“Just want to let you know so you don’t freak out later, Mom,” my 20-year-old daughter said on the phone, “I might get arrested tomorrow.”
I suppose I should have expected a call like this. She organized her first protest at 8 years old, petitioning my neighbors to boycott products from Sudan over the genocide in Darfur. (No one had the heart to tell her the U.S. doesn’t import a lot of Sudanese products.) Now she’s learned of an elderly couple facing deportation after 24 years of living peaceably in her community, and she joined a group planning to block the entrance to the relevant Immigration and Customs Enforcement building. I guess she decided rallies, petitions, angry Facebook posts, and righteous tweets aren’t getting the job done.
But was this a parenting decision? Was she asking for me to give or deny permission? Can I even do that with a college junior?