Victor M. Quintana S.
TO
although the temperature is minus 23 degrees Celsius. Even though the streets are frozen and the sidewalks are full of snow, Minneapolis is in the south. As have also been the case for several months now in Chicago, New York, New Orleans, Seattle, Los Angeles and many other American cities. The murders of Renee Good, first, and then that of Alex Jeffrey Pretti, last Saturday, ignited a vigorous and worthy social movement in the United States.
The resistance of the people of all those cities and many others throughout the United States. Solidarity with migrants and people “suspicious” because of their color or accent, the indignation that invades the United States, stronger and more intense than the polar wave, places these people and communities that protest and demand justice and respect in the Global South. We are referring to that space, not necessarily geographical, but, above all, social, where domination is suffered in its various forms: exploitation, sexism, colonialism, discrimination, imperialism. But also that space where we resist, fight, dream, build solidarities, new identities, new ways of relating, new possible worlds.
The epicenter of the movement is Minneapolis, in the state of Minnesota, land of the Dakota (Sioux) and Ojibwe indigenous peoples, which was the New Earth (JanTroell film, 1972) for many migrants from impoverished northern Europe in the 19th century. The descendants of both are the ones who now defend Somali, African American, Latino and other migrants. Several members of the Sioux tribe have been detained and questioned by ICE for the sole reason of appearing foreign. They wonder where they can be deported if they have lived in these plains forever.
Down in the neighborhoods, activism boils in the chilled streets of Minneapolis. Not only do you protest, you organize, you protect yourself. There are commissions of “constitutional observers” who use their rights to monitor the actions of ICE agents, follow them, warn of their presence in the neighborhoods through social networks, whistles, and honking horns.
They patrol the streets, care for those who are injured, and notify the families of those detained. They organized the general strike on Friday the 23rd and are calling another one for this Friday. The sectors that join the movement are very diverse: at the Minneapolis-Saint Paul airport, a hundred clergy from the Catholic, Baptist, Lutheran, Jewish and Unitarian Universalist communities prayed and protested against ICE and against Delta and Signature airlines for offering themselves to the transfer of deported migrants. Then they were also arrested by Trump’s Gestapo. Nurses from all over the country demonstrate their disagreement with ICE and their admiration for Alex Pretti’s dedication to his intensive care work. In the Cathedral of Saint Mary, hundreds of faithful and clerics gather to pay tribute to the most recent victim of Trump’s Gestapo.
Here Trump was electorally defeated in 2016, 2020 and 2024 and a governor has been elected who confronts him and a mayor who fearlessly shouts: “How many more people have to die for ICE to come out?” They are not the only politicians joining the current movement: Republican Party gubernatorial candidate Chris Madel himself has just resigned from his party’s primaries.
In the Washington Capitol and other state capitols, more political figures join in condemning ICE and Trump’s repressive policy: JohnF’s grandson. Kennedy, Congresswoman Alejandra Ocasio-Cortez, not to mention the mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani, and the inevitable senator from Vermont Bernie Sanders.
The hegemony of Trumpian discourse is crumbling. He is criticized and questioned in his public interventions by a growing number of personalities from the world of entertainment, such as rocker Bruce Springsteen; actors and actresses such as Natalie Portman, Richard Gere, Whoppi Goldberg, Glen Close. Edward Norton, from the Sundance festival, condemns the extrajudicial executions of ICE, and the critical voices at the Golden Globes will surely be echoed at the Oscars. The NBA Players Fraternity decides to break the silence and stand in solidarity with the people of Minneapolis, “…a city that has been the vanguard in the fight against injustice”; stands in defense of freedom of expression and recognizes the enrichment that global citizens have brought to the United States.
As the basketball players indicate, it is not just about protest. People at all levels are bringing new values to the forefront in this broad and diverse movement: solidarity, freedom, the right to be different, mutual aid, caring for others, accountability, respect for due process, human rights.
The northern lights are turning on from the Global South. It seems that the sacrifices of Renee Good, of Alexis Pretti, are going to flourish, even if it is in the snow.
