Angelina Lu: ‘It made it a lot more obvious how much people show up.’
Angelina Lu is a sophomore in strategic communications at the University of Minnesota who is from near La Crosse, Wisconsin.
“I haven’t had any up‑close interactions with a lot of the agents, but it was definitely a scary time. I did end up having to take my passport with me and everything. I was just losing it, I’m not gonna lie. I did go to a few protests, which didn’t end up going too bad, because I know there were a few that got super dangerous, but I was lucky enough that there were a ton of people, and it felt very safe. I was more worried about my family back home, and then my friends on campus who weren’t fully U.S. citizens. I definitely felt like I shouldn’t go out as much, so a lot of the time, if the online option was offered for my classes, I would use that, or I would go straight to class and then come back. I wouldn’t try to really explore. I like to walk around campus more and do a bunch of stuff, but I think, just during that time when it was super insane, I tried to keep it within where I was living and my classes.
“My classes did touch on what was happening, and it was more so — I did mention this — a lot of worry, I guess. Honestly, I was a lot more worried than I typically would be for my family because of the stuff I kept seeing, because even though they weren’t in Minnesota, it was still super close. I also knew that I was a citizen, but there were times when I was like, ‘Oh, I guess it doesn’t really matter anymore if I am, as long as I don’t look like the regular citizen.’
“I was able to see, especially at the protests, just how people were helping each other out and giving out food. And then there are all these support systems. So, for me, I’m sure maybe more systems were there before, but it made it a lot more obvious how much people show up and care about each other.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Interview by Isabelle Curry
