The canary in the coalmine by Ruth Neuwald Falcon

On the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Dr. Martin Luther King’s home in Birmingham, Alabama, the Trump regime arrested two Black journalists for doing their job.

I watched Don Lemon’s coverage of the January 19 protest at the St. Paul church. It was clear he was there as a journalist. Georgia Fort, a Twin Cities-area independent journalist, who covered it as well, posted live on Facebook from her home this morning when federal agents were at her door.  

A rotating team of enraged journalists and lawyers livestreamed on Lemon’s channel all day. As a rule, there are a couple of thousand viewers on his Substack feed (he also streams on YouTube, Facebook, and more). I know because I watch him almost every morning, as well as some afternoons. As someone said today, he’s the hardest-working man in journalism, with daily shows at 10 AM and 5 PM Eastern. Or thereabouts. One of the things about independent media is a looser schedule. Also, no corporate bosses. By six this evening, there were twenty-five thousand viewers.

“Don is the canary in the coal mine,” said Jennifer Welch, co-host of the I’ve Had It podcast. “They’re testing, as they always do, on Black people first. It’s no surprise that it’s a gay Black man that they’ve gone after… Over policing has been the Black community’s experience the whole time.”

“You can’t understand a lot of this without understanding African-American history,” said Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny, in his conversation today with filmmaker Ava DuVernay.

“Just because we’re the target doesn’t mean we’re the endgame,” said Sirius XM radio host Reecie Colbert. Or, as Wajahat Ali, author and host of The Left Hook, put it, “Fascists come for everyone.”

In February of 2017, John McCain, in an appearance on Meet the Press, said, “If you want to preserve democracy as we know it, you have to have a free and many times adversarial press. And without it, I am afraid that we would lose so much of our individual liberties over time. That’s how dictators get started.”

Georgia Fort was released late this afternoon. A little before 6:30 PM Eastern, Don Lemon was released as well and made a brief statement outside the Los Angeles courthouse where he was arraigned.

“I have spent my entire career covering the news,” he said. “I will not stop now. There is no more important time than right now, this very moment, for a free and independent media that shines the light on the truth… Last night I was arrested for doing what I’ve done for the last thirty years. The First Amendment of the Constitution protects that work for me and for countless other journalists. I will not be silenced. I look forward to my day in court.”

As Jane Fonda said, “They arrested the wrong Don.” She meant it in one way, and I agree, but it has another meaning too. They’re going to see that they came after the wrong person.