UNLOCKED: The Revolution Begins in Minneapolis
The snowball heard round the world
This essay was originally published behind a paywall on December 19, 2025. I did not expect it to become so relevant so soon. In light of today’s events, I am reposting without the paywall. -Evan (1/7/26)
On May 28, 2020, Minneapolis’ 3rd police precinct burned to the ground.
Peaceful protestors outraged by the systemic racism and unchecked police violence exemplified by the eight minute and forty-six second video of George Floyd’s murder found themselves under attack from the precinct, burning it down in self-defense.
Local and national media spun this as an unprovoked attack, further legitimizing state violence against those marching across the nation for Black lives and police accountability. Every righteous act of protest and self-defense would subsequently be mischaracterized, every chant and policy demand misconstrued, every act of police brutality and murder retroactively justified.
The nation moved on. Small symbolic wins held cover for an expansion of militarized policing and racism across American institutional life. A bloodthirsty Kyle Rittenhouse became a right-wing cause célèbre.
The narrative machine successfully stunted that national call for safety and solidarity, but the true reality of 2020 remains unchanged. The facts surrounding a police precinct engulfed in flames must be known, and the emotional response to that event must be understood. One need not possess a full grasp of the rotten history of American policing to feel a cathartic release when a stronghold of that corrupt institution burns down. Even if they have not been direct recipients, most people have some awareness of systemic racism and its application with state-sanctioned deadly force. We’ve all been on the wrong end of – or at the very least, are aware of – police abuse of power. If these were not common sense beliefs, and if protecting human life were not a natural instinct, the corporate media and political class would not have dialed the propaganda all the way up to stifle that summer’s popular outrage.
Catharsis is a proper response, but it is only the beginning. An act of such profound communal self-defense inspires agency. It reminds us that we can stand up for ourselves. Even when they have guns and tanks and bombs, the people can and will stand up for each other. The police aren’t always wrong, but they’re not always right. Collective defense in those moments is our right and it is our responsibility.
All across America, that responsibility to protect each other is on full display. A reign of terror led by ICE and other DHS goons has triggered an ad hoc national defense system at the grassroots level. And in Trump’s upside down world, the very police forces that have historically menaced black and brown communities may become the X factor in defending them from this federal assault.
Not that the GOP gestapo are only targeting people of color (they’re not) and not that municipal police are leading the grassroots defense (they aren’t). Police follow the orders of power. That is their function. An institution that follows state power can just as easily turn and follow people power. It has happened in other countries around the world, and in historical pockets it has happened here too.
While the country moved on from the police murder of George Floyd (and so many others) and the unrest of 2020, Minnesota processed its grief. Slow Covid-era rebuilding left much of Minneapolis with the enduring scars of that summer’s unrest. The state successfully tried Derek Chauvin in federal court, the first white police officer in Minnesota convicted for the murder of a black person. And law enforcement at all levels interrogated their failures, to prevent a repeat of anything like that disastrous time.
Once considered “the Jim Crow of the North,” it wasn’t a surprise when Minnesota burst open as the epicenter of a racial reckoning. Both shaken and stirred by that moment, five years wiser Minnesota is now poised to emerge as the vanguard of a reckoning against American fascism: local law enforcement resisting the federal chain of command and joining with regular citizens in the common defense. This redemption arc would only follow naturally for officers who signed up with the original desire to protect and serve their communities. Like the protests for George Floyd, such a turning point would quickly proliferate beyond Minnesota’s frozen borders. And the signals are already there.
In his December 6 Substack newsletter, Jack Hopkins assessed a statement by Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara: “If ICE agents use unlawful force in this city, my officers must intervene. And if they don’t, they could lose their jobs.”
“Authoritarian power thrives on silence, wrote Hopkins. “But democracy? Democracy thrives on precedents. Imagine this: Madison, Wisconsin Chief issues the same directive. Portland. New York. Philadelphia. Baltimore. Los Angeles. One by one…city leaders realize: ‘We don’t have to participate in unlawful federal operations. We can set our own limits. We can protect our people.’
And suddenly… ICE isn’t the unstoppable colossus it pretends to be. It’s a federal agency…operating in cities that do NOT…automatically defer to them. This is how democratic muscle gets rebuilt: Not through elections alone… But through institutional courage. City by city. Precinct by precinct. Chief by chief. And history will remember who joined the line…And…who hid under their desk.
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This isn’t about immigration. Not really. It’s about power. Who gets to use it. Who gets to restrain it. Who gets to say ‘No.’ Authoritarianism is a simple formula: Centralize force. Remove oversight. Punish disobedience. Democracy is the opposite: Disperse power. Increase oversight. Reward accountability. When the Minneapolis Police Chief stood up…and said ICE would not be allowed to misuse force in his city… He wasn’t just taking a stand on immigration. He was refusing step one of authoritarianism.”
Like clockwork, ICE responded by doubling down in Minnesota, now expanding its target range to include Somalis and other East African immigrant communities. On December 9, 20-year old Mubashir was illegally arrested while on his lunch break. “I told him, ‘I’m a U.S. citizen, what is going on?’” Mubashir said. “He didn’t seem to care.” According to KSTP News, Mubashir added that the ICE agent never identified himself as such. “I felt like I was getting assaulted, like I was getting kidnapped,” Mubashir said.
At a defiant press conference following his release, Mubashir was joined by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey – and by Chief O’Hara:
While elected officials and uniformed officers show solidarity against ICE illegality, even more striking are the videos of neighbors courageously intervening at the point of conflict. A shocking video from December 15 shows one agent kneeing a pregnant woman into the snowy ground while a group of increasingly frantic community members plea for her safety. When agents begin dragging the woman by her wrist, the crowd starts throwing snowballs.
DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin “alleged that agents attempted to arrest the woman in the video because she ‘rushed an ICE vehicle and attempted to vandalize it’ but that they abandoned the arrest after being swarmed by protesters,” according to FOX News.
Swarmed by protestors. A stunning statement by DHS, and an inspiring moment to witness on video. This level of ICE brutality is not unique to Minnesota, and neither is a swarm of protestors overpowering them and preventing an arrest. Minnesotans may just be the first to do it with snowballs.
Clever ways of stopping ICE could become a point of pride among patriotic neighborhood watch groups across the nation. Maylanders throwing crabs. Nevadans hurling poker chips. Piping hot mashed potatoes from Idahoans. Let’s get creative. If it’s important enough to fit on a vanity license plate, it can be repurposed by a swarm of parochial protestors.
But the people are only one part of the equation. Fighting back against authoritarian overreach will require all of us to get on side: politicians, the media, economic leaders, celebrities, and most certainly cops. No country can withstand an attempt at fascism without them. The cops are a crucial institution in American society – not simply for their firepower, but as a talisman of authority. Their allegiance signals where other powerful people will place theirs – including those in our armed forces.
The day Trump turned everything upside down – January 6 – was a day in which the police saved our democracy. They may save it yet again. A good guy with a gun doesn’t always stop a bad guy with a gun, but it doesn’t hurt to have him on your side. Don’t be surprised if the next shot heard ‘round the world comes from the glock of a Minneapolis patrolman.
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Horseshoe Theory in the Heartland: Middle American Radicals, ‘Horseshoe Theory,’ and the prowess of authentic populism
Discussing Platner, Lamb and Fetterman: a conversation about Jon’s essay “The Lion and the Lamb”
Thank you, Evan.
Fine essay. Valuable insights. Perhaps Minneapolis is the eye of the storm. The relative calm preceding the storm. Don’t need or want to endure any more of this sinister dystopia. End it, and end it now. Fuck the consequence.