What I witnessed in Minneapolis
I am sure we all have seen terrible images of people being dragged from their homes, peaceful protesters being tear-gassed, and people being shot by ICE agents.
I went to Minneapolis last week when a call went out to faith leaders to show up and to bear witness. I will tell you that it is worse than what you see on the news or in your social media feed. But what I saw gave me hope. It showed me what is possible when we show up for our neighbors.
I saw people of different backgrounds come together to serve their neighbors in need. There are lots of people in neighborhood watch groups showing up to protect their neighbors against ICE. There are also tons of people showing up to drive food to their immigrant neighbors who are afraid to leave their house.
I know that immigration is being used as a tool to try and make us believe that we are somehow different from one another, or that certain people in our country are โillegal.โ I want to appeal to all those good people out there who simply want to be good neighbors.
Renee Good was shot in her neighborhood. Alex Pretti was shot while trying to help a woman who was shoved by an ICE agent. We donโt have to put ourselves in harmโs way like these two, but we can all be good neighbors. We can care about the immigrant neighbor afraid to go to the store. We can care about those whose rights are being trampled with injustice.