During Black History Month, let’s remember America is stolen land built on the backs of slaves. Amid the public outcry over the unconscionable murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, let’s acknowledge that deadly violence from “law enforcement” is not new. Never forget the slayings of George Floyd and Philando Castile in the same city, Keith Porter by the same occupying force, and the suffering faced by countless migrants at the hands of DHS and ICE.

People of Color have known this brutality in these lands always.

America is also in the business of making refugees, and it continues to fail to provide a safe haven. Even the American ideal — as told by Iraqi American poet Dunya Mikhail — has been lost.