“The real story is about the Minnesotans who refuse to respond with fear or fury. People who are showing up with love of community, neighbor, and country. Ordinary people, community leaders, and institutions stepping forward to peacefully insist on our constitutional rights. They are right now modeling not just the best of Minnesota, but the best of America.”– Tonya Allen
Note: This piece was updated after the killing of Alex Pretti.
I moved to Minneapolis in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder to lead the McKnight Foundation, drawn by the chance to be on the ground floor of healing and transformation. Now, just a few blocks from where that tragedy occurred, Renee Nicole Good, a Minneapolis poet and mother of three, was shot and killed by federal immigration agents. A few days ago, another shooting occurred in a North Minneapolis residential neighborhood following enforcement activity. And just this weekend, we watched in horror as videos emerged of the brutal killing of Alex Pretti, a Minneapolis resident and ICU nurse caring for our veterans.
No American city or region should experience this. But what is happening here can happen to any American, in any city, on any street.
When it comes to immigration, Minnesotans expect everyone to follow the rules—both the immigrants who come to this country and the government officials entrusted with enforcing our laws. What we’re seeing is something else entirely.
This madness needs to stop. Since the start of the federal surge, thousands of masked, unidentified agents have been patrolling our streets, harassing everyday residents and denying their basic rights. Many parents are too scared to bring their kids to school, forcing hybrid learning. Chemical irritants have been sprayed and faculty and students have been tackled on a high school campus.
People are protesting peacefully and strongly, because from where we are on the ground, one thing is clear: the violence and lawlessness are coming from reckless, unqualified federal agents. It doesn’t matter what kind of papers you have; it doesn’t matter if you’re a peaceful protester; it doesn’t matter if you’re a mom of three in an SUV.
Recent threats to invoke the Insurrection Act are based on a lie about who Minnesotans are and what we are doing to respond to this historic crisis for our state and country.
So let me tell you the truth.
The real story is about the Minnesotans who refuse to respond with fear or fury. People who are showing up with love of community, neighbor, and country. Ordinary people, community leaders, and institutions stepping forward to peacefully insist on our constitutional rights. They are right now modeling not just the best of Minnesota, but the best of America.
Organizations are training constitutional observers—volunteers who monitor and document interactions between law enforcement and the public. These trainings are grounded in de-escalation, nonviolence, and civic education—teaching people about their constitutional rights and how to exercise them responsibly in the face of federal overreach.
Because of neighbors willing to bear witness in the face of reckless and dangerous conduct, we have video footage and eyewitness accounts that reveal the truth about what is happening here and make it possible to demand justice.
Interest in these trainings has surged, and every day, our neighbors are documenting scenes that were once unthinkable in this country. These constitutional observers are everyday Minnesotans peacefully standing up for their neighbors. To be even more explicit, they are American patriots.
Minnesotans Are Showing Up With Heart
“Patriotism isn’t passive. If we love this country, then we must defend our constitutional rights and our neighbors. And we must continue to protest peacefully, assert our American privileges to hold government accountable, and demand justice for Ms. Good and all others who have been harmed by the reckless and chaotic enforcement activities we are experiencing across our state.”– Tonya Allen
This same spirit of duty and love of neighbor has shaped the broader response across Minnesota. Retirees have been organizing carpools so children can get to school when parents are too afraid to leave their homes, fearing racial profiling. Mutual aid networks formed to deliver groceries and essentials to families sheltering in place. And in the days after Renee’s killing, Somali women—members of a community under particular siege—stood on Portland Avenue all weekend, handing out sambusas and tea to keep people who were honoring her memory warm and fed in the freezing Minnesota winter.
If you walked down that street, where Renee Good was killed, during a recent protest, you would have seen children, mostly young and Latino, quietly observing from windows and porches—waving, making hearts with their hands, and holding signs that read “Thank you, MN.” This is who we are. A place shaped by many cultures, where neighbors look out for one another, where people raise families together, where the winters may be cold, but the communities are deeply warm. Our algorithms may reward outrage, but what I wish the country could see is the quiet, stubborn goodness on display in our streets.
And yet, Minnesota is not being targeted despite this strength—it is being targeted because of it.
Minnesota is the latest to be assailed because we are building a genuine, multi-racial, multi-faith community: from the Somali and Hmong communities that anchor neighborhoods in the Twin Cities, to the Latino and East African families revitalizing small towns across Greater Minnesota alongside the Indigenous and Scandinavian families that have anchored these places for generations. We’re proud to be a place where anyone—whether they were born here or chose to make their home here—can put down roots and build a better future for their family.
This is not just an assault on individuals or families—it’s an attempt to unravel the vibrant, diverse, and modern Minnesota—and America—we have built together.
And history shows us that assaults on pluralism succeed only when people decide it’s someone else’s fight, so now is the time to get off the sidelines.
Patriotism isn’t passive. If we love this country, then we must defend our constitutional rights and our neighbors. And we must continue to protest peacefully, assert our American privileges to hold government accountable, and demand justice for Ms. Good and all others who have been harmed by the reckless and chaotic enforcement activities we are experiencing across our state.
Renee Good should be alive today. The fact that she is not should be a wake-up call to all Americans.
Take it from Minnesota.
