07/15/2026
Good Evening to all of our friends in Columbia Heights and Hilltop!
Last night Courtney Morton presented to our city council, mayor, staff and residents a new initiative:
“Stories from the Surge - How Columbia Heights, MN became a global example of community organized resistance during Operation Metro Surge”
This is a multi-media anthology project, for Columbia Heights and Hilltop, that will tell the stories of what we, as a community experienced last winter during Operation Metro Surge.
We faced the heartbreak and terror of the situation, but we also rose to the challenges it presented with amazing creativity, resilience, hope, humor, love and joy, and all of it speaks to the unique way not only Minnesota showed up to resist Facsism, but how Columbia Heights did it- person by person, block by block, idea by idea, choice by choice.
The stories we have from OMS hold wisdom, courage, warnings, and lessons, that the world will undoubtedly benefit from hearing. They also hold an opportunities to help heal us.
It is essential to any healing process, to first be grounded in truth and honesty about how we have been harmed.
The transformative power of being witnessed and supported in the telling of these stories, of having someone hold space, and affirm- "No, you're not imagining it." "Yes, that happened, and yes, you survived!", is profound.
Telling our stories holds the opportunity to affirm our courage, resilience, and our righteous indignation at the violation of our constitutional and human rights, in our streets, and in pur homes.
As our administration continues to pull out every stop to gaslight us, intimidate us into compliance, our truths, and our voices are one of the most powerful tools we have to resist and disarm our abusers.
We, as a community, accomplished a level of organization and resistance so effective it made global headlines, not only because of Conejo Ramos Family's story, but because of how we showed as a community and school district to get them, and our other children back.
That's one of thousands of profound and moving stories that needs to be told, one citizen at a time, one story at a time, to show the world how if we can do it, they can do it to.
We are also collaborating with Governor's Truth Council Commission, which if you participate in our project, your story will be legally protected from unlawful seizure, and retribution, and safely and securely stored, with the Advocacy for Human Rights Campaign.
The AdvoforHumRig goes to places all around the world to document the testimonies, stories, and the experiences of people who have lived through humanitarian crises, as we did.
They've been to places such as Croatia, Syria, Cambodia, Ukraine that have experienced political and social upheaval, occupations from foreign entities, famine, among other situation that have caused human suffering, to document the experiences of the people living there, to help bring awareness and stop the continuation of such events. Their task with the truth council ultimately is to review the stories, and make recommendations for legislative changes that support equity and human rights for all people living in Minnesota.
So C3 wants to hear from you, and any Columbia Heights, and Hill Top residents who were affected by OMS.
We want to hear from our immigrant communities, our constitutional observers, our Mutual Aid volunteers, our clergypeople, our business owners... and our council people! We even want to hear from our residents who misunderstood, and thought ICE was just doing its job... it's all part of the bigger picture, telling a story of an amazing community, doing great things during a historic and difficult moment.
For people who would like to participate, you can find out more information by going to our website (insert website address), our page (CoHi CreativesCollective), or you can contact me (Courtney Morton), or anyone working on the project directly, and we can set you up with an interview time, and explain what to expect during your contribution interview.
The C3, Columbia Heights Project will take these stories, and expand it to include submissions of videos, photos, written essays, journals, and poetry, protest art, and anything else relevant to document this moment in history for our town.
You can also submit your own audio, video, and written content, as well as photos and artwork to the project. We will gratefully and gladly accept any of those!
I also want to make special note that you can choose to participate completely anonymously, which means no publicly seen or shared content will have your identity attached to it.
We understand the danger of speaking out against facsism, the events of OMS and the behavior of the ICE Agents, and every reasonable effort has and will continue to be made to protect the identities and information of all participants to the level of their comfort.
Your citizenship status, age, name, address, or any other identifying information will not be shared with anyone outside of this project, if you choose to share it with us, and everyone involved in this project has been personally vetted by me, and proven to be a safe and caring individual, committed to keeping us all safe.
We are all very enthusiastic about this project, and the potential impacts it will have on helping our community heal, and thrive in multitudes of ways.
Please feel free to reach out with any questions! You can reach us here:
Email:
[email protected]
Website:
https://stories-from-the-surge-chmn.my.canva.site/
Or take a look below for more info in both English and Spanish, including QR codes with the direct link to our website.
Thank you!
