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The news out of Chicago has been a steady stream of heartbreak and injustice as ICE agents have occupied the city. When news came out that a Presbyterian pastor was shot in the head with pepper bullets while praying at an ICE Detention Center in Broadview just outside of the city, we spoke with our friends who live there. After those conversations we decided to go to Chicago to support our colleagues. We wanted to attend the weekly worship service at the Broadview Detention Center that takes place each Friday morning and attend the No Kings protest downtown on Saturday. This is a summary of some of the things we experienced and learned.
Rev. Katrina Pekich-Bundy, Pastor of Alma-First and Alma College Chaplain
Staci Percy, Presbytery Communications Manager
From Katrina Pekich-Bundy:
I had been watching the news coming out of Chicago, appalled at what is happening. At the beginning of October I heard about ICE using pepper spray and tear gas on peaceful protestors. This has been happening since September, though. ICE has been kidnapping people, stealing them away from their families, and locking them up and sending them out of the country.
By the time the news of tear gas made it to Michigan, groundwork was being laid for more protections to be put in place for protestors. The week before I came I heard things were actually a little bit lighter in spirit.
That feeling shifted in one week. When I arrived at Broadview, State Police were using batons that looked like wooden broom handles to push back the crowd. Some nudged inch by inch. Most shoved. People were arrested. People were knocked to the ground. A large cross made from recycled materials was wheeled in by clergy as people continued to protest. I saw helicopters circling and men on roofs watching.
Booklets of liturgy and songs were passed out as we gathered around the cross. Drummers and guitarists began music as clergy from so many denominations gathered around. The atmosphere was still tense, but it seemed that all energy was focused into remembering why we were there. We shifted our focus from the state police to God, begging for justice. We remembered who was ultimately in control.
I learned so much. First, I’m no longer calling it a detention center, because it is an abduction center. I learned that for many years the leaders of Broadview worked to get the detention center closed, and policies in place for no more detention centers in the city. The current empire is ignoring all of this.
People shared stories - mothers being kidnapped dropping off their children at school, fathers being kidnapped when they arrived at work, children being ripped from families.
I came to witness the stories being told. I came to be in solidarity with my siblings. I came to listen and learn, and worship a God whom I know is angry and crying because this is not what God intended.
The God I believe in teaches us to be good neighbors. The God I believe in teaches us to remember when we were in the wilderness, when we were the stranger. That means all humans are precious to God.
Before leaving Broadview I ran into two colleagues I hadn’t seen in so long, and had not expected to run into - but it warmed my heart and reminded me we don’t do this alone. The worship service itself was so powerful and Spirit filled for me. We tied black zip ties, the same used by ICE to arrest, on the cross that was created from recycled materials. TV trays were put out to display visual reminders of why we were there: a torn shirt to represent the struggles and atrocities happening, a stuffed animal reminding us of the children ripped from their families, and a broken glass frame, reminding us of the ways in which these families are being broken.
A bus arrived. Someone asked me if I wanted to get arrested. “Not today,” I said, but I support those who are fighting that fight and using their privilege. And some more people were arrested.
I’m still processing the whole weekend. I realize that I get to hop on a train and go home and not worry about abductions. But I have a responsibility to share the stories, to point to those who are doing the work. We all have a responsibility not to look away, but to continue to fight for justice. I have more to learn, more people to listen to. We all do. The work is not done. And I’m still processing everything from this weekend, so there might be more stories shared. So many times people stopped me, recognizing my clergy collar, to tell me their own Broadview story.
A man at the No Kings protest thanked me for going when he saw my collar, and asked if I had been to Broadview. Through conversation I found out that he had been part of the group of Catholics I had seen on social media who had shown up at Broadview the week before.
On our way home, we stopped in Michigan City for dinner. At the Taco Bell a woman in a full length evening gown walked in, looked at me and said, “Did you protest today?” That opened up a conversation about how she was from a small town in Illinois but had planned to go to No Kings in Chicago. That changed when ICE showed up in her small town, and a group there decided to have their own No Kings protest. Their group was smaller than twenty, but necessary to witness to their neighbors that they would not stand for this.
Follow Chicago news.
Keep telling the stories. Keep listening.
From Staci Percy:
When Katrina texted me and asked if I'd like to go to Chicago and support our colleagues during No Kings weekend I eagerly agreed and we began to plan our trip.
When we arrived at the train station in downtown Chicago we headed off in opposite directions to our friends' homes we would be staying at. That evening I walked around my friend's neighborhood, stopping in at several stores and chatting with folks. In many of the stores they were distributing a few free items. They included "Hands Off Chicago" signs, pins stating "No ICE! No Troops! All Chicago" and whistles with instructions.
Chicagoans are very protective of their neighbors and are using whistles to alert them to the presence of ICE. They use them because they are simple, loud, recognizable and impossible to ignore. They provide an instant alert system, are faster than social media and turns silence into community action. They use two different codes with the whistles. One is to alert that ICE is nearby and the other to indicate that ICE is detaining someone. Folks we talked to say that in many neighborhoods you hear them night and day.
After the incredibly moving worship service at the Broadview Detention Center we had an opportunity to speak with several colleagues about what they have been experiencing. We heard a story of one of them getting tear gassed when walking out of a grocery store when ICE was in the street trying to abduct their neighbors. We heard about a mother who was selling tamales on the street corner and was abducted while her children were in school. We learned that white neighbors are chaperoning vulnerable families as they walk to and from their elementary schools. We learned of so many ways that ICE is terrorizing neighborhoods and how the community members are stepping up and doing all they can to protect folks.
Saturday morning we headed downtown to join the massive No Kings event that convened in Grant Park. We heard from Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, several local activists/leaders and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker. It was a joyous event but no one there forgot for a moment why we showed up.
Because there were a quarter of a million people in attendance it took us over an hour and a half to exit the park and get to the street to march. Unfortunately we could only walk a few blocks before we had to tap out so we could catch the train home. But the time we spent in the park talking with folks and enjoying with atmosphere was worth it. Then later seeing the aerial footage of the massive crowd was breathtaking. We were part of that. We helped make history by participating in the largest peaceful protest in American history.
There is so much work that still needs to be done. We encourage you to find ways to help in your community.
Click the play button on the video below to see some pictures from our time at Broadview and No Kings.
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