When One of Us Is Attacked, We All Roll Initiative
Sending out a quick note to let you know about an upcoming charity stream: This coming Saturday, Nov. 15, I’m hosting a Dungeons & Dragons game featuring Brian Gray (Rivals of Waterdeep), Jen Kretchmer (Players and Book, Children of Éarte, Heroes of the Planes), Lexi McQueen (Sacred Machinations, When in Strix) and Jeff Mueller (The Black Ballad), and we’re raising funds to support immigrant and refugee aid organizations in Chicago, Los Angeles, Portland, Ore., and Washington, D.C.—four cities under assault by armed thugs employed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
When I say “under assault,” please understand that I’m not exaggerating. ICE and CBP personnel are flagrantly and indiscriminately violating the rights of our neighbors regardless of their immigration status: racially profiling residents; abducting and detaining them without warrants or probable cause; holding them for days in crowded and unsanitary conditions, without access to legal representation; shuffling them from site to site like a game of three-card monte; using pepper spray and tear gas not only against residents protesting and recording their violations but against innocent bystanders as well, including infants and toddlers; and flagrantly disregarding court orders meant to rein them in.
However, in all four of these cities, amid this campaign of terror, there are heroes to be found. Nonprofit organizations have expanded their missions to include rapid response—teams of volunteers trained to observe and record ICE and CBP activity. These responders have provided the video evidence necessary for individuals and groups suing for relief to win in court, and for residents of these cities to spread the word nationwide while mainstream print and television news organizations are seemingly asleep at the wheel. They’re the front-line defenders of our Constitutional rights, and we owe them more than we’ll ever be able to repay.
We’re making a down payment, though. On my Twitch channel, starting at 6 PM Eastern Time (5 PM Central Time, 3 PM Pacific Time) on Saturday, we’re soliciting donations for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization in Portland, the Central American Resource Center in Washington and an L.A.-based organization to be determined. Donations during the stream will provide player characters with rewards ranging from 1d4 bonuses on d20 rolls to a “death ward” keeping a PC conscious upon being reduced to 0 hp, but please feel free to follow these links and donate if you aren’t available to watch the stream or are simply feeling generous.
As the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says, all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights; we’re endowed with reason and conscience and should act toward one another in a spirit of brotherhood. “Liberty and justice for all” isn’t only for people and places favored by the current administration. It’s for all of us, wherever we’re from and however we happen to be here.
