A Saturday and a state killing: soccer as Minnesota is torn apart | Jeff Rueter

"It's Saturday morning, and news breaks shortly after the Premier League kickoff window; another member of your community has been brutally killed in the streets by ICE. There are already a few videos on social media, depicting multiple angles of the grotesque scene. This killing, like the one before, has felt inevitable because of the actions of the federal government, and in spite of the diligence and peaceful pushback by you and your neighbors."

"You were among them in December. Today, you find it hard to laugh. You get a push notification half an hour later: a member of your Premier League fantasy team scored. You forgot to update your lineups, what with everything going on around you. The goalscorer was left on your bench. Once, this would have registered as a palpable, if minor, annoyance. Today, it barely registers as anything at all."

"Twenty minutes into the game, you mute it and load a stream of another press conference held by Jacob Frey, the mayor of Minneapolis, and Brian O'Hara, the city's police chief. It's all too similar to the media briefing they delivered just 17 days earlier, after Renee Good was also brutally killed by ICE. Once again, they plead for the only action that will truly defuse what has become an impossibly tense new normal."

Saturday morning brings breaking news shortly after the Premier League kickoff: another community member has been brutally killed in the streets by ICE. Social media already carries multiple videos showing the grotesque scene. The killing feels inevitable because of federal government actions despite diligent, peaceful pushback by neighbors. Regular Saturday rituals of watching soccer and managing a fantasy team are overshadowed and muted; a fantasy goalscorer left on the bench barely registers. Authorities in Minneapolis hold a press conference with Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Brian O'Hara, echoing a briefing after Renee Good's killing and pleading for ICE to leave the community alone.

Read at www.theguardian.com