By Rev. Peter Johnson | Texas Metro News

There are sounds you never forget once you have heard them. The slow crunch of gravel beneath a sheriff’s boots outside a voting station. The sound of a shotgun being cocked. The silence of Black citizens standing in line, afraid to make eye contact. The sound of a church mother whispering, “Baby, if I don’t come home tonight, tell your daddy I tried.”

I remember grown men trembling before voter registration tables, not because they were weak, but because they understood exactly what power could do to a Black body in America. I remember pastors watching police cars circle churches where voter meetings were being held. I remember people disappearing from movements overnight. I remember fear sitting beside democracy like an armed guard.

That is why my spirit turned cold when I heard the discussion of ICE agents and Border Patrol officers being present at polling stations. Some of us have seen this movie before, and we know how it ends.

America keeps pretending voter intimidation belongs only to history books. It does not. It evolves. It changes uniforms. It changes language. But it always carries the same message: “Some of you should think twice before showing up here.”

Today, the target may be immigrants, Latino communities, Muslims, asylum seekers, or mixed-status families. Tomorrow it will expand. It always expands. History teaches that once fear is allowed near the ballot box, democracy itself begins gasping for air.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche publicly defended the idea of immigration enforcement officers near polling locations, asking why people would object. The answer is painfully simple: because law enforcement presence has long been used in America to discourage unwanted people from voting.

Not to protect elections. Control them.

During Jim Crow, intimidation was often psychological before it became physical. Officers stood near entrances. White citizens took photographs. Names were written down. Questions were asked loudly enough for everybody else in line to hear. The goal was not merely arrest. The goal was humiliation. The goal was fear. The goal was to make people decide that voting simply cost too much.

And let me say this plainly: federal immigration agents do not symbolize safety to immigrant communities. They symbolize raids, deportation, detention centers, separated children, midnight knocks, and disappeared neighbors.

People in Washington know this. That is exactly why the idea is dangerous.

You do not place armed immigration authority near polling stations unless you understand the chilling effect it creates. A grandmother who is a legal citizen may stay home simply because her undocumented grandson lives with her. A young Latino voter may avoid the polls because he fears being questioned. A Muslim family may decide silence is safer than participation.

Fear spreads faster than policy. That is what America keeps forgetting.

Some readers will accuse me of exaggeration. But I lived through and experienced enough to watch this country repeat sins it swore it had already repented. Every generation believes democracy is sturdier than it really is. It’s not.

Democracy survives only as long as ordinary citizens believe they can approach the ballot box without fear of government intimidation.

The moment fear enters that space, something sacred begins dying.

What terrifies me most is how casually these conversations are now happening. We are discussing armed federal presence near elections as though this were a normal political debate. Fifty years ago, Americans would have recognized immediately how dangerous this sounded.

Now people shrug.

That is how nations drift toward authoritarianism. Not all at once. Slowly. Quietly. One normalized outrage after another. First comes the rhetoric. Then comes the fear. Then comes the silence. Then comes the surrender.

I buried too many of my freedom fighter friends to stay quiet while America plays games with voting rights again. I have stood in churches where old men still carried scars from police beatings tied directly to voter registration efforts. I have spoken with women who were fired from jobs for attempting to vote. I have listened to stories of bodies found hanging from trees because somebody dared believe democracy included them, too.

So no, I will not calmly dismiss this moment, because history whispers before it screams, and what I hear whispering right now sounds disturbingly familiar.

The presence of ICE or Border Patrol near polling stations may begin as “security.” But history warns us that government power, once normalized around elections, rarely retreats peacefully. It expands. It tests limits. It searches for new targets.

That is why every American, regardless of party, should reject this path now. Not later. Now. Once citizens associate voting with fear, democracy is no longer functioning freely. It is surviving on borrowed time.

Peter Jerome Johnson, was the youngest staff member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference under Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. An alum of Southern University, he founded the Peter Johnson Institute on Nonviolence.

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Assemblymember Mike A. Gipson (D-Carson) says a deadly Fourth of July weekend shooting in Compton that claimed the life of one of his former staff members underscores the urgent need for stronger gun safety laws at both the state and federal levels. 

The shooting was one of several acts of gun violence reported across California over the holiday weekend, renewing debate over firearm regulations and the limits states face in enacting gun control measures. 

At a block party in Compton, a gunman opened fire on a crowd, killing Eric Washington, a former California Assembly aide, and Meah Bordenave-Jenkins, while injuring three others. 

The deaths of Washington and Bordenave-Jenkins left deep wounds in the community. 

Bordenave-Jenkins, 19, was a sophomore studying nursing at the University of Nevada. She was staying with her sister for the summer. 

Her mother, Ebone Jenkins, said her daughter wanted to become a neonatal travel nurse and was active in church.  

Washington served as a field deputy for Gipson before later working for HACLA, the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles. To honor his memory, HACLA established the Eric Washington Community Impact Awards. 

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Washington’s mother, Tina Johnson, told California Black Media (CBM) that her son was “deeply compassionate” and a “mentor to everyone,” including his own father, whom Washington helped adjust to life after incarceration. She said he was committed to public service and wanted to address gun violence. 

For Gipson, Washington’s death was both personal and political. 

Gipson and Washington worked together for years, united by a shared commitment to reducing gun violence in their communities. Gipson said Washington’s passing has been deeply felt. In 2020, Gipson’s own son, an innocent bystander, was injured in a violent shooting that same year. 

The Compton tragedy also comes as California and other states continue to navigate legal challenges to their authority to regulate firearms. 

A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Wolford v. Lopez invalidated portions of a Hawaii law prohibiting people with concealed-carry permits from bringing firearms onto private property that is open to the public without the owner’s consent. 

Some advocates worry the ruling could weaken states’ ability to enact gun safety legislation. 

Gipson is among those expressing concern. 

“Because of the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down protections in Wolford v. Lopez and rule against Hawaii’s common-sense laws, a pattern continues where the U.S. federal government cannot guarantee us the most basic protections,” Gipson told CBM. 

Throughout his legislative career, Gipson has championed firearm regulations aimed at creating safer communities. He was among the first California lawmakers to pursue ghost gun regulation through Assembly Bill (AB) 879. 

Currently, Gipson is working to pass AB 2339, the Accuracy in Mental Health Reporting Act. The bill would ensure that “prohibited persons are accurately identified in a timely fashion” and reported to the California Department of Justice to restrict their access to firearms. 

The measure has garnered strong support, including from California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

While Gipson believes state legislation can reduce gun violence, he argues that meaningful progress also requires stronger federal action. 

“Just doing the basics, like background checks, putting age limits, red flag warnings—the list just goes on and on. If they would just take just the basics, we can decrease a lot of gun violence,” said Gipson. 

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