For a little while after the Harry Potter books first debuted, I remember there was a surge of innovation put toward designing a real-life invisibility cloak. Science was on it, and the public waited with bated breath. Would it be covered in tiny mirrors? Would it use augmented reality? What would it take to make a human being disappear?
Nearly two decades later, I feel like I’m watching the mass rollout of the invisibility cloak. Only it didn’t take science or magic to create — just fear.
The strange irony is, as all this plays out, another group has found a way to disappear: immigration agents. More and more employees of the Department of Homeland Security are wearing masks and plain clothes, and driving unmarked vehicles when they carry out raids. A representative of DHS told NPR that the masking was to protect those agents from being doxxed or harassed. But some civil rights groups have suggested that the masking has created a climate of fear by allowing agents to act with impunity.
Of course, being invisible is not the same thing as not existing. So underneath the cloak, people are trying to forge lives in the dark. But as any reader of fantasy knows, there can be a great cost for staying invisible for too long. Missing a doctor’s appointment is bad. What would it look like to stop seeking medical care entirely? Or never go back to school? Something that starts out as a source of protection can quickly become a trap of its own. But when the light and dark are both dangerous, who knows which direction to turn?
-Leah Donnella, senior editor
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Once upon a time, members of the Code Switch team were just kids, learning about race and identity for the first time. So on this episode, we're sharing some of the books, movies and music that deeply influenced each of us at an early age — and set us on the path to being the race nerds we are today.
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