Dove Kent
@dovekent.bsky.social
U.S. Senior Director at Diaspora Alliance. Posts my own. Movement organizer + strategist, political educator, parent/step-parent. Resources at https://dovekent.squarespace.com/
Reposted by Dove Kent
The contrast between the complete cowardice of our civic institutions in the face of creeping authoritarianism, compared to the bravery and fortitude of ordinary citizens, is so glaring.
More than 34,000 Minnesotans signed up to be trained as ICED observers with various activist groups in recent weeks, many of them since Jan. 7, when a federal agent shot and killed Renée Good.
Thousands of new ICE watchers hit the streets after two killings
Minnesotans outraged by the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti have signed up in large numbers to monitor and protest ICE with other activists.
www.washingtonpost.com
January 31, 2026 at 11:46 PM
The contrast between the complete cowardice of our civic institutions in the face of creeping authoritarianism, compared to the bravery and fortitude of ordinary citizens, is so glaring.
Reposted by Dove Kent
The nazis redistributed the stolen property of deported Jews to the German population. It was called Aryanization.
This is no different.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryaniz...
This is no different.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryaniz...
January 31, 2026 at 9:11 PM
The nazis redistributed the stolen property of deported Jews to the German population. It was called Aryanization.
This is no different.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryaniz...
This is no different.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryaniz...
Reposted by Dove Kent
4 Black journalists have been kidnapped by the federal government
January 30, 2026 at 6:45 PM
4 Black journalists have been kidnapped by the federal government
Reposted by Dove Kent
This isn’t about convicting Don Lemon. It’s unlikely that will happen. It’s about intimidating journalists & making them censure themselves out of fear of consequences. It’s about eroding the free press because the administration can’t afford the criticism.
This just in: "Don Lemon was taken into custody by federal agents last night in Los Angeles, where he was covering the Grammy awards," Lemon's attorney Abbe Lowell says.
January 30, 2026 at 2:44 PM
This isn’t about convicting Don Lemon. It’s unlikely that will happen. It’s about intimidating journalists & making them censure themselves out of fear of consequences. It’s about eroding the free press because the administration can’t afford the criticism.
Reposted by Dove Kent
CAN WE ALL CAPS THIS
"A chronic mistake organizers make is basically organizing people around their lack of agency."
"A chronic mistake organizers make is basically organizing people around their lack of agency."
A discussion about why Minnesota was so ready to reject ICE/CBP:
"Number one is the rigorous focus on agency-oriented organizing practice, a north star of building multiracial, democratic governing power. We have a majoritarian orientation — we want progressive and popular power."
"Number one is the rigorous focus on agency-oriented organizing practice, a north star of building multiracial, democratic governing power. We have a majoritarian orientation — we want progressive and popular power."
Our Power Is Organized People
Creating a movement across generations, races, and faiths in Minnesota.
hammerandhope.org
January 29, 2026 at 6:21 PM
CAN WE ALL CAPS THIS
"A chronic mistake organizers make is basically organizing people around their lack of agency."
"A chronic mistake organizers make is basically organizing people around their lack of agency."
Reposted by Dove Kent
People talk about who has citizenship and who does not as though these are absolute, ontological qualities that confer moral worth, as opposed to legal fictions invented by the state to distinguish between an in-group and an out-group, and can be conferred or withdrawn at any time.
January 28, 2026 at 5:59 PM
People talk about who has citizenship and who does not as though these are absolute, ontological qualities that confer moral worth, as opposed to legal fictions invented by the state to distinguish between an in-group and an out-group, and can be conferred or withdrawn at any time.
Reposted by Dove Kent
Anne Frank is culturally coded today as "innocent victim" because we beat the Nazis, so we back-project modern concepts of stable citizenship onto her to maintain our cultural view of her as innocent. If we beat ICE, maybe 80 years from now, we will look back similarly on ICE victims today.
It is literally false that the Jews being hunted by Nazis were citizens, because the first step toward genocide was stripping them of citizenship and making them stateless. As Arendt reminds us, citizenship is a legal category created to facilitate a machinery of exclusion of the out-group.
January 28, 2026 at 8:06 PM
Anne Frank is culturally coded today as "innocent victim" because we beat the Nazis, so we back-project modern concepts of stable citizenship onto her to maintain our cultural view of her as innocent. If we beat ICE, maybe 80 years from now, we will look back similarly on ICE victims today.
Reposted by Dove Kent
For example, a reform that restricts ICE’s ability to interact with the public in specific ways takes power away. Body cams, on the other hand, are an expensive non-solution that increases mass surveillance of the public. “Police reform” has proven they don’t stop shootings.
January 28, 2026 at 12:33 AM
For example, a reform that restricts ICE’s ability to interact with the public in specific ways takes power away. Body cams, on the other hand, are an expensive non-solution that increases mass surveillance of the public. “Police reform” has proven they don’t stop shootings.
Reposted by Dove Kent
These ICE killings are "the blueprint for how NSPM-7 will be enforced against community members and rapid responders". This order can "retroactively justify the extrajudicial killing of a community rapid responder by a federal agent [in] the worst-case scenario long feared by frontline responders."
Renee Good’s Extrajudicial Killing Escalated the Normalization of State Terror
What happens next will determine whether Good’s killing sets a precedent for more state violence.
truthout.org
January 25, 2026 at 6:46 PM
These ICE killings are "the blueprint for how NSPM-7 will be enforced against community members and rapid responders". This order can "retroactively justify the extrajudicial killing of a community rapid responder by a federal agent [in] the worst-case scenario long feared by frontline responders."
"The lies this administration is telling... aren't those you deploy as part of a cover-up. They're those you use when you want to show you can get away with anything." When they raise the cost of unity, its on us to raise the solidarity.
Solidarity, particularly across race and class, is Kryptonite for authoritarian regimes. They can only thrive when their us v. them framing is adopted by society at large, and they join as active or passive collaborators with the regime. So the only response they have is to raise the cost of unity
They are telling us in unequivocal terms that if you show solidarity with immigrants who are in the literal crosshairs of Trump/MAGA, you're risking a death sentence.
newrepublic.com/article/2055...
newrepublic.com/article/2055...
January 25, 2026 at 5:08 PM
"The lies this administration is telling... aren't those you deploy as part of a cover-up. They're those you use when you want to show you can get away with anything." When they raise the cost of unity, its on us to raise the solidarity.
Reposted by Dove Kent
M. Gessen, gift link: The soviet secret police too "were ruled by quotas... Fundamentally, the terror was random. That is, in fact, how state terror works. The randomness is the difference between a regime based on terror and a regime that is plainly repressive"
Opinion | State Terror Has Arrived
www.nytimes.com
January 25, 2026 at 1:55 PM
M. Gessen, gift link: The soviet secret police too "were ruled by quotas... Fundamentally, the terror was random. That is, in fact, how state terror works. The randomness is the difference between a regime based on terror and a regime that is plainly repressive"
Reposted by Dove Kent
Media: do not lead with the false government framing of what happened
January 24, 2026 at 9:09 PM
Media: do not lead with the false government framing of what happened
Reposted by Dove Kent
ICE is a paramilitary that summarily executes people who dare to protest against them. That is who they are. They cannot be reformed. Everyone who works for them at this point must face consequences.
January 24, 2026 at 4:06 PM
ICE is a paramilitary that summarily executes people who dare to protest against them. That is who they are. They cannot be reformed. Everyone who works for them at this point must face consequences.
Reposted by Dove Kent
Exact same playbook as the reaction to BLM. Same wording and conspiracy theories.
Except this time it looks like fewer people are buying it. Hopefully Dems don’t legitimize it.
Except this time it looks like fewer people are buying it. Hopefully Dems don’t legitimize it.
Kristi Noem: "When we did these operations in other cities across the country, we didn't see this kind of violence. We didn't see organized, funded protesters come in to conduct acts of violence against our law enforcement officers like we're seeing in Minneapolis."
January 18, 2026 at 7:49 PM
Exact same playbook as the reaction to BLM. Same wording and conspiracy theories.
Except this time it looks like fewer people are buying it. Hopefully Dems don’t legitimize it.
Except this time it looks like fewer people are buying it. Hopefully Dems don’t legitimize it.
Reposted by Dove Kent
The political ground is shifting on ICE. Your own Dem rep or senator may not have caught up yet. Now - before the 1/30 funding deadline - is the time to push.
Arizona’s @gallego.senate.gov : "I think ICE needs to be totally torn down… People want immigration enforcement that goes after criminals, not the goon squad that has come from Stephen Miller and Trump."
January 18, 2026 at 7:55 PM
The political ground is shifting on ICE. Your own Dem rep or senator may not have caught up yet. Now - before the 1/30 funding deadline - is the time to push.
Reposted by Dove Kent
Nice thing about Minneapolis being kinda small is that it’s hard to convince us protesters are being paid because you’d go out and oh there’s that kid from my high school who played Sancho Panza in Man of La Mancha one year, and is that the pharmacist at my CVS over there, and there goes our realtor
January 17, 2026 at 6:10 AM
Nice thing about Minneapolis being kinda small is that it’s hard to convince us protesters are being paid because you’d go out and oh there’s that kid from my high school who played Sancho Panza in Man of La Mancha one year, and is that the pharmacist at my CVS over there, and there goes our realtor
Reposted by Dove Kent
I don’t think people quite understand that the occupation by ICE in the Twin Cities has more or less erased non-white people from public life. They cannot safely exist in any space accessible to the public and moving between private places leaves folks vulnerable to kidnapping by armed masked goons.
January 16, 2026 at 10:15 PM
I don’t think people quite understand that the occupation by ICE in the Twin Cities has more or less erased non-white people from public life. They cannot safely exist in any space accessible to the public and moving between private places leaves folks vulnerable to kidnapping by armed masked goons.
Reposted by Dove Kent
every single successful general strike in US history has had union backing through the local AFL-CIO
this is the first time it’s been called for since the 1940s
this is the first time it’s been called for since the 1940s
January 16, 2026 at 9:24 PM
every single successful general strike in US history has had union backing through the local AFL-CIO
this is the first time it’s been called for since the 1940s
this is the first time it’s been called for since the 1940s
Reposted by Dove Kent
When law-and-order types point out that only a small percentage of people killed by police each year were unarmed, keep in mind that Renee Good will be classified as "armed."
January 15, 2026 at 10:01 PM
When law-and-order types point out that only a small percentage of people killed by police each year were unarmed, keep in mind that Renee Good will be classified as "armed."
Reposted by Dove Kent
I am heavy-hearted to learn that a federal appeals court ruled against Mahmoud Khalil. The Trump administration’s persecution of him is unconscionable.
I stand with Mahmoud and the Constitution. Khalil has not been rearrested. This legal battle is not over.
I stand with Mahmoud and the Constitution. Khalil has not been rearrested. This legal battle is not over.
BREAKING: An appeals court has struck down the decision that freed pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil from immigration detention.
Appeals court reverses decision that freed pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil
A federal appeals panel has reversed a lower court decision that released former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil from an immigration jail, bringing the government one step closer to detaining and ultimately deporting the Palestinian activist.
bit.ly
January 15, 2026 at 9:42 PM
I am heavy-hearted to learn that a federal appeals court ruled against Mahmoud Khalil. The Trump administration’s persecution of him is unconscionable.
I stand with Mahmoud and the Constitution. Khalil has not been rearrested. This legal battle is not over.
I stand with Mahmoud and the Constitution. Khalil has not been rearrested. This legal battle is not over.
Reposted by Dove Kent
The past couple days have made it clear that arresting and prosecuting Johnathan Ross isn’t just the right thing to do, it is necessary to prevent future violence by ICE who have interpreted the situation as “we can do that to whoever we want”
A woman recording an ICE agent tells him "Shame on you."
The agent responds, "Have you all not learned from the past couple of days?"
"Learned what?" she asks
Then he knocks her phone out of her hand
The agent responds, "Have you all not learned from the past couple of days?"
"Learned what?" she asks
Then he knocks her phone out of her hand
January 10, 2026 at 3:25 PM
The past couple days have made it clear that arresting and prosecuting Johnathan Ross isn’t just the right thing to do, it is necessary to prevent future violence by ICE who have interpreted the situation as “we can do that to whoever we want”
Reposted by Dove Kent
For 248 years the streets of America didn’t feature a roving masked federal kidnapping squad that might send you a Central American death camp or just murder you themselves, but getting rid of it now is some impossible lefty fantasy that professional Democrats lamentably must struggle against.
Classic Democratic no-win. All of them voted against the OBAA, which supercharged ICE funding and hiring. But they won't say they'd "abolish ICE" so they'll get yelled at (mostly by people who'll vote for them in the midterms after threatening not to).
Top Democrats decline to say if they would rein in ICE after Minnesota shooting
January 9, 2026 at 2:50 AM
For 248 years the streets of America didn’t feature a roving masked federal kidnapping squad that might send you a Central American death camp or just murder you themselves, but getting rid of it now is some impossible lefty fantasy that professional Democrats lamentably must struggle against.
Reposted by Dove Kent
This is literally what they do whenever a Black person is killed by police. No matter how solid the evidence is, they will keep pushing that lie, not just to poison the conversation and make sure the killer walks free, but to reassert the political idea that these people deserve to be killed.
The shooting is shocking enough but the government's response is off the charts when you consider that this incident is forensically documented on video.
January 8, 2026 at 1:41 PM
This is literally what they do whenever a Black person is killed by police. No matter how solid the evidence is, they will keep pushing that lie, not just to poison the conversation and make sure the killer walks free, but to reassert the political idea that these people deserve to be killed.
Reposted by Dove Kent
My anger at having to stand outside my kid’s school for two hours to ensure none of their classmates, parents, or teachers get kidnapped by my own government is only slightly tempered by the amazing outpouring of support from other parents and especially neighbors who stand against this bullshit.
January 9, 2026 at 12:41 AM
My anger at having to stand outside my kid’s school for two hours to ensure none of their classmates, parents, or teachers get kidnapped by my own government is only slightly tempered by the amazing outpouring of support from other parents and especially neighbors who stand against this bullshit.