Nekima Levy Armstrong: Why We Protested at Cities Church in Saint Paul, and What Our Arrests Mean

Several people — starting with Nekima Levy Armstrong, Chauntyll Allen, and most recently including local journalist Georgia Fort — were arrested for protesting at a Sunday church service or for filming the protest. The protest was to draw attention to the fact that a church minister at Cities Church in Saint Paul is affiliated with ICE. Armstrong and Allen were originally charged with violating the FACE Act, a 1994 law that prohibits using or threatening force to obstruct access to reproductive health clinics or places of worship, but were ultimately charged only with “conspiracy against rights.” We asked Armstrong — who is founder of the Racial Justice Network and a civil rights attorney — to talk about the origins of the protest, and the aftermath.

Nekima Levy Armstrong at a news conference about her recent arrest for protesting (photo by Sarah Whiting)

We thought congregants would want to know they have a pastor in their church doubling as the director for the ICE field office in Minnesota. The core of the gospel message is to love thy neighbor as you love yourself. And ICE has been doing the opposite of that: terrorizing our neighbors, brutalizing people, and even murdering people.

David Easterwood, who is a pastor at Cities Church and the acting Field Director for the ICE office in Minnesota, has been condoning said behavior. He was quoted in a lawsuit that was filed by the ACLU of Minnesota on behalf of six residents, calling out the retaliatory actions of ICE. In that lawsuit, David Easterwood is quoted as saying that he didn’t see evidence of constitutional violations by ICE, and he blamed protesters and said that they are the aggressors. That’s why I thought it was important to bring that message to Cities Church, so people can make an informed decision and not be misled or deceived about who is teaching them.

Prior to the protest, I worked with my attorney to turn myself in, in the event that an arrest warrant would be issued. [They were staying near the federal building, preparing to turn themselves in when a warrant was issued.]

What I did not expect was the brutality against Satara Strong-Allen by FBI agents. They tackled her in the hallway of the hotel that we were staying in because they thought she was me. It was really disheartening to see that happen to her. She didn’t deserve that. She wound up having a concussion.

She asked to see the arrest warrant. When they finally produced it, they had my name on it. She told them, I’m not Nekima. I’m several inches shorter than she is. So, the FBI had no idea who they were even looking for. Or they think that all Black women look alike? That level of incompetence was surprising on some level, but also matched in terms of the sloppiness and the shoddiness of their work, and the lies and manipulations.

During my arrest, I questioned why they were filming me. The person said, ‘They just want me to take a video, but it’s not going to end up on Twitter.’ Yet the White House did put out a distorted image of me crying and looking hysterical — exaggerating my features and darkening my skin — which is a blatant violation of my rights. They couldn’t break me during the arrest, so they manufactured that. They wanted to portray me as being fearful and afraid, and I wasn’t.

For the many others involved in protesting what this government is doing, I would advise people to be on high alert when they decide to engage in peaceful protests. Understand that your peacefulness may not protect you from abuse and retaliation at the hands of our government.

News Conference Comments

A subsequent news conference was held on January 29, featuring representatives from the Racial Justice Network, Black Lives Matter Minnesota, Black Lives Matter Twin Cities, CAIR Minnesota, and Communities United Against Police Brutality, alongside leaders of the national Target Boycott Coalition.

The coalition talked about the political persecution of peaceful protesters, the unchecked expansion of ICE power under the Trump administration, the lack of accountability for the federal killings of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, and the second year of the nationwide Target boycott.

At the news conference Armstrong said: “Chauntyll Allen, William Kelly, and I are facing trumped-up charges not because we committed crimes, but because we challenged federal brutality and exposed the authoritarian conduct of the Trump administration. These arrests are political retaliation — designed to intimidate organizers and suppress resistance. We will not be silenced.”

Armstrong pointed out that Black organizers “have been on the front lines for many years trying to hold our government and law enforcement accountable for unwarranted state-sanctioned violence. This is not only an immigration fight. This is a fight for police accountability. This is a fight for racial justice. This is a fight for our constitutional rights. “

She also pointed out the culpability of mainstream media in spotlighting White House spin.

“Minnesotans have been loving our neighbors and putting our bodies on the line while ICE has been attempting to destroy our neighbors. … The moment the White House came out saying they were going to conduct a so-called investigation [of the church protest], that became the headline — that is a way of bowing to empire and silencing the voices of the people. It’s unacceptable especially to see our hometown media publications — that know exactly what is going on here — make headlines about JD Vance coming to town. Who gives a damn if he comes to town? We need to amplify the voices of the people who are out there in the freezing cold, day in and day out, making sure that Minnesota does not yield to fascism, authoritarianism, or tyranny.”

She also talked about the assault on Strong-Allen, who was tackled in the hotel hallway by FBI, because they thought she was Armstrong. “Not saying freeze, not saying you’re under arrest, but acting like they were on a football field with regard to the brutality that they exhibited towards a Black woman. … Think about the lengths that the White House went to in order to capture nonviolent protesters at a church. Meanwhile, they have yet to conduct an investigation into the killing of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.”

Armstrong described the aftermath of her arrest. “I stood in the spirit of my ancestors and Black women who, for centuries, have held it down despite state-sanctioned terroristic violence against us. I was actually handcuffed and taken into custody. … The magistrate judge ordered that Chauntyll Allen and I be released that same day.”

Instead, Armstrong and Allen were taken to the Sherburne County Jail using three sets of restraints “as if we were hardened criminals and murderers. We had ankle shackles on our ankles, we had belly chains around our waist, and we had handcuffs with bars in the middle. As someone who majored in African American studies, I can tell you that that is the closest I ever felt to slavery in my life. Being shackled as if I was a slave. It is unacceptable and unconscionable.”

After getting to the county jail, they were strip searched and placed in jail uniforms, locked in adjacent cells, and fed “mystery meat.”

She continued: “I didn’t want to even use the restroom in my cell, because there’s a camera watching your every move. This is in spite of going through x-ray machines and being strip searched.” The cell was nothing but a bed on cement and included a “metal toilet that doubles as a water fountain.”

Armstrong noted that Governor Tim Walz should have acted more aggressively to detain the ICE agent who killed Renee Good, which might have set an example for accountability and prevented the death of Alex Pretti and the subsequent arrests for show.

Chauntyll Allen (photo by Sarah Whiting)

Chauntyll Allen spoke, as co-founder of Black Lives Matter Twin Cities and a Saint Paul Public School Board member, about the arrest. She added that with shackles on, they were transported with no seat belts to hold them safe during a reckless drive. As a school board member, she raised concerns about how children and other neighbors were being protected.

“Our children are going to online learning right now just to avoid being exposed to this terror,” Allen said. “These conversations are happening on the playground. Their friends are being taken. Their friends’ parents are being taken. Their teachers are being taken. Their mentors are being taken. The people that they love are just stolen away from here, and they see the violence attached to it. What is this going to do for our society in 20 years? How are our children going to feel about our government after seeing this during their foundational years? That concerns me.“

She said it is projected there will be a diminishment of three schools worth of children not coming to school — currently there are at least 500 kids not attending in the Saint Paul school district. “They’re afraid to stand at the bus stop, afraid to go to the corner store, to their sports games, to the things that they love the most. They’re being confined in their houses. When, as a society, are we going to say, ‘Let’s protect the children.’ … We need serious accountability and we need ICE out of our city so that we can go back to safety and we can start the healing process so that this doesn’t continue to trickle along for the next 50 years.”

Jaylani Hussein (photo by Sarah Whiting)

Jaylani Hussein, executive director of CAIR MN, talked about the national boycott of Target that he, Armstrong, and others launched a year ago, now in its second year as of February 1. “Women across America decided that they’re going to find diapers somewhere else. They’re going to use dollar diplomacy to showcase diversity and inclusion. … Any company that signals that we’re moving back is a company that will go back to the times when they didn’t exist.“

As with other people arrested by the Department of Homeland Security, the phones of Armstrong and Allen were confiscated by the federal government and not returned — ostensibly to track people in their network. Both also had arranged to go to the federal building to turn themselves in, but eventually that arrangement was pulled back, leading to the photo opp of arresting them at the hotel.

William Kelly, a veteran, also was arrested as an activist. Although agents had his address, they went to his neighbor’s house by mistake and broke in with guns drawn. “I’m a peaceful protester, but they barge into my neighbor’s house with assault weapons. Where are we at America? Where is our liberty? Where is our freedom? Remember the Constitution.”

William Kelly (photo by Sarah Whiting)

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