Why We Protest: From Minneapolis to Huntington Beach
By Tory D. Johnson, special to the Orange Juice Blog
Huntington Beach is not separate from what’s happening across the country. What happens in Minneapolis, at the border, or in federal immigration enforcement does not stay there. These systems travel and so do their consequences.
That is why Black Lives Matter Huntington Beach is organizing an anti-ICE protest this Saturday at the Huntington Beach Pier.
In recent weeks, Minneapolis has once again become a national flashpoint. Two people, Renée Good and Alex Jeffrey Pretti were killed in separate encounters involving federal immigration enforcement, only miles from where George Floyd was murdered. While officials debate justifications, communities are left with a familiar reality: deadly force, limited transparency, and delayed accountability.
These deaths matter here because ICE does not operate in isolation. Federal agencies rely on political cover and public tolerance. When cities normalize cruelty toward immigrants or dismiss concerns about excessive force, they help create the conditions that allow these tragedies to repeat.
Huntington Beach has increasingly embraced a political culture that celebrates “law and order” while showing hostility toward immigrants, protesters, and anyone who challenges the MAGA aligned status quo. That culture does not create safety, it creates permission.
Saturday’s protest is not about disruption for its own sake. It is about drawing a clear moral line. No federal agency should wield lethal power without meaningful oversight. No family should live in fear of raids, detention, or disappearance. Human dignity is not optional.
Protest has always been how people force change when institutions stop listening. Civil rights, labor protections, voting rights, and marriage equality were all won in the streets long before they were recognized in law. Progress has never come from silence or patience alone.
Those who criticize protest often benefit from the systems being challenged. Those who urge calm rarely bear the cost of injustice themselves.
Black Lives Matter Huntington Beach stands in solidarity with immigrant communities because justice is indivisible. You cannot honor George Floyd’s memory while ignoring the lessons his murder and what followed made painfully clear.
From Minneapolis to Huntington Beach, the message is simple: Black lives matter. Immigrant lives matter. Accountability matters.
Black Lives Matter Huntington Beach invites the community to join us this Saturday, January 31, at 1:30 p.m. at the Huntington Beach Pier.
Show up. Stand together. Because democracy will not survive on silence.
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MORE PROTESTS THIS WEEK/Weekend
Friday at Santa Ana’s Old Courthouse
Remembering Alex Pretti
Friday Jan 30, 6-8 pm
Old Orange County Courthouse
211 W. Santa Ana Blvd, Santa Ana
“Please join us in light; white coats and scrubs encouraged.” Facebook event link.
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And from “50501oc”
Thursday Jan. 29
Irvine
- 3:00–5:00 PM – Weekly: Abolish ICE & End the Occupation Banner Drop
Almond Tree Ln & Michelson Dr
Hosted by: OC Banner Drop for Pali
Focus: Banner drop for Palestine; abolish ICE. Masks strongly recommended for safety & health
Lake Forest
- 4:00–6:00PM – Weekly “Stand Up for Our Rights” Rally El Toro Rd & Trabuco Rd Hosted by: Indivisible Lake Forest Focus: Immigrant justice & civil rights
La Habra
- 5:00–6:30 PM – Weekly “Save Democracy” Protest Imperial Hwy & S. Beach Blvd Hosted by: Indivisible La Habra Focus: Protect voting rights in Orange County
Friday Jan. 30
Villa Park
- 8:00–9:30 AM – [Weekly] No Hate, No Fear! Immigrants Are Welcome Here Villa Park Rd x N Wanda Rd Hosted by: Voices of Villa Park Message: Immigrant rights & advocacy
San Juan Capistrano
- 2:30–4:00 PM – Ice Out for Good Del Obispo & Camino Capistrano Hosted by: Democratic Women of South OC Message: Join us in the streets for a peaceful protest to demand an end to deportation terror. Stand with your neighbors. Protect immigrant families.
Ladera Ranch
- 5:00–6:30 PM – Stand in Solidarity with MN Antonio Pkwy & Crown Valley Pkwy Hosted by: OC Indivisible Coalition Message: Stand up for our fellow Americans in Minnesota; demand ICE out for good!
Sat. Jan. 31
Newport Beach
- 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM – Weekly “Defend Democracy” Protest PCH & Jamboree Hosted by: Newport Indivisible Focus: Immigrant rights, voting rights & democracy
Santa Ana
- 10:30 – 12:30 PM – Weekly Protest Rally
Bristol St and MacArthur Blvd Hosted by: Defenders of Democracy
Aliso Viejo
- 11:00 AM–12:30 PM – Weekly “Defend Democracy” Protest 26501 Aliso Creek Rd (at Enterprise) Hosted by: Aliso Viejo Resistance Focus: Fight oligarchy & corporate power, boycott Tesla
Mutual Aid: Yes, bring nonperishable food and essential household basics to contribute towards community aid efforts
Huntington Beach
- 2:30 – 4:30 PM – No MAGA. No ICE. No FASCISM. Peaceful Community Protest
HB Pier Hosted by: Black Lives Matter Huntington Beach
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 1
Fullerton
- 12:00–2:00 PM – Weekly: Abolish ICE & End the Occupation Banner Drop Over the 57 Freeway (Deerpark Dr. & Yorba Linda Blvd) Hosted by: OC Banner Drop for Pali Focus: Banner drop for Palestine; abolish ICE. Masks strongly recommended for safety & health
Huntington Beach
- 1:00–2:30 PM – Weekly Protest Against #47 Huntington Beach City Hall Hosted by: HB 4 Democracy Focus: Immigrant rights, voting rights & democracy Mutual Aid: Yes, bring nonperishable food and essential household basics to contribute towards community aid efforts
Costa Mesa
- 2:00–4:00 PM – Weekly Rally for Democracy (location varies)
2300 Harbor (park at old “At Home” lot across the street) Hosted by: 50501oc & OC Indivisible Focus: End executive overreach. Uphold the Constitution. Mutual Aid: Yes, bring nonperishable food and essential household basics to contribute towards community aid efforts
Costa Mesa
- Every 1st Sunday 3:00–5:00 PM – Free Community Meal Share
Lions Park (between library & community center) Hosted by: Food Not Bombs Costa Mesa Focus: Mutual aid and community connection. Arrive at 2pm if you’d like to volunteer. Mutual Aid: Yes, bring food to share. You may also bring gently used clothing for the community clothing rack (please take home anything left at the end)
Springsteen releases protest song.
https://youtu.be/wWKSoxG1K7w?si=Dt8Bt5_uI1yNMyn3
And it is not so good. Maybe Arlo Guthrie can come out of retirement for a moment!
(Hello, everyone! I’ve been overwhelmed by Trump rendering what I was planning to write about to the “old news” pile. But various stories are gestating; Vern, I think first the 6-1 kerfuffle, then pondering Greenland, and then my demand for Dallas to give its soccer team back to Minnesota. I’ll be back here later, after I see some new documentary that will pay you $50 to watch it; I’m told that you also get to use those eye-opener contraptions from A Clockwork Orange! I’ve had some dry eyes from allergies and I can really use some good attentive eye irrigation!)
Flashback Friday! It was 1973. Rufus Thomas was telling the people to Git up and do it.
https://youtu.be/ne50dAYfrMA
Springsteen sings his song live in Minneapolis.
https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/bruce-springsteens-streets-minneapolis-anti-ice-protest-song-hits-no-1-rcna256711
News coverage of peaceful student walkouts today [Friday] in Mission Viejo, Santa Ana, and La Habra. Probably more.
So, I guess white lives matter, don’t they? Considering your protesting 2 WHITE PEOPLE that were killed at the hands of police.
So apparently we were right all along weren’t we?? Cops do also kill WHITE PEOPLE, just like they kill black people, just like they kill brown people. Just like they kill all colors of people. Are you surprised???
Apparently ALL LIVES MATTER after all don’t they? Or is it only communist white people that matter to you??? The hypocrisy is utterly astounding.
How bout Canon Hinant, the young boy murdered at point blank range in his own driveway by a black man for no reason? Did his life matter too???
Willfully dumb, or just dumb? Mommy’s Boy, I have broken your rant up into paragraphs to make it easier to respond to.
First (and I bet you’ve had this explained to you a hundred times) “Black Lives Matter” never meant “Only Black lives matter,” or “non-black people are never unjustly killed by law enforcement / government.” It was just pointing out the inarguable & horrific fact that law enforcement and government across most of the country behaves as though black lives DON’T matter. And when smartasses came back with “ALL lives matter,” that was not just stupid, but an attempt to demean what’s obviously meant by “Black Lives Matter.” (Here in the OC where there aren’t hardly enough black people to oppress, it’s the brown people that take the brunt of the injustice.)
“How about Canon Hinant?” [sic, it’s Hinnant.”] The little five-year-old was killed by his black neighbor, in 2020, the neighbor confessed in 2022, and is serving life without possibility of parole. Justice was served, as far as it could be. Little Canon was not killed by our government or our police forces, or Trump’s DHS. What’s your fucking point? We’re supposed to protest EVERY KILLING OR INJUSTICE THAT’S HAPPENED OVER (how many years or decades?) or else our “HYPOCRISY IS ASTOUNDING?”
You, sir, are malign and a retard. Feel lucky I posted your musings.
No ICE and Defund the Police. Two sure political winners.
It’s like a punk song! But it is not sustainable. Unless you favor anarchy!
Icymi Tom Morello wailing on his axe in Minneapolis. “Killing in the name of…”
https://youtu.be/LLMKAxFtjB8
ICE has become Trump’s secret army and by now we see immigration enforcement and deportations was just a pretext for this army, which is being used against anyone who opposes Trump and to create provocations justifying martial law and a cancelling of elections in blue states.
This nation went till 2003 without an “ICE” or a “Dept of Homeland Security,” and we should go back to how things were then. Of course there’s the danger just saying “Abolish ICE” makes it easy to pretend we’re calling for NO immigration enforcement… especially when a few people are.
It’s perfectly true that the Bush Security State (supported by almost all Democrats) has enabled what we are seeing today.
The the name itself – Homeland Security” has a distinct 1930s middle European, non-American flavor. It was a vast expansion of government reach and funding with no concomitant reduction in other departments that should have been the obvious result of reform. But no.
9/11 was failure. The Patriot Act was rightly viewed by many an a major intrusion of the camel into the tent.
ICE existed between 2003. It’s immigration and naturalization service and customs enforcement. You are gonna need lawyers, guns and money!!!
Signs and bullhorns ain’t gonna do it. But, judges, like the one who ordered the 5 year old and his father released by tueday and reminded the gubernment of the constitution and the Declaration of Independence could help.
We’ve got a bigger problem now!! Sing along it may help you feel better under the circumstances. Jello was a prophet.
https://youtu.be/R8x5bUZdo5I?si=tHHrrYLEUiRNBVkQ
Our friend Izzy reminds us that CBP and ICE (both) are still all over LA, have been for months, and he reminds us that it’s “not just Minnesota.” Of course Minneapolis is an extreme case right now, where Stephen Miller has sent out 3000 agents in “Operation Metro Surge.” What city will be next we don’t know, but it will definitely be a Democrat-voting one.
Izzy’s information is invaluable and almost seems like a response to my song at the Untold Story Open Mic last night (but I guess it came first). To the tune of the great Cri-Cri song “El Raton Vaquero” which we’ve been updating over the months, we sang a new verse:
“They invaded Minnesota gassing every neighborhood;
They murdered Alex Pretti after killing Mrs. Good;
We watched in admiration as we saw that town resist:
When they come here let’s emulate Minneapolis.
El Bufon Pendejo
And his fascist cronies
We’ll see them rot in prison
In their orange chonies (interlude: Chopin’s Revolutionary Etude)
What the heck is this jail? Donald Trump won’t get no bail.
Stephen Miller, Kristi Noem, settle into your new home.
People rise! Abolish ICE! Clobber MAGA down to size.
Finish off in this land White Supremacy’s last stand.”
[I didn’t mean though to suggest ICE & Border Patrol aren’t all over LA/OC; but we still haven’t seen anything like Operation Metro Surge, and we have to be ready for it.]
No one is talking about Keith Porter no more.
https://abc7.com/amp/post/keith-porter-court-documents-appear-identify-off-duty-ice-agent-fatal-northridge-shooting/18432321/
Batman takes his anti-ICE protest to city council meeting.
https://bsky.app/profile/sfgate.com/post/3mdjksoo2ik2a
Queue Gil Scott Heron.
https://youtu.be/m2zKdIcOV5s
Queue MDC playing Born to Die with modified lyrics.
No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bz5Tq4Lgo6U
That’s the way I’ve been doing it all year.
Here is a good anti-ICE anthem.
https://youtu.be/cJ3i4KBYDbg