South Minneapolis dispatch
I'm really mad. And incredibly sad.
Greetings from Minneapolis. I wanted to take a moment away from my typical art-newsletter to share what I have seen and experienced in the past weeks. Indulge me.
Things are bad here in Minneapolis! Last week, ICE agents murdered Renee Nicole Good mere blocks from my home, in the front yard of a family from our church. Our longtime family friends live just up the block.
What has become glaringly obvious is the distortion of what is happening in Minneapolis in the media. We have had over 2,000 ICE agents (and counting) crawling driving recklessly through the Twin Cities. I see them everyday. ICE Agents are disregarding all of the rules and protocol and simply doing whatever the hell they feel like it because they have full support and immunity from the Federal Government. They claim to be here to arrest the worst of the worst. They claim to be here to end fraud, which is old news and has been working it’s way through the court system for years. Nevertheless, ICE Agents are going door-to-door, racial profiling, and kidnapping parents, teenagers, anyone who crosses their path.
Last week, mere hours after Renee Good was murdered, a convoy of ICE agents and Greg Bovino himself showed up at Roosevelt High School as school was being dismissed, tackling children, detaining at least one school staff member. Minneapolis Public Schools cancelled school to protect the kids from the dealings of the Federal Government.
Many immigrants have not left their house since the beginning of December. Our streets have been and increasingly are eerily quiet. Exception of the various helicopters that have been hovering over our house day and night for the past 6 days.
Many, many neighbors have been organizing to deliver groceries, give rides to work or school for neighbors who do not feel safe leaving their homes. I dropped off groceries for a family on Saturday on Portland Ave, about a mile north of where Renee Good was murdered. They told me one of their family members had been detained just that morning. As I was pulling out of the extremely icy driveway, my car got momentarily stuck on the ice, perpendicular to the street, on Portland Avenue. My first thought was, this was how it happened, this was how Renee Good died.
I began writing this update yesterday, and I got too mad and sad and had to go take a break. The sun was shining, it was 38 degrees, so I decided to take my dog for a walk. After walking a few minutes, I began to hear consistent honking and whistles blowing. I walked over to Chicago Ave and 35th where it was clear something was going on. 2 blocks away, I could see a group of 5-8 ICE SUVs blocking traffic and a crowd of observers was gathering. After conferring briefly with a few neighbors, we jumped into the busy intersection and started redirecting traffic (one-ways, freeway on ramp, etc.) to avoid anyone who turned onto 35th from getting into a massive traffic jam/ accidentally putting themself into harms way. It was me and 3 other middle white ladies (and my dog Beezus), just standing in the street, waving our arms around, politely informing drivers that ICE blocked the road, some kind of shit is going down, not really sure, but it would be safer and ultimately more convenient for you to drive in a different direction right now. While we were out there, another 9-12 SUVs filled with additional ICE agents flew into the intersection, nearly running over 2 of these women!
Meanwhile, dozens and dozens of neighbors came streaming out of their homes, businesses and cars, toward the action. It was chaotic, but it was also calm. What struck me in the moment is how many people I knew! A local artist, parents from school, neighbors. There was a disturbance, and at least 200 people stopped what they were doing and ran towards the action, to see how they could be helpful and to make sure that no harm was done. My neighbor across the street said he watched a teenager lob a snowball towards one of the ICE agents, which gave them permission to deploy chemical weapons and tear gas the entire crowd. I was a few blocks away and the air was spicy. Today my face and airways are still irritated and my eyes won’t stop watering. ICE cleared the area (again driving way too fast through residential streets) and observers dispersed.
I think the part of this entire situation that is so upsetting, is that this feels like terrorism. ICE is doing the opposite of safeguarding, which the claim to be doing. It’s a bunch of violent, fear-based, aggressive, politicized, bullshit, designed to villainize innocent people and is breaking apart families.
I spent my sophomore year of college living in Ecuador, in a tiny town outside of Quito. Each Wednesday, we drove out of our tiny town, into the mountains where we spent the afternoon playing with this community of about 100 kids. They were earthy, poor, but happy kids and I think about them often. In the past 3 years, Minneapolis has recieved a significant influx of families to our neighborhood from Ecuador as their country has become an untenable place to live. No longer children, I often wonder if any of these kids ended up in Minnesota.
Yes, this country has systematic, legal, bureaucratic immigration issues that could improve! This chaos is certainly not adding to the cause!
I have been so angry at how silent (or outright hostile) the church has been around the treatment of immigrants in this country. When I was growing up in the Evangelical Church, becoming a missionary in a different country was this important, glorified, selfless, position. However, those same people coming to us is somehow terrible?
My great-great grandparents also took huge journeys and risks to come to this country and did not speak the language and I hope that they had kind neighbors who helped them feel less alien in a new place. I have no idea what the path to citizenship looked like in 1900 but I bet it wasn’t too hard. Just because we got here first doesn’t make us more righteous. A person’s legal status in this country does not define their dignity and worth. We have enough to share.
My daughter has a classmate from Ecuador who said her family walked here. (3 kids under the age of 5 in the family at the time).
I know another woman who came to Minnesota from Ecuador by herself - pregnant with a three year old. They rode a bus for a month just to get to the border. I cannot imagine the fear, the desperation, the tenacity, and resolve it would take to leave home with small children and essentially backpack across South America looking for a better life. These young families are not the enemy.
Amidst my outrage, I have had much hope and profound love for this neighborhood.
On Thursday night, I walked over to the vigil for Renee Good. Thousands of neighbors stood in the icy streets.
On Saturday afternoon, I walked up to Powderhorn Park to protest. There was a MASSIVE turnout, 10,000 people +++. Brass Solidarity played (below). Danza Ketzal danced. Somali hoyas (mothers) passed out food to the masses. People marched, and sang, and protested. The atmosphere was joyful and jubilant.
how you can help:
Bancroft grocery support fund. Our diverse elementary school PTO has been organizing food deliveries for families that cannot leave their homes. The PTO has partnered with a neighborhood Mexican grocery store so that families can call the store, buy groceries (billed to the PTO!) and have the food delivered.
Bancroft housing support fund. One small way we can make a difference is to ensure that folks have their basic needs met during this time; food, medications, shelter, and transportation. A group of South Minneapolis community members have come together to ensure that families can keep their lights on. All funds raised will go to covering the costs of housing and utilities for Bancroft Elementary families.
Legal help for a detained father: A father of two Bancroft students was taken by ICE in Minneapolis on his way home from dropping his kids off at school last Wednesday 12/10. His four children and wife are left devastated and uncertain in his absence, and, denied the income from his employment, need financial help. Since his detention, he has been moved around several times and is currently being kept in Oklahoma. The family needs help paying for a lawyer in Oklahoma to help get him home. All funds will go towards the family's legal costs.
BIG SPREADSHEET of Mutual Aid links and ways to get involved. Lots of tabs!
This spreadsheet was compiled by a friend at church who said “I am too anxious to go to protests and have a toddler at home, so I wanted to use my skills as a project manager to pull together a few resources” and WOW did they deliver! We are all bringing our gifts.
Mpls Mutual Aid clearing house of mutual aid and resources for our neighbors
resources for discussions with kids:
This has been a hard season to parent through! My kids are old enough to hear a lot of things, but not quite old enough to understand the nuance. I’ve compiled some links and have also compiled them here as a Google Doc and will add to it in the coming days and weeks. Feel free to add to the list if you have good resources and share widely.
Talking to Kids About Immigration Enforcement in their Communities (from Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles)
Discussing Police Brutality, Violence, and Protests with Young Children (from Trying Together)
How to Support Children who have Witnessed ICE or Police Violence (via mamasmatterhere on IG)
ICE in Our Neighborhood (a social story to support preschool teachers, for 3-5 year olds)
If you live near, I am glad to be in this fight together. If you live far, hold us in your hearts and please consider donating. Call your representatives. Talk to your neighbors. Talk to your church. We can do better, but only together. FUCK ICE.
xoxo,
Laura
P.S. I’m turning the comments off but I’d love to hear from you.
but wait, there’s more!:
