Who will speak when they come for us?

A modern iteration of Pastor Martin Niemöller’s famous words, adapted for our times: First they came for people of color and I did not speak out — because I was not a person of color. Then they came for the protesters and I did not speak out — because I was not a protester. Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.

Niemöller’s words have echoed through time — a kind of Mad Libs, fill-in-the-blank for social justice — but the core of his original quote remains true: When we remain quiet and complacent as the government targets “others,” we leave the door open for it to target “us.”

That’s why we should care about what’s happening in Portland, Ore.

Portland has seen a sustained protest movement lasting more than 52 days. Federal officers arrived on July 1. Within two weeks, federal officers dressed in camouflage patrolled the streets around the protest zone in unmarked vehicles. As of last Friday, at least two people were grabbed by these unidentified officers. In one Twitter video, the camo-clad men say absolutely nothing as they grab another man off the sidewalk, force his arms behind his back and march him down the street and into a minivan.

In a separate incident, two young men were targeted blocks away from the federal courthouse that had been at the center of some demonstrations, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting. One young man got away; the other was hauled into a van, had his beanie pulled over his eyes and his hands restrained above his head, and was driven back to the federal courthouse. He was patted down and photographed and his belongings searched. Only after he had been placed in a cell was he read his Miranda rights. He was not told why he was arrested.

Regardless of how you feel about the national protests and the Black Lives Matter movement, you should be disturbed by this. What is happening in Portland right now is an obvious violation of our Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure. According to USCourts.gov, this is how the Fourth Amendment applies to persons: “When an officer observes unusual conduct which leads him reasonably to conclude that criminal activity may be afoot, the officer may briefly stop the suspicious person and make reasonable inquiries aimed at confirming or dispelling the officer’s suspicions.”

Nowhere in there does it say that officers can detain a person, move them to a secondary location, search their person and their belongings and then read them their Miranda rights. What is happening in Portland right now sounds like government-sanctioned kidnapping.

President Trump has already started boasting he plans to roll out these measures elsewhere in the country. Think about the precedent this will set if the actions in Portland are determined legal/constitutional. Will these tactics be used against anyone protesting against the government or its institutions? Against political dissidents? What happens the next time there’s a strike — like the coal union strikes of our distant past and the more recent teacher strikes? Will picketers suddenly disappear when no one is looking?

If it becomes lawful for federal officers to violate our Fourth Amendment rights, what happens to us then?

Right now, this federal force is being used against anti-police brutality demonstrators. If we remain silent as the government abuses the rights of everyone we consider “other,” who will be left to speak out when they come for us?