A look at Minnesota's long, nation-changing history of protest
Over the past few weeks, Minnesotans of all ages have been exercising their First Amendment right to protest. One of those protesters is 85-year-old Olaf Brekke.
His knees may ache, but Brekke says his eyes are sharp. He hasn't missed a chance to speak out lately, and says he's doing so for the next generation.
"I do feel that I'm there to represent my grandchildren and their friends and those yet to be born," Brekke said.
WCCO rode along with him and his daughter to a recent protest in the Twin Cities.
"I think they represent opportunities for us to recognize what we share in common, and that's our love, our regard for one another," he said.
Brekke says he's motivated to oppose Operation Metro Surge, and was shocked by the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti last month.
"I couldn't imagine this would be happening in our country at this moment, and without knowing anything about [Pretti's] background, he was a person that deserved to live," he said.
Brekke and his daughter joined a chorus of voices outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building at Fort Snelling, led by Indigenous groups. The long procession of protestors placed prayer ribbons on the fence barricading crowds from the building.
Brekke is no stranger to pushing back. He protested the Vietnam War in the 1970s.
"There is indeed a way to honor truth, to honor social justice by standing up, showing up, and protesters, to me, epitomize the spirit of America," he said.
And that spirit is strong in the "Land of 10,000 Lakes." WCCO spoke with William Convery, director of research at the Minnesota Historical Society.
"Minnesota has a long history of protest," Convery said. "You can go all the way back to the 1870s, when farmers banded together to protest monopolies and railroads."
That effort to organize carried into 1934, when the Minneapolis Teamsters faced off against their employers, and later the police. The bloody strike was a turning point in Minnesota history.
"During a protest, the police opened fire on the strikers, shooting nearly 70 strikers, killing two," Convery said. "Most of the 67 others who were wounded were mostly shot in the back."
The strike led to the passage of the National Labor Relations Act in 1935, and the creation of the National Labor Relations Board.
Over the next few decades, Minnesotans fought for civil rights, joined the American Indian Movement and 1,500 Hormel workers walked off the job in the 1980s.
"The shooting by police of Philando Castile and others in the 2010s reactivated a lot of protest organizations and started to build a protest network," Convery said.
That network was visible again in 2020 with unrest in Minneapolis sparked by the murder of George Floyd. Now, in this historic moment, Brekke leans on his daughter.
"I'm not so sure I was holding him up," Kirsten Brekke Albright said. "I think we were holding each other up."
At times unstable on his feet, but always firm in what he believes.
"What we're doing today is a demonstration that our people that came before us, and those who will follow us, will continue to speak truth to power and love to hatred," Brekke said.