BLOOMINGTON − More than 500 people shouting anti-ICE chants and sentiments filled the Showers Plaza and spilled into the parking lot outside Bloomington’s city hall Jan. 30 as part of a nationwide protest.
The message of the day: “F— ICE.” Participants yelled out the phrase in unison throughout the event, which started at noon. Many protest signs had just those two words.
A few blocks away at Badknees shirt shop on West Kirkwood Avenue, proprietor Jim Beck was screen printing less-volatile two-word messages for free onto shirts and signs customers brought in before the protest.
“I wanted to do something,” he said 15 minutes before the protest, applying black ink onto a screen. “I know how to print T shirts.”
He offered two options: “ICE OUT” and “more empathy.”
Bloomington resident Katherine Miller got one of each. She said she wants to look back someday and know she did something to counter President Trump’s immigration policies and the resulting violence and deaths.
“I want to be on the right side of history,” she said. “I don’t believe what they are doing is right. “I’m trying to rise my young son in this broken world.”
Kristy Tillman and her 17-year-old son Oliver stopped by the store on their way to the city hall protest. The Gosport residents are upset about ICE enforcement efforts and the recent killings in Minneapolis.
Beck inked his messages on their cardboard signs and they bought a preprinted “more empathy.” tee.
This was the mother and son’s fifth protest event challenging Trump’s immigration policies.
“I don’t think ICE should be here in the U.S. at all,” Tillman said. “They can’t treat our friends, our families and our neighbors like this. It’s not OK what they’ve been allowed to do.”
She said it’s important to stand up for what you believe.
“I want to be able to say I was a part of standing up against that, that I used my voice,” Tillman said. “In 20 years, if someone asks what part did I play, did I keep my mouth shut or stand up, I’d hate to say I didn’t do anything.”
Oliver said speaking out matters. “You use your voice for those who don’t have one,” he said. “I’m here to see if there’s some hope in the world. To make a difference while I can.”
They stood in solidarity with the others at the rally as speakers made impassioned pleas for justice.
Erin Aquino from Exodus, a Bloomington nonprofit that helps refugees, urged protesters to pressure Thomson to end the city’s contract with Flock, a camera surveillance system that tracks vehicles with unmarked roadside cameras.
“We call upon city leadership to end the contract with Flock and have these cameras removed,” she shouted to loud cheers from the crowd and the waving of signs that said “F— Flock.”
Mayor speaks via video
In a video posted on the city’s Facebook page the night before the protest, Bloomington Mayor Kerry Thomson welcomed people to congregate outside city hall to let their feelings be known.
“I am so proud of our residents for showing up and expressing yourselves,” Thomson said from a national mayors’ conference in Washington D.C.
“You will be welcome at city hall. ICE must have accountability for the actions that they are taking in killing citizens, intimidating residents and suppressing freedom of speech.”
She assured citizens the city doesn’t share Flock data with immigration police. She said she will meet with Flock representatives in two weeks to learn more about their practices.
“We must ensure this information is not released by the Flock company or anyone else that does not share our values of safety for our residents and care for our community,” she said in response to recent complaints about the license plate tracking system.
Contact H-T reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com or 812-318-5967.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Hundreds gather at Bloomington city hall to protest ICE
Reporting by Laura Lane, The Herald-Times / The Herald-Times
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