‘For the first time, I felt genuine fear of my family being taken away from me.’

Manuel Cuevas-Silva is the child of immigrants who has lived in Milwaukee his whole life and is studying film at UWM. His family history and his upbringing in Milwaukee have shaped his political views.

Aj Dagnon: Have your anxieties surrounding yourself and your family increased in the wake of the new administration?

Manuel Cuevas-Silva: Definitely, even the first time around when Trump first got elected, I was in the eighth grade, we would watch CNN 10, and they were keeping us updated with who was running, what they were saying, and the big name was Trump. Nobody in my class liked him, because we all heard, they’re rapists, they bring in drugs, they bring in crime, and that struck a nerve for all of us. But he got elected the first time, and so the fear of the family being stripped away, as well as the community that is on the south side of Milwaukee, was very prominent, and it is still prominent now. Even though he promised day-one ICE raids, there were raids happening before he was sworn in. There were raids happening overnight in California. And for the first time, I felt genuine fear of my family being taken away from me.

Aj Dagnon: What is your largest political concern with the new administration?

Cuevas-Silva: I would say the economy is a concern. Now that I am in my 20s experiencing adulthood for the first time in my life, I would like to have opportunities to do things with my money. Now I have to find an apartment for less than $1,000 nowadays, and it’s ridiculous. Even now with prices going up with everything, with eggs specifically, it makes it more difficult to just live.

Dagnon: What do you believe continues to push the social divide in political parties?

Cuevas-Silva: I think that the divide comes from a want of another side. Although conservatism isn’t a new thing, Democrats have been winning quite a bit, and so with that, Republicans just got tired of it. They want someone that’s on their side. They wanted someone who was a strong contender against someone like Obama. Trump emerged out of nowhere, from a place of fear no one had capitalized on yet.

Dagnon: How have your social relationships been affected by the current social climate?

Cuevas-Silva: Oddly enough, I hadn’t put much thought into that, but yes. Before the Trump administration was sworn in I was still on my toes of who to keep in my social circle, and who to keep out. Anyone who voted for him and believes in his promise of bringing the country back from Biden, then I’m a bit wary. I try to avoid people who want this extreme version of a country that I believe will just collapse on itself.

Dagnon: Do you believe we as a country are living in an echo chamber due to our political state?

Cuevas-Silva: I feel like the answer would be yes regardless of who’s in power, because I surround myself with people who follow my views to the same degree or varying degree. It’s human nature to surround ourselves with people who are like us, whether it be politically or personally. So I think we are always living in an echo chamber, but now it’s a bit more extreme. One side has more of a chamber, and there’s a lot less echo on the other side.