{"id":549968,"date":"2026-01-28T20:46:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T20:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/549968\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T20:46:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T20:46:12","slug":"bruce-springsteen-responds-to-minneapolis-killings-with-protest-song","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/549968\/","title":{"rendered":"Bruce Springsteen Responds to Minneapolis Killings With Protest Song"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tJust days after the killing of Alex Pretti<\/a> at the hands of United States Customs and Border Protection agents in Minneapolis<\/a>, Bruce Springsteen<\/a> has responded with a fiery, Phil Ochs-style protest song, \u201cStreets of Minneapolis,\u201d which denounces \u201cTrump\u2019s federal thugs,\u201d \u201c[Stephen] Miller and [Kristi] Noem\u2019s dirty lies,\u201d and calls for ICE<\/a> to leave the city at once.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis,\u201d Springsteen said in a statement. \u201cIt\u2019s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good<\/a>. Stay free, Bruce Springsteen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPrior to Pretti\u2019s death, Springsteen made a surprise appearance at the Light of Day benefit in Red Bank, New Jersey, <\/a>where he denounced ICE and the senseless killing of Renee Good<\/a>. \u201cIf you believe in the power of law and that no one stands above it,\u201d he said, \u201cif you stand against heavily-armed masked federal troops invading an American city, using gestapo tactics against our fellow citizens, if you believe you don\u2019t deserve to be murdered for exercising your American right to protest, then send a message to this president, as the mayor of the city said: ICE should get the fuck out of Minneapolis.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cStreets of Minneapolis\u201d comes out of that same sense of sorrow and rage. \u201cTrump\u2019s federal thugs beat up on his face and his chest,\u201d he sings. \u201cThen we heard the gunshots And Alex Pretti lay in the snow, dead\/Their claim was self defense, sir\/Just don\u2019t believe your eyes\/It\u2019s our blood and bones\/And these whistles and phones\/Against Miller and Noem\u2019s dirty lies\/Oh our Minneapolis, I hear your voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe ends by expressing solidarity with the cause. \u201cWe\u2019ll take our stand for this land,\u201d he sings. \u201cAnd the stranger in our midst\/We\u2019ll remember the names of those who died\/On the streets of Minneapolis\/We\u2019ll remember the names of those who died\/On the streets of Minneapolis.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\n\tThe title of \u201cStreets of Minneapolis\u201d is an echo of his 1994 Oscar-winning song \u201cStreets of Philadelphia,\u201d from the soundtrack to Philadelphia. He\u2019s written many other topical songs throughout his career, including \u201cAmerican Skin (41 Shots),\u201d \u201cWe Take Care of Our Own,\u201d and \u201cLiving in the Future,\u201d but he\u2019s never responded to a news event this quickly. (He wrote the topical song \u201cRoulette\u201d six days after the Three Mile Island meltdown, but didn\u2019t release it for years.)<\/p>\n

\n\tSpringsteen\u2019s plans for the year are unclear, but he told Rolling Stone in June 2025<\/a> that he has a new solo album he plans on releasing at some point in the near future.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cStreets of Minneapolis\u201d Lyrics<\/strong>
Through the winter\u2019s ice and cold
Down Nicollet Avenue
A city aflame fought fire and ice
\u2018Neath an occupier\u2019s boots
King Trump\u2019s private army from the DHS
Guns belted to their coats
Came to Minneapolis to enforce the law
Or so their story goes
Against smoke and rubber bullets
By the dawn\u2019s early light
Citizens stood for justice
Their voices ringing through the night
And there were bloody footprints
Where mercy should have stood
And two dead left to die on snow-filled streets
Alex Pretti and Renee Good<\/p>\n

Oh our Minneapolis, I hear your voice
Singing through the bloody mist
We\u2019ll take our stand for this land
And the stranger in our midst
Here in our home they killed and roamed
In the winter of \u201926
We\u2019ll remember the names of those who died
On the streets of Minneapolis<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s federal thugs beat up on
His face and his chest
Then we heard the gunshots
And Alex Pretti lay in the snow, dead
Their claim was self defense, sir
Just don\u2019t believe your eyes
It\u2019s our blood and bones
And these whistles and phones
Against Miller and Noem\u2019s dirty lies<\/p>\n

Oh our Minneapolis, I hear your voice
Crying through the bloody mist
We\u2019ll remember the names of those who died
On the streets of Minneapolis
Now they say they\u2019re here to uphold the law
But they trample on our rights
If your skin is black or brown my friend
You can be questioned or deported on sight<\/p>\n

In chants of ICE out now
Our city\u2019s heart and soul persists
Through broken glass and bloody tears
On the streets of Minneapolis<\/p>\n

Oh our Minneapolis, I hear your voice
Singing through the bloody mist
Here in our home they killed and roamed
In the winter of \u201926
We\u2019ll take our stand for this land
And the stranger in our midst
We\u2019ll remember the names of those who died
On the streets of Minneapolis
We\u2019ll remember the names of those who died
On the streets of Minneapolis<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just days after the killing of Alex Pretti at the hands of United States Customs and Border Protection…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":549969,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[238640,4580,171,5410,17635,225146,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-549968","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-alex-pretti","9":"tag-bruce-springsteen","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-ice","12":"tag-minneapolis","13":"tag-renee-good","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115974686818919045","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=549968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/549969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}