Minnesotans and Occupation

Amidst the Awful, There is Spirit Rising

One of Many Vigils to Remember Alex Pretti

On April 9, 1940, Nazi Germany occupied Denmark, with an especially heavy presence in Copenhagen, where my mom grew up. She turned 13 the day after, and spent her formative teen years growing up under occupation forces. She has been horrified for the past decade to hear and see the same rhetoric that she experienced growing up under occupation.

My mom lives in Minneapolis now. What Minnesota is experiencing today is every bit an occupation. The term fits. This time it comes from a regime that is trying to crush a functioning democracy to support what Sarah Kendzior calls a syndicate which is masquerading as a government.

Do not believe the lies of the regime now. It is not about “immigration.” It is about occupation, which is why federal agents killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti in the space of two weeks. They try to rule by fear when Minnesotans act with solidarity.

It is awful. People are being abducted from workplaces, cars and homes. People are scared to go out. The emotional toll is awful. The economic toll is heavy, as people try to pay for rent and food. Words do not convey the depths of difficult it is. Images and videos show a part. The overall feeling is awful.

And somehow, there is spirit rising that is inspiring, too. Neighbors are showing up for neighbors. Bringing groceries, giving rides, accompanying where needed. People keep showing up to protests in the thousands - in below zero temps. They march peacefully and demand justice. It does not make the awful go away, but we feel a different texture as see our neighbors.

There is spirit rising that shows up with presence and resolve. People show up when federal agents try to strike terror into a neighborhood. These neighbors who show up are protectors, caring for their neighbors. They learn how to be legal observers in a time of lawless actions.

Federal agents are armed to the teeth.

The protectors have whistles and phones and truth.

There is spirit rising as neighbors gather at vigils in peace. People are willing to protest at businesses that have remained silent, and at the airport where thousands of Minnesotans have been deported to for-profit prisons in shackles. Children, fathers, mothers - these are neighbors, and Minnesotans are incensed by the inhumanity of this surge.

The administration cannot believe that people would show up at protests in sub-zero temperatures without being paid, so they claim it must be paid agitators. Do not believe it. We are Minnesotans.

The administration cannot believe neighbors would risk coming together with whistles to protect their neighborhoods. This regime cannot understand love in action. Simply put, they cannot understand love lived out in Minnesota.

It took 3 years before the Nazis tried to deport all the Danish Jews. When they set out to do so, a ragtag group of fishermen mobilized to use their boats to ferry Denmark’s Jews to Sweden. About 8000 were rescued in October 1943.

When asked after the war why they risked themselves to do this, they answered that they were not protecting Jews per se; they were protecting Danes. They saw their solidarity with them, their deeper connection despite the ethnic differences which the Nazi regime tried to impose.

I sense a similar spirit going on now. Minnesotans are not protecting immigrants per se; they are protecting Minnesotans. Minnesotans do not buy the racial profiling that this regime is trying to sell.

And what angers the administration is that Minnesotans of all different genders, ethnicities, backgrounds, and colors want to live together with neighborly love. They want to quash that. Minnesotans keep showing up anyway.

I know that the systemic issues of the United States are deep and troubling and lengthy. I know that we have all kinds of homegrown racism and Christian nationalism to contend with as we get through this time. I know there is a long road ahead. These days feel awful.

Yet I sense there is also a spirit rising that shows a way forward. There seems to be renewed vision for what is possible. I am grateful for the courage and resolve that people are showing. Thank you to all who cultivate that possibility, wherever you are these days. In solidarity!