It’s cold enough here today for penguins but we haven’t seen any.
Getting back to Mr Trump, here’s a little something:
“Donald Trump withdrew on Thursday an invitation for Canada to join his “board of peace” initiative aimed at resolving global conflicts.
“Please let this Letter serve to represent that the Board of Peace is withdrawing its invitation to you regarding Canada’s joining, what will be, the most prestigious Board of Leaders ever assembled, at any time,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post directed at the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney.
Trump launched his “board of peace” initiative at the World Economic Forum in Davos, claiming it would be “one of the most consequential bodies ever created in the history of the world”. The board, which will be chaired by Trump, was originally described as a temporary body to oversee the governance and reconstruction of Gaza.”
We have to wait and see where that goes!
Here’s something I’ve been meaning to post for well over a week. Other stuff has got in the way. Lila Dominguez is a high school student in Minneapolis who had started her school’s newspaper a few months ago. On January 7th she was in her school’s basement writing an article about the ICE agent shooting Renee Good earlier that day. “I was kind of pacing around. My hands were really shaky,” she said. “I was just very overstimulated, and not really sure what to do in that moment for the people that I was with, or the people outside or my family.” Here’s what she wrote:
“On Wednesday January 7th at 3:20 pm I was working in the wrestling basement of Roosevelt Highschool to publish an article about the tragic event that occurred earlier today in South Minneapolis when a woman was shot and killed in her car by an ICE agent. Right before doing my final edits to the piece I was informed that ICE was right outside the building we were in trying to detain people.
Renee Nicole Good was shot and killed in South Minneapolis 7 minutes away from Roosevelt. In the past week Trump announced a target on Minneapolis, sending over 2,000 ICE agents into the Twin Cities to conduct raids. Before that in early December Trump put a target on the Somali community in Minneapolis. ICE has had a large presence in Minneapolis for over a month now affecting a lot of people’s day to day lives. Schools have seen a drop in attendance and there have been over 400 arrests from the past month in Minneapolis of “deemed criminals”.
Renee Nicole Good, the woman who was shot and killed was labeled as a “rioter” by DHS, but from bystanders and video footage the situation seems to be different. The woman was driving along Portland and was cornered in by ICE vehicles because of a raid happening. A bystander to the situation claims to have heard ICE agents yell instructions at the woman to “get out of here.” Renee reverses and attempts to drive away, doing so the ICE agent shot her multiple times through the front windshield. The ICE agent guilty of killing the woman claimed that “he was in fear of his life and his co workers lives, because he thought she was going to run them over” meaning the act was done in “self defense”.
Later in the afternoon today my high school Roosevelt was paraded by ICE vehicles during dismissal. Our community and staff stepped up to protect one another. I was in the basement of Roosevelt while all of this was happening, and the role that I watched the wrestling coaches jump into to protect our students is a role I wish no teacher or coach would ever have to be in. MPR news reports “ICE agents broke a window to a car and detained people present.” Many students, staff and neighbors were brave enough to video record and get in the ICE agents’ faces yelling and blowing their whistles.
Students, Families, Staff, and community members are angry. Roosevelt has one of the most diverse student and staff populations in Minneapolis, so it is so important that we show up for each other during this time. The victims of the raids, their families, the bystanders at today’s event, and the people who were also in Roosevelt during the event are all in our thoughts.
Its hard to process these things, especially when they are happening at our front doors. The second I got home from Roosevelt today at 5:00 the first thing I did was hug my dad tight. It is so important to be with the people you love during this time. If you know people in your community who are struggling, reach out. During this time we need to be unified as one.
ICE has taken up too much space in Minneapolis and the areas surrounding. Families and individuals are too scared to leave their own houses, forcing them to miss work and other activities. Many families’ holidays were affected by ICE, they were unable to have a holiday dinner or go out to buy gifts, food or see family and friends. ICE has been profiling people simply by the color of their skin, or the language they speak, whether they are a citizen or not it seems ICE may detain any person they chose to suspect.
When something happens like this in our community its a natural instinct for us to want to take action. This is the time more than ever to treat everyone you interact with with a bit more empathy, kindness and sympathy. Little actions can have a big impact. You never know what someone may be going through or how events like these can impact a person. Reach out to your people and if you are able, do your best to support the community, and those directly impacted by ICE.
ICE its time to get out of Minneapolis.”
Today I found this article about ICE agents’ treatment of a two-year-old girl in Minneapolis. No further comment needed!
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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