A response to the Minnesota CEOs who have failed to meet the moment
This is in response to the open letter from more than 60 Minnesota CEOs (all very large companies, some with ICE and DHS contracts) about the ongoing assault on our state.
Your call for “immediate deescalation of tensions” in the state of Minnesota during the surge of “immigration enforcement” by the Trump administration is one of the most cowardly, craven pieces of corporate doublespeak that I’ve seen, and in my 57 years I’ve seen a lot. You have consistently failed to meet this moment, beginning with your caving in to the administration’s “anti-DEI” (read: anti-Civil Rights, anti-integration, anti-democractic) fetishes and your surrender to power at every opportunity.
There was a time when Minnesota businesses had a reputation for progressive policies, supporting legislation that makes our state one of the cleanest, healthiest, and best educated in the country. When Minnesota businesses took pride in being a part of a vibrant, multi-cultural society where everyone is welcomed and everyone has worth. When Minnesota businesses stood with their employees and customers, recognizing that we’re all in this together, and that, as Paul Wellstone famously said, “we all do better when we all do better.”
Actually, I take that back, at least partially: there are some Minnesota business who have stood up and met the moment as proud members of our community, and made clear on which side they stand. But they’re not among the CEOs who signed on to this weak and meaningless bit of corporate PR; they’re the small businesses around the city, and around the state, who have put their backs into preserving what makes Minnesota special, often at not only financial but physical risk.
I’m thinking of the owner of My Huang Kitchen, a Vietnamese restaurant near the intersection where ICE and Border Patrol agents brutally executed a man in broad daylight, who sheltered people in her shop when the agents of the state fired teargas at crowds of Minnesotans. I’m thinking of the owner of Dreamhaven Books, who bore powerful witness on the ground to the inhumanity the Trump administration has brought to our streets. I’m thinking of all of the stores and cafes and restaurants across the state who closed their doors on Friday in support of a general strike, or who opened their doors to offer shelter, sustenance, and solidarity without asking for a penny in exchange. Those are the businesses who are “providing leadership and solving problems to ensure a strong and vibrant state.”
How dare you call yourself “leaders” when you refuse to choose a side in a struggle with very clear lines? Setting aside the bottom-line risks of this assault on our state — the threat it poses to your customers and employees, to the smooth operation of business-as-usual when there are masked men snatching people off the streets and teargas pouring into people’s homes — failure to stand up and speak the truth will surely destroy your reputation. I for one will make every effort not to send a single cent into the pockets of any of your companies so long as you continue to be silent in the face of this ongoing oppression.
Because, let’s be honest, that letter is a form of silence, and therefore a form of complicity. There is no “coming together” when one side aggressively enters our state and begins abducting our neighbors with impunity, while the other is simply trying to survive. There is no “compromise” with people who want to create a crueler, harsher, darker world, where people live in fear and where only the wealthy or the white or the well-connected can expect a “bright and prosperous future.”
If you can’t stand up for Minnesota, then you have no business calling yourselves part of the “business community of Minnesota.”
yours,
Michael Hartford
Minneapolis, Minnesota