Following the abolition of slavery in Brazil in 1888, the state embarked upon a project of "embranquecimento," or whitening, of the country, promoting immigration from Catholic countries in Europe. And this is what Donald & co.'s brutal mass deportation campaign amounts to: an attempt to to *whiten* the country through the expulsion of non-white US residents - along with all their deep cultural, intellectual and economic contributions. What this looks like in practice is a twisted game of disappearance. The lady from whom you used to buy tamales and atole on the street corner: vanished. The couple who used to clean your apartment: inside their own apartment, hiding. Your new friend, the mom of your daughter's friend - she's being yanked out her car and thrown down to the pavement because the Supreme Court has ruled that racial profiling is now legal.
Latinos comprise 1/3 of Chicago's population and like the other groups who inhabit the city, their contributions to the visual, literary, theatrical, culinary, and musical arts in the city are immeasurable. As are Latino contributions to progressive political movements and to education in Xicago. Indeed, upon a closer look, we see that it is impossible to separate Latino Xicago from Chicago itself. But this is precisely what the grimly quixotic plan of Stephen Miller and ICE seeks to do: To forge a more cruel and a more dull nation. To forge a nation more white.
