For the people of Minneapolis (and more around the U.S.), it’s been a another week of startling violence. The Trump administration has continued to mobilize ICE officers into the city—leading to shuttered schools and closed businesses, abandoned cars and vendor carts. People are scared to leave their houses. But still, thousands come out on the streets to resist.
One such resister’s story came to us through our Ms. community: a video of a woman named Skye, a disabled U.S. Marine Corps veteran who for days has been participating as part of citizen observer efforts in Minneapolis to warn residents about ICE presence in their neighborhoods. “This is my duty,” she told Ms. “I took an oath to defend the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic. … [ICE agents] are terrorizing our citizens.”
On Jan. 11, while following and peacefully observing ICE agents from their car, Skye and her friend Elizabeth were pulled over by ICE agents in an unmarked vehicle. A video shows three ICE agents violently pulling her and Elizabeth out of the car. They surrounded the vehicle, dragging Skye into the road and threatening to tase Elizabeth if she moved. During the encounter, Skye told agents she was a Marine Corps veteran. An agent replied: “I don’t care what you are.” Skye says agents repeatedly referred to her as “it,” mocking her appearance and deep voice. “They were laughing and saying, ’Is it a guy or a girl? I don’t know—we’re just going to stick with it.’”
This is what happens in ICE operations under an administration that is misogynistic to its core: An investigation by The Washington Post revealed ICE recruiting efforts target male-dominated spaces where use of violence is glorified, including gun shows, UFC fights and military bases. “It seems like every MAGA [pundit and politician] is hellbent on making this a cautionary tale: Women who respond to and resist the authority of a man with a gun will get exactly what they deserve,” writes Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, Ms. executive director of partnerships and strategy.
Here at Ms. our goal is always to uncover the systems behind the violence. It’s also to uplift those who are doing the difficult—but essential—work of resisting. Skye told Ms. that now is the time to show up for our neighbors: “If that means that you can donate, if that means that you can deliver groceries, if that means you can go on a walk through your neighborhood with a whistle and patrol. … If you can do any one of these things. This isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon.”
If there’s a silver lining here, it’s that people aren’t staying silent. Massive protests have filled the streets in Minneapolis and in cities far beyond Minnesota’s borders. Across a number of polls, majorities of Americans disapprove of ICE’s actions, and a majority of Americans believes the agency has been “too aggressive” over the past year, according to Navigator. Fifty percent of women support abolishing ICE, according to YouGov. (That’s compared to just 41 percent of men.)
We know you’re here because you’re a part of this marathon, too. You want to stay informed—so you can fight back. Let this be your weekly encouragement: Keep going. Keep resisting.
For equality,
Kathy Spillar, executive editor
P.S.
As we honor Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, I’m reminded that the man who is so emblematic of the fight for racial justice in America—a fight that is playing out in the streets of Minneapolis as I write this—was an ardent supporter of reproductive justice and rights, including abortion. And Coretta Scott King, whose legacy is so often overlooked but who was just as crucial of an activist, was a staunch advocate for the Equal Rights Amendment. Their commitments remind us that all our fights for justice—racial justice, gender equality, abortion rights, an end to police brutality—are intertwined.
P.P.S.
That same truth extends beyond U.S. borders. For weeks, protests against the Islamic Republic have spread across Iran (and in other cities around the world, in solidarity). The Iranian regime has responded with internet shutdowns, mass arrests and lethal violence. Now, Iranian women and gender-justice advocates are asking feminists everywhere to stand with them, loudly and collectively. Please consider adding your name in solidarity.
Great Job Kathy Spillar & the Team @ Ms. Magazine Source link for sharing this story.
