Neutrality is Not Viable: Leaders Across Sectors Must Speak Out in Defense of Basic Rights 

The actions of federal agents in Minneapolis, and the federal government’s blatant lies about what occurred, have taken the crisis facing our country to another level. It doesn’t matter your politics, or who you voted for, those in leadership roles at powerful institutions must speak out, and act, for the sake of our nation and its future.

If you doubt the relevance of the latest developments — including the killing of Alex Pretti by federal agents caught on video this past weekend — to your work (whatever it is), it’s time to think again. In a letter over the weekend to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Attorney General Pam Bondi demanded, seemingly in exchange for a withdrawal of federal forces, that Minnesota leaders turn over their voting rolls to the federal government.

We’re not talking about “partisan politics” or policy differences anymore, if we ever were. We’re talking about government overreach, our democracy, and basic, fundamental rights including those ensconced in our Constitution’s First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments. We are now even talking about the Second Amendment — as federal officials point to the fact that the victim in this weekend’s shooting was armed, with a gun he was lawfully carrying, as justification for his shooting. This despite the fact that they had disarmed him — and that he was on the ground — before they shot him. Ten times.

We should be shocked but we should not be surprised. This is in keeping with a pattern of lawlessness that dates to the early days of this administration.

I am grateful for Minneapolis foundation leaders like Tonya Allen of McKnight Foundation and Jen Ford Reedy of the Bush Foundation, among others, who have spoken out forcefully against the federal government’s actions. Many other foundation and nonprofit leaders have done so as well, and I hope that more will — around the country.

Corporate leaders, admittedly, have more constituents to worry about than those leading private foundations. But this should not be used as an excuse for moral cowardice, particularly since they, more than any other category of leaders, have the potential to have real influence on both the executive branch and on congressional leaders who could act to rein in the excesses of the Department of Homeland Security.

Yet many, if not most, of the leaders of major companies have been missing in action.

Yesterday, a coalition of large companies in Minnesota broke their silence and issued a statement that was shocking for its vapidity. It calls for “de-escalation” without actually naming the truth that it is the actions of the federal government — which include racial profiling and violence and intimidation against peaceful protestors — that created this situation. Rather than calling for the thousands of federal agents to be removed from Minneapolis, these companies’ leaders called for “state, local, and federal officials to work together to find real solutions.” Unbelievably, the statement doesn’t criticize in any way the tactics of federal agents that have used children as bait to detain people, actually detained children, assaulted peaceful protestors, and killed both Pretti and Renee Good.

Foundations and nonprofits and their leaders can set an example in speaking out and acting, consistent with their values, and, in so doing, they can help show the way to their corporate counterparts, many of whom sit in foundation and nonprofit boardrooms. Now is the time to use whatever relational and reputational capital you and the institution you lead have earned to seek to influence others to take a stand.

All of us, regardless of sector, can take our inspiration from the regular Minnesotans of various political ideologies who have rallied to support and protect their neighbors, who have peacefully demonstrated with courage and moral clarity, and who have stepped in and stepped up to help each other.

After all, the rights under threat now are fundamental: without them the health of our civil society and even our broader economy will suffer further. So, most fundamentally, will our freedoms.

It’s worth noting as well that the extreme actions of this administration — in Minnesota and other states, like Maine, that it is targeting with its deployments of federal agents — are broadly unpopular. It really should not be seen as much of a risk for those in leadership roles at powerful institutions simply to call out this extremism for what it is.  

It’s not partisan. And it’s not ideological.

It’s just right — and patriotic.