It will be interesting to see what happens over the next 4 years
By @John T Smith
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Interesting or not, expect a very long 4 years.
TRUE STORY: Yesterday morning I received an aggressive knock, knock, knock at my front door. Thinking it was a package delivery, I rushed to open the door. 'Tis the season... porch pirates and all. Ha!
Before me were two nicely dressed women with big smiles on their faces. My first impression was real estate agents or Jehovah's Witnesses. I resolved to brush them off politely and get back to decorating the Christmas tree.
"How can I help you?" I asked.
The elder of the two women stepped up and said, "We're looking for someone who speaks Spanish. Do you speak Spanish?"
I live in California. Nearly everyone speaks some Spanish, but I'm not conversationally fluent enough to be a translator. Not wishing to pursue this further, I simply said, "No, I don't speak Spanish."
Then she asked if I have any neighbors who speak Spanish.
That’s a weird question, I thought. “No," I said. "Not that I know of. Who are you looking for?”
She said, “nobody… just looking for someone who speaks Spanish. Do you or anyone in your household speak Spanish?”
"No," I said, as I stepped back inside to shut the door. “Sorry, I can’t help you.”
The whole exchange felt off-kilter. These days, anyone can download a language app to their phone to assist with translation. Why were these women knocking on random doors, looking for Spanish-speaking people?
Just then, a cold, awful thought occurred to me. What if they were scouts for ICE (U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement), canvassing neighborhoods for an impending mass-deportation round-up? WOW! That’s so freaking dystopian.
Maybe I’m being overly paranoid. Or maybe this is what we can expect from the rabid Trump 2.0 regime. In any case, I’m not answering anybody’s questions about my neighbors, Spanish-speaking or not.
Happy Winter Solstice!
:snowflake:
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