The White House remained defiant after posting an altered image of Minnesota civil rights attorney and activist, Nekima Levy Armstrong, after her FBI arrest, connected to a church protest against ICE that she helped organize.
The image, which falsely depicts Armstrong, a Black person, crying with darker skin, was posted by the White House’s official X account. However, in the original photo posted by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Armstrong is emotionless as she is taken into custody.
In response to the clearly manufactured image, White House Deputy Communications Director Kaelan Dorr said, “Enforcement of the law will continue. The memes will continue.”
The online antagonism from the Trump administration comes as Minnesota’s Twin Cities see an aggressive escalation of immigration enforcement that has seen children captured by ICE, protestors being tear gassed and physically assaulted, and, most notably, the fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis. However, the arrests of Armstrong and at least two other activists ignited greater tensions between the diverse community and federal agents.
“This is all propaganda. This is the White House’s attempt to stoke fear in the hearts of everyone who’s standing up in this moment, and particularly Black people who, for the better part of the last year, have said we’re sitting this one out,” said Rod Adams, a Minnesota resident and executive director/founder of the New Justice Project, an advocacy group dedicated to advancing Black liberation in the community.
Adams, who personally knows Armstrong, told theGrio that the recent FBI arrests reminded him of the 1950s and 1960s, when civil rights activists like Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, and groups like the Black Panthers and Nation of Islam were persecuted for protesting against racial terror and injustice.
“They were persecuted for both crimes they did not commit, but also having been railroaded and having their charges trumped up to be made an example for other Black people who thought it was a good idea to stand in the face of injustice,” said Adams.
The community advocate said the White House’s decision to create a fake image of Armstrong’s arrest only further proves their propaganda agenda.
“Why else would you do that but to stoke fear in the hearts of folks who are planning on or actively standing against this administration and these fascist immigration policies that they’re pushing and these kidnappings?” he said.
Dozens of Minnesota residents supporting Armstrong and Chauntyll Allen showed up at the courthouse on Thursday to oppose the Trump administration’s prosecutions. Adams said what is clear is that the community is unfazed by the government’s attempt to intimidate them.
“Our community is not afraid. People are even more ready to stand up and fight than they were prior to this happening,” he told theGrio.
Adams noted that the plight against immigrant communities in Minnesota is inevitably tied to that of Black residents, which is why they are choosing to stand in solidarity against the Trump White House.
“If they’re coming for immigrants, next they’re going to be coming for us. We don’t know what that’s going to look like, but we should be prepared.”
