"One of Us"

We are regressing.

We are entering month number 6 of this nightmare of an administration we are unable to awaken from and a new week of its aggressively indiscriminate, inhumane and brutal ICE raids/kidnappings spanning across our country.

I’ve been thinking about the Joan Osborne 1995 hit song —- “One of Us.”

“What if God was one of us. Just a slob like one of us. Just a stranger on a bus tryna make his way home?”

Anyone who knows me knows I’m not an organized religion kind of gal. I do, however, consider myself to be Christian and believe there is a power in the Universe that ties us all together. I care about my fellow human beings.

I’ve listened to Christian family and friends talk about God —-his goodness, his love. I’ve read, listened and watched countless pieces, by or on behalf of Christians, in particular, White Evangelical Christians —- using words and passages from the Bible which they claim serve as their daily life’s guiding light.

As has been explained to me by White Evangelicals, living “in the image of God” (Imago Dei) serves as both a foundational identity and a calling.

This then implies they typically draw from Scripture to describe how human beings —- uniquely created in God’s image —- are expected to reflect God’s character in how they live, relate and steward the world.

In other words —- Evangelicals believe that all humans, regardless of race, gender or ability have inherent dignity and worth (Genesis 1:27).

It then becomes a direct contradiction to the White Evangelical religious doctrine and the Scripture they quote, when MAGA, the majority of which are White Evangelicals, viciously pile on top of not only the undocumented, but immigrants as a whole, with dehumanizing and demeaning rhetoric. Instead, they should be strongly advocating for the humane treatment of our immigrant community. They’re not. They don’t.

I was horrified throughout the 2024 election when tens of thousands collectively stood on their feet, cheering at the top of their lungs “Mass Deportation Now!” as a means to “Make America Strong Again!” It made me sad.

77 million people voted for an indefensible war being waged against entire communities.

Currently Non-White —- Black and Brown-skinned people — including women and children — regardless of immigration status, or criminal record —- not gang members, not murderers, not violent criminals, just ordinary folks, our neighbors, co-workers, fellow human beings —- are being treated worse than the most dangerous and violent currently in our prisons, who, unlike those now being dehumanized by law enforcement, received due process, were afforded court hearings and their legal representatives, family and friends know exactly where they are and can visit.

Trump’s promise on the campaign trail was to rid the country of the “worst-of-the-worst. But that’s not what’s happening. Instead we have masked/sunglassed ghouls, badgeless, plainclothes agents from ICE and U.S. Customs Border Protection (CBP), in unmarked cars, minus license plates, who are unable or unwilling to identify themselves and/or produce warrants and with no requirement to wear body cameras during enforcement actions, violently grabbing people en masse, off of streets, out of neighborhoods, out of homes, off of public transportation, out of cars, places of worship, courthouses, public schools, from lawn care jobs, from restaurants, from food trucks, from construction sites and shamelessly resorting to chasing farm workers through lettuce, corn, wheat and strawberry fields.

No transparency. No accountability.

Two-thirds of those targeted have committed no crimes. They're not statistics—they're human beings. The cashier at your grocery store. The family sitting next to you at church. The mom at a PTA meeting. All whose only transgression was the hope for something better.

They’re one of us.

Kidnapping and detaining our fellow human beings like animals, dumping them into overcrowded private detention centers with disgusting and inhumane conditions is horrifying, straight-up, in-your-face, racial profiling. Think Alligator Alcatraz.

All of this so Stephen Miller, Kristi Noem, Tom Homan, Trump and his administration can work overtime, demanding daily quotas in an effort to Make America White Again.

None of this comes even close to aligning with Christian values. But it’s not about Christian values. It’s not about American values.

We should all, Christian and non-Christian, hang our heads in shame.

And so, I leave you with a few of the words from “One of Us”

“What if God was one of us?”

“Just a slob like one of us.”

“Just a stranger on a bus.”

“Tryna make his way home.”