Loading summary
Margaret Killjoy
This is an iHeart podcast.
Raymond
Guaranteed Human mama.
Margaret Killjoy
Quiero life un nuevo con Verizon Os y vamos cuatro iPhone 17. S nuevas and unlimited.
Raymond
Welcome.
Margaret Killjoy
Premier Protein. It's for getting after life, not just Fitness. With 30 grams of protein, 160 calories and no sugar added, helping people fuel their joyful lives. With Premier Protein, you can say yes to more. Whether it's crushing a big presentation at work, building an epic fort with the kids, or hitting the hiking trail with friends. Premier Protein offers delicious flavors like cafe latte, chocolate, caramel, vanilla, strawberry, and cake batter, to name a few. Find your favorite flavor@premierprotein.com Corzone Media.
James Stout
Hi friends, it's me, James. And I just wanted to explain as you're listening to this, that we recorded this around midnight on Friday after having spent, I think, three days, four nights in Minneapolis. And the tone of what we recorded here is hopeful. I remain hopeful and inspired by the people we met in Minneapolis, and I remained so proud of everything they've done. But about nine hours after we sent this off to our editors, Alex Pretty was killed by two Border Patrol agents. And the tone of this would have been different if we had recorded after that. And that's, that's just the nature of the work we do. But we don't want anything in the hopeful tone here to suggest that we don't grieve his passing, that we aren't thinking of the people who loved him right now because we understand that they're going through a very difficult time. But we still want you to learn from what's happening in Minneapolis and from what people are doing there. And we hope that you remember that as you go through this episode.
Margaret Killjoy
And I think that honestly, those two things that we have to balance just as we deal with the state of the world is just, you know, everyone we talked to, this was so present on their minds is both an awareness of the beauty of the things that they are building and also an awareness of the darkness that has caused them to need to build these things. But anyway, we hope you enjoy these episodes and are following more closely with more current news about what's happening and are talking to the people around you, wherever you are, about how you will keep yourself and your neighbors safe. And yeah, thank you.
James Stout
Hello and welcome to Cool People Could Happen. Here it podcast, which is what happens when two podcasts love each other and go to Minneapolis. Go on a trip to Minneapolis in the winter where it is cold. I am one of your hosts today. My name is James Stout. And I am very lucky to be joined by my friend Margaret Killjoy.
Margaret Killjoy
Hello. Welcome to the thing that we're doing. Should we talk about today? We talked last time about some rapid response and mutual aid and there's more to be said about that.
James Stout
Yeah. Today is the 23rd.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah. It's the past for you all, but.
James Stout
It'S present for us. Amazing how podcasting works like that.
Margaret Killjoy
Today was the second realish real general strike I've been to in my life.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
First one was in Oakland during Occupy.
James Stout
Okay.
Margaret Killjoy
They pulled off a pretty serious general strike. Thousands of us shut down the ports. It was really beautiful.
James Stout
Oh but yeah, that was boss today. No one had to shut shit down really. With the exception of the federal building which we will discuss.
Raymond
Yeah, it's been remarkable.
James Stout
We've been here since Tuesday. It's Friday. How just the momentum has grown. Like seeing we went past some place, I think it was like a place of repaired like electronics of some description. They just had a little thing being like attention. We're not opening on Friday. It's these businesses which have no reason like these outward facing reasons to. It's not even businesses which rely on the community for business and have to signal to the community that they're with them. Right. It's just people who are being like, yeah, nah, no, you know, like that.
Margaret Killjoy
Seems like a shot.
James Stout
Yeah, let's. We gotta true something. Yeah, let's all close down and go protest. One thing that I was sent and share this with you Margaret, some unkind was a list of businesses that were like, yo, we will not be participating in like profit making today. But if you need X, that's what we do. Come by.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
James Stout
Like if you know, if you're hungry, if you're cold, if you need a cup of coffee, whatever you need to bicycle fix whatever it is. Like if you want to screen print, abolish ice on a shirt, swing by. We'll just be open up for the community. Come say hi. We don't want your money, we just want your solidarity. I thought that was cool and on.
Margaret Killjoy
Some level it's been happening for a while. To talk about how yesterday we went to Powwow Grounds. Yeah, right. There is a indigenous owned coffee shop called Powwow Grounds. They're actually worth donating directly to because they're mutual aid projects that'll probably be in the list of things that we include. And you go in and the coffee is free now. And we were like, well we want to pay you for tea. And they were like, you can pay Us for tea.
Raymond
Yeah.
James Stout
And we were able to put some money behind in case someone else came in and needed some.
Margaret Killjoy
But the entire space has been taken over by a mutual aid organization and it's Indigenous Run. We talked to someone from aim. American Indian Movement.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
About the work they've been doing there. And you know, which is that they've been, you know, basically just turning it into like making sure everyone has everything they need.
James Stout
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
By creating these places that are good to hang out in. You make really good rapid response places.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
You know, this is the first person we heard from about just like I was like, how does this work? How does rapid response work? And I was like, well, there's more of us than there are them.
James Stout
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We can keep showing up like.
Margaret Killjoy
And yeah. So like, you know, people are. People are hanging out there. And so, you know, and it's. It's right in a place where ice likes to fuck with people.
James Stout
Yeah. Well, it's like for people who aren't familiar with that block. Right. Like I've read a lot about aim. It's a topic I'm interested in. Like that Franklin Avenue, I believe is where AIM began. Right.
Margaret Killjoy
That's understanding with Community watch, which is what's happening now.
James Stout
Exactly. Was doing patrols to keep their community safe.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
James Stout
It's a cool little full circle movement. Yeah.
Raymond
So this is a space which is.
James Stout
Obviously designed to like center and protect indigenous folks.
Raymond
Yeah.
James Stout
But they were just like, yeah. Anyone who's out there doing the work, please come by. We got snack packs for you. We got this ear muffs we made. We've got four different soups. Got a vegan soup, got a gluten free soup. Like they were more than happy for folks to come by, get fed, get warm. Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
A big thing here. People, you know, sort of make light of, you know, there's the whole quip that really works on me which is the like ice made the classic Nazi mistake. They invaded a winter people in winter. And that's true. But it is exceptionally cold right now. Yeah.
James Stout
Like we last night, I think due to an error on my part, were locked out of the place we are staying.
Raymond
Yeah.
James Stout
I think it's fairly clear that I fucked up there.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah, that's fine.
James Stout
It becomes a risk to your well being pretty quickly.
Raymond
Yeah.
James Stout
To put it another way, how cold it is today. I took the battery out of Margot's vehicle and blew hot air from a hairdryer on it for some time so we could try and start it.
Margaret Killjoy
So a jump would work because A jump wouldn't work without also heating up the battery.
Raymond
Yeah.
James Stout
The battery didn't have enough cold cranking to get.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
Despite being a brand new battery.
James Stout
You need different tires for your truck. You need different oil for your vehicle. You need your battery to be warm.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah. People have engine block heaters for gas engines. I don't even have a diesel. Okay. So this morning we knew it was the general strike. We went and got enough supplies to have enough food without having to go shopping today. And we get up and we knew that there was going to be a direct action this morning at the Whipple building. And the Whipple building is. Oh, I wish once this whole thing is scripted you'll understand all this better. But there is a building that used to be a fort and it was a fort in ye olde even more murder of indigenous people times. And it was the fort from which they would go out and capture people.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
And that is what it is again. It is the center of the ice operations here. It is where everyone is taken, both citizen and non citizen for processing. And there's like one way in and one way out. And there have been people. I keep talking about. We were talking about this hyperlocal rapid response.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
There's been people at the Whipple Building, at this trap of a place with one way in and one way out.
Raymond
This place is a fortress ass building. Yeah. Right.
Margaret Killjoy
Like where it's real easy to kidnap people because the kidnapped place is right there.
James Stout
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
There have been people. There are basically every day.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
And like just blatantly being like, we are here to track you all anti ice people have been there every day.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
So there was a call to go to it this morning. And so we did. And you know, as press.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
And we did not get there on time because my aforementioned had absolutely not start.
Raymond
Yeah, yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
But multiple people came to rescue us.
Raymond
Yeah, yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
Like multiple people showed up to help out of towners who aren't even core of. We weren't there to get stuff done. We're just here to talk about it.
Raymond
Yeah, yeah. Like someone came to Orpheus to jump. Someone else was like, hey, did you get a jump?
Margaret Killjoy
Yes.
Raymond
Someone was like, do you want to ride? Do you need to borrow my vehicle?
Margaret Killjoy
And these weren't people we known very long.
Raymond
The longest we'd known these people was since Tuesday. It's Friday.
Margaret Killjoy
And so people come up, get the vehicle working, we drive there. And the whole time both of us are moderately outdoorsy people. Right. To put it mildly in your case. And to be Accurate, in my case. And we spent the whole time being like, do we have enough gear? Do we have enough winter gear? You know, we both have these new insulated boots we got for this trip. And, like, I live in the mountains. You are a literal sports person.
Raymond
Yeah, I enjoy to be in the mountains.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
Raymond
When I have time, I will go into the mountains and sleep outside.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah. It's cold. It is.
Raymond
Like, it was cold. You know, there's a cold when your nose hairs freeze when you breathe in, and then. Yeah, then there's the cold when you're like, my eyes are, like, actually icing over. Like, this is alarmingly cold.
Margaret Killjoy
It is the coldest day here since 2018 or 2019 is what we learned.
Raymond
Yeah. Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
And, you know, when I talked to my friend before I came, I was like, it's gonna be horrendously cold. Are people still gonna show up? And, you know, my friend who lives here was like, well, we will. Ice will be miserable.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
And we saw probably 10,000 people outside today.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
Between the two protests, mostly the larger one.
Raymond
Yeah. Like, so we roll up, right. And there is a small shield wall barricading one of the ways that ice gets into the Whipple Building to incarcerate the people who they have snatched. Yeah. There are probably half a dozen shields and then two big corrugated steel, which.
Margaret Killjoy
Is the level of bravery of that.
Raymond
Yeah. Like, that is audacious. Yeah. Because there were maybe 100 people in that whole formation. Right. And the shield was facing two ways. We check it out as we arrive. We see what we later learned was an Italian camera operator that had been maced in the face.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
Raymond
I just want to, like, break down again. Like, we've made light of the cold, and it's funny that it's cold. You get maced. Right. Generally, you want to pour water on your face.
Margaret Killjoy
Right.
Raymond
The clock is ticking pretty quickly. Once you start pouring liquid on exposed skin in these temperatures, the clock is.
Margaret Killjoy
Ticking on exposing skin in these temperatures. Any exposed skin is danger. I have this, like, basically, balaclava that I, like. I don't wear to protest. That's sketchy.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
And then I'm like, oh, no. I'm gonna, like, die if I don't wear this thing that covers every inch of my face.
Raymond
Yeah. Like, I have a helmet with goggles, and I wasn't wearing the goggles for particularly. Like, I didn't think I was gonna get a pepper ball in the eye. I needed the air not to touch my eyes. So, like, this. This masing is serious, Right. And I saw that and I saw them pouring water and I was like, oh, shit. Actually, that's quite grave.
Margaret Killjoy
And they actually did have a staged water truck to spray people. They didn't spray people with water.
Raymond
Yeah, yeah, that's what we heard. That there was a water truck staged in the. In the parking lot. To be clear, like, that could have killed someone really easily. Yeah. So then that was one entrance. We were like, let's go scope at the other entrance, see what the whole scene is here. As we're walking, first of all, we come past someone with one of those, like, trolleys that people pull. They have the better part of like, a thousand hand and foot toe warmers.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
Raymond
They are stoked to be giving them out. Right. So, yeah, we. We put hand warmers inside our gloves. Then we see someone who's pulled up in a minivan. That is the warming car. Yeah. So people do get cold. They get in there and they warm them up. Yeah. We come around, someone has snacks. Someone's playing Public Enemy.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
Raymond
As we come around further, we see this is the place that ice are coming in with people. Right. And so there are people who were there shouting at them. I saw a couple of like, snowballs thrown. Yeah. And like. Yeah, there were people who were throwing snowballs. Right. But there were also folks who just turned out to be like, you know, I mean, I'm more of a. That's not my vibe.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
Raymond
But if you would like a snack while you're throwing them, I'm here for you. No one was like, hey, don't do that. Everyone was showing up in their own way.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
Raymond
And that was really cool.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah. And that's like one of the things that, you know, I asked at one point, I was like, what's the, like, discourse like about? You know, the usual thing that divides people about, like, I'm gonna use air quotes here, you can't see, but violence and nonviolence, which are like complicated damage.
James Stout
Right.
Margaret Killjoy
You know, and, you know, and there's obviously people, like, we've met people who've been like. And we're non violent, and they're like, really excited.
James Stout
And that's important.
Raymond
There were people who had yellow vests on, being, like, peaceful observer. Don't shoot.
Margaret Killjoy
Right. And then there's also people who are like, we didn't see any of it, but there's graffiti all over town.
Raymond
Yeah, yeah. Like, fuck peace. Justice doesn't bring him back. Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
And I was like, what's the discourse, like, between these groups and everyone we've talked to is like there isn't time for that.
Raymond
Yeah. We got shit to be doing.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah. And like, you know, even when people are discussing things, they'll try to start having a discussion and someone's like, hey, ice is on that corner.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
And not that these discussions aren't worth. Well, I famously my pinned post on blue skies discourse is the mind killer. But like. And you can see it just like right here. Right. Because there's people who are like, when you show up with shields at a shield wall at blocking federal agents from being somewhere, you're clearly being mildly antagonistic. Right. It is a. Is a rowdy thing to do. And you know, and at the same time. Right. Like we didn't make it to this because they were happening at the same time more or less, but not very far away at the airport. We're not the news in this particular case. It could happen. Here is a news show, but this is still not the news we're reporting right now. Like 150 clergy people were arrested in civil disobedience because the airport's being used to transport people away. Did real quick tangent about that. I think it's really beautiful because there's so much, you know that the national press is of course, like these anti Christian people attack church. And you're like, no, the churches are on our side. Except like one or two of them.
Raymond
We were staying next to a church. Yeah. And like we get up in the morning that first day, we heard the honking and we see like. Yeah, the church has got a sign being like. Yeah, I know this ice shit seems bad.
James Stout
Yeah.
Raymond
I don't think. It's not what Jesus would have done. Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
So we're at the thing and you know, we're like, okay, this is happening. And we start seeing the police getting ready to use munitions. Right.
Raymond
We come back from the first place to where the shield wall was. Right.
Margaret Killjoy
Right.
Raymond
Shield wall is no longer there. We think, huh, weird. No shield wall.
Margaret Killjoy
And then there's a line of police.
Raymond
Oh, look at that. It's Hennepin County Sheriff's Department.
James Stout
Yeah.
Raymond
And. Yeah, go ahead.
Margaret Killjoy
No, no, I mean that's the thing is like you, it's always really sad when you come back and expect to see a shield wall. And instead there's a line of police.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
And they are yelling dispersal orders at the, at the shield wall, which is already banked up first.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
They're like, they're, they've been, they've been pushed away. We can't.
Raymond
Several hundred yards away.
James Stout
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
Like We. We just, like, straight up can't see them. And we are told in no uncertain terms by some other folks who are standing. This is not a large crowd. The crowd has been moved. And we're just kind of.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
The cops are between us and our car.
Raymond
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 of us.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah, there's six of us.
Raymond
I was counting people in my head. I can. I can say six.
Margaret Killjoy
No, no, you're right. And two of the people we're standing next to are like, yeah, if you cross this red line. They told us that if we cross this red line, the National Guard will shoot us dead.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
And it. We did not test that.
Raymond
Yeah. I'm not sure if they would, but Neil Young song about it.
Margaret Killjoy
Right. And we're not in Ohio. It'd be fine.
Raymond
Minnesota National Guard.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah. And so they are not letting us go.
Raymond
Yeah. To be clear, the red line would have signified we were entering into, like, a military area.
Margaret Killjoy
Right. Totally. With no barricades or anything like that.
Raymond
They had barricades further along. Right. To make vehicles weave. So you can just drive straight up.
Margaret Killjoy
It's the side of a public road. We're at the light rail station.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
So there's the line of police, and they're mostly facing away from us. There's about two people facing towards us. Our car is between them. We are marked press.
Raymond
Yeah. I'm wearing a bright red helmet with press stickers on it. I was wearing a blue helmet with press stickers. Like black the first. The cops keep pushing the shield wall further away from us. And we hear them on the lrad. This has been declared an unlawful assembly. I did hear somebody shout by who? That is a very good question.
Margaret Killjoy
Honestly.
Raymond
Yeah. Unfortunately, the Hennepin County Sheriff's Department were not very interested in answering questions. Yeah. And the way that we learned this is that a couple of people, I would call them older folks, just from looking at them from a distance.
Margaret Killjoy
They weren't the young rowdies holding shields.
Raymond
They were absolutely not.
James Stout
No.
Raymond
It was an older gentleman in. A male presenting person in Carhartts.
James Stout
Yeah.
Raymond
Right. Who walked up coveralls.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
Raymond
Yeah. With hands up. Right. Very clearly. Hands up. And seemed to be asking or talking.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah. Was like probably going up to being like, hey, what's happening?
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
Like, whatever. Yeah.
Raymond
Can I go over there? That person was arrested. Yeah. So was another person who was with him.
James Stout
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
And they were told they were arrested on the lrad. We could hear that. You are under arrest.
Raymond
Yeah. Yeah. That was very strange. Yeah. Then a bus arrived More cops got out.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
Raymond
And those two people were put on the bus.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah, Three people. There's three of them.
Raymond
Three of them. Three that were put on the bus. Yeah. Okay. The majority of the police then turned to face us.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah. All six. By now, there's probably 12 of us.
James Stout
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
Because other people are like, hey, my car's over there, too.
Raymond
Yeah. Because they're in between us and where we parked our cars right now.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
Raymond
And then they turn the LRAD around. Right. And then they tell us that they have issued a dispersal order due to something about, like, illegal conduct. Yeah. Which, again, we are standing on the platform of a light rail station at this point, and I have seen no one do anything other than stand around. I've seen someone throw a snowball, but that was somewhere else. We're in a different location. And then they say we have five minutes to disperse. And they give us a cardinal direction. We have to disperse east onto a.
Margaret Killjoy
Road that no one with us knew what was.
Raymond
Yeah, we're all looking, like, where?
Margaret Killjoy
We're in a kind of weird maze of barricades.
Raymond
I had previously tried to walk up to this line and be like, can we go through to our car, please?
James Stout
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
We would like to disperse.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
Because at this point, we're like, this is just going bad.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
We're maybe under arrest now.
Raymond
Right. We're here to report, and if we get arrested, we can't report. Yeah. And there's nothing to report on because the cops have kettled us with two other press.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah. The rest of the Italian news crew.
Raymond
Who now don't have a camera that.
Margaret Killjoy
Is still trying to do reporting, but brave as hell. Yeah. Because they're just still standing there, and they're like, you know, thick Italian accents and they're just like. Our camera person got mazed.
Raymond
Yeah. They'll be fine, but they got mazed.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
Raymond
And so the cops had very clearly indicated that they were not interested in that arrangement. So we went back to standing there wondering which way was east. I was trying to get under my layers to my watch, so I could pull up a compass.
Margaret Killjoy
I had figured out which way was east. I even had a suspicion about how to go that way. But I am willing, I believe, from talking to other people who are elsewhere there that day, that day, today, this morning, it's been a long day. I don't normally drink caffeine. I am on caffeine. I believe that is where the other line of police was starting to kettle people from.
Raymond
Yeah, it seems like.
Margaret Killjoy
So I actually believe they Were not actually offering us a way out at all.
Raymond
Yeah. I, on the other hand, just realized I couldn't get to my watch and was. I knew it was before noon, so I was looking for where the sun was gonna do some celestial navigation.
James Stout
And at that point we saw. Well, actually at that point we went to the train platform and a light rail train was going not towards our car, but away from it. But it didn't open the doors when it came to the platform.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah. We were like, we want to go, though.
James Stout
I said, margaret, we're fucked. Margaret said, get ready to run, I guess.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
James Stout
And then as they were advancing towards us, comrade light rail train arrived. Everyone got on the train literally last minute.
Raymond
Yeah.
James Stout
Just scoot on straight past the police line.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
James Stout
And then we got off and commenced walking around to try and find a way back to our vehicle.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah. So that was our morning. That was. I mean, whatever. We are the party's least affected, but to be like, really just transparent about it, this is the coldest day of my life. I've experienced negative temperatures before.
James Stout
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
I haven't experienced negative 30 something windchill.
James Stout
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
Like we were seeing people getting off the light rail. Everyone's eyelashes had frost in them.
James Stout
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
Anyway, just to. Just to keep hitting that point.
James Stout
Well, like, that was one of my concerns with detainment, Right. Was like, cops legendarily don't treat people in their custody very well.
Margaret Killjoy
Right.
James Stout
And I was very worried about that too. They did seem to be getting the people there rested quickly on that bus.
Raymond
Yeah.
James Stout
But like, that was one of my worries. Right. You get. If you lose a glove when you're being handcuffed, that's not a. That's, you know, that's serious.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
That's like. Maybe you lose your fingers now at the end of that. Like, it's like genuinely like a. I know we keep harping on it, but it's just. It's a. It's a massive characteristic.
James Stout
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
My car's a mess right now because we can't clean it because that involves standing outside in like negative 18 or whatever the fuck. All of these numbers have become meaningless to me at this point. Anyway.
James Stout
You know what keeps me warm, Margaret?
Margaret Killjoy
The hand warmers we purchase with the money that we get from advertisements.
James Stout
Yeah. I was going to say, thinking about how the products and services that support the show love to support me in the work I do, but I don't think they actually know what I do. I think it's. Look at our listener numbers, to be honest.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah. I think they don't hear our ad transitions or we would maybe be in trouble.
James Stout
Almost certain they don't.
Margaret Killjoy
And here they are. This plant shop. A perfectly balanced ecosystem thanks to genius from Global Painting. Tracked inventory, seamless payments and reviews in one place. Big league reliability for your business. That's genius. And we're back. So we go to this and then we go to the clear highlight of the day, which is the ICE vehicle crashed into.
James Stout
Yeah. This is when we decided. We got a. We received word that an ICE vehicle had T boned a telephone.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
I was doing a blue sky thread and I was like, nope, that's a shorter thread because we gotta go.
Raymond
Yeah.
James Stout
I'm not as good as Margot is at skeeting while I'm at things, so I'm so used to being in places where it would be a risk to everyone involved. Posted. I was there. So we go, right. We park a few blocks away. Once we see flashing lights, we start boogieing up the street at fast walk pace, which is about as fast as you can gonna go when it's an inch of ice on everything.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
James Stout
And we see this car that has failed. There's traffic calming roundabout that clearly they were not expecting to be there. It looks like they've been trying to go straight over to roundabout and have.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah. They just like the front of their car is just trashed in a 15 mile per hour street.
James Stout
Yeah. Yeah. Like a street where like you would expect a child to be riding a bicycle in the summer. Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
And it's like. It's one of those streets that's like cars on both sides, one lane kind of deal. One lane that two cars have to pass each other by backing up. Yeah. And they clearly just blew through it. They don't give a fuck. And that's like a thing we've heard over and over from the people who tail them is that they. They drive erratically. They drive. They drive recklessly because they are. They think they are immune to all consequences.
James Stout
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
And they.
James Stout
They are.
Margaret Killjoy
They are. Until someone like. The only people giving them consequences are the people of the city.
James Stout
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
Not the city itself or the state.
James Stout
Yeah. This is the thing, actually, I'll just. I have spent more time than nearly everyone at the southern border United States in most places. Right. In California, in Texas, in New Mexico, in Arizona. I've been up and down the border. There is one thing that unites the border experience. Be it on tornado reservation in Arizona, be it in San Diego, be it New Mexico or in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. And it is that border patrols driving is a risk to everyone. And you can hear the most straight up right wing people are saying, I love what they're doing. I don't want the migrants in my country. But I wish they wouldn't drive like dicks and like they've killed people on the odd reservation. Right. Like this is serious. And that what is happening once again is that the border is coming to a city and people are seeing it. This is not new. It is new here.
Margaret Killjoy
The driving erratically is such a perfect though example of what power does to people. You have an unaccountable force and they will do horrible things. They will do major horrible things like kidnapping people and they'll do petty. I don't care, I am just drunk on power things.
Raymond
Or they will leave the cars in drive when they pull them out. Right. It doesn't take a second to pop it into park or like. Yeah, in this case they will case a telephone pole.
James Stout
Right.
Margaret Killjoy
Anyway, so then we decide we're going to the big march downtown because the general strike has a component that is a big march downtown. And the single most important thing about that to me was again to keep harping on it, the cold. Because I know a lot of people who go to these sorts of marches. Right. And these are the sorts of marches that a lot of people go to who don't necessarily do a ton of other political activity. Although here it probably feels a little different because a lot of the people going to that march who probably are the kind of sign holding going to the big march kind of people are also quite possibly at the very least showing up when they hear whistles.
Raymond
Yeah. You know, doing the work. Right. They're buying the groceries, whatever it is.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
Raymond
Like, I think one thing I was struck. So we're walking towards this march and it is one of the genesis. You get this a lot when you're going to a big action. Right. You feel like a salmon and everyone's just swimming up. Yeah. Swimming in the stream together or, you know, whatever a tuna. And you're all going towards the same space and that's cool. That's always nice to feel the size. And then we get there and it's big. Like there's a lot of people and it's cold. Like, I know we keep harping on about the cold. It is cold as shit. Margaret's ear was a little bit out. We were both worried about Margaret's ear. You want to ensure it like skin coverage in these temperatures.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
Raymond
We get there and like, so they're meeting in like a big square and then they're marching through the street, right?
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
Raymond
And there are also people on, like, there are internal walkways between buildings above the street, and all of them are ran with people with signs who are cheering and stuff.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
Raymond
And the thing I noticed as we got there was, like, immediately we set foot in that square, we're once again being offered hot cocoa hand warmers. There's a guy with like a. You know those orange insulated containers? They use it like sports meats.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah. Like a Gatorade thing.
Raymond
But it's not a Gatorade. But he's got soup in it and he's backpacking the soup. It's vegan and gluten free and he's handing out soup. There are multiple people who have just set up to care for people because it's cold and people might need caring for. Right. Like, there are all kinds of facilities there to look after folks. We received some hand warmers. I think you and I both took some hand warmers. And there wasn't. At least where we were like a speaker, there was some chanting.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
Raymond
At this point, like, I would love to include the B roll of chanting. Unfortunately, it was so cold that both my voice recorders refused to work.
Margaret Killjoy
Oh, yeah. One by one, every electronic device that James brought ate shit. And I like, you know, I'm much. Y' all listen to my shit. I'm much more of a vibes podcaster where I like, just observe and write everything down. James is a proper podcaster and journalist and has B roll of things. Not as much today.
Raymond
My voice recorder, which has been through the daring gap, has attended the Syrian civil war. It's been to the place where the US dropped a nuclear bomb. It didn't make it out of Minneapolis. It's gone to Valhalla now, which is sad. I even tried to record on my phone, but my phone just black screened on me.
Margaret Killjoy
It was comedy.
Raymond
Yeah, it was pretty funny. When the cell phone died, it was like previously I had been just to paint a picture for you all using my nose to unlock the phone and then actuate apps because I didn't want to take my glove off.
Margaret Killjoy
We would take turns taking our hands out of gloves to touch buttons on things.
Raymond
Yeah. Or to adjust each other's clothes. Or someone watched me doing the phone thing and they just gave me a nod like, yeah, doing the nose phone.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah, yeah, totally. And I don't know, I just keep talking about how the sense of togetherness, it's inspiring full disclosure. I'm not a big rally person. I'm much personally more interested in mutual aid and direct action. I'm disinterested in it. When it seems like a way for people to check off that they've done their resistance.
Raymond
Yeah, definitely. If that feels like you're warm fuzzy and that's all you want.
Margaret Killjoy
But in this case, it was more. I don't know for certain. It was more of a warm fuzzy for people who are also just doing this hard thing day in and day out.
Raymond
It felt like when you and your friends, like, you know, when you're doing a hard, long mutual aid thing. Right. You know, like. Or let's say you're engaged in a project that feeds people every week.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
Raymond
And once a year, you get together and have a dinner together. Right. It felt a bit like that. Or like.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
Raymond
You know, a little bit. Like when we were feeding people in the desert, we would sit down afterwards and talking about this with someone today, we would, like, eat vegan MREs out of the packets. Like, people eat go gets. Yeah. Because we were too tired to warm up our food, but we were hungry.
James Stout
Yeah.
Raymond
But we would just spend a little bit of time in community and celebrate what we'd done. What was cool, though, is, like, sometimes after those big actions, you feel a little lonely.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
Raymond
Like, it felt like that was just everyone going over there, but like there was also everyone elsewhere as you kind of went around the city, you know?
James Stout
Right.
Raymond
Like, it wasn't like that was the end of it. Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
And I was. I was worried it would, you know, draw people away from other things. But, you know, even this huge crowd was only a tiny portion of the people doing things in the city, and people were still doing things. And at one point I was like, hey, it's. It's. Maybe it was Thursday. We were like, hey, we saw less people out today.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
Was that because the cold was starting to drive people inside. And we talked to someone and they're like, no, ice was less out today than it was yesterday. But if ice had come out, all of those people would have come out again. They were all staged and ready to go. And one of the things, actually, the warm fuzzy thing, that feeling, One of the things that we talk to is that people are very aware that they're organizing for the long haul. Again, I don't have the news in front of me, but the word on the ground here is people being like, we think ice might be here till June. And so people are like, how do we do that? You know? And one of the Things is that, like, there are people providing things to the people doing things. You know, the people whose job is to provide things for other people are having people provide things for them. Yeah.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
And there's this moment I think about all the time. I'll accidentally do, like, the. You know, I was at this protest in the Netherlands, and the cops try to grab my friend.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
And they try to grab him because he's screaming. The Netherlands is a police state, which. They try to make their point by trying to grab him.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
Right. So everyone holds on to him.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
So the cops start just beating the crap out of the people holding on to him.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
So people start grabbing onto the people who are holding onto the person. They start trying to beat the people who are holding on to the people who are holding onto the people who are holding on to the people. By the time it gets to, like, four layers out, the cops are just like, fuck it. Yeah. Fuck this. Yeah. All right. The center person is never arrested, you know, and that's what solidarity is.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
But that's also a lot of the mutual aid stuff like, you know, we're talking about to people who are like. Yeah, we work day in and day out on this stuff. And other people are like massage therapists and regular therapists are talking with us, you know, and, like, people are building the infrastructure to try and make it sustainable.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
And who knows? I don't know whether you can truly sustain what's happening here. Right. But, like, they're gonna fucking try.
Raymond
Yeah. The way I like to explain anarchism to people who. There's sometimes the confusion. Right. That people think anarchism is a predilection for chaos and violence, and that's not what it is. I like to explain that anarchism at its core is building ways of caring for one another that don't reinforce ways of controlling one another.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
Raymond
And that's what people are doing here. Right?
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah. Under any name.
Raymond
Yeah. It doesn't matter. The rest of it is really ephemeral. Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
A lot of them are anarchists, but not. Not anywhere near the majority of them.
Raymond
Yeah. But I think we can use what Jim Scott called the anarchist squint. Right. And yes. People building networks here that make the state unnecessary.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
Raymond
Irrelevant right now. Violence is still very much relevant, but others. Right. The feds are going to cut funding.
James Stout
Yeah.
Raymond
They can cut food stamps in Minnesota.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
Raymond
People are still going to get food to their neighbors. Right. They can cut.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
Raymond
Education funding. We heard that there are schools which have a very diverse background. And by diversity, I don't just mean like people of different races, but also people of different income brackets.
Margaret Killjoy
Right.
Raymond
And the wealthier parents are like, which families aren't able to work? How do I help them make their rent? Yeah. Oh, God.
Margaret Killjoy
It was funny when. Yeah. People were like, oh, you know the thing where like the rich parents are like really excited to help everyone and feed everyone. I was like, no, that. Yeah, that's not, that's not the stereotype.
Raymond
Let me tell you.
Margaret Killjoy
It should be.
Raymond
Yeah, it should be. Well, I think folks are really like, huh, what does the world without these people look like?
James Stout
Worse.
Raymond
I don't want that. Yeah. Like, what do I have that I can use to stop that? I have my time, I have my body, I have my money. Let me give them all of them.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
Raymond
Yeah. I thought that was very cool. I think the, the specific thing that has made people. I, I saw little signs. He had the name for one of the guys from Liam, the young, very, very young kid. Right. The five year old kid with the Superman.
Margaret Killjoy
The one who was.
Raymond
Yeah. Grabbed Spider Man. Yeah, he was grabbed the other day. I saw a lot of people with signs about that.
Margaret Killjoy
Like it made me want to cry even just seeing the signs.
Raymond
Yeah. Well, these little outrages continue to bring people out of their safe, warm comfort bubbles and be like, no, like I am going to do whatever it takes. My money, my time, whatever. Right.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah. You know William Von Spransson.
Raymond
Yes.
Margaret Killjoy
For people who are listening, there was an IWW member named William Von Spranssen who was killed by ICE a number of years ago now because he decided that he would go and try to set some ICE stuff on fire. Middle of the night.
James Stout
Yeah, I think it was buses, right? Unoccupied buses, to be clear. Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
Middle of the night, empty buses. The buses that they're using to kidnapped people. And the cops showed up and killed him. And he was seen as kind of this lone wingnut. And I'm watching it and I'm like, this man is going to be written about history books. As a guy actually started doing something early about this. And in his statement that he wrote, I'm not telling people that this was a wise action for him to have taken whatever. But in a statement he wrote, he wrote a line something like, I am off to fulfill my childhood promise to myself to be noble. And like, he knew he was going to die doing that action. Right. That certainly seems to be the tone from the letter. But that line, the idea of fulfilling your promise to yourself to be noble and the thing that is beautiful here is that you can now do that with people and effectively. And I think that a lot of the things that stop people from taking action is a belief that it would be shot in the dark, it would be a lone thing, it wouldn't accomplish anything. Right. Because most actions you can take by yourself don't accomplish nearly as much. And to be clear, the people who built rapid response networks here, they learned from other cities, they learned from Chicago, who learned from la.
James Stout
Yeah, right.
Margaret Killjoy
That is the lineage that I've heard presented.
James Stout
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
But they have developed and expanded because this is actually a bigger thing than operation on ISIS part, than either of those. But so people can do, we've been put on this earth to do, which is be our best selves. And I think that there's. Even as hard as it is for people, I think that there's a dark beauty that they get to know who they are and they get to know that they are people who will make sandwiches, because that's the thing. And they will risk everything to make sandwiches. They will risk everything to follow ICE vehicles and honk it. Imagine following a murderer down the street going, this man's a murderer. This man right here shoots people.
James Stout
Well, not just that. Right. This person has the power to kill me and not face consequences.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah. That's what they're shouting at people and everyone is shouting it at them.
James Stout
Yeah, yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
And it works.
Raymond
Yeah.
James Stout
And it's people who you wouldn't expect and people who you would expect both together alongside each other. Yeah. I think a lot about how, like, how much things have changed in this country in a year. Lots of it's bad. Right. But abolish ICE was a pretty niche position in 2020, let me tell you. You didn't really hear it right. Abolish ICE is a compromise position.
Margaret Killjoy
Now, that is the centrist position.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
Reform ICE center.
James Stout
Right. Yeah. Yeah. I think reform ICE is some parts of the Republican Party. Right. Abolish ICE is pretty much in between the two.
Margaret Killjoy
The political parties haven't caught up to this fact.
Raymond
Yeah.
James Stout
But they'd never do. Right. They always take longer than everyone else. But let me tell you, there was, you know, what would Ronald Reagan guy do?
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
James Stout
When you've lost the what would Ronald Reagan guy do? You're in fucking trouble.
Raymond
Yeah.
James Stout
In this country.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah. And I, I love how it's like, we talked to a lot of people with a lot of different political ideas. Most people didn't have a. This is my political ideology. Yeah. But like, you know, people are like, just blunt, like. Well, it would be better if the politicians were doing it and they're not.
James Stout
Yeah. This lady who, again, the lady said, oh, those are local cops. You don't have to worry about them.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
James Stout
A couple of days later turned out, but she was like, it would be.
Raymond
Great if our politicians were with us.
James Stout
But they're not, so we're going to do it ourselves. Yeah. That's all you need. That lady's done more anarchism than your. Your average Internet anarchist who's out there fed posting every day.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah, totally.
Raymond
That's.
James Stout
That's really all you need.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah. Well, we're going to take one more ad break.
James Stout
That's all you really need is advertisements.
Margaret Killjoy
And it goes a little something like this. And we're back. I feel warmed in my belly by those advertisements. Yeah.
James Stout
Hopefully you buy something that you don't need.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah, hopefully you skip past them.
James Stout
But, yeah, you double tap the old headphone button. It normally goes 30 seconds.
Margaret Killjoy
See, the problem is that I like, I don't usually. I listen to a lot of podcasts and I don't have cooler zone media because I have Android.
James Stout
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
So I have to listen to the ads. Yeah, I know. So I. The ads. Come on.
James Stout
Just remember, if you tag. I writeokay. If you have any issues regarding that.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah, yeah, that'll. That'll definitely work.
James Stout
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
And so sometimes when I'm like. Because I listen to a lot of podcasts while I'm, like, doing, like, woodworking or like.
James Stout
Yeah, yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
Doing stuff with my hands.
James Stout
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
And so I like, I'm like, I don't want to put down the saw in order to press the button.
James Stout
So I do it with my. With my. With my left earlobe against my shoulder. That's how I skip them. Yeah. Because I don't have cooler zone media either.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah, but maybe you do. In which case you only hear the.
James Stout
Diversion about shit that doesn't bother you.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
James Stout
Lucky. Lucky thing.
Margaret Killjoy
We will have a lot more reporting. This isn't the end of the episode, but we'll have a lot more reporting about Minneapolis and the structures that people are building and Minneapolis and St. Paul and the outlying areas. As someone kind of correctly checked me on the fact that I keep saying Minneapolis, it's just where I spend most of my time.
Raymond
True.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah. And things are different, but the things are different block by block. But a lot of that we really want to kind of do. Right. And we're going to write scripted, but we're just really kind of in it right now. And really want to talk about this. And part of the reason we want to talk about this so soon is because things happen really fast. And just that everyone we've talked to has told us that they want people to know the horrors are getting out on some level, which is good. It is actually good that people are learning all these horrible things. But a lot of them, the scale of the resistance isn't getting out, and the efficacy of the resistance isn't getting out. And people want people to know because they want people to know that they can do it, too.
Raymond
Yeah. I saw someone had, shockingly, someone had a stupid opinion on the Internet. Someone had said that talking about this makes it dangerous for these people. No, first of all, I mean, there.
Margaret Killjoy
Are things that we don't know that we shouldn't. We wouldn't say, but, like.
Raymond
Sure, there are things. Yeah, yeah. There are things that we wouldn't ask about or that people wouldn't give us interviews about if they thought they were dangerous. Right. But, like, what makes it safe is that everyone is doing it.
Margaret Killjoy
Right.
Raymond
What makes us safe is that there are more of us. And what people asked us to do was share this because they are safer if you do it, too. Yeah. Right. There are tens of millions of people who are just as outraged as that older lady that we met on the first day. And what keeps that lady safe and your neighbor safe and her neighbor safe and people who you've never met safe and yourself. Yeah, and yourself is you doing it, too. Right. Like, if it stops here, if you can't grab migrants off the street here, then you can't grab dissidents off the street somewhere else.
Margaret Killjoy
Right. And, like, you know, we've seen all over graffiti and, you know, we saw a huge piece of graffiti at the ICE Building.
Raymond
Basically, I read it into the mic, actually.
James Stout
It was.
Raymond
My mic was working.
James Stout
First they came for the undocumented, and I said nothing because I wasn't undocumented. Then they came for the Somalis, and I said nothing because I was not Somali. Then they came for the activists, and I said nothing, for I was. Was not an activist. Then they came for me.
Margaret Killjoy
I am so grateful that we live in a generation that has read that poem.
Raymond
Yeah. And seemingly taken it to heart.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah. And more people have than I thought. And I think all the time about solidarity. You'll be shocked to know this, Obviously. The moment that makes me cry on the most regular basis is, of course, the charge of the Rohirrim, when the riders of Rohan ride to Gondor to face the anyway Even though Gondor wasn't there for them, where was Gondor? But part of the reason that I love solidarity so much is because, like, I keep joking that I'm gonna write the Misanthropic Introvert's Guide to Socialism because, like, I. Misanthropic introvert at that heart. Right. I also love people. Right.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
And I most just. I love most people over there, you know?
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
And I grew up not proud to say, pretty self interested. Right. And I was like, very lost in my own head and kind of selfish. And I very quickly, upon meeting anarchists and meeting people who believed in responsibility and freedom was like, oh, I am safer and more free and more able to express my full self if I am part of a community of solidarity.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
And so even though in the immediate moment it is more dangerous, like there's the old joke about, like, you don't have to be faster than the bear, you just have to be faster than your friend.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
That is the single worst idea in the world.
Raymond
Yeah. Because then bears start eating people.
Margaret Killjoy
Right. So if there is a monster and you can outrun someone so you think you're safe, you now have to be the fastest person.
Raymond
Yeah, yeah. Right. You're safe until you're not.
Margaret Killjoy
To be part of a community that turns around and fights the monster might be more dangerous for yourself in the immediate sense. And being someone who stands up is that. Yeah, it is that saying, like. Well, even though in the short term it is more dangerous for me to stand up by having been participated in a society where we stand up for each other, I am safer. And so even if that means my literal death, I will have been safer. Even if you get weirdly utilitarian about it.
Raymond
Yeah. In aggregate, you are safer and so is everyone else.
Margaret Killjoy
And so it's not a charity, it's a solidarity.
Raymond
Yeah. No, like solidarity is, in a sense is in your own self interest. Because we want to live in a world where people take care of each other.
Margaret Killjoy
Right. Not just in case union jobs pay better, you know?
Raymond
Yeah. Not just in case we need to be taken care of, but because I often think about that. I think it's John Stuart Mill. Right.
James Stout
Ask not for whom the bell tolls. The bell tolls for thee. Like what he's saying there is not. What's that bell ringing? What he's saying is I participate in humanity. And so when humanity is devalued, in his case, talking about bell or funerary bell. Right. When humanity is devalued, my humanity is Devalued. And therefore, in this case, the bell is ringing for me. I am a human. And when they undermine our common humanity, therefore they undermine this thing that I have. And I won't let them do that because I participate in humanity. And so, as it happens, there's a person who's been subjected to inhuman violence. And so I will stand up for humanity. And in doing so, I will stand up for. For making a humanity that will stand up for me.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
James Stout
And like, I think about a lot because John McCain wrote it in an obituary for the last American.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
James Stout
Lincoln Brigade volunteer. And I don't agree with John McCain on anything, really. Right. But I do want that. And like, I was thinking about it today when I saw what would Ronald Reagan do, Guy.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
Because John McCain was a man who believes something. He believes things I don't agree with.
James Stout
Yeah. Including a lot of racist shit.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
James Stout
He, John McCain clearly thought that the Lincoln brigadiers were on the right side of history.
Margaret Killjoy
Right, Right.
James Stout
And Winston Churchill's nephew fought in the International Brigades. Right. Folks with whom I share very little in terms of politics, A lot of British upper class people fought in the International Brigades.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
James Stout
They probably weren't anarchists, but they were anti fascists. They were better anti fascists than the people who stayed at home.
Raymond
And, yeah.
James Stout
You couldn't tweet in 1936, but they would have been if they could.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
Raymond
Right.
James Stout
Because they were willing to put their bodies on the line.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
James Stout
And many of them died. Many of them are buried in Spain as Spanish people remember them fondly.
Raymond
Yeah.
James Stout
Right. They have annual ceremonies to remember the sacrifice they made before any of the people who are attending those ceremonies are alive. And if more people had said, yeah, I'll go, right. Like the bell's ringing for me.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
James Stout
I'm not going to stand for a world where this happens. We're going to fight for one where it doesn't. Then we might not have had the Holocaust.
Margaret Killjoy
Right.
James Stout
We might not have had the Second World War. We might not have had Stalingrad.
Margaret Killjoy
And also all the people who fought Stalingrad are the reason it didn't get worse.
James Stout
Yeah. Yeah.
Raymond
Right.
Margaret Killjoy
World War II could have been worse.
James Stout
Yeah, yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
It would have been worse if people hadn't been fought.
James Stout
Yeah. Right.
Raymond
Yeah.
James Stout
We had Stalingrad. So the Holocaust, wars and more so that Western Europe doesn't speak German. Right. Every single one of those people who stood up to stop that probably wish that they'd stood up earlier. And every single one of those people who stood up earlier probably wish that More people that join them. I think about that a lot, Raymond. It's not news to anyone who listened to this that I wrote my PhD on the Spanish Civil War and think about it every day.
Margaret Killjoy
If you wanted the non dramatic version of all this, you're listening to the Wrongdo podcast. Yes.
James Stout
But I think a lot about what we should learn from that. I translated a piece for zine, Strangers in the Tangled Wilderness. Good Gene.
Margaret Killjoy
It's a publishing collective that I work.
James Stout
With and I've translated a piece by a Belgian anarchist who's referred to as a constellation of acronyms. Right. But Charles Riddle was his birth name. Louis Mercier Vega was his name he lived with for most of his life. And he wrote this piece called Refuting the Legend, where he talks about what he feels that he owes the people who died. And I think about that a lot. The thing that he comes up with is that he owes the people who die the truth so that we can learn from it and do better. And he shouldn't just make them into heroes, he should make them into real people with flaws so that people can understand their flaws and they can know what we can do better. I think about that a lot. Right. So many people have gone before us. So many brave people have gone before us. And we owe it to them to learn from it.
Margaret Killjoy
Right.
James Stout
And I think we have. I was thinking about this when that older lady said to us, oh, my father in the Second World War. And I was thinking about it again when I saw the poem today. We have to learn from that experience. Right. And you have to stop it now, not when it comes for you.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah, yeah. And the fact that we talked to multiple people who, some of their families had survived the Holocaust.
James Stout
Yeah. The reason they were in America in many cases was because their grandparents had come here to flee the Holocaust, who.
Margaret Killjoy
Were making comparisons to that. And you're like, they're not doing that lightly. And I feel like almost, you know, when we talk about this sort of grandiose things, I'm like. I almost feel like. I'm like, ah, we're talking about people with whistles. We're like, yeah, but we're not. I mean, we are. We're talking about people with whistles.
Raymond
Yeah.
James Stout
Let's hope it stops at whistles.
Margaret Killjoy
Right. And that is what is effective right now. And it like is, you know, it's spreading something and it, it's going to be so interesting to see what comes of this. Everything will be changing. You know, there's no reason to specifically set up everything that you all do in whatever city or town you live in exactly the same as they do it here. But there's, like, so many things to learn from them. And more than anything else, the thing to learn from them is, like, you just show up.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
It's not that every single person in the city has quit their job to do this full time.
Raymond
Right.
Margaret Killjoy
Obviously, economies don't function like that, but you don't have to quit your job to walk outside your house when you hear someone yell, help. Which is what is happening with whistles and honking.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
Right. And just spreading a culture of we take care of each other and neighborliness.
Raymond
Right.
Margaret Killjoy
And that is, like, weirdly, fundamentally, it is an American cultural idea. We're just bad at it. We've kind of forgotten a lot of it.
Raymond
Yeah. Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
You know, it's like, because obviously, isolation is a big part of American individualism. Is a big part of it. But, like, everyone's a little bit happy when they get to, like, oh, you need a. You need a lawnmower.
Raymond
Oh, yeah, When I get to fix my neighbor's truck.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
Raymond
Love that.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
Raymond
Get up and give someone a chainsaw.
Margaret Killjoy
And one of the things that we. To maybe kind of end on and the thing that I want to end on, you know, we were asking people, like, what they wish other people knew, what other people could know. And there's a couple things that people mentioned, and we'll write more about this and podcast more about this. But one of the things that people mentioned is they wish they had started earlier about knowing their neighbors. Obviously, it wasn't too late. It's the whole, like, with any kind of preparedness. Right.
Raymond
You're like, you wish you started.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah. But, you know, now is the best. You know, yesterday is the best time, and today is the next best time. Right. And, like, just literally knowing them, not necessarily becoming their friends. Like, a lot of people are like, no, I wasn't friends with them. I just sort of knew them.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
You know, and then also one of the other things that people. Just as another thing people mentioned that they wanted people to know is that when you build these networks, you need to build autonomy into them at every level.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
You need to build the idea that the person who is following ICE is at the end of the day, in charge of how they do that.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
Like, even if, you know. You know, people are like, oh, ICE is over here. You can't say, everyone go do this. Someone can suggest that. But having built autonomy into these networks makes them so much stronger. And in an Interesting way. Partly because it makes them less predictable to ice.
Raymond
Right. Because you never know what someone's going to. What they're comfortable when they're not comfortable with.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah. So that is basically a diversity of tactics makes movements strong. If they don't know how we are going to behave, they can't. And not just like, if everyone's rowdy. No.
Raymond
If people are going to be rowdy.
Margaret Killjoy
Combination. And when the rowdy and non rowdy support people, they support each other. Anyway, those are the kind of last thoughts I have before I actually sit down and look at all my notes and write something real.
Raymond
Yeah. I think for me, it's. Everyone here said that. Like, it was funny when people were like. We were like, how do you start organizing? They were like, you know, last July we had a block party and a potluck. Yeah. And it just seemed to be just a thing until it became the foundation of this thing that exists now. Right.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
Raymond
If there's one thing you can do, it won't cost you any money, it will take you a little bit of time, and it will probably make your life better. It is go out on your block and meet your neighbors. And I know that can be hard for people.
James Stout
Yeah.
Raymond
I know it can be scary.
Margaret Killjoy
But we're talking like trans motherfuckers who are doing this too.
Raymond
Yeah, yeah. It's people who. Who have more at stake than I do. Right.
James Stout
Like, I'm.
Raymond
I'm. I'm a cisgender white man. For people listening, the. The best thing you can do is start to form community. And it could be in so many ways. One thing that, like, I really like to do is, like, I have, throughout my life, developed certain skills and certain hobbies, and I love to share those with people. You know, if there is someone in my neighborhood, they got a bike outside, they're trying to fix a puncher, I'm gonna go help them because I've done that 10,000 times. Right. Whatever it is, that is your thing that you like to talk about, that you're good at, that you know about. Think of a way you can share that with people. Maybe you like to bake, maybe you like to knit.
Margaret Killjoy
Whatever.
James Stout
It.
Raymond
It doesn't matter. It doesn't.
Margaret Killjoy
Oh, there's people with, like, free hats and scarves at these things.
Raymond
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You could just be the person who knits the scarves. Is that your way to contribute? If that's your way to meet your neighbors. Right. Put on a knitting circle, to put on a baking thing. I like to Grow plants. So I'm always growing plants and I'm stoked when my neighbors stop by and say, hey, I really like your basil plant. And I want to make.
Margaret Killjoy
Which is how they pronounce it when they say.
Raymond
Yes, they do. Yeah. When they say to me. Because otherwise I look at them and say, get out of my home, you.
James Stout
Know, and they want. If they want to make something, I give them some. Right. Or if they say, hey, I just need a couple of tomatoes. And I notice, of course I'm going to give them. Right. Like it's whatever that is. Your neighbor's away for a couple of weeks. Hey, do you want me to look after the house? Your car won't start. Let me jump it. Right. I have one of those little jumper packs I love to use. A little jumper pack.
Margaret Killjoy
Oh, yeah. If you have a tool and someone needs the tool, having a multi tool on you is the best way to feel good all the time. Because someone's like, oh, I wish I had a rent or not. You know, I wish I had.
James Stout
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And there you go, like Superman.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
James Stout
Do those things. Now, I know we have. Margaret and I both harp on about this, but like, this is how you build a better world. It starts on your block. It starts by building a better neighborhood, building a better street, building a better apartment complex. If an apartment complex. Right. Could be hard to see people in apartment complexes because people sort of get in the lift and put the. Look at the floor. Yeah. Put a little sign up. Just be like, hey, we're going to have a potluck. Hey, the, the little bit in between the pavement and the roads kind of fucked up. Anyone else want to help me put some plants in it this springtime, you know?
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
James Stout
Whatever it is, that is your thing, start using that to build community because it's community that's going to get you through this.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah. And it's like, you know, I don't always like talking to people, but I just, when I'm in a new place, I'm just like, hey, I just moved here. Nice to meet you. I'm so and so do you need my phone number? And I can do the kind of like, you know, I want you to my phone number because I want you to call me instead of the cops if I'm being too loud. Right. But like you're going to make a little bit of a faux pas in certain communities by being like, hey, we should know each other.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
But usually just a hey, we should know each other isn't actually offending as many people as you think.
James Stout
Yeah. Like, I know a lot of people don't live in cities too. Or some people are like, I grew up very, very rural.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah.
James Stout
But actually, like, we had to know each other because, like, there wasn't really anyone else you could go to.
Margaret Killjoy
Oh, yeah. In my mind, I'm like, When I live rural and I'm like, that's how you have to know people. Like.
James Stout
Yeah. Like, I remember someone's horse fell in. Wealthier people had a swimming pool. Like, yeah. I ain't lifting the horse out by myself.
Margaret Killjoy
Oh, yeah. My neighbors keeps walking onto my property.
James Stout
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
It's not as big of a deal as the horse falling in, but just constantly, my neighbor is like, my pig got out again.
Raymond
Yeah. Like. Like, we there. There are a million reasons why in rural areas. I'd hope you. You would know people anyway. But again, like, hey, I'm so and so. I just moved here. I just wanted to say hi. Maybe you bake something, whatever. Take something over. Most people aren't going to be mad at you.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah. Well, that's kind of our preliminary stuff, and we're going to be doing so much more with it, but we just kind of wanted to get some ideas out while we were both in the same place in this shockingly beautiful city.
Raymond
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
Around people who are so fucking inspiring. Like.
Raymond
Yeah, yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
Just everyone we talk to is so inspiring. And even if the, like, the tragedy of it, you know, I. I feel so weird being like, here's the hopeful stuff. When I'm like, we're just describing a horrible land of kidnappers. Weird.
Raymond
Like.
Margaret Killjoy
Like, it's just like, literally, kidnappers have descended upon the city and are like, kidnap people.
Raymond
When you're like. That will fund the kidnappings. Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
For cool people did cool stuff. That's the core idea of the show, is that when people, you know, it's the intro. It's when people are trying to do bad things, there's people trying to do good things. And so that's why taking a break from history content talking about something that's just fucking happening right now, it is cool people doing cool stuff up here. Or maybe more than cool because it's freezing.
Raymond
Yeah. Freezing People doing cool stuff.
James Stout
Yeah.
Margaret Killjoy
Feel free to workshop at home. A better way to do it. Yeah.
Raymond
I don't know. I'm coming back from a place more hopeful than I left. I know that's my thing that I do. But I really believe that in the darkest times, we can build beautiful things. And I don't believe that any Less after being here.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah, that's a great thing about being a goth beauty in the dark stuff. That's like fucking. Anyway, we will talk to you all for me next week and for James.
Raymond
Who knows, probably freaking tomorrow, couple of days.
Margaret Killjoy
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Thought my job was hard. Anyway, yeah, good luck with everyone and take care of your neighbors. And fuck ice. Yeah, Thanks, everyone, for listening to all of this. And if at the end of this, you're thinking that you would like to help some of the people who are on the ground, we asked people that we trusted on the ground to provide us with links to different fundraisers. And basically, you know, I never share a fundraiser unless I can support it with my whole heart and I would support it with my own wallet. The links themselves are going to be in the show notes, but there's a couple different ones. There's Rent support for Neighbors in Phillips, which is a neighborhood Rent support for Neighbors in Central Rent support for Neighbors in Powderhorn, Supplies for political art making, protective gear for legal observers, diapers and menstrual supplies is another fundraiser. Abolish Ice shirts, including the shirt I am wearing right now as I record this North Star Frontline Street Medics, and the Twin Cities Sweet Bulletariat Bail Fund. And there'll be links to both a Venmo and a cash app for that one. Anyway, thank you, everyone, and take care of each other. Cool People who did Cool Stuff is.
James Stout
A production of Cool Zone Media.
Margaret Killjoy
For more podcasts from Cool Zone Media, Visit our website, coolzonemedia.com or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.
It Could Happen Here – Episode: “Everyone vs ICE: On the Ground In Minnesota, Pt. 2”
Date: January 28, 2026 | Hosts: Margaret Killjoy & James Stout
This episode provides a vivid, on-the-ground chronicle of Minneapolis’ community resistance against recent high-profile Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions. Hosts James Stout and Margaret Killjoy recount their experiences during a city-wide general strike, rapid response mutual aid, direct actions at ICE facilities, and moments of solidarity in subzero weather. The episode balances the hope and togetherness found in grassroots action with the somber reality of violence and tragedy in the ongoing struggle against ICE.
On Hope Amid Loss:
“We remain so proud of everything they've done. But...we don't want anything in the hopeful tone here to suggest that we don't grieve [Alex Pretty’s] passing.” – James Stout [01:12]
On Mutual Aid:
“We don't want your money, we just want your solidarity.” – James Stout [05:00]
On Community Rapid Response:
“There’s more of us than there are of them.” – AIM member [06:22, paraphrased]
On Facing ICE in the Extreme Cold:
“Any exposed skin is danger.” – Margaret Killjoy [12:14]
“This is the coldest day here since 2018 or 2019.” – Margaret Killjoy [10:58]
On The Culture of Togetherness:
“It felt like...everyone just having a dinner together after a long mutual aid project.” – Margaret Killjoy [31:24]
On Lasting, Layered Organizing:
“You need to build autonomy into these networks at every level...diversity of tactics makes movements strong.” – Margaret Killjoy [54:57]
On Solidarity and Safety:
“Solidarity is, in a sense, in your own self-interest. We want to live in a world where people take care of each other...” – Raymond [47:47]
On Taking the First Step:
“It won't cost you any money; it will take you a little bit of time, and it will probably make your life better. It is: go out on your block and meet your neighbors.” – Raymond [56:22]
On the Power of Collective Action:
“If it stops here, if you can't grab migrants off the street here, then you can't grab dissidents off the street somewhere else.” – Margaret Killjoy [44:47]
| Timestamp | Topic/Segment | |------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:12 | Acknowledgment of recent tragedy, clarifying the episode’s hopeful tone | | 03:25 | General strike in Minneapolis; businesses participating in solidarity | | 06:15 | Mutual aid at Powwow Grounds; AIM involvement; rapid response networks | | 08:51 | ICE’s Whipple Building as a site of state violence and daily resistance | | 11:22 | Shield wall direct action; facing police in subzero conditions | | 13:54 | Protesters providing community care (hand warmers, food, warming vehicles) | | 14:02 | Discourse on nonviolence/violence among activists – minimal division | | 16:20 | Shift from protester shield wall to police lines and threats of force | | 23:13 | Kettled by police, uncertain escape, rescued by light rail | | 24:22 | ICE vehicle crashes into power pole; emblem of recklessness | | 27:08 | Massive downtown march; community care in action | | 32:27 | Sustainable organizing and mutual support across all layers | | 36:09 | Wealthy community members providing rent and caregiving support | | 44:56 | ICE building graffiti: “First they came for the undocumented...” | | 53:08 | Practical advice: knowing your neighbors, building local networks | | 56:22 | “Best thing you can do is start to form community” – actionable steps | | 60:37 | Closing reflections; links to vetted Minneapolis mutual aid and bailout funds|
This episode vividly illustrates how Minneapolis residents, drawing from both historical and present-day knowledge, have created resilient, mutually supportive networks in the face of state violence. Harsh winter conditions underscore the challenges and the profound warmth of community solidarity. While acknowledging real risks and losses, James and Margaret repeatedly highlight that the heart of resistance is ordinary people showing up for each other—be it through direct action, passing out hand warmers, or simply meeting your neighbors.
Actionable Takeaway:
Organizing starts with the simplest step: know your neighbors, show up, and support one another—because solidarity, not charity, is what ultimately keeps communities safe and strong.
Support Links:
(See episode notes for direct mutual aid, bail funds, and support resources in the Twin Cities.)
“What makes it safe is that everyone is doing it... and what people asked us to do was share this, because they are safer if you do it, too.” – Raymond [44:08]