History Will Ask
In recent weeks, students like Rumeysa Ozturk have been taken into custody without being charged with any crime. Her only known offense? Co-authoring an op-ed calling for the recognition of Palestinian humanity and quoting James Baldwin.
Plainclothes agents pulled her off the the street as she was leaving her home to share a meal with friends to break their fast for Ramadan. No badges were shown until they had already restrained her. She was detained, her visa was revoked and they flew her 2000 miles away from anyone or anything familiar. Her family was not informed and the government has offered no explanation beyond vague accusations of “supporting Hamas.” This is not a scene from a movie. It happened here in the United States of America, by order of the Trump regime.
This isn't an isolated incident. It follows a disturbing pattern: This pattern of repression is no accident, it's by design, and it is spreading. Over 300 visas have been revoked in what officials claim is a crackdown on national security risks-but critics argue this is a crackdown on dissent.
Mahmoud Khalil remains detained, with his legal team claiming the administration is venue shopping for sympathetic judges. Executive orders now target educational institutions and museums, forcing them to present only “positive” portrayals of American history. The administration's 1776 Project has been revived to sanitize the legacy of racism and erase uncomfortable truths. Seemingly the most uncomfortable truth is that black history, is American history.
The message is clear: questioning U.S. foreign policy, showing empathy for Palestinians, or demanding historical honesty is now equated with anti-Americanism, even terrorism. And these tactics are chilling by design. This administration is deliberately reframing free expression as a threat. It is conflating calls for justice with “ ideologies inconsistent with federal law”. These moves are meant to instill fear, to warn others: stay silent, or your next. As Angela Davis so aptly put it: “ If they come for me in the morning, they will come for you in the night”
This isn't just about student visas. It's about the erosion of democratic principles. Today it's non-citizens. Tomorrow, it will be citizens. We're already seeing it in other areas. From attacks on reproductive rights to censorship in public education.
Go after the most vulnerable first.
Normalize the practice.
Expand it slowly-until no one is safe.
The template is clear: the authoritarian playbook is being followed step by step. And it is spreading.
We shine a light on this growing darkness because the truth still matters. We believe silence in the face of repression is complicity. We are illuminating the quiet betrayal of everything America claims to stand for. Now is the time to ask yourself, what will I do when I see injustice, corruption, when I see democracy being throttled in the street. Because history will ask, when it mattered, what did you do?
Some will say they didn't know. Some will say it wasn't their fight. But others will say:
I held up my lantern for all to see. I held the line.
Silent Sentinel
“The watchman has spoken. Let the sleeper awaken.”
Clarity is the beginning of resistance.
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