Reel Urban News Op-ed
By Darryn Harris
I just love talking to older people. They have so much history and context to today’s events. How does the saying go? There’s nothing new under the sun. So I often find myself in grocery stores, doctors’ offices, and church, just listening—because older folks have a lot to say, and they’ve seen it all before.
Recently, I was standing in a waiting room when a woman who was raised in the Jim Crow South leaned over to me and said: “There’s something that feels uncomfortably familiar about masked men coming into our communities, kidnapping our neighbors—and the law has nothing to say about it.” We locked eyes and just said, “Hmm.”
I saw sis. And she saw me. And we both knew exactly what she was talking about. She was talking about ICE raids in our neighborhoods: the black masks, the fear, the silence from those in power. But more than that, she was talking about memory. She was talking about how these tactics mirror what she witnessed growing up—when masked men didn’t need badges to act with impunity.
What she described in the later years of her life is not coincidence. It’s intentional violence. And why? Well, if I were the President of the United States—and I campaigned on restoring the economy, securing the borders, protecting children, and repairing America’s image abroad—but was failing or polling low in every single area, I might double down too. Especially on the one thing I think I can win on: immigration.
I’d file lawsuits. Send in federal troops. Stir up fear. Because distraction is a powerful tool when you have little else to run on. That’s what’s happening here. The lawsuit filed by Donald Trump against Mayor Karen Bass and the LA City Council is political theater designed to stoke fear and flex control—not uphold the law.
Let me be clear: LA is being sued for protecting its people. Not just undocumented folks. All of us. Because when the government starts rounding people up in silence, it never stops at just one group. This lawsuit may target immigrants today—but Black folks, we know what’s up. We’ve seen this play before. They raid homes today. Tomorrow it’s the same neighborhoods—our neighborhoods—getting over-policed, our kids labeled threats, our freedom rights rolled back one by one.
And let’s be real—this isn’t just a Brown thing. Just this month, more than 500,000 Haitians were put at risk of deportation after the government ended TPS—Temporary Protected Status. They say “conditions have improved,” but anyone paying attention knows that when Black immigrants lose protection, they’re more likely to be targeted, detained, and forgotten. This isn’t about public safety. This is about public control.
When I served as Chief of Staff in the U.S. Congress, I watched time and again how our city stepped up to lead with care and compassion, not fear. We passed sanctuary policies not to “break the law,” but to keep families intact. To build trust between residents and the public institutions meant to serve them. And to make sure clinics, schools, and churches remained places of refuge—not surveillance.
But Donald Trump doesn’t care about that. He’s suing LA not because our laws are broken—but because our values stand in the way of his political comeback. We didn’t vote for him. We didn’t fall for the fear. So now, he’s trying to punish us through the courts, just like he’s done in New York, Illinois, and anywhere else that dares to lead differently.
But here’s what he doesn’t understand: LA is built different. We’ve weathered too much to be shaken now. From the uprisings in Watts to the unrest following Rodney King, from Baldwin Hills to Boyle Heights, from Northridge earthquakes to Palisades wildfires—we’ve learned how to stand steady in the storm, and how to protect each other when the winds come for us. So when Trump sends in ICE, files lawsuits, or tries to pit us against each other with fear—remember this: it’s not just about the undocumented. It’s not just about “them.” It’s about all of us.
And we have a choice. We can let history repeat itself, or we can call it out for what it is: a distraction, a performance, a threat wrapped in the language of law. Our Mayor and the LA City Council made the right choice. They said no to fear. No to complicity. And yes to protecting our neighbors.
To the folks who feel like this fight isn’t ours—I hear you. You did your part in November. You got your own struggles. But remember, when one community is targeted, the silence of others doesn’t keep them safe. It just makes them next. We’ve seen this before. But this time, we’re not turning our heads. We’re keeping our eyes wide open. And we’re standing in the storm—together.
