It was Soren Stevenson’s third day in office as a Minneapolis city council member on Wednesday when Renee Nicole Good was shot and killed by ICE on the edge of his district.
On Thursday, he sat in an eerily quiet food court at lunchtime in Plaza Mexico, a mall of mostly Latino businesses in south Minneapolis, eating carne asada and talking about how his neighborhood was once again the center of a national firestorm.
“We’re sitting here in Plaza Mexico, a place that is bustling at lunchtime, and it is virtually empty,” he said. “Half the stores are closed, and that’s because people are afraid to go outside. And so if we want to talk about what’s making a good city, what’s making a good economy, what’s making us feel safe, it’s not this.”
His district includes part of George Floyd Square, the area where a police officer killed Floyd in 2020 and ignited racial justice protests locally and nationwide.
Stevenson, whose career has been in housing policy, participated in the protests. He was shot in the face with a rubber bullet by a police officer, and he lost his left eye and much of his sense of smell. He filed a civil lawsuit against the city, which was settled for $2.4m.
“It’s been dredging up a lot of feelings from 2020,” Stevenson said. “Last night, I’m sure a lot of my neighbors were feeling the exact same way, hearing the helicopters go over the site. It’s really reminiscent in a scary way.”
Why here? It’s a question many in Minnesota have been asking – why this intense focus from the Trump administration on the state, on the city? And for Stevenson and his district, “they’re asking why Minneapolis, but they’re really asking: why the same exact neighborhood?”
He can feel the parallels to 2020 in his body – the nerves, the trepidation – but he and his neighbors are also feeling activated. The mutual aid networks are ignited, and people are giving rides to neighbors’ kids or delivering groceries to people who may be afraid to leave their homes because of heightened immigration enforcement. That sense of community is “our immune system”, Stevenson said.
As a new member of the city council, he is resolved to figure out how the city can stand up to ICE. He’s been receiving emails and calls from his constituents telling him they want ICE gone, echoing comments made by Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey that ICE should “get the fuck out of Minneapolis”.
Trump’s Federal Bureau of Investigation has taken over the investigation into Good’s death. State and local authorities have called for the FBI to give them access to case files so they can investigate.
Stevenson wants Minneapolis and state authorities involved in investigating the killing – it happened here, to a Minneapolis resident, and locals have more stake in the outcome than federal authorities, many of whom have already said they believe the agent was acting justifiably in self-defense. Beyond that, he’s interested in exploring ways to “make [ICE’s] job harder” and figure out how the city can get ICE to leave as soon as possible.
The phones are still not fully set up in his office. He’s not sure what his exact role is in all of this, though he knows it’s to listen to his community and respond to what they need. Many of the people reaching out to his office want he and other city leaders to do something – but what that something is isn’t well-defined. It’s not immediately clear how to fight a federal government bent on going after your city.
Walking down from Plaza Mexico to the site of the shooting a few blocks away, Stevenson talked about the reality Minneapolis residents are dealing with: ICE agents roaming the city, the potential of national guard troops being dispatched in response, media swarming.
On Thursday, the shooting site had been blocked off by people in the neighborhood, who put up wood, old Christmas trees and garbage cans as makeshift walls. Some were passing out food. Fires were going to warm people up from the cold temperatures. A vigil for Good with flowers, candles and notes lined the sidewalk. It brought to mind George Floyd Square, which after his death became an occupied protest site and memorial. (By Friday, the barricades at the shooting site had been removed.)
Stevenson moved through the area, taking in his surroundings. The night before, a massive vigil for Good drew thousands to the street to mourn together and protest ICE’s presence in the city. He knows that people are feeling the 2020 parallels, but that they know how to help each other get through it because they’ve done it before.
At the site, he said he was feeling a lot of things. But mostly, he felt that the community response was a sign that people wouldn’t give up the fight.
“We’re not gonna go quietly,” he said. “I like that about us.”
