Massive immigration raid on Chicago apartment building leaves residents reeling: 'I feel defeated'
Many of our colleagues' communities are being directly targeted by an increasingly authoritarian, anti-immigrant regime. As managers and leaders, we have a duty of care. It starts with listening.
[Cindy Hernandez in the Chicago Sun-Times]
These stories of rising anti-immigrant actions in an increasingly authoritarian state should be disturbing to everyone, but for many people they represent a direct attack on their communities and safety. Managers and leaders should take notice.
“Armed federal agents in military fatigues busted down their doors overnight, pulling men, women and children from their apartments, some of them naked, residents and witnesses said. Agents approached or entered nearly every apartment in the five-story building, and U.S. citizens were among those detained for hours.”
The more privileged among us will remain at arms length, will not personally experience the trauma of a missing neighbor or relative, and will not live in fear of something happening to themselves. Everyone else lives on a spectrum of being directly targeted to having family histories filled with similar events, where stories of horror and trauma have been passed between generations.
Leaders are more likely to fall into the first bucket: not directly affected, with little family history of trauma. They’ll find it easier to compartmentalize, and harder to truly empathize with the cognitive overhead and real risks that many are dealing with as they live through this era. But they’re also the people who are charged with creating great working conditions for their teams and who have a duty of care to the individuals within them.
Emotional safety is paramount. It starts with offering an environment where team members feel safe to express emotions and are treated with kindness and inclusivity — and to share their lived experiences. We can’t learn and adapt without openness. But it’s also about giving people space, acknowledging events in the outside world, and not leading with an expectation that nothing has changed. For senior leadership, providing access to resources, and acknowledging new realities when making policy are vital. Actually asking: what do people whose communities are targeted by these raids need? What do our trans colleagues need? How can we provide a safer community? And going to the source rather than trying to guess, and never dismissing a perspective because it doesn’t represent the majority.
When we hire, we build a community and foster relationships based on trust and support. In this adverse environment, that’s more important than ever. As managers and leaders, we need to live up to the responsibility.
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