On Jan. 10, Minneapolis once again became a stage for civic engagement as residents took to the streets for the ICE Out protest. In the dead of winter, people walked together, carrying signs, chanting, and honoring those affected by immigration enforcement. There were no smashed windows, no chaos, just people moving together with a collective and deliberate assertion that injustice cannot be ignored.  

Protesting is often dismissed as inconvenient or symbolic, but such criticisms miss its deeper significance. Protest is perceived as symbolic because it doesn’t usually create immediate, measurable outcomes the way a law, vote, or court ruling does. Protests are a fundamental mechanism by which citizens amplify their voices when traditional avenues of power tune them out. It is how ordinary people force urgent issues into public view when institutions fail to listen. When residents walk the streets together, they turn private frustration into collective power, forming a heartbeat saying, “We care” about our neighbors, our freedoms, and shared humanity. 

The ICE Out march reminded me that peaceful protest is an act of care. It says we refuse to accept harm as normal or silence as safety. It builds community among strangers who may disagree on many things but agree that injustice deserves a response. Walking together, chanting together, and demanding attention in the public sphere fosters solidarity, reminding participants and observers alike that civic responsibility is an active practice.  

History shows social progress rarely arrives through passive consents and bowed heads. Labor protections were won through strikes and mass organizing that disrupted daily life, civil rights advanced because people marched in Selma and boycotted buses in Montgomery, and LGBTQ+ rights gained momentum after communities refused to stay silent during Stonewall. These reforms were secured because people risked discomfort and confrontation to make themselves heard. Currently, protest remains one of the few tools ordinary citizens possess to shape policy and culture. 

We must continue to protest, not recklessly, but peacefully and intentionally, because in doing so we assert both agency and shared humanity. Change solely begins when we refuse to disappear from the public conscience.