The Timberwolves should not play until ICE violence in Minneapolis is held to account | Lee Escobedo

"The SUV sat motionless against a tree on a south Minneapolis street, its engine quiet, angled as if it had simply run out of gas. Except the windshield bore a small shattered star, delicate and sharp, like a snowflake pressed into glass. Cold Minnesota air leaked through the fracture, settling over the still body inside. The car became a sealed room, a thin shell holding death in place, surrounded by the stuffed animals of the woman's children. In the street, witnesses screamed. Not in words, but in sounds that come before language, as reality breaks faster than thought."

"On Wednesday morning, during an immigration enforcement operation tied to the Trump administration's expanded crackdown, a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer shot and killed the driver. Bystander video shows ICE agents approaching the stopped SUV, ordering the woman to open the door and grabbing the handle. As the vehicle began to roll forward, an officer standing in front of it fired at least two shots at close range, then jumped back as the SUV continued on and crashed into parked cars. Federal officials quickly described the killing as self-defense."

"Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey called the incident reckless and demanded that ICE get the fuck out of Minneapolis. The following night, only 15 minutes away, the Minnesota Timberwolves are scheduled to play the Cleveland Cavaliers. That is the obscenity at the center of this moment. That the machinery of American life professional sports included simply lurches forward while a federal agency has just shot a woman dead in a residential neighborhood. The lights can come on at Target Center. The music can play. The crowd can cheer. And this can all be treated as background noise. What kind of country does that?"

An ICE officer shot and killed a woman who was driving an SUV during an immigration enforcement operation in south Minneapolis. The vehicle bore a shattered windshield and contained stuffed animals belonging to the woman's children. Bystander video shows ICE agents ordering the woman to open the door, grabbing the handle, and an officer firing at least two close-range shots as the vehicle began to roll. Federal officials described the killing as self-defense; the Minneapolis mayor called it reckless and demanded ICE leave the city. Symbolic responses are insufficient; economic leverage is the most effective means to force change.

Read at www.theguardian.com