Madisonians gathered at Christ Presbyterian Street Church to hear from organizers in Minnesota during ICE operations on how to utilize movements for change.
On April 11, “Lessons From Minneapolis” brought out multiple community and labor organizations from both Wisconsin and Minnesota to speak on what can be done here in the state to combat issues like intensified immigration operations. Minnesota, which saw a large-scale, multi-month-long ICE campaign, saw the state strongly organized to combat the operation. Organizers from Minnesota imparted lessons learned — often hard lessons learned — and how organizations in Wisconsin can utilize them.
Synthia Sarver, an educational support specialist with St. Paul Federation of Educators, and Kieran Knuston, president of Communications Workers Local 7250, learned that the people need to come together to combat issues from their time in Minnesota.
“No one is coming to save us, so it’s up to us to organize ourselves and to use our power,” Knuston said. “But we do have power when we use it. Nothing runs without the working class… so if the workers use their power, flex our muscles, we can have a huge impact on our society.”
Meeting people where they’re at and putting away differences to attack the common enemy together is a key lesson Sarver learned. She encourages people to bring what they can and not feel shame if they do not have the same capacity as someone else.
“I don’t do it to be thanked, but people are grateful,” Sarver said. “We have to stand with each other, and they’re coming after the most vulnerable people first.”
Cal, another organizer from Minnesota who requested his full name not be used, notes that some of this is easier for white people. He acknowledges a point of privilege in being more visible than his peers who are persons of color, but utilizing that helps advance causes.
“We recognize that our fates are tied together, and that an attack on one is an attack on all,” Cal said. “One of the [lessons] I hammered on tonight is that defense comes in many layers. Some of it looks a lot more active, and some of it looks a lot more supportive.”
It is important to step up and see themselves as an active participant in movements, Cal said. Showing up matters, and it shines on who to turn to when others need support and do not know where to go.
“It’s really difficult to see your neighbors disappeared over and over again. It’s difficult to drive down the street and see a car with no one in it with a smashed window and still running,” Cal said. “I think that recognizing that we’re in one of those make-or-break movements in history is really important, and we can’t not act.”
(Photo by Omar Waheed)
What Wisconsin’s organizations took from Minnesota
The event was organized by Victoria Guiterrez, a local union nurse who has recently been in the throes of contract disputes.
“I went out on strike in May, and I know that power we have to leverage as workers, whether we’re in a union or not, to fight back against oppression,” Gutierrez said. “The whole thing of nobody is going to save us but us is what we said during our strike.”
Events like these and the community showing up make her hopeful for change. About 50 people were in attendance for both its potluck — which was part of her hope to spark community — and the later discussions. Gutierrez stresses that we need to know our neighbors and abandon individualism for effective movements to push change.
Voces De La Frontera was in attendance at the event. The organization, whose mission is to expand civil and workers’ rights, already has strong efforts in organizing, but felt that conversations are key in how to approach future movements.
“I really appreciated hearing the approach to debates, differences of opinions within labor unions and that approach being bottom up in terms of not really shying away from those differences,” said Christine Neumann-Ortiz, president of Voces De La Frontera.
Voces has a planned general strike for May Day in Wisconsin for “A Day Without Immigrants.” Seeing what happened in Minnesota and how the community came together was inspirational for Neumann-Ortiz and affirms the need for organizations like Voces to continue to organize, she said.
