Now the Trump administration is targeting journalists. Black journalists at that, as it continues to push the boundaries of what it can get away with.
Who will the Trump administration come for next? If Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can continue to conduct itself in a manner sparking worldwide condemnation, yet unequivocal support from the Trump regime, is anyone safe?
If the men and women entrusted with holding politicians and governments to account can find themselves behind bars, when then is left for press freedom? Former CNN news anchor and correspondent Don Lemon, is the most high profile of the journalists arrested and charged last week.
Now operating independently, the 59-year-old veteran of 30 years’ experience was seized last Thursday. Georgia Fort, an Emmy award-winning independent journalist, was arrested by FBI agents last Friday, taken into custody and charged. They were held in connection with their coverage of an anti-immigration protest at a church in Minnesota.
You may recall the state was where 37-year-old intensive care nurse Alex Pretti and writer Renee Good, a 37-year-old mum of three, were fatally shot by ICE agents last month. Their deaths have sparked national protests and widespread debates over the tactics of federal law enforcement.
Lemon and Fort, who have both since been released, have vowed to continue reporting as tensions continue to rise in the state. US Attorney General Pam Bondi had accused the pair of taking part in a “coordinated attack” on the church.
But Lemon and Fort have maintained through their legal representatives that they were not participating in the protest, merely covering it as journalists.
Speaking on his YouTube show on Friday, Lemon was subsequently adamant that the moment has come for journalists around the world “to stand up for each other.” His call was heeded on Friday by the UK outlet Black Current News which published an open letter from dozens of prominent Black British public figures, including Lenny Henry, actor Adrian Lester and RADA CEO Marcus Ryder.
“Too often, Black journalists are singled out, over-policed, and obstructed from reporting – particularly when covering state power, protest, racism, or injustice,” the letter read.
Our credibility is questioned, our presence challenged, our rights treated as conditional, and our employment status is often precarious. This pattern is familiar on both sides of the Atlantic.”
They are absolutely right. Trump has been open about his disregard for Black culture – from deriding African nations as “sh**hole countries” to claiming ahead of his election that Black people found his criminality an attractive quality. Trump has already called sports stars protesting in pursuit of racial equality “sons of b****s”.
And what he has started – with his foot soldiers targeting Black reporters – is likely to metastasise into an assault on all reporters, from all backgrounds. Just as he has cowed business leaders into bending to his will, his technique of dismissing difficult questions as “fake news” has already established a place in the worldwide political consciousness.
Some sections of the US media have already come off second best in litigation with him. Others have aching spines from bending over backwards to please him. As the media landscape evolves and more citizens use their iPhones to document raw and brutal first-person truths, it is no surprise that things have taken the turn they have stateside.
We know that there are unashamed admirers of the Trump playbook here in the UK. But we should all want justice and accountability. Those journalists work for all of us – because the next time it could be you.