Protest March shines light on danger of ICE
By: Vincent L. Hall
Texas Metro News
https://texasmetronews.com
That’s the banner line on the 50501 website that invites you to the upcoming national “No Kings” Protest March.
Concerned Citizens from every state in the Continental United States and possibly around the world will fill their local streets to protest the evil, grotesque, and inhumane treatment that has become the aegis of the Donald J. Trump Administration.
My family had already decided that we would make whatever sacrifices necessary to attend the once-in-a-lifetime event in Dallas on March 28th of this year. But after hearing the sworn testimony of a young woman on Capitol Hill last week, I can’t wait to get there.
Rather than summarize her words, we decided to share the first few paragraphs of the official transcript.
“My name is Aliya Rahman, and I am a resident of Minneapolis. I am a Bangladeshi American and a disabled person with autism and a traumatic brain injury.
On January 13, on the way to my 39th appointment at Hennepin County’s Traumatic Brain Injury Center, I encountered a traffic jam caused by ICE vehicles and no signs indicating how to get around it. I had not wanted to pull into a blocked, chaotic intersection, but verbally agreed to do so and rolled down my window after an agent yelled: “MOVE. I WILL BREAK YOUR F***ING WINDOW.”
Agents on all sides of my vehicle yelled conflicting threats and instructions that I could not process while watching for pedestrians. Then, the glass of the passenger side window flew across my face. I yelled “I’m disabled!” at the hands grabbing me. An agent said, “TOO LATE.”
Not all autistic brains do this, but mine fixates on sounds, numbers, and patterns. In that moment, the pattern felt very strong to me, and I thought of Jenoah Donald, an autistic Black man killed by police during a traffic stop in 2021. I remembered Mr. Silverio Villegas Gonzalez, who was killed by ICE in his vehicle last year.
An agent pulled a large combat knife in front of my face. Shooting pain went through my head, neck, and wrists when I hit the ground and people leaned on my back.
I felt the pattern and thought of Mr. George Floyd, who was killed four blocks away. I was carried face down through the street by my cuffed arms and legs while yelling that I had a brain injury. I was never asked for ID, never told I was under arrest, never read my rights, and never charged with a crime.
“Approaching the Whipple Center, I saw Black and Brown people shackled together and being marched by yelling agents.”
There was so much more, but she was more passionate about becoming a voice for the voiceless thousands that are languishing in makeshift prisons across Trump’s America.
Around the same time that this testimony was in progress, Trump released a photo depicting Barack Obama and his former first lady as apes. It was a planned diversion, and a strategy his administration deployed regularly. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries defiantly said, “F Donald Trump,” when asked for a comment.
Black folks were rightfully outraged. Being treated like an Ape/Nigger/Jungle Bunny or any of the other pejoratives racists use is unacceptable. Still, we owe more energy and vigilance to fighting against policies and politicians who treat any race of people as lesser!
It took the death of Renee Good and Alex Pretti to understand what has haunted us since the slave catchers of the mid 1800s. Whites were outraged by the kind of “policing” we face in urban neighborhoods every day. Similarly.
Black people cannot continue to ignore the rudimentary violence of ICE agents because we are the original and supreme receptor of White America’s fear, angst, and hate.
No Kings?
See you there.
