When Minneapolis Is David to the U.S. Government's Goliath
We have each other, and we keep us safe
Friends,
Today’s missive departs from our regularly scheduled programming.
These are not normal times.
You were supposed to receive a new podcast episode today, but I haven’t been able to make that happen yet. Soon.
Here in Minneapolis, neighbor after friend after neighbor has voiced that it feels like we’re under attack, that we are living in a war zone. When I wrote this to a friend checking in from Texas, he replied, “I imagine it feels that way because you are.”
I mean. Pretty much.
Just about 24 hours ago now, I felt a strong internal nudge to just bear witness to what’s been happening here, to lay some of it out in a way that others — especially those who are not here — could see and understand what’s happening here better than they probably were from watching or listening to news reports. Person after person here has said that their impression, from talking to their people in other places, is that no one who isn’t here seems to really get how bad it actually is here.
So.
I sat down and wrote out a few real-life scenarios in my immediate world, just a very tiny sample of the many many similar things that have been happening here over the past month-and-a-half (but that have been aggressively proliferating since the beginning of this year).
And I decided to post it on LinkedIn.
Post: LinkedIn | January 15, 2026
Friends, I’m here to bear witness, to tell you what’s happening on-the-ground here in Minneapolis. A taste:
➡️ A fundraising comrade reported she had long guns pointed at her while she was in an area suburb.
➡️ Last night, federal agents shot another of our neighbors, and as a family with six children tried to flee the aftermath, federal agents threw flash bangs and tear gas into the car, the subsequent explosion was so intense that the airbags deployed, all of the kids were injured (three sent to the hospital), and the six-month-old reportedly stopped breathing and had to be revived.
➡️ Friends and neighbors and loved ones (U.S. Citizens) all over the Twin Cities are no longer leaving their homes (and thus rendering themselves dependent on brave others to supply their food and supplies).
➡️ A (brown-skinned) neighbor was out walking in the early morning and had a man beckon to him from a dark, unmarked car and tell him to come over. He of course turned around and ran in the opposite direction. That car and another car chased him and cornered him. Turned out they were ICE. Thank goodness he had ID on him and he was let go. But so often folks on walks don’t have ID or, even if they do, they may still be detained.
➡️ Do not buy that it’s “illegal immigrants” or “criminals” being targeted. NATIVE AMERICANS are being targeted. White retirees have been targeted (multiple stories). A young special ed teacher was detained on her way to work after ICE cars rammed into her and lied, saying she had rammed them. A Minneapolis pastor was detained for a while until the agents told him he was “White, so not fun enough.” There is story after story of law-abiding citizens being detained.
➡️ A colleague was a refugee, decades ago, from civil war in the former Yugoslavia. She wrote: “I’ve spent time in war zones before, places where fear hangs in the air and ordinary life is suddenly overtaken by violence and uncertainty. Minneapolis right now feels like that.”
We all feel like we are under siege here.
If you’re not here, we need a couple key things from you, if you’re willing to step up in solidarity with us:
1️⃣ SHARE THESE STORIES. Start following the news out of Minnesota — the real, on-the-ground reporting of citizens and journalists here. Then SHARE and AMPLIFY these stories. We need the world to know what is actually happening here and not believe ANY of the copious propaganda out there.
2️⃣ GET LOUD. Start speaking up to ALL of your elected officials. Inform your friends, family, neighbors, colleagues. Send emails. Make phone calls. Make clear that you will NOT accept this unconstitutional activity in Minnesota... or ANYWHERE else. Because guess what? If it’s not stopped here, it’s headed elsewhere soon.
Remember: silence is not neutral.
Each of us has a pretty clear choice right now: keep silent (and thus this continues), or speak up.
What’ll it be, friends?
Going Viral: The World Shrinks
What came next was something I never could have anticipated:
Over 66,000 impressions of the post on that platform
Nearly 3,000 reactions logged
The post has been shared nearly 1,500 times
Over 300 comments
Baratunde Thurston — THE Baratunde Thurston — not only shared the post… but he started following me (!)
And it just keeps going….
The thing about going viral, which some of you probably know (I’ve never experienced this before myself) is that you will never, ever be able to fully grasp how many people have engaged with your content… and you will never, ever be able to engage with everyone who did. As someone with a pretty small, hands-on, community-first audience usually, that’s a bit hard for me. But I’m embracing the visibility because of what it means for our hopes for justice and peace.
People all over the world responded.
Re-posts were in other languages.
People in other countries were commenting on how much they knew this would affect them. Some commented on how much they had begged Americans to care about things going on in their neck of the woods… and saw most Americans just ignoring them… so they were miffed that Americans expected solidarity now (I mean, fair). Others commented on ways they knew they had to guard against this sort of thing happening soon in their own countries.
Of the literally thousands of responses, they were almost all supportive. People from all parts of the United States, and Canada… to people in Europe and Asia… to people in Australia or Africa… were responding with compassion, care, concern, and solidarity. They responded almost exactly how I would have hoped:
➡️ They saw how important it was for them to bear witness too, wherever they were.
➡️ They shared our on-the-ground realities here in Minnesota with their own communities and encouraged folks to get involved, to guard against this happening where they were, to raise awareness about what was happening here.
Given that I’m not prone to hyperbole and always aim to present things as clearly and accurately as possible, I have hesitated to make the Gestapo/Nazi comparisons, as I’ve talked about what we’re experiencing. But I have to say, seeing people from all over the world (including Germany!) looking at what’s happening here; expressing genuine alarm and concern; and regularly making those comparisons is…
…I guess kind of validating for us?
From our conversations, I think many of us here have been feeling like this is what it must have felt like in 1930s Germany. I’ve been one of many people who have reposted some of Anne Frank’s words, too. Like these ones.
Terrible things are happening outside. At any time of night and day, poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. [...] Families are torn apart; men, women and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared.
― Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl
After reading this book in 8th grade, I don’t think I would have ever imagined that I could read these words again and have them actually apply — quite literally — to the reality I was living in.
But here we are.
Having people all around the world recognize this resonance feels strangely comforting, like we are already building the worldwide groundswell of community care and solidarity that will be needed to defeat today’s fascism.
Are you looking for some comrades to commiserate with? How about some peers to level-set something for you? Or someone to help you find what you need… because they did it themself last year? All of this, and more, is what I anticipate happening at Community-Weaving for Fundraisers.
Just fundraisers. Gathering for (virtual) lunch together. Twice a month. Year-round. Chatting and supporting each other via WhatsApp in between lunches. Being there for each other. All you need to do is show up, be present. I facilitate, organize, and create the container.
The Waiting List is open now. Get on it!
Checking In: Share Your Real Real
Got more to say? Visit the comments section!
Reflection: Words to Sit With
On the day Renee Good was murdered, and the trauma of it all washed over every one of us here in Minneapolis, I felt like I wanted to reach out to my community on Facebook (you can follow me there for the most of-the-moment reflections and news from me), to say at least something.
But words were not coming — which you may guess is fairly unusual for me.
Then, suddenly, I realized:
I had the words.
I invite you to sit with these words.
Let them wash over you.
Let their meaning come alive in you.
Today. And tomorrow. And all the tomorrows after that one….
… because they really seem to inform this collective moment we’re in.
💗
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Thank you and to all the others for bearing witness on your platforms. It does feel like we are fighting Goliath, yet us Minnesotans are tough, hopeful, loving, caring, resilient, and strong. And may our resistance, support, and protection for our communities echo David's story.
Thank you for this article. I am a former Minnesotan now living in Florida, and while some folks seem to understand that it's not going well in MN, many simply shrug and say things like "if you're here legally, you don't have to worry." They are absolutely clueless about the lawlessness of so many ICE actions.