NORTHAMPTON — As tensions continue to escalate in Minneapolis, more than 200 local protesters lined King Street downtown during lunchtime Friday to participate in a National Day of Solidarity with Minnesota, where the death of Renee Good and the roundup of undocumented immigrants prompted Minnesotans to boycott work, school and shopping for the day.
“We’re here in solidarity with everyone in Minnesota to tell them we stand with them and want ICE out of our communities,” said John Majercak, an organizer with Indivisible Northampton-Swing Left Western Massachusetts.
In Minnesota, a vast network of labor unions, progressive organizations and clergy urged people throughout the state to stay away from work, school and stores Friday to protest immigration enforcement operations, even as subzero temperatures beset the state.
Minneapolis and St. Paul have seen daily protests since Renee Good was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer on Jan. 7. Federal law enforcement officers have surged in the Twin Cities since then and have repeatedly squared off with community members and activists who track their movements.
Organizers said Friday morning that more than 700 businesses across the state have closed for the day in solidarity with the protest — from a bookstore in tiny Grand Marais near the Canadian border to the landmark Guthrie Theater in downtown Minneapolis.
Closer to home in Northampton, the King Street standout was organized in less than 24 hours, and Majercak said the turnout speaks to how “people have had it with ICE.”
Gathered on the sidewalks were people from a variety of grassroots groups, including faith organizations and veterans. The protesters were mostly supported by drivers honking their horns and music by the Expandable Brass Band, making King Street a loud place to be from about noon until 1 p.m.
While the crowds were there to speak out against ICE, the gathering was equally about boycotting Citizens Bank, which is located on King Street in the Stop & Shop plaza. Since 2019, nine prominent Wall Street banks have pledged to stop financing CoreCivic and GEO Group, two of the primary companies running ICE detention facilities. Citizens Bank has not only maintained their ties with ICE, but increased investments in them.
“At the same time, it’s not just the federal government that needs to stop doing this. There’s a lot of corporations that are profiting off of what ICE is doing, and Citizens Bank is one of them,” said Majercak. “These companies are getting huge contracts with the federal government to build these prisons that are essentially prison camps, and people are dying in them.”
Another series of protests against Citizens Bank are planned for Saturday when nearly two dozen rallies will be held outside of branches in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, Rhode Island and New York. A dozen standouts will be held in Massachusetts, including in Northampton, Hadley, Holyoke and Springfield.
In the crowd of 200 was Tamar Smith, a 20-year Citizens Bank customer. But not anymore. When she became aware in December about the bank’s investments, she started the process of transferring her money to the UMassFive Credit Union.
“When I learned I thought, ‘well, I have an account there — that’s something I can do,'” she said, noting her stance that ICE is a secret police organization that has unlimited power to do as it wants. “I am in the process of transferring the last of the money to UMassFive. But all my bills are paid out of Citizens Bank so it was extremely complicated. I probably had 12 bills that I was paying out of there automatically.”
Richard Brunswick, a Northampton resident of more than 40 years, said he came out because ICE is a “gestapo in the making.”
“People need to stand up in support of humane immigration and in opposition to the creation of a secret police state,” he said. “Funding for ICE and Homeland Security has increased by billions of dollars. These departments didn’t really exist 15, 20 years ago and they are now doing searches without warrants. They’re magistrate warrants which aren’t really warrants, and they’re clearly physically abusing people and using excessive force.”
Proudly holding an American flag, Barry Bouthilette of Florence echoed other voices, calling ICE a secret police network that could descend into the area at any time. He added that he will not let conservatives gaslight the country into thinking only Trump supporters represent patriotic Americans.
“I’ve got the flag because I think the opposition doesn’t have a monopoly on patriotism,” he said. “I think we’re more patriotic than they are, in many ways, by trying to preserve the foundations of our country. They’re trying to tear it apart.”
Standing next to Bouthilette on the sidewalk, Rev. Christine Elliot of Northampton held a sign calling on people to boycott Citizens Bank.
“I’m here because I think that ICE is overstepping. I think it’s cruel, I think it’s racist and it’s spreading,” she said.
Barbara Schneider of Greenfield made her way into the city to make a stand.
“I have a friend from Minnesota so it felt close to home. When reports showed ICE was in Portland Maine, it was even closer,” she said. “And so I think everyone should be paying attention.”
Harrison Gottschalk, 13, made his own sign using a sharpie and cardboard that said, “F*** ICE we’re all immigrants.”
“None of us really came here legally,” he said. “Nobody should get different treatment because of the color of their skin.”
Saturday’s Citizens Bank protests will take place between 11 a.m. and noon at the following locations: Northampton, 228 King St., sponsored by Indivisible Northampton Swing Left Western Mass.; Hadley, 440 Russell St., sponsored by Indivisible West Quabbin; and a silent vigil in Holyoke, 1575 Northampton St., sponsored by the Western Massachusetts Immigrant Legislative Network (WMILAN) and the Jewish Activists for Immigration Justice (JAIJ).
Reporting from Associated Press was used in the article.