Minnesota women’s basketball figures decry Minneapolis killings, occupation

Pretti’s death is the second in Minnesota at the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in the past several weeks, after Renée Good was shot and killed by an ICE agent while in her car on Jan. 7, also in Minneapolis. Both Pretti and Good were observing immigration agents leading up to their deaths, monitoring and filming agents carrying out the directives of the Trump administration.

Minnesota Lynx head coach and president of basketball operations Cheryl Reeve attended a protest in Minneapolis on Friday, one day before the killing of Pretti. The demonstration marched through downtown Minneapolis in sub-zero temperatures with an estimated crowd in excess of 10,000 people, concluding at the Lynx’s home arena, Target Center.

“The Lynx have always understood the power of our voices and their impact in advocating for change,” Cheryl Reeve told The IX Basketball. “The current climate in Minnesota has once again challenged us to lift our voices and stand with our affected communities to hold power to account. Looking on and doing nothing is not an option.”

Reeve was joined for Friday’s protest by former Lynx star Rebekkah Brunson, Lynx president of business operations Carley Knox, and Lynx diversity, equity and inclusion senior manager Bianca Dawkins.

Brunson, part of the Minnesota Timberwolves’ local broadcast team, shared her thoughts before the Timberwolves’ game on Sunday, which had been postponed one day for the safety of fans and the teams alike.

“Our community is not okay right now,” Brunson began in the pregame segment. “… Watching an administration purge us of our neighbors. Going into our stores and our schools and our hospitals, and really taking away people who make this community special. This is a very, very special community that we have here. And it’s unfair, and it’s not right what we see happening around us.”

That community has been galvanized against the occupation, as tens of thousands have braved extreme cold to protect their neighbors as observers and to make their voices heard at protests, especially over the past three weeks.

Recordings from observers and other bystanders have been crucial in disseminating facts about these killings and other acts of brutality, often quickly disproving false narratives that have been pushed by the current administration.

That community has also come together to organize countless safety nets and opportunities for people to support those impacted by this ongoing violence. Directories of vetted charitable causes and mutual aid funds have been compiled to route support where it is needed most.

The Lynx — along with a group of Minnesota men’s sports franchises and Minnesota-based businesses like Target and Best Buy — signed an open letter urging an “immediate de-escalation of tensions.” In St. Paul, the PWHL’s Minnesota Frost held a moment of silence for Pretti before their home game Sunday.

Lynx guard Natisha Hiedeman, like Pretti, grew up in Green Bay. On Sunday, she went to Instagram to speak on the occupation: “Sending all my love and prayers to Minnesota. Minnesota is such a beautiful place with an amazing community who has embraced me fully and I’m heartbroken to see ICE has flipped the city upside down and resorted to violence. There is no place for this.”

The Lynx organization — particularly the players — is no stranger to using its voice and platform to call out injustice. Nearly one decade ago, in July 2016, Brunson and her teammates Maya Moore, Seimone Augustus and Lindsay Whalen called a pregame press conference to speak out against the killings of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling at the hands of police. Castille was shot and killed during a traffic stop outside of nearby St. Paul.

Four years later, in May of 2020, the murder of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin sparked nationwide protests, once again bringing the Twin Cities to the forefront of the reckoning with police brutality in America, particularly against people of color.

The WNBA dedicated the 2020 season to social justice, voicing support for Black Lives Matter as well as the #SayHerName movement, which sought to ensure the public did not forget the killing of Breonna Taylor two months prior to Floyd’s death.

Just three months after Floyd was killed, during the WNBA’s bubble season, the Lynx were one of six teams to initially postpone games on Aug. 26 in response to the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Blake was shot seven times in the back by police. Games on Aug. 27 were also cancelled before play resumed the following day.

Now, the Lynx and the entire women’s basketball world are back to an all too familiar place. This crisis goes beyond Minnesota, and it also goes beyond Pretti and Good, as DiJonai Carrington wrote on Instagram.

As of Sunday, NBC reports that on-duty ICE and CBP agents have shot 12 people since deportation operations ramped up in September. These shootings have taken place in seven states and have resulted in four deaths: Pretti, Good, Silverio Villegas González in Franklin Park, Ill., and Isaias Sanchez Barboza in Starr County, Texas.

All but one of the seven states with at least one ICE/CBP shooting since September is home to a WNBA team, and the lone exception, a shooting in Glen Burnie, Md., happened less than 40 miles from Washington D.C. and the Mystics.

Players with no ties to Minnesota are also speaking out, with New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart holding up a sign reading “ABOLISH ICE” during introductions ahead of an Unrivaled game on Sunday.

“It’s scary,” Stewart said in postgame media. “You see it on social media, you see it splitting up families and dissecting communities, and kids are being involved.” Unrivaled also released a statement on Sunday after holding a moment of silence.

Stewart’s wife, Spanish basketball player Marta Xargay, is a legal resident and is going through the process of obtaining citizenship. Despite following all the proper procedures, Stewart told the media on Sunday that she still worries about Xargay throughout these operations.

“It hits home for us,” Stewart said. “We’re working to get her citizenship, and she is a legal permanent resident and all of that. But it seems like it doesn’t matter.”