I have been very annoying online this weekend.
When I see people pounding their chests about how Philly, New York, Boston, or any other city would deal with ICE better than "Minneapolis" , dump them in a river, riot, shoot them, etc., I mostly just feel sad. When they mix in "LA would fuck them up" I get mad, because of course LA was fucked up by ICE, continues to be fucked up by ICE, and fucks them up in turn - and then they taught us what to do, as did Chicago, Charlotte, Portland, and all the others. It's true there's no one way to resist ICE, but it's also true that this occupation is not one that can be resolved by a sports-style riot.
If you've never experienced the way authoritarian police forces pacify an uprising, then I understand how this sort of mindset may seem reasonable, even supportive of Minneapolis. Who doesn't love a little trash talk? The problem is that if you've only experienced policing of large crowds during sports championships and violent dispersal of individual protests, you don't really understand what you are going to be facing when ICE comes to town, particularly not an ICE that has experienced one of their own shooting a white female citizen in broad daylight, filmed from multiple angles including by the killer himself, and being not just protected by the regime but praised. They can kill us and get away with it. They know this. That they may have been instructed via email memo to try to not to does not change that basic fact. And I can tell you from interacting with them that they also want to kill us.
If you find yourself wondering what the issue is with jokes like this:
Then, please listen when I tell you: the issue is that this sort of response tells me that the bone chilling terror that I am feeling, that we are feeling, is for ourselves and also for you. Because the truth is that ICE has not failed to pacify Minnesota. (Not Minneapolis: Minnesota.) They may still fail. I am determined to make it so. But while they remain here, innocent people will still be taken. And people, like Victor Manuel Diaz, will die. So, no, not being "Minnesota nice" won't save you. More importantly, it won't save your neighbors. What will save us all is this: getting organized.
In that vein, my unwanted and unasked-for advice is this: take a training. Talk to your friends and family, get them to take trainings too. Get a whistle. Map your city: what businesses and churches will help? Where is ICE likely to stay? What public servants, NGOs, and private individuals should you be paying attention to for information on where need is? What will your role be: school support? Food? Laundry? Other forms of aid? Rapid response? Foot patrol? Plan for it and make sure you're living a life that supports increased activity during the time you plan to commit. Practice recording, practice whistling, practice recording and whistling, practice recording and asking for someone's name.
Take this seriously. And then, when I know we are both ready to die to save our neighbors from a concentration camp and the world from an unbounded fascist America, I will tell you to get the fuck out of here, "Minnesota nice" means you're mean as a snake, you'd climb one of them greased poles to get away from the average Lutheran's "oh, how interesting".
We're not the best at committing to going to church, but we went this weekend. Because Monday is MLK Day, we listened to his quotes, sang Lift Every Voice and Sing, and prayed for racial justice. Because Minnesota is occupied by roving KKK posses, we listened to a sermon about the value of human life: preserving it, and giving your own when called to, in times of great crisis. The Civil Rights Movement and World War Two both demanded the sacrifice of Christians of conscience. Our pastor reminded us of this, and said that he is ready to lay down his life to save his neighbors.
I had to go to the bathroom to cry at one point. But, yes, so all Christians must be, if we want to call ourselves children of God. We're commanded to love our neighbor and this is what that looks like.
Trump might deploy 1500 Alaskan paratroopers to Minnesota. Trump might blow up NATO. Trump might blow up NATO, as in, start World War III.
Chuck Schumer's still gonna confirm his judges, though.
More and more I am convinced that our current political system doesn't just enable, foster, or perpetuate tolerance for authoritarianism in law enforcement, but requires it. Not because of the inherent violence of racial capital (though, that too), but because of our minoritarian bicameral legislative system. Our representatives pass legislation by weighing truly heinous tradeoffs against one another. Kill some people by cutting funding here, or save them and kill some other people by bumping the Pentagon's budget. Starve children for transit funding or asphyxiate children for SNAP funding. etc.
I suspect that in the minds of many (not all, but many) Congressional Democrats, this is just one more tradeoff: ICE is an unaccountable police force, they tell themselves, but then again, the next guy in charge of them will be ours, if we win, and we only win by doing what voters want, and voters want ICE. ICE killed Renee Good and JD Vance told America to thank him for it, but some undocumented people rape or murder others, so maybe it's a tradeoff, maybe she's an acceptable sacrifice. etc.
This moral dissociation is our doom. The only remedy is insisting upon the inherent and unassailable value of every single human life.
We did mutual aid work this weekend.
A woman in Costco looked at our carts full of food and sanitary supplies for our neighbors and said, "If you're doing what I think you're doing, then I owe you a thank you." Our cashier said something similar, then told us about assistant managers running off ICE, how dead the store has been with so many people scared to go outside, how disgusting he thinks all of this is.
The food drive was beautiful and galvanizing. I am proud of my neighbors.
A few stories from a support-local-businesses-and-for-God's-sake-eat-something tour of lunch spots:
While I was waiting for my Thai food, a guy breezed in, grabbed his pickup order, and said on the way out, "I just want you guys to know this is so awful, I'm so sorry."
At our favorite taqueria, they unlocked and re-locked the door for each customer. We met a man, a self-described Bernie Democrat, who'd hugged one of the workers and asked her to lead him to the back door, which had been damaged in a way that indicated someone had tried to force it open. We spoke to him for a bit about his life and work. He owns a construction company.
In the suburbs, eating Indian food, we heard a woman telling the owners very loudly that she wanted to leave them a large tip because she is sorry about what is happening.
ICE abducted two parents and left their child, sobbing, to be consoled by a school bus driver. ICE fired a tear gas canister into a car, nearly killing a 6 month old baby. ICE Is proud of their work, and the DOJ does not plan to investigate Jonathan Ross.
Children and their parents are locked inside, unable to do laundry, shop, go to work, go to school, or even go for a walk. The food drive included requests for tapioca for colada, hot sauce, cinnamon, oregano, tortillas.
Oh, and a Nazi came to town. Our Somali neighbors did not blink, and neither did we.
My eyes are grainy all the time now. My nose hurts because I have a fucked-up bloody crusty booger situation that I can't stay out of the cold long enough to allow to heal. My hands shake if I think for too long about a stranger's kindness. I do not trust anyone driving until I do, and then I trust them with my life.
We're all ready for the work that must continue.
