The brutal murder of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero at the hands of ICE has left our hearts saturated with grief.
Watch my remarks here:
You may also view the full text of my remarks:
Asalamulaikum everyone
My name is Ambureen Rana. I have the honor of representing this very district in the Maine House, and serving as your state representative. I am here in this space as your neighbor. My parents are immigrants, I stand here with you as a result of displacement, and endless extraction at the hands of colonization.
Tonight, I carry a heart that is saturated by grief. Alongside you, I have felt the fresh puncture of the loss of our community member just two hours away in Biddeford Maine. Deprived of dignity, at the hands of extremists that seek terror, and thrive off violence.
What we are living is the active disease of ICE in our community. We were told that ICE was slowing down/ceasing increased operations in our state, but as anyone on the front lines, anyone living in a Black or Brown body knows – this was never true. ICE operates as a contagion of white supremacy in our nation and state. Transmitting fear, participating in the theft of human beings and responsible for the deprivation of life.
As with any disease, the best medicine is preventative care.
Which is why Black and Brown leaders in this state have been calling for a stop to ICE for years. We’ve watched and witnessed as the puzzle pieces of this violent structure have come together. We have fought against ICE detention centers in Southern Maine, we fought against contracts with our county jails, we pleaded for the stop to cooperation between our local law enforcement and federal agencies. We had a team of BIPOC leaders fighting and pushing for legislation to address ICE, and three of these black and brown women have now been pushed out of the Maine legislature.
This state sanctioned violence and terror is not just a result of the Trump administration or republican counterparts. It is a product of American imperialism that is woven into the fabric of this country. ICE has always been violent, from its inception just 23 years ago. And it is so clear today that every elected official is complicit in the actions of ICE. We are complicit here in Bangor as City Council continues to abdicate it’s responsibility to pass an ICE ordinance and protect our neighbors here in this community.
They must be accountable. They must be pushed. They must be swayed, and brought along in this movement.
When you see candidates and electeds in these spaces. Ask them to join the crowd and listen. It is their role to observe and serve the people, not use this as an opportunity to elevate their own voices.
These state laws, that those of us in this movement have been fighting for and passing, don’t go into effect until July 29th. The loss of our neighbor transpired two weeks before legislation goes into effect. This is not an accident. This delay is artificial, purposeful and was entirely preventable. We have been shouting this from the rooftops, yet here I stand before you today alongside the agony of the unheard, and continuing to wonder –
Do you believe us now? [PAUSE]
The only preventative medicine that will stop the pathogen of hate is the abolition of ICE. Period.
We look toward one another tonight, as ICE continues to tear through our state, ripping our neighbors from cars, homes, streets. Cracking bullets through windshields and despair into our collective spirits.
We are here to protest, rally, and call for change. But we are here, in bodyminds that are freshly cut and bereft. How do we move forward while carrying the weight of this hurt? Let’s not just rally, let’s vigil. Let us soften our hearts into requiem. Let us remember that we aren’t just here to stop ICE, we are here to grieve this community member. We are here to honor this wild and precious life. To share in our sadness. To remember his humanity.
So I will ask you to join me now in his name.
Joan Sebastian Guerrero.
I will call us into our collective thought and hearts
May we say his name in our evening prayers, as his family can’t sleep through the sharpness of their heartbreak
Joan Sebastian Guerrero.
May we say his name on our way to work tomorrow, as the sun so cruelly continues to rise and fall despite the insurmountable suffering around us.
Joan Sebastian Guerrero.
May we say his name next week as we place flowers in the park, and sing songs in protest.
Joan Sebastian Guerrero.
May we say his name, next month, when whiteness darts its ever fleeting gaze to a new tragedy to capitalize on.
Joan Sebastian Guerrero.
May we say his name when we are seeking a hope beyond the despair that white supremacy so feverishly hopes to infect us with.
Joan Sebastian Guerrero.
May his name remind us, to slow down, to reach for consistency and persistence in our collective words and actions to come.
-And may we remember the father that we lost in Texas, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo.
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