About 50 people joined organizer Conni Eckstein above I-35 on the West Rock Creek Road bridge Sunday to protest the Trump Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and operations that led to violence in Minnesota over the last month. Protesters demonstrated for about an hour above the interstate to waves, car horns and passersby.
On Jan. 7, 37-year-old Renee Good was fatally shot behind the wheel of her vehicle by a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis. Weeks later, 37-year-old Alex Pretti was also fatally shot in Minneapolis during an altercation with ICE officers on Jan. 24.
Eckstein, a Norman resident and stand-up comic, told OU Daily she organized the protest because she felt like she had to amplify the voice of her community.
“We live in a red state and people are calling Senator (James) Lankford and Senator (Markwayne) Mullin, and we’re represented by (Rep.) Tom Cole here, but it falls on deaf ears,” Eckstein said. “If you get a response, it's trying to justify what's going on with the current administration. Eventually, they're going to come for everybody.”
Eckstein told the Daily that protestors hung banners and picketed on the Rock Creek Road bridge just a few weeks before on Jan. 11.
“I want to help our other neighbors that are being impacted by it right now,” Eckstein said. “If they feel that ICE and this president have gotten too far, then they're not alone. There's a lot of us out here.”
Sen. Lankford said in a Fox News interview Friday that immigration reform has to come at some point.
“We've got to be able to solve this. We've got too many areas that are vague in the law. We've got conflicts in the law. Immigration law is very hard to be able to process, and it's been ignored for decades,” Lankford said.
The Daily reached out to Lankford’s office for comment on communications regarding ICE and an official response to the deaths in Minneapolis. The Daily did not receive a response at the time of publication.
Chris McDougall, and her husband Pat Meirick, an OU Communication professor, raised a sheet which displayed “No Secret Police,” with ‘I,’ ‘C’ and ‘E’ in a different color, on the south side of the bridge during the protest.
Protesters during the "ICE Out" bridge protest over I-35 on Feb. 1.
McDougall said she was raised in Rochester, Minnesota, by parents who believed immigrants brought a lot to the country. She said after her family supported immigrant families from Southeast Asia when she was a child, she’s concerned with the treatment of immigrants today.
“Seeing politics turn around and be so caustic towards folks who are just earning a living and trying to find a way to be citizens and good contributors to society, makes me really, really sad,” McDougall said.
McDougall said she works with children learning English as a second language and children with disabilities.
“The kind of rhetoric I hear directed toward both those groups is upsetting and wrong,” McDougall said. “I feel like I gotta be out here.”
McDougall said it's been hard to witness the community response and be unable to participate in demonstrations with people she knows in Minnesota.
“My social media is full of college and high school friends who are going through it right now, witnessing ICE on the streets, hearing the noise in their neighborhoods,” McDougall said. “The park across the street is full of residue from anti-riot chemicals. I mean, it's really, really real to them.”
Cynthia Teague and Aysha Prather were in charge of putting up signs on the bridge which spelled out “Stop ICE Terror.”
'Stop ICE Terror' signs and protester during the "ICE Out" bridge protest over I-35 on Feb. 1.
“My big hope is both that people who agree with us see the signs and feel empowered to speak up, but particularly people here feeling targeted, that Hispanic communities especially, that maybe they're seeing that at least not all of Oklahoma is cheering this,” Teague said.
Prather said they're doing what they can to show solidarity with a larger community.
One protester held up a sign that read “Their blood will be on your hands!” and displayed photos of Good and Pretti. Another displayed an excerpt from the diary of Anne Frank.
Kate Brien said she is the daughter of a World War II veteran. She said many veterans have given up a lot for the country and continue to give.
“This is not what they sacrificed for. They did just the opposite,” Brien said. “If you don't use your rights, they will be taken away. And we've got nothing but a bunch of thugs going out there who have no hearts. I hope their hearts will be softened.”
Steve Lautzenheiser said the president seems to have nothing but hate in his heart.
“I don't like the feeling I have when I travel abroad, and the thought that people hate me because I stand here as an American,” Lautzenheiser said.
This story was edited by Macey Thaxton and Audrey McClour.
