Kat Abughazaleh To Democrats: 'Stay Mad. Be Mad. This Isn’t F-cking Normal.'
Abughazaleh sat down with Guerrilla Press for their debut live podcast on Sunday night at Chicago's Annoyance Theatre
This past September, during the height of the ICE protests in Chicago, Congressional 9th District candidate, Kat Abughazaleh, along with five other Chicago-area politicians and activists, were detained during a protest outside Chicago’s Broadview ICE facility. Video of Abughazaleh’s violent detention at the hands of ICE went viral, and has since been seen repeatedly on national news and in her campaign ads.
Following the incident, the DOJ indicted Abughazaleh and the other five on a felony conspiracy charge to “interrupt, hinder, and impede” an agent who was trying “discharge of his official duties,” as well as for misdemeanor felony assault of a federal officer, which does not require physical contact.
During an appearance at the debut live podcast recording of Guerrilla Press, Abughazaleh was asked by co-host Nick Hausman what it was like to find herself in the DOJ and Trump administration’s crosshairs.
“Oh, God, it’s so cool,” she sarcastically shot back, eliciting a big laugh from the crowd. “It’s really weird because my partner, Ben, and I covered the far right as researchers and journalists, and when Trump won again, we were like, ‘Oh, it is only a matter of time before it’s our name on an indictment.’ And so we were, like, less surprised than the average person would be, but I still wasn’t sure I expected it to be my name so soon.
“It’s truly just so, like, this is what the government does. They’re charging people like Tim Walz all across the country with the same exact charges, which is just that they want their gross fucking boots to just stamp out free speech.”
Abughazaleh was referencing the recent conspiracy charges filed by the DOJ against Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. The DOJ alleges criminal misconduct by the two politicians who asked Minnesotans to stay peacefully vigilant. And, in the case of Frey, publicly asking ICE to “get the fuck out of Minneapolis.”
During such troubling times, when it can feel like there is no way to resist the rising fascism in the United States, co-host EJ Cameron wanted to know what everyday Americans can do to feel empowered and fight back.
“I am going to say I am under a federal indictment,” she began, again eliciting a loud laugh. “But everything I’m about to say is very true in that when we say, fight back the way that we’ve been fighting, with whistles, with numbers, with ensuring that people, especially people that are white or white presenting, are like taking that burden from people, like at Broadview, for instance, there were so many black and brown people that were there.
“But for the first time in my life at protests, and I’ve been at some very dicey protests where, like at Lafayette Square, where they tear gassed us so Trump could hold a Bible. For the first time in my life, I saw, especially white men stepping up and being like, ‘You’re going to be dragged in that facility. I’ll get, maybe shot with pepper balls.’ And so it’s really important that if you have any sort of power, platform, or privilege to use it right now.
“It’s also really important to be angry. I ran into someone who does an open mic up in Arlington Heights, and I was going to do a set, and then I remembered that I was going… yesterday, I went to Broadview for the first time since my indictment, and the whole day that I was supposed to go do this set, I was just so fucking angry. And so I just got up and was like, ‘Guys, I’m so mad,’ and ranted for literally five minutes because none of this, none of this is normal.
“And it’s important to remember that they want to normalize this. They want this to seem like, for you, to just be beaten into submission. So it’s really important to remember this isn’t fucking normal. Stay mad. Be mad. This isn’t fucking normal. None of this is normal. And then additionally, this aspect of like, when I hear, well, ‘Don’t go out and protest, because he’s gonna make things worse.’
“It’s like, just let him, let him keep hitting you. Don’t yell when he hits you, because then what if he hits you harder? What if he hits you harder? I know he’s beating the shit out of you, but like, if you scream, maybe he’ll hit you harder? Or, maybe someone will fucking notice and make him stop hitting me. Maybe other people will say, ‘Get the fuck off.’”
Abughazaleh’s full interview can be found in audio form on the Guerrilla Press podcast feed and in video form on the Guerrilla Press YouTube channel. Embedded versions of both are available at the bottom of this post.
Guerrilla Press returns to The Annoyance Theatre this Sunday night, January 25, for its latest live podcast recording. Featuring Chicago legends WTTW’s Geoffrey Baer and Annoyance Theatre founder Mick Napier. Some tickets are still available at www.TheAnnoyance.com.