“Can you hear us? We are whistling as loudly as we can.”
~Dobby Gibson in “Letter From Minnesota: Can You Hear Us, America?”
This morning, Tom Homan announced that the ICE surge will be ending soon in the Twin Cities. Still, the devastating impacts of ICE’s brutalities on individuals, families, and our communities will remain long after the majority of federal agents leave our state.
We are still under immense stress and cannot expect ourselves or our businesses to function as usual. In this moment, AmazeWorks invites you to take a magnifying glass to your workplace. This edition of The Belonging Brief shares the following to navigate individual and workplace wellness through and after ICE occupation:
In 2026, The Belonging Brief will reduce its edition releases from monthly to quarterly, sharing new volumes in February, May, August, and November. We appreciate your understanding as we navigate showing up for belonging in a new calendar year with a smaller team.
If you’d like to increase our capacity to provide you with content to improve workplace culture, every donation makes an impact on our ability to bring belonging to life.
Centering workplace belonging means recognizing that the world outside of work impacts us when we’re on the clock. In recent weeks, many of us have been witnesses to violence and injustice. For some of us, this has happened on our screens. For some of us, this has happened in our neighborhood and on our streets. And some of us have experienced it firsthand. We are all impacted by that injustice differently depending on our identities, roles, and experiences.
Through all our different experiences, we are navigating crisis together. At AmazeWorks, we’re noticing the following trends in our conversations about how the ICE occupation is impacting workplaces:
Our nervous systems are hijacked, and we feel limited in our ability to show up for ourselves, each other, and the work we do. Factors like documentation status and racial identity impact our safety leaving home to go to work. Identities like age and workplace role impact our confidence in advocating for what we need with our colleagues, supervisors, and leaders.
Living through and processing all of this fear, anxiety, and trauma can compromise our sense of power or control. Sometimes, tapping into our sense of personal agency takes intention and practice.
Agency is the belief and confidence that, as an individual, you can affect positive change in your own life and within your group or community. A sense of agency empowers us to push back against the daily and systemic injustices of the world and rather than succumb to a sense of hopelessness.
We hope this activity helps you regulate and identify where you have agency to show up for yourself and your community.
As you’re completing the activity, consider how certain identities or experiences (e.g., documentation status, race, positional power, age) might impact agency. Remember that we can’t see all the ways our community is impacted.
While experiencing powerlessness in our daily lives around the federal occupation, we’re likely to seek areas where we can exercise a sense of control. This is a good instinct – see above activity! However, when our brains are operating in survival mode, we may default to unhealthy communication patterns and expectations.
This Maurice Mitchell article from The Forge identifies common experiences that contribute to unhealthy workplace culture within social justice organizations. These are more likely to be activated while under immense stress, and they can prevent us from enacting meaningful change.
AmazeWorks created this Barriers to Belonging in Social Justice Organizations reflection activity to identify what patterns show up within your organization and how to address them. When completing this reflection activity, remember that the times we are living in are not normal. We must see each other in our full humanity, offer grace, and move through mistakes together. The following patterns prevent us from seeing each other in our full humanity:
1. NEOLIBERAL IDENTITY
2. MAXIMALISM
Organizations across Minnesota are having to strike a balance: How do we show up for our workers and our clients? How do we prioritize employee wellness and follow through on our mission? ICE presence impacts us differently across sectors, but all organizations are having to make sacrifices.
Restaurants
Employees are calling out of work because they do not feel safe to leave home. Hours of operation are cut shorter, making income streams less reliable. Business doors are locked, relying on doorbells to announce customer entry. In some cases, restaurants are on the front lines offering medical care for responders.
“It’s been tough, but our crew has been incredibly brave. It sucks that you have to be brave to come to work.” ~ Miguel Hernandez, owner of Lito’s Burritos
Schools
Educators are working overtime to ensure safe learning for all students. In person attendance has plummeted. Schools are providing hybrid learning options and organizing supervised dismissals to ensure student safety. Educators themselves may not be safe from ICE, but are showing up to support students.
“We are spending a lot of our energy on getting students back to school, however that needs to look.” ~ Libby Huettl
Social Services
For mission-oriented organizations, services are more needed than ever. At the same time, staff members are experiencing their own barriers to wellbeing, pouring from near-empty cups. It is difficult to balance showing up for ourselves and each other.
“Not only do the ICE operations sow fear, but they also require nonprofit organizations like People Serving People to spend their direct and indirect resources addressing the fact that our entire community, and especially those who are most vulnerable, are at risk of not having a sense of safety that dignity requires.” ~ People Serving People
There’s no right way to get through this. But as these leaders continue to do, we encourage you to model transparency, humility, and vulnerability within your organization. That is the first step to healing and opening conversation about moving forward. ❤️