By Democracy Now
HAVANA TIMES – We speak with Minneapolis resident Aliya Rahman, who attended Tuesday’s State of the Union address as a guest of Congressmember Ilhan Omar. Rahman was removed from the chamber Tuesday evening and spent several hours in jail following what she describes as an aggressive arrest by Capitol Police — all for silently challenging Trump during the speech.
“There are only two things you can do at the State of the Union, and they are sit down and stand up,” says Rahman. “I was arrested for standing up.”
Rahman, a US citizen, was violently dragged out of her car and detained by federal immigration officers last month and later released without charge.
Transcript
AMY GOODMAN: “Streets of Minneapolis” by Bruce Springsteen. This is Democracy Now!, Democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman. As we continue to cover President Trump’s State of the Union, we’re joined now by Aliya Rahman who attended the speech as a guest of Minneapolis Congressmember Ilhan Omar. Last month federal immigration officers in Minneapolis violently dragged Aliya out of her car. She told agents she was disabled, that she had a brain injury, but they ignored her pleas for medical attention. She had been headed to a doctor’s appointment when she was dragged out of her car. Video of the incident went viral. Last month she testified at a hearing held by congressional Democrats in Capitol Hill.
ALIYA RAHMAN: I was carried facedown through the streets by my cuffed arms and legs while yelling that I had a brain injury and was disabled. I now cannot lift my arms normally. I was never asked for ID. Never told I was under arrest. Never read my rights. And never charged with a crime.
AMY GOODMAN: That was Aliya Rahman testifying on Capitol Hill. Last night she was removed from the gallery at the State of the Union then arrested and jailed. She got out at around 4:00 this morning. Aliya, welcome back to Democracy Now! Tell us what you went through last night and then what happened to you in Minneapolis.
ALIYA RAHMAN: Thanks for having me back, Amy. Yeah, the reason I am wearing the same outfit I was at the State of the Union and in the media I did with Representative Omar (who invited me). I got out from a hospital visit and the custody of Capitol Police just before 4:00 a.m. I had already been scheduled to talk to you so I figured I would come and tell folks what happened.
I was not just removed and arrested. I was arrested so physically that two other attendees upstairs attempted to intervene with the officers pulling on my shoulders after I told them I have a torn rotator cuff tendon and multiple cartilage tears in both of my shoulders. That is what happened in the audio you just played. That is why I cannot lift my arms normally. Two women in the gallery and thank you to the woman in the white shirt with the red writing, who said, “I need you to take your hands off of her and just let her walk with her cane.” They did not do that. And only when their own sergeant intervened in a back stairwell of that building to say, “Stop! We need to get her medical care and a wheelchair,” did they stop tugging on me while again I was saying “disabled.”
Amy, would you like to know why I was told that I was removed and arrested? The sergeant of arms told me it is because I was standing up. Silently. No buttons, no facial expressions, no gestures, no signs. Not one sound. Standing up. There are only two things you can do at the State of the Union, and they are sit down and stand up! All kinds of people were standing up all night. Me too. I stood up at the moment that I heard this man say some of the most racist things I have heard come out of any leader’s mouth about the people of my city and continue to trash-talk my state of Minnesota and glorify DHS, the people who did this to me and who are being allowed to roam free on the streets.
AMY GOODMAN: If you could very quickly, I’m so sorry this happened to you, explain why you have a torn rotator cuff, why you have tendons ripped in both shoulders?
ALIYA RAHMAN: Yes, I have a tendon ripped in one shoulder and then in that same shoulder another cartilage rip, and in my left shoulder two cartilage tears with what my doctor called ragged pieces of tissue hanging in the joint that may need to be operated on. That happened because in the audio you played, I was talking about when I was pulled out of my car. Most people see the first part of that video. I was put on the ground behind my car, cuffed behind my back, and then carried through the streets facedown. I was lifted up by my wrists and ankles with my hands already cuffed behind my back. And then once I was in the Whipple Center, instead of getting me a walking aid because I’m disabled, they just jerked me around by my shoulders. For a while.
So that’s what I’m dealing with. That’s what I came here with. And I really wonder if these folks have noticed yet that every time you try to break my body, you fuel my spirit. I was arrested for standing up. This administration wins zero prizes for their command of metaphors, my friend. The reason I stood up at that moment was not to disrupt anything. I was silent, arms by my side. I stood up because hearing this level of racism, I wanted to see with my own eyes, unmediated by anyone’s lens, who had still come to this building to govern, if there were any grownups down there.
Who really believes this lie that was used to brutalize our city, my body? And if unchecked, this is the lie that will be used to brutalize communities of color, all sorts of communities, as people in this country as Black folks, Indigenous folks as this has happened for centuries based on lies. And you know what? I can’t think ever of a time that someone has been very physically arrested or arrested at all or even removed for silently standing up at the State of the Union. That is what you do! The only reason I can think that they thought me standing silently there was a protest is because by this point my body, unafraid, even if broken, standing and looking at these people in their face well, must be a protest to you.
AMY GOODMAN: I wonder if there’s a charge “standing without applauding” because certainly Republicans stood up dozens of times throughout President Trump’s State of the Union and applauded. But you stood silently.
ALIYA RAHMAN: Yes, Amy, and actually the moment that they physically started removing me by my shoulders, all kinds of Republicans were standing up. I know they were Republicans because who was seated next to me? The sheriff of Coffee County, Alabama, and one of the mayors from Nevada. They were standing up. None of them were arrested.
I was much quieter than them.
AMY GOODMAN: Aliya Rahman, I want to thank you so much for being with us, arrested at the State of the Union last night, just got out a few hours before this broadcast, came right to the studio. Aliya was a guest of Representative Ilhan Omar. Last month, federal immigration agents in Minneapolis violently dragged her out of her car as she told them she was disabled. Video of the incident went viral. We will also link to our previous conversation with her after that attack.
Read more interviews here on Havana Times.