You Are Not Special in a Fascist State
I promise you that.
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On Tuesday evening, 30 year-old Tufts University grad student Rumeysa Ozturk was on her way to meet friends for dinner when she was stopped by a half-dozen plainclothes immigration officers in masks and hoodies. They physically restrained her, cuffed her, and shoved her into an unmarked vehicle.
Despite an order by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani that Ms. Ozturk not be moved outside of Massachusetts by authorities without 48 hours notice, she’s currently being held at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile, Louisiana. Judge Talwani has given the government until Friday to explain why she’s being detained.
Immigration officials are accusing Ms. Ozturk of being “engaged in activities in support of Hamas” but have provided no evidence to support this claim.
Last year, Ms. Ozturk co-authored an op-ed in The Tufts Daily with three other grad students that was deeply critical of university leadership and argued why divestment from Israel is necessary.
I’m sure all of us can discuss for many hours whether or not Ms. Ozturk and her colleagues are right or wrong in their views, and I’m certain that most of you reading this have views on the Gaza Crisis that are as complicated as mine.
Whatever your feelings on the op-ed—and I’ll be honest in saying I don’t agree with Ms. Ozturk in the whole of her outlook—it’s really besides what’s most important in this situation.
The First Amendment protects everyone who resides in our country. It doesn't matter if you have a green card or a visa or if you're undocumented. The Supreme Court has affirmed that every person residing in the United States, regardless of status, is entitled to those protections.
That said, there are limits to the rights enjoyed by non-citizens under the First Amendment, which can be nullified, for example, if it’s established they’re aiding and abetting a national security threat to the United States.
In Ms. Ozturk’s case, there is zero evidence she has done this, and I’ll take the soft risk of stating that I believe the government will not be able to present such evidence because it doesn’t exist and never did.
The Trump administration is currently engaged in the first phase of an aggressive terror campaign to undermine the First Amendment. They’re bullying news outlets and law firms and public figures into bending the knee and refraining from criticism, which will pave the way for harsher crackdowns to come.
And chillingly, it has become rapidly clear that people like Ms. Ozturk are being used as trial balloons for what will be a much wider operation to eliminate due process in this country for anyone expressing views that run counter to Trump’s ideology or that he deems useful in service to his propaganda efforts.
It is no coincidence that Ms. Ozturk and Alireza Doroudi and Yunseo Chung and Mahmoud Kahlil and many other non-citizens are being targeted for their participation in protests for Palestinian liberation — which is a potent gateway for persuading millions of Americans that exceptions can be made to constitutional freedoms if the person in question says something you disagree with.
Right now, it’s a witch hunt against campus protestors who have spoken out in support of Palestinian liberation, and very soon—much faster than you probably expect—it’ll be anyone putting forward any sort of criticism against Trump.
Because no one—not any of us—are special in a fascist state. I promise you that.
To expand on words from the great writer and activist
(italicized):Nothing will ultimately save you on this current trajectory. Your whiteness will not save you. Your maleness will not save you. Being straight or cisgender will not save you. Attending church every Sunday will not save you. Having a home in the suburbs and a good job will not save you. Being wealthy will not save you.
These things may offer temporary protection as others without such privileges and characteristics are plucked off the street and thrown into internment, but they will not save you if an unaccountable government decides, however arbitrarily, that you’re a threat based on your opinions.
Again, this isn’t about whether or not you agree with Ms. Ozturk. This is about the right to agree or disagree with Ms. Ozturk or anyone else without fear of the government suddenly throwing a bag over your head and whisking you away to a detention facility without due process.
Some of you reading this may say: But Charlotte, not everyone deserves our support in defending the First Amendment. What about people who engage in hate speech against the trans community? Don’t they deserve consequences?
Yes, they do deserve consequences, and those come in the form of the rest of us refusing to reward them for their asinine views.
We do not have to platform them, socialize with them, or give them our time and attention. We can shun them, refuse to allow them in our private spaces, and otherwise use our own free speech to point out why they’re ignorant clowns.
But as an American citizen, as someone who loves this country, as someone who holds our constitutional values dear, any attempts by the government to punish the ridiculous and hateful opinions of a transphobe in the public square are ultimately attempts to restrict my own free speech.
And if I’m willing to fight for the civil liberties of someone who steadfastly denies my right to exist, you better believe I’m going to fight much harder for a grad student with a good heart and the temerity to speak truth to power, even if I may not completely agree with her opinions.
Ms. Ozturk has done nothing to deserve what our government is doing to her and so many others who have expressed views that Trump and his base find objectionable.
If you think what happened to Rumeysa Ozturk can't happen to you because you're a citizen and she's not, you are sorely mistaken. She was snatched off the street not for being a national security threat but for having a wrong opinion in the eyes of Trump.
And if we don't put a stop to this, it's coming for all of us.
Charlotte, thank you. So well said. I am reminded of the words of Sophie Scholl, the 22 year old leader of the White Rose resistance movement against the Nazis. She wrote:
“The real damage is done by those millions who want to ‘survive.’ The honest men who just want to be left in peace. Those who don’t want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves. Those with no sides and no causes. Those who won’t take measure of their own strength, for fear of antagonizing their own weakness. Those who don’t like to make waves—or enemies. Those for whom freedom, honour, truth, and principles are only literature. Those who live small, mate small, die small. It’s the reductionist approach to life: if you keep it small, you’ll keep it under control. If you don’t make any noise, the bogeyman won’t find you. But it’s all an illusion, because they die too, those people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe. Safe?! From what? Life is always on the edge of death; narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues, and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. I choose my own way to burn.”
That you again and watch your six.
Steve Dundas
Very well said. It is not accidental that this issue is being used and for exactly the reasons you state.
As a former city councilmember, I saw (and was subject to) hate speech from all kinds of extremists. We could not stop it legally. We could comment on its hatefulness. But free speech exists. This is an analogous situation--what this student did may have been (was, in my view) hateful. Kidnapping her and ignoring the rule of law is a terrifying response and should be universally condemned.