Our Neighbor Was Kidnapped.

We live in Minneapolis a short walk from where Renee Good was murdered. Last Friday my daughter (a fourth grader) and my wife (an educator at an adjacent public school district) were both home because districts were shut down for the day. 

I was headed out of town on the Amtrak that morning and my wife offered to drop me off at the express bus stop to save me a transfer. Our daughter's used to being left alone for short stretches at this point, prefers staying home with a book to having to run boring errands with us. Wife would be back in fifteen minutes. Not a big deal. 

In the time my wife was taking me to the bus stop, ICE showed up to kidnap one of our neighbors. Block response mobilized, my daughter heard the car horns and whistles and saw masked men with guns outside. She didn't know what to do so the only emergency training she's ever gotten kicked in. She turned off all the lights in our house and went and hid in the back room. You know, like an active shooter drill at school. 

We're white, we're not targets, but she knows kids aren't coming to school and she hears horns and whistles on our walk every morning. She had to experience this alone. It's small compared to what so many families are experiencing but it's going to be with her for the rest of her life. 

I'm just so angry about everything, and so inspired by my community.