literary magazine

Cassette is a literary magazine which showcases various works of art such as poetry, fine art, essays, photography, etc. created by your neighbors
My mission is to promote and showcase creativity, empathy, curiosity, appreciation, and sustainability
In our world today, we are so divided by ideologies of hate, influenced by a culture of isolation, and consumed by short-form media that sometimes we forget to truly appreciate the vast amounts of true creativity and culture that swirls just under our noses constantly!In a world divided by hate, we have a duty to uplift ideas of love and kindness
One people, one love, always !!

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Volume 2 Out Now!

Hii ! My name is Anaya. I'm a 17 year old girl from SoCal and absolutely love the arts! I started this project because I believe that the arts is the most important thing in the world today and I believe that all the artists I know and all the artists my age deserve to have a voice. My passions include music, mental health, and learning about societal issues.

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Missing Immigrants and How History Repeats Itself with Dehumanizing Rhetoric

MISSING PEOPLE IN ALIGATOR ALCATRAZE

By Bella D.
@Weirdzombiechick

On September 16, 2025 reporters Ben Wielder and Shirsho Dasgupta reported that roughly 800 people have disappeared from the ICE database. Miami reporters discussed with immigration attorneys who have tried to get into contact with detainees and what they’ve said, over 450 detainees show up in the database with nothing more than the directions “call ICE for details” which could mean that they are being transferred or about to be deported.The difficulty in finding detainees specifically in the detention center Alligator Alcatraz is that it is state run, not run federally. So attorneys must get into contact with the state. The problem is that according to the Miami Herald, Florida does not maintain a system to find detainees.
In July roughly 1,800 people were occupants of the detention center but by late August their numbers had dwindled down to below 400. Reporters hypothesized that some detainees have given up and abandoned their cases but there is suspicion that a majority could possibly have been deported unlawfully before given the final judge ruling for their cases.Miami Herald reporters interviewed immigration attorneys who stated
“It’s become a game of chicken to see who’s going to blink first, to see if clients are going to say ‘I don’t want to be detained in these conditions anymore”.IMMIGRATION ABUSEDetainees like Rafael Collado in an interview NBC had with his Fiancé, Biachara who has spoken with Rafael everyday since he’s been deported, describe the living conditions of the detainees to be large white tents with a chain link cage surrounding rows of bunk beds inside. Frequent floods attract mosquitos and other insects, extreme temperatures with strong heat when air conditioning cuts out and chilling colds when it’s on.Reporters through Associated Press, Gisela Salmon and Kate Payne have reported that detainees do not have access to consistent showers or healthcare with multiple detainees not receiving essential medical attention. Detainees find worms in their food and their toilets don’t flush, leading to fecal water waste being tracked onto the floor. Detainees have reported that they spend 24 hours a day in the tents. Official Stephanie Hartman of the Florida Division of Emergency Management refutes back that the air conditioning is up to all its facility standards.Detainees who tried to retaliate have allegedly been put in what they call “the punishment room“ which officials of the center deny.It's safe to theorize that many individuals being held at that institution have been deported unlawfully because we already know that it’s happened repeatedly this year with cases like Kilmar Garcia, a man unlawfully deported to El Salvador who had to be brought back to the United States. Other prominent cases such as Roberto Mosquera Del Peral who was deported with 4 other men to a “maximum security” prison in a small country named Eswatini. In march, 250 people were sent to CECOT, an el Salvadoran prison without any notification to their families or attorneys, and through this year we’ve had 23 people die in ICE custody, a record high since 2004 with 32 deaths. We’ve also repeatedly seen video evidence of I.C.E agents exerting extreme excessive force while detaining alleged immigrants in custody.In Fitchburg Massachusetts a I.C.E attempted to detain a man named Carlos Zapata’s wife, and in the process pushed his neck enough to invoke a seizure which he had on camera. I.C.E officials said he faked it with no evidence to back their claim up
At the New York immigration courts, an Immigration and customs officer was recorded grabbing a woman, shoving her, then slamming her to the ground in reaction to her crying for her husband. She used absolutely no force, never laid a finger on him to provoke that. These are only two of the most recent cases of abuse. We’ve seen I.C.E agents tear gas and hit vehicles to get to these alleged “criminals”
In Oxnard there was a case where an immigration officer driving an SUV rammed into another man’s truck because he was allegedly an undocumented immigrant.DONALD TRUMP'S SCAPEGOATING AND FAMILIAR PROPAGANDADonald Trump has made it clear he does not respect immigrants as people with his infamous quotes referring to immigrants as “illegal monsters” that are “poisoning our country”. September 30th Donald trump posted racially motivated AI videos depicting democrats with sombreros and mustaches with mariachi music. Donold Trump was also seen posting AI videos depicting people mourning dead children killed by immigrants on X.Trump has said immigrants are “eating pets”, “stealing Americans public benefits”, “coming here to kill and murder” and referring to them as criminals when statistically 71.5% of those detained have no criminal record according to Tracreports on September 25, 2025.Trump's language towards Hispanics is presented similarly as Hitlers Language towards the Jews. Both Hitler and Trump pushed out fake media of their targeted groups being “communists or radically left” in a way that’s “destroying the country” Referring to their targeted groups as “Alien” or subhuman, Both blame targeted groups for economic hardship referring to them as “greedy” or “criminal”. Depictions of Jews being greedy for hoarding wealth and immigrants for stealing benefits.
Hitler described the concentration camps to be “temporary dentition centers” and concealed the very real atrocities happening at the camps much like the Trump administration denial of abuse in the “immigration dentition centers”Not only in regard to immigrants but Hitler and Trump have an inflated heroistic image they try to present themselves as we’ve seen in Nazi propaganda and in Trump's attempt to win a Nobel peace prize.HOW THIS AFFECTS THE SOCIETYWhen you use language referring to a group of individuals as aliens, you are inherently dehumanizing them by othering them through fear of difference. This creates a subconscious separateness that makes it harder for impressionable minds to empathize with the group that is othered. Along with scapegoating rhetoric that paints a group as villainous creating a false threat that is historically used for prejudice against marginalized groups as we have seen during the civil rights movement of the 60s.We also see how groups that are dehumanized and criminalized then become a joke as we’ve seen with Trump's twitter posts mocking Hispanic culture. Which then creates a comedic aesthetic of not caring about the marginalized group.Once a group has been successfully dehumanized,criminalized, and humiliated, authority is able to blatantly abuse said group without major pushback or legal action. These kinds of authoritarian figures turn prejudiced bigotry into aesthetics by convincing the average, usually white, voter that it is patriotic to oppress said group and that if you don’t oppress said group you're letting them take advantage of you. Turning hate crime into a manipulative “cool kids club”. We must look at political rhetoric with a critical eye and think to ourselves if we were in the same situation as the people being discriminated against would we want to be ignored in a crisis?

SOURCESABC7. “Man Speaks out after ICE Agent Reportedly Rammed into His Truck, Took Him into Custody.” YouTube, 16 Oct. 2025, www.youtube.com/watch?v=U31dnySNRng. Accessed 20 Nov. 2025.“Brown Issues on Instagram: “a Father Suffered a Seizure as ICE Agents Tried to Tear a Baby from Its Mother’s Arms While Attempting to Detain the Mother in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Video: FB: Judy E. McDonald.”” Instagram, 2017, www.instagram.com/reel/DQwwAk4CVyp/. Accessed 20 Nov. 2025.Charalambous, Peter, and Laura Romero. ““It’s like You’re Dead Alive”: Families, Advocates Allege Inhumane Conditions at “Alligator Alcatraz.”” ABC News, 14 Aug. 2025, abcnews.go.com/amp/US/youre-dead-alive-families-advocates-allege-inhumane-conditions/story?id=124645763. Accessed 20 Nov. 2025.PalmBeachPost. “ICE Agent Pushes Woman to the Ground inside NYC Immigration Courthouse after Husband Detained.” YouTube, 26 Sept. 2025, www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd2lJidhSvY. Accessed 20 Nov. 2025.Salomon, Gisela, and Kate Payne. “Detained Immigrants at “Alligator Alcatraz” Say There Are Worms in Food and Wastewater on the Floor.” Associated Press News, 11 July 2025, Detained immigrants at “Alligator Alcatraz” say there are worms in food and wastewater on the floor.Wieder, Ben, and Shirsho Dasgupta. “Hundreds of Alligator Alcatraz Detainees Drop off the Grid after Leaving Site.” Miami Herald, 15 Sept. 2025, amp.miamiherald.com/news/local/immigration/article312042943.html. Accessed 20 Nov. 2025.