The name of Pierre Damas Bel has all but vanished from the news. Our degraded era’s 24-hour multiple screen scrolling and stimulation has seen to that, and the hourly cruelty and encompassing ugliness of this Administration has eroded our ability to keep track of its victims.
He was 20 years old when he stepped in front of a tractor trailer on Interstate 70. Do you remember 20? Even if you were loved and safe and had a purpose, you struggled with the pressure of expectations, the uncertainties of your choices, the confusing mix of your desires. But Pierre Damas Bel was 20, a junior ROTC member, an honors student at Wright State University in neuroscience and Haitian* and black. He came to the US legally in 2024.
Enter the masked agents of ICE who, in July, compelled him to wear an ankle monitor, the first step prior to deportation. Pierre Damas Bel made repeated requests to have the monitor removed. ICE said No to all of them. He felt ashamed. He felt humiliated. He was terrified of being deported. He saw no exit. He was 20. Do you remember 20?
Maybe we can remember his name now.
*300,000 Haitians, refugees from a collapsed State, lost their Temporary Protected Status in July.
