On The Vine: Solidarity in the face of horrific ICE actions is growing community
I don’t think we can say too much about Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE and how that agency is impacting our city and others.
But I don’t think every conversation that relates to these federal agents needs to strike the same tone. So I’m approaching the subject a bit differently this week.
I remember when we all started talking about how the internet made the world smaller, because it did. We are all just a keyboard click away. I argue now that ICE and its questionable and overly aggressive actions, leading to agents killing American citizens on the streets of Minneapolis and elsewhere, have made the community larger.
To explain that, I can’t help thinking about the Will Smith movie, “Independence Day.” In case you haven’t seen it: when the world is invaded by extraterrestrial beings, suddenly it doesn’t matter what color your skin is or which political party you subscribe to, how wealthy or not you are, or where in the world you live, because everyone now has a common enemy that we have to come together to fight. One community formed globally.
On a national scale, a recent example of this kind of coming together with a common objective played out online Monday evening. That’s when thousands across the country participated in a mass virtual call, organized by the anti-Trump protest group, No Kings, and supported by the American Civil Liberties Union or ACLU, and Indivisible, which is a grassroots organization dedicated to resisting authoritarianism. Indivisible Kansas City has a list of events in case you’re looking to join the community organized right here at home.
Monday’s call was arranged to help educate residents from all walks of life and sprawling corners of the nation, including here in Kansas City, on the constitutional right to record and document ICE actions and the risks associated with doing so.
The call, still visible on YouTube had 114,000 subscribers and more than 14,000 views.
Speakers, from the ACLU, told viewers they have a First Amendment right to photograph and film anything plainly visible in public, including law enforcement actions, so long as you are not trespassing or violating lawful orders. Make copies of videos and share them, they said.
Speakers also warned viewers that to be safe when documenting law enforcement they should always maintain a reasonable distance — if an officer has to walk to you, your distance is presumably reasonable.
They also warned ICE action observers not to film while driving, film openly, keep your hands visible, always remain calm, follow instructions, don’t make sudden movements and never physically resist or obstruct. Sound familiar?
Those instructions sound a lot like the speech I gave my two Black sons, as it relates to police, when they were teens over a decade ago.
One more thing, organizers of the call said they support the use of whistles as a tool to alert neighbors of aggressive ICE action that could be harmful to anyone in the area. And then added that even following all the rules can’t guarantee complete protection, safety.
This growing community of advocates for holding law enforcement accountable isn’t solely comprised of everyday people leaving the comforts and protections of their homes, where they’ve been watching on television and telephone screens, and reading about what for many is intolerable horrors unfold on the streets. It also includes their civic and municipal leadership.
Mayors and other government leaders, in community with one another, have taken up the power of the pen to sign in support of Minneapolis-St Paul’s challenge to the Trump Administration’s deployment of thousands of masked and armed federal agents to the Twin Cities. They know that it might be Minnesota today, but it could be any city in one of their states tomorrow.
Mayor Quinton Lucas announced on Monday he joined some 45 municipal leaders from around the country, who signed their names to an amicus brief arguing that Trump’s “Operation Metro Surge,” the name given to his unrestrained ICE deportation efforts, “violates the Constitution by trying to force state and local governments to help with federal immigration enforcement - something courts have repeatedly said the federal government cannot do,” according to a release from Lucas’s office.
One Minneapolis-St. Paul kindergarten teacher, had a message to communities everywhere, when it comes to protecting students and families and communities everyone in the face of federal ICE raids, “Solidarity is an amazing thing.”
Off The Vine
Below are stories about culture and identity from communities in the Kansas City metro area. Go here to find more stories on culture and identity from Star reporter J.M. Banks.
- After relocating to Kansas City this Chicago-born artist tells her story about how she transformed her experience with lupus, a disease that disproportionately affects Black women, in to visual art, wallpaper and a documentary.
- Book author, Crystal-Ellison offers tools for empathy, forgiveness and school accountability when it comes to addressing bullying faced by African-American girls. She talked with Banks about how she and her daughter dealt with bullies.
Around The Vine
- Join Kansas City artists at First Saturdays at Keystone, an artist and vendor market featuring live music and food trucks, presented by the 18th & Vine Arts Festival Foundation free to the public from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. Feb. 7. and every first Saturday of the month, at Keystone, 800 E 18th St. in Kansas City.
- Get ready for Pop is Black, a concert with KC’s top Black pop artists from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 28 at the Zhou B. Art Center, 1801 E. 18th St., Kansas City.
Vine Picks
- See how Missouri and Kansas lawmakers voted on legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security amid public fury over the Trump administration’s agressive ICE crackdown in American cities and the ICE fatal shootings of two in Minneapolis.
- Jackson County’s chief prosecutor says a KC police officer is a “threat to public safety,” and The Star Editorial Board agrees that officer Blayne Newton is “a danger to the very community,’’ he swore to serve. See why.
- The architectural firms chosen as finalists to design a new $3 billion stadium for the Chiefs have been named and they are all local. Sports writer, Pete Grathoff has the details and the identities.
- If your a fan of Boru Asian Eatery in Waldo you may only have weeks to visit for a meal there,. KC Star reporter Noelle Alviz-Gransee writes about why the final day of service is Feb. 28
Your voice matters to us. What local issues do you want to hear discussed in On The Vine? Let me, Mará Rose Williams, The Star’s assistant managing editor for race and equity, know directly at mdwilliams@kcstar.com. Thank you for reading .
This story was originally published January 28, 2026 at 12:00 PM.
