We stand in unwavering solidarity with Imam Ayman Soliman, an Egyptian journalist, torture survivor, and Muslim chaplain. He should not be sitting in a jail cell.

We are here to demand justice—justice for Ryan Hinton, for his grieving father Rodney, and for every Black family brutalized by this violent, racist system.

In the first half of 2025, there has been a dramatic increase in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in the Greater Cincinnati Area. ICE agents operating out of a field office in Blue Ash have begun conducting immigration raids, arresting, detaining and deporting local residents — many of whom have no criminal charges — without due process.

Over the last decade, Pride has been professionalized and depoliticized: paid staff, marketing partnerships, VIP tickets, security trainings with the FBI. Pride is no longer a grassroots expression of queer struggle. It has become a PR-friendly festival designed to keep us passive and "proud," but only so long as we make no demands.

In June 2025, a bulletin calling for a "Sit-Down Wave" began circulating within 50501-focused online spaces. The bulletin, titled "Protect the Peaceful Protest," lists five rules that suggest protesters very literally sit down, shut up, and obey. This is not only counter-productive; it is dangerous. The state does not care whether its victims stand, sit, or kneel.

Condemning Rodney Hinton Jr. and at the same time justifying the murder of his son, Ryan Hinton, is a betrayal of the people. Anyone who carries water for the oppressors by recognizing their violence as legitimate while declaring resistance or retaliation unacceptable objectively works against the interests of the people. Rodney Hinton Jr. staked his life to avenge his son and stood in a courtroom without fear and with all of his convictions knowing he could be put to death for his actions; that in itself is commendable.

Hundreds of immigrants have been deported around the country after President Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 for the first time since World War II. Using a centuries-old wartime law to target alleged members of a Venezuelan gang (Tren De Aragua), the new administration continues to arrest, detain, and deport more and more people while the bourgeois media focuses on legal battles against the administration that will take months to resolve.

Cincinnati Socialists and the people of Cincinnati stand in solidarity with the Black and immigrant populations in our city.

Condemning Cincinnati Officials in the Face of Immigration Raids

Sonya Massey should still be alive. Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Timothy Thomas, Sam Dubose, Tortuguita, Dexter Reed Jr., Elijah Hadley, and countless others should still be alive. We should honor all of them in the struggle against racist and classist state violence.