Must-Reads and Some Thoughts on Care and Courage Amid Clouds of Tear Gas
We can embody our refusal and fiercely declare that our love and empathy will not be destroyed.
Greetings friends,
It’s been a hard week, but I’ve put together some reading recommendations to help you cut through the bullshit. I also have some thoughts to share about courage, solidarity, and care in the face of pepper balls, tear gas, and everything else they threw at us Friday night.
Must-Reads
- Jimmy Kimmel’s Suspension Is Shocking, But the Worst Could Be Yet to Come by Negin Owliaei & Maya Schenwar. “Calling the current moment a ‘war’ is not simply a provocation; it’s a strategic move. In wartime, many rules fall away. Crying ‘war’ is the public-discourse equivalent of declaring martial law; “war” means the norms and laws change.”
- The Prison Next Door by Lauren Gill. “‘My NIMBY stance was for my family property in the beginning. Now it’s for my whole state,’ [Shannon McChristian] told me. ‘I say no, we don’t want a prison. We don’t want this mega prison in this state. We don’t need this mega prison in this state.’”
- Charlie Kirk’s Murder Sparks Calls for Civil War And Violent Retribution Against Political Opponents (GPAHE). “American extremist groups were quick to fantasize about civil war and violent retribution, including state action, against democrats, transgender people, and the left generally.”
- Artists are Losing Work, Wages, and Hope as Bosses and Clients Embrace AI by Brian Merchant. “‘In the early days as the dawning horror set in, I cried about this almost every day. I wondered if I should quit making art. I contemplated suicide. I did nothing to these people, but every day I have to see them gleefully cheer online about the anticipated death of my chosen profession.’”
- I Can't Tell You What's Coming by Margaret Killjoy. “I’m not afraid of the fallout of last week’s news because everything bad that might come out of it was already being planned.”
- FBI Readies New War on Trans People by Ken Klippenstein. “The senior official explains that there is no process per se for dealing with trans people as a ‘threat group,’ but feels that trans individuals will be increasingly targeted under the banner of ‘violent extremism.’”
- Exclusive: Leaked Messages from Charlie Kirk Assassin by Ken Klippenstein. “The picture that emerges bears little resemblance to the media version.”
- Trump Firing Top Prosecutor for Failing to Invent Fake Crimes by Greg Sargent. “Now Trump is set to fire that top prosecutor precisely because he apparently will not cook the facts to make the original allegation against James stand.”
- In Little Village, Residents Are Blowing Actual Whistles To Warn Neighbors About ICE by Alex V. Hernandez. “A group of neighbors gather each Wednesday evening at the Little Village arch, 3100 W. 26th St., to distribute the whistles during the group’s ‘know your rights’ workshops. About 1,200 whistles have been given out by the council, Enriquez said.”
- Here’s What Life Is Like Inside One of Gaza’s Last Remaining Hospitals by Sara Awad. “In the heart of a city at war, al-Wafa Rehabilitation Hospital struggles to survive. This site of healing and recovery has now been transformed into a place overwhelmed by cruel suffering.”
ICYMI
I am very proud of this week’s episode of Movement Memos, featuring activists and organizers from around Chicago. Benji Hart, Stacy Davis Gates, Arti Walker-Peddakotla, Ric Wilson, and others discuss Trump’s threats to send in the National Guard, ongoing ICE raids, and the solidarity we need to survive these times. We poured our hearts into this one. I hope you’ll check it out.
Finding Courage in Each Other Amid the Tear Gas
Friday began with federal violence.
In the early hours of the morning, protesters gathered outside the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Broadview Processing Center, where migrants detained by ICE have been taken during "Operation Midway Blitz"—a sweeping attack on migrant communities across Chicagoland that has unfolded in recent weeks. The processing center is a site of regular protest as people from Chicago and surrounding cities, towns, and villages rally and try to disrupt ICE operations as vans enter and leave the facility. On Friday morning, ICE agents, backed by DHS tactical teams, responded with force. They fired pepper balls into the crowd, launched tear gas, and physically attacked protesters, including those seated, linked arm-in-arm. Congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh was slammed to the ground. Legal observers and journalists were also hit. Three people were arrested Friday morning, including a protester dressed like the Marvel character Captain America, who allegedly picked up a tear gas canister and threw it back at ICE agents.
As I watched footage of those attacks on Friday morning and saw people of conscience gassed and thrown to the ground, simply observing these events on a screen from the safety of my apartment felt intolerable. People were putting their bodies on the line in defense of our migrant neighbors, our shared values, and our collective humanity. I needed to be with them. So I resolved to attend the evening's protest outside Broadview.
When I informed friends of this decision, some expressed concern about my physical condition. My recently fractured ankle is still healing, and my condition is not ideal, but I felt sure I could handle myself, and I promised to leave if the situation became too much.
To be honest, I had no idea what I was walking into.
When I arrived, the crowd was loud, fierce, and loving. People chanted, "Let them go," while an Indigenous man shouted, "Get off my land!" A woman held a sign high overhead, in view of ICE agents on the facility's roof, that read, “Bitch Ass Ghouls.” A young man stood shirtless on a car, holding a sign that said, “I fucked two of you on GRINDR.” Reverend David Black, a regular presence at these protests, was standing on the sidewalk, pleading with agents on the roof to have a conscience and stop abducting our migrant neighbors. Within minutes of my arrival, the agents began firing at the reverend, striking him in the head with a pepper ball. As people rushed to care for and surround the reverend to shield him from further injury, more pepper ball rounds were fired.
He was the first of three people I would see struck in the head by pepper balls Friday night. Only one attack that night seemed prompted by the protesters' attempt to stop an ICE vehicle. Every other attack seemed recreational in nature—as though the agents simply wanted to let loose on the crowd. At one point, I watched eight agents pile onto a single protester. I observed five people being taken into custody.
Ten people were reportedly arrested outside the facility over the course of the day.
ICE and DHS agents, clad in tactical gear, fired pepper balls into the crowd throughout the night—without warning and with no visible provocation. On several occasions, agents charged the crowd, violently tackling and arresting protesters. At one point, they donned gas masks and launched tear gas into the street, before charging protesters. Thick clouds filled the air. The sound of people coughing and gagging was ubiquitous. Several vomited from the fumes. Some protesters were caught much deeper in the clouds of smoke than I had been, and were struggling with the effects of the gas, so I gave them the Sudecon wipes I had brought for myself. Others had wisely brought their own gas masks and goggles—including street medics who diligently cared for protesters who were overwhelmed by the chemical attacks.
At one point, a man standing directly beside me was struck in the forehead by a pepper ball. I wasn’t there as a medic, but I rinsed his face and flushed his eyes amid the chaos. Eventually, a street medic found us, and we helped the man move further away from the ongoing attack. I saw at least two others hit in the head by pepper balls that night. These so-called “less-lethal” rounds are not meant to be fired at people's heads. Pepper ball impacts to the head, throat, or spine can cause serious injuries and are considered especially dangerous. Strikes to the eye have resulted in permanent vision loss, and in some cases, blindness.
It was a brutal night, and in the face of militarized violence, the protesters simply didn't have the numbers to stop the only ICE vehicle that passed through. But their presence, and their defiance, made a profound moral statement. They were protesting to demand freedom for our stolen neighbors, and to tell ICE to get the fuck out of Chicagoland. They were there to raise their voices and insist that our communities would not quietly accept this administration's fascist violence. After one of the attacks on the crowd, the protesters chanted, "Fascist scum! Fascist scum!" And I would defy anyone who has questioned whether we are, indeed, living under fascism to disagree with them.
At one point during the night, the crowd knelt in the street to honor the memory of Silverio Villegas González, who was shot and killed by ICE agents during a traffic stop last week. During that moment of memorial, they also honored the memory of victims of police violence, calling out names like Rekia Boyd, and expressed grief for the victim's of Israel's genocide in Gaza.
Within moments of rising to their feet, the protesters were again targeted with pepper balls fired by ICE agents on the facility's roof.
I cried a little when I got home Friday night, not because I was traumatized or in pain, but because I was grieving the state of our society. It was not the first time I had cried such tears, and it won't be the last. I have wept for victims of police violence many times over the years. I have wept for our Palestinian siblings being massacred in Gaza. And now, I weep for our migrant neighbors who have been seized by ICE, and for the conditions that make this violence possible. Almost 550 people across Chicagoland have been arrested by ICE during Operation Midway Blitz. It is a campaign of terror focused on a city that our president feels profound contempt for. He hates our city's progressive politics, our Black mayor, and our sanctuary policies, which have led his thugs to stage many of their attacks in surrounding areas. He hates our organizers, who have taught many Chicago residents how to evade his agents. In fact, Trump has resented Chicago since our protests rendered him unable to hold a rally here in May of 2016. I am proud of everything that makes that man hate us.
While Trump's foot soldiers wage a campaign of fear in our streets, Chicagoans are continuing to organize. Our rapid response teams are being run ragged, but they continue to mobilize, and political education efforts that welcome people to the fight are ongoing. Every week, I hear about resource-mapping efforts, workshops, and community-building events. Not everyone can attend a dangerous protest, but there is a role for everyone in this moment and in this movement.
These days, my work typically falls in the realm of political education. My disabled body can't do all of the things it used to do, and long marches have been out of the question lately. If I had known how ugly Friday night was going to get, I might have had second thoughts about attending, but I am so glad I was there. I wasn't fully prepared for the danger we faced or for what I saw that night, but I know that I am better for having been there—and that it mattered that we were there. The camaraderie, tenderness, and refusal of those protesters, who shamed the agents invading our city and cared for each other in the wake of fascist violence, reminded me that we have the power to embody our values, come what may. We can find our courage in each other and refuse to abandon one another. We can fiercely declare that our love and empathy will not be destroyed. When we join together, in opposition to death-making forces, we can become a living, breathing call to action. I hope you all hear and feel that call, because there's a long fight ahead.
Much love,
Kelly
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