Black Freedom Fund (BFF) is horrified and grieving as our country witnesses an escalation of state violence, unchecked federal power, and attacks on our most cherished democratic principles.
Across the nation, communities are reeling from a series of deaths tied to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and federal immigration enforcement actions. In Minnesota, the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good by federal agents during immigration enforcement operations have sparked deep pain, outrage, and mobilization – not only locally, but across movements for racial, immigrant, and civil rights.
These killings are not isolated incidents. They are part of a larger and deeply troubling pattern of deaths in ICE custody or involving federal agents, including individuals who were detained far from public view and died due to neglect or abuse, and those killed by agents wielding extraordinary power with little accountability. This includes the killing of Keith Porter Jr., a 43-year-old Black father of two shot by an off-duty ICE agent on New Year’s Eve in Los Angeles. These are not accidents. They are predictable outcomes of a system built on criminalization, secrecy, and force.
At the same time, the arrests of Black journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort following coverage of anti-ICE protests in Minnesota are a dangerous escalation in the use of federal power to intimidate those who document injustice, and part of a broader and coordinated effort to control information, undermine the media, and suppress public discourse. Pressure campaigns involving major networks, funding cuts to public broadcasting, and now the arrests of independent journalists, have weakened the public’s access to the truth.
These efforts are reinforced by the deliberate distortion of truth by those in power. Conflicting narratives, altered images, and misleading claims are used to confuse the public, sow division, and deflect accountability. This is how repression is normalized; not only through, force, but through propaganda.
What we are witnessing is something larger than any single policy or incident. These actions reflect an authoritarian turn – one in which government power expands while transparency contracts; where Black, immigrant, and working-class communities bear the brunt of violence; and where the rights to protest, to report, and to live with dignity are increasingly treated as expendable.
It is in moments like this that institutions rooted in movement, accountability, and community power are essential. Black Freedom Fund exists because history has shown us what happens when our communities and movements are left to weather crises alone and respond to repression without sustained resources, infrastructure, or protection.
These are terrifying and painful times. And still, retreat is not an option.
Black communities have always faced efforts to silence us, surveil us, and break our resolve. Each time, we have answered not by disappearing, but by organizing, speaking truth to power, and building institutions strong enough to carry the struggle forward.
BFF stands with families mourning loved ones lost to state violence; journalists and truth-tellers facing intimidation for doing their jobs; organizers demanding accountability, dignity, and freedom; and communities resisting the erosion of democratic rights.
In times like these, we do not shrink back. We hold the line. We deepen solidarity. And we continue building the power necessary for freedom.
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