What is the proper response to violence that is happening before us?
First published in The Study of Light, on Substack, on January 20, 2026
Imagine you and I have been out for a beer, and afterwards we’re walking home. We come across Brock Turner, doing that thing that he did. Everyone I know and care about will agree with me: We would pull very-drunk Turner off his unconscious victim. We’d stop the rape. An able-bodied person could do this alone; two or more could do it easily. I like to think that we’d pin him down while waiting for law enforcement. We would resist the temptation to beat the shit out of him.
Now imagine we’ve come upon the Rodney King beating, or the George Floyd murder. Where’s our power now? Two of us against four of them. Who do we call for help? The police?! You can’t call “law enforcement” when “law enforcement” is committing the crime. Probably the best we could do is record the crime on a video recorder, as happened in 1991, or our ubiquitous phones, as we do now. The recording will or will not help in prosecuting the crime, as these crimes RARELY result in convictions.
Nye's Polonaise (PC to Eric Mueller), the old Met Stadium (photographer unknown), and beloved Dayton's downtown (Photographer unknown).
I want to insert here that ICE and police are not the same thing, and they don’t always work in tandem. Some police are protecting their communities against ICE violence. We’d all like to see more of that.
David McGee, a well known and greatly appreciated street musician and orchestra member (Minnesota Orchestra, among others), on the Nicollet Mall, in 1990.
People of Minneapolis. The second photo was taken on Super Bowl Sunday in 1992. One person spoke out about the rights of native people/indigenous, the other just needed tickets.
A promo shot for the Marching Guitar Orchestra, an annual event of the West Bank School of Music.
In Minneapolis, we know that federal agents — ICE and Border Patrol — are committing crimes. They are committing crimes out in the open, daring people to oppose them. They target persons whose only possible giveaway is the color of their skin. And then they attack those who stand up for them. The president is picking a fight, and looking for a justification to send in the military?
What is the proper response to a crime that is happening before us?
Protesters, and anti-ICE activists are standing up to violent crime, wielding words, snowballs, cellphones, and moral authority. To stand up to these criminals is patriotism realized. It’s humanism and Christianity — any religion, really, at its best. If we believe in democracy and the rule of law, if we love the god that loves us, we must defend the un/documented, the child, the infirm, the elder, the poor, the HUMAN, even our enemies. That doesn’t mean we can’t lock up criminals, or deport them. It means we can’t just shoot them. We have a process for the removal of criminals, and when it is done correctly, it is humane.
TE AMO
If you should be walking down the street today, and you happen upon a scene in which twelve large men in combat gear are spraying pepper spray in the face of an old man, or punching a high school student, what will you do? If you need to run away because it’s frightening and it’s escalating, I get it. But please, tell the truth about what you saw.
If you see one of the “officers” shoot a woman in the face, what will you say?
Art by Jenny Holzer, at the Walker Sculpture Garden. Holzer is known for leaving odd, provocative statements in unexpected places, giving (some of) us pause to reflect.