{"id":39752,"date":"2026-01-29T18:45:05","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T23:45:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/on-the-ground-in-minneapolis-the-fuel-of-the-resistance\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T18:45:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T23:45:13","slug":"on-the-ground-in-minneapolis-the-fuel-of-the-resistance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/on-the-ground-in-minneapolis-the-fuel-of-the-resistance\/","title":{"rendered":"On the ground in Minneapolis: \u2018The fuel of the resistance\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

A fire provides a warming station for the Native community and others outside the Powwow Grounds Coffee on Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis on Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. Volunteers are pouring in from across the country to provide patrols and security for Native residents. Credit: Stewart Huntington\/ICT<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

MINNEAPOLIS \u2014 The menu at the Powwow Grounds Coffee house on historic Franklin Avenue has grown in recent weeks. Along with the usual double latte or iced cappuccino there are more important items available: peace, community and a sense of security.<\/p>\n

Nestled in the heart of the American Indian Cultural Corridor in Minneapolis, the coffee shop and neighboring art gallery space have morphed into a community kitchen, warming space and distribution center for food and supplies for a neighborhood riven with fear and confusion following the death of Renee Good at the hands of a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis in early January.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all came together and said, \u2018Okay, let\u2019s prepare for the worst,\u2019\u201d said Robert Rice, the White Earth Ojibwe citizen who owns Powwow Grounds Coffee, which many consider Ground Zero for the city\u2019s urban Indians. \u201cWe\u2019ll be a community and we\u2019ll stand together.\u201d<\/p>\n

First up are security concerns.<\/p>\n

Masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have pulled people from cars and conducted sweeps of neighborhoods and workplaces in search of undocumented immigrants. Reports of Native Americans getting targeted in the immigration sweeps have sent waves of fear through the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople can\u2019t go outside because they\u2019re scared to run into ICE and get detained and deported,\u201d said Khalani Freemont, a Omaha Tribe of Nebraska citizen. \u201cI\u2019m scared of that every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Do your thing\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

A half a century ago, the American Indian Movement was established across Franklin Avenue from where Powwow Grounds Coffee stands today. AIM\u2019s first actions were citizen patrols looking to keep Native Americans safe in an environment of overzealous law enforcement activity. The patrol system was reinvigorated during the riots that followed the killing of George Floyd in 2020 by a Minneapolis police officer.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s active again these days with volunteers from AIM and other organizations keeping an eye on the corridor, which includes centerpieces such as the Minneapolis American Indian Center and the Little Earth housing community.<\/p>\n

Powwow Grounds is the anchor of the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a place where you can come and be safe,\u201d said Freemont, who for years has been active in the neighborhood security patrols. \u201cJust like somewhere peaceful where someone can stay and feel safe and know that they have the community around them.\u201d<\/p>\n

And maybe get a meal, said Rice, who figured the best way he could help the community was through, well, soup.<\/p>\n

\u201cSoup is a big thing, you know, for protesters or patrollers,\u201d he said. \u201cThey can come in here and get something to eat. Shut down, take a break, get warm, and then, you know, get back out there, do their thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rice says he shut down the register in the coffee shop and relies on donations during this time of stress in the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not actually out on the front lines, but I can do something, you know? My something is, I cook,\u201d he said. \u201cSo that\u2019s been my focus. And I\u2019m just one spoke in this wheel we call the community. You know, it\u2019s just an amazing group of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the gallery space adjoining the coffee house, stacks and stacks of supplies line the walls. Crow Bellecourt, the executive director of the Indigenous Protector Movement and the son of one of the founding AIM members, surveyed the resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of donations coming in,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In one corner sits food and household supplies for families scared to go out to the store. In other piles are items for people who chose to venture to the front lines and confront the ICE officers conducting raids.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe keep all our sage, our tobacco sweetgrass in the corner here so people can protect their spirits,\u201d said Bellecourt, Bad River Band of Chippewa Indians. \u201cAnd then we also have energy drinks, first aid stuff. And goggles, if you get sprayed by pepper spray.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outside, a fire burns throughout the day and evening to warm the hands, feet and hearts of the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe communicate with our spirits through our fires and our prayer fires,\u201d said Freemont. \u201cPeople keep asking if this is just for Native Americans. No, it\u2019s for everybody. We have people in and out every day hauling stuff to different communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rice said the ICE raids have raised questions as well, including whether it\u2019s legal to stop people on the street and ask for identification.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere\u2019s the Constitution here?\u201d he asked. \u201cThey\u2019re not supposed to be able to do that. We\u2019re basically here to help push back on that. That\u2019s what we\u2019re doing here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attorney Chase Iron Eyes from the Lakota People\u2019s Law Project agreed. An Oglala Lakota citizen, he drove over from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to represent people caught up in the ICE raids<\/p>\n

\u201cThose who would seek to do violence against peaceful American families are finding that they have met their match in Minneapolis, Minnesota,\u201d he said, \u201cbecause there are Native people here. We know what it\u2019s like to be free. We know freedom in a different sense of that word. And all of America is welcome to know that freedom that we know.\u201d<\/p>\n

He feels that sense of freedom at the Powwow Grounds Coffee shop.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Powwow Grounds is a source of light,\u201d Iron Eyes told ICT. \u201cIt is a source of light for those in Minneapolis who want to ensure the safety and the sanctity and integrity of the United States Constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Center of chaos\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Driving around the neighborhood near the Powwow Grounds, Bellecourt noted that things have changed since his father, Clyde Bellecourt, and others founded AIM in 1968. There are new tribal offices and embassies, new housing, a new drug recovery center, with more buildings under construction.<\/p>\n

Some things, however, still need attention, including the homeless encampments under roadway bridges.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere we are in 2026,\u201d he said. \u201cStill fighting the good fight. And it just strikes me as odd. This is always the center of chaos. Like with the George Floyd riots. And then now we have these big ICE raids. It always pops off in Minneapolis, St. Paul. Crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps there\u2019s something in the Twin City air?<\/p>\n

Or maybe it\u2019s something else, said Iron Eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s got to be the Powwow Grounds coffee,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s the fuel of the resistance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stewart Huntington is an ICT producer\/reporter based in central Colorado.<\/span><\/p>\n

The post On the ground in Minneapolis: \u2018The fuel of the resistance\u2019<\/a> first appeared on Native Sun News Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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A fire provides a warming station for the Native community and others outside the Powwow Grounds Coffee on Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis on Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. Volunteers are pouring in from across the country to provide patrols and security for Native residents. Credit: Stewart Huntington\/ICT MINNEAPOLIS \u2014 The menu <\/p>\n

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Shared by Native Sun News Today<\/a> January 29, 2026<\/p>\n

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