Tuesday night, the Wilson County meeting room was packed with hundreds of locals. They were there to speak on ICE and the proposal of a new immigration detention center. As officials listened to their concerns, fears, and hesitations, one local in Tennessee stood apart from the rest. As he took the podium, the crowd behind him was silent while he said the words few others dare to speak.
“I feel much safer with undocumented immigrants than I ever will with ICE agents,” he began. As his voice got louder, he screamed, “They are not welcome in my community! This ICE detention center will be a stain on Wilson County, and a stain on the [inaudible] of anyone who doesn’t do everything they can to stop it from happening!”
As he pointed directly to the officials sitting mere feet from him, Wilson County sheriffs stepped in. Officials sat quietly contemplating the scene unfolding before them. As the police told the man to calm down, the words about the proposed detention center hung in the air as attending locals fell silent.
A People Outraged
Though they were silent in the moment, the thoughts of those in Wilson County are clear: ICE doesn’t belong there. After the video was shared on Reddit, viewers chimed in with their own thoughts. Surprisingly, many turned their anger on the sheriffs at the meeting. “Cops hate confident protesters. Those deputies are putting on a show and trying to escalate so they can have justification to begin repressing the masses,” one user commented. “So why are they impeding on his free speech? Intimidation and pushing him back, even taking his paper that he was reading, his well-thought-out, planned, and prepared speech?” Another added.
Others jumped in, supporting the notion that the police should have allowed the man time to continue talking. “As soon as he raised his voice, the pigs stepped in. It’s not ‘freedom of speech at a certain volume,’ Always trying to police people’s emotions,” one Redditor said. “I guess speech is only free if you’re calm. According to the [redacted by reddit],” another replied.
