I read a beautiful and sensible quote today. It said “Freedom is the absence of fear.”
That idea goes a long way toward explaining what is happening right now in Minneapolis. Our president and vice president have been trying to convince the public that they should fear the very small percentage of immigrants who are criminals.
But the fear that ICE is creating is vastly greater than any other threat. Pregnant women are being dragged through the streets. Five year old children are being rounded up and sent away to detention centers in Texas. People who are guilty only of “looking Asian” are being dragged out into the freezing cold in their underwear.
A mother of three was shot to death by an ICE agent, in plain sight, on the streets of Minneapolis. The main response of the administration was to gaslight everyone into pretending that the victim was guilty of something (despite clear and copious video evidence to the contrary) and to squash any investigation of the shooter.
I am proud of my fellow citizens in the Twin Cities who stood up today to this sadistic madness by calling a general strike. Courage in the face of raw brutality is never easy.