Now — still!— in the Twin Cities, there are thousands of people who are living in hiding, terrified (justifiably so) of an authoritarian secret police kidnapping them off the street because of the way they look.
For these people, full-on fascism is already here. Still.
MPR shares their voices:
Throughout the story of the ICE invasion of Minneapolis, it’s been the helpers who’ve most captured international attention: the people keeping watch, the people delivering groceries, the people marching and raising their voices. There’s a lot of us.
Mr. Rogers said “look for the helpers,” and yes, that’s good advice. But in this case, it needs a second thought: don’t look so hard for the helpers that you forget the people we’re helping.
The ICE invasion has served a sinister goal: it has rendered whole swaths of our community invisible. All the people hiding at home, all the businesses closed (temporarily…we hope), they’ve disappeared from the public face of our city.
Right now, Minneapolis •looks• a lot whiter than it is.
But those people in hiding •are• here. We the helpers are putting ourselves on the line because we •want• them here. They are our neighbors. They are our community.
Please don’t let ICE erase them from public life. Hear their voices.
It was when ICE murdered some of those helpers that our city catapulted to the front of global news.
But •who• were they helping? Don’t forget them.
We’re not just here to get justice for Renee Good and Alex Pretti. We’re here to get justice for all the people they died trying to protect.
ICE hasn’t gone; they’re just finding ways to operate that are less visible, finding targets with fewer eyes watching:
https://sahanjournal.com/immigration/mobile-home-parks-immigration-enforcement-ice-minnesota/
Don’t forget the people ICE is targeting. Don’t let them become invisible.
Paul Cantrell
Lintra
decapitae