It is to no one’s astonishment that journalists are once again at the forefront of political issues.
With the recent ICE tirades, journalists have been on the front lines, covering, gathering and producing incredibly important work to share with the public.
The hatred toward them comes directly from the Trump administration. He has been clear that he does not respect journalists or their personhood.
From the moment he barked at CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins for never smiling because “you know you’re not telling the truth,” when she was asking him about the Epstein Files, to when he told another female reporter, “Quiet, Piggy.”
It is painfully apparent that Trump has no professionalism when it comes to the media.
Blatantly rude remarks are now, unfortunately, the least of reporters’ worries, it seems.
On Jan. 30, 2025, two Black journalists were arrested in relation to a protest at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. Don Lemon, a former CNN host, and Georgia Fort, an award-winning independent journalist, were arrested and have since been indicted by a Minnesota grand jury.
The charges raised specifically for Lemon are “conspiracy to deprive rights and interfering with religious freedoms, alleged to have obstructed someone’s First Amendment rights by force.”
The law, Title 18 of the United States Code, Section 241, that federal authorities are using as the basis for Lemon and Fort’s arrest, originated in the Enforcement Act of 1870.
An act that Congress passed in response to a surge in white supremacist behaviors, such as those of the Ku Klux Klan.
This is disturbingly ironic. The idea that two black journalists are being arrested on the same grounds that were only established as illegal because of the activity of white supremacists who tried to murder their ancestors screams injustice.
To get the facts straight: Lemon and Fort were involved in a planned protest of Priest David Easterwood at Cities Church after citizens found out that Easterwood is also the acting director of ICE’s St. Paul’s field office.
Protestors were outraged following the death of Renne Good in their own backyard, so just as the Constitution allows, they planned a protest.
Lemon and Fort were both there to cover the event and have claimed they had no part in organizing it, but rather were there simply to cover the newsworthy event.
And yet, they have both now been charged with a crime.
Evidently, when the administration first went to charge the journalists, alongside other people who were involved, a magistrate judge assessed the evidence and found no reason to charge Lemon or Fort.
However, the administration was clearly not happy with that decision because they had it appealed and eventually took it to the federal level, where they were approved to arrest the two.
How I see it, this administration is upset that Minnesota is not falling to its knees. It seemed like they thought the intimidating presence of ICE and the violence they evoke would be enough to have residents submit and allow their city to be taken over by a fascist regime.
So, when they see residents fighting back, they get upset and deploy 10 times the force to try to stop them. And yet, this protest was able to occur without injury or death, simply an embarrassing inconvenience for Easterwood.
And still, the government is prosecuting those involved- some who didn’t even directly plan the protest- far more than they are pursuing any wrongdoings of their own agents, like the death of Renee Good or Alex Pretti.
Lemon and Fort are exercising the same right they have their whole careers–freedom of the press. That protest was, and still is, important to the ongoing ICE involvement in Minnesota because it shows that the citizens of Minnesota don’t agree with how our federal government is handling immigration.
The Trump administration doesn’t want us to know that, though, do they? They want to paint these protestors as violent and conspiring to harm people’s constitutional rights, when in fact they are fighting to protect just that.
We know these ICE agents’ profiles; they have detained people based on how they look, not their legal status. So why, I ask, are we choosing what constitutional rights can be infringed and which can’t?
Additionally, both journalists who were arrested being black adds a separate, stickier layer to this entire issue.
Just like his apparent distaste towards women through his comments to female reporters, Trump has made it apparent he doesn’t respect black citizens either.
I mean, just a few days ago, he posted an edited video where former President Obama and his wife, Michelle, were monkeys. Trump has shown time after time his racism and sexism; by now we should all know he doesn’t care who knows that.
Our administration is led by someone who believes joking about people’s lives and personhood is funny. After Lemon was arrested, the White House official X account posted and said, “When life gives you lemons,” next to an emoji of chain links.
There comes a point when I can no longer sit here and write about the blatant racism and fascism that bleeds from every corner of this administration.
If the federal government can punish Lemon and Fort from exercising their constitutional right as members of the press, at what point do they make it so the world can’t access news?
To those who say this is an outlandish jump to conclusions, ask yourself, through these ICE raids, how has Trump shown that he cares about maintaining constitutional rights?
The Lemon and Fort arrest is nothing more than an unfair demonstration of constitutional rights being revoked right in front of our faces. Journalists are here to inform the people, and they are doing just that.
I stand behind Lemon and his assertion that he “will not be silenced.” We need voices, and we need bravery to keep the American people informed and connected.
This blatant display of attempts to censor those who show us that information will not stand.
