In mid February, US Border Patrol representatives set up a table in the SSC to recruit students. The student body found that action insulting and made sure to let the recruiters know.
In response, Damien Simmons, a junior criminal justice major, organized an ICE protest on February 25th. Simmons said he’s a very political person and wanted to take a stand for those displaced by ICE.
“Why should anyone be afraid to just step outside and enjoy their life?” Simmons said. Simmons believes that it is important for him to take a stand on the right side of history.
The protest started out small; only Damien and Charles Brooks, a sophomore music education major, were in attendance at the beginning. Brooks believes that, “This stuff that’s going on is clearly wrong,” which inspired him to try and, “get people’s minds open.” The duo handed out some signs and talked to people inside the SSC and eventually put together a larger group.
One of the people in the group standing outside the SSC was Robert Young III, a psychology major. Young only learned of the protest that morning when he saw it in a post on Instagram.
Young is from Houston, Texas, where he says strict law enforcement is normal. He recalls a time when he was younger and a friend of his was taken by ICE. He said, “it was very emotional,” and he felt, “a shock.” He says that someone can be in your life for so long and then suddenly be taken from their own home.
“I don’t think it’s right to put people in cages. I don’t think it’s right to separate people from their families.” He believes that children should not be separated either, and that everyone should be treated with respect by immigration officials.
Another protestor, Jasmine Lyons, a sophomore animal science major, was very vocal about how she felt. She recalls her first protest, “I think I was 13 and this was in Detroit, Michigan”.
Her older cousin, a professor at UW Madison, took her there. She recalled her sign saying something along the lines of, “No one is illegal on stolen land,” like the one she held at this protest. This brought her back to that experience and all of her passion back then. She said, “I’ve always had that fire as a kid”.
Protesting helped her get out of her shell and become proud of who she is. It gives her an outlet to let out her feelings about the world.
She believes that she had to speak against hatefulness, injustice and discrimination. “The world isn’t full of hate, it’s full of love.” To her, this protest shows the love that everyone holds for their fellow Americans.
The protestors had some ideas on how the government could deal with immigration. Simmons and Brooks believe that the borders to the US should be completely open for everyone to cross through. Simmons says, “This land doesn’t belong to anybody”, and “humans are a migratory species to begin with.”
Lyons believes that the process for becoming a citizen is way too long, which causes people to be forced to come in illegally. When asked how she would change immigration laws, she said she would, “make the process a lot shorter.”
Jeremy Arballo
Editor-in-Chief and Staff Reporter
Jeremy Arballo is a sophomore broadcast journalism student from Guthrie, Oklahoma. He enjoys writing feature stories and taking photos. He finds that everyone has a compelling story and he likes to share these stories with others, along with his photos. He believes that photos say more than 1,000 words can and that they show the beauty of life. Outside of school, Jeremy enjoys playing retro and new video games, taking photos, and collecting cds. Jeremy can be reached at jearbal@langston.edu and he posts his photos on his Instagram @jeremyarballo1.
