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Minnesota Nice Topples ICE

By Billy X. Curmano

Minnesota Nice isn't about turning the other cheek. It's about community–and helping–and standing up for each other.

I was combat wounded and earned health care at the Minneapolis VA Hospital. One of our caring nurses, 37-year-old Alex Pretti, was gunned down and killed by ICE during the ICE Surge in Minnesota. A 37-year-old mother of three, Renée Good, was killed in the same way. Dozens more were injured during the ICE fiasco. We may never know how many more have died or will die in detention. We all felt it. The threats have changed, but it's not over.

Restaurants and businesses still have NO ICE and NO CBP* signs. The owners and staff lock doors and hunker down when those thugs come around. Slogans and demos–"Bring the Heat–Melt the ICE" are still relevant.

I visited an Indigenous encampment and a multiracial community gathered on Sacred Dakota land at Mni Owe Sni (Coldwater Spring), at the Bdote (confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers). The yurts and teepees were in clear sight of the Whipple Building. Among other things, it's a United States ICE Field Office, detention center, and the base of ICE Operation Metro Surge in MN. Ironically, it was named after Bishop Henry Whipple, also known as "Straight Tongue" to the indigenous people. He was a prominent humanitarian who persuaded President Lincoln to pardon hundreds of Dakota sentenced to execution during the US-Dakota War of 1862. The good bishop would likely roll over in his grave if he knew how people were maltreated during the MN Surge and in his namesake detention building.

The people have come together in community at Coldwater Spring to sing, pray, and dance around a sacred fire meant to drive the evil away. I left with an open heart knowing it's inevitable–we shall overcome.

*Customs and Border Protection

Billy served with Dog Co., 4th Bat. 503rd Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade in Vietnam during 1968 and 1969. He was sometimes known as Pig F. Pen. Billy served with VVAW from about 1970 to Now.