{"id":7475,"date":"2026-02-01T13:50:56","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T13:50:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=7475"},"modified":"2026-03-04T13:54:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T13:54:03","slug":"black-journalists-arrested-for-reporting-don-lemon-and-georgia-fort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=7475","title":{"rendered":"Black Journalists Arrested for Reporting: Don Lemon and Georgia Fort"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>by\u00a0<span class=\"author vcard\"><a class=\"url fn n\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtoninformer.com\/author\/staceybrown\/\">Stacy M. Brown<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Two Black journalists \u2014 Minneapolis-based Georgia Fort and national reporter Don Lemon \u2014 were arrested on Jan. 30 in what many are calling an attack on the First Amendment.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=nSQ0OFuboqQ\">Black journalists\u2019 only apparent offense was documenting protests critical of the Trump administration\u2019s immigration crackdown.<\/p>\n<p><\/a>Lemon, a veteran broadcaster and longtime critic of President Donald Trump, was arrested late Thursday night in Los Angeles after livestreaming an anti-ICE demonstration connected to a January protest at a St. Paul, Minnesota church.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLast night, the DOJ sent a team of federal agents to arrest me in the middle of the night for something that I\u2019ve been doing for the last 30 years, and that is covering the news,\u201d Lemon said in a press conference immediately following his Friday release.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n<div class=\"newspack_global_ad scaip-1 fixed-height\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-caf9af3267-0\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>A short time after Lemon was taken into custody, Fort, an\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=nSQ0OFuboqQ\">Emmy-winning<\/a>\u00a0journalist, was arrested by federal agents in her home state for reporting on the same protest, according to public statements and court records.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs I reflect, as a journalist who has worked in media for more than 17 years, I leave this federal courthouse today with one question. Do we have a Constitution?\u201d Fort questioned. \u201cThat is the pressing question that should be on the front of everyone\u2019s minds.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The arrests occurred after federal authorities revived charges tied to a protest at Cities Church in St. Paul after a magistrate judge had already declined to approve arrest warrants against Lemon and others, citing insufficient evidence.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors then pursued indictments through a grand jury, a move civil liberties advocates say appears designed to sidestep judicial scrutiny and chill coverage of protests against ICE operations.<\/p>\n<p>Fort documented her own arrest in a brief livestream as agents arrived at her door, telling viewers she was being taken into custody for filming the protest as a member of the press. Her arrest, announced publicly by Attorney General Pam Bondi, placed the journalist alongside protesters in a case the administration has described as a coordinated attack.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI should be protected under the First Amendment, just like all of the journalists who I\u2019ve been advocating for, too,\u201d Fort said after being released. \u201cI\u2019ve been advocating for mainstream media journalists who have been brutalized for months.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n<div class=\"newspack_global_ad scaip-2 fixed-height\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-2bd992b9b0-0\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Lemon also reflected on the importance of honoring the First Amendment in his statement to members of the press after being released.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe First Amendment of the Constitution protects that work for me and for countless of other journalists who do what I do. I stand with all of them, and I will not be silent,\u201d he declared. \u201cI look forward to my day in court.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-lawmakers-activists-warn-of-escalation\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Lawmakers, Activists Warn of Escalation<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Once news spread of their arrests, lawmakers such as Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, activists like the Rev. Al Sharpton, and even former Vice President Kamala Harris, called for authorities to immediately release them, while also offering warnings to others.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday, Donald Trump and his administration are once again trampling on our rights and our freedoms. Journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort were fulfilling their duty to the American people to report and inform, and they have been arrested for it,\u201d Harris wrote in a statement posted to X, formerly known as Twitter. \u201cDonald Trump continues to consolidate power and show a flagrant disregard for the rule of law. This arrest is another affront to our rights and freedoms and should alarm and enrage us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bass said the arrests signaled a dangerous escalation by the Trump administration rather than any attempt to ease tensions following the fatal shootings of civilians by federal agents in Minnesota. She said Lemon was simply doing his job when agents arrested him and stressed that Fort\u2019s detention made clear this was not an isolated incident but a broader assault on press freedom.<\/p>\n<p>Civil rights leaders said the symbolism was unmistakable.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-3    \">\n<div class=\"newspack_global_ad scaip-3 fixed-height\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-dc2e0e383b-0\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Sharpton, founder and president of the National Action Network, said Lemon\u2019s arrest marked a direct blow against the First Amendment and warned that journalists critical of the president were being singled out.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/gofund.me\/67f796675\">Press freedom advocates echoed those concerns<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, said the arrests represent a constitutional crisis for journalism in the United States, adding that reporters have the right to document and share information with the public without fear of retaliation.<\/p>\n<p>Bass said she contacted the U.S. attorney when Lemon was taken into custody and warned that arresting journalists for entering a church while reporting crosses a line the Constitution was written to prevent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s an egregious assault on constitutionally protected First Amendment rights,\u201d Bass said.<\/p>\n<p>Lemon emphasized that the arrest would not deter his work and pursuit of facts and the truth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is no more important time than right now, this very moment, for a free and independent media that shines a light on the truth and holds those in power accountable,\u201d he said. \u201cI will not stop now. I will not stop ever.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Source: Published without changes from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtoninformer.com\/black-journalists-arrested-trump-protest\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Washington Informer Newspaper<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by\u00a0Stacy M. Brown Two Black journalists \u2014 Minneapolis-based Georgia Fort and national reporter Don Lemon \u2014 were arrested<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7476,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[232,24],"tags":[258],"class_list":["post-7475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-civil-rights","category-regular-column","tag-civil-rights"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7475"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7477,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7475\/revisions\/7477"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}