“If a Praying Minister Isn’t Safe, None of Us Are”

Writes Mark Sandlin in response to the above image* by Chicago Sun-Times photographer Ashlee Rezin . . .

Don’t think you’re safe just because you’re a white, Christian citizen.

This week in Chicago, ICE agents sprayed mace in the face of a minister while he was praying.

A pastor.
Kneeling.
Eyes closed.

Asking for justice.

He wasn’t undocumented.
He wasn’t resisting.
He wasn’t a threat.
He was praying.

That’s what happens when a system built on fear runs out of “others” to punish: it starts turning on its own. It starts seeing compassion as defiance.

And before long, the walls it built to keep others out start closing in on everyone inside.

If a praying minister isn’t safe, none of us are.

But maybe that’s the wake-up call we need. Because silence won’t save us.

Solidarity still might.

* The minister pictured is Rev. David Black, a pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Chicago. He is quoted as saying the following in an ACLU press release:

I extended my arms, palms outstretched toward the ICE officers, in a traditional Christian posture of prayer and blessing. Without any warning, and without any order or request that I and others disperse, I was suddenly fired upon by ICE officers. In rapid fire, I was hit seven times on my arms, face and torso with exploding pellets that contained some kind of chemical agent. It was clear to me that the officers were aiming for my head, which they struck twice.

Related Off-site Links:
Body Slamming, Teargas and Pepper Balls: Viral Videos Show ICE Using Extreme Force in Chicago – Siri Chilukuri (The Guardian, October 4, 2025)
Journalists and Clergy Sue Federal Government Over “Extreme” Force Used at Broadview ICE Protests – FOX 32 Chicago (October 6, 2025)
The Americans the World Will Remember – John Pavlovitz (The Beautiful Mess, October 7, 2025)
Trump’s Plan – Richard Reich (RichardReich.Substack, October 6, 2025)
Governors Warn of “Martial Law” and Trump “Invasion” as U.S. Judge Halts Troop Order – for Now – Jon Queally (Common Dreams, October 6, 2025).
The Rule of Law vs. the Rule of Trump – William Kristol, Andrew Egger, and Jim Swift (The Bulwark, October 6, 2025).
White House Responds with “Authoritarian Propaganda” as Judge Blocks National Guard in Portland – Julia Conley (Common Dreams, October 5, 2025).
Now That Fascism Is Here – John Pavlovitz (The Beautiful Mess, October 4, 2025)
Is This the Beginning of the End for U.S. Democracy? – Amy La Porte (Common Dreams, September 30, 2025).

See also the following chronologically-ordered Wild Reed posts:
• Marisa Kabas: “We’re Witnessing a Coup By an Unelected Billionaire Propped Up By a Felonious President”
• Timothy Snyder on Resisting the Oligarchs’ “Logic of Destruction”
• “This Is Essentially Viktor Orbán’s Playbook”
• “An Extremely Clever Ruse” by and for the Rich: Owen Jones on Elon Musk’s Coup
• “To Be a Rib in This Body of Our Country”
• Quote of the Day – February 21, 2025
• Ralph Nader: “We’re Heading Into the Most Serious Crisis in American History. There’s No Comparison”
• Why the Democratic Party Is Not Going to Save Us From Fascism
• “This Is How Democracy Unravels”
• Jason Stanley on How Fascism Works
• James Greenberg on Trumpism: “The Tactics Are Unmistakable”
• Tony Pentimalli on Trump’s “Death Warrant for Democracy”
• “This Is What Fascism Looks Like”
• Peter Bloom: Quote of the Day – June 10, 2025
• “Protesting Is What Patriotism Looks Like in Public”: The “No Kings” Protests of June 14, 2025
• “No Kings”? Absolutely. But Also “No Oligarchy”
• Marianne Williamson: Quote of the Day – June 20, 2025
• Rep. Ro Khanna: Quote of the Day – June 24, 2025
• “This Is Fascism”
• The Declaration of Resistance
• The Choice Before Us
• Marianne Williamson: Quote of the Day – July 26, 2025
• How Democrats Can Start Winning Again
• Brent Molnar on the MAGA Cult and Its Intentions
• James Greenberg: “The Choices We Make Matter”
• Brent Molnar on the “Cold War in Our Own House”
• Khalil Gibran Muhammad on Donald Trump’s Militarization of Law Enforcement
• Jason Duchin: “It’s Here, and We Are Sleepwalking Through It”
• Marianne Williamson: “We’re Moving Into Totalitarianism”
• Garrett Graff: “America Tips Into Fascism”
• Bowing to an Idol
• Marianne Williamson on the Need for “Radical Love” in Responding to Trump’s Dismantling of Democracy
• Brent Molnar on the the Silencing of Jimmy Kimmel: “This Is What Fascism Looks Like in Practice”
• James Greenberg on the Identity Politics of MAGA
• Staying Strong in Trump’s Fascist America
• Memes of the Times – September 2025
• Jason Duchin: Quote of the Day – September 24, 2025
• Derek Johnson on the “Courage to Call Fascism by Its Name”
• Will Potter on Trump’s War on Dissent: “This Is What Fascists Do”
• Marianne Williamson: We Need an “Expanded Version of What it Means to Be Political”
• An Incident That Feels “Ripped from a Dystopian Novel”
• James Greenberg: “I Am in Mourning for America”
• Butch Ware: Quote of the Day – October 6, 2025

See also:
• Phil Wilson Remembers “American Fascism’s First Casualty” and Warns That Donald Trump’s “MAGA Death Cult Is Coming for Us All”
• Marianne Williamson on America’s “Cults of Madness”
• “The Republican Party Has Now Made It Official: They Are a Cult”
• Chauncey Devega on the Ongoing Danger of the Trump Cult
• Jeff Sharlet on the Fascist Ideology of Donald Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene
• The Republican Party in a Nutshell
• Robert Reich: Quote of the Day – April 11, 2023
• Republicans Don’t Care About American Democracy