Forgive the trite title. Three weeks before our move, it’s an apt description of the conflicting feelings tearing at me. There’s optimism, even excitement. The move will be good for us, we feel sure. And there’s grief. After 47 years in the same city and the same neighborhood, my roots here go deep. The thought of leaving my friends in Mt. Pleasant is almost too much to bear.
There’s guilt, too.
DC is under military occupation. As I typed this sentence I paused, wondering if it would come off as hyperbole or perhaps an overreaction to rumors of things I hadn’t actually seen.
Then this happened, less than a block away:
As soon as the alert came over our neighborhood Signal group, I grabbed my phone and headed out. Over the next hour a large crowd of neighbors gathered to heckle agents from ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms), MPD (the DC police), and other agencies. “Go home! You’re not welcome here!” Eventually, MPD set up a police perimeter, took a resident out of an apartment building, and drove him away. (I took the photos above. News coverage here; I’m interviewed briefly toward the end, in a gray t-shirt and blue baseball cap.)
An MPD officer said it was an arrest on a federal drug and firearms warrant, not an immigration operation. Maybe. But arrests on all kinds of pretexts are happening day and night, many of them targeting immigrants. Thousands of agents from ICE, the FBI, the ATF, Homeland Security, and the National Guard of six states are swarming the city. Armed and masked, they’re seizing people off the street and taking them away in unmarked cars. Those detained are food delivery drivers on mopeds, roofers and painters in contractor vans, even people waiting in line outside churches for food aid.
My father fought in World War Two because Hitler was sending jackbooted forces into the streets to round people up and take them away. Now fascism is coming to us. I miss my dad, but I’m grateful he’s not here to see this.
DC could be made safer, but not like this. Arresting people whose only offense is to be undocumented doesn’t stop crime. Nor does hauling in drivers for a broken tail light and then slamming them with federal charges. National Guard from Republican-led states are patrolling the city’s monuments, where crime rarely happens. That’s not policing. It’s performance, intended to humiliate blue cities and excite Trump’s base.
So why the guilt? I’ve never felt closer to my neighborhood and my neighbors. At a time like this, I need to be here. Not that I can do anything to stop what’s happening. We can film arrests, but we can’t interfere with them. About all we can do is protest and bear witness.
Why move?
I know I promised to explain where we’re going and why, but in the current climate I don’t want to be too specific about location. So let me just say we’re moving to a small college town in Ohio, a town I know well. (Connect the dots if you wish, but please don’t dox us.) There’s a wonderful retirement community there, the same one where my father spent 18 very happy years. We visited him there frequently. It’s like a second home to me.
My husband Bill is about to turn 83 and has Parkinson’s. I’ve had some pesky health issues crop up in the past year as well. We’ve seen friends and friends’ parents who planned to age in place, only to have those plans upended by a health crisis. Their adult children then must scramble to find care, often from hundreds of miles away.
If I’m going to end up in a senior living facility eventually, I want to choose it. That means acting with time to spare, as waiting lists for good places run to years. The one we selected is a nonprofit, Quaker-run CCRC, or continuing care retirement community. You start out living independently in your own cottage or apartment; later, if you need care, they provide it.
There’s another factor as well, for me if not for Bill. After 47 years here, I’m burned out on the inner city, with its choking traffic and bad air. I had to weigh those drawbacks against aspects of our neighborhood that I love – its progressive, internationalist vibe, the intergenerational friendships, the network of older residents who look out for each other. It wasn’t an easy decision. But nowadays, staying in touch with friends across distance is more feasible than ever before. We plan to return to DC on frequent visits (Bill’s leery of Ohio winters, with good reason, so he may be here a lot). And I already know people in the town where we’re going. I believe you can find community anywhere, if you try.
Blue politics in a red state
Our new town is bikeable and walkable. Traffic is light and parking easy, at least from my point of view (longtime residents may beg to differ). Northeast Ohio air isn’t pristine, but it’s better than DC’s. The town is overwhelmingly liberal to progressive, thanks largely to the presence of the college, as is the retirement community itself.
The rural area around town, though, is conservative, even Trumpy. I’ve never lived in a red area; like many who lean left, I’ve spent my life in blue cities. Ohio is heavily gerrymandered, with a Republican supermajority. It’ll be a challenge to do progressive politics in this context, but I intend to learn. And for once in my life, my vote will count!
We have three weeks to get ready, so I don’t expect to post again until late September. By then I’ll have a foot in two communities and two worlds. Wish us luck. Talk to you soon.
Here's the British video on their website, where you can watch it full screen. This is the best documentation I've seen in the media of what's happening in Mt. Pleasant. The journalist interviews me briefly near the end.
https://news.sky.com/story/as-trump-sends-in-the-troops-the-us-capital-feels-like-its-creeping-towards-a-tipping-point-13419708
THanks Cathy. Sorry this is happening in your neighborhood. In DC. Hard time to be leaving for sure. Good luck with the packing. See you mid September. You and Bill take care.