21 Savage is being detained, but he’s not a threat – except to white supremacy
By targeting the rapper who dared to criticise the US immigration policies, officials have proven their tactics are unrelated to border security
Rashad Robinson and Jose Antonio Vargas
Tue 12 Feb 2019 06.00 ESTLast modified on Tue 12 Feb 2019 08.09 EST
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Rapper 21 Savage was scheduled to perform at the Grammys on Sunday night, where he was also nominated in several categories. The Atlanta-based performer, who is known offstage as Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, wasn’t there because he’s being held without bail by US immigration officials for overstaying a visa over a decade ago.
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Holding Bin Abraham-Joseph prisoner indefinitely for a visa violation doesn’t make sense – he does not pose a flight risk, or a threat to the community – unless you confront the painful reality that many of us who work as advocates for justice have been saying now for some time. It doesn’t matter if you are black, Asian or Latinx, or if a government official is an unjust district attorney or an out-of-control Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agent – if you are a person of color, they will find a way to lock you up.
The threat Bin Abraham-Joseph presents is not to the community, but to the system of white supremacy that underlies American policy. He is a black man, and in a nationally televised performance just days before his arrest he dared to criticise our government’s sinful policy of separating immigrant families at the border. For that, apparently, he was made the object of what Ice officials admitted was a targeted sting. Early media reports amplified falsehoods about Bin Abraham-Joseph, which reporters took from authorities without even considering their source – a phenomenon of criminalization in the press that has become commonplace.
The threat he presents is not to the community, but to the system of white supremacy that underlies American policy
By targeting Bin Abraham-Joseph, Ice has managed to prove clearly that their aggressive tactics have nothing to do with border security, just like local law enforcement’s perpetuation of the system of mass incarceration has nothing to do with community safety. Both are about maintaining power for a dwindling white majority. Any elected leader who claims to care about racial justice therefore has a responsibility to demand that Ice release Bin Abraham-Joseph, not to mention end the inhumane detention and separation of families with children. Any journalist who wants to talk about the truth needs to talk about this. Unlike Ice officials, they are directly accountable to American voters. They should keep in mind that communities of color, who make up more of America than ever before, are together on this.
