Amanda Crouse
News Editor
On Wednesday, Jan. 28 at 12 p.m., a small group of Wooster students and community members gathered on Beall Avenue, across from Lowry Student Center, to protest the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minneapolis. Recent protests across the country have focused on demanding justice for Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both of whom were killed by ICE officers in January in Minnesota.
The group of protesters stood on the public sidewalk and held signs with the messages “NO JUDGE JURY EXECUTION,” “HISTORY IS WATCHING,” “ABOLISH ICE” and “STOP PUBLIC EXECUTIONS.” The demonstration was scheduled to last from 12 to 1 p.m., and over the course of the hour, the group remained small relative to past campus protests.
Emme Buckel ’27, a political science major, was the first to arrive at the protest. Asked about the overall goal of the peaceful demonstration, Buckel said, “I think, in general, it’s just an attempt to show solidarity for Minneapolis and … call for the abolition of ICE.”
Another protester, community member Keifer Dilliard, explained that the ultimate aim of the event was to express dissent. “Tyranny going unopposed is tyranny validated,” Dilliard said. “At some point, we have to express, I guess, discontent, especially in a community like Wooster, which is extremely rural.”
On the question of the protest’s purpose, Alison Schwiefert ’28 stated that the goal of awareness, while being more abstract than specific calls to legislative action, can still have an impact on one’s community. “I feel like just being here and showing up as who we are influences the circles that we frequent. It’s an interruption,” Schwiefert said. “And I think now is the time, more than ever, that we need to go first, stand up for what’s right, and then it allows other people to be like, ‘oh, I’ll come to that rally with you.’”
Asked about who organized the demonstration, the protesters interviewed said they did not know who organized the demonstration and the organizers did not show.
