germany took notes from the United States. This nation was founded on the genocide of Indigenous peoples and the kidnapping and enslavement of Africans. Even after the formal abolition of slavery, Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC) have continued to face violence, terror, and state-sanctioned oppression. A more accurate analogy for what we are seeing today is that the logic and function of slave patrols are once again — or more truthfully, still — operating in our society.
BIPOC communities have never been fully free or safe in this country. For centuries, government systems have killed people of color with impunity. What we are witnessing in the murders of Keith Porter, Renee Good, and Alex Pretti follows a long and brutal pattern: facts are denied, victims are dehumanized, and narratives are manipulated to justify state violence. It is telling that Keith Porter was killed first, yet his death received little attention until after two white people were killed. The order of coverage reveals the order of value in our society — whose lives are centered, whose deaths are mourned publicly, and whose suffering is rendered invisible. For many white Americans, this reality feels shocking and unbelievable. For BIPOC communities, it is tragically familiar.
We also must name that these are not isolated cases. In this same month alone, at least six other people have been killed by DHS: Geraldo Lunas Campos, Victor Manuel Diaz, Parady La, Luis Beltran Yanez-Cruz, Heber Sanchez Dominguez, and Luis Gustavo Nunez Caceres. Their names have barely been spoken in the public sphere, their stories largely erased, yet their lives mattered just as deeply. This steady, normalized loss of life is part of the machinery of cruelty we are being asked to accept — and we refuse to do so.
The community connectedness we have seen in recent weeks is vital. We have constitutional rights to stand up and speak out when injustices occur, and those rights exist precisely for moments like this. Collective action and mutual care are how we survive and how we resist. But we must be clear: we are not struggling simply to return to what was. The systems we are living under were never just. Our work is to build something entirely new — a society that really affirms the equality of all people, where liberty and justice are not slogans but lived realities for everyone.
This work is not about quick fixes or superficial solutions to deep and enduring harm. It is about committing to walk together through what cannot be bypassed. Oppression is woven into the foundation of this country, and dismantling it will not happen overnight. But through organizing, courage, and collective imagination, transformation is possible.
ESTHER remains deeply committed to this work — to organizing for the abolition of ICE, to challenging systems of racialized violence, and to helping reimagine what justice and safety can truly look like in our communities and in our nation.
In solidarity,
Katie Olson
ESTHER Executive Director and Lead Organizer
Steve Hirby
ESTHER Co-President
Tom Denk
ESTHER Co-President
