In his song, “Directions”, Mike Cross sings, “You’re goin’ north, take a left on south Right Street. Go up the hill to Down Avenue. Turn left at the corner of Circle Square. Then right onto Left Wood Lane. Take the left-hand fork at Spooner Road…” You get the idea.

As the crow flies is a country expression. It means a straight-line direction between two places without having to drive the hills and dales on the ground. Crows can fly up to 25 miles per hour and in heavy winds, they maneuver like raptors – flapping their wings and then gliding like kites.

Residents in the US are moving through derecho winds these days. The infrastructure we depend on is under attack. Where can we maneuver to protest?

On August 4th this year, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) held a special hearing focused on US violations of its own constitution. This panel heard from civil rights attorneys, scholars, and witnesses about widespread state brutality against protesters, journalists, and ordinary residents. In other words, our 1^st Amendment constitutional rights are ignored by the Trump administration. You can watch the hearing here: United States: Freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly

Another petition was also aired during the session. It documented a long-term pattern of white violence against People of Color and, in particular, people with Latino ancestry. The case, Lucero v. United States was brought to the IACHR in 2018. Eight years later, the IACHR heard from family members of Oswaldo Marcelo Lucero who was killed by a group called the Caucasian Crew in 2008 on Long Island. You can watch this hearing here: United States: Case 13,735 – Oswaldo Marcelo Lucero et al.

These two cases are related. In the case of 1^st Amendment protections, protestors and journalists are responding to the U.S. government’s inhumane treatment of American residents. In the case of Lucero v. United States, we see the deadly impact of white violence and taxpayer-funded state officials who were unwilling to police hate crimes.

If the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is new to you, it’s not new to the Americas. The commission is located in the Organization of American States (OAS), a governing body that emerged in 1948 from a coalition called the “International Union of American Republics” which was originally established in 1890. The IACHR office is part of the OAS. Any individual in the American hemisphere can turn to the IACHR for protection and to amplify their experience with injustice.

A section of the IACHR charter reads, “the true significance of American solidarity and good neighborliness can only mean the consolidation on this continent, within the framework of democratic institutions, of a system of individual liberty and social justice based on respect for the essential rights of man.”

In 2006, the IACHR had 1,237 pending petitions and cases from US residents. In 2025, the number of US cases increased to 4,634. You can read about the petitions and cases brought to the IACHR since its founding here: https://www.oas.org/en/iachr/multimedia/statistics/statistics.html

State brutality is not new in the United States, but the industrialized scale of government-backed white violence and intimidation is very high right now. The current administration is codifying measures that reclassify 1^st Amendment protections as terrorist activity. They are afraid. They want to censor and silence those who oppose their agenda. You can read about these measures on the white house website here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/countering-domestic-terrorism-and-organized-political-violence/

White violence, suppression of protesters, persecution and muzzling reporters are symptoms of ideological purity and tools of white and class supremacy and patriarchy. If you’re a person of color, if you’re poor or middle class, if you’re female or non-binary, today’s political scene is directly knocking on your door.

From our rural districts to small towns, suburbs to major cities – and all the way to the US Supreme Court – Trump’s America endorses oppression, censorship, and violence. Whether it’s the Caucasian Crew harassing and killing people with Brown skin on Long Island in 2008, the murders of Breonna Taylor or Renee Good, or Chief Justice Roberts joining a majority to eliminate Temporary Protected Status for 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians, the contemporary US is, in actuality, realizing the vision set forth by slavers in their confederate states.

A generation ago, I was a young mother working as a secretary for a unit at the University of Wisconsin medical school. My kid was a baby on September 11, 2001. I stayed home from work that day and listened as plane after plane landed on the runway near our little house in the old Oscar Mayer neighborhood.

In the weeks that followed, our TV screens filled with analysts, experts, and witnesses from both the US and the Middle East. One interview will always stay with me. A Western-dressed reporter asked a government official in Iraq or Pakistan what he thought about President Bush’s retaliation plans for war. He wearily responded, “Bring your war. It will change YOU more than it will change us.”

He was right. Today’s administration is imitating the foes who attacked us in 2001. They’re clamping down on liberties, freedom of expression, and basic human rights. The woundedness inherent in the 9-1-1 attack lives in our leaders today.

How we vote this Fall will become a part of history and will change the future. We will be remembered for this election; our vote is one way for us to maneuver in the headwinds of our time. We can also remember our ancestors who had the wisdom and prudence to establish American charters through organizations like the OAS and the IACHR. They’re here for us when our own government fails. I hope democracy and the integrity of our Constitution are restored this November.