Dear friends,
On Wednesday the 22nd we joined Stan Johnson, Phil Skeldon, Mark Dubielak, Martie Berry, J. Michael Hull, and George Benson to the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio board meeting to protest the contract CCNO has with ICE for beds in the Stryker facility. We had intended to have five people from the public speak but were denied on a very weak technicality of having 4 and 7/8th days’ notice when they needed 5. Commissioner Gerkin wanted to put in a motion for the board to accept public comment, and no one, not even Sherrif Nivarre, seconded which was a great disappointment. With that George led us, and others walked out of the meeting. The five speakers were able to speak outside of the facility, where the protest was moved.
There were ministers from other denominations, an attorney from the ACLU, as well State Rep Elgin Rogers present where he stated that we need to keep doing this, get more people involved, and he stressed the importance of this work. While people think these protests do not have an impact, they do. It was an incredibly emotional experience, especially how disturbing the board meeting was seeing all these older white men in law enforcement with seemingly no care for civil liberties or voices of the public being heard. There wasn’t one emotion that wasn’t felt that day. George was moved to speak and directly impacted the crowd and had them excited about protesting and continuing the fight. In the end, we came away feeling more knowledgeable and empowered to keep fighting against this incomprehensible and inhumane treatment of our fellow image bearers. If you are interested in joining us at the next protest against ICE, please come to a Trinity Response Team meeting, or contact George on how to get involved.
God bless,
Becky Koskinen and Kelly Termin