During an interview with ABC News on Tuesday, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said that his visit to an ICE facility in his city that ended up with him being arrested was not a trip he took to protest, but “if I was a part of a protest, that’s my right as a citizen of the state of New Jersey and as a citizen of the United States of America.”
Baraka said, “When any other folks came to this country, when they treated the Irish the wrong way, people watched it, right? When they mistreated Italians and criminalized them, people watched it, right? When things were happening in this country to immigrants, a lot of people watched it. But, today, as people are being kidnapped off the streets, it’s time for us to do something different, right? When the Constitution is being eroded and democracy is being challenged and courts being ignored, we can either sit by and act like everything is cool, or we can do something different. And that’s what we should do. And I wouldn’t blame anybody if they protested. Because they have the right to protest. That’s what America gives us the right to do under the Bill of Rights, we have the right to redress our grievance.”
He continued, “But I didn’t go down there to protest. I went there to be a part of a press conference. And if I was a part of a protest, that’s my right as a citizen of the state of New Jersey and as a citizen of the United States of America.”
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