Benji Hart
@benjihart.bsky.social
Artist / Author / Educator
Website: https://benjihart.com/ / Patreon: patreon.com/c/benjihart / Linktree: https://linktr.ee/BenjiHart
Website: https://benjihart.com/ / Patreon: patreon.com/c/benjihart / Linktree: https://linktr.ee/BenjiHart
Pinned
Benji Hart
@benjihart.bsky.social
· Aug 13
Venezuelan Migrants, a Black Church, and an Experiment in Solidarity
A pastor in Chicago helps build a coalition that aids recent arrivals by asking them what they need.
hammerandhope.org
First new article of the year is in @hammerandhope.bsky.social, examining the solidarity work happening between Venezuelan migrants and long term Black residents at Concord Missionary Baptist Church in Woodlawn, Chicago.
Hope is so hard to come by, and I wanted to share where I'm finding mine.
Hope is so hard to come by, and I wanted to share where I'm finding mine.
Reposted by Benji Hart
NEW — Columnist Bella BAHHS is back with a message for everyone joining the resistance in Chicago and beyond.
What some non-Black Chicagoans are now experiencing is what Black folks have faced for generations: policing as a tool to protect power and profit.
thetriibe.com/2025/11/the-...
What some non-Black Chicagoans are now experiencing is what Black folks have faced for generations: policing as a tool to protect power and profit.
thetriibe.com/2025/11/the-...
THE REVOLUTIONARY COLUMN: Racist police violence is always the common denominator • The TRiiBE
ICE violence does not exist within a vacuum. It didn’t come out of nowhere. This is how it feels to be Black and policed in this country.
thetriibe.com
November 9, 2025 at 9:36 PM
NEW — Columnist Bella BAHHS is back with a message for everyone joining the resistance in Chicago and beyond.
What some non-Black Chicagoans are now experiencing is what Black folks have faced for generations: policing as a tool to protect power and profit.
thetriibe.com/2025/11/the-...
What some non-Black Chicagoans are now experiencing is what Black folks have faced for generations: policing as a tool to protect power and profit.
thetriibe.com/2025/11/the-...
Reposted by Benji Hart
Another example of 'get in where you can get in' and everyone can do something of use... blockclubchicago.org/2025/10/16/a...
As Fear Keeps Some Inside Amid ICE Raids, Chicago Dog Walker Offers Free Pet Care
"Animals are very important to families. If I can help someone, even if it's just one person, I'm more than willing to do that," said Candice Nelson.
blockclubchicago.org
October 17, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Another example of 'get in where you can get in' and everyone can do something of use... blockclubchicago.org/2025/10/16/a...
Reposted by Benji Hart
UPDATE — Multiple witness videos today show an older white federal agent straddling a young Black man on the ground outside of a Walgreens on Chicago’s Southeast Side.
This is a developing story.
thetriibe.com/2025/10/fede...
This is a developing story.
thetriibe.com/2025/10/fede...
October 14, 2025 at 8:04 PM
UPDATE — Multiple witness videos today show an older white federal agent straddling a young Black man on the ground outside of a Walgreens on Chicago’s Southeast Side.
This is a developing story.
thetriibe.com/2025/10/fede...
This is a developing story.
thetriibe.com/2025/10/fede...
Reposted by Benji Hart
Once again: this is also happening in DC. Still.
It feels like we’ve been forgotten, maybe because there aren’t huge confrontations to run photos of. But our neighbors are still being taken every day. Routine traffic stops are now done by 12+ feds alongside local police.
Please talk about us too.
It feels like we’ve been forgotten, maybe because there aren’t huge confrontations to run photos of. But our neighbors are still being taken every day. Routine traffic stops are now done by 12+ feds alongside local police.
Please talk about us too.
"Residents in Chicago and Portland are living in a police state where masked armed forces kidnap who they want to kidnap, where they have to listen to public officials routinely lie about what is happening in their neighborhoods." donmoynihan.substack.com/p/purge-merg...
Federal Secret Police and plainclothes ICE agents kidnap multiple people from a neighborhood in Chicago. They then deploy teargas and brutally beat neighbors who come out to express their concern.
October 14, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Once again: this is also happening in DC. Still.
It feels like we’ve been forgotten, maybe because there aren’t huge confrontations to run photos of. But our neighbors are still being taken every day. Routine traffic stops are now done by 12+ feds alongside local police.
Please talk about us too.
It feels like we’ve been forgotten, maybe because there aren’t huge confrontations to run photos of. But our neighbors are still being taken every day. Routine traffic stops are now done by 12+ feds alongside local police.
Please talk about us too.
Reposted by Benji Hart
“Abolish ICE” doesn’t mean rebranding or shifting its powers elsewhere—it means ending the deportation, detention & incarceration machine targeting immigrant communities.
Read @sarahlazare.bsky.social's 2018 piece on the demand’s roots & meaning:
inthesetimes.com/article/abol...
Read @sarahlazare.bsky.social's 2018 piece on the demand’s roots & meaning:
inthesetimes.com/article/abol...
September 30, 2025 at 2:11 PM
“Abolish ICE” doesn’t mean rebranding or shifting its powers elsewhere—it means ending the deportation, detention & incarceration machine targeting immigrant communities.
Read @sarahlazare.bsky.social's 2018 piece on the demand’s roots & meaning:
inthesetimes.com/article/abol...
Read @sarahlazare.bsky.social's 2018 piece on the demand’s roots & meaning:
inthesetimes.com/article/abol...
Reposted by Benji Hart
Chicago.
A man here is passing around Italian beefs to people protesting Border Patrol.
September 28, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Chicago.
Reposted by Benji Hart
The MAGA monocultural revolution is so thorough that Hegseth made it a priority to honor soldiers who carried out war crimes in 1890.
September 26, 2025 at 1:01 AM
The MAGA monocultural revolution is so thorough that Hegseth made it a priority to honor soldiers who carried out war crimes in 1890.
Reposted by Benji Hart
A protester holds out a sign as a shield as tear gas canisters are launched and pepper balls are fired.
September 26, 2025 at 2:40 PM
A protester holds out a sign as a shield as tear gas canisters are launched and pepper balls are fired.
Reposted by Benji Hart
At the Broadview ICE facility, an ICE agent tried to run dozens of protesters over with an SUV as we walked on a public crosswalk.
He kept driving for about a full football field until ICE barraged us with pepper balls.
He kept driving for about a full football field until ICE barraged us with pepper balls.
September 26, 2025 at 12:59 PM
At the Broadview ICE facility, an ICE agent tried to run dozens of protesters over with an SUV as we walked on a public crosswalk.
He kept driving for about a full football field until ICE barraged us with pepper balls.
He kept driving for about a full football field until ICE barraged us with pepper balls.
Reposted by Benji Hart
The Chicago Tribune Editorial Board wrote a hit piece about me. While they didn’t name me they quoted me, made a whole lot of false offensive assumptions about me, my classroom & called me an “extremist”. Response coming after full days of teaching & parenting.
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/22/p...
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/22/p...
Editorial: Teachers’ extremist social media posts don’t do their students any good
Teachers are getting themselves into trouble on social media. The bigger concern is what’s happening in their classrooms.
www.chicagotribune.com
September 23, 2025 at 11:25 PM
The Chicago Tribune Editorial Board wrote a hit piece about me. While they didn’t name me they quoted me, made a whole lot of false offensive assumptions about me, my classroom & called me an “extremist”. Response coming after full days of teaching & parenting.
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/22/p...
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/22/p...
Reposted by Benji Hart
NEW — Video footage posted to Facebook shows an arrest outside of the Cook County criminal courthouse in Chicago at 2650 S. California Ave.
The video shows federal agents stuffing a person in a vehicle as their feet kick in distress.
thetriibe.com/2025/09/prot...
The video shows federal agents stuffing a person in a vehicle as their feet kick in distress.
thetriibe.com/2025/09/prot...
Feds stuff man in SUV during arrest outside of courthouse in Little Village • The TRiiBE
Here’s a roundup of federal agent sightings today, Sept. 24.
thetriibe.com
September 24, 2025 at 11:30 PM
NEW — Video footage posted to Facebook shows an arrest outside of the Cook County criminal courthouse in Chicago at 2650 S. California Ave.
The video shows federal agents stuffing a person in a vehicle as their feet kick in distress.
thetriibe.com/2025/09/prot...
The video shows federal agents stuffing a person in a vehicle as their feet kick in distress.
thetriibe.com/2025/09/prot...
Reposted by Benji Hart
NEW — In this op/ed submission, one Chicago organizer writes:
“This week, the City Council will have the opportunity to move Chicago in the direction of a city that supports its residents and doesn’t turn a blind eye to market forces that terrorize them.”
thetriibe.com/2025/09/opin...
“This week, the City Council will have the opportunity to move Chicago in the direction of a city that supports its residents and doesn’t turn a blind eye to market forces that terrorize them.”
thetriibe.com/2025/09/opin...
OPINION: Chicago alders need to pass the Jackson Park Housing Pilot to protect residents from Obama Presidential Center displacement • The TRiiBE
This week, the City Council will have the opportunity to move Chicago in the direction of a city that supports its residents and doesn’t turn a blind eye to market forces that terrorize them.
thetriibe.com
September 24, 2025 at 5:58 PM
NEW — In this op/ed submission, one Chicago organizer writes:
“This week, the City Council will have the opportunity to move Chicago in the direction of a city that supports its residents and doesn’t turn a blind eye to market forces that terrorize them.”
thetriibe.com/2025/09/opin...
“This week, the City Council will have the opportunity to move Chicago in the direction of a city that supports its residents and doesn’t turn a blind eye to market forces that terrorize them.”
thetriibe.com/2025/09/opin...
Reposted by Benji Hart
new from @kylietcheung.bsky.social in @teenvogue.com: recently, men have impersonated plainclothes ICE agents to assault women—only possible, she argues, because state agents commit violence with impunity.
"To be clear, men wouldn’t be posing as ICE agents and assaulting women if ICE didn’t exist."
"To be clear, men wouldn’t be posing as ICE agents and assaulting women if ICE didn’t exist."
How ICE Raids Are Making It Easier for Civilian Men to Assault Immigrant Women
"This phenomenon is only possible because of the outsized power that state agents have always had to abuse and control women and victims' bodies," argues Kylie Cheung.
www.teenvogue.com
September 22, 2025 at 5:57 PM
new from @kylietcheung.bsky.social in @teenvogue.com: recently, men have impersonated plainclothes ICE agents to assault women—only possible, she argues, because state agents commit violence with impunity.
"To be clear, men wouldn’t be posing as ICE agents and assaulting women if ICE didn’t exist."
"To be clear, men wouldn’t be posing as ICE agents and assaulting women if ICE didn’t exist."
Reposted by Benji Hart
I was interviewed for this piece in South Side Weekly about the tear gas and pepper ball attacks ICE waged against protesters on Friday.
We Want Them Back: Protest and State Violence at Broadview ICE Facility
Hundreds protested outside Broadview ICE in Illinois, resisting Operation Midway Blitz and denouncing raids, deportations, and state violence.
southsideweekly.com
September 23, 2025 at 12:19 AM
I was interviewed for this piece in South Side Weekly about the tear gas and pepper ball attacks ICE waged against protesters on Friday.
Reposted by Benji Hart
As ICE storms Chicagoland, Chicago’s organizers speak. Stacy Davis Gates, Benji Hart, Arti Walker-Peddakotla, Ric Wilson, and others discuss ongoing ICE raids, Trump’s threats to send in the National Guard, and the solidarity we need to survive these times. Audio + transcript:
Raids, Retaliation, and Radical Solidarity in Chicago
“History shows us that repression always breeds resistance,” says Chicago organizer Miguel Alvelo Rivera.
truthout.org
September 18, 2025 at 1:47 PM
As ICE storms Chicagoland, Chicago’s organizers speak. Stacy Davis Gates, Benji Hart, Arti Walker-Peddakotla, Ric Wilson, and others discuss ongoing ICE raids, Trump’s threats to send in the National Guard, and the solidarity we need to survive these times. Audio + transcript:
Reposted by Benji Hart
NEW — “We are alarmed to hear that, weeks into Trump threatening Black and brown communities in Chicago with military invasion and weeks into calls from community leaders across the city opposing these threats, ICE agents have shot and killed a man in the suburbs.”
thetriibe.com/2025/09/stat...
thetriibe.com/2025/09/stat...
STATEMENT: Black communities know that every police killing is a tragedy • The TRiiBE
Three Chicago organizers on standing together against Trump’s attempts to militarize and divide us.
thetriibe.com
September 15, 2025 at 7:25 PM
NEW — “We are alarmed to hear that, weeks into Trump threatening Black and brown communities in Chicago with military invasion and weeks into calls from community leaders across the city opposing these threats, ICE agents have shot and killed a man in the suburbs.”
thetriibe.com/2025/09/stat...
thetriibe.com/2025/09/stat...
Reposted by Benji Hart
I know everyone is consumed with other news, but this is a big fucking deal: The Trump administration says that IUDs and the Pill are actually abortions.
Here's what USAID told the NYT about the $10m in birth control they plan to destroy.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/h...
Here's what USAID told the NYT about the $10m in birth control they plan to destroy.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/h...
September 12, 2025 at 10:27 PM
I know everyone is consumed with other news, but this is a big fucking deal: The Trump administration says that IUDs and the Pill are actually abortions.
Here's what USAID told the NYT about the $10m in birth control they plan to destroy.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/h...
Here's what USAID told the NYT about the $10m in birth control they plan to destroy.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/h...
Reposted by Benji Hart
Update from outside Broadview ICE facility in Chicagoland—
Even after feds killed a man a few towns away today, a small group remain to finish their 7am-7pm protest.
SRT takes the dwindling numbers as an opportunity to unleash less lethals on a protester with a mobility aid sitting on the ground.
Even after feds killed a man a few towns away today, a small group remain to finish their 7am-7pm protest.
SRT takes the dwindling numbers as an opportunity to unleash less lethals on a protester with a mobility aid sitting on the ground.
September 12, 2025 at 11:59 PM
Update from outside Broadview ICE facility in Chicagoland—
Even after feds killed a man a few towns away today, a small group remain to finish their 7am-7pm protest.
SRT takes the dwindling numbers as an opportunity to unleash less lethals on a protester with a mobility aid sitting on the ground.
Even after feds killed a man a few towns away today, a small group remain to finish their 7am-7pm protest.
SRT takes the dwindling numbers as an opportunity to unleash less lethals on a protester with a mobility aid sitting on the ground.
Reposted by Benji Hart
All authoritarian power grabs must be resisted. It's never about "crime," and it's never about how people respond to Trump's aggression. Those are just story points, and the administration makes up story points every day when reality doesn't fit. Remember this.
Tell the truth and shame the devil.
Tell the truth and shame the devil.
September 4, 2025 at 2:45 PM
All authoritarian power grabs must be resisted. It's never about "crime," and it's never about how people respond to Trump's aggression. Those are just story points, and the administration makes up story points every day when reality doesn't fit. Remember this.
Tell the truth and shame the devil.
Tell the truth and shame the devil.
Reposted by Benji Hart
Get ahead of the narrative and get it straight. No one on the ground in Chicago is responsible for the waves of federal agents that are about to descend on our communities to snatch and kidnap people, or for the troops Trump plans to send here. This is an authoritarian power grab— a fascist plot.
September 4, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Get ahead of the narrative and get it straight. No one on the ground in Chicago is responsible for the waves of federal agents that are about to descend on our communities to snatch and kidnap people, or for the troops Trump plans to send here. This is an authoritarian power grab— a fascist plot.
Reposted by Benji Hart
Talk about how this is all being staged to set Chicago up for a military occupation. Talk about how they are planning to attack cultural gatherings, picnics, and parades, knowing that people will cling to their neighbors and family members—and that Trump will use those acts of decency as an excuse.
September 4, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Talk about how this is all being staged to set Chicago up for a military occupation. Talk about how they are planning to attack cultural gatherings, picnics, and parades, knowing that people will cling to their neighbors and family members—and that Trump will use those acts of decency as an excuse.
Reposted by Benji Hart
The administration plans to attack public festivities in Chicago around Mexican Independence Day (which may include this weekend's parade in Pilsen or related activities) because they want to attack folks in settings where people will try to protect and hold onto community members.
September 4, 2025 at 2:31 PM
The administration plans to attack public festivities in Chicago around Mexican Independence Day (which may include this weekend's parade in Pilsen or related activities) because they want to attack folks in settings where people will try to protect and hold onto community members.
Reposted by Benji Hart
This week, I talk to @dreanyc123.bsky.social about the role of criminalization in authoritarianism and fascism—and why we need more outlaws, and less confusion about what the law protects and who it targets.
The Trap of Law and Order Under Fascism
“There’s no rule of law that’s going to get us out of where we are,” says Andrea Ritchie.
truthout.org
September 4, 2025 at 1:56 PM
This week, I talk to @dreanyc123.bsky.social about the role of criminalization in authoritarianism and fascism—and why we need more outlaws, and less confusion about what the law protects and who it targets.
Reposted by Benji Hart
We need your help.
We’re about 50 responses away from completing our 2025 TRiiBE Audience Survey.
If you’d like to see us grow and become a more sustainable newsroom, please take a minute or two to fill out of survey ✨
Link below ⬇️
www.surveymonkey.com/r/WLH5L8D
We’re about 50 responses away from completing our 2025 TRiiBE Audience Survey.
If you’d like to see us grow and become a more sustainable newsroom, please take a minute or two to fill out of survey ✨
Link below ⬇️
www.surveymonkey.com/r/WLH5L8D
September 2, 2025 at 2:21 AM
We need your help.
We’re about 50 responses away from completing our 2025 TRiiBE Audience Survey.
If you’d like to see us grow and become a more sustainable newsroom, please take a minute or two to fill out of survey ✨
Link below ⬇️
www.surveymonkey.com/r/WLH5L8D
We’re about 50 responses away from completing our 2025 TRiiBE Audience Survey.
If you’d like to see us grow and become a more sustainable newsroom, please take a minute or two to fill out of survey ✨
Link below ⬇️
www.surveymonkey.com/r/WLH5L8D