What to Know
If you’re wondering just how bad it is in Minneapolis, where unarmed protesters are being shown attacked or handcuffed by ICE agents, social media makes it pretty clear. A woman in Minnesota shared a video on TikTok from a local school board meeting where a mom essentially begs school board members to tell her how the students and staff are being kept safe from ICE agents on school property. In the video text on the screen says that the school board chair is MAGA, which means to many that this mom’s pleas are not being taken seriously by him.
The mom, whose name is Jessica Woodcock, speaks clearly and calmly in the video and gives the school board members plenty of time to respond to her. When they fail to, or when the school board chair says he can’t speak on it, she continues her calm pleas with all of them. Although the woman who posted the video is not the woman in the video, the actual mom left a comment to thank her for sharing the footage.
@dogdaysofminnesota The way she stares them down…chills. Stay until the end. Sometimes you don't have to say a lot, to say everything. #schoolboard #isd728 #minnesota #ice #iceout ♬ original sound – dogdaysofminnesota
The MAGA school board chair refused to engage with her.
After Jessica asks the school board calmly and politely what the plan is and what the board can do to keep students and staff safe from what are, at their core, masked armed men on school property, the chair says they are legally barred from engaging in conversation about it “to keep things civil.” Not to be deterred as easily as the chair might like, Jessica pursues the question and asks him, and the other board members, to give her a suitable answer.
“I appreciate that. I am dedicated to remaining civil if any of you are willing to engage in a conversation with me,” Jessica says in the video. After the chair says that her question is not part of the “agenda” of the meeting, she presses on. “I am again gonna ask, is anyone on this board willing to engage in a conversation with me about how we are going to protect our students and staff on our school [grounds]? We are in unprecedented times.”
After it becomes clear that the board refuses to answer her questions, Jessica says, “Your silence is deafening. And it’s election year.” Boom. Mic drop. Unfortunately, though, she still doesn’t have her answer, and her questions about the safety of the children and the staff at her local schools is what clearly concerns her the most, given ICE agents’ penchant for detaining individuals, including kids, first and asking questions later.
After the video was posted, Jessica wrote in the comments.
“That’s me. Thank you so much for your support,” she shared. “We all need to be speaking up and being loud about what is happening at a local level.”
Other users commented to show their support for the woman and her issue with the school board. One wrote, “So nothing. They’re planning on doing nothing.”
Another commented, “The lack of a policy is a policy: if you’re not saying you’ll stand against ICE then that means you’ll be working with them.” At this point, for many, it’s hard to argue with that one.
