The Life Argotic

It’s been a minute since I have written anything. I have several writing projects planned and in process. I am excited about them, but they are all time consuming projects and will get done when they get done. In the meantime, a lot is going on in the world of American politics. I’m not here to comment directly on current events; most people who know me already know where I stand. Moreover, my position as a teacher, and any prospects for future work, require at least a modicum of restraint on my part before I start writing exactly how I feel. 

What I am going to comment on is some of the reactions and commentary that I have seen lately, particularly from the left. Before I do that, though, I need to clear up a language issue.

In what follows, I am talking about a specific group of White progressive liberals. I understand that the word liberal, especially when used critically, is charged. Thanks to conservative and far-right insistence, it’s often treated as a personal insult. That’s not how I’m using it here. I’m not interested in name-calling. I’m interested in pointing out some very large holes in the political plot armor many liberals rely on; most notably, white supremacy. 

Since President Trump retook office, ICE agents have been breaking laws, violating civil liberties, and generally ruining lives (both citizens and non-citizens alike), almost exclusively Black and Brown lives. As of October of last year, ICE had detained and/or arrested at least 170 U.S. citizens (Pro Publica). They emptied an entire apartment building in the middle of a cold night while families were in their PJs and underwear (ABC). They pepper sprayed high school students (MPR). They’ve terrorized entire communities, leaving people afraid to leave their homes or send their children to school (Axios). They halted the naturalization ceremonies for those immigrants who supposedly “did it the right way” (The Hill). Nearly 70,000 people are currently in detention (Guardian). Conditions in those facilities are appalling (LA Times), and meaningful congressional oversight is virtually nonexistent, in part because lawmakers are not being allowed to investigate (NPR). 

Any of those facts should have been enough to rally people to protest; to fight for the basic rights of their fellow human beings. And yes, there were protests in the areas locally affected by these atrocities. Chicago and Portland come to mind. But nationally? The vast majority of this country either sat on its ass or showed up to pre-scheduled walk-a-thons and lunch meet-ups branded as the No Kings Protests. Even after six people have died in ICE custody just since January, liberals at the national level have largely responded with their own version of thoughts-and-prayers posted online (Guardian).

That all changed when two White people were killed. 

It wasn’t until Renee Good and Alex Pretti were killed by ICE agents that the broader public suddenly decided, Hey, this isn’t okay. 

After the video of Alex Pretti’s murder circulated online, the shocked white liberal public began speaking, loudly, about things that Black and Brown people have been naming and resisting since before this country was founded. And almost immediately, liberal social media filled with performative outrage. 

As of last night, a suspiciously fake-looking tweet has been going viral-ish on liberal leaning platforms. It’s being celebrated for its “edgy” stick-it-to-the-man energy. It goes something like: I am a teacher and will no longer be standing for the pledge of allegiance at my school because liberty and justice should be for all. Or something like that, you get the point. I can’t verify the author, and there’s a good chance it’s garbage churned out by AI or a fake account farming clicks. But liberals are eating this shit up for breakfast like a stack of pancakes at a 3 a.m. drunken Waffle House run.

People are fawning over posts like this. They are liking, commenting, and sharing them like herpes, without a hint of irony. Meanwhile, the structural violence continues uninterrupted.

At the end of the day, white supremacy doesn’t require overt hatred to function; it only requires participation and consent. Liberal language, symbolic refusals, and viral gestures leave the system untouched when they emerge only after the violence has become impossible to ignore – or worse, when it finally affects white bodies. Black and Brown communities have lived under this reality for generations, pledging allegiance under surveillance, detention, and threat, long before it became fashionable to sit down and repost garbage. That hierarchy isn’t accidental, and it isn’t a failure of messaging. It’s white supremacy operating exactly as designed, with our quiet approval. Until that approval is withdrawn in ways that actually cost something (comfort, safety, legitimacy), our outrage will remain selective, symbolic, and ultimately useless.