5 Stars All Around

Text came across this photograph I made of an ICE agent filming me in the lobby of a hotel in Minneapolis.

Protestors found out where the agents were staying and burned garbage in the road and pulled up concrete from the sidewalk that they would lob at a single Minneapolis police officer and the manager who set up a barricade in the lobby to keep them out. What had started as a protest turned into a riot. These rioters weren't just against ICE. They were searching for anyone who was down to help them process childhood traumas. They found the perfect dance partners in ICE agents. Everyone was DTF. Down to fight. The protesters with rocks and snowballs. The ICE agents with bear spray, flash bangs and rubber bullets.

Throughout this project rioters were by far the minority that I ran into. I would see them in the periphery of the protest in Minneapolis and Los Angeles. You could always tell who they were. The DTFs. They wore all black and looked like extras from Thunderdome. The outfits were as planned as a 15 year old boy getting ready for his first date. It was no different on the other side. Men love their gear. The feds wanted to make sure that they are ready for any eventuality. Whether you needed to hog tie someone, or shoot someone, or change a tire. They were prepared. If they fell into a pond they would sink like a stone.

They were like boy scouts crossed with a Swiss army knife dipped in napalm. It was not a fair fight but everyone got what they were looking for. Five stars all around.