Hey folks, welcome to this week’s rendition of What I’ve Been Reading. This week's a doozy… Frankly, I haven’t read nearly as much as I’d like. The reason is simple – I’m in Minneapolis, and right now the federal government is occupying our region, and causing everyone to mobilize to protect each other, while also being highly traumatized. I'm just not online as much, and am doing hyperlocal organizing as best as I can.

I’m going to talk about this in some detail, because I think it’s important that you all understand. As a spin on my usual format, I’m going to divide the news coverage into ICE coverage and non-ICE coverage. There is much more of the former that I want to talk about, and I’m going to splice in some of my personal experiences here as well.

Note that, as much as I want to go into more detail and give in depth reporting on this… I’m fucking exhausted and fighting off burnout on the daily. I’m doing what I can with reporting as a whole, but I’ll be blunt in acknowledging that the Twin Cities (and, gradually, Minnesota as a whole) is a warzone right now, filled with racist attacks on our neighbors of color. ICE is shooting and attacking anyone in their crossfire, and every day I'm fearful that myself, my loved ones, or my neighbors will be shot dead or kidnapped. This is not hyperbole. None of this in this newsletter is.

This is what I want to highlight, and I want to highlight how people can support Minnesotans of color. I can’t link too much because I just haven’t been online lately, so most of what I know is very hyperlocal to me, and as such I can't really help offer resources for people who aren't Minnesotan. But if there’s anything you think I should share, anything I neglected to mention, please please please let me know and I will put it in next week’s rendition.

Now, that said, I first just want to briefly highlight some of what I’ve been up to, for the sake of keeping a format to this newsletter and because it’s my job.

What Have I Been Up To?

As usual, I’m working on a galore of stories at any given time. This week is no exception, where I published a deep dive into the United States’ abuses and targeting of two trans women in Texas for affiliation with an anti-ICE protest. The main source they’re using to persecute these women is for harboring “antifa” materials. 

In other words, the government wants to criminalize criticism of them.

Give the story a read. I seriously, seriously recommend it.

Non-ICE News Coverage

This week’s news coverage that I’ve kept an eye on – that isn’t related to ICE – all comes from Al Jazeera. Published generally under Al Jazeera staff, they did some great direct coverage of Syria announcing a ceasefire amidst its civil war. I’m particularly a fan of this piece, because contrary to what you’d often see for domestic coverage, there’s next to no filler while still providing all the necessary context.

Also credited under general AJ staff, they continue to do some of the best reporting on Gaza, revealing that Israel is once again breaking its ceasefire and wounding civilians. The death toll since the supposed peace brokerage is horrifying, and eyes must continue to be on Gaza. An on-paper ceasefire does not prevent real world death.

ICE Coverage and My Own Account

For the past few weeks, the Twin Cities and its metropolitan area have seen an unprecedented level of ICE activity. I’ve heard reports locally that there’s over 3,000 agents staged around the metro, which has a population just under 3.7 million total.

This needs to be contextualized. In Chicago, a metro area of 9.6 million, close to 1,000 agents have been staged. In Chicago, several hundred people were arrested. In the Twin Cities so far, the number is in the thousands, with counts going up every single day.

This isn’t to belittle what happened in Chicago – that is horrifying, and it resulted in the murder of Silverio Villegas Gonzalez, and countless trauma to countless people across the city. Rather, this is to highlight the sheer scale of the assault happening here in the Twin Cities, which has only been growing in strength.

To keep up on the rough going ons, I recommend checking in with Unicorn Riot’s daily coverage of the occupation. This is from a slew of reporters, including but not limited to Sean Summers, Niko Georgiades & Dan Feidt. But know that this is only cursory – there is so much going on at any given time, they have to be concise with the information, and be very deliberate about what information is public.

Just a few days ago, ICE shot another person – who did fortunately survive. Another has been shot and taken to the hospital, and did also survive. The same day, they teargassed infants, causing them to choke and one to become unresponsive, though I’ve heard that the infant did fortunately survive. This infant is a person of color. ICE is targeting anyone who is not white. And, lately, they're even targeting white people (though much, much less severely) who defend their neighbors.

Just recently, Renee Nicole Good was murdered here. People are having their items stolen by ICE. Children scream and watch as their families are taken away and sent to countries they’ve never been. Anger and sorrow floods each of us, while hope and community keep us going as we work our asses off to defend those around us.

Meanwhile, the federal government denies wrongdoing, and heightens this, targeting more and more of the region. They’re taking citizens, they’re taking people who have never left the US in their lives. They’re doing this largely the basis of the color of people’s skin – the vast, vast majority of people targeted are people of color. Every single person here also knows they can take any one of us, and it can happen overnight.

I want to underscore this. Every single person, and I mean every person, knows that we could be either taken, raided, and/or shot in an instant. We have no way to predict when and where ICE will hit. We all know someone who either has been affected, or whose loved ones have been affected.

The level of psychological trauma this has on everyone can not be understated. Every person here is exhausted and terrified constantly. We are all checking every car outside, investigating every bang, preparing for the moment that one of us becomes the next headline, the next martyr, the next kidnapping victim. Every moment of peace and calm is cherished, and yet isn’t fulfilling, as this knowledge is on the back of our minds. It only gets worse as time goes on.

We are all tired. We are all traumatized. And we are all fighting like hell, and each assault motivates us to fight even more, in every way from mutual aid to guarding neighborhoods. We will not quit, because this is life or death, and none of us want anymore of us to die or get kidnapped or get assaulted or suffer.

I mean every single person when I say this. Every wine mom, every business employee hell, even fucking landlords have been working to protect people. There are certainly still right wingers and people trying to pretend that everything’s fine, but they’re a small minority. Everyone here has seen first hand what the state is willing to do to us, what ICE is willing to do to our community, just to justify xenophobia and racism against beloved members of the community.

This is a mass radicalization. No one is coming to save us, so we’re saving ourselves. I’ve never been more terrified, and I’ve never been more hopeful. I've never been more connected to my community, and I've never been more sure that I'm staying in Minnesota for the rest of my life.

I also want to add that I’m white, and that what people of color are going through here is ten times worse than anything I am. I want to add that you should seek out and learn from the voices of organizers of color. I cannot speak for anyone else beyond myself and what I’ve personally seen from my community and people I interact with regularly.

For one example of who to follow, check out the folks at and affiliated with Twin Cities Coalition for Justice, a group I’ve previously interviewed an organizer from. In that interview, many more organizations – who are doing great local organizing – are linked. Please check them out and support them, and investigate who they recommend. They're much more qualified and embedded in the community than I am.

People are resisting. Everyone is resisting. At The Intercept, Fatima Khan and Meghnad Bose reported on how Minnesotans are fighting back, and in particular the Somali community has been spearheading a great deal of the resistance against fascists and ICE. The same is true of other marginalized communities. None of the resistance and organizing happening right now would be here if it weren’t for our marginalized neighbors and community members who are targeted by fascist fucks at the federal government on the daily basis.

I cannot stress that enough. Please, for the love of god, keep your eyes on Somali Minnesotans, on Latin American Minnesotans, on Hmong Minnesotans, on Indigenous Minnesotans, on Black Minnesotans. They are the primary targets. It should not have taken a white woman getting murdered for people to understand the brutality and evil of ICE. 

These are the people who need support the most here right now. White people do not need the support right now. Focus on protecting the most marginalized Minnesotans. If you want to learn how, support groups like the Monarca Response Network and Unidos-MN. Donate to mutual aid funds for people here. Boost the stories of marginalized people, and make damn sure you’re prioritizing people of color who are affected.

For a final statement in this newsletter, know this – if you’re in the US, you’ll soon learn what this is like. The Twin Cities are an experiment for the federal government to sharpen their knives as they pretend more brutal assaults elsewhere. Prepare, get organized, work in your communities now. This is life or death. For the love of god, please keep your eyes on Minnesota and those most marginalized here.

Thanks for reading. Stay safe out there. And for my Minnesotan readers – you're not in this alone. Solidarity forever.