Chippewa Vallians gathered on Jan. 27 for a demonstrative march from Eau Claire’s Federal Courthouse to Phoenix Park in a collective effort: “ICE OUT NOW! Solidarity with Minnesota.”

Organized by Benjamin Gardener and The Hive Collective – a new area organization created as a mutual aid effort – the event was intended to demonstrate against federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minneapolis, Minn. and show solidarity with demands presented by Multifaith Antiracism, Change & Healing (MARCH) for the state of Minnesota.

“This is an opportunity for residents of the Chippewa Valley to come together and show their support for their neighbors in Minnesota and what they're going through,” Gardener shared with Volume One. “We have to build stronger community ties to be able to resist like Minneapolis has.

“Eau Claire is already very impressive as far as sense of community goes but there is much more we still need to do,” he continued.

Around 3:30pm, attendees began to gather at the Federal Courthouse (500 S. Barstow St., Eau Claire), where Benjamin Gardener stood at the steps of the building, an upside-down American flag in hand, passing out flyers with songs and chants to community members ahead of the march.

“I am here because of Alex (Pretti) and Renee (Good),” one attendee, Steve, shared with the group. “We owe them a lot, they sacrificed their lives, unknowingly, for all of us. Maybe today, we can turn the corner a little bit – at least I felt that way when I woke up.”

At 3:45pm, following statements from Gardener and other community members who attended the “Day of Truth and Freedom,” protests on Jan. 23 in Minneapolis, the group marched down Barstow Street and were met with area businesses, who – with flyers in their windows or chalkboard sandwich boards – shared mirrored sentiments.

Along the way, attendees chanted in unison with several calls and responses: “Show me what community looks like”; “Say her name”; “Say his name”; “No justice, no peace.”

At the Phoenix Park pavilion (330 Riverfront Terrace, Eau Claire) the group circled together to share remarks and hear from Gardener and Julie Lepp, a unitarian universalist minister, who serves at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Eau Claire.

Lepp and Gardener offered mutual aid assistance to neighboring Minnesota communities over the past few weeks, they said. Each expressed their hopes for the future of their own local community.

Gardener also expressed gratitude for area businesses – specifically naming SHIFT, Leona’s Pizzeria, Trucker’s Union, among others – which have offered mutual aid assistance to the Chippewa Valley.

“What we can bring back from Minneapolis, to Eau Claire, is that sense of community,” Lepp said. “There are so many organizations doing wonderful work here in the Chippewa Valley.

“We recognize that everyone has dignity and worth and deserves to be respected and treated with kindness and treated as a person and not murdered by our state,” Lepp continued.

The event completed with Gardener reiterating the list of demands MARCH calls on the state of Minnesota to follow, and a walk back to the courthouse.

Returning back to Barstow Street, folks from all walks of life dispersed, shared hugs and messages of grief and gratitude with one another.

The Multifaith Antiracism, Change & Healing (MARCH) list of demands to the state of Minnesota includes:

1. ICE must leave Minnesota immediately

2. The officer who killed Renee Good must be held legally accountable

3. No additional federal funding for ICE in the upcoming Congressional budget and ICE should be investigated for human and Constitutional violations of Americans and our neighbors

4. We call upon Minnesota and national companies to become 4th Amendment businesses, cease economic relations with ICE, and refuse ICE entry or using their property for staging grounds

To learn more about The Hive Collective and future organizing efforts, visit its Facebook page.