Minnesota’s Singing Resistance seeks to heal through love

About 100 people from the Singing Resistance, ranging in age from 3 to 85, marched along E. Lake Street from Midtown Global Market singing songs of love, resistance and community on Feb. 16.

One member of the group, Barbara Pilling of St. Paul, tied a shiny, red, heart balloon to the Que Chula es Puebla green food truck on Lake Street.

“Everyone is watching out for each other,” said Pilling, 71. “I wanted to show him some love.”

The truck had been closed the last two weeks and only reopened on Feb. 15, said an employee, who declined to give his name for safety reasons. But he smiled and accepted her balloon.

Everyday Minnesotans have been coming together to sing songs of protest and peace as a way to nonviolently resist ICE activity. They formed in the wake of Renee Good’s fatal shooting by an ICE agent. Anyone aligned with the group’s values to “protect and care for our communities in the face of rising authoritarianism can join,” the group’s Instagram said.

The singing movement also is spreading nationwide, including to Nashville, Indianapolis, Atlanta and Portland, Ore. The group is inspired by “Otpor,” a Serbian civil resistance movement that overthrew a dictatorship in 2000, said Andrea Sorum, a member of the Singing Resistance in Minneapolis.

Lauri Krouse, 70, of south Minneapolis said it’s all about connection.

“One of the protests in Singing Resistance is calling out to ICE agents, saying: ‘You have a good heart, think about this. Think about what you’re doing. Make a choice, come on, come and join us.’”

Singing Resistance organizers hope that bringing more people to the Midtown Global Market area will encourage them to support businesses that have been affected.

The group sang songs by the Peace Poets, Francisco Herrera, Emma’s Revolution and Heidi Wilson ― two in English and two in Spanish.

Some passersby stopped and thanked them. Others started dancing in their cars. People waved from inside restaurants along Lake Street.

Maria Rodriguez at Super Mercado Morelia received a red balloon from a person in the group. She’d seen peaceful protests on Lake Street but never singing.

She felt that even if the singing didn’t help economically or make someone feel safe enough to go outside, the gesture mattered.