This commentary is by Jasper Brown of Burlington. He is a member of Food Not Cops, a Burlington-based project that provides daily lunch, camping gear and basic necessities to the community members of his city. You can read his work on Substack.
Now is the time.
It has been an oft-used phrase, so much so that the gravity of what is happening feels softened. However, we are at a critical juncture in history — we have the gift of hindsight, the knowledge of what’s to come and the rights to actually do something about it.
What do I mean by this?
Hindsight shows us the patterns of fascist regimes and those that run them. One need only read a book like Ruth Ben-Ghiat’s “Strongmen” (written back in the dark ages of 2020) or watch a documentary about World War II to understand the playbook. Forget that Project 2025 was posted publicly for years on the internet before the 2024 election cycle revved up: there’s precedent for all of what we are experiencing now.
Which leads to what’s to come. Perhaps we don’t have a word-for-word script for what we are going to face as a country under a blatantly authoritarian regime, but a thematic overture is being played over the airwaves, online, and in conversation around us. The grip is tightening and we are being steered towards the edge of a cliff where our rights will fall away from us as we plummet to the bottom.
Despite the ominous music, though, our right to free speech has not been taken away yet. Trump has said he wants to deport or imprison people who disagree with him, but he doesn’t have the infrastructure at the moment to make this possible. So, we have to hustle to stand up for what we do believe in so such a foundation cannot be finalized. This means time is of the essence — now.
Vermont is in a particularly appropriate place for such action with the Burlington International Airport. If the citizen researchers have indeed gotten the numbers correct, Vermonters are on the hook for several hundred people being transported by ICE to other locations.
This is not something to let pass under the radar.
It is the blatant use of authoritarian power in a state that prides itself on progressive politics, one that sent forth a democratic socialist to the presidential primaries. Within these borders, innocent humans are being shipped off like cargo, treated like criminals when their only crime is existing.
What we do now (or what we don’t) will matter not only for Vermont’s reputation, but for any state with an airport, train station, etc. where such acts are happening. Inaction will send the message to those in power that we think this is okay. It will continue to deepen our complicity in the atrocities that have already been allowed to occur, and literally clear the runway for more grievous acts of violence and oppression.
It is incredibly important that Vermonters reach out to the Burlington International Airport and express their concern about the use of a community resource to aid and abet a fascist project. We need to demand accountability.
We have the ability to change the course of history, but the window is closing gradually every day. The more we let it close, the more effort it will take to open it again.
