Readers Write: The future of America, Education Minnesota, nonviolent protest

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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I live in a “politically diverse” household. Though I’m not a registered Democrat, I’ve voted for Democratic candidates my entire adult life. My husband, on the other hand, is what I lovingly call “politically wacky.” (What I mean is he’s an enthusiastic libertarian.) Throughout our 12 years together, I have often found his distrust of big government extreme, paranoid and often confusing.

But then there’s this: During World War II, my husband’s grandfather was placed in an internment camp, because he was a Japanese American. He was a citizen, and it didn’t matter.

In the weeks since ICE began its operations in the Twin Cities, in the aftermath of Renee Good’s killing, and now in the wake of Alex Pretti’s, I have been reeling. I feel sick. The America I have known is far from perfect, but this? I never expected to see my own government terrorize my community. In conversations and on social media, I hear the same refrain: “This is not America.”

When I said those words to my husband, he turned to me and said, “Yes. It is.”

He has not been reeling the way I — and so many other members of my community — have been. Not because he condones what is happening, but because he is not surprised. His America is one that has done real, measurable harm to a loved one. He has always lived with the possibility that something like it could happen again. When you’ve carried that weight your whole life, none of our current circumstances feels so far-fetched. That awareness is what shaped his very niche, often difficult-to-understand political perspective.

This context is important and needs to be acknowledged. Let context influence the way we move through this moment in history. I am so proud of my community for how we have stood up for what we believe. The tragedies of the past few weeks have shown some of the worst of humanity, but our response to those tragedies has shown the best. My hope for us all is that what we do in the coming days and weeks can change our nation for the better, because maybe my husband is right. Maybe this is America, but that doesn’t mean it has to be.

Jaimie Morimoto, Eden Prairie

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Jim Souhan’s pithy appeal to sports owners to “shut it all down” until federal agents and their leadership top to bottom recognize the First Amendment and the rule of law (“What good are sports in these times?” Jan. 26) is not only brilliantly righteous; it is a call for sports owners of all leagues to put their patriotism to the test.

As someone who has been invited to sing the national anthem before big sporting events, I join Souhan’s wake-up call to the owners and further say to them: Here is your chance to make the singing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” really mean something.

Charlie Maguire, Minneapolis

Education Minnesota states that educators are most powerful when we have a collective voice, and that working in union gives us the ability to make meaningful improvements for students, our profession, public education and our communities. I agree. That shared purpose is precisely why I am concerned by recent actions taken by union leadership.

As a Minnesota teacher and a dues-paying member of Education Minnesota, I was troubled to see members of the executive team posting on social media while attending an anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protest and doing so while identifying as union leaders. While every educator has the right to personal political expression, publicly engaging in activist activity while invoking one’s official union title blurs the line between individual views and the collective voice of thousands of educators across the state.

Our union rightly emphasizes collective bargaining, advocating for student needs and securing better wages, benefits and workplace protections. These are the reasons many of us choose to belong to a union and to contribute a portion of our hard-earned salaries in dues. When union leadership publicly associates the organization with highly polarizing political activity unrelated to bargaining or public education policy, it raises legitimate questions about priorities and the appropriate use of members’ trust — and their dues.

Union resources, influence and credibility should be focused on advancing conditions in our classrooms, supporting students and strengthening public education in Minnesota. Many members hold diverse views on immigration and other political issues, and no single leader should appear to speak for all educators on matters outside the union’s core mission.

Mary Ochs, Dassel, Minn.

The writer is a teacher.

I don’t think the Trump regime expected the enormous nonviolent resistance to its violent surge of thousands of heavily armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents here. The incredible organization of neighborhoods in the city and suburbs, the amazing number of rapid response teams and the thousands of people who went out in dangerously cold weather for a march, have all been impressive. Apart from throwing a few rocks and snowballs, breaking a couple of hotel windows, some minor scuffles, people have been overwhelmingly nonviolent. And federal agents, in frustration, have used horrific violence — which has backfired against them.

Nonviolent protest has been very powerful. People around the country and now the world are protesting in solidarity with Minneapolis. ICE’s top honcho Greg Bovino was ordered to leave. Other ICE agents will be leaving. Sixty-one percent of voters oppose Trump’s ICE operations.

I’m not seeing much in the media of any analysis that nonviolent protest is the reason Minneapolis is effectively resisting ICE. It worked for Mahatma Gandhi. It worked for Martin Luther King Jr. And it’s working in Minneapolis.

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I applaud all the individuals who have recently written for the Readers Write column about Minnesota ICE operations. I hesitate to expect I have much more to offer except maybe this. The Trump administration has misjudged the full public’s acceptance that “just doing their job” needs to include heavy-handed secrecy and intimidation tactics. Americans have developed a sensibility over the last 250 years that effective law enforcement needs a dignified awareness and respect for the communities it polices.

Minnesotans have a different take on immigration than folks in Texas for a bunch of reasons. Trying to generate, through intimidation, a passive response in every state reflects a myopic view of the vastness and diversity of millions of people over these United States. Gov. Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey aren’t inciting the public to protest. The reverse is true! They know us, and they are representing and putting a voice to what many, many Minnesotans already truly believe.