What are we doing?
What if: You’re pulling up to the front door at Monadnock Community Hospital to help your elderly aunt into the car. She’s just had minor surgery. Two large SUVs, their windows darkened, idle by the entrance. The men in it are masked.
What if: You go to Keene to pick up paint and supplies for spiffing up your guest room before the holidays. At the Home Depot entrance, you can’t get in because a man is being dragged out by three masked men wearing tactical combat gear. They pin the man to the ground, zip tie him, and drive him away.
What if this same thing happened at Shaw’s yesterday, only it was a teenager they hauled out.
What if: Your husband is wrapping up his pick-up basketball game at Peterborough Rec and you’re waiting in the parking lot. SUVs are circling the lot. Agents are all wearing masks and tactical gear. A few roam the lot, asking for IDs.
You’re at the intersection of Route 101 and 202 in Peterborough on a Saturday, joining others who are protesting policies of the Trump administration. Masked men in SUVS pull up and start pushing you and your friends back from the sidewalk. They pepper-spray those who don’t move fast enough.
You get pulled over for speeding on Main Street, Hancock. Before you can roll down your window for the officer, he smashes the window, showering you with glass. He’s wearing combat gear; his face is completely covered.
Can’t happen here? You are probably right. We are too white. We don’t have to care about those metro areas where brown people live and work in greater numbers. Using taxpayer-funded secret police goon squads against our fellow taxpayers is perfectly fine. Let’s keep it up. New Orleans is next!