White Savior Theater vs. Real Solidarity: The Problem With ‘Yell at ICE’ Activism

Lately, my feed has been flooded with copy-and-paste posts about what to do if you encounter ICE. You’ve probably seen them: lists of bullet points urging white citizens to “get loud, yell in Spanish, throw sand in the gears of white supremacy.”

On the surface, they sound righteous. Who doesn’t want to stick it to ICE? But something about them grates on me. And I’ve finally put my finger on it: they feel less like strategy and more like cosplay.

When Resistance Becomes a Performance

The advice is simple: yell, disrupt, make ICE uncomfortable. And sure — disruption has its place. But flattening the fight against deportations into a set of shouty one-liners isn’t liberation work. It’s catharsis disguised as resistance.

For those of us in rural Florida, where ICE raids aren’t hypothetical, where fathers disappear from tomato fields and mothers are left scrambling to feed kids, “just yell at ICE” doesn’t cut it. Families here need more than slogans. They need safe rides to doctor appointments when their license is suspended. They need groceries when a wage earner is snatched. They need lawyers, translators, and neighbors who will actually show up.

Privilege and the White Savior Problem

The posts aren’t wrong about one thing: white citizens do have privilege in these encounters. ICE agents are less likely to escalate against a white person demanding answers. But the framing risks centering white savior energy — “you, white people, must get loud and save the day” — instead of building solidarity around immigrant leadership and community needs.

Performative allyship makes for a good viral post. But real solidarity is quieter, riskier, and way less Instagrammable.

Rights Matter — But Strategy Matters More

Yes, everyone should know their rights. Refuse searches. Record everything. Ask agents if someone is being detained. That’s important information. But we also need to talk about strategy: how to keep families safe long after the ICE van pulls away.

That means supporting migrant mutual aid groups. Showing up for rides, court dates, and bail funds. Building networks that don’t just jam up the works for a day, but keep families intact in the long haul.

Getting Past Catharsis

Yelling at ICE might feel good in the moment. It might even buy a little time. But if we mistake noise for power, we lose.

The real gears of white supremacy grind on regardless of how many Facebook shares a post gets. Dismantling them takes organizing, not just volume. It takes immigrants and allies standing shoulder to shoulder — not in a performance, but in a movement.