Two Eastern Shore ministers—each sharing their experience as a “Faithful Witness at the Minneapolis Truth & Freedom Strike and Protest”—opened their Sunday afternoon presentation with a call and response: “What does democracy look like?” followed by, “This is what democracy looks like!”
The Reverends Chris Antal and Kathryn Adams of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship at Easton and the Unitarian Universalists of the Chester River, respectively, spoke on Sunday, Feb. 1, at the UUFE sanctuary about the Jan. 23 “Day of Truth and Freedom” nonviolent action in solidarity with residents of the Twin Cities metropolitan area. By the thousands, Minnesotans are protesting what they describe as a hostile occupation marked by unwarranted arrests and, in several cases captured on cellphone video, violent assaults—including at gunpoint—resulting twice in death by masked ICE or other federal agents.
Antal and Adams joined thousands of clergy from across the country at the urging of the Unitarian Universalist Association, along with other faith organizations, labor unionists, community leaders, and people of conscience.
They arrived two days early and found lodging in one of the hotels considered “safe” for protesters. Many other hotels were filled with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents or supporters of ICE. On their second day, Thursday, they attended training at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis, which declares on its website that it “stands with our immigrant neighbors.” During the training, participants discussed the level of risk each was willing—or unwilling—to take regarding arrest, injury, or worse. “There was no shaming of people who chose lower levels of risk,” Antal said.
Taking the light rail to Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport, Antal marched with picketers along the sidewalks after being warned that the airport is federal property, which could expose anyone arrested to federal charges. When a group of mostly local residents called out for clergy, Antal joined them in the street before being warned that police were approaching. He calmly returned to the sidewalk and watched as those blocking a lane of traffic were “gently, almost apologetically arrested” by unmasked local police, rather than federal agents. He recalled seeing an elderly woman begging an officer to “cuff me, cuff me” with plastic restraints so she could be escorted, booked, and released along with the others.
Antal opened Sunday’s “Faithful Witness” program in Easton by blowing a whistle like those used to summon help or warn neighbors of ICE movements. Its shrill sound echoed what he described as happening in Minneapolis: “We came with whistles. They came with guns,” words spoken by Rebecca Good, the widow of Renee Good, shortly after her spouse was shot to death by an ICE agent identified as Jonathan Ross. Whistles can also be heard before and after the fatal shooting of intensive care nurse Alex Pretti, reportedly by Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez. The border those agents were assigned to patrol lies roughly 950 miles south.
Another item Antal brought back was a blue “North Star Rising” placard bearing a white clenched fist and the words “For Good,” evoking the name of the first person killed by gunfire after warning neighbors about ICE. Renee Good’s last intelligible words, captured on video as an ICE agent approached her car, were: “I’m not mad at you.”
At the Portland Avenue site where Good was killed, Antal encountered a retired man—“sort of an angel,” as he described himself—who appeared to be tending the spontaneous memorial, cleaning it and relighting candles. Antal left small flags and stones painted by UUFE members. Walking farther along Portland Avenue, he visited George Floyd Square and Say Their Names Cemetery, memorials honoring Black people killed by police, including Floyd, murdered in 2020 by former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin.
Adams, who stayed an extra day, visited the site of Pretti’s shooting. That Sunday morning, a makeshift memorial expanded rapidly after the area—cordoned off much of the previous day—was reopened. The same day, the “Truth and Freedom” march drew an estimated 20,000 peaceful protesters to Commons Park. The hours-long procession took place in temperatures ranging from 12 to 15 degrees below zero.
While Antal traveled mostly on foot or by public transit, Adams, who missed getting a bus pass upon arrival, drove herself around the city. She noticed ICE or Border Patrol vehicles slowing nearby. “This very much felt like occupied territory,” she said.
Along a stretch of Portland Avenue in a largely Hispanic neighborhood, many businesses were closed. Others—mostly food markets—displayed signs reading “No ICE Agents Allowed.” White neighbors and out-of-state visitors shopped on behalf of residents too intimidated to leave their homes, delivering food and basic supplies.
“We were honored and proud to be supportive,” Adams said. Antal recalled a woman who “cried when we told her we had come all the way from Maryland” to witness what residents were experiencing.
On his way home, Antal took a 20-minute Uber ride to the airport. When he explained to the driver, a West African asylum seeker, why he had come to Minneapolis, the driver described an ICE agent banging on his car window, demanding entry so he could arrest a terrified Latina passenger in the back seat. Antal quoted the driver as saying, “If you’re after this woman, you’re going to have to kill me first.”
Thanks to that intervention, Antal said, “she made it to work safely.”
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