Bruce Springsteen touched down in Minnesota on Friday and performed his protest song “Streets of Minneapolis,” a response to the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents, hours after it soared to the top of iTunes.
The famed New Jersey rocker brought the house down at First Avenue, a Minneapolis venue that played host to the "Defend Minnesota!" benefit show.
Hours earlier on Friday morning, “Streets of Minneapolis” occupied the No. 1 position, just ahead of “Choosin’ Texas” by Ella Langley, “Let Em’ Know” by Bryson Tiller and “I Just Might” by Bruno Mars.
Springsteen penned the song on Saturday and released it on Wednesday “in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis,” the artist told fans via social media.
“It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good,” he added. “Stay free, Bruce Springsteen.”
The 4 1/2-minute song decries the ongoing action by federal immigration enforcement and calls out Trump administration officials by name — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and President Donald Trump himself.
“We eagerly await Mr. Springsteen’s songs dedicated to the thousands of American citizens killed by criminal illegal aliens,” Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said Wednesday in response to Springsteen’s song.
On Monday, the Minneapolis hippie diner Modern Times made an announcement: All their menu items are now free, unless you’re a federal agent.
The hours will remain the same, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, but the menu will be a bit smaller. The restaurant will run on donations. Servers will volunteer but still be paid.
Owner Dylan Alverson says the idea is simple: The restaurant is refusing to contribute to what they are calling “the occupation of Minneapolis” and the state. By not charging guests and existing off of donations until federal agents leave the city, they aren’t creating sales tax that goes to the government.
Alverson has owned the diner for 15 years. Repeatedly, this slice of south Minneapolis has been the hub for national tragedies.
The restaurant is six blocks from where George Floyd was murdered in 2020, four blocks from where Renee Macklin Good was killed by an ICE agent and a neighborhood over from where Alex Pretti was killed by federal agents last week.
“We just don't want to contribute to the armed occupation in our neighborhood,” Alverson said.
“I’ve been in front of the Border Patrol and ICE after both killings, and it's there. It's a vicious feeling coming from them. It's a very violent and unsafe threat. You know, I hate bullies. It's like the world rounded up every bully they could find and dropped them into our city and are terrorizing our neighbors.”
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