MINNEAPOLIS IS MY HOME

Obviously, I've been struggling to write here. For quite a while, it was the free-floating confusion and terror that we're all inundated with on a daily basis. 

But now, that's all changed.

Because it isn't abstract, anymore. Not for a while, now (I've lost track of time). I don't get a choice of whether or not and when I do or don't deal with that, anymore. 

Since "Operation Metro Surge" began in Minneapolis, I've been trying to describe the utter insanity of existence here. Trying to find a way to express it in words, and failing (While also realizing that whatever "fear and uncertainty" I'm feeling personally is diddly shit compared to what the immigrant/ non-white community in the entire state is experiencing). Waiting for the next awful thing that you are 100% sure is on its way. Not "if", but when. All day, every day, for weeks.

I almost had one of these things written and ready to send when I heard (extra) choppers overhead, and spent the remainder of the evening listening to flashbangs explode a mile from my house (while watching them explode live on the news. 2 blocks from a pal's house), hoping that, yet again, my city would exhibit the truly immeasurable restraint necessary to not have this thing completely explode (It did. Amazingly, because you do NOT fuck with the North Side). That was the second ICE shooting, that week.

The first was Renee Nicole Good. Got that text from a friend who lives 3 blocks away.

And Alex Pretti? On Saturday? That was a block from my old job, the one I had for 14 years. I've stood in that exact spot where he was killed more times than I can count.

I truly cannot express how fucked up it is here, right now.

In Minneapolis, the city where I live and work, and bring my daughter to school. And In my entire state.

I was talking to a friend last night and I said "man, It's hard to talk to people who aren't here right now". Not out of anger, just because it's so hard to wrap your head around, or explain.

I can't hope to get this right, but I'm doing it anyway.

I can sit and describe to you how the streets are sort of empty– people are afraid to leave their houses. How many of the immigrant owned businesses on Central Ave that used to be open are now either closed or need to have someone stationed outside, to let you in. How folks I know, who are and have been legal residents of the United States, are justifiably terrified that they will, at the very least, get hassled by masked dudes with guns, and at worst, be carted off to a facility that will not allow anyone in to see the actual conditions under which people are being held. And then hell knows where from there.

The most basic civil rights of American citizens are being ignored, pepper sprayed, and shit upon.

And people who try to simply record those abuses are then being intimidated and targeted, by masked dudes with guns who have shown that they are willing to use them with deadly force, and that if they do (under, it seems, any circumstance that arises) they have complete immunity and will face no repercussions, as stated BY OUR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. People all over the country and the world can decide to choose whether or not they believe that this is being done without due cause, or warrants, or any legal basis.

See? Everyone in the USA gets to decide if they "think any of that is true" or not. 

Here, it's not an "opinion": it's reality, every day.

You get to wonder if this really is the federal government taking over an entire state by fear, intimidation, and unlawful force.

You get to wonder if, really, these agents are simply legally and ethically gathering "illegals and criminals". If this actually IS the "immigration enforcement" that they claim. We don't get to wonder that: we just get to see and experience what's happening in our city. And that is absolutely, 100%, not what they are doing. Not from the moment they arrived.

Because, the moment they arrived, my entire city went dark. 

We had a force of 1200 heavily armed, masked and unidentifiable people roaming our streets. They shot a US citizen in the head, under (for christ's sakes, the "fucking bitch" at the end doesn't muddy the waters for countless millions of Americans?) incredibly suspect and deeply dubious circumstances AT THE VERY BEST, and completely shut down not only any dissenting opinion, but any normal legal outside investigation. Then an hour later they hit a HIGH SCHOOL. Kids got tear gassed. This isn't "spin" or "opinion", these are facts.

And then they sent in 1800 MORE AGENTS? So they outnumber our entire police force by 5 to 1? 

And we still can't get them to leave. Or slow down. Or anything, really. So they shoot another "dangerous criminal" in the leg (who, turns out, was guilty of driving without a license a while back, so I guess there's your answer). And accuse an entire state of being paid radical leftists? And that WE aren't "lowering the temperature"? 

And then they kill another man in the street?

We can't get them to simply back off, and remove the terror from our streets. We cant get them to identify themselves, or obey the legal and constitutional laws of the country they are claiming to represent.

And, apparently, we have no recourse. They just keep rolling.

When my elected officials (some of whom I have normal "I disagree with you in a way that does not require me to utterly destroy you" issues, but feel like they've stepped the hell up here) and MY POLICE FORCE (who, frankly, have also conducted themselves with amazing hands-off tactics, given that they've had to mop up these thugs messes every day, and often take the heat for their bullshit) describe this as "an occupation" and an "invasion", people not here get to decide if they think that feels true or not. If it's histrionics and "incendiary language".

Again, we do not have that option. For everyone I know (and every local news outlet), that's just an accurate, objective description of the situation we are experiencing, in real life and in real time.

And I will not be anyone's lefty, liberal, agitator, or "democrat". I am none of those things, very much on purpose. But I guess people can decide that if they want, too.

Folks, this is absolutely insane. 

The levels of fear here is affecting everyone I know, and they are hanging on by a thread. "Normal life" is a thing you can pull off for very, very brief periods, if at all. And it takes effort. You wake up (after shitty sleep) and think "wait, is this real? This can't be real." And then it is. Again.

And people: I AM A WHITE GUY. I'm not the "target", here. This is meant to keep ME safe?

The hard part to express to people who aren't here is; you are watching the news, or your phone, through whatever portal you choose, about what is happening here in Minnesota. And, viewing that information, you get to decide how you feel about it. What you think, what you don't think. Because we're all Americans, and that's how it's always been. We're "free to do that", right?

But here? We no longer have that option. About our home. The place we live.

I mean, we do, but it means fucking nothing. Because this administration simply decided it doesn't. First Amendment. Second. Fourth. Tenth. Maybe more.

The utter insanity of— why Minnesota, for the largest immigration "surge" ever? That choosing Minnesota ISN'T simply political reprisal, enacted on an entire populace? Or just a bid to push us until we crack, bend, or explode? The feeling here is: we said what our wishes are. Our State government. Our local government. The people who live here. Our police force.

It's pure crazy, and worse.

There is crime in Minneapolis. And fraud. Obviously (like every fucking person I know), I don't like those things, and would like less of both. But those things did not cause me and everyone I know to live in a constant state of fear and anxiety, for your neighbors and yourself, all day every day. These 3000 agents have absolutely done that. On purpose, and– believe what you want– by design. And every LEGAL lever my state attempts to use is immediately countered with more abject craziness and straight up lies.

Here's the thing that I want to make sure I say: I have never, ever been prouder of my city, my state, and my community than I am right now. I'll write more about that soon. People peacefully and legally stepping up for their friends, their neighbors, their communities, in thousands of ways. Virtually everyone I know is figuring out ways to do something. Anything. Sometimes with total strangers. Creating networks to help, out of nowhere and on the fly. Witnessing and recording the illegal and unconstitutional actions of these agents perpetrated on their community (clearly, without which you could kiss it all goodbye), at the risk of their own personal safety (and possibly their lives). Mutual aid with food and clothes and rides and help for PEOPLE UTTERLY AFRAID TO LEAVE THEIR HOMES, or go to school, or work, or the hospital, or get groceries. 

I guess it's "the worst of the worst" and folks with criminal records like they say, but that's, again, what I'm hearing on the news, from elsewhere. Like you. But primarily from my own fucking federal government, who are proving to not be remotely trustworthy, transparent or truthful on the matter. They say 75% of the people they are yanking have criminal records. People who ARE NOT THEM are saying 25%. None of that math lands someplace good.

What i'm actually seeing and experiencing in real life is LEGAL US CITIZENS WHO ARE NOT WHITE PEOPLE, and ANY OTHER PERSON of ANY ethnicity WHO DARES TO EXPRESS OBJECTION TO THAT ILLEGALITY are subject to targeting, brutality, intimidation and far worse. 

This isn't "how dare you not understand". I sure as hell didn't. Now I do, because I have no choice in the matter. That choice has been denied.

So, America still gets to have an opinion. For now.

History, and the cycles of history, are ridiculously and painfully clear about where we're at in this moment. In this state, this country, and in the world. Not soon, not later, but right now. This is the real deal. It is happening here, in Minneapolis. And if it happens here, it can and will happen anywhere. To anyone. Again, whether or not you choose to believe that is optional.

Until it's not.