There has never been a MLK Day like this one.  The people of Minnesota are living and breathing Dr. King’s teachings every day in their historic confrontation with ICE and their boss, Trump. 

My social media feeds are lit with testimony by hundreds of Minnesotans about what they have been experiencing since Trump decided to try to force the state to submit to his iron fist. 

Once after another, people describe their decision to take to the streets to oppose the fascist thugs who are kidnapping neighbors, friends and family members from their homes and cars and schools and courthouses across the Minneapolis region, and of course, murdering  Renee Good in cold blood. They all speak of how frightened they are, how desperate they feel facing off against white supremacists deputized as Federal agents armed to the teeth and promised total legal immunity by the President. But even more, they all speak about their moral obligation to protect their neighbors, and their even larger obligation to save democracy. Many of them believe that if Minnesota falls, so does the country. 

All in all, Minnesotans—PTA moms, car dealers, high schoolers, Native Americans, Somalis, Mexicans, whites—are experiencing the profound moral tension of which MLK always spoke. They understand the inhumanity of ICE and Trump and have decided that they must stand up for humanity. 

And even more: Trump picked a fight with people who had not long ago come through the crucible of the George Floyd murder and had learned a lot about organizing and protests. These lessons, apparently learned even by the Minneapolis Police Department, have made it possible for the protests to remain peaceful despite ICE’s best efforts to provoke violence. 

What we are seeing in Minneapolis is far more than protests: we are seeing the activation of a living, breathing beloved community. The social media posts from Minneapolis say one more thing: in the midst of the horror that they are experiencing, they have found a great love, one that unites Minnesotans. 

Trump and his minions have no way of understanding the moral force that has been unleashed in Minnesota.  But they must already be sensing the political consequences of their invasion, which is that everyone in the U.S. who has any moral compass has to be moved by the leadership we are witnessing from the people of Minnesota.