A protester who claims to have been arrested for exercising his First Amendment rights against the Trump administration spoke out to MSNBC's Jason Johnson on Friday.
The protester, Sam O'Hara, was briefly detained by the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C. for following behind National Guard troops Trump deployed to the city, blasting "The Imperial March," an iconic Star Wars track also known colloquially as Darth Vader's theme. The song is heavily associated in pop culture with villainy and totalitarianism.
O'Hara is now filing suit over his treatment by authorities.
"So first off, Sam, I want to thank you as both a D.C. resident and a Star Wars fan for what you've done," said Johnson. "I have followed you on social media. I was very, very impressed. I just — I want you to take us to that day, and how did it feel? I mean, you're playing music and essentially they come up to you and say, 'You're a member of the Rebel Alliance and a traitor, goodbye.' And they take you away."
"How did that feel?" Johnson pressed him. "Were you afraid? Did you feel comfortable because other people were around? What was that moment like?"
"Yeah. Thank you for having me. And you nailed it," said O'Hara. "I mean, that's that's kind of how it felt. It felt like they were upset with what I was doing as a form of protest. They threatened to call the MPD. And then the MPD did what they shouldn't have done, which is they stopped me, they handcuffed me."
"It felt surreal, dystopian, bad," he added. "It just felt real bad that this is where we are right now."