In August 1968 anti-war protester started a chant outside the Democratic Convention in Chicago. The protest turned violent, which later reports blamed on the heavy handed tactics of Chicago Police under the direction of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley.

The action was deemed a “police riot” by investigators reviewing the circumstances.

The chant, then focusing on the war in Vietnam, has returned to haunt us in light of the increasing number of American citizens killed or injured by ICE while protesting the administration’s policies.

The whole world’s watching
The whole world’s watching
The whole world’s watching
The whole world’s watching

The Whole World is Watching…Again

Like our duplicitous policy in Vietnam, the stated policy of immigration enforcement is not reflected in the reality of the implementation.

In Vietnam our policy was to promote and protect free and elected government in South Vietnam. Yet we forced a return to French Colonialism after World War II and, when that failed, engaged in wholesale subversion of various heads of state in South Vietnam, including assassination, to try and stabilize the south against the threat from the north and the internal threat from the Viet Cong.

We said one thing and did another and then abandoned Viet Nam when it became apparent our efforts were futile.

Now we face a more direct challenge to our own form of government. We have a President threatening to use the Insurrection Act to use military force against mostly peaceful protests.

And, we have stated policy that ICE is targeting criminals who are in the country unlawfully yet an implementation that accomplishes little of that.

And now we have American citizens being shot for protesting this travesty.

Now before anyone gets all bent out of shape, protests should never turn violent. When they do the government and law enforcement have an obligation to confront the violence and contain it with appropriate force, including deadly force when justified.

And unlawfully entering the United States is a crime. But it should be patently evident that targeting those here illegally who commit crimes is a worthy and necessary goal. Rounding up people who have lived here for years without ever committing a crime without due consideration of the circumstances of their being here, or considering their conduct while they have been here, is unconscienceable.

The protests we are witnessing today are nowhere near the level of protests we experienced during the Civil Rights Movement and the Anti-war protests against the war. Neither President Johnson nor President Nixon involved Insurrection Act.

In 1965 and 1968 cities were burning. They are not now.

Nixon did authorize the use of National Guard forces. One of the tragic results of that was the Kent State Massacre where National Guard troops opened fire on unarmed protesters resulting in the death of four American citizens.

What we are witnessing is, as Helen Arendt wrote in The Origins of Totalitarianism.

“Before mass leaders seize the power to fit reality to their lies, their propaganda is marked by its extreme contempt for facts as such, for in their opinion fact depends entirely on the power of man who can fabricate it.”

The implementation of these policies have little to do with immigration enforcement and everything to do with creating an artificial excuse to consolidate power.

Remember, this sitting President came perilously close to refusing the peaceful transfer of power and continues to spread the lie of a stolen election. He failed in those efforts. I fear he is determined not to fail again.

Let’s hope the intrinsic protections within our Constitution, and the members of Congress and the Judiciary tasked with wielding it, are up to the task.