America’s Racism Denial Made ICE and Trump Inevitable - “If you allow the state to brutalize us, it will eventually brutalize you.” The Shock That Shouldn’t Exist.
The Shock That Shouldn’t Exist: Why America’s Racism Denial Made ICE and Trump Inevitable.
For centuries, racism in America has been treated like background noise — always present, always harmful, yet consistently minimized by the very people who now express shock at the rise of aggressive state power. Slavery lasted roughly 400 years. Segregation, redlining, lynching, and police brutality continued long after. And racism, in its personal and institutional forms, is still woven into everyday life.
Yet somehow, many Americans behave as if the harshness of the Trump era — ICE raids, family separations, mass deportations, and the expansion of state surveillance — came out of nowhere. As if the country had been a moral utopia until 2016. As if they themselves had no role in maintaining the very systems they now fear.
This selective memory is not just dishonest. It is dangerous.
The Personal Racism People Pretend Doesn’t Count
Many of the loudest critics of Trump-era policies have long participated in the quieter, socially acceptable forms of racism that keep the system alive.
People who clutch their bags when a Black man walks by.
Parents who oppose affordable housing because they don’t want “those people” in their schools.
Colleagues who laugh at racist jokes but insist they “don’t see colour.”
Individuals who date or marry across racial lines yet still use racial slurs behind closed doors.
These behaviours are not harmless. They are the cultural oxygen that keeps institutional racism burning.
When someone calls the police on a Black neighbour for “looking suspicious,” that’s not just a personal bias — it’s a direct contribution to a system that has historically used police power to control Black bodies. The same system that later expands to control immigrant bodies. And then, eventually, everyone else’s.
The Police Killings Everyone Saw — and Many Still Defended
The last decade alone has provided countless examples of racialized state violence:
George Floyd, killed by a police officer who knelt on his neck for over eight minutes.
Breonna Taylor, shot in her own home during a no-knock raid.
Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy killed within seconds of police arriving.
Eric Garner, choked to death while saying “I can’t breathe.”
Each time, millions protested — but millions also defended the authorities. They insisted the victims were at fault. They insisted the system was fair. They insisted that racism was exaggerated.
Those same defenders now express outrage when ICE detains U.S. citizens by mistake, when immigration officers raid workplaces, or when government agencies expand their surveillance powers.
But what did they expect?
A system built on racial control does not stay neatly confined to one group. Once normalized, it grows.
ICE Didn’t Come Out of Nowhere
Long before ICE became a symbol of Trump-era enforcement, Black Americans had been warning the country:
“If you allow the state to brutalize us, it will eventually brutalize you.”
This wasn’t paranoia. It was historical pattern.
Slave patrols evolved into early police forces.
Jim Crow policing evolved into mass incarceration.
“War on Drugs” policing evolved into militarized SWAT teams.
Post-9/11 security powers evolved into ICE’s modern machinery.
Every expansion of state power was justified by targeting a marginalized group first. And every time, the broader public shrugged — until the same machinery turned toward them.
The Real Reason for the Shock
The shock isn’t about morality. It’s about proximity.
Many people were comfortable with racism as long as they believed it would never touch them. They could ignore police brutality because they assumed it was “someone else’s problem.” They could ignore deportations because they assumed it would never affect their families.
But systems of domination do not stay contained. They grow, they adapt, and eventually they reach the people who once felt safe.
The truth is simple:
You cannot build a society on racism and then act surprised when the tools of racism become tools of general oppression.
Karenism and the Everyday Dictator
The rise of “Karens” — individuals who weaponize authority, rules, and police power to control others — is not a meme. It is a symptom.
It reveals how many ordinary people crave the power to dominate, to police, to dictate who belongs and who doesn’t. They may not hold government office, but they behave like mini-dictators in their daily lives.
Their outrage at Trump is not moral outrage. It is envy. They resent that he has the machinery of the state behind him — because if they had it, many would use it just as aggressively, if not worse.
The Point That Must Be Faced
America is not shocked because Trump and ICE represent something new.
America is shocked because Trump and ICE represent something old — something many people thought they could keep hidden, controlled, or directed only at others.
But racism is not a private vice. It is a public system. And systems grow.
If people truly want to dismantle the harms they now fear, they must confront the racism they once tolerated, ignored, or quietly practiced. Because the truth is unavoidable:
You cannot plant the seeds of oppression and then act surprised when the tree grows tall enough to cast a shadow over you.
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