‘They can’t kill us all’: A call to action for immigrant allies
“We do not get to step away when it’s not comfortable. We do not get to claim neutrality in the face of injustice.”
Editor's note: This piece is the first in our Perspectives series, sharing the perspective of neighbors & community members. Pitch us at staff [at ] arkansasgrita.com.
SPRINGDALE, Ark. — Something important happened after ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed Renée Nicole Good as she attempted to drive past him in Minneapolis last week. In spite of the violence they had just witnessed, bystanders stood around the responsible agent’s comrades, screaming their disgust and anger. Someone yelled, “You can’t kill us all. You can’t kill us all, Nazis. You can’t kill us all.”
Something important happened the same day in another part of the city, when a senior pastor at a local church stood next to a woman being harassed by ICE agents and told them to take him instead. The agents held him for several minutes, repeatedly pointing firearms at his face and asking if he was afraid of them. "Hell no, I'm not afraid of you, and I'm never going to be afraid of you," he replied.
Something important happened again at a candlelight vigil for Good and others in New Hampshire, when Episcopalian Bishop A. Robert Hirschfeld told the crowd that he had asked his diocese’s clergy “to get their affairs in order, to make sure they have their wills written. Because it may be that now is no longer the time for statements but for us, with our bodies, to stand between the powers of this world and the most vulnerable.”
And the same important thing happened at several gatherings and protests in Northwest Arkansas this weekend, including a vigil in Springdale, Ark., Friday, Jan. 9, to remember more than 30 people (mostly immigrants) who have died in ICE custody or by ICE’s hand over the past year.
“Silence is no longer an option,” Nicole Mozzoni, a longtime immigrant advocate and community organizer from Rogers, Ark. said during the event, which was organized by the local Alliance for Immigrant Respect and Education, and drew more than 200 people of all skin colors.
Mozzoni urged her fellow non-immigrants to educate others, protect their neighbors and resist the urge to despair or freeze: “We do not get to step away when it’s not comfortable. We do not get to claim neutrality in the face of injustice.”
The Trump regime’s longstanding violence and persecution for immigrant communities is now blatantly being turned on immigrants’ allies as well. Yet despite this—even as ICE continues to threaten people at gunpoint—allies from coast to coast aren’t backing down.
It’s important because when enough nonviolent people of all stripes stop fearing the violence of their oppressors and stand up for what’s right anyway, there’s a good chance those oppressors are about to lose.
A repeated theme of the Jan.9 vigil was that the momentum must continue building, and immigrants therefore need all the allies they can get. What happened in Minneapolis could happen here, several speakers at the vigil told the assembly, especially as state and local law enforcement become de facto branches of ICE thanks to recent state legislation.
“There is a sadness in this crowd tonight, absolutely,” said Silvia Vallejo, a military veteran from Rogers. “But there is also an anger.
“You have got to get louder,” she continued. “Loud when people try to explain this away as just politics.”
AIRE members suggested several ways for non-immigrants to get involved, including by sharing their county and phone number with the organization in order to join its ICE watch. Short of that, connecting with neighbors and becoming involved at the local library or at church are also meaningful options, several speakers said.
“Community isn’t convenient, community doesn’t just land at your front door,” said an AIRE organizer who goes by the name Gerónimo. “Community is built.”
And if you haven’t started building already, it’s not too late to begin.