It’s been 50 years since Godfrey Wade arrived to the United States from Jamaica at the age of 15 with his mother, moving to New York with a green card that granted him permanent residency.
The Black man enlisted in the U.S. Army a few years later, spending eight years in the service, where he was primarily stationed in Germany before he received an honorable discharge. He then began a civilian life in Georgia while raising a family, working as a fashion designer, master tailor, tennis coach and chef over the years while staying out of trouble.
That is, until September, when he was pulled over in Conyers, Georgia, for failing to use a turn signal, which was when police discovered he was driving without a license and arrested him.
. . . He has been incarcerated in overcrowded ICE detention centers since the arrest, a three-month ordeal where he was forced to sleep on a makeshift bed on the ground for the first 12 days, according to 11 Alive News.
In a telephone interview with local media from the Stewart Detention Center in Stewart County, Georgia, Wade said there are only two working urinals for an entire pod of 80 people.
“We don’t have any bunk space,” he told the news station. “We’re given what we call boats, and those are placed on the floor with a two-inch mat.”
“There’s sewage water flowing on the ground,” he said.
11 Alive News also reported that it had obtained records of the Office of Detention Oversight, a unit within U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that oversees the federal detention centers, which revealed 12 deficiencies within the Stewart Detention Center related to health and safety, food service, phone access, use of force, and more.
“The agency also noted violations of the required 12-to-1 detainee-to-toilet ratio,” 11 Alive News reported, adding that the private for-profit company that runs the detention center, CoreCivic, has ignored various inquires by reporters seeking comment.
But the Trump administration has repeatedly demonstrated it believes it is above the law and the Constitution.
Okay, what is happening to him is a humanitarian crisis, but they arrested him for driving without a license, not because he missed a turn signal.
What ICE is doing is abhorrent. We don’t need to exaggerating and/or lie to make horrifying headlines marginally worse.
Edit - Jesus christ, you all have some real issues with connotation, huh? Yes, he was pulled over for a turn signal, which set off the chain of events, but the intention of the headline is to connect the mostly innoculous act of forgetting to signal to the resulting deportation, when that is blatantly not the case. All the “UMMM, ACKSHUALLY, THIS REALLY DID HAPPEN” completely misses the point here.
Fuck me for refusing to just let it slide when media uses intentionally misleading titles to invoke extreme reactions for engagement, I guess.
That is, until September, when he was pulled over in Conyers, Georgia, for failing to use a turn signal, which was when police discovered he was driving without a license and arrested him.
I mean. I dunno what to tell you.
The headline implied the turn signal is the problem and he’s an angel besides that. It might have started the police interaction but it is not the whole thing. Anyone scanning the headline is going to only get a half truth.
Still don’t think driving without a license is deport worthy, but it’s a much bigger violation and the real heart.
Bless you for reading.
Turns out most people are so used to intentionally misleading headlines that they’ll actively defend them based on the “well technically” truths.
NGL it is a problem, because who tf gets pulled over for failure to signal? It’s just an excuse to pull someone over for DWB.
Basically anyone in rural Georgia. Those cops don’t have a lot to do. That’s why whenever you’re passing through a small town you have to drive perfectly or you will get pulled over.
These small towns keep people posted on either side of town just to write tickets for minor infractions
Where I’m from (still in US) just about anyone, no matter race, will get pulled over for it. Especially near schools or hospitals. Now, are they doing it to fulfill there supposedly non-existent ticket quota? That I’d believe.
Gotcha. Around here (also US) it’s just an excuse to pull over certain people. It’s used very selectively. TBH I wish they would enforce it equitably, there is a ton of people in this area that never use their turn signal
and he’s an angel besides that
Victim blaming dog whistle detected.
Still don’t think driving without a license is deport worthy
Correct, so him “not being an angel” is irrelevant
it’s (…) the real heart.
Nope. Not at all.
While a more serious offense than the turn signal thing, it’s still not punishable by deportation in a sane society and as such an equally invalid excuse for deporting anyone.
how did they initiate a stop?
I imagine it was by using their sirens.
God I wish they’d actually pull over people for not turn signaling instead of just as an excuse to deport a black person
He wouldn’t have been pulled over in the first place if he not failed to signal.
This is so heart breaking and shameful, I don’t believe America as a concept anymore, and I say that as an American. The things the US military does are blasphemy to humanity, and not all the participants are saints, but in principle if someone is willing to die for a country. They should be allowed to live there.
Nations shouldn’t exist, we’re all just people
The private for profit company that runs the detention center
The US must be razed to the ground and sowed with salt
Not using turn signal? Straight to jail.
it was probably more the lack of a driving license that did it, but ofc the headline leaves that out
Nah, it was the driving while black and foreign born around bigots with unchecked power.
well, driving while black is what got him pulled over. then the rest is what got him arrested
the rest is what got him arrested
Nah, that was mostly the Jamaica thing. And also the driving while black.
You’re not going to see a white guy be deported for driving without a license in Trump’s America, except MAYBE Ukrainians once they run out of nonwhite people to victimize and Miller’s quotas still aren’t fulfilled.
that was included in my “the rest”, yes
Lmao, Conyers GA is 70% black. They’re going to keep themselves quite busy if they only pull over people for driving while black.
The county Conyers is in is also majority black.
Honestly I wouldn’t make this one a race issue. These small GA towns just keep cops posted at every entry and exit point to town. Their job is to ticket everything and generate revenue.
Conyers GA is 70% black
How much you want to bet that the PD is still majority white, Ferguson style?
The county Conyers is in is also majority black
So was Apartheid South Africa 🤷
wouldn’t make this one a race issue
small GA towns
🤔
Their job is to ticket everything and generate revenue.
And whether they’re told to or not, I guarantee that they’re disproportionately targeting black people.
And whether they’re told to or not, I guarantee that they’re disproportionately targeting black people.
To be proportional to population for every 10 people they pull over 7 would be black.
As to your points the city council is split between white/black evenly. Chief of police is white but no other information about the force was available. At the county level out of the 3 commissioners 1 is black, and honestly not sure about the race of the other 2. Interestingly all 3 are women. The sheriff and sheriff’s department are majority black. This isn’t apartheid South Africa.
I really doubt this one was a race issue at the point of the initial stop. Like I said these small towns are notorious for stopping everyone for every minor traffic infraction. They just want your money. Have you ever spent any time in the state and towns like these or are you just manufacturing issues for your argument?
That still doesn’t usually land you in jail, much less an overcrowded detention center with no oversight or accountability with the threat that you will be removed from the country, possibly to somewhere you have never been and have no connection to.
Before I say this, ICE is awful and driving without a license shouldn’t be a deportable offense. Also, military service should give automatic citizenship.
I feel like this article is leaving something out. How did ICE get involved in this? I mean, I wouldn’t be surprised if they got involved simply because they saw a record of a non-citizen getting arrested but I’m wondering if he didn’t renew his green card or something.
I’m not arguing that this guy deserves to be deported (I think he should be a citizen) but I do wish we got the whole story on things.
Gotta wonder how many of these trained, blooded combat veterans are going to take this abuse laying down.
I shed my blood for this country
he was primarily stationed in Germany
Hmm 🤔
Hey, eight years as a grunt ain’t nothin’. It’s still a disgrace he gets treated like this (it’s obviously a disgrace anyone gets treated like this, but the republiQan mindset used to at least support veterans with pretty words. Now they din’t think of them at all.)
You were a useful idiot spreading capitalism by a red white and blue sword.
