CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

Letters From the American Empire

Amidst the ICE terror that descended on Minnesota this past winter, tens of thousands of everyday people packed into community centers for legal observer trainings. Trainers handed out photocopied know-your-rights zines and bright, 3D-printed whistles. Yet appeals to procedural law and the Constitution offered zero physical defense against state-sanctioned abductions. ICE agents and their army of prosecutors couldn’t have cared less about constitutional rights. The only force that offered a real challenge to the machinery of terror was raw, organized collective power.

“Stay loud, form a crowd,” ran the headline of one popular zine. The tactic was deceptively simple: pierce the air with your whistle and force a confrontation. The deafening, high-pitched shriek was meant to warn residents and draw crowds large enough to halt a raid dead in its tracks. On social media feeds, videos showed everyday people swarming in real time—clashes that frequently escalated into pepper spray, tear gas, police batons, and, in two instances, fatal gunfire.

And for all its viral momentum, the so-called migra whistle possessed no magical powers. By itself, the whistle was no armor against an occupying force of federal agents. A close comrade recounted to me the paralyzing shame of standing on his porch while his neighbor was ripped from his home. He blew his whistle until his lungs burned, only to be met by a dizzying wave of panic and helpless tears. He was forced to witness a human being dragged through the snow, torn from his family, and thrown into the back of an unmarked SUV. Behind the genuine heroism of neighbors........

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