Photos: YouTube Screenshots
In the wake of the horrific attack on September 11, 2001, there was a joke that went around the Black community. My memory is that I first saw it in Aaron MacGruder’s newspaper comic strip The Boondocks, but I haven’t been able to find it. Although, here’s a good Boondocks strip from that post-9/11 era.
Sigh. I miss The Boondocks comics more than the TV show. Aaron MacGruder, another lost neo-soul.
The joke I’m referring to went something like this.
“WE’RE NUMBER TWO!”
That’s it. That’s the whole joke. If you are Black and reading this, I’m gonna guess that you get the joke instantly, especially if you were alive for 9/11. But if you don’t get it, let me break a rule of comedy and explain the joke. The joke is that for a period of time–post September 11, 2001–Black people were America’s second most hated racial group. This was because Arabs (which included anyone who a racist perceived as an Arab) were, at that point, America’s most hated racial group. The joke relied on the dark comedy of Black people acknowledging that we were having the boot of America’s system of white supremacy ever so slightly lifted off of our necks. Meanwhile, the racist-boot-wearer was scanning the horizon, looking for Browns, non-Latino division.
Ha.
Ha.
Ha.
The joke also relied on knowing that the “relief” wasn’t really real. Every Black person worth their Lawry’s Seasoning Salt knows that America’s more than 400 years of white supremacy oppresses Black people everyday, even during this period of time. Just under four years later Hurricane Katrina arrived in New Orleans to demonstrate that even during a natural disaster, Black folks should not expect to be treated as full citizens of this country. But don’t listen to me. Take it away, 2002 Kanye West!
I believe the above soundbite from Kanye West earned him soooooooo much credit in the Black community that the only way for him to spend it was to go full-on “I love Hitler.”.
When 34-time convicted felon President Trump campaigned on mass deportations, the Republican party lie… I mean… line… was that they were only going to deport immigrants who were evil enough that they could be the final villain in a Christopher Nolan Batman movie. That has, of course, proven to be significantly less than true. Want to hear a fact guaranteed to make you want to fight or spit?
The largest group in I.C.E. detention camps are PEOPLE WITH NO CRIMINAL RECORDS!
These are people with families. People who work and are known in their communities. People who were bothering no one, and yet, our federal government kidnapped them off the street. This was just another way for the Trump administration to reinforce their specific brand of cruelty and also kick Trump’s fascism into higher gear.
Somehow, many people are okay with our government disappearing innocent people. The fact that these people are undocumented is sadly enough for some Trumpers to justify violating these already vulnerable people’s human rights. It doesn’t matter to MAGA-nation that statutorily, crossing the border is actually on the level of a parking ticket. Now, it can end up being a capital offense. As Black people, when we see how effectively and quickly Trump moved the this-is-what-is-acceptable-in-America goalpost, we knew that we would be the next ones to have our citizenship status reclassified from probationary to extremely conditional. So long to the good ole days of “We’re number two!”
When Trump initially listed the cities that he wanted the National Guard to invade, Black folks were completely unsurprised that it was all cities with Black mayors and large Black populations. Of course, he started his unconstitutional invasion with Washington, D.C. As a city governed by the federal government, it was a great testing messing ground. The people of D.C., led by many Black activists, stood up to Trump, but Trump still got the headlines he wanted so he could move on to other Black cities. (He has since invaded Portland, Oregon, a city that although overwhelmingly white has a lefty politics that makes Trump hate Portland almost like it is a Black city.) All that is to say, when Black folks first saw I.C.E. in the streets, we may have had a short moment when we felt some tiny bit of relief that they weren’t looking for us right now, but we knew they would get to us eventually.
Eventually arrived in the middle of the night on September 30, 2025 at an apartment building on the South Side of Chicago, an historically Black part of the city.
Hundreds of armed federal agents, including I.C.E., attacked a 130 unit apartment complex, as if it was Osama Bin Laden’s headquarters and the date was September 12, 2001. Blackhawk helicopters circled overhead. One landed on the roof of the building. Federal agents set off smoke grenades and flash bangs to disorient people. They flooded the scene with military vehicles. They stormed the apartment building like it was Normandy Beach on D-Day, but the significant difference is that NONE OF RESIDENTS KNEW THEY WERE IN A WAR SO THEY WEREN’T PREPARED TO FIGHT A WAR. Inside the apartment, agents kicked in people’s doors and pulled them out of their beds–some people had no clothes on. Children were separated from their parents. I’ll say this again…
CHILDREN WERE SEPARATED FROM THEIR PARENTS!
Children had their hands restrained with zipties. People who had done nothing wrong were held in custody for hours. FOR. HOURS.
Out of the dozens of people (again including children) who had their civil rights violated, 37 people were arrested. According to reports, all the arrested are undocumented immigrants. Just to be clear, that means most of the people who were violated, illegally detained, and forever traumatized (AGAIN, INCLUDING CHILDREN) are U.S. citizens who had done nothing wrong.
And most of those people are Black. One more time, America shows Black folks that our citizenship is like bad wifi. It is not reliable. It goes in and out.
After it was all over, the Trump administration claimed they did this because they were looking for members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. From what I have learned in my brief Google of this gang, I can CONFIDENTLY say that members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua are not likely to be BLACK AMERICANS. You can pretty much always rule us out.
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Let me make this last part clear to the Trump administration. That also means you can rule out Black American citizens who are CHILDREN, YOU ABSOLUTE FUCKING GHOULS!
“One of them [an I.C.E. agent] literally laughed. He was like ‘Fuck them kids.’” —Eboni Watson, a resident of the building
Another tragic thing (in the list of tragic things here) is that as of this writing only two (TWO!) of the undocumented immigrants arrested are actually in Tren de Aragua. While some of the remaining do have criminal records, it is for aggravated battery and possession of a controlled substance. (The War on Drugs continues its mission to oppress Black and Brown folks!) Whatever those crimes mean to you, to me, it doesn’t justify KICKING DOWN MY DOOR AND RIPPING MY CHILD OUT OF BED AT THREE IN MORNING. Where the fuck is the Law & Order/C.S.I/Colombo law enforcement work? You know the kind, where a plain clothes detective shows up in the middle of the day (instead of the middle of the night) and asks the building supervisor—who is, for some reason, loading boxes in a truck—if he thinks any of his residents are involved in Venezuelan gang activity. When the guy says maybe and gives a list of the residents and which apartments they live in, the TV style cop DOES SOME INVESTIGATION. Then he finds out about the two guys, and he arrests them, leaving the lawful U.S. citizens undisturbed. They could still do it in the middle of the night if they want to be able to put on their Batman gear, but maybe leave the helicopters, smoke bombs, and violation of people’s civil rights back at the office.
But they won’t do that for three reasons.
- Law enforcement work like that is really hard. You have to be highly trained and know how to generate trust in the community. That all takes time, patience, and respect for all your fellow humans. If you have seen any of the many, many, MANY clips on social media of I.C.E. rolling around on the ground with folks, looking like carnies on a heroic dose of crystal meth wrestling with greased pigs, then you know I.C.E. has no training, no people skills, and no fucking idea what they are doing.
- I.C.E. actually thinks they are Batman. They love the cosplay of it all. They love getting to do the things they’ve seen in movies and video games. I’m betting if you were to go into their homes you would see that the ratio of action figures to real guns is one to one. And we know they have a lot of guns. And just like Batman, they hide their identities because they are cowards.
- Law enforcement in America don’t do investigative work the way we have seen the great TV cops do it, because in the Black community they don’t have to. They can, and some do, but in America, law enforcement is allowed to treat us as if we are guilty until proven innocent. We often even are treated like we are guilty AFTER we are declared innocent. (See Elijah McCain.) White supremacy has effectively coded Black people as criminals (or future criminals) and not-quite citizens in the mainstream American consciousness. These are founding principles of white supremacy. And founding principles of America. See the 3/4 compromise, the Thirteenth Amendment, mass incarceration, The War on Drugs, California’s 3 Strike Laws, and so on, and so on, and so on. When many people see the Black residents of that apartment building on in news clips complaining about what I.C.E. did that night, they often silently say to themselves, “Well, you must’ve done something wrong if they did that to YOU.
Now imagine that federal law enforcement had raided houses in Beverly Hills instead of an apartment building on the South Side of Chicago. We all know that there are undocumented folks in those homes too. Those rich kids won’t raise themselves. (And their parents are “too busy” to raise them.) If that had happened, Trump and his stooges would be on a one way trip to Gitmo right now.
Let me be clear. Another thing that Black people know is that the apartment building is not the end of this. Trump has once again gotten away with absolutely demonry. Now that he knows he can imperiously attack Black folks with no serious consequences, Trump will be hungry for more Black pain. Trump, Stephen Miller, and Department of Homeland Security Head/Dog Killer Kristi Noem are fed by the pain of Black folks, Latino folks (no matter their citizenship status), Palestinians folks, Democrats, Trans kids, and Jewish progressives. Weirdly, they are not that bothered by the pain of their white, conservative Christian base.
The only thing that gives me any hope at all in this is… YOU.
Maybe not you, specifically. (I’m not sure I know you that well. I think we met once though.) But people JUST LIKE YOU are putting themselves out there, often in harm’s way.
They are documenting Trump’s troops’ racist and anti-American abuses.
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They are using their numbers to overwhelm I.C.E.
And even the Black people who were attacked in the Chicago apartment building stood at microphones the next day and called Trump out!
Resident Pertissue Fisher who was illegally detained by I.C.E. / photo courtesy of Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
This is the way.
The next No Kings protest is October 18, 2025 and it’s happening all over the country. Find out were one is near you.
RefuseFascism.org is inviting all of us to Washington, D.C. on November 5. 2025, the anniversary of Trump’s election.
In California, we can vote YES ON 50 to fight back against the Republican party’s gerrymandering efforts in Texas. Voting has already begun. If you are a California resident you can register now.
YOU can join Indivisble.org. YOU can join the Working Families Party. YOU can join the Democratic Socialists of America. Hell, join your local Democrats if you insist, but stay on their butts! YOU can support the National Immigration Law Center and subscribe to The Latino Newsletter. YOU can support reproductive justice around the country. YOU can support my friend Pastor Mike McBride’s nonprofit LiveFreeUSA.org and their efforts to end gun violence and mass incarceration. YOU can pull out your phone and record if you ever see I.C.E. in your community.
Who’s with Me?
YOU BETTER BE WITH ME!
W. Kamau Bell asks, “Who’s With Me?” is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
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