SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Opinion
Climate
Economy
Politics
Rights & Justice
War & Peace
Further
Majestic Scorn: A City Aflame Fights Fire and ICE
Despite the specious swapping out of fascist ICE leaders seeking to quell public fury, the gutted, steadfast denizens of Minneapolis continue to show up in frigid weather to demand "ICE Out" and "Stop Killing Us." Honoring their righteous struggle, Friday sees the city nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by The Nation, which cites its "moral leadership" for those fighting fascism on "a troubled planet." Likewise moved, The Boss just wrote them a song. Minnesota, says one patriot, "taught us to be brave."
Writing to "the distinguished members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee," the editors of The Nation magazine nominated the city of Minneapolis and its people for the 2026 Nobel Peace "as longtime observers of struggles to establish peace and justice" and as the editors of a magazine that's proudly included "several Nobel laureates on our editorial board and masthead - including the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr." With their "resistance to violent authoritarianism," they argue, "the people of Minneapolis have renewed the spirit of Dr. King’s call for the positive affirmation of peace.” No municipality has ever been recognized for the award, they acknowledge, but "in these unprecedented times," they believe Minneapolis "has met and exceeded the committee’s standard of promoting 'democracy and human rights, (and) creating (a) more peaceful world."
To the Committee, they offer a brief, harrowing history: The Trump regime deploying thousands of armed, masked federal goons targeting the city's immigrant communities in a campaign more about terrorizing people of color than safety; the abuses of harassment, detention, deportation, injury, and the murders of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Jeffrey Pretti; the call by elected officials, labor leaders and clergy for nonviolent protest; the people answering that call by the tens of thousands in the streets in sub-zero conditions, with mutual support and care for vulnerable neighbors, "through countless acts of courage and solidarity." Quoting Renee Good’s widow - “They have guns; we have whistles" - they argue the whistles have both alerted residents to the presence ofICE and "awakened Americans to the threat of violence (from) governments (that) target their own people."
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., they note, served as The Nation’s civil rights correspondent from 1961 to 1966. When he received the Peace Prize in 1964, he declared it recognizes those "moving with determination and a majestic scorn for risk and danger to establish a reign of freedom and a rule of justice." King believed it is vital to show nonviolence as "not sterile passivity, but a powerful moral force which makes for social transformation...Sooner or later all the people of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace (and) transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood...The foundation of such a method is love." "We believe that the people of Minneapolis have displayed that love," the editors conclude. "That is why we are proud to nominate them and their city for the Nobel Peace Prize."
They don't mention any possible response by a mad, vengeful, impossibly petty king. But they do reflect the respect and gratitude of countless Americans who have watched the people of Minnesota endure "in the face of immense and continuing tragedy," and maintain their courage, dignity and humanity. One of those Americans was Springsteen, who explains in a brief note that he wrote, recorded and released Streets of Minneapolis within days "in response to the state terror being visited on the city." He dedicates it to "the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good," and signs off, "Stay free, Bruce Springsteen." On Wednesday, in hours, it soared to the top of the iTunes chart ranking bestselling individual tracks in the country.
The song is both classic Springsteen - potent, lyrical, with "a sense of urgency and genuine fury" - but atypically direct. It names names, crimes, this specific moment in history: "A city aflame fought fire and ice/‘Neath an occupier’s boots/King Trump’s private army from the DHS/Guns belted to their coats/Came to Minneapolis to enforce the law/Or so their story goes." There is rage: "It's our blood and bones/And these whistles and phones/Against Miller's and Noem's dirty lies." Resolve: "Our city’s heart and soul persists / Through broken glass and bloody tears." Tragedy: "And there were bloody footprints/Where mercy should have stood/And two dead left to die on snow-filled streets/Alex Pretti and Renee Good." Thank you to The Nation, to The Boss, to all those ordinary, extraordinary Americans standing strong against the monsters among us.
Oh our Minneapolis, I hear your voice
Singing through the bloody mist
We’ll take our stand for this land
And the stranger in our midst
Oh our Minneapolis, I hear your voice
Crying through the bloody mist
We’ll remember the names of those who died
On the streets of Minneapolis
We’ll remember the names of those who died
On the streets of Minneapolis
- YouTube www.youtube.com
Makeshift memorial for Alex Pretti, shot dead in the streets of Minneapolis (Photo by Roberto Schmidt / AFP via Getty Images)
SEE ALL
News
From Business Closures to Student Walkouts, Communities Across US Demand: 'ICE Out!'
Communities across the United States are protesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement and showing solidarity with its victims on Friday and into the weekend with small business closures, school walkouts, rallies, and other expressions of dissent as President Donald Trump's army of masked goons continues to terrorize American cities.
A map and schedule of actions nationwide—spurred by the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, the detention of young children, and other horrors—can be viewed here.
Many of Friday's actions were organized by student groups in Minnesota—a flashpoint of Trump's assault on immigrant families and those protesting ICE abuses—and backed by organizations across the country, from the North Carolina Poor People's Campaign to the Boston Education Justice Alliance.
"The people of the Twin Cities have shown the way for the whole country—to stop ICE’s reign of terror, we need to SHUT IT DOWN," organizers said. "On Friday, January 30, join a nationwide day of no school, no work, and no shopping."
"The entire country is shocked and outraged at the brutal killings of Alex Pretti, Renee Good, Silverio Villegas González, and Keith Porter Jr. by federal agents," they continued. "Every day, ICE, Border Patrol, and other enforcers of Trump’s racist agenda are going into our communities to kidnap our neighbors and sow fear. It is time for us to all stand up together in a nationwide shutdown and say enough is enough!"
High school students are among those set to participate in Friday's mass demonstrations. The Sacramento Bee reported that students "planning a district-wide walkout Friday morning, joining a nationwide student effort to protest immigration enforcement following fatal shootings in Minneapolis."
"This is a peaceful walkout demonstration to show that the students in California’s capital do not stand with ICE,” Michael Heffron, a student organizer, told the local newspaper. “It’s also to show solidarity to those in Minnesota—the protesters who have been killed, those who have been injured for standing up for their own civil rights.”
Additionally, hundreds of businesses nationwide, including in Maine and Minnesota, are closing their doors Friday—or donating their proceeds for the day to groups that support immigrant communities—as part of the protest against ICE as federal agents continue their lawless rampage.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Trump said he is "not at all" pulling back ICE activities in Minnesota, even after the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
Friday's actions come amid a high-stakes fight over ICE reforms on Capitol Hill. On Thursday, Senate Democrats blocked an appropriations bill that included $10 billion for ICE, and the Democratic leadership reached a deal with the Trump White House to extend Department of Homeland Security funding at current levels—with no reforms—for two weeks while negotiations move forward.
Britt Jacovich, a spokesperson for MoveOn Civic Action, condemned the agreement, saying in a statement that "Leader Schumer should ask the Minnesotans who are watching their neighbors get killed in cold blood if a deal with no plan to stop ICE is enough right now.”
Friday's protests will be followed by more demonstrations on Saturday under the banner, "ICE Out of Everywhere."
“We are responding to people’s outrage. We’ve seen the Overton window shifting,” said Gloriann Sahay, a national coordinator with 50501, which organized Saturday's actions. “We’re seeing people from typically non-political spectrums get involved in this conversation and say: ‘This doesn’t feel like America.’”
SEE ALL
LATEST NEWS
Most Popular
Progressive Newswire