Fundamentally, wokeness is a good thing. However, like all good things you can have too much. Excesses can create a new set of problems. It seems, unfortunately, that cruelty has become the overwhelming response to the excesses of wokeness.

I discuss what wokeness is, how it became excessive and give examples of how anti-wokeness has become cruel. I draw on an episode of the original Star Trek series to explore a path forward.

Article - Massachusetts teen arrested by ICE

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/massachusetts-student-arrested-by-ice-on-his-way-to-volleyball-practice-has-been-released

Article - USNS Harvey Milk renaming

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/massachusetts-student-arrested-by-ice-on-his-way-to-volleyball-practice-has-been-released

Article - Trans athletes in NCAA

https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/education-ncaa-transgender-athletes-records-reversal-rcna191742

Article - Nichelle Nichols and MLK Jr.

https://www.startrek.com/en-un/news/nichelle-nichols-remembers-dr-king

Article - Star Trek “The Enemy Within”

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/The_Enemy_Within_(episode)

Video - “The Enemy Within” trailer

https://youtu.be/_AYsdW1RbWw?si=56EzCFxVvPfbrNDy

Video - California’s Governor Newsome speaks in response to Trump takeover

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXQQNUeb4Sw

Video - Leonard Nimoy tells the story of the Vulcan salute that goes with the phrase “live long and prosper”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyiWkWcR86I

In this episode I discuss my thoughts about how the U.S. is currently dealing with immigration and immigrants. As an immigrant to Israel I lean on my experience to compare Israel to the U.S. I also reserve some particularly sharp critique for Trump’s current Deputy Chief of Staff, Stephen Miller.

Emma Lazarus’s sonnet “The New Colossus”

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46550/the-new-colossus

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston on his city’s handling of immigrants

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz6U5vwCcak&t=299s

Ronald Reagan’s farewell address

https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/farewell-address-nation

Stephen Miller’s early life

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/09/us/politics/stephen-miller-trump-white-house.html

Op-ed by David Glosser, Miller’s uncle

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/08/13/stephen-miller-is-an-immigration-hypocrite-i-know-because-im-his-uncle-219351/

Kristi Noem’s photo ophttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKYW5gKeOWc

Article on immigrants and crime

https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/sites/default/files/research/debunking_the_myth_of_immigrants_and_crime.pdf

Article - “The Afrikaner Exception” by Meir Brooks

https://meirbrooks.wordpress.com/2025/05/18/racism-of-the-unadulterated-kind

I was an early adopter of social media, especially Facebook. It was a natural progression for me from writing letters to the editor, calling talk radio, and creating my own family website. I discuss some virtues and vices of social media and then how it might be skewing my perception of the behavior of the current US administration as it regards entry of citizens to the US in a very fraught environment where basic rights have been called into question.

The Lipkin Family website

https://www.lipkinfamily.com/

Ezra Klein explains the case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia in this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN1oBfg0fwI

Article about US Citizens stopped on entry

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/news/2025/03/26/american-travelers-us-borders/82641005007/

Article about Tufts Student sent to detention center for writing an op-ed

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/17/trump-rumeysa-ozturk-tufts-detention

Article about Trump’s statement regarding deportation of US citizens

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/trump-wants-deport-some-us-citizens-el-salvador-2025-04-14/