Nekima Levy Armstrong, the civil rights attorney and former NAACP Minneapolis boss who helped orchestrate that chaotic anti-ICE takeover at Cities Church in St. Paul on January 18, 2026, is out here comparing her short stint in handcuffs to slavery.
Yes, you read that right.
After federal agents arrested her on January 22 alongside Chauntyll Louisa Allen and William Kelly for conspiracy to violate constitutional rights and breaking the FACE Act, which protects folks from having their religious services hijacked, Armstrong decided to drop this gem:
"We had belly chains around our waist, and we had handcuffs with bars in the middle," she said in a public statement. "As someone who majored in African American Studies, I can tell you that that is the closest I ever felt to slavery in my life. Being shackled as if I was a slave."
Nekima Levy Armstrong
Then, as if that was not tone-deaf enough, she joked about turning her "ordeal" into a movie called "12 Seconds a Slave" - a twisted riff on the Oscar-winning "12 Years a Slave."
Because nothing says "respecting history" like trivializing the brutal, lifelong suffering of millions under the transatlantic slave trade by comparing it to a few minutes in standard police gear after you broke the law.
For context, Armstrong and her crew (along with Don Lemon and his crew) burst into Cities Church during Sunday morning worship, targeting Pastor Jason Meyer because he also works as the acting field director for the local ICE office. They chanted about Renee Good, waved banners calling Meyer complicit in "brutal conduct," blocked aisles, and shouted over the sermon, getting in the faces of the pastor and churchgoers.
Families with little kids had to endure the mess, and some even fled out a side door, and one woman fell and got hurt in the chaos. The feds say the liberal group "intimidated, harassed, oppressed, and terrorized" the congregation, cutting the service short.
But sure, the “real victim” here is the protester who stomped on the rights of normal Americans.
Armstrong, an “ordained minister” herself, has a long track record of leading protests and riots against police and immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities. She even ran for mayor of Minneapolis back in 2017.
Her defenders, like the NAACP, called the arrests a "gross abuse of power" and pushed for her quick release, which a judge granted on January 23.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Pam Bondi made it crystal clear: "We do not tolerate attacks on places of worship. We will protect our houses of worship."
Good. Because if we let radicals turn churches into political props without consequence, where does it end?
This whole episode just exposes the entitlement baked into far-left activism. Disrupt a sacred Christian space, scare innocent worshippers, break federal law, then cry “oppression” when you face justice.
Comparing that to slavery is delusional, and further shows the lack of real education, and the prevalence of serious mental illness, on the left.
Americans are tired of this nonsense. Protect our churches, enforce the law, and save the victim card for real injustices.