Folks in Minneapolis are taking to the streets in growing numbers after ICE agents shot and killed a second person over the weekend, deepening fear and fury across the city. The killing of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse at the Department of Veterans Affairs, came just days after an agent killed queer wife and mother Renee Nicole Good.
Video evidence contradicts federal claims that either posed a threat. Good was shot while driving away, and Pretti was shot 10 times after being beaten to the ground for helping a woman shoved by an agent. Officials claim Pretti had a gun. Videos show he was not. Despite accusations that both were paid agitators, Minneapolis residents are not backing down. Instead, they are building vast, decentralized protest networks.
Trans writer and activist Margaret Killjoy, reporting from the ground, wrote that she has never seen anything approaching this scale in 24 years of protest work. She said, “Minneapolis is not accepting what’s happening here…What people are doing here is beautiful. It’s a tragic beauty, but a real one.” From a massive general strike shutting down 700 businesses, to faith leaders staging a sit-in at Target’s headquarters, to neighbors singing hold on for those too afraid to leave home, the protests continue to grow.
