On January 24, I was in a hotel room in Bristol, UK. A headline on the BBC channel reported that less than an hour earlier, a second shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis in as many weeks had occurred. 26th and Nicollet, it turns out, is very near where a couple of friends live.
I messaged one of them, Steph, to check in. He’s a professional stand-up comedian and was working on a cruise ship, away from home that week. Steph and his wife are both wonderful active community members in their city. I’ve seen them do amazing work on behalf of their neighbors over the years in Minneapolis, showing up both in times of adversity and joy.
Morning in Minneapolis, early evening in England, the sun already setting as I messaged Steph. He was shaken, unsettled by being so far away and unable to act. His wife at home had written her name on her arm and taped her coat to be easily identifiable. She headed a few blocks from their house toward the gathering where Alex Pretti had been shot, most reports saying between eight to ten times.
The video is truly haunting. It shows Alex holding a phone in one hand, the other raised with his hand above his head, palm open toward the officers, as if told to put his hands up.
All this while Alex had been attempting to assist a woman who had been thrown to the ground, federal agents redirected their attention from her to him.
I know police officers. I know military service members trained specifically in crowd interaction. They span a wide spectrum of political affiliations. I have worked with some of them in an official capacity, while also participating in protests where some of those same officers were assigned. As Ginger and I rested after a day of adventuring around Bristol, I watched the social media feeds of those officers light up, all with similar posts. This is bad police work, or “typical terrible policing” they have come to associate with ICE and Border Patrol ground agents over the years. This sort of “bush-league” policing is not new to people who’ve worked alongside these agencies in the field. This isn’t news to people in law enforcement. Many have commented and expressed that a significant number of ICE agents create more problems than they solve. Some of my more right-leaning service-officer friends have long viewed the agency as a waste of tax dollars.
On the cruise, Steph only had access to social media, no other internet. Cruise ships charge for the internet in access tiers. Cruise ship employees’ internet access is often restricted similarly.
In checking in, Steph asked if I could help him look for live feeds coming out of Minneapolis, so he could better understand what was unfolding. He was justifiably fearful of how the next 24 hours would play out in the city, and what would happen to his wife.
Minneapolis is not a volatile city. It is active. It is living. When I lived there, I was involved in the music community, I was also involved in a small creative writing group, a photography community, and an avid cycling community. The people of Minneapolis gave me access to so many friends, those that I still know today. It taught me how to exist within and to know the value of those communities. It is a city of vibrancy, lit and glowing from the inside by the warmth of those people that make up each community. In my experience, always willing to bring one more into the fold. As a young man, a little bitter, and an undiagnosed autistic young man at that, the people of Minneapolis took hold of me in their embrace and softened my outlook. They changed me in so many valuable ways without ever demanding I be someone other than myself.
ICE presence seems to be making every attempt either to present the city as something it is not, or to provoke it into becoming something it is not. I think the current administration has experienced this failure in other cities where it has attempted similar occupations, and is frustrated by it. In that frustration, the cracks in their offense begin to show. The people are together. The people know righteousness. Above all, they are moral and good in their motivation. Their anger about the ICE occupation of Minneapolis is correct.
Setting aside the fact that I personally don’t believe any person is illegal, let’s look at the letter of the law instead. Unlawful presence in the United States is a civil offense, not a criminal one. Crossing the border illegally, or re-entering the U.S. after deportation, are criminal offenses. A criminal offense that must be proved in a court of law.
According to multiple studies, as much as an estimated 90% of the people ICE has detained are held for civil immigration violations, and around 65 to 75% have no criminal convictions at all. Those accused of criminal violations are already under the control and jurisdiction of local authorities. That population is already acted upon by the police presence there, and not by ICE.
ICE has not positively contributed to the control of criminal violations in Minneapolis. Instead, it has muddied those waters and made active court cases and investigations more difficult.
A little perspective: imagine a federal agency deploying heavily armed tactical teams into residential neighborhoods to enforce expired driver’s licenses. Agents in body armor fan out across apartment buildings, stop people on the street without knowing who actually has an expired license, detain family members while they verify paperwork, and transport people to distant holding facilities—for having an expired driver’s license.
The normal process which should be little more than notices, hearings, and due process.
That’s what this ICE action is, and one of the many reasons people are so upset about it.
Alex Pretti was one of us, an adventure minded, community loving cyclist. A law abiding and civil minded citizen who died exercising the most basic of human rights.
Back in Bristol, I spent the next hour checking in with Steph, while also searching for a reasonable live stream. As many of us know, the “Meta universe” is wildly useless when you need something specific and quick. I spent over an hour using outside search platforms before finding a single ongoing stream on Facebook. Searching on the platform alone was useless. I couldn’t imagine what that felt like for Steph. I came up in a time when access to technology meant access to its source, and it could be used as a reliable tool. Now though it has become something else. So convoluted, with obtuse systems kludged together on top of one another, that even those with exceptional understanding struggle to use it effectively for more than a moment at a time. As if the usable parts are on a shelf that seems purposely out of reach for the rest of us. I sent the link to Steph, hoping it would be a relief. Only then did I sit with the moment I’d witnessed an hour or so before. It was deeply sad to see that these agents, and the people in charge of them, showed no genuine empathy for what had happened. While much of the rest of the world saw, what looked to them, a senseless killing. The news in England reflected this. News across the U.S., social media spanning the political spectrum, and even our Republican governor in Vermont, who had not previously been as vocal about the erosion of our rights, spoke out:
“It’s not acceptable for American citizens to be killed by federal agents for exercising their God-given and constitutional rights to protest their government.”
It’s all nice sounding words. None of it is real action. It is clear now that many of our elected officials are lazy turtles on a log, and we need to shake them into more action. I want to encourage you to let them know we are at a time now where we should be doing much more than asking. Here at the bike shop, this is more than something we must do; it’s something we want to do. It’s time to help our representatives understand where we are in the timeline of fascism, and where we see their participation in the system that has led to moments like the killing of Alex Pretti.
Most of all, when you reach out, demand specific answers about how they will respond and how they will work to ensure that what is happening in Minneapolis stops and does not happen here.
We have seen our representatives do good work so far. I’m looking at you Becca Balint. Let them know how much more we want action like that. They need to be the example and the exception. They need to show other representatives how to be an absolute stick in the mud. This is a time in our history where decorum is over. Ask them to be loud, be active, and be strong. Their contact info is at the bottom. If you want, reach out.
I want you to contact your local representatives though. Let them know you are watching, and that these unprecedented times require specific and clear action.
A lot of them have been weak sauce to say the least. Make sure they know their actions are woefully lacking, and that they need to do more, immediately. We need to see real passion and real urgency and it needs to be relentless for the rest of their careers. Anything else is decadent opulence in cosplay politics. And we’ll be more than ready to vote them out when the time comes.
This link is to a page where you can contact each of our representatives.
Our national representatives have been active, and represent us well. Reach out and let them know what you see and what you want. Be specific. At the same time reach out to our local representatives who have been pretty weak in that department.
Let them know that anything short of direct opposition to occupations like the one in Minneapolis is either compliance or ignorance. Either makes them unfit for office; and let them know you are paying attention. Last, if you see injustice in the actions of what is happening in Minneapolis, and you recognize the work to be done, run for local office, speak out, join us. Become part of the people moved to act. Be part of a population motivated by more than “because we must”, instead it is because of our morals that we want to.
In the meantime Join us this Saturday at 12:00pm at the Millstone Trails Parking lot. With the snow we’ve had, this ride will be limited to fat bikes, studded tires are strongly recommended. Wheels roll at 12:15 as we join the National Ride In Unity organized effort in remembrance of Alex Pretti who was a member of the Angry Catfish bicycle shop community. If the trails are too soft, we’ll take a short gravel ride down Little John Rd and back.
You can learn more here:
https://bikepacking.com/news/alex-pretti-memorial-rides/
