Tell-It Report: Iowa Residents Protest ICE Arrest of Black Superintendent
Ian Roberts was the leader of the state’s largest and most diverse school district.
In Gullah Geechee communities, a “tell-it” was a designated lookout, community warning system and the most trusted source for news and information. The Tell-It Report is ContrabandCamp’s weekly roundup of the Black stories that deserve more attention — from politics to entertainment.
The community is speaking out after ICE detains Dr. Ian Roberts, a notable superintendent who fought for equality in the state’s most diverse school district.
Savitra McClurkin’s 11-year-old son was expelled from school after disarming and disassembling a gun his classmate brought to school. Now she’s fighting to get her son back into school.
Four guards have pleaded guilty to the murder of Robert Brooks, the Black inmate who was brutally beaten while handcuffed in December.
Read the full stories below:
Des Moines’ first Black superintendent detained by ICE; community protests
Protests erupted in Des Moines on Friday after the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Ian Roberts, superintendent for the city’s public schools.
“Free Dr. Roberts” chants and car horns were heard outside of the Neal Smith Federal Building, where ICE has an office.
According to the Des Moines Register, the Department of Homeland Security issued a “final order of removal” for Roberts in 2024, claiming that he was in the country illegally. According to ICE, he had a prior weapon possession charge, related to a hunting rifle, that the district was aware of, a district spokesperson told CNN. According to the Associated Press, court records show that Roberts pleaded guilty in 2022 to minor charge of unlawfully possessing a loaded firearm in a car. He was fined $100 plus court costs.
A spokesperson for the DHS alleges that when ICE attempted to arrest him, Roberts abandoned his car and fled from agents initiating a traffic stop. WHO 13 reports that he had a loaded gun, $3,000 in cash and a hunting knife in his vehicle.
The Iowa Department of Public Safety confirmed that it assisted ICE in locating Roberts. The 54-year-old is currently being held in the Pottawattamie County Jail, about two hours west of Des Moines. On Monday, the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners revoked Roberts’ administrator license.
Angie McKinley, a teacher for Des Moines Public Schools, told the Register that Roberts’ arrest is “disgusting” and “heartbreaking.”
“When they do something like this, it really does send a message to our community and to our students and to our families,” she said, “and I honestly think that this is mostly a tactic by higher people in government to make our community not safe, so I really want our students and our community to know that we are here with them, just like they are for Dr. Roberts.”
Roberts, who was born in Guyana, came to the U.S. in 1999 on a student visa. Roberts graduated as a star athlete from Coppin State University and represented Guyana as a track and field Olympian in 2000. He became a beloved figure in the community when he was hired as superintendent of the largest and most diverse district in Iowa. He is the first Black person to serve in the role, where he oversaw about 30,000 students and 5,000 employees.
Conservatives criticized Roberts’ work towards racial equality in the district, according to the New York Times. He previously served as superintendent of Millcreek Township School District in Pennsylvania.
Associate Superintendent Matt Smith will step up in the interim. DHS called Roberts a “criminal alien”; however, the local response says otherwise. At a press conference, school board president Jackie Norris called him “an integral part of our school community.”
A Michigan mother struggles to get her son back in school after he disassembled a gun he took from a classmate
A Michigan mother is fighting to get her son back in school after he was expelled for disarming a classmate who allegedly brought a firearm to school in May.
Savitra McClurkin’s 11-year-old son, Sakir Everett, says he took the gun away from a student at Dwight Rich School of the Arts. According to WILX, he disassembled it, threw the bullets away and didn’t tell an adult until later in the day.
Now McClurkin is struggling to get Sakir enrolled in another school.
“I’m upset with everybody,” McClurkin told NBC News. “I’m not just mad at the district, I’m mad at some of these teachers, administrators, as well as the city, because they did not handle this right.”
The Lansing School District issued a statement saying it had completed a “comprehensive investigation” that involved witnesses and a video review.
“After a thorough investigation, and in accordance with Michigan law regarding dangerous weapons on school property, the Lansing School District determined that expulsion was necessary,” the district told WILX in a statement.
Sakir told his mom that the unidentified student gave him the gun while in the bathroom. She said her son learned how to hunt from his grandfather.
“He didn’t want it on his person, but he didn’t want nobody to mess with it,” McClurkin told NBC.
Local tax preparer Catra Davis started a GoFundMe fundraiser for the family and described Sakir acted out of “courage and compassion” to prevent “what could have been an unimaginable tragedy.” The fundraiser has raised more than $57,000 of its $65,000 goal. The money is intended to help McClurkin as she stays home from work to homeschool her son.
Sakir is currently enrolled in a non-accredited program to continue his education. McClurkin shared on Facebook that the media attention and support they’ve received have given her hope.
“I am relieved that the incident report and transcript have finally been released, paving the way for my son to access an accredited alternative education program,” she posted. “While there is still work to be done to ensure his safety and well-being, I am heartened by the progress we have made and the potential for positive change on the horizon.”
Four prison guards plead guilty in beating death of Robert Brooks
Four prison guards pleaded guilty in the killing of a 43-year-old Black inmate in a prison in upstate New York.
Bodycam footage captured a group of guards brutally beating Robert Brooks while he was handcuffed at Marcy Correctional Facility on Dec. 9, according to The Associated Press. The video shows guards beating Brooks with a shoe and lifting him up by his neck and then dropping him while the inmate is restrained. He died hours later at a hospital in Utica.
Nicholas Anzalone and Anthony Farina pled guilty to first-degree manslaughter and will be sentenced to 22 years in prison on Nov. 21, AP reports. Sgt. Michael Mashaw and David Walters pled guilty to second-degree manslaughter in exchange for three to nine years in prison.
Ten individuals were charged in connection with Brooks’ murder, including nine correctional officers and a prison sergeant. Two guards entered guilty pleas in May.
Four other guards—David Kingsley, Nicholas Kieffer, Mathew Galliher and Michael Fisher—rejected plea deals and will go to trial, which begins Oct. 6, according to Syracuse.com. They face manslaughter and murder charges in the first and second degree, second-degree gang assault and first-degree offering a false instrument for filing. If convicted, these charges could result in three years to life in prison.
“We are grateful that the special prosecutor obtained these significant plea agreements,” Brooks’ son Robert Brooks Jr. said in a statement. “It is important to us to see my father’s killers publicly admit what they have done and face severe consequences.”
Brooks’ brother, Jared Ricks, told the local outlet that the pleas “help us know that some measure of justice is served.”
Brooks had been locked up on a 12-year sentence since 2017, when he was convicted of a first-degree assault charge. He was transferred to Marcy the same night he was beaten, AP reports.
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Brooklyn, Illinois, America’s oldest Black town, is fighting for its survival.
Alex O’Keefe, writer for “The Bear,” said he was handcuffed and detained after a white woman complained about how he was sitting on the train.
Belva Davis, the first Black woman to be hired as a television journalist on the West Coast, has died at 92.
Two Black men wrongfully accused of killing a white woman in 1989 received a $150,000 settlement from the city of Boston.
Tyra Banks will guest star in the upcoming season of “Bel-Air,” more than 30 years after her role in “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.”
Sheqweetta Vaughan’s family wants answers after her decaying body was found in a Georgia prison.
MAGA supporters holding racist signs were removed from Tennessee State University’s campus last week.
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