|
This is not the Minnesota I’ve come to know and love.
It’s a strange feeling to be covering the Winnipeg Jets this week in the Twin Cities — a place I’ve been travelling to since I was a little kid, for countless personal and professional reasons. Hockey tournaments (for myself, and decades later, my own children), concerts, sporting events, golf, shopping trips, and visits with good friends who’ve become like family.
We had dinner together last night near downtown Minneapolis, just a short distance away from where a second ICE-related shooting in as many weeks was unfolding at nearly the same time. Unlike last week’s, this one was not fatal.
Advertisement
Around the city, tear gas was being deployed as fed-up folks reacted to what they believe is a violent invasion by a federal government hell-bent on revenge under the guise of a sweeping crackdown on illegal citizens that has drawn comparisons to the Gestapo.
“I know you’re angry. I’m angry. What Donald Trump wants is violence in the streets,” Governor Tim Walz wrote Wednesday night on social media.
“But Minnesota will remain an island of decency, of justice, of community, and of peace. Don’t give him what he wants.”
Trump responded a few hours later by threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act and send the U.S. Military here “if the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the patriots of ICE.”
Yeah, it’s bad. Really bad. And it may only get worse. A place that has always felt so familiar now feels so foreign.
We left the restaurant — Chi-Chi’s, a just-opened revival of the popular old Mexican chain that once operated on Maroons Road in Winnipeg near the old arena and stadium — and I noticed the “F—k ICE” sign on a vehicle in the parking lot.
“You see them all over the place,” my friends told me.
The Uber driver who picked me up from the airport earlier in the day shared similar sentiments. Originally from Somalia, he’s been in the U.S. for 25 years and is a legal citizen. Still, that hasn’t quelled his fears about what could be coming next, having already seen friends and fellow countrymen targeted in recent days.
Many schools have switched to remote learning out of fear. Protests are growing. The rhetoric is escalating, alongside lawsuits and threats. And there appears to be no end in sight.
“This is not sustainable. This is an impossible situation that our city is presently being put in, and at the same time we are trying to find a way to keep our people safe, to protect our neighbours, to maintain order,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said Wednesday night.
“We’re in a position right now where we have residents that are asking the very limited number of police officers to fight ICE agents on the street, to stand by their neighbors. We cannot be at a place right now in America where we have two governmental agencies that are literally fighting one another.
“We are put in this position because we have approximately 600 police officers in Minneapolis — far fewer that are able to work at any given time. And there are approximately 3,000 ICE agents in the area.”
It’s hard to focus on covering a hockey game, which is what brought me here this time. Who really cares about the Wild and Jets battling for two points when regular folks just outside the St. Paul arena are battling for their lives?
As I wrote in this space last week, following the deadly shooting of Renee Good — which occurred just a few blocks from where my friends live — sports can offer an escape from the ugliness of the real world. But the juxtaposition here in Minnesota is jarring, especially as the state makes international headlines for all the wrong reasons.
No matter where your political affiliations lie, it’s difficult to see how anyone could support the climate Minnesotans are currently being forced to endure. Shocking stories of violent encounters between federal agents and legal citizens, including children, are rampant.
I quietly asked a couple of Jets players today if they had any comment on the situation. Not surprisingly, they respectfully declined. They clearly don’t want to add fuel to an already volatile fire, choosing instead to stay in their lane and “stick to sports.”
I understand why some people want athletes and celebrities with platforms to speak out, and I applaud those who do. But I also understand why, in the world we live in, others choose to keep their views private.
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
I’ll pack up my carry-on and fly home Friday morning after just 44 hours in one of my favourite places to visit. But this time, the feeling will be very different.
Rather than think about the good times that were had and start counting the days until my next trip here, I’ll be leaving with a sense of unease — and genuine concern for the great people who live here and are caught in the middle of all of this.
I’ll have some more thoughts on this in a piece I’m planning to write Friday, which will appear online later in the day and in Saturday’s Winnipeg Free Press.
Take care and stay safe, folks.
|
