Anyone who has worked in the service industry knows the importance of Fridays, usually one of the busiest days of the week, especially for employees who rely on tips.
Still, more than a dozen Flint businesses gave up their Friday on January 30 to participate in a nationwide protest to show solidarity with people in Minnesota and other communities around the country who are dealing with often aggressive and haphazard immigration raids that have often resulted in American citizens, immigrants in the country lawfully, and children and vulnerable people being detained in unsafe conditions. Those raids have resulted in nationwide protests, and in Minnesota, resulted in the killing of protestors Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal law enforcement.
For Emily Doerr, owner of Queens’ Provisions in Carriage Town, the decision to participate by closing her business for the day simply came down to supporting people in Flint and beyond.
“One of Flint’s greatest strengths is its diverse population, including immigrants from many different places,” Doerr said. “Nationally, we support protests against the illegal actions of ICE and Border Patrol agents and locally, we support the efforts of LatinX (the Latinx Technology and Community Center), FAIR (Flint Alliance for Immigrant Rights), International Center of Greater Flint plus many others doing work every day to support our immigrant neighbors.”
Two local artists, Jewel Brown of MAR[T]KET and Stephen Shippritt of Savage Village, teamed up to use their design and screen printing talents for a free event at Factory Two. Inspired by Art Price Studio in Minneapolis printing protest-themed shirts, patches, bags, jackets, and other items for free for the community, Brown and Shipprett invited people to bring apparel and get Flint-specific anti-ice prints done for free. They also collected resources to donate to mutual aid groups in the Twin Cities and locally.
In addition to providing a chance for people from the community to gather in support of a cause they believe in, Brown also said simply being around people who care was rewarding.
“I think that is so important, in a time when a lot of people are really craving community or a lot of people are feeling disconnected from what their community can offer them, just getting together, being creative, being entrepreneurial, being crafty,” Brown said. “It’s so important for the human soul, you know?”
Brown has felt that stress, and this event gave her an outlet and some inspiration in the face of some of the heaviness of the country at the moment.
“I’ve been, as an artist, feeling really stunted recently, really feeling the weight of everything happening in the world and really hoping for a creative way that I can contribute to the things that are happening,” she said. “And so it feels great to have something to set my sights on in that sense.”
Despite frigid temperatures, around two dozen protestors showed up for the weekly Genesee County Bridge Brigade protest on the I-69 overpass on Beach Street. This was the 49th straight week the group has gathered. For many participants, the community they’ve formed with others is just as important as the message.
“I can talk to them (other people in the group) and I feel like I’m being heard and I feel like they’re, they’re confirming what I’m seeing with my eyes,” said Sharon Ruthenberg, an Oxford resident who travels to Flint as often as she can because of the bond she’s formed with others in the Bridge Brigade group. “It feels like it’s saving my sanity. I can talk to people and it’s not necessarily that we all have to agree, but we do agree on one thing. We want an America that’s inclusive.”
Ruthenberg was holding a sign that simply said, ‘LOVE.’ The group gets a large amount of support from passersby, but one person chose to object.
“I was flipped off,” she said. “I don’t care. Do it. You’re gonna flip me off for this? It says ‘LOVE.’ What is wrong with you?”
Brandi Purtil, an organizer with People Powered Flint, also braved the cold for the Bridge Brigade demonstration.
“I’m so excited to be with the community coming together today,” Purtil said. “I saw businesses that are participating in the national strike. People that have signs up in their windows, in their homes, in their cars, in their businesses. And that’s what more people need to see because it’s not about violent protests, it’s about educating the community so that they can participate in structured ways together.”
Purtil said that a major motivation that drives her is wanting to make sure her children, ages 9 and 6, inherit a country that has the same freedoms previous generations have enjoyed.
“My children and the world in which they have to grow up in is everything to me,” Purtil said.
Connor Coyne, a local writer, author, and teacher, has been teaching a writing seminar this winter that looks at the role literature plays in fascism – both the spread of it and how people have historically fought back against it.
“There’s a lot of debate over what the exact definition of fascism is, but one thing that is pretty consistent around most historical definitions of it is that it is narratively based,” Coyne said. “It requires building a sort of mythology about a past, a glorified past that can be reactivated if you just unite the right people under the right leader, and they all do the right thing. So more than a lot of other ideologies, the arts play a really crucial role in building and maintaining fascist ideologies and bringing them to force in the world.”
That’s why, historically or in present times, fascist governments often seek to gain control and influence over the media and arts. In Germany in the 1930s, the Nazis established the Reich Chamber of Culture (RKK), which was a governmental organization designed to control artistic messages so they aligned with the regime’s ideals. In Italy under Mussolini, the government actively tried to blur lines between art and propaganda.
There are parallels under the Trump Administration. One of Trump’s signature projects was to seize control of the Kennedy Center for the Arts and exert influence over its programming. He has also regularly threatened comedians and entertainers – most recently Trevor Noah – with legal action, and been accused of extracting bribes from media companies.
In the course, Coyne teaches from an anti-fascist position, but does show how narratives feed both fascist movements and anti-fascist resistance.
“That’s also a point of vulnerability for fascist ideology: it’s narratively based, so it can also be narratively undermined,” Coyne said. “So the role of the arts, either in promoting fascism or resisting fascism, is a subject of significance. It’s a way to kind of hit them where it hurts. That’s sort of the premise of the class is one, building an understanding of both historical fascist movements from its origins in the 1800s up to the present day, and then understanding resistance to those movements, and then kind of situating literature within it. We’re taking the point of view that fascism is very destructive to a free society, and so we’re learning about fascism in order to understand it, but also intentionally to counteract it.”
Locally, groups like People Powered, Flint Alliance for Immigrant Rights (FAIR), Indivisible, Greater Flint General Strike U.S., and Bridge Brigade offer resources and information. But the growing number of local activist groups also provide a simpler need: community.
“I have experienced a lot of my activism and advocacy journey alone until now,” Purtill said. “And so groups like Red, Wine & Blue or Indivisible have great startup activities and things that you can do and ways that you can get started. There are ways that you can participate minimally or there are ways that you can participate with your full ability. So there’s really a range there. It really gives you the opportunity to pick and use your time based on when you can so that you can still make a difference, even if you’re not able to be out here every Friday. Groups like this that get together make more of a difference than people realize and educate people on how they can make a difference in the future, and also just keep hope alive.”
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