And there are, um… other mutual aid networks, um, trying to help the people who are.
Uh, too afraid to go out of their houses, help providing.
Um, the meals and providing, um, rides to and from work sometimes.
Um, it… and medical appointments, um. We… one of the things that kind of tears at my heart as an example.
In the school area, we've now developed a separate little, almost a separate lane.
of notary publics who will go to people's homes.
and help them to fill out durable powers of attorneys for their children.
Because the parents are afraid that they will be disappeared.
And that it's, um, they don't necessarily even. Know people who aren't in that situation.
So school people are stepping in to be the durable power of attorneys for some of the children.
And that's to… to give you an idea of how serious this is.
So the mobile notary publics are a number… another.
little lane of people. Um, there is some legal work going on, mostly in jail support kind of stuff.
Um, and there are, uh… there are… the ACLU is… collecting data for lawsuits, um, data about abuse of the people who are being abducted.
a data about the abuse of protesters. Uh, they're collecting all this videos.
Um, to… to be able to do class action lawsuits.
So there's, um, there's a whole ton of stuff going on.
That's very much at the local level, very much.
I was on one of the training calls I was on with Protect Rogers Park.
had a couple of elected officials from St. Paul.
Um, one of the city council member, or no, no, it's a city council member from Minneapolis and a representative… a state representative from St. Paul.
And the state representative from St. Paul said, look.
Do not look to the government for help on this.
We… if we… even if we were in session, and the state legislature right now, which we won't be until March.
Even if we were in session, there is nothing we could do about this.
So this is up to you. This is up to us.
And that's… that was her message, is this… this is not a thing that the government can solve.
For us, the city government or the state government. Their hands are really fairly tied.
So, um… And she, by the way, was tear gassed a few weeks before she said this.
Because she went… showed up at it to try to stop ICE from taking a family from her house in St. Paul.
And she was cheergassed, and so was a city council member.
Um, so the city… and recently one of our school board members was arrested too.
So this is, uh, the resistance is really quite… it does involve some.
supposed leaders and… or elected officials at least. But it's largely the people, ourselves.
Uh, so the way that we're, you know, kind of arranged into different.
areas or lanes, is what we usually say, you know, your lane. Uh, the lane I chose fairly early on was school patrols.
So, um, what we're doing is going out and standing, um, in front of the schools.
had drop-off and pick-up times. So, because it's the parents who will get.
Abducted. And so, the parents, if they're dropping their kids off, are in vulnerable position.
I organized a group to stand out in front of an East African charter school in St. Paul.
Um, because it's, uh, this is… all the students are East African, and all their parents are East African.
The staff is mostly East African. Uh, so that largely… probably largely Somali, I don't know, but we have a… We have large populations of Ethiopian and Eritrean people here.
Here, as well. So… And I'm also, today I was out for a couple of hours in front of a Spanish immersion daycare center, which is close to me.
It's not, again, the kids who are concerned about, it's their parents, where they pick up and drop off.
And it's the staff, because that's who is. staffing this Spanish Immersion Day Care Center, they've been, um… they have been, um, threatened, actually, this, this, this… daycare center has been threatened. So, we're… Uh, we're patrolling at all times that it's occupied.
Um, and… Um… So that… I did some mobile patrolling over the Christmas break, because I wasn't celebrating Christmas, and a lot of people were, and so I just… I thought, okay, well, whatever, I can go out in my car then.
Um, the mobile patrolling has become far more dangerous since I stopped doing it.
Um, ICE was running into the patrollers' cars if the patroller… if they can.
They're breaking into the car… patrollers' cars through the windows.
To get their phones and get their… and sometimes yank them out.
Um, sometimes they're arresting the patrollers. Ice has no authority to do that.
They are not authorized to arrest U.S. Citizens. But they're doing it. And…
She was following an ice patrol, uh, ice car.
Betsy, is that what Renee Good was doing? Mobile patrolling?
That's what she was doing. Um, and…
And the article that, um… Um, I think it was, uh… Uh, George, like you just sent around.
I think it's that one said that, um. People delivering groceries, you know, if they're seen with grocery bags, white people with grocery bags.
Yeah, actually, it's in the grocery stores, yeah, yeah.
Um, if you're emerging from Costco with large amounts of groceries, you may attract ISI's attention.
Um, we're being very careful that the people who do mobile to patrol, ISIS taking our license plates.
Uh, you know, reading, and they sometimes have led the patrollers to their own homes.
Um, and, uh, just to show, I know who you are, and I know where you live.
Um, the mobile, uh, people who are doing mobile patrol are not doing mutual aid deliveries.
Um, so that… or if you have two cars, use only one for mobile patrol, but… Actually… it's probably not good to use a car… two cars, even at the same address for those two different purposes.
So, because we're afraid that just the delivery of the mutual aid might.
highlight which house people live in. the homes that people live in, vulnerable people.
So, it… it is… It has been… that's why I say, this is frightening. This is really a frightening situation.
Um… So, um… I gotta say, um.
Just taking a minute here to kind of collect my thoughts, um…
It's awesome. Yeah.
Betsy, I'm trying to unmute myself. I could jump in with a couple of my observations while you collect.
Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead, go ahead, please. Yeah.
Or not. Okay. Okay, good. Um… Please, y'all, do look at the chat where I put, uh, there was our Attorney General Keith Ellison, was on Democracy Now, first segment today after headlines.
really, uh, he is fantastic, um, and very powerful assessment of the situation and assertions of what's legal and what's not, so… Please do go out of your way to watch that today.
I have to say a quick thing about Keith Allison. I got.
Um…
briefly involved with the… Um, Democratic Party here in D.C, and.
when they did the changeover for, um… Um, you know, who's gonna be the chair?
Um, and uh, he, uh, I voted for him. 3 of us in D.C. Voted for him.
Um, but, um, I forgot who was the, uh, fellow who ended up as the DNC chair, bribed.
The same three delegates from Puerto Rico. Um, to defeat.
Uh, Keith Allison. He would have been the chair of the DNC.
Hmm… Hmm.
Except for those 3 votes that were stolen.
Yup, that's… Okay.
Um, for myself, I'm very glad that he's the Attorney General of the State of Minnesota.
My gosh.
While I do not usually go out for electoral politics very much, I did campaign for him the last time he was running for office, and boy, am I glad I did now.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, and I can say the same for my congressional representative, Ilhan Omar.
Uh, acts as if she's fearless. I can't imagine she really is fearless, but she sure doesn't let it.
stop her. So she and two other. appropriate representatives were trying to go to the immigration.
center, uh, which has… and they have the right to do that. They're government officials, that's part of their job.
But they were completely turned away, and there were a fair number of people witnessing all this, and so Ilhan, as she does.
time after time after time, made a brilliant statement about.
what is wrong with this? And, uh, of course, she is of Somali descent, and that's.
One of the biggest, uh… groups here that are being targeted, uh, in addition to.
Um, Latino, Latina people. Latinx, excuse me.
Um, yeah, so… so anyway, yes, we… that is… that's an important part of.
what my friend called the movement ecosystem. Um, here, is that we do have some reliably.
useful, uh, elected officials. And Keith Ellison is always one of those.
The, um… the mayor of Minneapolis, who.
was not only not useful, but was… quite detrimental, uh, when Mr. Floyd was killed five and a half years ago.
Even he is, like. Like, using swear words. They said, ice, get the out of our city.
Uh, so he, you know, he has been useful, and so has the, uh, the governor, in my, in my view so far.
Take it away, Betsy.
Yeah, and I want to stress, again, that this… the… The real solution to this problem is not going to come from our elected officials, it's going to come from us.
And that's who's keeping… we are the ones keeping ice at bay. And we have had.
with this resistance so far, we have had… Anecdotally, I mean, lots of examples of where we have, uh, enough people have showed up.
On the drop of spur of the moment. to actually chase agents away and interrupt their attempts to try to abduct somebody.
Um, there… I can just say again, the agents, all the agents, none of the agents that have come.
As part of Operation Metro Search. They are not operating by the rules. They are absolutely not.
Following any rules. And so, the ability of, I mean.
What my… My chiropractor, um.
when I talked to her about it this last week, she… We were talking about the whole situation, because this is the only topic of conversation.
And, um, she said. the police, they should be keeping… they should do something, and… And I said, the police can't do anything about federal agents. They cannot do anything about federal agents.
And she said, but who's keeping us safe? I mean, who's keeping us safe?
And I said, well, we're keeping us safe. That's the whole slogan, that's the whole picture here, is we are keeping us safe.
And I want to just put this in the context of the fact that.
Minneapolis is where George Floyd was killed 5 years ago.
6 years ago, almost, and… that our police force, the Minneapolis police force, is still under a consent decree, because they violated civil rights.
They were investigated by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights and put under a consent decree because they are so untrustworthy.
My pleasure.
And so, this is kind of the context that we're operating in. The St. Paul Police are not a heck of a lot better.
We… they have not been sued or discovered to be systematically violating people's rights.
But in November, at an ice raid, they tear-gassed and rubber shot rubber bullets at a crowd of protesters. They got the protesters to move off to the side, and then shot tear gas at them.
and pepper sprayed them. So that's when the City Council member and the state of representative got gassed.
Uh, so this is… the police departments are not a part of the solution here.
That's right.
Um, and there's… they also have no authority, and they're vastly outnumbered by these agents.
vastly outnumbered. Um, there are more federal agents here than there are in the departments of police in the entire metro area combined.
And so we have… we are really that… we're… when I say we're occupied, we're occupied.
And this is why I wouldn't… I hope we can stop it here, and that you won't have to deal with this too.
So, she says. Catching her breath from her passionate speech here.
What about the National Guard? I thought the governor called out the National Guard.
Beautiful.
to help protect people.
Yeah. Well… We don't know, really, what… the National Guard.
right now, all they're doing is protecting the ice.
headquarters, so that the sheriff… the sheriffs. The Hennepin County Sheriffs are freed up to police the streets.
That's what they're doing today. this night, this evening. On Saturday, they were also.
uh, deployed onto the streets around the place… the site where David Preddy was killed.
Um, and Alex was killed. Um, and so… They were on the streets.
Overnight. And I have a friend who lived close by and was shocked to see these tanks rumbling down the street.
In front of their house. Um, so it's, uh, this is… the… it's unclear exactly what the National Guard would do.
Um, one of the pieces, though, is that if the governor has mobilized the National Guard, President Trump cannot do it.
Not our National Guard. the governor's mobilization takes precedence.
And so… Uh… maybe it's better than Governor Walz mobilizes them.
Um, so we'll… we'll see how this… the, uh, President Trump has also alerted, you probably heard this.
Uh, the airborne division in Alaska. To be ready to come to Minnesota.
Um, and we, uh, Alaska, because it knows how to deal with the weather.
I have to say this is all happening in the context of the coldest January we've had in about 5 or 6 years.
It's really frigid here, and so it's… this is all happening in that context, too.
So, um, I have not been looking at the chat, and now.
I see that Michael has a question! Um, and that… Uh… let's see… Um…
Yeah, talking about the external communications or the training infrastructure, I think is the… the comment that's to the point for us.
Yes. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Okay, so, um… the training infrastructure, um, they're started back in the summer.
Um, one of the immigrant rights organizations, actually two of them.
started to, uh, do trainings for people to do constitutional observing.
and legal observing, uh, if and when I, um.
up this activity here. Uh, what they have found, what we found very quickly after Operation Metro Surge started is that.
Legal observing was no use, because. All the things that you look for in legal observing were not present. There's no police… no badge numbers, no identification of the officers.
No, uh, they will not tell you their names. There is… they are, like I said, just absolutely not playing by the rules.
So, legal observing is actually not very useful. What is useful is the videotaping.
And, um, the… with… some luck, you know, ultimately someday, maybe, these guys will.
see some repercussions, legal repercussions for what they're doing now. And the video evidence may be really the thing that's most useful.
Um, so there is… there has been some, um, just in the last.
I would say 2 weeks. There's been some attempt to do some non-violence training.
And, um, now I have to say that. Not all of the people who are involved in this are actually committed to nonviolence.
Um, I was in a, um, meeting. almost 2 weeks ago, where… which was supposed to be a spokes Council, you know, having people from different… all these different little areas and networks.
come together, a representative come together, and do some planning together.
Um, that… at that Spokes Council, there was somebody who was advocating that everybody should get armed, get weapons, and.
that that was the way we were going to keep ourselves safe.
Um, and he was getting a fair amount of agreement, um, from, from people.
Um, uh, I… What's that?
I wonder who was paying him.
I know several people in Minneapolis
Well.
who are honest people who believe that violence is the plan.
Somebody could be an instigator, but not necessarily.
That's right, that's right.
Yeah, yeah, I agree with Shota. Um, I didn't… in that context, the best I could do was to shout loudly, I disagree, and that kind of put the… an end to that.
But I wouldn't… I mean, you don't say that in an open meeting anyway, and… So, you know, I don't know where that's gone, but I suspect that there is some attempt to form an armed resistance, also.
Um, and it's coming mainly from the IWW anarchist area.
Oh, wing. Um… So, um… But for the most part, so nonviolence training people have been asking for it, people have been giving it, it's been mostly.
People associated with momentum, um. And people associated with, uh, the struggle over Lyme 3, which happened, uh, 3 years ago here.
Uh, people who did a lot of non-violence training for the Line 3 struggle.
Um, and it's people… oh, trainers from the group that used to be known as Ruckus, the Ruckus Society.
Which is now the Blackout Collective. Uh, people from NDN Collective, which is a native-run organization from South Dakota.
Um, there's, uh, so it's… a variety of folks who, um.
have had… who've done a lot of, um, non-violence training in the past for.
Uh, mass mobilizations. this is very different from the… I did a lot of training for mass mobilizations, too.
And this is very different because we have had no planning time.
There is… there was no planning time involved in this.
So, we have been, as we frequently say, building the airplane as we're flying it.
And, uh, the difference between that and a mass mobilization is that you had some planning time there.
Um, so Seattle had planning time, and… Miami had planning time, the G8 had planning time, all these things.
But we didn't… we had no planning time here.
Um, so… Uh, there has been… so the non-violence training has been.
Happening just in the last couple of weeks is really the only time that that's when it started cropping up.
Um, so, Erica, did you want to get… awarded Edwards?
Yeah, I… I just… Excuse me. I just wanted to, um, name some of the other, uh.
groups, you name the NDN. Collective, which is the Indian, the most.
Most progressive that I've seen of the formal, uh, Indigenous organizations.
Uh, unions also have been really, excuse me, throwing in, throwing down, um.
Thank you.
And there was a mass demonstration. I've heard. Between 15,000 and 60,000, so I don't know what's right, but it was many, many people this last.
Well, that was… Uh… now I'm forgetting, it was the 23rd.
And, um…
The murder was Saturday.
Yeah, the murder was Saturday, the march was Friday.
Yeah.
Murdered, correct. But they… right, the, um, this… this demonstration preceded that murder. It was after.
Renee Goode's murder was before this massive demonstration, but um… I just wanted to name that unions and, uh.
a group called Isaiah. I don't know if they're national or not, but.
Mm-mm. No.
There are multi-religion, uh. activist group, and here, at least in the Twin Cities, they're.
They can be relied on to take. very progressive stance, not radical, but they… and they are very good at organizing. So between the unions and the.
And Isaiah, that's why we were able… in my opinion, that's why we were able to have a massive number of people on that, uh.
The 23rd, Erica, sorry to interrupt, it's Minga, but I just wondered, was Isaiah also.
on the 23rd. Um…
The movement that I heard when people went to the airport and.
Hmm.
And block the airport. Was that Isaiah?
Uh, I think… yes, I do think Isaiah was part of the organizing of that.
action, too. I'm pretty sure.
Yep. That involved clergy from around the country. That was not.
Well, right, yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, Dylan.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, and so Boston folks went there, and I was considering going, and it was too quick to… figure out how to go, but I'm glad that it sounds like that was an effective.
Strategy.
Yeah, it really, it really was, and um… Yeah, I'm not sure how central Isaiah was to that. I'm sure they were.
I mean, Isaiah shows up, um… But I think my sense was that that was organized partly as part of the big.
Yes.
as… in conjunction with the big, uh, uh, march and rally on, uh, the 20th.
Third. And uh…
That…
It was so impressive. So many people just woke their eyes up, seeing those streets.
And it was touching. I know!
Mm-hmm.
20 below zero was, that was… Our temperature, it was 20…
So amazing.
Oh, yeah, right, I write. As Betsy has mentioned, it's… It is so cold.
It's so cold, and I've been here since 1978, and I'm like.
really cold here.
Yes!
Yeah.
Whoa! This is… this is like North Pole kind of cold, although they have the oceans around them.
Mm-hmm.
Um, I'm wondering if this might be a good time for me to just jump in with some of the, specifically, uh, racial justice aspects of.
What's… what's been happening with this. Uh, Betsy, should I do that now or later?
Could I just… Yeah, could I just answer David's question in the chat here first, and then I'd love to jump that way.
Yeah, yeah.
Okay.
Yeah. Um, so David's question is, what's the point… or my point of view about showing up with gas masks?
to a demonstration. Um, you know, I haven't heard a discussion about that in this context, but, um, in previous mass mobilizations.
Yeah, there's been quite a bit of discussion about that, that it looks… that gas masks are.
make you look pretty inhuman, actually. Um, and so there is an awareness of the optics of showing up with gas masks.
There are more, less intimidating gas masks and much cheaper ones.
that, uh, people are using also that are mostly medical kind of face masks with a little.
Um, general, uh, breathing valve in there that are somewhat.
At least temporarily, they help with the effects of tear gas.
Um, but there's nothing like a bandana soaked in vinegar, actually, so.
Ah. Yeah.
As we know. So, so yeah, so in this, this, uh, group of us committed.
So, go ahead, Jaron, do take it away, yeah, yeah.
I'm sorry, yeah. So, and just building on that, then this group of us that are committed to nonviolence here.
That… that has been a very interesting dynamic, because as you know, you know.
You know, people come in and say, not only should we wear gas masks, we should all be armed, and particularly after the most recent murder on Saturday.
Um, you know, that has been… there has been talk about that. If we all get guns, we'll be safe.
Of course, we know better, um, and… but it happens when the.
when an invasion is this. efficiently violent.
Immediately after it starts. There's, you know, a lot of people have a lot of feelings, a lot of reactions, and a lot of beliefs of what does keep us safe.
Um, so, uh… So, the racial dynamics, I think, are important to talk about.
this… the… uh… Renee Goode is a white woman.
who was shot in the face. Um, Mr. Uh.
Uh, I don't have his name quite as in my mind.
Pretty…
Pretty. Mr. Pretty was a white man. Who was shot… We've got either 3 or 7 times, depending on who you talk about, but there's a very graphic video of him.
Being killed by bullets. So this here in the heart of the Midwest.
Um, where… a lot of white people here like to say, oh yeah, I'm not… I'm not prejudiced, you know, I mean, these are… constantly, people are saying that.
And, though, in the Twin Cities area. Um, the, the, um… During the Great Migration, a large number of Black people, surprisingly enough, ended up all here, and so there are well.
rooted Black. Black organizations of all kinds, political, mutual aid, um… uh, uh, cultural and stuff.
So… And this has… this has increased also just since I moved here in 1978. First when I moved here from Washington, D.C, I was like, oh.
This is not good. Um… Uh, and there has been a lot of change in the last whatever that is, 40, 40, 50 years.
Um… So, it is not coincidental that is… it is a white woman.
That was shot in the face. that tens of thousands of people came out.
People really came out for George Floyd because there was video.
But, uh, as I said before, all of us got on.
my neighborhood is a historically Black neighborhood in Minneapolis.
It was something like. I don't have these numbers right, but, uh, you know, as the Great Migration continued and people are rooted down, there's families, institutions, all kinds of things are here.
Um, um… the powers that be were like, whoa.
there's a lot of Black people in this area. Shit, what are we gonna do? And so they did a thing that was a classic move at the time. They put, uh.
Interstate Highway, smack through the middle of this neighborhood.
60 square blocks were destroyed.
So, that's where this stuff is taking place. And… Um… I think the free use of.
military type. presences.
is not coincidental to the location of these. murders being in the longest historical Black neighborhood, arguably.
Are there a lot of Somalis there?
Uh, in Minneapolis. So… There, yes, this has been a wonderful hub for Somali.
Uh, immigrants and people who've been invited here. Um… Uh, Michael, let me speak to that in a moment, um, in the chat.
Um… But as long as we're talking about Somalis somewhat, just to bring it down to the, like.
Level of my neighbor. It's been a terrific Somali family. The parents immigrated, the kids are born here.
Um… I've played with their kids, the youngest is a boy who's.
probably now, maybe close to 9, but his… one of his favorite things to do was when I was putzing around in the backyard and.
And stuff, he'd yell out the window, Hi, neighbor! And then he'd, you know, kind of disappear from the window, and then, you know, ever since when we've seen each other, I just said, hi, neighbor, and he's… and stuff. So, they're, uh, the elders of that group made a decision to move.
And they left yesterday. I just barely got to say goodbye to Sophia, one of the.
One of the young people that I was closest to.
And I was able to talk to her last night, and she said, yeah.
My parents. You know, think it's not safe here for us, and.
They're right. They're right. Um, but she is also really sad, and I think Shaltu.
who used to help me water the flowers, um.
was also sad, but I don't… I didn't get a chance to talk to her or her younger brother.
So, yes, the Somali… hatred.
is the latest version.
of, uh, the hatred of Black people. Of which Minneapolis particularly has been a center in the Upper Midwest.
So, I've… I wanted us to all know that.
Um, and… a lot of… I mean, we turned out for George Floyd, there was a lot of stuff, uh, that happened there that was a.
certainly a region-changing, uh, uh, occurrence, and… Uh, to some extent… nation-changing event.
Um… But… oh, Jules has got to go.
Bye-bye. Um… that, uh, that, uh… Let's see, lost my train there. Um… So anyway, so yes, Minnesota anti-Black racism, and of course.
anti-Indigenous. people's racism is.
is off the charts here, I mean. Entire.
empire, whatever the, um. the… anyway, uh, many living communities of Indigenous peoples were, uh.
Obliterated, uh, in Minnesota. Uh, over the 200 years. Um, so… and so I want to say that the anti-Black racism, specifically because a lot of Black people lived here for.
The Midwest, it is a lot. Um, that, uh, yes, they were obliterated.
Um, and uh… Um… So… so… No surprise that.
the ICE agents. came to this same neighborhood.
I don't know the inner workings of that, I don't know who told them this is the place to go, there's all kinds of explanations, I'm sure.
But what I know in my gut. is they came here because Black people live here.
And it just so happens that the ice is so incompetent and.
ruthless, and I don't know, I… I don't know.
what goes into the makeup of an ICE officer. I certainly am not going to speculate here, but um… They're so whatever they are, that they will… you know, that they're shooting first and asking questions later.
But… Yes, well, yeah, yeah.
In the metro area, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
There… there is… there is a suggestion that the.
There's that. Um… Yeah. Um…
ICE is using a software that, um. that they sort of, uh, got from the IDF.
Oh. Oh.
to help them with targeting. as part of the Palantir.
Mm-hmm.
family of software.
And Erica, you mentioned a lot of the Minneapolis police were trained by IDF.
Ah, okay. Good to know.
Yeah.
I didn't mention that. I don't know that for fact.
Somebody said it.
And I've heard it before.
Um… I don't think so, yeah, that's…
I know that, and I know that for sure.
But I…
Okay, David, great. Great. Well, that makes sense, doesn't it? I mean, the way the… the way the police officers have acted for the last 60 years especially.
And let me say, following on Michael's report earlier.
Um… Mm-hmm.
Um, you know… They've got all the data on everybody, and what they don't know about you already, they're happy to take your phone and steal it if you're.
Yeah. Yeah, so, yeah, so we go on that assumption here, even as white people, but it's absolutely true for… the remaining Indigenous people who have very powerful organizing here, as well as Black people.
Seems like there… and yes, and Michael Beer in the chat, Black people as well, Black, uh.
people who are descended from, uh, enslaved people. Um, and, well, Somalis and East Africans, yes, generally, in our, in our neighborhood.
Somalis in my particular neighborhood in Minneapolis are the preponderance of the.
Black, uh, black people who were, who were. immigrants here in the last 20 years or so.
I'd like… oh.
I think there was one other thing… to say. Um, yeah, Betsy, why don't you go, and then I'll… I'll formulate.
I was gonna respond to Michael's other question about.
Where are the… where have the… has ICE been… the agents been… where have they been active?
Um, they have been active all over the metro area. They've been active outstate… the greater Minnesota. That's why I asked if Shota were in Greater Minnesota right now, to say something, because.
Yeah.
They've been down to Northfield, they've been to Rochester, they've been to St. Cloud, they've been to.
Um, a number of other… those are the ones I remember, um, outside of the… the metro area.
Um, interestingly enough, they have not been to Worthington, which is on the western border of Minnesota, and uh… South Dakota, there are… there's large immigrant population in Worthington. They're all employed in the meatpacking industry in Worthington.
And they have not gone after the meat packing plants.
Uh, which is an interesting little, um, kind of.
Well, it's on top of the, uh, good food chart now.
tidbit. They… because.
What?
Well, maybe it's because I…
Beef was put at the top of the, uh, of, uh… Um, Bobby Jr.'s, uh, good food chart.
Oh, the chart, chart. I heard truck. Um, so, yeah, but, uh, the, also the meatpacking jobs are so brutal and horrible and dangerous that basically.
Most U.S. Workers won't take those. And so, if we want to keep… we want to keep meat on the table, or chicken even on the table.
Turkey, um, the meat processing plants haven't been touched.
Um, so it just kind of a little interesting little side light here.
You mean one of the strategies would be to ask people to turn into vegetarians?
No, no. No. Um, but I did want to move on a little bit, unless every time you remembered what you wanted to say.
No, but I will, and then I'll… I'll… I'll yell.
Okay? And when you're ready, I have a few things to say about out-state Minnesota.
Okay, okay. Well, actually, why don't you do that right now, Shadow?
Okay, so…
I've been away for a few months.
But Northfield…
Um, an hour south of the Twin Cities.
Um, became a place that had our own protests.
Because Indivisible was going to arrange carpools,
And a certain Unitarian person just
put out the announcement that there was going to be a protest, and this time and this date, and they've been happening 2,500 people, mobs of people.
The police are not too bad. There's some local assholes.
But the police…
don't… so… so we don't know when this will change.
Um, my big contribution was to insist that we had to have marshals.
And they're really a little obsessive about security.
Which, which is good, you know, we're all on signal and so forth.
Um, so what Northfield and nearby…
Um, a lot of…
Latino, Latino.
people in agriculture, a lot of chicken,
And a lot of, like, organic and regenerative agriculture.
Um, and so I know people, I know…
Mm-hmm.
two brothers whose parents went back to Mexico before they could be
Have something done to them.
everybody I know is kind of nervous, and they have been coming into Northfield.
And Northfield, it's like this nice college town, and…
And people are going, they did what?
But Northfield is a target because we've become a place.
Where other people come outstate.
And do our protests.
Um, there's a separate group that's working on support for
Um…
for threatened people, and they're doing the powers of attorney, and they're doing the food thing, and they're doing, um…
I hear that, that, um, the people have asked us not to do the whistle thing.
But I haven't heard why, because I'm not there.
I just read a little stuff.
And, um, I will have to figure out where to plug in when I get back.
Oh, I also want to mention the clergy.
We have got a lot of clergy, and somebody I know
They got 800 people, 100 of them got arrested, and that was on the big day.
the big March day.
And, um…
With… yeah, right. And the Buddhists are working with Isaiah.
With Isaiah holding that down.
Which matters to me.
Mm-hmm. You bet. You bet.
So, that's…
That's what comes to mind.
Yeah. Um, oh, um.
So, I want to pivot, um… So, we've been talking about what.
has been happening so far, and I've been… Um, I've been working on, uh, telling you all about the resistance.
Um, and I think that, um, while I've been painting a pretty grim picture of how it feels, which is accurate.
I want to say that we also… we've had… we've been rather successful at.
kind of stalling and interfering with, um, the progress of Operation Metro Surge.
Um, and that I have been watching the last couple of days, well, last.
Now, since January 20th, I've been watching, uh, for… the indications that the coalition is cracking.
The MAGA coalition is cracking around this. Um, so, uh, locally in the Twin Cities on January 20th is the Right to My Life marches, you know, all over the country.
And there was, uh, so an interview on public radio of.
the head of the Minnesota Citizens Concern for Life, the major pro-life organization.
And he stumbled and was kind of incoherent about it, but he said it. He said.
Well, I think we also would have to oppose the current activities of ICE if.
You're going to be pro-life. You have to be pro-life.
And I thought, holy mackerel, that is the first time in my entire political career that I have been on the same side as Minnesota's Citizens Concern for Life.
You know, and that was really, to me, was quite telling, even though he was pretty bashful about saying it.
Um, we also have the, uh, the Statement of Patel statement that, uh.
Alex Preddy shouldn't have brought his gun to a demonstration that people shouldn't come armed to demonstrations.
You know, I believe that, too. I would rather people didn't come to demonstrations myself.
But, um, it set off the, uh, the gun rights people. And, um, so then I heard a statement from not NRA, but a different gun rights group.
saying, we shouldn't have to choose between the First Amendment and the Second Amendment.
And then the… one of the candidates for governor for the, um, the gubernatorial race that has, uh, has dropped out now.
Because she said, the national GOPA has made it virtually impossible for a Republican to get elected in Minnesota.
Anyway, and um… and I don't really want to be associated with what the national.
GOP is promoting on the assault on… the revenge assault on Minnesota. I don't… I don't believe that. I don't want… don't want to be part of this.
Um, and there was another indication that I had just had in the last 2 days, watching their… their coalition is crumbling in the face of this.
Um, and I know that there's been some senators and congresspeople to… Republicans who've.
been questioning what's going on. Um, so, uh… I think that we're seeing the beginning of the light at the end of the tunnel.
And, um, so it, um… Uh, in addition, though, the Sunrise Movement in particular, as well as Isaiah, this faith group that we've been referring to.
They're… they're saying, look, let's move from the. defense position to the offense position.
And so, this is what I'm going to ask you about, to help with.
Um, you know, if this is about how can M&S help people in Minnesota, I want to make an ask.
Um, uh, we were… Erica and I were both at a meeting a little bit more than a week ago now.
Uh, in which they launched, uh, Isaiah and the Sunrise Movement, our local chapter of the Sunrise Movement has.
that's a youth-led environmentalist organization, an environmental justice organization.
Um, and they are, um… Our local chapter has made a pivot from environmental justice for the time being.
to anti-ice stuff. So they've been conducting, um.
noise demonstrations at the hotels where the ICE agents are staying, um, going out not every night, but quite a lot of… quite often.
to the hotels where they suspect that there are ICE agents staying, and drumming and chanting and.
singing and shouting and making all kinds of noise to keep them from sleeping.
Which, of course, keeps all the rest of the guests from sleeping, too.
And the idea is to put pressure on the hotels.
And there's been some limited amount of success with that. Two hotels in downtown St. Paul have closed.
Rather than have ICE agents staying in them. Um, and they will reopen, but they're not… booking any of our ICE agents, uh, or federal agents, I should say.
Um, so, uh, and they are saying, let's expand this.
What are the things that ICE needs in order to maintain the… or on the federal agencies.
need in order to maintain this massive force in the Twin Cities, 3,000 agents.
Well, they need places to stay, obviously. And they need food to eat, obviously, and they need rental cars.
And they… so they're saying, let's target those businesses. And that gets to PJ's question.
About, what about businesses here? Um, and so they're, they're saying it's time for us to pivot, to expand our.
what we're doing. We don't want to give up the resistance, but we want to go on the offense.
We want to take the struggle to them. So, um, at this meeting that… they launched this campaign, and Eric and I were both there.
Um, we broke into 3 subgroups, um, and I went to the enterprise, uh, the, um, the current subgroup.
Enterprise Car Rentals has rented more than about 50% of the cars that ICE has rented in the Twin Cities.
It came from enterprise. And so the idea is to put pressure on enterprise to end those contracts with ICE.
Um, and I'm going to share on my screen, um, the plan that they have and the tactics that they're adopting.
and talk about this a little bit, because I want to enlist your help.
Um, so I'm going to… oh, uh, do I have the ability to share? I'll see… oh, yes, I do! Okay, good.
All right, so there. So now, you should see… the daily action checklist. This comes from… from the Free Minnesota campaign that's just starting up.
Um, and so what they're trying to do is to get us to.
Establish relationship with the workers at Enterprise. And to get the workers to be on… to speak up against the ice.
contracts. So, the first thing is that we are groups, small groups of people, are being asked to go to a local rental center. There are 29 centers.
Where you can run Enterprise, uh, cars from Enterprise in the Twin Cities area, metro area.
Um, and go… adopt one. and go to that rental center directly, and.
talk to the workers who are there, who are typically people just out of college.
Um, so ask how they're feeling about the situation, listen empathetically, offer a harmless-looking card.
And it, uh, it says… it says, cities heat, salt and spices, and with a little QR code. It looks innocuous.
And, um, that if they click on the access QR code, though.
It will take them to a guide for how to.
put pressure or defect as workers. how to put pressure on.
enterprise from their position. as workers. Um, and how to non-cooperate with ICE.
Um, so… and day two, maybe the first time you call them, and the second time you visit them.
And do the same kind of thing, just talking to the workers, whoever happens to be there.
Day 3, um, trying to think about… ask around to see if a friend of a friend knows a manager or a franchise owner, or a regional supervisor at Enterprise.
Reach out to them privately. Um, offer to discuss contract termination with them.
And just share your point of view. and see how far up the chain of command.
we can find, we can get. Day 4, and here's where you all might come in.
Um, make demands… demand calls to the Enterprise National Reservations phone line.
Um, and they have a suggested script. Demand that enterprise end all their ICE contracts and assure them that the.
They've lost your business, and they have a chance to regain it.
Um, day 5 might be picketing or protesting at, uh, a rental center.
Um, contact the workers first, let them know that it's not personal.
But they are… we are here to protest Enterprise's corporate policy.
Day 6, mass reservation cancellations. Again, you could help with this.
book a batch of rentals on the website, the Enterprise website, or app, and.
Council 48 hours before pick up. Uh, there are… there's a guide to, um, follow in… so that you don't get charged for the rentals.
Um, to avoid being charged for these reservations. Um, 7. Day 7, the flyer around the enterprise rental office, print flyers and stickers, hang them up around the office.
Day 8, document, share the results, kind of post a short summary, uh, and yet another signal thread.
Um, and saying how it's going, um, and. Then day 9, start all over again.
And so this is the… the campaign that, um.
The sunrise… this is what the Sunrise Movement and Isaiah have come up with.
as a way to begin to put pressure on this.
the businesses, which are supporting this occupation. Um, again, this is… Because we want to shovel them out of here. We do not want.
these agents to continue to be here, and the businesses are… the analysis of the.
The, uh, Sunrise Movement is very much following what Dr. Maria Stephens is talking about quite, quite regularly now.
of the power of non-compliance. Uh, which is basically the same old stuff that we know. You know, she quotes Gene Sharp, you know, she… Still, as republishing Gene Sharp's list of 198.
actions. And this… but this is what the Sunrise Movement is doing with that information.
So here, and a parallel campaign will be happening with Hilton Hotels, already is underway, with Hilton Hotels.
Which is a franchisee chain kind of operation, so that there are a lot of hotels that don't say that there are Hilton Hotel, but they are a franchise.
of Hilton. Um, and so the same thing is… is possible to do with Hilton Hotels.
And the restaurants, um, that, uh, hopefully. getting restaurant owners to say that they will not serve.
federal agents, which is legal, because they're not a protected class.
Restaurants can't discriminate against. People… customers on the basis of.
gender and, um, ethnicity and all these other things, but they.
being an ICE agent is not a protected class.
So this, uh, and there's… There are quite a number of, uh, another.
piece of this resistance so far has been getting businesses to post signs on their door saying, no ice welcome here.
And so to get more restaurants to say, we're not going to serve ICE agents.
Um, and it's additional protection for workers because it's.
ice agents have actually gone to a restaurant, eaten there, and returned a few days later to arrest the staff.
Um, and so it's… this is… this has happened. Um, and so it's a protection for the people in the work… who work in the restaurant.
As well. So, um… The… so, what I would like to suggest that.
And there was… in the preparation material that, um, that.
Fred had set out, there was a list, an article.
by somebody else about, um, uh, different ways you can help Minnesota, and there was a whole.
there's a whole website developed called Stand With Minnesota with ideas about what you can do if you're not in Minnesota.
Um, but I would like to particularly pitch this for you folks, for all of you.
to help us get this enterprise campaign on the ground, off the ground.
Because, um… I… the… targeting Hilton and targeting… Enterprise might actually help you in the future, too.
Because if this happens to Philadelphia, if it happens to Boston, if it happens to.
Well, it's already been in Chicago. But these… these are things if.
Enterprise and Hilton have already been getting pressure. to not cooperate with federal invasions like this.
You'll be protected. 2. You'll be that much farther ahead as well.
So, I really would… I'd like to enlist your help.
to work on this enterprise campaign. Um, because it'll… it'll stun all of us in good stead.
If we've laid that groundwork. Um, and it may get them out of here a little sooner.
So, questions or comments or reactions? Did that answer your question, PJ, about what do we do about businesses? Okay.
I want to say, just as a, um, Erica in the chat was talking about, um, Target Corporation, which is also centered in many… it's headquartered here.
And, um, Serge showing up for racial justice that we're both involved in.
has been target… has been started a campaign against Target last summer, actually, which has gone through a bunch of.
ups and downs and changes because of operation metrosurge suddenly coming in the middle of it.
But, uh, are the… what we would like from Target is.
that they come on… come out as, uh, use their corporate.
lobbying power to lobby for a pathway to citizenship. Um… Because that is something that Targa would be, and Target's best interests, as well as.
the best interests of a whole bunch of the business community.
Um, but, um, at the moment, we just would like them to stop allowing ICE agents to stage in their parking lots, which they're doing frequently.
And going in and arresting their employees, which has happened too.
Um, so… but… an interesting little tidbit was that on one of my managed signal chats, just this week.
I saw a post-it from somebody who said, I'm a Target employee.
And I just want you to know that there's a whole bunch of us trying to… signing a letter. There's a letter going around.
to our CEO, saying, we want the… this corporation to stop cooperating with the federal agents in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
And, um, it was… and somebody else then responded in the same chat, saying.
Yeah, I'm in Target Corporate headquarters, and you would not believe how many of my coworkers are wanting to sign that letter.
So, there's defection. already inside Target, there's defection, and what we want to do is create that same kind of defection.
inside enterprise and inside the Hilton Hotel chain.
I see, David, you have your hand up. Do you want to go ahead and… Talk?
Uh, you are still muted.
Hit the wrong button. Thanks. Several of you have mentioned Isaiah, and I wonder if there are.
other groups of clergy that have been organized or cooperating.
whether the Black Church, which is a very. strong institution has been a center of activity.
Whether or not they've been targeted as much as Latinos or.
Or people from East Africa. And then I have another comment about Quakers, but if there's some general… commentary here about the role of religious institutions. I would be interested in that.
Isaiah is a Minnesota-based. coalition of clergy.
Um, and it does include, um, uh, Buddhists, it does include.
Jewish congregations, um, I… I'm not sure how many mosques are included, but I think of at least a few.
Um, and it does include the Black church, and it does include the Roman Catholic Church, and.
a bunch of Protestant denominations as well. It's been, um… focused mainly on the Minnesota state legislature and the, um, miracle year of 2023, when we actually had a trifecta in the Minnesota state legislature.
Isaiah was behind most of the progressive legislation that passed that session.
Um, and so they have been focused primarily on.
um, statewide issues. Um, and, uh, this, this pivot to focusing on ICE is really kind of out of necessity.
Um, my Quaker meeting is involved in Isaiah, um, and I think.
Both… all three of the Quaker meetings in the area are involved with Isaiah.
Um, so it's… it is a… it's a powerful.
Um, powerful group, and it's very influential. It's… I heard the executive director speak. I was blown away. I thought she did a really.
very… she had a really. Solid, solid analysis and program… the program that they're, uh, following us.
It impresses me. So, for legislative action.
Uh, just to follow on. I've seen several.
Interviews and documentaries on MSNBC, or whatever it is MS now, maybe it was also on CNN about churches.
being headquarters for gathering food and delivering it. But, uh, the person… who was doing one of these interviews says that they don't want to, um… shows the volunteers there, because.
They might get followed to the deliveries. The latest murder… When Alex was gunned down, 10 shots, by the way, at least 10 shots.
according to New York Times. That was Saturday, our meeting for worship the next morning.
was very much under the weight of this. Concern, and probably our most influential.
soft-spoken elderly friend who happens to be the head of the finance committee, said.
I believe that we should make an appropriation, a substantial appropriation, and the friends agree.
We can have a called meeting right now, rather than with a one-week notice.
And we had more people there, because, uh, you know, we're… There were more of us mode in and on Zoom than made it to the in-person assembly place. So we quickly agreed to make a decision.
And went with the first suggestion of $500, and then went with another suggestion of, we will match any other individual.
Uh, contributions. And. We will entrust whatever we.
raise to… Betsy's meeting. So you can expect some checks to be coming, uh, to… to use as you best see fit.
You know the situations, uh… Better as to whether… legal offense, um.
Transportation, all the things were… where congregations.
can mobilize their people to go out into the community with compassionate connection. So, if our meetings do it, there are probably other meetings and other.
Um.
Uh, local parishes can do that kind of thing, and… For want of any other suggestion.
Uh, let's see if there are places to receive those kind of funds, you could suggest them.
Or just say, okay, send them to us, and we'll distribute them as needed.
Thank you.
You know, I'm gonna say something, you're gonna be really surprised to hear, all of you. Um… Thank you, David. Thank you, thank you for… thanks for your meeting.
Ah.
For really coming up with this kind of, like, on the spur of the moment, that's exactly how we're coming up with stuff. It's great, it's wonderful to hear about.
Um, and yeah, there are a lot of churches who are, that are plugged into this mutual aid lane of resistance right now.
Um, the thing that you're going to be surprised to hear, um… I spent the last 15 years of my working life as a bookkeeper, working for small nonprofits and movement groups.
And I handled the money from… or a chunk of the money that was raised for Standing Rock for the Standing Rock occupation, and I handled a chunk of the money.
or all of the money that was raised for Earthlock.
A chunk of the money that was raised for Line 3.
And I handle a chunk of the money that came in in donations during the uprising.
After the killing of George Floyd, because I was working for organizations that got the… were benefited from that.
Um, and I want to… just point… say that, um… In all of these cases.
flooding a group of people who are not used to handling money with money.
is actually kind of detrimental. And, um, it is kind of a very… Well, you know, liberal reaction to reach for your checkbook when you hear that something is going on.
And I want to say, from the back end.
That causes problems. from the back end, what I could see as a bookkeeper in all these situations.
It causes problems, it causes dissension, it causes arguments, it causes accusations.
It causes mistrust. In one case, it caused embezzlement.
The director of the Minnesota Bail Fund ran off with about a million dollars worth of contributions raised during the, um, the uprising.
Um, and these, these contributions were coming in without any.
any appeals or anything like that. This was just people generously opening up their checkbooks and writing checks, and sometimes very large ones. I handle a lot of big ones.
$15,000 check for Standing Rock that I've handled. That kind of thing. And it… It is actually kind of detrimental.
Um, so I… I would… Again, my… Appeal for you is to help on this campaign.
to pressure the corporations rather than giving money. And… because… and there is… there's a lot of fundraising going on right now in the Twin Cities.
Again, with the mutual aid emphasis. Getting people groceries, getting people rent, that's a big, big one right now. Rental assistance, and yeah, it's necessary. Yes, it's needed.
And it's already causing distrust and accusation in the… among the… People who would like to be helpful.
Um, so I… I just have… that's my experience.
My lived on-the-ground experience. working with these.
very… these very impromptu snap. things where money is just kind of.
thrown out the problem. And, um, so… I'd ask you… I ask you for your help with the Enterprise Campaign, rather than your money.
Um…
But money… but… but if I…
Betsy, with the Enterprise campaign, would you envision that.
Yes. Yep.
Say, for example, I, um… book online, because you can do that. Here, I'm in the East Coast, and I'd be booking Enterprise in Minneapolis as if I'm going to come to Minneapolis for a week, and.
rent a car, and then whatever the timeline is for cancellation.
Mm-hmm.
cancel in time. Okay, so that's what you're saying, we could do.
Hmm. And I can send a link to the document I showed you, so that… which has links then to.
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
the guide and stuff like that. Or you could do… and you could do the demand calls, too. You could call the National Reservation line.
And make a demand that they enter contracts with ICE.
Oh, you would do that by just calling their reservation line?
Yeah. Hmm?
Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Okay, alright.
Yeah, and Michael…
This is just marvelous, uh, Betsy and Erica, just incredible.
And showed a wonderful… I'm learning so much.
Uh, inspiring me to try to help
do what I can to help take… go on the offense here.
Um, so I have so many questions, but I'll just…
do a follow-up based on what…
Betsy just said about not sending money, or…
whatever. Uh, money…
is…
coming, to some degree.
Uh, whether you like it or not, you said people are throwing it.
So, so…
Yes, we won't encourage it, but if it is coming…
Oh yeah, yeah, it's happening, yeah.
Where would be the least bad places?
for folk… for funds to come.
Well, I…
with groups or whatever that you think can handle it better than others.
And we'll be… yeah.
What David's… Yeah, what David's meeting, it suggested of sending it to another church, that really makes sense to me, because church already has a system set up to receive donations.
Um, non-profits and the ones, like, I worked for.
had donation… systems set up to receive donations, but, like.
Voices for Racial Justice was one organization I was working for. They got gifted with close to a million dollars, unsolicited, during the uprising.
They felt terrible about getting money from the death of George Floyd.
And it, you know, like, we should not be getting.
We should not be benefiting from the death of a man, and.
felt like, what do we do with… it's almost like bloody money.
And so… They figured it out, um… Another organization that then used.
the help of, of, um… It was a North Star Medics Collective, there's street medics that, uh, has been… there's a collective that's been active since.
2008, and they got on their PayPal. Uh, button, uh, during the uprising, in a day and a half, they got, um.
over a million and a half dollars. And they happen to look at their PayPal.
account and say, oh no! And they shut it off right away.
But then they were left with all this money that they needed to do, and of that, they needed maybe 1 tenth of that.
for their own, they didn't pay anybody to do all the work, they were just buying supplies and stuff.
But… so they had this gob of money. to get rid of, and they didn't, again, didn't feel like.
this is not something that we should really be profiting from.
Um, so they found a way through Voices for Racial Justice, they found a way to.
to parcel it out to other people. in other places. But that's… that's the… That's the dilemma that we faced following the uprising. Um, smaller organizations.
Again, I think that what David Fink was suggesting about giving it to a church.
Makes a lot of sense to me. They've already got a system for that.
I think it'd be worthwhile to consider sending to Isaiah.
Um…
2. What do you think, Betsy?
Oh, okay.
Possibly. I would suggest that HCLU if you must give money to somebody, the ACLU, you know, because they're doing a of a lot of work for all of us.
All since Trump got into office, they have been filing lawsuit after lawsuit. I think the ACLU.
Yes.
You know, that's who I've… Yeah.
I agree. I agree.
Well, uh, it's past Sandra's Boston's bedtime, and I think we've lost her already.
I see a bunch of people kind of dropping off here, so… Yeah.
Right. It's not my bedtime, but I really do need to eat dinner, so I'm also gonna sign off.
East Coast is later than it is here.
Andrew, yeah. But anyway, I just really want to thank everyone for coming and for your interest and your… hearts and guts and, um, of course, Betsy, my.
Beloved, longtime friend. Ah, thank you.
Thank you for, um, for getting this to happen.
Yeah, and my Erika, my beloved longtime friend!
Thank you both so much.
Oh.
All right, lots of love, everybody.
Thank you so much. It's very interesting.
Yes, and Fred… Fred, I presume in the next couple days, you'll be able to… get all this together, we'll post it online and make it available to.
Uh, everybody on the M&S list who may pass it on to others as well, but clearly, not all politics is local, but an awful lot is.
And, um, so, um, the main thing we can do is probably where we are.
Yeah.
Excellent.
On top of whatever support for these folks. One more thing, the, um… Um, this was in, uh, Steven Zunis', uh, Substack post today. There's a map.
of the U.S. Continental U.S. Except, there are no state lines.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
All it says is Minneapolis.
It's a beautiful image, yeah.
Oh, and if anybody's into Billy Bragg. Billy Bragg has composed a song for us. It's called City of Heroes.
And it's in… it's on YouTube now. I cried when I heard… I listened to it.
Um, he's taking off of Pastor Neil… DRM, I… The guy who said… first they came for the Communists, but I was… and I didn't stand up, you know.
Yeah.
He's taking off from that, and he wrote a song for Minneapolis, or for the Twin Cities.
Could you put that in the chat? I didn't… catch the person's name who's.
called City of Heroes. And… Billy Billy Bragg, he's a British, um.
Oh. Okay, okay.
uh… closer songwriter and singer, yeah.
Singer. Yeah. That's great. And I'm serious, Betsy, that if you think of any way that people can.
And…
come in person or help out that way, because.
We are gearing up here in Boston. We do think that we will be.
Under tech. We know that, um, ICE was. And in Portland, um, this last.
couple days, and, um, so… How do we do that exchange, and how do we… keep that network going, um… And how do we keep learning?
from what you're doing, and knowing that. Um, there's ways that we can feed each other.
Um, you know, Minga, I would recommend states at the Core and Protect Rogers Park, who are the people who've.
the train to us, and they're continuing to do trainings.
I could send you the links of, um, trainings that they're doing specifically for the Twin Cities, but you could give it.
And you could… you could… figure that out. Kind of get a head start.
By these webinars. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. We like head starts, because usually I'm in the tail.
Yeah, this is… yeah, a little pre-planning would not hurt, would not hurt.
No. Because that's… Yeah. Bye.
Good to see you, David.
David Albert has an unanswered question. It was about contributing to your friend's meeting, whether that would be appropriate.
Okay, okay.
No, please not. Um, my friend's meeting, um, we're not really in the midst of the… we're not in the center of this at all.
Um, but, uh, um. There is a Zion Community Church in St. Paul is right in the center of it, and so if you, um, that would be a church in St. Paul that you could contribute to.
Zion Community Church. It's Lutheran, but, um…
Would you put that in the chat? Yeah.
And if you have any extra like that, you can mail it to Michael Beer.
Oh, sure, yeah, I could do that.
He and Steve Chase and Barbara Briggs are doing the polar bear plunge in the Potomac River.
Um, and uh, and within two weeks, uh, that's contingent on.
cleaning out all the sewage that just poured into the Potomac.
By then. And… but it's… it'll take longer because it's frozen, right? Right, Michael?
Hmm.
Um, I'd like to check in with people about.
Uh… Does everybody have.
signal is that… Is that a capability that people have?
Uh, if you… if you don't… You could, uh, get in touch with me, and I will help you get up to speed on that.
Mm-hmm. What?
The other… the other, uh… platform that I'm exploring is Substack. I'm just curious how many people.
What? Such good.
have been interacting with Substack.
Oh, that's a friend. Okay.
Likewise, Slack. How many people use Slack and like it?
It's a… oh, it's horrible! It's terrible.
Okay.
Yeah, I think that's a thing for several years ago, I kind of got involved. I had to quit it, it was crazy, I didn't understand it, it was… Yeah.
Well, what about Facebook and X? Should I get accounts?
Yeah. Okay.
Well, depends how badly you want to be seen.
I… Yeah.
So, I want to mention, I am getting mail
from a, um…
From a cell phone company that doesn't do the regular stuff,
And they're a little expensive, and…
Anyway…
Hmm.
Mudita is their name. If anybody's heard of them, I'm thinking of looking into it.
Because not having your cell phone be trackable would be really nice.
But I don't know if they're at that level of security.
Hmm.
Mm-hmm.
But…
Yeah.
Yeah. Okay, well, this, this is another… another area for discussion.
I bet it would be… contradict…
Right.
Um, my intention… at this point is to try posting some stuff.
on my substack at Change Stories. Uh, and to use the… Um, the material that Daniel Hunter has developed.
Right.
Uh, as well as the stuff that's coming out of Minneapolis.
took a little bit more forward.
I'm not dead.
So, um… Thank you, thank you all for being here. I think this is… is really good and a manifestation of.
the good stuff that we have cultivated in Movement for New Society.
Thank you all of you who've helped to put this together.
Mm-hmm.
Thank you.
Yeah, thank you. Thank you for putting it… pulling it together at short notice.
Good night. Good night. Thank you.
We'll be thinking of you! Yeah. Stay warm!
Yeah. I couldn't do it, really. Sub-zero, forget it.
Okay, so… I am… I am gonna now stop the recording, unless anybody has something more they wanted to have, okay.
Oh yeah, stop the recording. Yes. Okay, people are dropping out.
I would be willing to, um… joined in a signal thing.
Good.
Although it left a bad taste in my mouth, I never.
I'll take a drink, let's take a thing. think.
tried it with the fact that. Pete excess use it and accidentally included the journalist who.
published it in Atlantic. So, uh, the critique was nothing with military significance should be put there, because the code could be cracked.
I mean, apparently end-to-end encryption, but to the NSA, that doesn't matter.
Mm-hmm, yeah.
Right. Right.
So, I… I don't know how much, uh, you or Betsy mentioned that a lot of people using it.
But, uh, is that misplaced confidence in the security of it? What do you think?
Yes, I think it is. I think that, um… Uh, this is my estimation of it.
I don't think that they… Waste, uh… energy and money decrypting everything that they slurp up. I think that they.
Hmm…
slurp up vast amounts of data. and store it underground in Utah. And if there's an investigation that they want to do, if there's something that makes it seem like it's worthwhile.
Then someone makes the decision, yeah, we're gonna spend the extra 50 cents to decrypt that.
Okay.
But, um, the… the issue is. Um… having something that's free.
That enables you to. Communicate with lots of people and organize.
Mm-hmm.
And…
It's, for example, when Tucker Carlson went. to Moscow.
That was a high-profile activity and they did take the trouble to decrypt it.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, yeah.
The situation with Pete Hegseth. was user error.
Right.
He… he… he included. the journalist in the chat. That was his.
Right.
incompetence. And to the credit of the journalist, he went ahead and ran with it.
Well, I also think one of our greatest protections is that.
To the best of my knowledge, were never advocating, apologizing for.
Or organizing violence.
Right. Right, and there… there are some people who… actually talk to.
the people who are doing the surveillance, and. you know, lean on them and educate them and.
Yeah.
Hmm.
carry on in that way, and I… I think there have been a few, a very few people.
who have, um… Been… been influenced.
by hearing stuff that they didn't hear any other place.
No, no.
So, um…
I said goodbye to Mary, she heard most of… She heard the meeting, and she could tell who almost everybody who was talking, and then some people she couldn't quite recognize.
And I told her was David Fink, so then she knew it was you.
Yeah…
Give her a hug for me.
Yeah.
Great. Well, um… I need to get a bite to eat and get ready for my next Zoom meeting.
That's right, it's earlier there. Oh, okay, alright.
Um, we have… we have a… we have… Yeah, we have a lot, a lot going on here, and I think this will be a great contribution to.
the discussions that we're having.
Okay. Yeah. Oh, it was so helpful, and I really wanted to help them with the, uh, enterprise and the, um… What was the other one? Hotel, maybe? But yeah, but I have to get the information.
written out, you know, to read it and follow it, you know what I mean?
So, whether it's the chat or whatever else you do, but… Uh, as the follow-up here.
Right. Well… I will try and include that. There was, um, an article that George Lakey circulated from Jacobin Magazine, also.
Yeah. Ah, okay, all right.
Mm-hmm.
Okay, thanks so much, Fred, and thanks. Yeah, very good, we did this. See ya!
Yay! Okay.
Fred has a later bedtime than some of us in the eastern zone.
Well, alright. Bye now.
Okay.