Support for Minneapolis shown in Melt the ICE fundraiser

A small group gathered on Sunday to raise funds and honour the victims of ICE in Minneapolis.

OPEN: Organization for Peace, Justice and Non-Violence partnered with Creative Uncommons: Artist Cooperative to put on the event which raised funds for the Immigrant Defense Network and SupportMinnesota.com.

T. Sheppard Luangkhot, director of OPEN said the event which featured music, speeches and art, went well.

“It was just great to see people come together and share stories of Minnesota as well as stories of how we’re trying to support as Canadians, as Manitobans,” they said. “We know what it’s like to try to help each other in a small community.”

Sheppard Luangkhot said Steinbach includes people who embrace this cause.

“There’s some pretty amazing people here who really believe in love and peaceful resistance,” they said.

They added that there are things we can do right here at home.

“I think we have to really think about how to prevent violent extremism here in Canada, here in Manitoba and make sure that we’re finding a way to be truly pluralistic, to learn to live alongside each other when you can have different races, different faiths, different cultural backgrounds, different genders, different sexual orientations,” they said. “We have to find a way to be good neighbours to each other, even when we really disagree or don’t understand each other.”

Korri Schneider spoke at the event.

A native Minnesotan, she moved to Canada in 2019 to pursue her studies, returning home briefly in 2021 and living full-time in Canada beginning in 2022.

She told the group gathered that ICE has deployed violent measures, abducted children to lure out their parents and murdered peaceful protestors.

“I ask myself, what do I have to fear of someone who has called Minnesota home since before they could form memories, who knows only this community and the beauty it has to offer, a community which is made better for this person being there to offer, in turn, their many gifts and talents,” she said. “What less right do they have to call Minnesota home, made ‘other’ by an imposed non-status and no pathway to legal safe harbour?”

Schroeder described seeing what’s happening in her home state as “heartbreaking”.

“It’s appalling,” she said. “I saw it happen in all the other cities and then it’s my city and my state.”

For Schroeder, taking part in the Steinbach event was welcome.

“To have this sort of event, as small as it is, it’s meaningful to me because it shows that people are aware and that there’s solidarity not only amongst people that are deeply in it, but also people who are watching,” she said. “I think there are a lot of people who are concerned how the next several years are going to go.”

While she admits she’s not at risk in the same way as many, since she has established citizenship and is not a person of colour, Schroeder said it can affect anyone.

“I think what has happened shows that this violence is against everyone and anyone who stands in the way of a fascist government, who is willing to steamroll over anyone, laws, people, protestors to accomplish an agenda.”