Minneapolis (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – What’s happening in Minneapolis did not begin with the killing of Renee Good. Or rather, Good’s killing only enflamed a city already outraged at how their neighbors were mistreated.
In a time when others are targeted, Minneapolis did not look away. This is what leading with love looks like.
This love stands in harsh contrast to the actions of their opponents. That cold organization has killed a woman, shot a man, arrested children and has sent whole families to the hospital. Then this organization has subpoenaed employee data at Hennepin Healthcare because heaven forbid the person saving lives is an immigrant. Then there are those at the Justice Department who are actively undercutting Minnesota’s efforts for justice for Renee Good. Those who are not allowing state representatives access to centers in the very state those representatives represent. Instead, the Justice Department has launched an investigation of the mayor who told ICE to get the fuck out of Minneapolis. At the same time, the federal government has threatened to starve Minnesota by cutting off SNAP, WIC and other USDA funded programs as retribution. Now, there is talk of withholding federal funding for all sanctuary cities.
The FBI has offered a $100,000 reward for information related to vandalism but when the Hortmans and their dog were gunned down by a rightwing fascist impersonating a police officer, the FBI offered $50,000 for information related to their murders, meaning that murdered Minnesotan legislators matter less than a little petty theft. The list goes on and on. The aim of these efforts, according to the international business times, has been to make an example out of Minnesota.
Instead, Minnesota has made an example of the administration. The Mayor of Minneapolis asked residents to respond with love and integrity and that is what the city and the state has done before and after Good’s murder. That love looked like Good and others like her standing with whistles against men with guns in order to protect their immigrant neighbors. This love looks like more people stepping up after Good’s death.
This love means over a million dollars raised for Good’s family after her murder. This love means obstructing efforts to arrest Minnesotans through whistles, car horns, and ones own body. It means gathering and delivering more 12,000 boxes of groceries to those in hiding. It means teachers and students putting themselves on the line to keep each other safe. It means schools closing and going remote. It means hospital staff and nonprofits spending hours intervening to assure a patient is not detained. It means when a group of restaurant workers put out a request for other restaurant workers to gather their zoom crashes because over 3,000 people try to sign on at once. This is how Minnesota has responded to the intimidation of their neighborhoods and the killing of one of their own.
ICE has responded by continuing their violence against immigrants and activists, threatening “obstructors” and referring to the woman they murdered as a “lesbian bitch. ”In response, Outfront MN Director Kat Rohn noted, “There may be 3,000 of them here but there are a hell of a lot more of us.”
Ice Agent who killed Renee Good. Enhanced. Public Domain. Via Wikimedia Commons.
And though Minnesota has a target on its back and Minneapolis, more so, they are not alone. Minneapolis has always been a twinned city, reaching out to Saint Paul, whose children called their own strike and march and like the mighty Mississippi that defines these two, what happens here will seep into the little rural marshes, flow into other Midwestern towns and thunder through the nation. It is already rumbling through the Pine Ridge reservation that refuses to grant ICE access after three of their members were abducted in Minnesota and are now missing.
Now, a rightwing influencer and a hate group are set to descend over the weekend to antagonize a city and a state that has seen their representatives killed by right wing extremists, their neighbors kidnapped and murdered by federal agents and been threatened with “retribution” by someone who claims to lead their nation.
I am angry. I am afraid. I am more than proud.
This is love in action and this love is messy and this love is angry. This love is Minnesotan.
If you would like to help you can find a list of organizations to support or boycott below. Also please support local Minnesota news organizations whose hard work informing their community and the world informs this article.
- Immigrant Defense Network – coalition of 90+ groups organizing rapid response and collecting evidence.
- Immigrant Law Center of MN – free immigration legal representation to low-income immigrants and refugees.
- Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) – education and protest organizing.
- Monarca MN – training and phone hotline.
- Unidos MN – education, protests, advocacy.
- Center for Victims of Torture
- Second Harvest Heartland
- GoFundMe for Supporting ICE Victims
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