Spotlight on Minnesota

            First it was George Floyd. This time it’s Renee Nicole Good. For the second time this decade, a killing in Minneapolis by government agents has captured national headlines and given rise to major public outcries. Is there something about Minnesota, I wonder, that catapulted these incidents into such prominence?

            Sadly, it isn’t the uniqueness of the events themselves that sets them apart. We can all name Blacks slain in acts of senseless violence, even here in Minnesota (remember Philandro Castile?). All of them generated outrage fueling the Black Lives Matter movement, but I don’t think any of them rose to quite the level that the murder of George Floyd did.

            How different was the slaying of Renee Good? Minneapolis is hardly the first city besieged by federal storm troopers, and there have been instances of lawless brutality everywhere they went. People have died in ICE custody (32 in 2025, according to a report in the Guardian), but the optics are obviously different between immigrants dying of neglect while in custody and the shooting of a white woman in the street.

            Renee Good was a picture of innocence, and the pictures are everything in these cases. What really set the slayings of Floyd and Good apart, first and foremost, was how well documented they are. Who can look at the video of Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for nine minutes and think he was acting in self-defense? The videos of Good’s shooting have provided clear and unmistakable evidence that Kristi Noem and Donald Trump lied about it.

            I don’t think Minnesotans are any more adept at using their camera phones than people in other states, so maybe it’s just a coincidence. Still, credit to those bystanders who had the presence of mind to document these incidents so effectively.

            Credit also goes to Minnesota officials who refused to sweep these atrocities under the carpet. Derek Chauvin, after all, is that rare killer cop who ended up convicted of murder. And Gov. Walz and Mayor Frey, in defiance of attempts to intimidate them, have spoken out loudly and clearly against the federal assault on our state.

            It remains to be seen what will come from the political response to ICE brutality. The Floyd murder was met by widespread protests, but that was followed by a backlash. A mob torched a police precinct, and upheaval in the Minneapolis police department, though it resulted in needed reforms, also likely spurred a wave of carjackings. Most of all, the slogan “Defund the police” enabled the right to paint the Black Lives Matter movement as extremist.

            Activists in the Twin Cities have so far shown admirable discipline and creativity. Iced pavement and snowballs are the kinds of nonviolent response that puts the ugliness of ICE in sharp relief. On the occasion of the MLK holiday, it’s well to remember how important it was for the Civil Rights movement to dramatize by their actions the difference between state violence and peaceful protest.

            I don’t have much hope, though, that in the short run we are going to see the same kinds of legislative successes that the Civil Rights movement achieved. At best, Congress might pare back some of the massive increase in funding for the immigration Gestapo that came out of the Big Ugly Bill. So far, however, congressional Democrats have mounted only a feeble push in that direction. And we face the same risk that cries to “Abolish ICE” will meet another popular backlash.

            What gives me hope is the courage and tenacity of the people of Minnesota to stand up against the fascists. We are building a movement, and if we are smart about it, we can win.

Paul Harris