THEY VANISH, WE SPEAK

“For Ernesto Ayala Jr., who dared to stand in light while the system cloaked itself in shadows.”

Ernesto Ayala Jr., you will not vanish from memory.

Your name lives in the cracks of silence, in every voice that dares speak.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/free-ernesto-support-his-safe-return

Ernesto is a dedicated advocate for our community in Pacoima, where he has spent his life organizing justice. Today, 7/8/25, he was detained while seeing, and documenting ICE actions.

I am from the San Fernando Valley. My friend from the Valley called to tell me about her friend that was taken by ICE at Home Depot July 7, 2025. This hit home for me! I am sharing his mom's GO FUND ME page. Bring him home!

https://www.gofundme.com/f/free-ernesto-support-his-safe-return

They Vanish, We Speak

A poem for Ernesto Ayala Jr. and the countless disappeared.

They came not with warrants, but shadows,

mid-shift, mid-sentence, mid-morning sweat on brow.

A citizen, not silent, Ernesto stood tall,

now vanished behind veils of unchecked power.

Home Depot lot turns to haunted ground,

where asphalt remembers names the system forgets.

ICE trucks hum like ghosts, no badge of justice,

just hunger for brown skin and broken chains.

Mothers cling to absence like rosaries,

counting days, not beads

each one a wound in time,

each prayer unanswered,

each knock a knife.

Brothers scroll for signs,

searching hashtags and hope,

trying to piece together a trail

erased by cages and codes.

And still, the U.S. flag waves,

its stars stitched with silence,

its stripes running crimson

for citizens claimed by the machine

that calls itself lawful.

We speak, so they’re not forgotten.

We write, so truth can echo

through chain-linked hells

and courthouse corridors

where freedom is bartered

and families bleed.

They disappear but we

will not let them vanish.

They Vanish, We Speak

Justice for Ernesto

End The Disappearing

“For Ernesto Ayala Jr., who dared to stand in light while the system cloaked itself in shadows.”

Ernesto Ayala Jr., you will not vanish from memory.

Your name lives in the cracks of silence, in every voice that dares speak.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/free-ernesto-support-his-safe-return

Ernesto is a dedicated advocate for our community in Pacoima, where he has spent his life organizing justice. Today, 7/8/25, he was detained while seeing, and documenting ICE actions.

written, created, edited by

Vicki Lawana Trusselli

Trusselli Art

copyright 2025