Elders assist/elders resist

We are a group of 50 elders who live at Nokomis Square Cooperative on 35th Avenue South. We have lived through the culture-changing 1960s and 70s. We have protested foreign wars. We have fought for women’s rights, gay rights, and civil rights of all kinds. Along the way, we’ve learned to work together through neighborhood, church and political committees, boards and collectives. These experiences were hard but rewarding. We made change then and we’re still at it, organizing and mobilizing to protect the rights we fought for.

We are calling on our history and experience as we join our younger neighbors in resisting the ICE invasion of our city and state. Because many of us lack the stamina or mobility to join in large demonstrations or show up quickly with whistles and cell phones, we put our gray heads together and figured out our own ways to help.

We are taking care of those who have been and still are hiding in place to avoid ICE and possible detention or deportation. We raised over $7000 for their rent and utilities. We contributed thousands more through a co-op neighbor whose son and his wife supported eight refugee families in their neighborhood. We have written thank you letters to the beleaguered teachers and staff at the neighborhood schools where the families we are assisting send their children. We purchased toys, books and games for those children in hiding.

We gather together with laptops and notebooks to write letters to politicians and corporate leaders. And we stand out on the corner of 34th Avenue South and 50th Street every Saturday at 11 a.m. to protest ICE. And now to protest another war. We chant and we wave. We carry our signs proudly. We navigate with wheelchairs and walkers and canes. We are old and we get cold and will soon be sticky and hot, but we stand united on that corner every week. And we won’t stop.

With anger and sadness, we remember Korea, Vietnam and both Iraq wars. Along with our children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, we make signs: ICE OUT! After all these years, we once again make signs that say, STOP THE WAR! We mourn a world still mired in violence, but grief doesn’t paralyze us. Our lifelong experience of solidarity and action energizes us as we pull on our mittens and boots (soon to be shorts and sandals) and walk the block from our building to our place of protest, and we resist all over again. We resist with our voices, our signs and our waving arms. We are greeted by honking horns and thanks from young neighbors, who sometimes join us.

Our democracy, imperfect and always fragile, is threatened right now in ways more extreme and frightening than any we’ve witnessed in our long lives. Our presence in this world is short now, so we act with urgency. We hold our handmade signs demanding democracy and decency.

We’re inspired by the determination and creativity of our young neighbors armed with their whistles and phones. From our Peace Dove with its olive branch to their Rebel Loon with its Star Wars shield, we learn and re-learn ways to resist tyranny, insist on democracy and care for our neighbors.

We were 71-strong on No Kings Day. Let’s keep up the momentum. We need all hands on deck to resist the policies of the current federal administration. Please join us in our Saturday protests on 34th and 50th at 11 am. We’re in this together

Flo Golod and Kathleen Juhl are residents at Nokomis Square Cooperative.