Tell us more
The cherished First Amendment right of individuals to worship freely without government interference collided with the cherished First Amendment right to peacefully assemble at Cities Church in St. Paul on Sunday, Jan. 18.
Cities Church attenders, freely exercising their civil right to worship and honoring God by gathering together, found themselves surrounded in their worship center by others who believe they were exercising their right to peaceably assemble.
Who is right? Did Cities Church attenders trample on the rights of the disruptors, or did the disruptors overstep their rights?
The disruptors’ cause seemed to gather the most media attention; their right to peacefully assemble (is chanting, shouting and vile language in a church “peaceable?”). This, despite the anti-ICE protestors complaining about ICE terrorizing children (which has happened) as the uninvited guests at Cities Church were terrorizing the children attending the worship service.
Now, two journalists, Georgia Fort and Don Lemon, have been indicted by a jury of their peers for their role in the disruption. Their reporting memorialized their behavior for all of us to see. I think it is reasonable to ask how they knew this event would happen. How did they come to be with the demonstrators? Was this a news tip from the demonstrators’ leaders? And if so, why only Fort and Lemon?
Did either journalist fuel the disruptors’ passions in how they reported the story, or did they report the facts as they happened? If their live reporting energized the disruptors, we would like to know.
It is critically important that no government agency, including the courts, use its power to intimidate reporters from objectively reporting. A free press fails when it disciplines reporters in advance for what they may or may not say.
I saw the disruption of the right to Freedom to Worship as an attack on that foundational right, and dangerous. This is why we need objective, ongoing reporting in this instant case. Tell us how the disruptors came together, their motives, the background of the leader(s), the mission of the church, and accurate information about the individuals whose livelihoods depend on serving the public as ICE officials.
There is much to unpack here. Do it for us. I look forward to your report.
Dave Racer, Woodbury
I want to know
Normally, I hate spoilers. This time, I want to know how the story ends.
I want to know whether all the people whose only mistake was coming to the U.S. and assuming we’d treat them fairly will be released. I want to know whether we’re going to keep imprisoning children. I want to know whether everyone will be able to talk to their lawyers and families.
I want to know whether all the people involved in these horrors will face justice, from the people who committed two-thirds of murders in Minneapolis this year to the man arrested for a DUI to the leadership who approves and excuses their actions to everyone who’s been violating so much of the Bill of Rights that you start to wonder whether the Constitution matters any more.
I want to know whether ICE and DHS will be taken apart, since the bad apples have spoiled the barrel from top to bottom.
I want to know whether the rest of the country is going to forget that what’s happening here isn’t supposed to be normal. I want to know whether this will be over before the midterm elections and what happens if it’s not.
I want to know whether all our neighbors will be able to go about their lives without fearing being snatched off the street by masked thugs. I want to know how long everyone supporting our community will have to keep going.
I want to know when this will all be over. I want to know whether it will ever be over, or if we’ve gone too far down the road to an authoritarian police state to turn back.
I want to know whether anyone else is going to die.
But I don’t know.
I can’t control the news or the people who are unloading their hatred on the Twin Cities and Minnesota. All I can do is complain to my elected officials and help my neighbors where I can. So, I’m going to do that. And maybe that will make the ending a little better.
Rachel Reddick, St. Paul
In the nature of double jeopardy
I have learned of the detention of former Hmong and Vietnamese refugees by ICE at Freeborn County Detention Center with the intention of deporting them to Southeast Asia when acceptance of the governments of Laos and Vietnam can be obtained. The reason for the detention of these persons is that they were arrested and completed criminal penalties for offenses a considerable time in the past. These offenses occurred more than 10 years ago in the cases I learned about. To arrest and process them again, now by de-naturalizing the men and deporting them, has the nature of double jeopardy.
These men have rehabilitated their lives. They have established families and are raising children. Some have grandchildren. This plan of deporting them is a great injustice to both them and their families. We who know the importance of fathers in a family can recognize the generational impact these unreasonably punitive and vengeful actions will have. I call upon Minnesota state and federal elected officials to negotiate their release.
Richard W. Podvin, Roseville
Take a breath, everybody
I would like to ask that all people in the Twin Cities and Minnesota, including ICE agents, stop, take a breath and look deep inside ourselves for the kindness and grace that is there to extend to each other.
If ICE agents could see that they have some compassion for the people they are arresting, the arrest would go so much easier. And perhaps they would realize when an arrest is really needed.
If those of us watching can realize that agents are under a lot of pressure and may be triggered by things that are not comfortable for them, we could stand farther away and chant nonviolent words. While what ICE is doing is not comfortable for most of the rest of us, we can take care to resist and protest nonviolently as trained. Violence begets violence — let’s stay away from violence, whether physical or verbal. Let’s recognize compassion.
This is an ugly and un-American time in our city and country, but we all, including ICE agents, have the capability of composing ourselves to be the best people that we can be in a very difficult time.
Julie Borgerding July, St. Paul
The America we can take pride in is still alive
Some of Minnesota’s finest took to frozen streets in sub-zero temperatures and wicked windchills to stand up for human decency, to stand up for those without a voice and against the injustice of lives senselessly lost. They protested inhumane and lawless actions of armed government forces, faces hidden, the cruelty altogether un-American at its core. Despite video evidence to the contrary, the administration’s spokespersons looked us right in the eye and lied. They actually thought we’d accept whatever they said without question. Not here, not this time.
.Minnesota showed this administration they picked the wrong state to invade.Donald Trump could see Operation Metro Surge was a failure that even he couldn’t spin as a success. Changes had to be made.
Could Congress take a lesson from Minnesota? Probably too much to ask but it is possible to challenge Trump’s regime and survive his wrath. Minnesotans gave the entire country hope. It showed the America we can take pride in is still alive. We should be extremely proud of our state, peaceful protesters and their supporters.
Thomas L. Lenczowski, Mendota Heights
Bravo for your courage and ability to stay peaceful
Dear St. Paul, I could not be more proud of how you have handled the ongoing turmoil caused by the ICE agents who descended upon your city. Despite the bitter cold and snow there, you were (and still are) marching, protesting, lighting candles, looking out for your neighbors and crossing the Mighty Mississippi to lend support to your Twin City, Minneapolis.
Bravo for your courage and for your ability to stay peaceful! I am sending you warm and peaceful winds from Los Angeles to Saint Paul, now and always.
Robi Inserra, Los Angeles. The writer was born and raised in St. Paul
‘Help’
So let’s see if I have this right: Donald Trump has now decided that he will not “help” “Democratic cities unless we basically beg for it. Well we here in Minnesota are thrilled with that news because we didn’t ask for your help to begin with. Now maybe you can pull all of your poorly trained agents out of our state before they kill more innocent people.
Trump also wants to “guard, and very powerfully so” all federal buildings. Let’s hope he does a better job of that than he did on January 6, 2021.
Cathy Ferrazzo, Mahtomedi
They were winning on fraud, and then came ICE
Thousands of us who are centrists, humanists and moderates should say “thank you” to Republicans. Why? With the outrage about the military invasion of Minneapolis, Republicans have handed us victory in the mid-terms. They were out ahead, investigating the huge fraud in Minnesota. Suddenly, their leader decided to stop that and escalate pressure against the people and the government of the State of Minnesota for personal reasons of revenge. Let us all help keep our invasion front and center in the eyes and hearts of our nation and let us focus on saving our sinking ship of democracy.
Nancy Lanthier Carroll, Roseville
American enough
People who believe the priority function of government is to enforce obedience are fundamentally un-American. They simultaneously assert a right to decide who is American enough.
M.Warner, Minneapolis
It depends, apparently
Gun-rights and Second Amendment advocates have consistently said that American citizens require the unequivocal right to bear arms to protect themselves from the tyrannical overreach of an overzealous federal government. By that logic, when Alex Pretti, a law-abiding gun owner, was pepper-sprayed and beaten on the ground by masked federal ICE and Border Patrol agents in his own community for coming to the aid of a woman being assaulted by such agents, he could have drawn his weapon and legally shot all six of his assailants in self-defense. Instead, the agents disarmed him of his gun then pumped 10 bullets into his body claiming he posed a threat for just having a gun.
Republican Cabinet-level officials immediately insisted that Alex Pretti was a domestic terrorist “brandishing” his weapon with the intent of assassinating as many federal agents as he could, and the President of the United States is still saying he shouldn’t have even had a gun, implying that is what got him killed!. Of course, clear video footage shows him only brandishing a cell phone and helping a woman in distress; asking if she was OK. I certainly don’t remember such rhetoric from Republicans when Kyle Rittenhouse stalked the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin, actually “brandishing” his assault rifle and eventually killing two people. In fact, he was a labeled a gun-rights hero and acquitted of murder. And on January 6th our cowardly President said he didn’t care if his supporters who stormed the Capitol and assaulted Capitol police carried guns because they weren’t going to shoot him.
So, let’s get this straight; do Americans have the right to bear arms or not? The answer is, it depends. Apparently even carrying a gun while liberal can get you labeled as a domestic terrorist. And if you’re a legal firearm owner and don’t brandish or fire your gun, you still can’t even have a gun and you can be shot if you’re a liberal protester coming to the aid of a woman whose been shoved to the ground by federal agents. But you can “brandish” a semi-automatic assault rifle if you’re a conservative Republican at a protest, or you’re storming the Capitol but don’t intend to kill the President; everyone else is fair game. The hypocrisy has been astounding. Which way is it going to be folks, can’t have it both ways.
Greg Kvaal, Mendota Heights
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