Athenians rally in solidarity with Minnesotans

Released by Indivisible GA 10

Athens citizens gathered at the UGA Arch late Friday afternoon to show solidarity with Minneapolis residents’ day-long economic strike to protest the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency’s occupation of their city.

More than 70 people participated in the Athens protest, one of a national wave of local protests supporting Minnesotan’s efforts to drive ICE from their state. The national organization Indivisible asked its members across America to join Minnesota’s “Day of Truth and Freedom” in their own cities.  

“It’s tragic and heartbreaking what’s going on. We need people to stand up and do what’s right, said Naomi, a native of Minnesota now working in Athens, who was at the protest and asked to be identified only by her first name. “I’m very proud of Minnesotans for standing up and taking care of each other.”

Friday’s “Day of Truth and Freedom” in Minneapolis was organized by a coalition of community leaders, faith leaders, local unions and residents, who called foran economic blackout, “no work, no school, no shopping.” The goal of the walkout was to amplify Minnesotans’ demands that ICE leave their state and that the ICE agent who shot and killed Renee Good, a Minneapolis mother of three, be held legally accountable.

Friday’s action, which brought tens of thousands of protestors into the streets of Minnesota in sub-zero temperatures, was endorsed by the Minneapolis City Council. It also was supported by businesses and cultural institutions across the city and around the state, which closed for the day in solidarity with the protestors’ demands.

The Athens rally in support of Minnesota’s strike was organized by IndivisibleGA10, a civic group of residents from across Georgia’s 10^th Congressional District, who work together on issues important to people in the region.

The actions of ICE agents have become increasingly relevant in Athens and surrounding areas with reports that ICE is considering a warehouse in Social Circle, just south of Athens, as a possible detention center for up to 9,000 detainees. City officials of Social Circle, who have not been contacted by ICE about the plan, and many community residents, oppose the proposal for a detention center that would have more than twice as many detainees as the town’s entire population.

Protestors at the Athens rally gathered under a banner that said “Minn. N ICE,”  a play on the reputation of the state’s residents as being “Minnesota Nice.” Two attendees held a Minnesota state flag, while others carried signs saying slogans such as “ICE Out for Good,” and “Stop Ice Terror.”

In addition to an ICE agent’s killing of Good on Jan. 7, news broke Thursday that ICE agents in Minneapolis s had picked up a five-year-old boy and used him as bait to take his father into custody. The boy and his father were subsequently flown to an ICE detention center in Texas.  

Similarly, a two-year old girl and her father were seized by ICE agents in Minneapolis on Friday and flown to a Texas detention center, even after a Judge ordered the immediate release of the toddler to the custody of her mother.

In Athens, cars heading through downtown frequently drowned out the local protestors’ chants with honks of support as they passed by the gathering on Broad Street.

“I am very heartened to see that people across the country are standing with Minnesota to get the word out there that things have to change -- and that we have to take care of each other,” Naomi said.