Tiana Smalls pictured
By Shera Phillips
Black women have been amongst the most outspoken, dedicated, revolutionary fighters against racial injustices. From refusing to give up a seat on a train, to registering voters, to coordinating and monitoring lunch counter sit-ins and freedom rides, to being bold, loud and refusing to back down. Tiana Smalls embodied the black female warrior last month as she traveled via Greyhound from Bakersfield, California to Las Vegas, Nevada. While stopping at a checkpoint, the bus driver announced, ‘We are being boarded by Border Patrol. Please be prepared to show your documentation upon request”. Tiana immediately sensed the white supremacist, capitalism at work as she thought to herself, wait, what the f***? Smalls promptly began to “act an ass” as she vehemently spoke, “THIS IS A VIOLATION OF YOUR 4TH AMENDMENT RIGHTS. YOU DON’T HAVE TO SHOW THEM SH*T! This is illegal. We are not within 100 miles of an international border so they have NO authority to ask you for ANYTHING. TELL THEM TO F*** OFF!!”
Then, realizing that many of the terrified travelers didn’t speak English, she used Google Translate to read her message in Spanish. She assured her horrified neighbor that she “had her back”. As the agents proceeded to ask for documentation, she responded, ““I’m not showing you shit! I’m not driving this bus, so you have NO RIGHT to ask me for anything! And the rest of you guys don’t have to show them anything, either! This is harassment and racial profiling! Don’t show them a gotdamn thing! We are not within 100 miles of a border so they have NO LEGAL RIGHT or jurisdiction here! GOOGLE IT!” The agents responded with, “Fine. We can see that you’re a citizen because of your filthy mouth”. And then they just said “go ahead” to the bus driver and got o . Smalls continues, “Point is: These border patrol officers act like they do because they EXPECT people to be afraid of them and just comply. The lady next to me spoke NO ENGLISH, but she was a very kind woman. She looked TERRIFIED when they boarded. I felt it was my duty to defend her. We DO NOT LIVE in Nazi Germany. No one should be asked to present “papers” for interstate travel. I defended her, and I defended myself. We DO NOT have to just take this shit LYING down. What those officers did is WRONG and completely illegal. All it took was ONE LOUD ass Black woman to let them know WE ARE NOT WITH THE SH*TS. F*** Y’ALL. And they backed off. Use your voice. Take a risk. Act an ASS. Because if you let them intimidate the poor Spanish speaking woman next to you, who do you think they’re coming for next?” I say THANK YOU Tiana Smalls for your exemplary demonstration of courage, love and resourcefulness. You have IT!”