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The Politics Chicks is a progressive politics podcast and politics news show hosted by Christy Branham and Monica Healy.
Every week, we sit down with candidates, elected officials, journalists, historians, policy experts, advocates, and everyday Americans shaping the future of our democracy. We go beyond the headlines with thoughtful interviews, fact-based analysis, and candid conversations about the issues that affect our lives—from elections and public policy to healthcare, education, civil rights, and the economy.
Whether we’re interviewing members of Congress, first-time candidates, medical experts, or community leaders, our mission is the same: to inform, challenge, and inspire.
If you’re looking for a politics podcast that values evidence over outrage, curiosity over division, and hope over cynicism, welcome home.
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@ThePoliticsChicks
Hello.
Welcome to the Politics Chicks podcast.
I'm Monica Healey.
And I am Christy Branham.
Since the start of Operation Metro Surge,
the invasion of federal immigration agents
into the Twin Cities in greater Minnesota,
we have seen an amazing outpouring of what
one journalist described as neighborism,
mutual aid in the form of food donations
and deliveries, ice observers, moms
on school patrols, and so much.
More ordinary people have been
doing extraordinary things.
Today we are joined by Kelly Wilson,
who took that idea to the extreme.
Kelly has been a part of organizing
for good since the fall of 2024 when
she coordinated a hoodie drive for
marginalized and unhoused youth.
Shortly thereafter, Kelly founded
Do'Gooders Minnesota, a group whose
goal was to spread radical joy to
marginalized and targeted communities.
Do'Gooders, under Kelly's leadership
hosted Unabashed, a celebration of
love and pride in the spring of 2025.
This project was a completely free
day-long event consisting of 12
individualized mini weddings for members
of the Twin Cities LGBTQ Community.
In the fall of 2025, Kelly launched
a bean box drive where community
members could get their own individual
bean box to set out for donations
up to and including Halloween.
The Bean box drive benefited
local food shelves and airport
workers who were working without
pay during the government shutdown
By far, Kelly's most influential and
wide ranging project began in January of
2026 when ICE descended upon Minneapolis.
Kelly instinctively sprang into
action and began an ambitious campaign
on Facebook highlighting the need
of families sheltering in place.
Donations poured in her small house,
became a hub for food deliveries.
Since she started just a little
over two months ago, Kelly has
raised over $70,000 and counting.
Families have been nourished, housed,
and comforted by her words, actions, and
the love of all community members who
stepped up to donate money and essentials
and participated as delivery drivers.
We actually learned about Kelly's
activism through a friend, someone
whom we reached out to about speaking
with us about what she had been doing,
collecting funds, shopping for groceries,
and delivering to families in need.
So many people have been doing exactly
that and are all heroes to be sure.
But that friend pointed us towards
Kelly and when we learned about
what she'd been doing, we knew we
wanted to have her on the show.
So thanks for being here with us,
Kelly, and welcome to the show.
Thanks for inviting me.
Like I told you, I've said no to a
lot of media, but I said yes to you
guys 'cause I was very flattered.
Thank
honored.
We are so honored.
Yeah.
She said no to the Guardian
and she said yes to us.
I know.
I'm gonna be walking around like a
total snob now for the rest of the day.
Same.
Well, I will say that was at the
beginning of things, and at that
point I had slept about two days
in seven, when all of this started.
So I said no for a lot of reasons.
But yes, you should
still be very flattered.
Thank you.
Thanks you.
And Kelly, let's start out where
this all really kind of began
with Operation Metro Surge.
As a Minnesotan, what were you seeing
that was happening in our communities
and what kind of drove you into action?
So we had already had ice here.
We started with 150 agents.
So it was of course something we
were all, you know, watching, but
it wasn't a horrid in the beginning.
And then we started hearing about
the surge that was coming and
none of us really knew what that
was gonna look like or feel like.
And it felt very bad when it started
very bad and I didn't know exactly
where I was gonna position myself
when it first started because there
was so much fear with everybody.
Myself included.
I've actually been in fear the whole time.
You just have to learn to go anyway.
But a friend of mine who was very involved
with the immigrant community in St.
Paul contacted me, very good friend who
had helped with the weddings earlier
in the year, and she said, did you hear
about the Honduras mom on the news?
And so a few weeks before that, there
was a news story about a Honduras
mom who was nursing her brand new
baby who was taken into custody
and separated from the new infant.
So my friend said do you know about that?
I said, of course.
She said.
I know where they are.
I know who's helping the dad and the baby.
We need to help this family.
And I was like, of course
we need to help this family.
So that's actually how it started.
A friend said, there's families in crisis.
And I said, okay, let's go.
So I. I knew that I already had
a thousand followers, from the
Do'Gooders and from my personal site.
We had about 2000 followers.
People had jumped to with all of the
things I had been doing all year.
So I just threw out a SOS and said,
this is, we need to feed people.
And I called for people to start.
I, I started with a basic, what we need.
We started with the basics.
Rice and beans, peanut butter.
I gave everybody a list and people
started showing up at my house that it
really was that quick and that easy.
You just decide and you do it.
And I decided to do it on Facebook
because I knew a lot of marginalized
people would not know where to go and
they would go to the social media and
Facebook is the one that I believed would
be the easiest to find the people on.
And I, they, we did, we found 'em quickly.
That's great.
You're and your Do'Gooders organization
I looked at on their website and I
can't tell you how much I love the
description that you have there.
A group of humans who gather as
community to spread radical joy as
a means of protest resistance and
Yeah, that's what I wanted it to be.
That's why we did the weddings.
First off, I wanted to create massive joy
for people that were massively scared.
I wanted to counter everything horrible.
When the election happened, I actually
in my head had a really loud voice
that because it was so distraught
that day and a really loud voice
said to me, every single time they
take something away, you are going
to work in giving something back.
And that's why I started the Do'Gooder
'cause I wanted to spread joy to.
Everybody I knew that was hurting so bad.
And we did.
We started with this big joyful thing.
And then since then, it's become
quite somber, if I'm honest.
But there's still a lot of joy.
Within the suffering in Minneapolis,
there's a lot of joy, which sometimes
is hard because you get like a survivor
guilt to feel the joy at the same time.
I struggle with it myself, but
there's a lot still happening
positively in Minneapolis and
just the people coming together.
As of today, we've raised $73,500.
That's since January 9th.
That's in two months and a week, and
that has paid, as of today, we've
paid either the full or partial
rent of 47 different families.
It's a drop in the bucket compared
to the need that's out there, but
there's a lot of mes out there.
I'm not the only one doing it.
I just do things really big
because that's what my brain does.
But there's lots of people doing
this on a much quieter level.
I know friends who are helping
in their little neighborhoods.
Everything is instead of pulling back.
I keep telling people we need
to really, really focus in.
It needs to be hyperlocal.
You need to, to get involved
in your neighborhood.
in the neighborhood is where all the magic
is happening in Minneapolis and why we
were able to help so many people, with
the observers, because we're hyperlocal
in Minneapolis with all the little
neighborhoods, and that's part of why
Minneapolis was able to respond quickly.
I think that's something that
the people around the country
don't really understand.
I actually have another
home in California.
My husband has been on a
temporary job assignment.
I'm here in Minnesota, as you can
tell right now, I'll bundled up.
But, um, I've had people in
California, you know, I've connected
with invisible groups and there I
observers because they're slated
to come to Southern California too.
And people have asked me how do we
replicate what happened in Minnesota?
And I kind of said, I don't think there's
a single answer to that because it is
so decentralized and it is so local,
and you illustrate that really well.
so this is the first podcast that
I've done, two Zoom like meetings
to help people start to get ready.
and I talked to Pennsylvania
was the first one I did.
So what I think people are gonna
have to realize is Minneapolis.
So like our city of Minneapolis, I
live in the Longfellow neighborhood.
That's a, we have our own rec center.
We're connected, we have our own,
city council type people around us.
So Minneapolis was able to do it
based on our different city blocks.
So we've got the Cooper area next to us.
We've got Powderhorn down the street.
So everybody was able to do that.
I believe other cities can replicate that
with boroughs and such like that, but
I think they need to take what we did
and just everybody's gonna to turn it
to how their culture of their city is.
I think we can help with like a
blueprint of this is how we succeeded.
Now take this to your city and replicate
it in the way that your city operates.
So what I'm telling people right now is
when immigrants are in need, they go to
the places that are familiar to them.
So one of the first places
that they call are restaurants.
They call their local
restaurants that they go to and
meet their other friends at.
So all the little local restaurants
for Mexican food in St. Paul have
become hubs for the immigrants to call.
And so I keep telling everybody in
the small cities, 'cause they're
like, we have no idea how to start.
And I'm like go to the restaurants, go
to the churches, and go to the schools.
That's where you go.
If you go to those three locations
in every neighborhood that has a
high concentration of immigrants
or a high concentration of people
who are lower on the scale, you're
more poverty stricken areas, that's
where you're gonna find people.
It's not just immigrants
that are affected by this.
When you take away the jobs and
you've already taken away the systems
that help and now you put pressure
on those communities, it's not just
immigrants that are gonna be struggling.
It's every person that is below a
certain level is already down there,
and now they're just piling on.
So getting hyper-local in your city,
even if you don't think you have that
many immigrants, is still gonna be hyper
important because everybody suffers.
It's not just one group of people.
Well, and I think this is just a
wonderful example of how with every
wave that's coming from DHS with ICE,
in Portland, we learned that you need
to approach protesting with humor.
Right?
So we learned the frog
suits, we learned the music
We threw the dildos
Exactly, In Chicago, that's
when the whistles took off.
That was kind of the whole whistle thing.
And in Minneapolis we've kind of refined
all that and it added that hyperlocal
focus on your individual neighborhood.
Super helpful And it's super
helpful, the horns and the whistles.
So I live in a neighborhood
that was very affected.
We are, a mile from where the
city burned for George Floyd.
So that's the neighborhood I live in.
We know this.
We've seen this was worse than
George Floyd, but we had already
been through George Floyd.
We had proud boys driving in pickup
trucks down our street, throwing,
water bottles of gasoline in our yard
so that they could come back later.
We knew what it was like, to bind
together in our neighborhood and
make sure everybody was safe and
check on those that were struggling.
So we know all about that.
But the horns and the, and
the whistles are invaluable.
They're just, I would sit in my house
and the minute you would hear them,
yes, we're gonna be traumatized by horns
and whistles in Minneapolis for the
rest of our lives, but when you'd hear
them coming, you could get prepared and
it's kind, you can hear them far off.
I think that's something every city
needs to make sure that they are jumping
on immediately because it's such a
warning for everybody in the area.
Even if you're in your car.
I got, I got boxed in by ICE.
it was.
Terrifying.
I was delivering rent checks or
rent cash to people and I had
actually just finished doing one.
I knew nobody was following me
because we do a lot of maneuvers
to make sure we're never followed.
And all I did was turn down a
street and there was a white pickup
truck and another car, and I was
actually looking for an address,
so I wasn't even paying attention.
Um, but I was doing like I was going
to the side to read 'cause I'm too
old and I couldn't see the numbers
and I don't, didn't wear my glasses.
So I was pulling over to read
signs and then I pull back out.
So I think to them, I looked like
I was going to be a disruptor
or something, I don't know.
But all of a sudden I saw the white
pickup truck in my rear view mirror,
whip around in a circle, which I had
seen outside my home when they were
there before and trying to get somewhere.
And they came flying down the road and
literally pushed me into the side and
then just blocked me so I couldn't move.
And, uh, it was terrifying.
I didn't know what they wanted.
I wasn't doing anything so finally
after about two minutes of that, I
got bold and rolled down my window
and kind of gave the, what the hell?
Look at them and they nodded, with their
masks on, and then they took off and
that's why people are sheltering in place.
Had I been my son who's African
American, had I been any of my friends
who have darker skin, I don't believe
that they just would've taken a
picture of my license plate and left.
so anybody who has darker skin at
all is sheltered in place and they
will, in every city, knowing what
had happened in Minneapolis, that's
gonna be something going forward that
I think nobody really understands.
They think that every human that's
sheltering in place must have done
something wrong or must and that's
not what's happening in fact, my
experience, and I've been talking to
people for now two and a half months,
my experience is that the vast majority
that are sheltering in place, it has
nothing to do with their legal status.
It has to do with their fear about
being profiled and thrown into detention
and who knows what could happen to you
then you could end up in El Salvador.
Who knows?
And that's why people are at home.
And that's the message I really
want people to understand because
they're vilifying everybody who's
sheltering in place and the reason
those people are sheltering in place
is 'cause they're absolutely terrified.
That's just the truth.
And we've seen that over and over
where they have been taking people
regardless of their immigration status
70% of the people that they
have so far detained have
been released with no charges.
70%. That means 70% of the people
that they're victimizing have
nothing to do with what they're
stating that they're doing.
It's just lies.
And it's to create terror, and
it's to create, confusion, anger.
It's to set people off.
It's mass chaos on purpose.
The Party of Financial Responsibility,
let's talk about the resources
that were used to do all of
Well and now we're left
with this horrible mess.
Excuse me, I'm getting over.
Pneumonia.
now we're left with this horrible
mess of businesses closed.
Not one family that I've been
helping is back to work, not one.
Where are they supposed to go now?
There's, there's limited services.
They're scared to leave their home still
because now we're just doing sneaky
tactics in Minneapolis, in plain clothing.
In Eagan, they were asking a woman of
Latin descent to go up to doors and knock
so that she wouldn't look frightening and
that people would open their doors and
then they'd pull them out of the doors.
Nobody wants to be in that situation,
so nobody's going to come out until
they're sure that they are safe
and that their family is safe.
And I don't know when that happens.
So this isn't going anywhere.
That's the big thing too.
The media moved on and America moved
on because we have so much happening,
but it's not going away in Minneapolis
and I honestly don't know when it
will feel better because I don't
know any family that's back to okay.
and there are a lot of families
too who are non-immigrant
representing non-immigrant
Absolutely.
They're not okay either though.
Who are keeping their kids home
because they're worried about
their kids witnessing violence
and being traumatized at school.
I have, one of the women that we've been
helping she has high anxiety disorder and
she's scared to death to see her son see
masked men commit violence in the streets,
and she won't let her son go to school.
And she's very scared for her child
and they aren't, the hunted population.
She's just scared of the trauma
her son could endure just being at
school because that's happened in
Minneapolis all over at the schools.
I've had people ask me as a former
teacher that taught through COVID,
which aftermath is going to be
worse, you know, the aftermath of
COVID or the aftermath of this.
And I, I said, well, this, because during
COVID, all the kids were in the same boat.
They were either all in school
or they were all remote.
Here those children are not having
anything that resembles the same
experience that the children are
having that are still attending school
no, not at all.
How do you catch up from that?
I mean, there was trauma involved in
COVID in that it was a major disruptor to
their lives, but it wasn't trauma that was
going to change their brain chemistry in a
way forever.
The way that fight and flight does.
I have three sons, who were
affected by the pandemic.
My middle son was a senior during that
time, so he missed his whole senior year.
Our youngest was a junior, which is also
a very formidable year, and our oldest
had just graduated, the year before and
was working on his EMT, to get into be a
paramedic and he had to do it all online.
And I saw trauma from all of them
after, but in way different ways.
Things like, . They like
the isolation, to be honest.
They still do now.
They, a lot of things had
changed about schooling.
My one son's doing all online
schooling for his degree so far
'cause he has no desire to go,
you know, do it face-to-face.
I think things like that changed kids,
this is something, this is horrible.
This is the things that I have
seen in the streets of Minneapolis,
the things I have heard, the
things I have been through myself.
I will never, ever be the same.
I went through COVID and it was
very scared about it, but this was
a fear I had never experienced.
I know minority populations have
experienced terror in our country before,
and we did live through the George Floyd
thing, and that was terrifying too.
But this is terrifying on a
way that it's not going away.
There Theres gonna be 800
personnel at Fort Snelling for ICE.
There's a fleet of, we all wondered
what was going on with all the
cars being delivered to Whipple.
Still, that's gonna be a part
of the fleet um, Fort Snelling.
They're also, I believe, gonna
have planes that they'll be
keeping on the Air Force base.
Um, That's not going anywhere.
That and Trump's a narcissist.
Narcissists don't back down.
I've been saying this , I
was raised by a narcissist.
My family's MAGA.
I was raised white nationalist Christian.
So all of this chaos is very, very,
predictable to me, and that's why
I'm able to move quickly within
this type of an environment.
I was raised to be MAGA and I'm not,
and I'm estranged from my family.
They're all in Texas and.
I think part of my drive is I know what's
happening and I know what their plans
are, and none of this goes away there.
Uh, people like me can't do this forever.
i've had pneumonia and been
in the hospital since it
started because of the stress.
It's a lot and if you get involved with
talking to the families I've talked
to over a hundred families, it's a
lot to hear the actual trauma from the
people that are actually in the trauma.
And it's horrible to have to
say I don't have it to people
that need help with their rent.
and I know the city is
trying to help, but.
It's not fast enough and a
lot of people are going to
get evicted this coming month.
We're gonna have a mass eviction casualty
problem in this city quickly approaching,
You mentioned the city council a
couple times, and just last week,
the Minneapolis City Council voted
to extend the eviction notice from 30
to 60 days, and Mayor Frey vetoed it.
And his explanation was that he was
going to put forth a million dollars,
and he felt that direct funding was
better than the eviction, extension.
But that money is not
available until July 1st
Yeah, the whole thing, I don't know
if you've been to my site lately, but
I actually sent a, video message to
Mayor Frey, and it was not a kind one.
Uh, I'm very upset about this.
I'm very upset that both Frey
uh, Walz have not acted on this.
So a million dollars is
what they're offering out.
That's.
So I'm paying rents.
I know exactly what the rents are.
In Minneapolis, the average rent is
$1,350, which means that a million
dollar grant will cover 740 homes.
That is not enough.
And that's just Minneapolis.
And they just vetoed.
There was statewide bill for
54 million or 45 million.
Can't remember which one it was.
And that did not pass, either.
So my struggle is what the hell do you
think is gonna happen when massive amounts
of people are evicted at the same time?
What do you think is gonna
happen to the city that's already
decimated in so many areas?
What?
What are they?
I don't know what they're thinking now.
The city council, I hope, vetoes
this and gives people like me time
to help more people get caught up.
I'm paying rents, but some of the
rents I'm paying, those people are
still behind a thousand dollars.
They're still behind $800.
I mean, I can't help the masses, but I can
talk about somebody helping the masses.
The masses are in big trouble, and even
though people like me jumped on and
$73,500 is a lot of money for just a
human in a thousand square foot home
in Minneapolis to be able to raise.
It's not, it's hardly a dent,
and so the city has to step up.
I also don't know if I'm honest,
where are all of our rich Americans.
I will say, I had some young man contact
me and he said, I have an actual real rich
uncle and they don't know how to help.
Do you need help?
And I said, I need $10,000 as a gift.
Yes.
And so they sent me, he did,
he dropped off a $10,000 check.
And so we did get one benefactor who
gave us a gift, but $10,000 was 10 rents.
We paid a thousand dollars to 10
different families to get to as many
people as we could, and then it's gone.
There's a day and it's gone.
Where are the people that have
means in this country, and
why are they not showing up?
Except for Brandy Carlisle who did a
concert to raised a whole bunch of money.
Where are the people in this
country that can help our city?
Because we are not a small city.
We're a big city and we're a twin city.
St. Paul is just as messed up as we are.
I mean, I don't know that people
understand that it's two large cities.
We are, we're, big.
We might be in the middle of
Midwest, but we rival, you
know, we're like little Chicago,
so we, it's gonna be a big deal if these
humans are not taken care of in July.
I just wanna say for the
record, that is total bs.
It helps nobody, there is nobody
who's still gonna be in their home
that needs help in July because
they won't be in their home.
They just won't.
I went to a singing resistance event on
Friday and learned, that civilians have
given $8 million for rental assistance
and the government is offering 1 million.
And what is the government for
if not, to help the people?
And while I agree that we should
certainly be looking to these ultra
rich because the income inequality and
the wealth gap is huge, and there are
certainly people that could help, but
why isn't our government doing more?
Because they don't want to, they, could
do lots of things if they wanted to.
They could remove him today
in Congress if they wanted to.
But they don't want to.
They could do lots of things.
But I, like I said, I was born and raised.
I wasn't born into it.
I think it happened around the age
of six or eight or something that my
father became born again Christian.
That's what it was called
when I was younger.
They are very organized and they
now have everything they want,
and the last thing they want to
do is help the American public.
That's just the truth.
They don't want America to be strong.
They don't want the citizens to be
strong and they don't wanna help, so
they're not going to, that's the same
thing we're gonna see with FEMA as we
get into the spring and with all of
these weather systems that just came
through, it's all tied to the same thing.
They don't wanna help us anymore,
but they also don't want us
helping other people either.
So I've had a million death threats
feeding humans and helping people
stay in their homes so they don't get
thrown out in the middle of winter.
And so if I can get death threats
and I, it makes everybody pause and
we're all gonna have to get really,
really, comfortable with risk.
That's what I tell everybody that
wants to get into mutual aid.
Get really, really comfortable with
being uncomfortable and knowing that
you're gonna have risk in your life now.
Feeding humans has now become risky
in America because a population of our
citizens has decided that that's not okay.
And I say, screw that.
You just need to block and delete,
and it's the best we can do.
And Monica and I had that risk
conversation not long after things started
going south with the administration
, because we're Midwestern middle aged moms.
We both have a family.
We both have kids that
are in their twenties.
We both have a husband and speaking
out and becoming, you know, part of
the public eye is dangerous right now.
Part of the reason I said no
to the media that wanted to
interview me in the beginning is
because I was worried about me.
It's 'cause I was worried about the
families that, that I'm saving and I
don't mean saving, not saving anybody.
Let be very clear, I don't believe
that we're rescuing anybody.
These people are very
strong and resilient.
We need to be in service to them.
I too was very worried about being
too public, but not for my own self.
I was more concerned about, the people
that we were helping because they're
already a target and I don't want any
negativity on my site 'cause there's
people on my site that we're helping.
That's how they found us.
So I think you have to be really careful,
but you need to also remember that the
majority of the people are really good
and they really, really, want to help.
And I can tell you, I've been doing
this for two and a half months.
It has been nothing but positive.
Yes, I've gotten some death threats,
but that just, you kind of have
to be prepared for that if you're
gonna be online and you're gonna
be vocal, you're gonna get crap.
But the majority, the vast majority
of people, all they wanna do is help.
All they wanna do is support.
All they wanna do is get to the
humans that they see suffering.
The vast, vast, majority of
Americans are those humans.
So, yes, it's super risky and it
makes you feel, I don't know, like
you're hanging out there in the
wind and, You have to speak up.
Silence isn't going to save any of us
anymore, and you have to decide who do
I want to be in this time and place.
I too have a family.
I'm being very vocal and, most
people are very, very, good.
Minnesota has really shown that,
Christy and I have talked about the
fact that we are beyond proud of how
Minnesota has handled all this, despite
the fear people are stepping up.
And you mentioned joy earlier and
you've recently posted about it, and you
mentioned it here on the podcast too,
about struggling with feelings of joy
and equating it to survivor's guilt.
Oh yeah.
I've been struggling with
I love the idea of, needing micro
joys to see us through macro grief.
So other than helping people out, what
are some things that are bringing you joy?
I'm gonna tell you that, we have
eyes on us in Minneapolis from all
over the world, and I'm here to say
that because I was answering about
a hundred and 50 emails a day in the
beginning, I found my spam folder
and it had a thousand messages in it.
So I've been having to get
through the spam and I have
people from all over the world.
A woman from a very small town in Scotland
got ahold of me to say: can you get
ahold of some of these families that are
sheltering in place and if they're okay
with it, give us their phone number and
we would like to meet with them on the
computer so they don't feel so alone.
We'd like to Zoom with these families
so they have somebody on the outside
that they know is here for them.
Love that.
Scotland, right.
Um, Australia, we have, I have tons of
people from Australia, but the most people
that are following us are from Canada.
And let me tell you, they arel loving
humans and the things that they send,
it's joyful to have people around
the world acknowledge your suffering,
and cry and then it makes me happy.
It is also joyful to bring
things to humans that just can't
get their own things anymore.
Like it's, it's kind of mind boggling
to understand that these humans
literally can't even get groceries
delivered now because they're scared.
So the kids, so I've,
I've, moved from food.
We did food in the beginning and now
I'm doing babies, infants, and toddlers.
So we've supply all of
the diapers formula.
are really expensive
Um, we do all the baby stuff, including,
you know, babies grow very quickly.
Some of these people have been
in homes for three months.
I have baby clothes, we have donations
of breast, milk if we need to.
So we also stock a lot of snacks 'cause
when you have kids at home you need
snacks to keep them in the house.
So we, we do a lot of snacks
and I try and bring a lot of
things like, so Easters on deck.
So we've got the kinder eggs and
we've got all the little Debbies.
And so I pack separate bags for
the kids that are just full of
goodies and that brings me joy.
I get lots of messages back.
We had a little girl who
really wanted donuts.
She had been stuck in the house.
She wanted donuts, donuts,
donuts, So we had a local chef who
actually made her homemade donuts.
So we got those over to us.
That stuff brings me joy.
I have a chef who made a bunch of
frozen meals for a mother who is
due to half her baby in two weeks.
All of that brings me joy.
It's, completely worth it.
It's, uh, it's the hardest thing
I've ever done in my entire life.
Both emotionally and physically.
I, do feel what feels like survivor guilt.
Frequently when I feel happy or I
feel joy or something comes together
and I'm like, oh yeah, I got it.
And then I recognize and realize,
crap, yeah, I got $1,500 because
your government came after humans and
you have to make sure they're okay.
So it's this balancing act of
letting yourself feel some joy and
acknowledging that the reason you're
in this is because your government has
been taken over by radicals and you
have to help protect your neighbors.
That is, um, that's a whole
mental thing right there.
And it's, uh, you have to be
strong mentally to know that you're
gonna talk to people suffering.
And sometimes you have to say no,
and you can only do what you can do.
And, providing something to humans
that are suffering is the most rewarding
thing I think any human can do.
And I've been blessed by the people that
we are helping, and I keep telling my
wife, I'm so changed by this and I'm
so much softer because it's impossible
to not be completely affected by this
amount of suffering in our country.
I don't know how you could get
outta this and be the same.
Well, and I think that's relatable to
those of us who recognize that this
is not just happening in Minnesota.
Right before we came on the podcast, we
were talking about the fact that they've
taken the fucking show on the road,
and they're in Vermont now and they're
heading towards Southern California.
Mm-hmm.
But you know, also in our country and
really at the world at large, it's so
hard not to feel guilty about what's
going on when you can't reach those
people all the way across the country.
I think it's important for us to
remember that we allow them to steal
our joy and that's game over, right?
Right.
Oh, absolutely.
Yeah.
My next, crusade actually is I
wanna start some resistance parties.
There's a lot of us out there that need
to speak to other people that are doing
the same things we're doing, so that we
can have more support and we can have
more ideas and network with each other
to figure out, what's the next step.
'Cause as things change
we need to change with it.
They are going to get more advanced.
You know, they figured out
to go to plain clothes.
That was a good move on their end.
Now we need to figure out how do
you, we adjust when they do that?
I feel like Minneapolis is like,
we have started the systems, in my
opinion, Chicago kind of started it
with the whistles and stuff like that.
Chicago did a great, every city
actually has done a great job with this.
'cause I think this is how
Americans actually are.
We don't take kindly to this kinda shit.
And so.
Minneapolis and Minnesota are
kind of setting a new bar for
people to kind of build upon.
And I think as it goes to every
city, we'll add more and more things.
But the thing that I wanna say to
everybody is, this is coming to you
and everybody, the mutual a part
of it, everybody can start now and
that is what they do need to do.
Um, I, I was ready.
I had already started this group so
it's been over a year, so I already
had a group of people mobilized, so I
was able to just send out a Facebook
post, and it literally started for me.
Somebody who's newer.
I'm working with a woman who's, um,
trying to start this in Pennsylvania.
So she started with going to
her church and trying to set
up, uh, systems in her church.
But these cities that
are red, it's harder.
I have another woman I'm
talking with in Austin, Texas.
Um.
Because the state is red.
They don't have any
cooperation like we do.
We at least had cooperation kind of.
I mean, I don't know.
I would debate that too, even, I guess,
Yeah.
I mean, yeah.
Uh, I'm gonna take that back.
I dunno that we had that much
cooperation, but at least the humans in
the city, uh, I'm not getting a bunch
of crap because I'm in a red city.
I'm actually in an extremely blue
area, so I get a lot of support.
I don't feel like anybody's
watching me in my.
house or anything like that.
I think that part is harder for
people in a red state if they're
in a blue city, but start now.
They need to start right now.
Getting those staples, getting mobilized,
getting your systems in place, and that's
what I think Minneapolis showed it.
There were few of us that were able
to jump out before the churches were
able to organize before the food
shelves figured out how to deliver.
That's another thing I'm telling
everybody, go to your food shelves now.
So the food shelves
will be full in Vermont.
They will be full in these cities
because the people who are donating
wanna help, but the people that need
it aren't gonna go to the food shelves.
They're too scared to leave their houses.
So you can go to your food shelves
now and help them understand that
they're going to need to have delivery.
Otherwise, you're not gonna
have any food to the people.
There's so many things people can
be doing now in these cities to get
ready for them before they get there.
It will, help.
It will help the people who are hunted.
And just, let's underscore
what you just said.
They are coming to a community near you.
That's whole point of
If you think that your community
is not on the list, eventually
you are deluding yourself.
If it was about immigration, they
would go to the places that have
the immigration problem most 150,000
undocumented in both Florida and Texas.
They came to Minneapolis specifically
because this was a target of retribution.
It was targeting Walz.
Yes.
It's just that's what a narcissist does.
That's what.
That is what they do.
I was raised by one, so
I was ready for this.
This is what they do.
And a narcissist doesn't just say,
okay, we're done now we'll just leave.
Yet that doesn't happen either.
They are going to still be here, they're
going to make it a permanent thing, and
we are going to have to figure out as a
community how we live within that 'cause
people can't live in their homes forever.
So it's game on for everybody
and it is coming to every state.
Every state and I, I, swear to God,
I screamed and screamed and screamed
before the election, and I felt like
I was screaming to a wall, and now
I'm like, I have a little bit of a
platform and I'm gonna keep saying
the same thing over and over again.
This is intentional and they're
coming for you and your city.
Period.
This is about fascism, American style.
They want us to get used to brutality.
They want us to get used to the
rules are for thee and not me.
They want us to get used to cruelty,
and I don't think anybody in America
is gonna get used to those things.
And I think they're underestimating
us a lot, but it's a formable
opponent, I'll tell you that.
They're not making it easy.
No, and, and it's all been a lot,
you know, being from Minnesota, I
think we would all agree with that.
And when you step back and look at
all of this, you know, operation Metro
Surge, the death of two of our own
struggling businesses, the continued
needs, how Minnesotans have responded.
Looking forward, what's
giving you hope right now?
I think that America keeps showing up so.
I had a video that went viral,
um, the week after I started this.
That was when they went into North
Minneapolis and they shot a gentleman
that he was running into his home.
When it was first reported, it said
they shot an African American man.
Uh, my wife taught on the north side, at
Nelly Stone Johnson Elementary School from
Minneapolis Public Schools for 30 years.
We are extremely connected
to the north side.
It means a lot to us, the north side.
And all those little kids that she's
had all of those years, we know them.
My wife and my family were very involved,
I heard that I actually had people coming
over to my house in South Minneapolis
the next day to help pack boxes of food,
I kind of lost my shit, to be honest.
And so I made a video that
was just supposed to be for my
people saying, hey, tomorrow.
off.
This is too much is going on.
I don't know what's gonna happen
with this in North Minneapolis.
So, you know, SOS stay away.
And I was extremely
emotional in that video.
And that was about eight o'clock at night.
And then I went to bed that night
and when I woke up the next morning,
my phone was just like, there's a
million text messages from friends
that are like, um you're all over.
And I didn't know what
they were talking about.
They're like, you, your video
yesterday, it's all over.
So it went viral and like one,
before I took it down, we had
to take it down because there
was some rumor that they were.
Taking down accounts, and I didn't
want my account taken down because
we couldn't get to the people then,
but it had like 1.5 million views.
So I had about overnight, I had
12,000 people show up between my two
accounts, and now I'm up to about
15,000 between my two accounts.
The vast majority of those
are all over America.
Uh, they're not just Minnesota.
Uh, they're Minnesota Were people that
I already had as friends, but the 10
to 15,000 that showed up is all over
the world and all over the state.
That's how we got to 73,500
in, you know, two months.
America is not putting up with this.
I, I believe that this is even
close to a majority anymore.
Uh, people of all different faiths
are on my site, all different ages in
all different cities and states, and
they don't know me, nobody knows me.
I just threw out our Venmo.
It's our personal Venmo that I threw out,
and people have been giving money nonstop
people have diapers delivered, nonstop.
People have food delivered nonstop.
My, my tiny little house has been taken
over by food and diapers and formula
and all of those things are expensive.
I have tons of stuff and I have
so many people that wanna I have
like a waiting list of delivery
drivers because people want to help.
What I want people to hear and know
is Minneapolis made it through what
we made it through, only because other
people helped us make it through it.
We didn't get through it alone and
we won't get through anything alone.
I tell everybody, you're
all one big Minnesota to me.
Right?
Somebody said I know
you're a proud American.
I'm like, I'm not a proud American at all.
I'm, I am disgusted at America.
I am a proud, proud, AF Minnesotan, and
I think that people need to Get local.
You.
If you're proud for your state, then
then step up . if you can't be proud
of your state 'cause you live in the
state that you're not proud of, then
be proud of Minnesota and become
part of our adopted Minnesota family.
We're all one.
We, have to stop.
We have to stop.
One of the things they keep talking
to people about, if you're gonna do
mutual aid, you have to have grace.
And the reason you have to have
grace is 'cause you're gonna
help people you don't wanna help.
Because if you commit to
helping you help everybody.
So I know for a fact because I'm
doing it on Facebook and I do a
little fact checking before we before
I send somebody to somebody's home,
make sure we're friend, not full.
Um, just a bunch of people that
really want to help, And so get
all of these humans together.
you start sending them out into
the world, you recognize when you
get back the joy and the feedback
that we have to bind together.
It's the only way it works.
And so talking to all of the people
across America, I really don't think
Americans are gonna put up with this.
We're, it's not the majority anymore, and
we have to keep getting the message out.
That we're stronger together.
No more Division I, I don't
care about the division.
I don't wanna hear it.
I don't wanna hear what category I'm in.
I don't wanna hear any of that.
I just wanna help humans.
So if you're gonna do mutual
aid, you have to have grace.
'cause you're gonna help humans that
may have voted differently than you,
that may think differently than you.
But that's how we extend our
hands, which we have to do.
I know people are super angry
and we have to help humans.
We have to go into that knowing that
the truth is a lot of the humans we're
gonna end up helping are MAGA because
they are already humans that are on the
bottom and they are going to suffer.
And you have to take the anger away
of who voted this in and recognize
that they're still humans and they
are also going to be targeted.
And they don't see that.
But we do.
And I think that that's a hard, hard,
thing for a lot of people right now.
I lived on both sides of this.
I've always been a person
who I lived conservatively.
I was raised conservatively.
I know what they think
and I know why we're here.
It's not confusing to me.
And so maybe it's a little easier for
somebody like me to give the grace, 'cause
I know what they're thinking and why, but
everybody's gonna have to do that, and I
think that's the hardest thing that people
are going to have to do going forward is
to find grace for people that helped get
us into this really messed up situation.
Well, the fact that so many
people are willing to step up and
help is exactly the hope that, I
think we needed to end this segment.
And Kelly, thank you so much both for
being here and for everything that you do.
It's actually my honor,
to be really honest.
I feel like I'm in service to these
humans and they have given me a gift,
'cause my life will never be the same,
and they made me a little softer.
I know we appreciate hearing more
about how Minnesota is responding
to current events, and it's
wonderful to talk to a local hero.
I hope our listeners have an
appreciation for how much Minnesota
has been through, how much people are
helping each other, and how we need
to help joy be present in our lives.
And it's also a reminder that this
is how we get through this together.
The power of the people is greater than
the people in power, and we will prevail.
Kelly, thank you so much for joining us
today and for sharing your message with
us, for sharing your success with us and
your fears in your hopes and your joy.
And I really think that this is
gonna be a meaningful podcast
to the people who listen to it.
Well, thank you.
I really appreciate you giving
me the opportunity to speak.
I feel like I have a voice and
I'm speaking for all of those who
are still stuck in their homes.
I appreciate it.
Thank you for being that voice
Thank
you.
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