Stand Up, Fight Back

[lydamorehouse]

I started this entry a couple of times. It's really hard to be articulate right now, but I'm going to do my best. 

I was at the vigil for Renee Good, the legal observer who was murderer by ICE yesterday. The speakers were all very good and there was a lot of calls to "get organized." I agree? But, saying that sort of misses the point. Renee was only at the scene because Minneapolis/St. Paul *is* incredibly organized. ICE is afraid of us because we're actually very good at this.

On the flipside, one of the other speakers last night suggested that tragedy happens for a reason and only to people who can handle it. He was, I think, trying to encourage the crowd to keep fighting and that we should continue despite this tragedy, but there is a six year old child who can not handle their parent's death. Nobody in that family is okay today. They might never be okay again.

But here's something hopeful. naomikritzer and I went out when another call came out and drove over to Minneapolis from Saint Paul. On our way, I saw a random guy, by himself, marching with a sign that said "Fuck ICE" on it. (On our way back, I  noticed that he'd picked up another random protester.) When people in other parts of the world wonder, "When things like this happen, why don't Americans just flood the streets?" From what I could tell? Those of us who could, did. Spontaneously, all around the city, I saw signs taped to lamp posts with the same message to ICE. And, while Naomi and I never spotted any "federal activity" we did see a whole stream of human beings just marching and blowing whistles, headed into downtown MInneaoplis. We stopped and got out of the car and marched with them for a while. Every car that passed us shouted in solidarity. When we were parking, even, the person who parked across the street from us was also joining the spontaneous march (having also been out on patrol for ICE) and I gave them a whistle. 

Then the vigil. Like, I say above, there were, for me, some low spots, but that was nothing compared to the feeling of solidarity. Of being shoulder to shoulder with people who were as angry and heartbroken and motivated as me. 

Rest in power, Renee Good. We'll keep up your work until the last of those gestapo thugs are gone.

Comments

[mrissa]

Fuck the "tragedy happens for a reason" guy. Fuck him in the ear with an icepick. That 6yo who lost his mom is not a special strong kid who can handle it. My 6yo cousin who is dying of cancer is not a special strong kid who can handle it and neither is his 5yo sister. FUCK THAT GUY.

Ahem. But more coherently, I think that one of the things that's really hard for people outside North America to understand on an emotional level is that the US is really big, and it's really big on basically all scales. No one could get on a train in the afternoon to join an evening protest in MSP if they lived in a city that is not MSP. The drive would mostly be long. Cities sprawl out with larger streets and intersections. It is difficult on a very literal, physical level for Americans to give the impression of mass movement. We're doing what we can that way. But it's going to look different here.

[lydamorehouse]

Yeah, Shawn and I got hit with the "tragedy happens for a reason" a lot after our daughter Ella was stillborn. And, like, yeah. NO. Still not okay. It did, in fact, break me more than a little. So, yeah, fuck that guy. I never know what compels people to say that, especially when there is so much evidence that's just not true. Lots of people really never recover from shit like this.

Honestly? I'm not sure Minneapolis will. Our neighbors are being kidnapped and people who are trying to record and observe peacefully are being murdered by gestapo.

And, yeah, I reminded a friend of mine in Wales that Minnesota ALONE is the size of Syria.

[naomikritzer]

It was Jaylani Hussein from CAIR, not one of my favorite people generally. He was trying to work his way towards "Minneapolis has been chosen for this challenge" and I'd have been more willing to go along with that theory if he hadn't started out with the "everything happens for a reason" BS.

[lydamorehouse]

Exactly.

[coffeetime]

I came here to say this (the second thing, of course the first thing is also absolutely true). People don't realize that most of the country isn't dense like New York City. Things are far apart...so if you're in Miami, Minneapolis is TWICE as far from you as Germany is from Hungary. There is a lot of unpopulated space between urban centers. Many Americans don't have the means to travel even within our own country. So an event in a distant state, regardless of how horrible it is, doesn't feel local. There are many communities within this big, widely dispersed population, but the entire country is not one community. I'm not saying I personally feel like this, but I have certainly encountered people who feel no connection to anyone outside their immediate local area.

[lydamorehouse]

This is all very true, and I think why I felt like it was really nice to see? Because if I could see people just showing up in the streets immediately following the news of Renee Nichole Good's death, then there were probably dozens and dozens more I never saw who were also trying to do the same, you know?

[bibliofile]

This. All of this.

Yay for everyone who CAN manage to protest together, or even individually. Including you (Lyda) and eveeryone else we know getting out there.

[kore]

"Tragedy happens for a reason" okay I know the human mind desires patterns and meaning but FUCK THAT GUY IN THE EAR WITH A RUSTY ICEPICK

I think Mris has a great point with how spread out the US is -- like people in Tacoma can't just jump on a fast bus (lol) and make it to Seattle for a spontaneous march. And also, altho this makes me sound like a tinhatted crank, the mainstream media really just isn't covering it. And when they do cover it, it's a blip in the endless trauma fest of all the other shit happening all over the world. Maddow is the only one I see who regularly covers protests -- not just the great big ones in major cities -- apart from maybe Bluesky (I don't use Xitter anymore).

[lydamorehouse]

This is all true.

I will say that Democracy Now! will also cover protests, but it's just hard to see? I guess that's why it cheered me so much to see people just spontaneously gathering or... just chosing to march alone. That's really something to note! Especially since we get conditioned to expect big crowds as the only thing that brings hope (see all of the fake AI images of the crowds in Minneapolis.) The real stuff might look smaller, but that one guy? Totally brought more hope to me than all the fake crowds in the world.

[lcohen]

i'm so sorry. things suck for all of us, but this sucks extra. and yes, stfu "tragedy happens for a reason" dude, that is NOT comforting or helpful.

[coffeetime]

What he meant was, "I need tragedy to have a reason for happening, and I'm going to assign the burden of that tragedy to someone else, because clearly they're a more appropriate choice to carry it than I." What a knob.

[lydamorehouse]

I was thinking about this problem this morning. I've been feeling especially overwhelmed and Shawn and I were talking in the car about how stress works. And, in normal times, one of us is usually doing better than the other so we can be there, helping catch the other when we stumble or start to fall. But, right now? It feels like everyone is in free fall. No one can catch anyone else because we are all falling.

It's really rough out there.

And yeah, none of us are equipt to handle this tragedy.

[sabotabby]

It does happen for a reason, and that reason is a fascist Gestapo that needs to be destroyed by any means necessary. Fuck.

But I'm glad this hasn't put a dent in people fighting back.

[lydamorehouse]

Not at all. I think you'd be impressed. Yesterday I got a MONARCA alert that there were ICE agents at a Trader Joe's near to me. I hopped in the car and when I arrived there were a dozen or so people ready to do the EXACT WORK that got Renee Good murdered in cold-blood.

We were all ten minutes too late, it turned out? But from what I heard the ICE agents also left without being able to abduct anyone.

We all stood around for a while and people... just kept coming. SO MANY PEOPLE were ready to fight. Some of whom had already been tear gassed hours earlier at the Whipple Building. Minnesota isn't giving up. This is helping me so much to know.

[sabotabby]

It's the only thing that cuts through the despair. Thank you.