#kidvoodoo

Some protest/vent art for my sanity.

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hey!! i’m glad u think it’s awesome omg!! we’re having a good time!!

So…things have been a little crazy.

Some people might be wondering why I’ve stopped posting art or any updates to In the Blood. I wanted to take a minute to go over what’s been happening around me, and will likely be happening for a good while.

Some folks may know I’m a Minnesotan, from the Twin Cities to be exact. And some folks may already know what’s happening up here, or maybe you don’t! The media continues to be as corrupt and unreliable as always.

So let me clear some things up in case you haven’t been in the know.

Minnesota has been invaded, by our own federal government.

And no, not in a “couple hundred troops” kinda way, I mean in a 3000+ surge of D*nald Tr*mps personal army of psychopaths, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement of the Department of Homeland Security, aka ICE.

When I say “invaded”, I don’t mean they are standing around and guarding government buildings or anything, I mean they are on our streets and in our neighborhoods with very VERY real weapons and ill intent.

For the past several weeks, ICE has become prominent in several major US cities, LA, New York, Chicago and such. They have been sent out to “arrest and deport illegal immigrants”, part of Tr*mps bid to rid the country of millions of people his administration has deemed unworthy of being treated as human beings.

For the most part, these larger cities have come together to create some seriously impressive resistances, they have the resources and numbers to do it. Fun (and disturbing) Fact: the NYPD has more officers in it than several European countries combined. Yikes.

For the most part, ICE has behaved as horribly as one would expect. Harassing and stalking people, invading homes and communities, causing mass chaos and inciting fear in their wake.

Oh, did I forget to mention what exactly they are?

They are not the military. They are not the police. They are, in fact, D*nald Tr*mps PERSONNEL MILITIA. A body of armed forces that he has complete authority over.

And you might be wondering, why make something like ICE when the US hosts the most expensive and advanced military in the world?

Simple really, US military personnel do NOT want to invade US cities. They did not take their oaths of duty to then turn around and subjugate citizens. They have those gosh darn pesky morals that Tr*mp absolutely LOATHES. Despite how you feel about them, most of the veterans I’ve known only ever had the intention of either serving their country, or getting their families out of poverty.

But ICE is something else entirely.

Where military personnel and police officers have several years of training, studies and practice, ICE have a 47 day training program with an open book test that over HALF of their new recruits fail. They have even fewer who pass the basic physical exam, which is btw, 15 push ups, 35 sit ups and a mile and a half run. I mean COME ON I could do that fucking test TODAY and I am not an in-shape person. Oh yeah, and only a THIRD of those buffoons pass that part of the training.

They are given such a terrible crash course in the case of laws and regulations they need to follow and honor that the majority of them have to DRIVE AROUND WITH THE MANUAL. If they even do that at all.

Oh yeah, those laws and regulations?

I’m sure you have at least heard about the murder of Renee Nicole Good at the hands of an ICE agent. In case you didn’t know, she was a white American citizen, a mother of a six year old child and a poet. She was also shot in the face four times for the grievous sin of TRYING TO DRIVE AWAY AS PER THE AGENTS INSTRUCTIONS. Gunned down in her car next to her wife in an act of despicable cruelty, and even denied emergency medical treatment by the SAME GUY WHO SHOT HER TO DEATH.

The video has been posted and shared so many times with a hundred different debates about the extreme level of violence on display, in broad daylight in front of dozens of people.

That happened in my city just a week ago. Jonathan Ross, the murderer, has been removed from our state borders to avoid prosecution. He has been granted total immunity for killing a human being. The government has sworn to protect him and continues to smear the names of Renee and her widow, the community gathered around to mourn, and the local government for speaking out against this act of violence.

But that is only one of many, MANY atrocities that are happening RIGHT NOW in my state.

Maybe you didn’t hear about the hundreds of violent kidnappings of innocent people in the streets. How ICE agents have ambushed parents picking their children up from school, leaving countless kids with empty houses and missing parents. How they patrol the streets waiting to ambush any brown skinned people just passing by, sending dozens of agents to harass them, interrogate them about the status of their citizenship, about their birthplace, the fucking ACCENTS.

And sometimes they don’t bother to talk, they’ll just violently tackle someone and throw them in a car never to be seen again.

This sounds unreal, but there is MORE.

They have raided houses, destroying people’s property and kidnapping them. They have assaulted people at worker, at school and church, disappearing them to their concentration camps. They have grabbed people just to beat the shit out of them and dump them a couple of miles down the road.

They have taken children who are now being trafficked, they have assaulted women in custody, they have killed people and hid their bodies.

They have even taken Native Americans and detained them, some even being transported to other facilities out of state.

It doesn’t seem to matter if you have your ID, passport, Social Security number or birth certificate. You could have ALL of the above and they will STILL do this. They already have.

The lucky ones are able to be released within 2-3 days. They spend their time in cramped metal cells with no heat, food or water and only one working toilet. After they are “cleared”, their cellphone is stolen and they are tossed out in the snow to fend for themselves.

And that’s how US CITIZENS are treated. If you are an immigrant of ANY status, there is no telling what happens to you. Some have ended up in a detention facility in El Paso, Texas, only to then be forced onto a flight BACK to Minnesota. Some are deported to their “home country”, aka whatever place they decide to send you. Some just fucking die or disappear altogether.

Again, WE ARENT DONE YET.

So you can imagine there is some SERIOUSLY HORRIBLE SHIT HAPPENING. People aren’t exaggerating or being hyperbolic by comparing it to Nazi Germany.

So what is being done about it?!

Well Minnesotans are not fucking standing for this. En Masse we have assembled, appealed to our local government, formed neighborhood watches and alert groups, created entire networks of community resources for our neighbors who are too afraid to leave their houses, or are on the brink of collapse because their loved ones have been stolen away.

Day and night we protest, we march and yell and blow whistles and honk horns. We gather in large numbers to intimidate ICE agents from snatching people, we collect the names of the victims to ensure their families know what is happening, we film and photograph ever atrocity, we arm ourselves, we fight back with a vitriol that ICE clearly underestimated.

Their moral continues to crumble. Mother Nature has blessed us with bitter cold and windy days and nights, icy roads and sidewalks for them to slip and fall on their asses, snow to trip them up as they chase people down, a frigid temperature that has stripped away any zeal they had for being her in my beautiful state. We gather in groups and stay warm with each other, with donated coffee and hand warmers and winter gear. They march in a circle in their heavy tactical gear and inadequate clothing, dead eyed and flush with shame and frostbite.

Never have I seen so many people excited for a terrible forecast.

The “Temu Gestapo” take 24 hour harassment from us, blocked their cars, tripping them up, making so much noise they can’t sleep, following them relentlessly to make it clear we are FUCKING WATCHING.

And the names. The NAMES.

Nazi, fascist, bootlicker, pedo-protector, scumbag, cospatriot.

And some of the ones that REALLY get under their skin: coward, traitor, disappointment, a joke, clowns, losers, weirdos.

You can see it in their eyes and in their actions. They fire teargas and pepper balls when it gets to be too much, they shoot us with “less than lethal” rounds at close range, they aim pistols at our heads, tackle and punch and kick us. Their fragile egos being chipped away by every veteran that screams at them about stolen valor, every mother calling them a disgrace, every young person promising retribution.

They cower away from the angry crowds, turn around when they see a 2nd amendment enthusiast with a gun on their hip, avoid looking at the cameras that document their every sin to share with the world.

And yet they continue to commit crimes, from shooting a man who ran into his house from outside (through the door), to arresting an elderly Hmong man who was given citizenship for his efforts in aiding the American troops in Vietnam, to tear gassing a baby.

Yes, you read that right. They fucking tear-gassed a six month old baby.

So what is this? Why is this happening to Minnesota of ALL places?

The answers are as maliciously simple as they could get.

Because we have mineral ore he wants, and we refuse to bow down to his regime.

Minnesota has a very long standing history of voting against republicans, we were the ONLY state who DIDNT vote for Ronald Regan, we are an unusually progressive state in a sea of red, with good education, high standards of living and large amounts of job opportunities. Our Governor ran alongside Kamala Harris in the most recent election, we have always been a democratic state, and will continue to be.

And he HATES THAT.

He refuses to believe a mostly white state would defy him in any way, that we should be either pledging our loyalty to his fascist empire or at least be keeping our head down and staying out of his way.

But that’s not who we are.

We are a land of opportunity and beauty, our environment is important to us. We have one of the highest graduation rates in the country, and for a population under 6 million, that is something to brag about.

We are descendants of Vikings and Nodic settlers, of proud Ojibwe, Lakota, Dakota, Chippewa and Sioux tribes, of Hmong, Lao, Vietnamese and Karen immigrants who sought a better life. We are quiet and thoughtful, resilient and respectful. We have funny accents and funnier names for cities, a terrible football team, a love of culture both ancient and modern, a haven for LGTQ+ folks, and a pretty good music scene. We are not stepping aside and looking away while our friends and neighbors suffer. We are not letting our tyrannical government destroy us. We are standing strong in the cold and the snow because it’s the RIGHT THING TO DO.

And now I sit here finally being able to write down my thoughts and feelings, trying to process this horrible situation we are in. I wake up every day now with an anxiety that I’ll be a victim of these sadist. I go to work and pretend everything is okay while constantly looking at local news updates and grappling with the idea that I still somehow have to pay bills during this whole thing.

I go to bed holding my Husband and my dog close, praying to whatever god is listening to help us, help the people who have been taken, hurt and traumatized.

I cry and scream and punch the walls as I watch this bizarre reality unfold in front of me. I hope for the end of this, that they’ll get so fed up with our sheer stubbornness that they’ll all leave.

But I know that it’s not that simple. More will come, Tr*mp threatens to send military into our cities, threatens to destroy our lives for the sin of standing up to the atrocities. We have more dark days ahead of us, more missing people, more violence and fear.

It’s the first time in many years I’ve thought about simply making my exit from reality, if you know what I mean.

But I have a husband and a dog who love and rely on me, a mother doing her part and looking out for her native coworkers and friends, a brother who looks as fed up as I do but still has to drag his ass to work everyday, friends who will miss me, plans that I’ve made for brighter days and a future that hasn’t been decided yet.

So I stay, angry and exhausted, adrenaline pumping and stubborn as all Hell. I will live to see such brighter days, a future where I can proudly call myself a “Minnesotan” and not an “American”.

I wrote this down for you to read so you can understand what is happening here, the reality that the media won’t tell you because they are either afraid or in on the whole thing. I wrote this to tell you that we are suffering but strong, that I cry all the time but don’t back down. Do it scared as they say.

So thank you friends, for all your understanding, patience and support. I long for the days of being able to walk without looking over my shoulder. I would like nothing more than to draw stupid ass furries and Jere-Creatures and write my silly little stories for all of you to enjoy. I crave that normality, that normality is something worth fighting for.

I’ll be back, I have no Intension in leaving forever. I’ll check up on my Tumblr and Discord. Talk if I can find the energy, maybe even draw something. But for a moment at least, I have a heavy reality to face.

Pray for us in Minnesota, we are holding back the flood of cruelty with our lives to fight for that bright tomorrow.

I love you all,