Weeds by Randy Krzmarzick: Minnesota in center of the news universe

We spent time in southern California. I could write about walking along beaches, warm
sunsets, and missing bitter cold back here. Perhaps I will. But today, I must join my
voice to the resistance.

What is happening to fellow human beings, sometimes for no offense other than having
dark skin is horrific, indefensible, and wrong on a thousand levels.

Much is being said and written. Perhaps it is prideful of me to think the voice of one old
farmer in Brown County matters. For what it’s worth, I must join the protestors and say,
“This is wrong.”

“Obama deported people, too.” As a tool of immigration control, applied legally and
humanely, deporting certain individuals has a place. What’s happening now is most
often illegal and regularly sickeningly inhumane.

During our California days, as we met people, it would come up that we were from
Minnesota. We would get a response like, “Oh. I’m sorry.”

Once again, our humble state is the center of the news universe. I check in to BBC
News, and there we are. I should add the BBC reporters are shocked by what has
happened to the United Kingdom’s one-time ally.

ICE has been in Sleepy Eye. They were hassling an older Hispanic man. When Sleepy
Eye Police showed up, the ICE agents loaded into four vehicles and left town. It is
possible the outcome would have been different were it not for our officer’s presence.
ICE is in Willmar, St. Cloud, Mankato, but Minneapolis remains the epicenter, both for
abductions and protests. I have friends there who have been part of the protests. It
shouldn’t be true, but one takes part in a legal protest at some risk right now.

I admire my friends and the thousands standing in the cold. Those hardy souls are
trying to save our country. That sounds like hyperventilating to say that. But this is totally
a moment that will define who we are and who we will be. Will we go further down this
dark path?

Children being taken. Churches, schools, hospitals, no longer protected. House doors
rammed open, car windows smashed, people dragged out of both. No warrants
required. Skin color allowed to stand for cause. Shipping people around the country to
be detained in terrible facilities. Poorly trained forces with arsenals, masked with no
identification.

Certainly, Americans haven’t always been angels. Thousands of civilians have been
killed by our military. But as for Americans mistreating men, women, and children on our
soil, this stands out. Treatment of Blacks in the Jim Crow south is the only thing close.

As far as men in authority running roughshod over human beings, their rights, and the
constitution, we are in a watershed moment. Things could get better. There is no
guarantee of that. We know from history, things could get worse.

Martin Luther King said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward
justice.” With apologies to Dr. King, I no longer believe that. Seventy years on this
planet has shown me too much evidence that human beings can be pretty crappy to
others. Especially men in power.

A thousand points of light can be snuffed out by one evil act.
Our time in California was spent from San Diego to Los Angeles. It is only a slight
exaggeration to say that everybody we saw who was doing any kind of work was
Hispanic.

Knowing what was going on back here, I wondered if Minnesota with its relatively small
non-white population is a warmup act for the big show? Or would the resistance in that
big state overwhelm ICE? If Stephen Miller is going to make this the white
“Christian” nation he pines for, such an operation is in our future.

The superintendent of Sleepy Eye Public School said, “Any outside agencies are
prohibited from entering our school without permission or a valid warrant or court order.”
That statement would have meant something a couple months ago. Now ICE is entering
schools, homes, and businesses without permission, warrant, or order. It is only illegal if
someone makes it so. That’s what the government used to do.

Most people I know oppose this. The majority of Americans do. But enough are okay
with it that it continues. I have thought about how one can be okay with this, the largest
program of authorized abuse of civil and constitutional rights in my lifetime.

There are a set of people who will never challenge Donald Trump. That is clear now. I
can’t understand it, but it just is. I think in many cases, they know this is wrong inside of
them. I suspect that is true for many Republican members of Congress. It’s a type of
loyalty, I guess.

What about others? You don’t have to search to know stories of ICE acting illegally and
inhumanely. I get things on my phone, but old-fashioned newspapers and radio are filled
with them. I guess it’s possible to not know what’s going on.
There are so many untruths.

“They are detaining the worst of the worst.” A few criminals run on a loop in
administration talking points. Most of those abducted are workers who are contributing
to their communities. This remains true. Immigrants commit crimes at a lower level than
other citizens. Look it up.

“They’re here illegally.” First, migration is not a crime. Being undocumented is a civil
issue. Using mass detention as a form of immigration processing violates international
law.
Beyond that, many are here legally in some stage of applying for refugee or immigration
status. The administration has arbitrarily ended programs that Congress created. If we
had a functioning Congress, they would not allow that.

“ICE is protecting children by apprehending them.” I suppose someone somewhere
believes that.

I remember hearing Kristi Noem say that Renee Good had driven over an agent and
Alex Pretti had drawn a gun on agents to massacre them. Within hours the world knew
those were not true. There was no retraction by the administration. There is never a
retraction.

Among the lies, there are the golden oldies. The 2020 election was stolen, despite there
being no evidence. And January 6 th didn’t happen, even though we all watched it.
I read this. A reporter asked A. J. Muste, a clergy man and pacifist, who protested the
Vietnam War, “Do you really think you are going to change the policies of this country by
standing out here alone at night in front of the White House with a candle?”

Muste replied softly, “Oh I don’t do this to change the country. I do this so the country
won’t change me.” Maybe that’s all we can do.