Vigilant

ABOVE: I walked past an orange whistle, hung for the taking in Powderhorn Park, a few blocks between my workplace and the vigil on Portland Ave for Renee Good, murdered by an agent of ICE on 1/7.
Civilians blow whistles to signal the presence of ICE agents.
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ABOVE: A candle in the snow, along the way
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BELOW: "That’s Star Wars", I thought when I saw the hand-painted sign, The Empire Does Not Care About You.  
Yep. It's a variant of a meme from way back (the car sticker on the right):

And it’s spot on, too:
Six years ago, a Redditor on the subreddit "The Empire Did Nothing Wrong", defending the Galactic Empire that Darth Vader serves, wrote:

"We don’t hurt innocents. 
We hurt rebels to keep peace." 

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ABOVE: I'd found a frog hat at the thrift store as I was leaving work.

But in the mid-afternoon when I was there, the vigil was not a creative scene. No funny animals, no crocheters. 
Rather, it felt like a military camp, waiting for battle.  
I often sense this at group protests: 
An anxious boredom, an eagerness for something to happen, 
and, on some people's part, to engage "the enemy".

But not only.
This Hispanic mother & daughter, below, right, have just laid flowers on the site where Renee Good was shot. 
(A Hispanic coworker told me that her community feels gratitude  toward Good, a white woman, for standing up for them and others.)

But the air was bad, literally, with toxic fumes from the many wood fires burning in old oil barrels. I also got a creepy feeling from the many circling journalists—I heard one say, "I'm from the Times of London"––surely hoping for something newsworthy. 

Not my vibe. I paid my respects and left.
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Oh! bink just texted me this invitation below
--I am not alone in wanting a different vibe:

"If anyone would like a somewhat different kind of resistance experience, see below from Singing Actions. 

“What: A singing vigil moving through South Minneapolis neighborhoods.... We will gather to practice the songs we’ll sing while walking, and to do a brief ICE watch training to be prepared for the possibility of encountering ICE while out. 
Then from 2-3pm we will walk and sing. 
We’ll walk slowly, for 1-1.5 miles. 

“Our songs will be easy to learn and on with themes of solidarity, justice, grief, and care.

“Let’s be a loving and powerful presence out on the streets of South Minneapolis. ❤️💛✊🏾✊🏿✊🏻 "