‘I am willing to die if it comes to that’

“This is my country. I am willing to die, basically, if it comes to that. I have no fear.”

That’s the word from Jamaica-born Don Samuels, who resides in Minnesota, United States, where chaos has ensued as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents seek to carry out the Donald Trump administration’s mandate to round up and deport undocumented residents in the city of Minneapolis.

Samuels, with whom The Gleaner spoke to get a Jamaican view of the situation on the ground, said people there are living in fear.

“They are totally fearful and are locked up in their homes,” he told The Gleaner, describing ICE as an occupying force in the city.

“When you see them (ICE agents), you don’t even know if it is a person. All you are seeing is the mask and the dark glasses. Sometimes, if you get close, you are just seeing only their eyes, so you may know that there is a person inside the uniform. It’s like you are dealing with a system instead of individuals. It is a very disturbing visual,” he said.

Samuels, who told The Gleaner that he has gone to protests and has been a member of a protective band around schools, said he has his whistle to warn others of where ICE agents are.

Samuels described a situation where he, along with other church members, went to deliver food and other groceries to those fearful of leaving their homes and they had to hold up signs to let the people inside know that they were not ICE agents.

“You can’t leave the groceries on the steps and stoops where ICE can see it and raid the homes,” he said.

Samuels said such items have to be left in places that are not clearly visible to agents roaming the neighbourhood.

Pointing out to The Gleaner that he lives in a challenging part of the city by choice, Samuels said he chose to live in the neighbourhood as his way of giving back.

“I came to the United States shortly after the Civil Rights Movement and found the doors open, and it is my time to stand up and be counted,” he said.

Samuels was born in Lucea, Hanover, lived in St Mary and eventually moved to Kingston at age 9. He attended Swallowfield Primary school, Calabar High School, Manning’s School and Meadowbrook High School. He worked with Things Jamaica and the Tom Redcam Library before migrating to the US on a scholarship.

On arrival, he settled in Brooklyn, New York, and attended Pratt Institute, where he studied industrial drawing. He is also a graduate of the Luthern Seminary.

Samuels, who has worked for all the major toymakers in the US, traversed the country, living in several states before settling in Minneapolis some 22 years ago.

After building a successful career in the private sector, he won a seat on the Minneapolis City Council in 2003. He spent much of his time on the council sounding the alarm about youth violence in Minneapolis.

Ten years later, Samuels announced his bid for mayor of Minneapolis, eventually losing to Betsy Hodges.

Samuels later served on the board for Minneapolis Public Schools.

In 2021, Samuels and his wife, Sondra, successfully campaigned against efforts to abolish and replace the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD), urging residents to vote ‘no’ on a November ballot question. Samuels said that while he and others were “not satisfied with the status quo”, they hoped to change MPD within the current framework.

He also ran unsuccessfully twice for Congress in the 5th district, where he had hoped to unseat the current congresswoman.

Samuels said 85 per cent of the protesters in Minnesota are young white people who have no fear of ICE agents.

“This is a moment where a new generation can find its voice,” he said.

Samuels told The Gleaner that these are “scarier times” in the city, and many of the young white people protesting are seeing the real America for the first time.

He said that there are groups “hankering down”, shutting up and being quiet, while there are others who are saying it’s not their fight.

“This saddens me. This is a time to make our contribution. To rise up and feel our Americanness,” he said.

According to Samuels, he has been out and about and does not walk with any papers to say if he is an American citizen.

“That is beneath me,” he said

He thinks that the US, under the Trump administration, has lost its moorings.

“America was seen as a leader of the world. A place to live and improve one’s life and the lives of their loved ones. What has happened under this administration is shocking; the cruelty, a sense that America is no longer the place to look up to,” he said.

Samuels said that in the current situation, Minneapolis is showing the world what non-violence protests really look like.

“It is a very bad situation, as it is a shock to the system,” he told The Gleaner.

editorial@gleanerjm.com