Monique Judge - The Root




I stan a queen. Don’t you?

Rihanna has been busy basking in the glory of her successful Fenty business ventures, leaving her fans eagerly awaiting new music or some sort of sign that their president still loves them.

She bestows that love in the form of a hot lingerie brand, cosmetics people can’t wait to get their hands on, and that classic, no filter Rihanna opinion that she dispenses every now and then.

Recently, the Bajan queen took to Instagram to express her feelings on the recent attack officials at the U.S./Mexico border launched against members of the migrant caravan seeking asylum.

In case you have not been paying attention, tear gas was launched into a crowd of people—including children. Photographs of the incident have been widely shared, with images of families with crying children in tow attempting to flee the noxious gas.

As The Root’s Anne Branigin described it, it was an “unprecedented and unspeakably cruel act.” These people aren’t attacking our country, they are seeking asylum—and there is nothing illegal about that.

Rihanna posted a screenshot of a tweet from a reporter with the Associated Press which read: “US Border Patrol has just launched tear gas into Mexico. Breeze carrying it hundreds of yards. Parents running away with choking toddlers. #migrantcaravan”

It was a brief and apt description of what happened. Rihanna captioned it with one word: Terrorism.



Because in the end, that is exactly what it is. The U.S. has a strong history with racial terrorism, and this incident is nothing different. To strike fear in and deter migrants from trying to come here and escape the violence and poor conditions of their home countries, the Trump administration has decided that the best course of action is to launch chemical warfare against children. And this is when they are not locking those same children up in cages and separating them from their families.

The act was inexcusable and should be considered terrorism. That this administration and its leader feel no shame in attacking families with children should be a scary note for us all.

If they do it them, what will they do to you?