People power is real

Take a moment to savor that

Minneapolis is still under siege by federal agents, and there is no sign that the Trump administration is repudiating its cruel and barbaric immigration policies. But the Trumpers are on the defensive now. They’ve defenestrated Border Patrol brute Greg Bovino. They’re backing away from (and blaming each other for) the outrageous lies they initially spread about Border Patrol shooting victim Alex Pretti.

The dynamic has shifted, and “Operation Metro Surge” has effectively failed.

It’s an extraordinary victory for the residents of the Twin Cities – and for the resistance.

And while it’s far from over, it is proof that people power is not theoretical, it is real. It can force change. It can alter the course of history.

It has also inspired some marvelous writing.

If you haven’t already, you should read Atlantic staff writer Adam Serwer’s essay on how “Minnesota proved MAGA wrong.” He wrote:

The federal surge into Minneapolis reflects a series of mistaken MAGA assumptions. The first is the belief that diverse communities aren’t possible: “Social bonds form among people who have something in common,” Vance said in a speech last July. “If you stop importing millions of foreigners into the country, you allow social cohesion to form naturally.” Vance’s remarks are the antithesis to the neighborism of the Twin Cities, whose people do not share the narcissism of being capable of loving only those who are exactly like them.

A second MAGA assumption is that the left is insincere in its values, and that principles of inclusion and unity are superficial forms of virtue signaling. White liberals might put a sign in their front yard saying IMMIGRANTS WELCOME, but they will abandon those immigrants at the first sensation of sustained pressure.

And in Trump’s defense, this has turned out to be true of many liberals in positions of power—university administrators, attorneys at white-shoe law firms, political leaders. But it is not true of millions of ordinary Americans, who have poured into the streets in protest, spoken out against the administration, and, in Minnesota, resisted armed men in masks at the cost of their own life.

“There is no such thing as other people’s children”, Minneapolis resident Erik Hane wrote for the Hell World newsletter:

They made a mistake in picking Minneapolis. They came here believing that the same old lines of division that animate their entire political project—race, culture, class—would be reason enough to keep people in their homes while they went about their violent work. Instead we are out there in every place they are, showing them that every person in this city is one of our own, that there is no such thing as other people’s children, that collectively we are not afraid of staring them in the eye. They can sense this. We can see them re-running calculations in their heads, every time we turn them away by being willing to stand there, get in the way, observe and document their evil. This enrages them. As we saw this morning, they are now killing us for it….

ICE is feverishly looking for some top-down reason this is happening. They are trying to infiltrate, but you cannot infiltrate a city’s collective character. They want to find the “orchestrators,” the “paid activists,” the political professionals scheming up the city’s response to their crimes. They won’t find any, because there are none. It’s parents worried about the safety of their daycare and schools. It’s neighbors worried about the family down the street. It’s anyone with a conscience—which is to say, it is everyone. And we are going to win.

Writer and activist Rebecca Solnit wrote in her must-read newsletter about how “This Cold Winter, Love Is a Superpower”:

One of the striking developments about the extremism of Trumpian violence, lying, and abuse of power is its recruitment power – but for the opposition. A lot of mild-mannered moderates are now ferociously against ICE, the attack on immigrants, and in some cases the whole Trump Administration. Each attack of a constituency is a recruitment drive – against the administration, both by those in the constituency and those who care about its members, be it women serving in the military, or federal workers trying to do their job ethically, or medical professionals, or scientists, or educators….

They have made a massive gamble, and I believe they are losing that gamble. One part of it is as I have written before about the nature of power itself: that they have most or all of it, because they do not understand the powers of civil society and the power of nonviolent resistance and noncooperation. Another part is about human nature; they seem to assume that most of us are selfish and timid and will not resist once we see their capacity to dominate and do violence, that we do not care about anything much beyond our individual selves, or that we will see them as winners and admire winning so much we’ll come on over…. [T]hey suffer from failure of imagination. The thing they cannot imagine is us.

Former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama released statements after the shooting death of Pretti. Obama wrote that “every American should support and draw inspiration from the wave of peaceful protests in Minneapolis and other parts of the country. They are a timely reminder that ultimately it’s up to each of us as citizens to speak out against injustice, protect our basic freedoms, and hold our government accountable.”

But, surprisingly, it was Clinton’s statement that soared, and met the moment:

In recent weeks, we’ve watched horrible scenes play out in Minneapolis and other communities that I never thought would take place in America. People, including children, have been seized from their homes, workplaces, and the street by masked federal agents. Peaceful protesters and citizens exercising their constitutional right to observe and document law enforcement have been arrested, beaten, teargassed, and most searingly, in the cases of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, shot and killed.

All of this is unacceptable and should have been avoided. To make matters even worse, at every turn, the people in charge have lied to us, told us not to believe what we’ve seen with our own eyes, and pushed increasingly aggressive and antagonistic tactics, including impeding investigations by local authorities.

Over the course of a lifetime, we face only a few moments where the decisions we make and the actions we take will shape our history for years to come. This is one of them. If we give our freedoms away after 250 years, we might never get them back.

It is up to all of us who believe in the promise of American democracy to stand up, speak out, and show that our nation still belongs to We the People.

More worthy reads (and one listen):

• In an Atlantic essay titled “Welcome to the American Winter,” Robert F. Worth chronicled the “meticulous urban choreography of civic protest.”

• Kerry Howley wrote for New York about “Your Friendly Neighborhood Resistance.” Her conclusion: “The impulse to drive hostile invaders from your home lives in your body in a place too deep to name.”

• “The People of Minnesota Are Stronger Than the Federal Government That Seeks to Break Us,” activist and St. Paul resident Molly Coleman wrote in the Balls & Strikes newsletter.

• “Minneapolis May Be Trump’s Gettysburg,” wrote New York Times opinion columnist Jamelle Bouie.

• “Minnesota is the Beginning of an American Color Revolution,” wrote economist Paul Krugman. “Do Americans really have what it takes?” he asked. “Yes, they do — in Minnesota and, I believe, in the rest of the country.”

• Bruce Springsteen has released a new song called “Streets of Minneapolis.” “It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.”

Minneapolis as a Model

No reasonable person wants the horrible things that happened in Minneapolis to happen again anywhere. But is there a Minneapolis model for the resistance?

National security expert Juliette Kayyem sparked a fascinating conversation on that topic on Bluesky. Here’s the thread. Here are excerpts:

Kayyem: “I have begun to think that Minnesota pushback to ICE was unique and a model because it gave people something to do. It wasn’t about just going out in streets for rallying purposes. People had a mission: videos, whistles, information and communication flow to communities. They had something to do.”

Ezra Levin, co-founder of Indivisible: “100%. I honestly believe political leaders ask too little of people. The thinking is you need an extraordinarily low bar - so ask people for money or to sign something. People want to be part of something and they’re eager to do real meaningful work in defense of their community and their rights. The political system largely treats people like small-dollar ATMs that vote every 2 years. Everybody gets deluged with emails asking for money. It feeds cynicism and burnout. Rarely do you get a ‘help me organize our community’ email. We were founded in no small part out of utter disgust at how the political ecosystem responded to Trump’s first election. Lots of fundraising emails and bullshit. All our digital comms has been built to be as close to the antithesis of that that we can manage.”

Civil rights icon Sherrilyn Ifill: “Correct.”

Levin: “The smothering out of the obama grassroots energy is my roman empire - I think about it all the time. I was an idealistic recent college grad and I remember a massive celebration call for volunteers after the win with a promise to continue the momentum. Then...nothing. We got the Tea Party instead.”

Bluesky poster Matt Jordan: “This reminded me of how, at a certain point in his campaign, Mayor Mamdani asked people to stop donating money and start volunteering time, which lead to a historic number of door knocks across the five boroughs.”

Giving people a lot of concrete things to do, in their communities, seems like the key. Indivisible is particularly focused on that goal.

So What’s Next?

The National Nurses United union is holding a national week of action, including vigils every night this week, “to honor Pretti and all who have been murdered by ICE, as well as demand that Congress vote to immediately abolish this violent, racist, and lawless agency that poses a dire public health threat to all of our communities.”

The grassroots group 50501, among others, is calling for a National Shutdown on Friday, along the lines of the mass action last Friday in the Twin Cities. It’s intended to be a day of “no school, no work and no shopping.” But so far I see little indication it will reach critical mass, at least outside the Twin Cities.

Minneapolis ICE protesters were chanting on Tuesday: “Shut it down for Alex, shut it down for Renee, shut it down for every immigrant terrorized. Shut it down until ICE is no longer on our streets!”

Student unions and campus labor organizations at the University of Minnesota are calling for a second general strike, complete with walkouts, teach-ins, and coordinated protests at federal facilities.

The Next No Kings Day: March 28

Mark your calendars: the next No Kings Day will be March 28. There will be a flagship event in the Twin Cities.

In the meantime, Indivisible announced:

The No Kings coalition will be running ongoing ICE watch trainings to prepare as many Americans as possible to non-violently protect themselves and their neighbors from an increasingly fascist secret police. Our first Eyes on ICE training brought in over 200,000 people. We hope to train millions….

Though we will be fundraising to help cover the costs of No Kings Day, today we encourage you to donate to a mutual aid group in your area.

Join a local group — an Indivisible group or another local organizing hub, to build community and protect your neighbors.

It Wasn’t Just Minneapolis

Organizers say a staggering 50,000 people attended the massive rally and march in downtown Minneapolis on Friday that took place despite subzero temperatures.

The next morning, the brazen and unprovoked killing of observer Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents galvanized crowds across the nation.

As the Guardian reported, there were large protests on Saturday afternoon and evening not just in Minneapolis but also in New York City, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Boston, Providence, Rhode Island, and elsewhere.

This was the scene in Chicago, New York, and Washington.

And there was a significant act of civil disobedience in New York on Tuesday. The Associated Press reported that “Dozens of protesters were arrested Tuesday after they occupied the lobby of a Hilton Garden Inn in Manhattan, accusing the hotel of housing federal immigration officers.”

Is Maine the Next Minnesota?

ICE invaded Maine a week ago – another blue state with a significant Somali population.

Gov. Janet Mills said on Thursday that ICE’s presence was disrupting schools and businesses, and she complained that federal agencies are keeping her in the dark.

The New York Times reported on Tuesday that “anxiety and anger were palpable” in Portland.

On Friday, protesters gathered in a Portland square to demand “ICE out of Maine.”

Maine’s attorney general declared that “With the federal government now surging federal agents into Maine under the banner of immigration enforcement, evidence of constitutionally-deficient, excessive, and intimidating enforcement tactics is quickly emerging in our own state.”

The office set up a dedicated email address for Mainers to share information about possible civil rights violations.

The Maine Monitor reported that “A federal agent fired paintball-like projectiles at the cars of at least two people observing them in a Home Depot parking lot on Friday.”

And human rights activist Faisal Khan told Maine Morning Star that “more and more people are waking up; more and more people are speaking out, not only in protest but really showing support to the marginalized communities that are being targeted right now.”

She added: “There is an effort in this country to define who belongs and who does not… to convince people that if it is not happening to them, it is not their problem. But here is what they miscalculated: they underestimated community. They underestimated neighbors who will drive each other to work. They underestimated networks that would deliver groceries. They underestimated people who refused to look away.”