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In my latest Substack Live, I sat down with the brilliant Dr. Terry Anne Scott, an award-winning historian, scholar of African American history, and Director of the Institute for Common Power. This was a conversation that brought history into the present with visceral clarity and real hope.
Dr. Scott is heading to Minneapolis this weekend to lead a major teach-in focused on the historical parallels of ICE’s abuses and the lessons we can learn from the activism of that era.
You can watch the full conversation above and read the key takeaways below.
We do not need to look abroad for historical parallels
One of the most important points Dr. Scott made is that while people often reach for comparisons to authoritarian regimes overseas, America already has its own historical blueprint for authoritarianism.
She referenced civil rights era images many of us have seen, including police attacking peaceful protesters. Her point was direct: people keep saying “this has never happened here,” but it has, repeatedly.
And if we want the clearest parallel for what we are seeing now, we can go even further back.
Why “slave catchers” is not a false ICE comparison
Dr. Scott walked through why “modern-day slave catchers” is not just rhetoric. It is a historically grounded comparison about how repression works when it is sanctioned, funded, and protected by the state. Of course, it’s not a comparison of identical harm, but of similar structure.
She explained that slave catchers targeted Black people who were both:
Fugitive slaves, and
Freeborn Black people who were kidnapped anyway
That second part matters because it mirrors what many Americans are now witnessing: people being targeted and swept up regardless of status, rights, or even citizenship.
The Compromise of 1850 and the incentive structure of injustice
Dr. Scott broke down a crucial piece of history that many people have never learned.
Under the enforcement regime tied to the Fugitive Slave Act, Black people had no meaningful ability to testify on their own behalf. And magistrates were incentivized to rule in favor of returning people to slavery.
The detail that stuck with me: $10 if they were ruled enslaved, $5 if they were set free.
That is what state violence looks like when it is wrapped in “legality.” The system rewards the outcome it wants.
Visibility creates backlash, and backlash can create solidarity
A major throughline of our conversation was that visibility of atrocities changes everything.
When injustice becomes undeniable and public, people who previously stayed neutral are forced to confront it. Dr. Scott described how slave-catching violence helped produce new abolitionist solidarity across difference.
She shared a story from Racine, Wisconsin (1854) that is hard to forget: a white mob gathered outside a jail, and instead of doing what mobs often did in American history, they broke in, rescued a fugitive slave, and helped get him to freedom in Canada.
The lesson is unmistakable: visibility can force moral alignment.
The modern turning point question
I raised what has been on many people’s minds as the violence escalates: how do we learn from the backlash dynamics of the 1850s without repeating the country’s worst outcomes
Dr. Scott’s answer was exactly what we need right now: turn visibility into organized pressure and policy change.
She pointed to the civil rights movement as proof that mass witnessing can shift public opinion, which can then shift lawmakers, which can then produce concrete policy.
2026 is the leverage point
Dr. Scott emphasized the importance of this moral crisis happening in an election year.
She laid out a reality people often forget when they feel powerless: we have pathways to power, but they require sustained organizing and turnout.
And she pointed to something else that matters: sometimes politicians who were silent will suddenly speak when they fear losing their seats. Whatever motivates them, it can still be used to force action.
How to join the Minneapolis teach-in
Dr. Scott and the Institute for Common Power are hosting a major national teach-in this Sunday, live from Minneapolis, focused on the parallels between ICE abuses and historical “slave-catching,” plus concrete steps for how to win in 2026. The teach-in runs 1–5 pm ET. Here is the link to register.
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