I usually bring hope. Today, I bring rage.
And I am guessing you feel rage as well. Because if what ICE is doing doesn’t make you feel rage, then your soul is dead.
The title is borrowed from the song “Killing in the Name” that Rage against the Machine’s Tom Morello wrote after the Rodney King beating. Morello wasn’t just raging about just that beating but about any and all of the abuses of the state against minorities and the disenfranchised.
Sound familiar?
It couldn’t sound more relevant today: "Those who died are justified. For wearing the badge, they're the chosen whites."
I can’t stop listening to it.
But the most relevant part is the end. The repeat, over and over, of the disobedience to this evil authority:
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me
Motherfucker
And as fucking awful as this moment is — and as fucking awful as these people are --the shared rage and shared civil disobedience of people all over this country is giving me hope.
Fuck you, we won’t do what you tell us.
Because this is where Miller, Trump and their band of evil made their biggest mistake.
They assumed that most people were as evil as they were.
They assumed that we would turn away, like people throughout fucking history have turned away as awful things happened to their neighbors.
They were wrong.
The number of white Americans standing up for their black and brown and immigrant neighbors in Minnesota, Chicago and elsewhere is completely without historical precedent. That is love and inclusion and determination and bravery from majority group members at a level we have simply never seen before. Ever. Their evil is pushing more and more of us away from them.
So I lied at the start of this. I said I was bringing rage and not hope today. I am bringing both. Because it is the rage that I see all over this country that is giving me so much hope. People are waking up and are not accepting this.
We see this in the amazing people of Minnesota and those who are joining them:
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I know people keep saying this but it’s hard to communicate the depth of active resistance here. Like, I’m on random cafes and people are checking in for observation shifts. Signs everywhere. Folks in visibility vests on the corners. It’s wild. Absolutely wild.
— Ana Marie Cox (@anamariecox.bsky.social) 2026-01-22T16:04:31.649Z
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🚨"The Ku Klux Klan used to call themselves the invisible empire, and they wore masks, and they used to raid immigrant communities—much like ICE is right now," -one of THOUSANDS of Minneapolis ICE protesters marching in -10 degrees as part of statewide generals strike. LIVE NOW⬇️
— Status Coup News (@statuscoupnews.bsky.social) 2026-01-23T21:39:19.028Z
As Homeland Security’s siege on Minneapolis enters its third week, locals are volunteering for patrol shifts, protesting in the streets, and keeping one another up to date in group texts
The most heartening thing about this deeply disturbing moment is seeing how consistently and forcefully Minnesotans of all demographics have been pushing back. It has been galvanizing and radicalizing in ways I’m not sure anyone outside the city can truly understand. High schoolers across the Twin Cities metro area have organized walkouts. Parents who might normally be busy with PTA duties are patrolling their neighborhoods, trailing ICE agents while honking car horns, and blowing whistles to warn the community of their presence. My father-in-law, a devout Catholic in his 70s, made a cardboard sign that read “Love Thy Neighbor” and joined the thousands who rallied against ICE on a frigid afternoon in Powderhorn Park.
We also know that we’ll win. Time is on our side. ICE may have the inflated salaries and the backing of a tyrannical federal government, but we’re the ones who live here, and as the city’s greatest musician Prince once said, the cold keeps the bad people out. And when the ICE agents finally take off their masks, leave their shitty chain hotels, and fly back to wherever they were before they came to terrorize us, we’ll still be here.
Here’s the last thing I text anyone who checks in with me: Wherever you are, get organized now. Figure out who your likeminded neighbors are. Set up your Signal chats. Get some whistles (I can spare a few if you need them). This administration has made it clear that Minneapolis is just the beginning, and when they come to your city, you’ll want to be ready.
In Minneapolis, I Glimpsed a Civil War
The Minnesotans I met on the streets of Minneapolis and St. Paul were determined to resist and fight back. The Trump administration has tried to paint the anti-ICE activists as hard-left agitators, blue-haired domestic terrorists bent on stirring up mayhem. But I found they looked a lot more like a woman I met named Hillary Oppmann, a blond 50-something solar energy consultant who lives in South Minneapolis.
I stumbled upon Oppmann on a frigid morning last week, when I rolled up on a corner near a high school in South Minneapolis. She lives in the neighborhood and is part of a school parent group that began patrolling the streets at the beginning and end of the school day after the ICE incursion began, trying to protect students and parents from arrest. Many such groups have sprung up across the Twin Cities, staffed by volunteers who track ICE vehicles, follow them, record their movements and try to delay and distract them.
For all their military gear and unchecked power, the federal agents flooding this city, like the president ultimately commanding them, seem unprepared for what they are facing here. Like the agent who slipped on ice, they have misjudged the ground beneath their feet: a state full of ordinary people — real estate agents, high school students, solar energy consultants — who’ve decided that watching their neighbors being dragged away is an intolerable sin.
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"Research would tell us that most ICE agents entered into these jobs in part because they want approval, and they want to affirm their masculinity in public," said sociologist Nicole Bedera. "An ICE watch works by surrounding these people ... with disapproval."
— MPR News (@mprnews.org) 2026-01-21T01:27:35.925Z
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Life in Minnesota is terrifying right now, but every day I feel amazed by watching us wake up and go fuck with these absolute losers. Minnesota is going to annoy the regime to death and upon the graves of the fascists we'll erect a statue to Barb the librarian who ran dispatch.
— Wes Burdine (@wesburdine.bsky.social) 2026-01-21T15:01:20.736Z
Hundreds of clergy descend on Minneapolis and go on lookout for ICE
Around 200 faith leaders fanned out across the city on Thursday (Jan. 22) to observe and document the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with some clergy confronting Department of Homeland Security agents, adding a visible religious presence to widespread efforts to counter the president’s mass deportation campaign in the region.
The faith leaders, who are in Minneapolis as part of a larger convening focused on religious pushback to ICE, deployed to neighborhoods with significant immigrant populations, where DHS agents have been most active during an ongoing campaign known as Operation Metro Surge. The clergy, who hail from a range of traditions and worship communities across the country, sang on the buses as they ventured out into the street. They belted out hymns and songs popular during the Civil Rights Movement, such as “Woke Up This Morning
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But at the faith-led press conference, the Rev. DeWayne Davis, a trustee of the United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities, argued the federal government had “made a mistake” by targeting Minneapolis. Recalling the city’s past experiences with organizing, particularly the activism that followed the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in 2020, Davis argued the federal government should have expected the intense grassroots resistance that has emerged in the city — including from local faith leaders.
“You messed up. You didn’t understand what we went through,” he said. “We didn’t do all that because we are heroes and saviors. We did it because we understand the meaning of our faith: that we are all connected. We join together. We are a part of a people, a body of humanity that is made in the image of a loving and beautiful God that wants all God’s children free.”
some images of them in action:
Real Minnesota
Real Minnesota is happening right now, every day. All around the Twin Cities, you have people with no kids who volunteer to stand guard in 5 degree weather to make sure kids get to the bus stop safely. You have people delivering groceries to families they’ve never met. You have a sex shop that basically stopped all business so they could turn into a massive hub for folks to get basic supplies.
There are guys who are spending their days finding detainees who are being released without jackets and winter clothes into the deep winter.
It’s the Catholic Churches that are delivering tens of thousands of meals. It’s Democratic Socialists of America who are going business to business making sure employers and employees have resources. It’s Smitten Kitten and a host of other queer businesses and groups volunteering.
And these are strangers. The folks who are delivering food many never meet the people eating those meals. Maybe once or twice I will recognize another person patrolling the streets and observing ICE. It is not only fully decentralized, it is simply strangers stopping in the street to help strangers and then going on their way.
Because in Real Minnesota we care about our community at large.
and local media have been heroes as well
even cops are anti-ice
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Brooklyn Park police chief Mark Bruley: "We're hearing people being stopped with no cause & being demanded to show paperwork to determine if they're here legally. We started hearing from our police officers the same complaints. Every one of these individuals is a person of color... it has to stop"
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-01-20T17:30:58.865Z
and it isn’t just Minnesota:
and this: High school students in Omaha stage walkouts in response to immigration enforcement
Omaha Public Schools students organized walkouts at four high schools in response to immigration enforcement on Tuesday.
The walkouts happened at Omaha Northwest, Benson, Omaha South, and Bryan high schools.
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Yes. My theory of the moment is Miller/Vance thought their view that immigrants threaten social solidarity would be widely shared. But ICE raids are driving native-born Americans to show solidarity with immigrants quite courageously. Now Miller is trying to disrupt that alliance with state violence.
— Greg Sargent (@gregsargent.bsky.social) 2026-01-19T14:52:39.028Z
And instead of consolidating power, they are losing the public. Not just in Minnesota, but everywhere.
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"A sizable 61 percent majority, including 71 percent of independents, said the administration’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency had “gone too far” with its tactics. Similarly, 63 percent of voters said they disapproved of how ICE is handling its job" www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/u...
— Nick Field (@nickfield.bsky.social) 2026-01-22T16:22:47.031Z
Even HIS BASE:
Trumps approval among non-college whites (his base) has dropped by 30 points this year.
this is mind-blowing:
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And this is really something: NYT poll finds 55% of noncollege voters disapprove of Trump on immigration, including 74% of nonwhite noncollege. Not sure how the NYT brigade that claimed a massive working class backlash, including among nonwhites, to immigration would explain this
— Greg Sargent (@gregsargent.bsky.social) 2026-01-22T16:48:58.860Z
Trump’s ICE went too far, and now it’s backfiring
Agents are saying they are scared to drive marked vehicles, scared to do routine operations, scared to be seen in public, and scared because large portions of the country no longer see them as protectors of public safety, but as a hostile force imposed on communities.
This is what happens when a government turns law enforcement into a political weapon and then refuses to deal with the consequences.
ICE is afraid because the public finally sees the truth
Polling now shows ICE approval has gone from net positive to deeply negative during Donald Trump’s presidency.
and this:
What we are seeing is a stark contrast. On one side, a collapsing authoritarian project built on lies, cruelty, and self-enrichment. On the other, workers and communities asserting their collective power and demanding a country where people can live with dignity, support their families, and care for one another without fear. That is the real story unfolding right now, and it is only getting bigger.
There is an amazing and beautiful and unprecedented movement taking place.
People all over America are looking at these monsters and saying with resolve: Fuck you, I won’t do what you told me.
I take great solace in that.
And remember:
Great damage will have been done when this is over -- some we will be able to undo and some we won't.
But we will also have an opportunity to build something better.
Dedicate yourself to being a part of this amazing moment. The American people are rising up. You can be a part of something amazing. We can build a better future.
In the meantime, don't let those evil monsters steal your hope.
What can you do to save democracy?
First, continue to find joy in your life! Don’t let that fuckface live rent free in your mind! This is your life!!!!!
Second, donate to our House efforts.
It splits our donations among the 15 seats held by Republicans in swing districts. These are seats that were either won by a margin of 4% or less or were won by Harris in 2024. In other words, these are seats we can win in 2026. None of them are in CA or TX (and thus likely to be redistricted). Any money you donate will go directly to whomever our candidate will be in 2026. We only need to flip three of these!
Here is the link:
WE CAN WIN THESE ELECTIONS! And when we do we can change everything.
Some other ways to get involved
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If you can, I strongly recommend going to an in person meeting in your area. One way to find a local group is through indivisible: indivisibleproject.formstack.com/…
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Election Response Center is a project hosted by Working Families Party, MoveOn Civic Action, Indivisible, and Public Citizen. They are organizing lots of events to get people fighting. Join one at this link
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The ACLU plays a key role in filing lawsuits that often stop voter suppression. Get involved with them at this link.
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Get involved with the Democratic party. We aren’t perfect, but they are fucking evil.
- Get involved with the States Project They are working on turning state legislatures blue
- Get involved with Swing Left. They are working on races right now!
- People For the American Way is a national progressive advocacy organization that inspires and mobilizes Americans to defend freedom, justice, and democracy from those who threaten to take them away. Get involved with them here
- Center for American Progress Action Fund is an independent, nonpartisan policy institute and advocacy organization that is dedicated to improving the lives of all Americans through bold, progressive ideas, as well as strong leadership and concerted action. Get involved with them here
Looking for something more specific?
Want to focus on the ENVIRONMENT:
Want to focus on CIVIL RIGHTS:
HUMAN RIGHTS - GENERALLY:
LGBTQ+:
WOMEN:
Huge thanks to DKos user dabug for help with this list.
Don’t let the options overwhelm you! Try to pick one thing and see if it calls to you. If it doesn’t find something else.
There are so many ways to get involved and help!
Some inspiration before I say goodbye
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Lee: As a Black woman, there’s no way I don’t have hope. I’ve seen a lot in my life, and we have these moments of backward steps. But we have hope. I see hope. I see our young people—they have hope. I see them fighting hard for our democracy and for a better life.
— Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) 2026-01-02T21:24:10.262Z
“Whatever happens, stay alive.
Don't die before you're dead.
Don't lose yourself, don't lose hope, don't lose direction.
Stay alive, with yourself, with every cell of your body, with every fiber of your skin.
Stay alive, learn, study, think, read, build, invent, create, speak, write, dream, design.
Stay alive, stay alive inside you, stay alive also outside, fill yourself with colors of the world, fill yourself with peace, fill yourself with hope.
Stay alive with joy.
There is only one thing you should not waste in life,
and that's life itself..."
by Virginia Woolf
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At Albany Bulb with Elaine
By Alison Luterman
Side by side on a log by the bay.
Sunlight. Unleashed dogs,
prancing through surf, almost exploding
out of their skins with perfect happiness.
Dogs who don't know about fired park rangers,
or canceled health research, or tariff wars,
or the suicide hotline for veterans getting defunded,
or or or. We've listed horror upon horror
to each other for weeks now, and it does no good,
so instead I tell her how I held a two-day old baby
in my arms, inhaling him like a fresh-baked loaf of bread,
then watched as a sneeze erupted through his body
like a tiny volcano. It was the look of pure
astonishment on his face, as if he were Adam
in the garden of Eden making his debut achoo,
as if it were the first sneeze that ever blew,
that got me. She tells me how her dog
once farted so loudly he startled himself
and fell off the bed where he'd been lolling,
and then the two of us start to laugh so hard
we almost fall off our own log. And this
is our resistance for today; remembering
original innocence. And they can't
take it away from us, though they ban
our very existence, though they slash
our rights to ribbons, we will have
our mirth and our birthright gladness.
Long after every unsold Tesla
has vaporized, and earth has closed over
even the names of these temporary tyrants,
somewhere some women like us
will be sitting side by side, facing the water,
telling human stories and laughing still.
I am so proud and so lucky to be in this with all of you. ✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿 💙❤️💛💚✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿
