We are devastated and outraged by the recent ICE raid in Nashville that has torn families apart and left entire communities in fear. People have been kidnapped during traffic stops, disappeared without warning, leaving loved ones without answers and children without parents. This is not public safety. This is state violence. This was a clear attack on our families and communities. And we must move in solidarity with families who have been separated from their loved ones by ice and law enforcement, agents of a system rooted in the separation of families and the exploitation of our labor. 

As Black organizers, we know this pain too well. We have long witnessed how bloated police budgets and criminalization are weaponized to destabilize our communities and divide our families. The ICE raids in Nashville and the profound injustice surrounding the murder of Tyre Nichols by the Memphis Police Department are not isolated events, they are deeply connected. They reflect a system built on racism, xenophobia, and classism. These forces do not operate separately; they converge in policies and practices designed to criminalize, displace, and disappear our people. 

To fight back, we must build systems of care, and shift power in Tennessee. Our work begins with organizing locally, while connecting with each other across towns, cities and communities. Because we are up against a system that is committed to harm, we must respond with a commitment to each other. We must organize, build power, and fight together—for collective liberation.

-The Southern Movement Committee