I am no journalist, no reporter, and also not inclined to repackage the uncomplicated and readily evident facts of the last few weeks from my home here in Minneapolis, pretending there’s some fresh angle or hot take you haven’t been privy to. You can believe your eyes when you see the videos of ICE agents murdering American citizens, full stop.
What I can do, what I want to do, is communicate to people back in my birth state of Iowa what it has felt like and looked like to be a human being bearing witness to the violent occupation of our city by our own federal government. My hope is this piece does not become a warning to you of things to come in your hometown, but rather a call for understanding, a simple human witness bearing a question: When the bottom falls out of your sense of safety here in America, where will you turn for help?
Right now, even as Border Patrol head agent Greg Bovino has been reassigned to terrorize other, far-off communities, and Trump officials have toyed with the notion of de-escalation, the city of Minneapolis is still gripped in fear and violence. With hundreds of Minneapolis friends in my daily feed, Facebook has become a horrific, up-to-the-moment litany of unlawful ICE offenses, raids, aggressive encounters and cries for help. Just minutes ago, a friend witnessed six black ICE SUVs tear through the parking lot of an elementary school outside his living room window.
As much as this administration relies upon a furiously revolving news cycle to “flood the rink” and try to change the subject, please know that Minneapolis today is every bit as anxious and threatened as these last several days have proven…