My play, The ICEmen Cometh, is one of 20 solo shows selected for the 10th Annual SF Playground Solo Festival, which will be held at the Potrero Stage in San Francisco in January and February. 2027. I’m super pleased to be featured alongside so many exciting and interesting shows from around the country in this milestone year. The festival's maximum show length is 50 minutes, so this will be a slightly shorter version of my Marsh Rising Premiere, which I expect will run for an hour. Where the show is headed The full-length version premieres as part of the Marsh's Marsh Rising Program on January 19th at 7:30 pm in Downtown Berkeley. Marsh Rising presents developing work and serves as a formal audition for a theater run. This is a key next step for the show, so we need a full house. As you may know, I aim to sell out all my shows. Just 'sayin. Here's the ticket link: https://themarsh.ludus.com/select.php Behind the scenes I’ve been writing this show in David Ford’s Saturday Class in Berkeley for almost a year. I have found that this is the best way for me to develop work. I show up every week with new or revised portions and get feedback from David and classmates. I am also inspired by watching other people’s development process. Rebecca Fisher is directing my show, and we consult with David Ford on an ongoing basis. I suppose his role is dramaturg; it seems like such a fancy word to me. Now that I have a solid first draft, I’ll keep fine-tuning it as I start learning the script. And since my show addresses current events, it will always change, often from show to show. This is an exciting stage of the process: the story is on the page, and now it comes alive in rehearsal. SAVE the Date: Come see it — in person or online I'll have three performances at the Potrero Stage in San Francisco, and it will also be live-streamed, so you can join me wherever you are: Thursday, January 28, 2027 at 7:00 p.m. Monday, February 1, 2027 at 8:30 p.m. Sunday, February 7, 2027 at 4:00 p.m. There's no fee to attend in person or to watch online. Donations are gratefully appreciated and help keep the theater going. You will need to get tickets, and I'll share a link later. Click here for a complete listing of all the performers. I'd love to see you there. Thank you for your support as this show finds its way to the stage!

How Do You Keep Writing a Play When the World Feels Like It’s Falling Apart? What a Whirlwind! Ever wondered what it's like to be part of a festival like the In Front of Your Eyes Festival (IFOYE) sponsored by The Marsh Theater last month? The answer: it's a whirlwind. Weeks of preparation lead up to it: writing, rewriting, meeting on Zoom with Rebecca Fisher, my director, attending David Ford's Saturday morning class, and rewriting more, along with time onstage rehearsing. Most of the rehearsing happens at home, but of course, it's best to do it in the space where you are actually performing. Then it's festival time: an opening-night show and party at the San Francisco Marsh, and performances back-to-back at the two SF theaters during the first few days of the first week of the festival. Visiting with friends between shows was an added bonus. It was all quite wonderful. In the second and third weeks of the festival, the performances were at the two Berkeley Marsh theaters. There was barely enough time to catch my breath in between all the shows I saw, while juggling preparations for my own performances, which were scheduled for the last two days of the festival. Oh, and lest I forget, there was also the time-intensive work of publicizing my show on social media, as well as texting and emailing friends to remind them of my upcoming show. Now that it's all behind me, I wanted to take a moment to share how it went. A Community of Stories One of my favorite parts of festivals like this is watching other performers do their work. I managed to see 23 performers; I wish I could have seen them all. There were 36 new works by women and nonbinary creators, told across three weeks — there's no way to take in everything, but what I did see reminded me why this kind of platform matters so much. Everything I saw was so good. I know you'll get a chance to see some of the work in the next few months at The Marsh, since several pieces already have runs scheduled. Sharing the Stage with Yvonne Martínez I was paired with Yvonne Martínez, and it turned out to be a great experience. I hadn't met Yvonne before, and I'm glad for the chance to spend time with her. We attended a couple of shows together and learned about each other's adventures. I am looking forward to seeing more of the work Yvonne is developing. I was the Opener with my new solo piece in development, The ICEmen Cometh, and Yvonne performed her show Someday, Mija, You'll Learn the Difference Between a Whore and a Working Woman — a piece rooted in labor, organizing, and the women who built the labor movement from the ground up, often without recognition. Two Chicanas on stage, speaking our truths, back-to-back. That's really the simplest way I can describe what that evening was. Different stories, but both of us pushing against the same question: who gets to be seen, and on whose terms? That's a picture of Stephanie Weisman, Founder and Creative Director of The Marsh, at the festival's closing night and awards ceremony with Yvonne and me. Special thanks to Stephanie, Kaitlin Weinstein, and the entire Marsh Theater Team who worked so hard to make the IFOYE Festival a smashing success. The Response The feedback I received from the audience reminds me why you do this work in the first place: "Incredible history lesson," "I love how Irma weaves the personal and historical," "great stories that need to be heard." Not all the feedback was positive: "So pedantic, sounded like a lecture," "very important but want more acting." I totally hear that criticism. I struggle between wanting to share little-known history about the Latino community's experience (like this is the THIRD wave of mass deportations, not the first one; earlier ones were during the Depression and in the 1950s). We have a long and sad history of being on the receiving end of discrimination, and creating "scenes" that illustrate those experiences is something I seek to bring to the stage, but not as easy as it looks. Also, I am not a trained actor, and I've been working to develop that craft. I always appreciate feedback, positive and negative, so thanks to those who took the time to fill out the forms the festival provided to the audience. And I'm thrilled to share that The ICEmen Cometh won Best of Festival – Short Dramatic Category. Yvonne received an Honorable Mention Award for her show. Congratulations to all of the performers; putting together a show, whether an Opening Short (15-20 minutes) or an hour-long full-length performance, is a huge feat. It was an honor to perform alongside so much strong new work. A Full House and Friends Watching From Afar We had a sold-out crowd. Mil gracias to friends and colleagues for coming to watch live theater. I'm grateful for every single one of YOU. One of the performances was also livestreamed, and it was wonderful to know people were tuning in from other parts of the country and watching along from a distance. Thanks to friends in San Antonio, Santa Fe, Reno, Lexington, the DC area, and Fresno who watched. The above are screenshots that friends in Buenos Aires shared with me. If you watched from elsewhere, let me know. There was some confusion around scheduling and time zones, so if you missed it and want to see it, get in touch with me, and I'll send you a link to watch the recording. What's Next The festival may be over, but the work is still happening. Here's what's coming up: December 6th @ 5 pm San Francisco Marsh — I'll be opening for Amy Oppenheimer's Looking for Justice (In All The Wrong Places). This will be a 15-minute excerpt of my work in development. Not sure what I'll present then, but I hope you'll come see the two of us on stage. Amy's show is based on her career as a lawyer, administrative law judge, and the life experiences that led her to law and to question what justice is and how we find it. Tickets available here. January 19th @ 7:30 pm Berkeley Marsh — Come check out the full-length premiere of The ICEmen Cometh at The Marsh Rising. I am busy writing the rest of the script. The Rising is a one-night show (think of it as the audition that determines whether the theater offers you a several-week run). This is the same process I went through before my first play, Why Would I Mispronounce My Own Name? got on stage. Get your tickets for the premiere of The ICEmen Coment, as I expect the show to be sold out. Tickets available here. Save the date for both. I'd love to see you there. Thank you to everyone who came out, watched from home, and cheered us on. This whirlwind wouldn't mean nearly as much without you. Mil gracias, much gratitude. Thanks for taking the time to read my newsletter. Irma

I am participating in the In Front of Your Eyes (IFYOE) Festival in August. I'm returning to The Marsh this summer for the second IFOYE Festival, and I am eager to share what I've been working on. Two years ago, I was part of the Festival's inaugural showing as an Opening Act, presenting a fifteen-minute excerpt of Class Migrant: de Aquí y de Allá, a one-person show that I was developing at the time. That work is currently on hold, and this year, I'm back — with an excerpt of the new work that's been the focus of my attention for the past year: The ICEmen Cometh. It will be the fifteen-minute Opening Act for headliner Yvonne Martínez, who will perform her one-woman show, Someday, Mija, You'll Know the Difference Between a Whore and a Working Woman. I love the title. I'm genuinely excited about this pairing. I know that our material will complement each other in ways that resonate deeply with the audience — two stories, told back-to-back, that both push against what we're told about who we're allowed to be. I'm looking forward to meeting Yvonne for the first time later this week. Here is a piece she wrote about her experiences with sexual harassment within the labor movement, inspired to write it by the painful and heartbreaking revelations of Cesar Chavez' abuse and rape of women and girls in the farmworker rights movement. IFOYE describes itself as a festival of new performance featuring 36 new works by women and nonbinary creators, including 18 full-length shows. It's a rare, generous platform, and I'm grateful to participate again this go-round. The details: The festival runs across two cities and two weekends: San Francisco: August 12–16, 2026 Berkeley: August 19–23 & August 27–30, 2026 And these shows will be livestreamed, so no matter where you live, you can watch the performances. Yvonne and I are performing on Saturday, August 29th at 5:30 pm and Sunday, August 30th at 1 pm. These are in the Pacific Time Zone. I started writing The ICEmen Cometh last year, in response to the brutal tactics of ICE and the outright cruelty of the Trump administration toward immigrant communities across this country. Like much of my work, this play returns to a question I can't stop asking: who gets to belong in the United States? What message does a country send about who is welcome? The shifts in public discourse should alarm all of us, as white ethno-nationalism goes from being discounted as fringe elements to openly promoted at the highest levels of government. We've watched entire communities — Haitians, Syrians, Venezuelans, Mexicans — branded as subhuman. And that branding doesn't stop at the border of documentation status. It attaches to us regardless of our citizenship. If you're from one of these communities, you can find yourself on the receiving end of prejudice and hatred. In a social media post, I was recently called an America-hater and told I should go back to Mexico. That my family has been here for generations is irrelevant to many. To some, my very physical appearance tells them that I don't belong, that I can't possibly be a real American. I write and talk about all this in the hope that more people understand what is at stake for our nation. So please, join me. Come catch a show. Be part of the conversation and the resistance. We — the people — still have the power to change the world. Secure your tickets at the link below! https://themarsh.org/in-front-of-your-eyes-2026/yvonne-martinez/

In Front of Your Eyes Festival 2026 Come See New Excerpt of The ICEmen Cometh — Bring a Friend! I'm returning to The Marsh this summer for the second IFOYE Festival, and I wanted to write directly to you to ask you to come. I appreciate that you have cheered me on through the many drafts and rehearsals, and that you showed up to see previous excerpts I've performed as part of developing this new show. Two years ago, I stood on this same festival's stage at its inaugural event. I presented a fifteen-minute excerpt of Class Migrant: de Aquí y de Allá, a one-person show I was developing at the time. That work is on hold for now. But I haven't stopped writing, and I haven't stopped asking the questions that keep pulling me back to the stage. This year, I'm bringing something new to IFOYE: an excerpt of The ICEmen Cometh, the piece that's had my full attention for the past year. Why I wrote this I started writing The ICEmen Cometh last year, in response to the brutal tactics of ICE and the outright cruelty this administration has shown toward immigrant communities across the country. It keeps circling back to a question I keep asking: who belongs in the United States? What message does a country send about who is welcome? The shifts in public discourse should alarm all of us. White ethno-nationalism has gone from being dismissed as a fringe position to being openly promoted at the highest levels of government. We've watched entire communities — Haitians, Syrians, Venezuelans, Mexicans — branded as subhuman. And that labeling (which should attach to NO one) attaches to all of us who are from these groups, regardless of our citizenship. I know this firsthand. In a social media post, I was recently called an America-hater and told I should go back to Mexico. That my family has been here for generations was irrelevant to the person writing it. To some, my very physical appearance is enough to decide that I don't belong, that I can't possibly be a "real" American. I write and talk about all of this because I want more people to understand what's actually at stake for our nation. The ICEmen Cometh says it plainly: your rights are next. This isn't only a war on immigrants — it's a war on all of us. As ICE terrorizes our communities, no one is safe. I'm Sharing the Stage With . . . I'll be performing as the 15-min Opening Act for headliner Yvonne Martínez, who is presenting her show Someday Mija, You'll Learn the Difference Between a Whore and a Working Woman. Yvonne's piece celebrates unsung women of color labor activists, beginning with her own grandmother — a sex worker who, alongside her sisters, ran with the "scabmuggers" of 1950s Utah. Scabmuggers were immigrant women who, going back to the turn-of-the-century textile strikes, patrolled picket lines and — when necessary — persuaded others to honor them. Yvonne went on to become a labor organizer and negotiator herself, and this show carries forward the stories of those women, alongside those of real Bay Area labor activists who led local campaigns. Shondaland called Yvonne's work "a must-read (listen) to learn more about this titan." I finally got to meet Yvonne recently. I know our material will complement each other in ways that will resonate deeply with the audience — two stories, told back-to-back, that both push against what we're told about who we're allowed to be. The details IFOYE — In Front of Your Eyes — describes itself as a festival of new performance featuring 36 new works by women and nonbinary creators, including 18 full-length shows. It's a rare, generous platform, and I'm grateful to be part of it again. The festival runs across two cities and three weeks: San Francisco: August 12–16, 2026 Berkeley: August 19–23 & August 27–30, 2026 Yvonne and I are performing at The Marsh Berkeley Cabaret Theater: Saturday, August 29 at 5:30 pm Sunday, August 30 at 1:00 pm Both times are Pacific Time. Can't make it in person? Watch from anywhere. The Sunday, August 30 @ 1 pm performance will be livestreamed, so no matter where you live, you can be there with us. Click above for tickets to livestream. Please note ONLY the Sunday performance will be livestreamed. Livestream tickets are $10. If you're in the Bay Area, come in person! General seating tickets run $15–$35; reserved seating is $50 or $100. Online ticket sales close two hours before each performance, though additional tickets may be available at the door. But . . . we expect BOTH shows to be sold out!! Just 'sayin. 👉 Get tickets for our show 👉 See the full IFOYE Festival lineup Why Your Presence Matters Your support, in person or watching on livestream, means more than I can put into words. I deeply value the feedback I receive; your thoughts and opinions have helped me shape the material I present. Please come; being in community as we process what is happening in our country is important. Be part of the conversation and the resistance. We — the people — still have the power to change the world. I'd love to see you there.

Who gets to be a citizen of the United States? This is the question before the US Supreme Court in Trump v. Barbara. On the first day of his second term as President of the United States, Donald Trump signed an Executive Order titled: Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship. Through this Order, the Trump Regime sought to eliminate the birthright citizenship law explicitly set forth in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution and in the Supreme Court's ruling in United States v. Wong Kim Ark. This Executive Order, in my view and that of many others, is one of numerous ways Trump and his minions are telling Latinos that we aren’t welcome in this country. Through this Executive Order, Trump is inviting the Supreme Court to undo a century of existing law in order to deny citizenship to the children of undocumented immigrants. Multiple cases challenging the Executive Order were filed immediately, and every court that considered the issue found that it likely violated the Constitution and prevented the change from taking effect. This question was quickly taken up by the United States Supreme Court. This newsletter provides some historical background as we await the Supreme Court's decision. How Citizenship is Acquired Throughout the world, people acquire citizenship based on two legal principles: jus soli and jus sanguinis. Jus is the Latin word for law or right and is the root for the word justice. Soli means soil, as in the land where you are born; just think location, location, location, and sanguinis means blood or your bloodline. In the United States, people become citizens the moment they are born. Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed (falsely) that “the US is the only country in the world stupid enough” to have birthright citizenship. In fact, three dozen countries, including the US, grant automatic citizenship to people born on their soil, as do Canada, Mexico, and most of South America. (As set forth in the chart) The United States follows the jus soli principle, which originates in English Common Law. In England, whoever was born within the land controlled by the King was a subject of the King. When the thirteen colonies declared their independence from England and created the United States, they adopted English Common Law, which meant our nation followed the jus soli principle. This was the law in Great Britain until 1981, when political and social pressure, including anti-immigrant sentiment, led the British Parliament to adopt new immigration laws. The new law decoupled the right to citizenship in the United Kingdom from being born there (jus soli) to requiring that a newly born child have a parent with British citizenship (jus sanguini). British law joined the ranks of its neighbors, as you can see in the chart. The Dred Scott Case The question of who can be a United States citizen was first addressed by the US Supreme Court in the mid-1800. The issue was whether black people could be citizens of the United States. Dred Scott, who lived in Virginia, was purchased by an Army surgeon, Dr. Emerson, who took Dred Scott with him while he was posted in two federal territories (that later became states) that prohibited slavery. At some point, Dr. Emerson’s family relocated to Missouri, and Dred Scott’s family also moved with the Emersons. Slavery was lawful in Missouri. Dred Scott requested to buy freedom for himself and his family after Dr. Emerson's death, but his widow declined to sell him his freedom. Dred Scott sued on the grounds that having lived as a free man in territory that did not allow slavery, he was now emancipated. This principle had been accepted by various courts, and a lower court agreed with him, but the case was appealed to the Supreme Court. On March 6, 1857, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney delivered the majority opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court. Seven of the nine justices agreed that Dred Scott should remain a slave, but the Chief Justice did not stop there. He also ruled that as a slave, Dred Scott was not a citizen of the United States and therefore had no right to bring suit in the federal courts on any matter. In addition, he declared that Scott had never been free, due to the fact that slaves were personal property; thus, the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was unconstitutional, and the federal government had no right to prohibit slavery in the new territories. This decision is viewed by historians as a contributing factor to the Civil War and is considered one of the most shameful Supreme Court decisions in our country's history. Sounds a lot like what we’re living through as this Supreme Court rolls out decisions heavily favoring the Christian Nationalist agenda of the Trump Administration. The 14th Amendment After the Civil War, the United States Constitution was amended to protect the civil rights of formerly enslaved Black people. The Reconstruction Amendments -- the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution -- were ratified between 1865 and 1870 and were designed to dismantle slavery and establish legal equality for formerly enslaved people, guaranteeing due process and equal protection, and granting voting rights. This Amendment undid the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott’s decision. A decade plus after these Reconstruction Amendments were adopted, economic anxiety and anti-Chinese racism had grown to a fever pitch on the West Coast, with various states passing many anti-Chinese laws in hopes of forcing Chinese who lived here to leave and to keep additional people from coming to this country. The United States Congress enacted the first federal immigration law to exclude people based on their race and nationality. In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act banned Chinese laborers from entering the US and explicitly forbade state and federal courts from granting United States citizenship to Chinese residents already living here. Wong Kim Ark was born in San Francisco a few years before the Chinese Exclusion Acts were passed. As a young man, he traveled twice to China, and on his second return, immigration officials would not allow him to disembark at the port in San Francisco. Since the Chinese Exclusion Act prohibited people of Chinese ancestry from becoming United States citizens, officials assumed that Wong Kim Ark could not possibly be a US citizen as he claimed. Hold up, said Wong Kim Ark. As I was born in San Francisco, I am a citizen of this country, as set forth in the 14th Amendment. And doing the most American of things, Wong got a lawyer and sued the government. The lower court agreed that the 14th Amendment clearly granted Wong Kim Ark citizenship. The case was appealed to the US Supreme Court, and in 1898, a 6-2 decision held that the 14th Amendment applied to ALL children born in the United States, and Wong Kim Ark was a U.S. citizen and had to be allowed back into his country. From the moment Donald Trump threw his hat into the political ring, he capitalized on anti-immigrant sentiment, especially against Mexicans and other Latinos. He raised the idea of denying citizenship to children of undocumented parents during his first term, but faced severe pushback from legal scholars and prominent Republicans who told him such an order would be unconstitutional. Buoyed by the great powers bestowed upon him by this Supreme Court, Trump began his second term by issuing Executive Order 14160, eliminating this constitutional right. He issued this on the first day in office. Legal scholars and court watchers believe the Supreme Court will agree with the lower courts and rule the Executive Order unconstitutional. This court has issued many decisions expanding the powers of the Executive Branch (really, Donald Trump's powers). It ruled very narrowly when Democratic Presidents Obama and Biden issued Executive Orders. I am hopeful that the Supreme Court agrees that Trump overplayed his hand in seeking to eliminate birthright citizenship and that jus soli continues to be the law in the United States. And we will soon know the answer.

I’m working hard on a new play, The ICEmen Cometh, and I’m performing a 20-minute excerpt four times in April. Three in San Francisco and once in Berkeley.   Here’s the description from The Marsh Website: tickets are available for three of the shows, either in person or from the comfort of your home, no matter where you live. Tickets here: https://themarsh.org/monday-night-marsh-stream/   I had applied to perform at the District Fringe Festival in late August in Washington, DC. I received the rejection email today:   “Thank you so much for submitting your work,  THE ICEMEN COMETH ,   for the 2026 District Fringe Festival. We appreciate that our mission and the ethos behind District Fringe spoke to you. Unfortunately, we were unable to program your project in the line up for the District Fringe Festival this year. We received more than 80 ambitious and impressive applications from independent artists based across the DMV and the nation, and with only 10 full production spots to offer, our reading committee had to make many difficult choices. Please know that your work is important to us and was given careful consideration throughout the process.”   Blah, blah, blah . . . To some extent, I was relieved, as I did wonder whether performing a play that is harshly critical of ICE and the Trump Regime in the belly of the beast was a good idea.   “And so it goes,” were the words that came to mind when I read the rejection email. So, I turned to AI and asked Claude, which character offered this phase in Kurt Vonnegut’s novel(s). I didn’t remember who said it or why they said it so often. But I did remember the refrain.   Here’s Claude's response:  “The phrase 'And so it goes' is repeated throughout Kurt Vonnegut's novel Slaughterhouse-Five (1969) — but it isn't attributed to a specific character. It's used by the narrator (who is Vonnegut himself, speaking in the first person) as a recurring refrain. It appears every single time death is mentioned in the novel — whether the death of a person, an animal, or even a champagne — serving as a darkly resigned, almost numbingly ironic acknowledgment of mortality. The repetition is a deliberate literary device that reflects the novel's anti-war, fatalistic tone.”   I was invited to do the hour-long show at The Marsh Theater as part of their Marsh Rising Series. Your show on the one-night Marsh Rising gives the theater's artistic director the opportunity to see the complete play and decide whether you'll be invited to do a run down the line. I picked a Fall Date, October 20, 2026, and I'm excited to have this one-night audition at the theater. I'll remind you as the date gets closer. The full work is not yet finished, and I do best with a deadline. Don't we all? So now, when people ask, “When can I see your full show?”  I have an answer, in Berkeley on October 20.   More immediately, I’m testing the waters with new material for this play starting Monday, April 13, and then again on April 27 and April 28. The April 19 performance at Sunset Solo is sold out. Just 'sayin! It’s always exciting to have a sold-out show. All four of these performances are group shows with other storytellers and are great opportunities to gather audience feedback that helps shape the material. If you live in the Bay Area and can come, I’d love to see you there.   Keep the faith, the country won’t be as dark a place as we’ve seen these past months. During the big social and political movements of the 60s Bob Dylan encouraged us to believe “The Times They Are a-Changin” and they are. And here's the info on the Berkeley Show. Tickets here: https://themarsh.org/shows_and_events/marshstream/tell-it-on-tuesday-at-the-marsh/

Who gets to be a Citizen of the United States? Protestor and Child That is the question at issue in the pending birthright citizenship case before the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS). On April 1, 2026, the highest court of our nation will hear oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara  and decide this question, which is at the heart of who we are as a country. "Where are you really from, like where were you born? But your parents, where did they come from?" If YOU have been asked this question, you know that some people assume you are a foreigner, not a United States citizen, not an American. A digression. . . . every time I write or say the word American, I feel a desire to correct the record and be precise in the use of language: everyone in North and South America is an American, as Bad Bunny noted in the halftime Super Bowl Show. But since everyone uses the word American to refer to a US Citizen, I will too. For some years now, and especially since the Trump Regime's push to deport millions of people has gone into high gear, those of us who are asked this question live with a level of underlying fear that we too can be targets of ICE and other law enforcement efforts. You have likely read a news story or two about Native Americans who were assumed to be immigrants. Here's one example. Several months ago, Leticia Jacobo, an enrolled member of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Nation, was arrested in Iowa on a traffic - related incident. When her mother went to pick her up at the jail, she was informed that Leticia was being held on an immigration hold (an ICE detainer) for potential deportation. "Deportation, how is this possible?" asked her mother. Leticia was released only after her family presented her birth certificate and, following a phone call from the police chief of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Nation, who confirmed that she was an enrolled member of the tribe. In short, she did not "look American," thus the burden was on her to prove she was a citizen. Protest Sign Unfortunately, a significant number of people in this country, and in particular many supporters of Donald Trump, publicly declare that the United States is a country by and for white people, and those of us who aren't considered white aren't welcome here. The growing number of people with ancestral roots from south of the US-Mexico border, Asia, Africa, and India has fueled the “Great Replacement” theory, a far-right conspiracy theory that claims that white populations in the United States are being deliberately “replaced” by non-white immigrants through immigration, demographic change, and lower birth rates among white people. This theory is also popular in Europe and is fueling anti-immigrant sentiment in many countries. At its heart, the issue of who gets to claim American citizenship is about race. The first case addressing this issue was the Dred Scott Decision in 1857, when the Supreme Court ruled that Black people could not be U.S. Citizens. This has long been viewed as one of the most shameful decisions in the Supreme Court's history. In response, Congress eventually adopted the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1868, and it contains the Citizenship Clause: " All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."   The anti-immigrant sentiment today is fueled in great part by Donald Trump and Stephen Miller's hatred of Mexicans, but extends to all Latinos. Thrown in for good measure to this specific brand of xenophobia is the racist desire to be rid of Black people, wherever they may come from. Although there is a strong dose of anti-Asian animus, the key targets are black and brown people. The Supreme Court previously addressed this issue in United States v. Wong Kim Ark in 1898. The Wong Kim Ark case was rooted in hatred and resentment of Chinese people on the West Coast, where vibrant communities were established in places like San Francisco and Los Angeles. Chinese residents were easy targets of racial resentment, which often led to violence against them. In fact, the largest mass lynching in California history was in 1871, when 19 Chinese men and boys were lynched in LA’s Chinatown. Not long after those terrible lynchings, a young Chinese couple living on Sacramento Street in San Francisco welcomed their new son. The immigration laws excluding the Chinese didn’t yet exist. They were passed when Wong Kim Ark was nine years old Wong Kim Ark At age 21, Wong traveled to China. When he returned several months later, they wouldn’t let him off the ship in San Francisco because of the Chinese Exclusion Act. Wait up, says Wong, I’m a United States citizen, born and raised on Sacramento Street. Not anymore, said the government. A prominent lawyer and proud Irishman filed a lawsuit against the government and won. The federal court ruled that Wong Kim Ark was a US citizen and had a right to return to his home. The government appealed, and ultimately the United States Supreme Court ruled three years later that the 14th Amendment of the Constitution means what it says: People born in the United States are citizens of this country. For three long years, while the various appellate courts considered the question, Wong Kim Ark was in prison in Angel Island on San Francisco Bay. Fast forward 127 years. With the stroke of a Sharpie, Donald Trump issued Executive Order 14160, Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship, which claims the Citizenship Clause did not grant citizenship when a child's mother was unlawfully present in the United States and the father was not a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident, or when the mother's presence was lawful but temporary and the father was also not a citizen or permanent resident. Numerous cases were filed immediately after this Executive Order was signed, and several federal judges issued nationwide injunctions that halted enforcement. Judge John Coughenour, a Seattle-based Reagan appointee, one of the judges blocking the order, noted the following: "I can't remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one. This is a blatantly unconstitutional order." Although SCOTUS ruled against nationwide injunctions in these cases, the Executive Order remained blocked by new lawsuits that enjoined it from taking effect. Legal experts expect that the Supreme Court will rule that this Executive Order banning birthright citizenship violates the Constitution and that the law will remain the same. Anyone born in the United States is a citizen. U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer will argue for the Trump Administration in defense of eliminating birthright citizenship. Cecillia Wang, the National Director of the American Civil Liberties Union, described as a "second-generation American" by the ACLU, will argue that anyone born in the United States is a citizen of this country. A decision in this landmark case is expected in late June or early July.

This is a short newsletter. Mostly, I want to invite my Bay Area friends to see the latest excerpt of The ICEmen Cometh, a one-woman show in development . Four other performers and I are presenting 15-20 minute excerpts of larger pieces. This will be at The Marsh Theater in Berkeley on Monday, December 8 th  @ 7:30 pm. I've titled this excerpt  "Self-Deportation"  and share the history of how this concept, which has no legal meaning, entered the national conversation on immigration. The idea of creating self-deportation centers started as a piece of satire, a political media hoax by Lalo Alcaraz and Esteban Zul of Pocho Magazine, to draw attention to the frenzied immigrant-bashing that accompanied Governor Pete Wilson's promotion of Prop 187 in 1994 to win reelection as Governor. What started as satire became a beloved idea among anti-immigrant groups and the Republican Party. We are witnessing in real time the degrading and demeaning of groups of people based on their countries of origin. As the Trump Regime welcomes white South Africans with open arms, it has closed its door to most of the rest of the world based on racist assumptions about non-whites. When the President of the United States speaks freely about shit-hole countries and describes groups of people as garbage, we are in very dangerous territory. Since he has been a public figure, and well before he was a political candidate, Trump has fomented racial hostility towards people of color. Following Donald Trump's example, Kristi Noem, ICE Barbie, has called for a “full travel ban,” claiming some countries are “flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies.” Woven into the fabric of our nation is labeling groups of people as inferior -- undesirables -- and developing policies to make them subordinate castes. Of course the example was set with the institution of slavery. And then we had other explicitly racist laws targeting specific groups: the Indian Removal Act, the Chinese Exclusion laws (state and federal), and Japanese Internment. Just for starters. Our immigration laws have been developed along white supremacy views. For more than a century, people of Mexican ancestry have been blamed for our nation’s economic woes and have been subjected to massive raids and deportations. Operation Wetback during the 1950s removed at least 700,000 people and shipped them off to Mexico. Other deportation waves had preceded this one. In all instances, a significant number of United States citizens were denied their rights as Americans and shipped to Mexico without due process. Ethnic-looking US citizens have been and will continue to be collateral damage, as ProPublica laid out in a recent  report , which documented that more than 170 U.S. citizens have been caught in the crosshairs of the militarized deportation campaigns. These are some of the themes I tackle in this segment of my play. As disheartening and infuriating as it is to see the abusive tactics used by ICE and Customs and Border Patrol's masked agents, we also see tens of thousands of people in cities around the country stepping up and protesting ICE actions by creating safety zones around schools and hospitals, accompanying people to immigration appointments, distributing know your rights information, training rapid response teams, and supporting bail funds. Folks have developed many creative ways to protect and support each other. And I am so grateful to all the legal advocacy organizations and independent media that follow and report on these stories. Sharing two things that caught my eye. Women’s March WIN, the political arm of Women’s March, has launched a 60-second television and digital campaign titled “Dear ICE Agents: What Will You Say?” has aired in Charlotte, Chicago, and West Palm Beach in TV, cable, and streaming services as well as on social media platforms. Take a look, I was certainly moved by what I saw. Singer-songwriter Jesse Wells has become a huge sensation with his songs that tackle current events and critical social issues. Take a listen to Join ICE. There is so much to say about the Trump Regime’s cruel policies targeting immigrants and all those of us who are perceived as NOT real Americans. I'll do that on Monday night at The Marsh Theater in Berkeley. Showtime is 7:30 pm. Hope to see you there. Get tickets in advance; the last time I performed the show, it sold out. Just saying. Tickets start at $13 (including fees). Scan the QR code below to access the ticket link. I am part of the David Ford Class Show.

My friend Maria, who lives in Tucson, sent me a copy of her missive to Hacienda Del Sol Guest Ranch Resort in response to their invitation to their Dia de los Muertos "festive" Brunch. I share this with her permission. To: Hacienda del Sol (Tucson, Arizona) Subject: The Real Meaning of El Dia de los Muertos: Dia de los Muertos is a celebration that honors the dead and reflects the belief in the cyclical nature of life and death. It is a time when the living come together to remember and celebrate the lives of those who have passed away. The holiday is a blend of ancient Aztec traditions and sacred Catholic elements, creating a unique cultural tapestry, like no other. Families create altars, known as ofrendas, adorned with photos, moments, and favorite foods and beverages of the deceased. These offerings invite spirits to return for a brief visit, filling the atmosphere with joy and remembrance rather than sorrow. The origins of Dia de los Muertos can be traced back thousands of years to the Aztec civilization, where they honored their deceased ancestors through rituals and ceremonies. The holiday has grown in popularity in the Latino communities in the United States and continues to spread around the world, emphasizing the importance of remembering and celebrating the lives of those who have passed away. This day is NOT about brunch and cocktails. I find your event to "celebrate" this sacred holiday at best - clueless and at worst - disrespectful. How many of your guests will understand the real meaning behind this holiday? Without an authentic cultural context, your event to me is just another commercialization of Mexican culture and history. You folks can do better! This is Tucson Arizona for Pete-sakes! How do we honor our ancestors? Questions for mi gente: What are your family traditions around remembering the dead? Do you still follow these traditions? If you did not grow up observing Dia de los Muertos, have you now sought to make this part of your life? For my non-Latino readers, when and how did you first learn about Dia de los Muertos? How does it relate to your life, if at all? Have you participated in any Dia de los Muertos activities, like going to a Museum Exhibit or even making or helping build an altar in your home or community? No matter how long our families have lived in the United States, our cultures and traditions are always changing, influenced by the people around us. If we are lucky, we have friends and neighbors from different racial and ethnic backgrounds. The high rates of intermarriage mean that many of our families blend different cultural backgrounds. I clearly remember our son sitting next to his Dad at the kitchen table; Tony was eating tamales, and Mark was having gefilte fish and horseradish. That is a beautiful part about living in the United States. We celebrate and enjoy the foods and traditions of others in our communities. Many people first became familiar with Dia de los Muertos when Pixar's widely acclaimed movie "Coco" featured aspects of Mexican culture related to life, death, and family traditions. Side note: Do you recall that Disney (which owns Pixar) sought to trademark "Dia de los Muertos" in anticipation of releasing the film and its marketing campaign, selling everything from Coco-themed snacks to toys and clothing. It was audacious of Disney to think it could trademark a holiday from another country that has been observed for hundreds of years. Imagine an effort to trademark Yom Kippur. Political cartoonist and activist Lalo Alcaraz created this Muerte Mouse cartoon mocking Disney's attempts and casting beloved Mickey Mouse in a not-so-festive light. Following the public outcry from the Latino community, Disney withdrew its trademark application. Before Muerto Mouse, he created Migra Mouse and always has insightful commentary, capturing the horrors of the current Trump Regime and its abuses. If you aren't familiar with Lalo Alcaraz' work, I highly recommend you follow him on social media. Enter his name and you'll find him on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and elsewhere. And on a side note, Lalo was among several consultants to Disney/Pixar on Coco to ensure its authentic portrayal. Now, back to my childhood and how we honored our antepasados. In my home and among family and friends in rural South Texas (back in the Fifties and Sixties), we did not have elaborate altars with papier-mâché figures of calacas y catrinas, papel picado, or food and drink offerings like those we typically see now in beautiful, colorful Dia de los Muertos displays. Many families had a special place in their homes that held votive candles, and perhaps a picture or a small statue of a favored saint. I, too, have such a place in my study, honoring La Virgen de Guadalupe, beloved in Mexico and throughout Latin America, and by many Latino families (especially Mexican-Americans) here in the United States. Several days before All Souls' Day, November 2nd, el Dia de los Finados (as my relatives called it and known also as Dia de los Difuntos), our family would make the two-hour drive south from Alice (my hometown) to Escobares, Texas, the ranchito where my father's family had lived for generations. My paternal grandmother was a member of the Escobar clan. The closest Mexican town to Escobares, nine miles away, is Ciudad Miguel Aleman across the Rio Grande River from Roma, Texas. The streets of Ciudad Miguel Aleman were lined with vendors selling flowers, mainly marigolds. It was much cheaper to buy flores en Mejico, than en los Estados Unidos. In those visits, we paid our respects at the gravesides of my father's extended family. We would then return home and bring flowers to the historic (and segregated) Collins Cemetery in Alice, Texas, the burial place of my mother's side of the family. Visits to the cemetery included cleaning the area and ensuring that everything was in good order. We delivered the flowers, offered prayers, and remembered our departed relatives. I greatly appreciate the time, effort, and good intentions devoted to creating altars and public offerings at museums, schools, libraries, hospitals, and many other institutions that acknowledge the Day of the Dead. I was glad to learn about this holiday celebration many years ago, and I appreciate how it connects to my ancestral roots, even though it wasn't part of my childhood. I hope to be introduced to the traditions of other cultures and communities and to observe them respectfully.

That was the feedback from my spouse about my show the previous evening. "It's a fine essay!" I repeated and then laughed at Mark's comment.   “I know, it’s more like a speech to the Commonwealth Club than theater", I said, "I have no idea how I’m going to turn this into an actual play.”   “You’ll get there.”   I wondered for a moment whether I would. Then, I remind myself that this is my process. I write and research and write and research some more; then I present the facts and the law and weave them together, determined to convince you that some injustice needs to be corrected. IMMEDIATELY. Case closed. The early drafts look more like a legal brief, only without the legalese.   The first presentation of The ICEmen Cometh was Tuesday night. I publicized it on my social media, wrote a newsletter telling readers about it, and mentioned it to friends and regulars I see at Catahoula Café in Richmond (where I sit at an outdoor table almost every morning, even when it’s cold). I casually told people, “Come if you can. Tickets are available online, but you can pay at the door. It’s a one-night group show for a class I’m in, and there will be space. These shows never sell out.”   Was I surprised! The show was sold out, and they had to add more chairs and allow overflow to sit upstairs, which is only occasionally used. Processing the large crowd meant the show started almost 30 minutes late. THANKS for your patience in getting seated. There were four other storytellers on stage that night, and they, too, had invited their community. We shared five very different stories, and we all appreciated having such a great audience.   The storytellers are David Ford’s students, who attended a 10-week workshop, getting together on Saturdays. We stand on stage, notes in hand, developing some story or series of stories we want to present to a broader public. At the end of those ten sessions, we have a group show, divided into two nights of performances.   Performers and Their Excerpts Monday Night Lineup Tuesday Night Lineup Show night, David tells the audience, “We don’t know what we have until you hear these stories.” And that is so true, audience feedback is so important, and I feel the audience’s energy and reactions: maybe it’s an audible sigh, a gasp, laughter, groans, or the “you can hear a pin drop” quiet moment.   I’ve been taking these workshops over the past decade, thanks to my dear friend Diane Barnes, who invited me to join her. She is the creator of two very successful solo shows, My Stroke of Luck  and Not One of Us . David Ford's classes are where I developed my first play, Why Would I Mispronounce My Own Name?, and returned to the workshop as I made changes to that material at least three times.   Last year, when I was developing a new play, Class Migrant: de Aquí y de Allá , I signed up for David’s classes again, knowing that this is the most effective way for me to produce work and to get valuable feedback from him and the generous classmates.   Earlier this year, I signed up for another session starting in late spring. About halfway through, I felt compelled to address the assaults on our community under the Trump Regime and began writing a different play, The ICEmen Cometh . This work is new, and the material is quite raw. In fact, during one of the classes, I burst into tears, evoking the name of Anne Frank, knowing that today some families are in hiding. Some muchachita, maybe named Anita Franco, is frightened that one day she and her parents may be separated or disappeared. Although some may think this comparison is extreme, we are seeing the unfolding of a fascist society every day.   In some ways, I’ve been writing this play my whole life, as I’m flooded with all kinds of memories from childhood. One story is about my mother carrying my birth certificate when we visited our grandmother, who lived in Escobares, Texas, a ranchito on this side of the Tex-Mex border. As I was darker than everyone else in my family, she had proof that I was a United States citizen, in case that was ever questioned.   The two-plus-hour drive back home from the Rio Grande Valley included a stop at a Border Patrol checkpoint on Hwy 281 about 50 miles south of Alice (my hometown). It was usually nighttime when we pulled up. Traffic would slow down with the bright yellow blinking lights ahead. Once our station wagon had come to a complete stop, my Dad rolled down his window as the Border Patrolman approached and politely greeted him.   “Good evening, where are you folks coming from?”   “Escobares.”   “What were you doing down there?”   “Visiting my mother and other relatives.”   “Did you go into Mexico when you were down there?”   “Yes, sir.”   “How long were you there, and are you bringing any products from Mexico?”   “We just went to Ciudad Miguel Aleman for the afternoon, to have lunch. We bought a few trinkets for our kids, some Mexican candy, and my wife got some blouses for our girls.”   “Where are you headed?”   “Alice.”   “Is that where you live?”   “Yes, sir.”   “Where were you born?”   “Yoakum, Texas.”   The officer would point his flashlight at my Mom in the front seat.   “Ma’am, where were you born?"   “Realitos.Texas.”   The flashlight would then scan the back seat.   “Are these your kids? United States citizens?”   “Yes, sir, they were all born in Alice.”   “Thank you. Y’all drive carefully.”   After we drove away, my siblings would tease me. "Did you see, they kept the light on you a looooong time. Aren't you glad they didn't keep you?"   “Niños, stop it. Déjenla sola.”   My mother would tell me to ignore their taunting.   I don’t recall any encounters with the Border Patrol being unpleasant. I now wonder if my parents felt uneasy as they approached the inspection station. Back then, all the border patrol agents were white men. And for sure, there were NO women. Today, ICE and other law enforcement agencies have many Latinos, men and women. In several South Texas communities, the largest employers are prisons and immigrant detention facilities, so who they employ is not surprising. These are relatively well-paying jobs in communities with little industry and low wages. It is one of the reasons that rural counties with Mexican American populations in excess of 80% now vote for the supposed "law and order" Republican Party.   Caltrans Sign of Two Adults and Child Running On two occasions, I’ve driven from the Bay Area to South Texas, and along the way, I’ve encountered border checkpoints; each time, I got flashbacks to the border check stops of my youth. More troubling were the CAUTION signs of two adults and a child running. The message: Be careful, don’t hit the fleeing Mexicans. Seeing these signs always made me profoundly sad. And now we get to watch videos of people being tackled and beaten by masked ICE agents and thrown into unmarked vehicles. I process my grief and my rage on the page by writing.   I’m hoping that in a few months, I’ll have a new play about our current times and why we all need to speak up against the abuses and injustices. The rounding up of immigrants is the most visible sign of fascism. But I also plan to address the censorship and rewriting of history that the Trump regime is seeking to implement. All this is part of the same plan to dismantle our system of government and strip us of our Constitutional rights. All to enrich and give power to broligarchs and white supremacists.   If you’ve never read George Orwell’s book, 1984, I highly recommend you do so. And if you did read it years/decades ago in high school or college, I urge you to read it again. It will all feel so scary and familiar.   Thanks so much for your words of encouragement, and the emails and texts you send me with news stories that relate to the topics I write about. I appreciate your support and friendship. We will get through all this, but it requires all of us to be aware, to speak up, to take action.   As we say in Chicano Spanish, ponganse trucha.   I’ll end with the final words of the segment I performed this week.   “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence, encourages the tormentor.”             ~Elie Wiesel, Nobel Prize Winner, survivor of Auschwitz and Buchenwald   We all know that saying nothing encourages the bully. We’ve seen it in the school yard and in the White House.   Doing nothing is picking a side. Stand up, speak out, protest, band with neighbors and friends, and support organizations fighting the Trump Regime, while we still have these Constitutionally protected rights.   Pick the side fighting fascism, even when at times it feels futile. Don’t wait ‘til they come for you.   “In the end,” said Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, “we will remember  NOT the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”   One more thing: find joy in your life. Make some time to engage in activities that bring you happiness, such as being with family, seeing friends, cooking, reading, playing, or listening to music. I was uplifted watching these South Texas jóvenes playing mariachi music.

Years ago, I spent several days in DC with my spouse, who was there for some meetings. This gave me a chance to play tourist and visit my law school housemate, Pat. From there, I was going to Toronto on a work assignment. I’d never been to Canada and was looking forward to the trip. Although I had a passport, I had not brought it with me. This was before 9/11, when airport security looked nothing like what we have today. Pat, who had grown up in Buffalo, reassured me that getting in and out of Canada was a breeze: “You don't need a passport, just show your driver’s license.” The same was true of going into Mexico when we visited our relatives who lived in South Texas border towns; we often went "al otro lado," to enjoy lunch or dinner at a restaurant and to buy groceries, which were much cheaper at the mercados of Nuevo Laredo, Ciudad Aleman, and Matamoros.   But back to my concern about traveling to Canada. I decided to call the airline. “Hello, I have a flight to Toronto, can I travel to and from Canada with just my California Driver’s License?” “That should be fine, assuming you look like an American.” “What’s that supposed to mean?” “Well, do you look American?” “Excuse me? The United States has many kinds of people, brown, black, native, tall, short. And who exactly  decides whether someone looks American?” “Since you aren’t sure,” she responded, “I suggest you carry your American Passport.” Jaw-dropping. When I look in the mirror, I see an American, whether someone else sees me that way . . . can’t say. I did not take that chance. So, a friend went to our home and sent the passport by overnight mail.   Masked law enforcement: Homeland Security, ICE, other agencies, who can tell? Given the goal of Stephen Miller and the Trump Regime to arrest a minimum of 3000 persons each day, we know that racial profiling plays a massive role in who they target and those they arrest. There are plenty of reported cases of U.S. citizens (almost all of them dark-skinned Latinos) picked up by ICE and kept in detention for hours and days or even sent out of the country. Now, when I go to protests, I carry my US passport. Who knows when some masked law enforcers might nab me off the streets? Many Latinos report being scared. Being brown puts a target on our backs. It's a fact, and already there are several court rulings finding racial profiling and racism at the root of the government's actions. Take these opening lines from US District Judge Trina Thompson on a case involving the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) of people from Nepal, Honduras, and Nicaragua. "The freedom to live fearlessly, the opportunity of liberty, and the American dream. That is all Plaintiffs seek. Instead, they are told to atone for their race, leave because of their names, and purify their blood. The Court disagrees." Wow, even on those days I feel discouraged, I am reminded that so many people, everyday folks like you and me, are standing against the fascist moves of the Trump Regime, and many courts are ruling that the government's actions are unlawful. Although there are varying estimates (who can keep up with all the cases, motions, and preliminary injunctions currently in place), the government's LOSS rate for cases is between the high 70s to 90%. True, the Supreme Court majority appears to be in Trump's pocket, but only a handful of cases reach the Supreme Court. And in many instances, the government follows the orders of the court, although we typically only hear about their obstruction and defiance. As some of you who read my newsletter may recall, I have been working on a new play, Class Migrant: de Aquí y de Allá , about class prejudice and socio-economic mobility (and lack thereof). As inequality has accelerated, it has led to disaffection and unrest, and conflict between groups: college-educated “elites” and working-class people (who often did not have the opportunity to pursue higher education). Trump stokes resentment among his MAGA base by constantly claiming that (fill in the blanks as appropriate) people of color, gays, trans folks, feminists, non-Christians, radical lunatics... are ruining our country, taking things, depriving other more deserving people, to whom these advantages rightfully belong. Working on Class Migrant became challenging a few weeks ago as I was seeing images of horrific militarized raids in communities around the country, and especially here in California. And my head was spinning hearing and reading about the many lawsuits against the Trump Regime challenging the countless Executive Orders through which they seek to strip us of constitutionally guaranteed rights such as birthright citizenship, freedom of speech, and freedom to assemble. So, I put Class Migrant  on hold so I could write about the cruel excesses of the Trump Regime and the targeting of the Latino community. Of course, we aren’t the only ones at the receiving end of this hate. Muslim and Middle-Eastern brothers and sisters have also been kidnapped and forced into unmarked vehicles and locked up for weeks and months on end. Other groups are also at the receiving end of racism, homophobia, transphobia, the kind of prejudice that is front and center in my first show, Why Would I Mispronounce My Own Name?   This Regime, like those in fascist countries, is telling us that "dear leader" is never wrong and commanding us about what we should think, what we can read, who we can associate with, and what we women can do with our bodies. I say HELL NO!! How vulnerable are you feeling, my Latino peeps? What about the rest of you? Donald Trump makes clear in his white supremacist comments and ALL CAP posts that he considers Blacks, Latinos, Indigenous folks intellectually inferior, not deserving of a good education, of jobs that pay well with advancement possibility, and of leadership opportunities. I did not imagine that one day, I’d be living in a country where my right to live here would be challenged. And so, I’m writing about what is unfolding before our very eyes, and lucky me that I am enrolled in a 10-week class with solo theater maestro, David Ford. Halfway through our Saturday meetings, I decided to switch my focus and put Class Migrant on hold (at least temporarily). My new work, The ICEmen Cometh,  explores the nation’s relationship to immigrant groups and how this has changed over the years. I remind my fellow Americans, descendants of European immigrants, who came in earlier waves of mass migration in the 19 th  and early 20 th Century, how their ancestors were treated. And so much more. I’ll be performing a 20-minute excerpt of this new work in a staged reading at The Berkeley Marsh Theater on Tuesday, August 19 th  at 7:30 pm. It’s a student group show, with five different performers, each doing excerpts of 15-20 minutes. Studying with David Ford is a great learning experience as all the students are writing solo shows, which are in various stages of development. I learn so much from watching the evolution of the stories others are telling. If you live in the Bay Area, I hope you’ll see our shows. I offer you a money-back guarantee that you will enjoy the entire evening and will reflect on these stories in the weeks ahead. The ICEmen Cometh Tuesday 8/19 @ 7:30 pm The Berkeley Marsh 2120 Allston Way Berkeley, CA (Across the street from the Downtown Berkeley BART station) Buying tickets online is a bit tricky, so here are directions on what to do after you open this URL . First, you’ll see: "David Ford’s Class Performance Summer 2025" There are shows on both Monday and Tuesday, so to buy tickets for Tuesday, click the arrow below Audrey Mei’s name, "Show Info" You’ll see Tuesday’s lineup, with the names of the performers and the title of the pieces we have written. Tickets are $13 (including service fee) and are also available at the door. Thanks for reading, and I hope to see my Bay Area friends at this presentation.

One of thousands of protesters in Sonoma, CA The United States of America, long known as the Land of the Free, Home of the Brave, doesn't feel that way for many of us at this time. I have a mix of emotions as the 4th of July approaches. How can I not be alarmed seeing masked men (and a few women) wrestling people to the ground, dragging them away in unmarked cars? People are forcibly taken to prisons in other countries without due process. Hoopla to mark the opening of Alligator Alcatraz. Who could imagine that cruelty and humiliation of fellow human beings would a core design of government policies? Who hasn't heard about US citizen children with cancer deported along with their mothers, sure to die as the medical care that could cure them is no longer available? And watching California Senator Alex Padilla, for whom I voted, being tackled and handcuffed at a Kristi Noem press conference where she was spewing outrageous lies about Los Angeles and California, wow, that was too much.   Entire communities, including those of us who have lived in this country for generations, fear for our safety and that of our loved ones. There is a disconnect between the myths about our country and the reality of living in the United States. Of course, this is not a new experience. For generations, our families have been treated as second-class citizens, regardless of how many generations we have lived here or that our grandfathers, fathers, brothers, uncles, and cousins fought and sometimes died defending the freedom and liberties of our Constitution and Bill of Rights. Patriotism runs deep in communities of color, particularly among Latinos, African Americans, Native Americans, and Asians of all backgrounds. The Japanese American sons and daughters (whose families were in internment camps during WWII) courageously fought overseas, even as their families were treated as traitors.   The United States belongs as much to us as it does to anyone else, and my form of patriotism is protesting injustice. Let's remember that July 4th celebrates breaking free from the injustices that King George III and the British Empire wrought upon the colonies on the Eastern seaboard.   I became a lawyer to challenge discrimination and unfair treatment, and I have done this alongside many colleagues, including organizers, elected officials, lawyers, policy experts, and business leaders. During my lifetime, ordinary citizens who showed up for themselves and others have created a more level playing field for people from all walks of life. I have witnessed the power of the law to redress wrongs. We have worked diligently over the decades to make sure the ideals behind the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are a reality for everyone, not just some Americans. There is a full-court press to take away our rights, and countless people are fighting to uphold the principles of a country that has a system of laws, not a King who rules by fiat.   As a playwright and solo performer, I tell stories about our community, sharing how we are part of the American story that has evolved alongside the country.   I confess that sometimes, I get discouraged and overwhelmed. I was feeling enormous despair yesterday. And then a chance encounter with a neighbor, I'll call Carlos, lifted my spirits.   I emailed several neighbors asking if anyone had available space in their Green Bin (we recycle many things in Northern California). Carlos was the first to respond, "Any of our neighbors are welcome to use our Green Bins if there is space." As I approach Carlos' house, he's there spiffing his front yard, and we start chatting. He's outraged about a specific ICE abuse in his father's neighborhood in Southern California. He says, "I'm just sorry I wasn't as outraged at other injustices as they were happening to other people. I wish I'd been more active around Black Lives Matter or the attack on Ukraine. I remind him that what matters most is what we do moving forward. We agree on the importance of speaking up against outrages and keeping each other informed of the goings-on. At my request, he sends me the video of the incident near his father's home in SoCal. Have a look for yourself by clicking here . Fortunately, the resident of the house and her two young children were not injured. Such excessive use of force is definitely intended to terrorize our community.     Carlos says the words I hear so often, "I feel so helpless, like there is nothing I can do."   "I imagine that this is what was happening in Germany and Poland," a Jewish friend tells me the previous day. "I used to think, why didn't people resist and fight back? Maybe the Holocaust wouldn't have happened. I'm beginning to understand that when people are so overwhelmed, they might want to keep their heads down and decide that there's nothing they can do. What can I do? I'm just one person?"   She shrugs her shoulders.   "There is always something we can do," I tell my friend. There were protests in Nazi Germany, both by individuals and groups.  Those who were caught were fined and/or imprisoned, and in some cases, executed. In the end, not enough people stood up and said “no” to the cruelty and injustice forced on them. My little red Muji notebook "There is one thing I will not concede: that it might be meaningless to strive for a good cause." ~Vaclav Havel I've been carrying this Vaclav Havel quote in a little red notebook where I write random things I want to remember. This morning, I transferred the quote into a new notebook.   Even small things are not meaningless. Carlos sharing that story with me allows me to forward it to you. We bear witness to what is unfolding in our country. Podcasters and Substack writers offer various suggestions on things we can do. Speak Up Stand Up Show Up Speak Up. You hear lies or disparaging remarks about gays, Latinos, African Americans, trans kids, Muslims (the list is nearly endless). Speak up, don't stay quiet; you can respectfully tell your uncle, neighbor, or grandfather that some things they have heard are not true. No one is out there eating their neighbors' dogs and cats. Public schools aren't offering surgeries to make kids trans or indoctrinating children to become gay. No one is proposing we adopt Sharia law. Refute the lies.   Staying informed allows us to speak up. There is no significant shortage of great writers out there with newsletters or Substacks. Here are a few I follow: The Contrarian, Carlos Eduardo Espina, Heather Cox Richardson, Katie Phang, Jorge Ramos, and Anand Giridharadas of The Ink. Many on-the-ground journalists and community activists are reporting from around the country on Instagram, Facebook, BlueSky, and TikTok. Carlos Eduardo Espina is a true standout, but there are many others. Ask trusted friends who they recommend you read and follow.   Caution: Limit the amount of media you consume; it can overwhelm you.   Stand Up. We have and will continue to do so. More than five million people took to the streets to protest this Administration on No Kings Day last month. Red and Blue states, small towns, big cities, people in rural communities lined up on farm-to-market roads. Hundreds of people have been showing up at town meetings all over the country, often to protest their elected officials, who do NOT come to the town halls. Onerous and repressive laws, primarily in the form of Executive Orders, are being imposed at a rapid pace. The Supreme Court is enabling much of the worst actions of the Trump regime -- more reason to take to the streets. We continue to make our views heard, and eventually, we will turn this ship around.   BLM Banner Hybrid Flag I protest in front of my house once a week, on Monday evenings at 6 pm. Sometimes it's three or four people; other times it's ten. I've made new friends in my community. We receive supportive honks and waves from drivers, nods from folks on bikes, and thank-yous from pedestrians. We occasionally receive a thumbs down or a middle finger salute, but we have a 99% support rate. There are protests in your future. Standing up in protest has made a difference and will continue to make a difference: that's how the people secured major civil rights laws and ended the Vietnam War. I recognize that many vulnerable people are not able to protest; they are rightly afraid, and some may have health limitations. So, those of us who are willing and able to speak out make our voices heard by standing up. Please feel no guilt if you can't attend every protest; go when and if you can. There are July 4th Free America events around the country, and July 17th is a Good Trouble Lives on Day of Action. Learn more about future protests here . Protesting in front of my home   Show Up. Fostering a sense of community is an essential step in showing up for one another. Some folks volunteer at food banks; others give money to civil rights organizations. If you belong to a community of faith, attend services at your local church, mosque, or synagogue, and check in on members of your congregation who may be ill or elderly, suffering from depression, mourning the loss of a loved one, or unemployed. Invite neighbors over for a meal or gather to experience the connection. Read books together. There are numerous ways to engage with people in our neighborhood and broader communities.   Another way we show up is by donating to causes that are near and dear to us. Our contributions make a difference. I'm listing several organizations where you might consider donating if your resources permit. All these Immigrant Rights Organizations are doing great work, and I can personally vouch for them. There are many others (including the ACLU) that are at the forefront of defending immigrant communities around the United States. All these groups need our support; click to visit their websites.   Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) https://www.ilrc.org/community-resources Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) https://www.chirla.org/get-involved/donate-support/ Center for Gender and Refugee Studies https://cgrs.uclawsf.edu/ East Bay Sanctuary Covenant https://eastbaysanctuary.org   And we show up by living as authentically and joyfully as we can. No one can rob us of our joy. Last weekend, I attended a dance party in Berkeley that drew a broad cross-section of the Bay Area's civil rights community. These events (there have been others) are called Shut Up and Dance Parties and feature live music. The Cooperators is a collection of talented musicians that includes judges, law professors, civil rights leaders, and distinguished practitioners in the legal community. Gathering to enjoy each other's company, with good music and dancing, refuels our tanks. We are in for the long haul, fighting the good fight, and opportunities to celebrate friendship and solidarity are joyous occasions. Shut Up and Dance Party  Recently, I saw Dolores Huerta, an icon in the Chicano community, being interviewed by Diego Luna, who was hosting the Jimmy Kimmel show. Dolores is still out there protesting and speaking against injustice at 95 years young. I was inspired to watch this conversation. Click here to see.   During the interview, she dropped many pearls of wisdom:   "You can cut all the flowers, But you can't hold back the Spring."   ~ Pablo Neruda No matter how challenging things are, keep the faith. Dolores Huerta reminds us that it is us -- WE the people  -- who will make change happen. Si Se Puede.