11/15/2025
Repost:
I keep looking at this picture of Michael Woolf, a minister in Illinois who was arrested today for exercising his freedom of speech outside the Broadview ICE facility... the same place that has turned away priests offering Communion to detainees and told protesting ministers that prayer is not allowed in front of the facility.
I keep looking at this picture and thinking it’s a terrible, worrying sign, but also remembering that it’s part of the cycle our nation keeps falling into.
I keep looking at this picture and remembering that Martin Luther King, Jr., was arrested 29 times. Not for loitering, not for going 30 in a 25, not even for holding a prayer vigil. He was arrested for repeatedly saying that Black Americans should be treated like human beings with equal rights.
I keep looking at this picture and remembering Dorothy Day and 32 other women who were arrested and beaten after a peaceful protest at the White House. Dorothy was slammed down into the arm of an iron bench. Dora Lewis had her head smashed into an iron bed until she lost consciousness. Alice Cosu had a heart attack, and the guards didn’t get medical help until the next morning. Why were they arrested? Because they said women should be treated with dignity and equality.
I keep looking at this picture, and I remember the Reverend Daniel Worth, who was arrested for preaching that slavery was wrong—it was, in fact, one of the greatest sins.
Men and women throughout our history, ministers and laypeople alike, have been arrested for this message—repeated over and over, whether about Black Americans, women, or immigrants:
These are people made in the image of God and deserving of respect. They should be treated with dignity. They should not be subjected to injustice.
I look at this picture and feel a sorrow deep in my bones.
I look at this picture and am reminded how much work we still have ahead of us.
