The Wild Reed: July 2026

Saturday, July 04, 2026

On July 4th, Two Very Different Marches

This morning my friends Kathleen and Rita and I participated in a somber ritual of remembrance and call to action for all who have died in ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) detention.

Following is how the online community Humanizing Through Story described our gathering, one that was organized by the Minnesota chapter of the Sunrise Movement.

Today, July 4th, a funeral was held for the 52 people who died in ICE detention during the Trump administration. Hundreds of people rallied and carried caskets, one for each of the 52 victims. They crossed the Hennepin Avenue Bridge, marching in silence to the sound of songs led by The Singing Resistance. They marched to downtown Minneapolis, where they laid the caskets on the ground outside the U.S. Department of Justice building. There, they held a funeral service featuring eulogies, speeches, and songs honoring all the lives taken by ICE.

The 52 deaths represent only recorded accounts. This administration is actively trying to hide accusations of abuse and harm, and it recently issued a directive to stop recording deaths of immigrants who were recently released from custody. There have been multiple accounts of immigrants, including the elderly and those with mental health issues, being released by ICE in unfamiliar cities or during frigid winter temperatures, where they subsequently died. This number also does not account for other deaths’s involving ICE, such as those of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

There are endless reports of abuse, sexual assault, rape, torture, the withholding of food, contaminated water, the denial of medical care, and other inhumane conditions and treatment toward immigrants held in detention centers across the country. This protest was held not only to honor those who have died but also to raise awareness and call for an end to the inhumane treatment and detention of our neighbors.

– Humanizing Our Stories
via social media
July 4, 2026

– Image: Photographer unknown.

– Image: Humanizing Through Story.

Meanwhile, Melinda Fulton reports on a very different march that took place today in the nation’s capital.

I’m watching masked white nationalists march through Washington, D.C., on the Fourth of July carrying Confederate flags and “Reclaim America” banners, and I’m supposed to believe this has nothing to do with the man in the White House. I’m supposed to pretend this is just some fringe spectacle, disconnected from the political climate we’ve been living through for years.

But this is exactly what a Trump presidency looks like when you stop listening to the speeches and start paying attention to who feels empowered enough to march openly through the nation’s capital.

These aren’t random provocateurs looking for attention. They are members of Patriot Front, a white nationalist, neo fascist organization that openly promotes the idea of turning America into a white ethnostate. They chose to parade through Washington on the 250th anniversary of the United States because they believed that was the moment to make themselves seen.

Every time someone tells me that “MAGA is just about loving America,” I think about scenes like this. I think about the Confederate flags. The matching uniforms. The masks hiding their faces. The chants about “reclaiming” a country that never belonged exclusively to one race in the first place.

I think about years of rhetoric describing immigrants as “poisoning the blood” of the nation, warning about “invaders,” talking about “enemies within,” and constantly dividing Americans into “real Americans” and everyone else. Then I watch groups like Patriot Front step confidently into the streets, and I’m expected to believe there’s no connection.

MAGA Republicans are the reason I want change in this country. They want me to believe this is normal now. They want me to accept that open white nationalism is just another political viewpoint, that marching through the capital in masks with fascist slogans deserves the same respect as people peacefully demanding equal rights. I refuse. If this is what Trump’s America looks like in the streets, then I’m going to keep saying exactly what I see. Those are his people. This is his movement. And if you’re still defending him, you don’t get to act shocked when people inspired by that movement show up dressed for a racist parade on America’s birthday.