I live in Minneapolis a short walk (.7 miles, as Nextdoor so helpfully informed me by emailing me an alert of the murder as I was already getting ready to walk down) from where this happened. The neighborhood there is just to the north of where George Floyd was murdered. Renee was new to the Twin Cities but many people on that block likely lived there during 2020, the TC metro area is small and most people do not move away.
The immediate radius of the crime scene becomes a gathering and rallying point. The outer radius becomes a site for increased surveillance and, yes, brutality.
In 2020 protests formed spontaneously, for weeks. People forget that Chauvin was arrested and charged only after the 3rd Precinct burned. What you are seeing in that video is people who have been here before.
Two blocks from my home at about 12:20PM yesterday, ICE was using a parking lot for staging. I and about 30 others stood on the icy sidewalk and on snowbanks and blew our whistles to alert neighbors to their presence and drive them away. I was about 10 feet away from a CBP officer - again, this was the early afternoon, AFTER they murdered Renee Good - when he drew his weapon and pointed it at a Latina woman in her car, trying to get away after being pinned by ICE using their vehicles exactly as they accuse others of using them.
I blew my whistle and flipped him and his buddies off. My whistle gets up to 120db. They fucking hated it. They can barely communicate. My ears are still ringing today and I hope theirs are too.
The point of this is to say: get out there. Police brutality was already bad, this is a meaningful escalation that I fear could be a point of no return. Either federal agents with no legal authority over you can execute you at point blank range, with multiple witnesses and videos showing what happened, or they can't. There is no more egregious restriction of your rights. There is no clearer indication that fascism is here.
Trump's administration called Renee Good a domestic terrorist. One of his agents shot her point blank in the face. Stiff armed, clear eyed.
I can't tell other people what to do but I can describe what I am doing. ICE comes to town in large rentals, mostly with out of state plates. They drive like fucking psychopaths because they are trying to provoke confrontation. If you follow them on the sidewalk with your whistle, they smile like little bitches and drive away.
Whistle patrols: I'm trying to link up with other locals and have been since October but I suspect the usual small coordinating groups are swamped, so I'm also just freelancing. Patrol the neighborhood on foot. If you see a fed, blow the whistle. Three short bursts for seeing them, long burst if they're out of the car.
Flyering: someone has already flyered near me. I'm going to flyer in the other direction. Simple stuff, information on what happened and a QR code and link for where to help.
Whistle distribution: bought some whistles online to hang from my fence with a packet about what to do with them.
Mutual aid: bought 2 cameras and SD cards for Nick Benson's dashcam distribution efforts (Bluesky post; Amazon wishlist); signed up for a couple upcoming volunteer efforts coordinating food distribution
No one can do everything but everyone can do something. Go and do it.
*ICE HAS NO LEGAL AUTHORITY OVER US CITIZENS. THERE IS NO ARGUMENT FOR PROBABLE CAUSE THAT A 37 YEAR OLD WHITE WOMAN WHO HAD BEEN WAVING ICE BY WAS ACTUALLY AN UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANT. This matters. The fact that police have trampled human rights for decades does not mean it doesn't matter when the federal government asserts authority over you that it straight up unambiguously does not have.
prguitarman
discoholicmusic
jbbartram-illu
2087
dailybridgerton
theartofmadeline
