Is Minneapolis Finally Teaching America the Meaning of “Solidarity”?

Years ago, when I was fighting with the fascist forces of the Roman Catholic Church that were bringing back the Inquisition in our time, silencing theologians and expelling many of us, I sat down with a hero of mine, Father Albert Nolan.

A Dutch Dominican working with Bishop Tutu and others to end apartheid in South Africa, Nolan had been elected Master General of the Dominican Order but turned it down—the only one in 800 years to do so. The South African government had sought to arrest him, and for years he was on the lam in that country.

Nolan is the author of Jesus Before Christianity, which was a required text at our Institute of Culture and Creation Spirituality at Holy Names College in Oakland, California. I was told by an insider in the Catholic diocese that I was now “radioactive” and no Catholic bishop in the country would sponsor me.

I confided to Nolan that, having been expelled from the Order after 34 years in good standing, I was giving serious consideration to becoming an Episcopal priest in order to work with young people from Sheffield, England, to reinvent forms of Liturgy by bringing rave into the Liturgy.

Nolan’s response was electric: “Do it! Perfect! What Rome wants to do is isolate you and you need to find a Christian community that will support you.” Then he added, “The reason the American Dominicans have not supported you is that North Americans don’t know a goddamn thing about solidarity.”

What is solidarity? According to Webster’s Dictionary, “solidarity” comes from the French word for “solid” and the Latin word, solidum,” meaning “whole sum.” Its synonym is: “Unity.” Thus, “a group or class that produces or is based on a community of interests, objectives, and standards.”

Is the current resistance in Minneapolis to the fascism in the streets, aided and abetted by the recent “big, beautiful bill” voted unanimously by every Republican congressperson and senator, which promises $74 billion for such activities, a fine instance of solidarity?

Two American citizens have died in the past ten days at the hands of government employees. Both the head of Homeland Security and the vice president of the US have lied about their deaths.

There were many witnesses to the latest murder of Alex Pretti, who was shot numerous times, even though he had been pepper-sprayed and was not resisting. He was a nurse in a veterans hospital who loved the outdoors and riding his bicycle in it, and was opposed to Trump’s destruction of the EPA as well as to the invasion of his city.

DHS head Noem lied when she told the country that he approached ICE members with a gun in his hand. People who were there say he was carrying a phone in his hand (a gun, which he legally owned, was found under layers of his clothes, but he never pulled it out).

Following is a sworn affidavit from a woman who filmed his murder and was five feet from him.

The agents pulled the man on the ground. I didn’t see him touch any of them—he wasn’t even turned toward them. It didn’t look like he was trying to resist, just trying to help the woman up. I didn’t see him with a gun. They threw him to the ground. Four or five agents had him on the ground and they just started shooting him. They shot him so many times. I don’t know why they shot him. He was only helping. I was five feet from him and they just shot him.*        

Americans need to learn the meaning of “solidarity.” It has to do with community-building after all. It cuts at the heart of the “rugged individualism” and egoism so central to capitalism and a John Wayne version of America. It is another word for interdependence, which lies at the center of what compassion means.

Jesus taught: “Be you compassionate as your Creator in heaven is compassionate.” Today’s science is rediscovering the wisdom of the mystics who teach the priority of compassion and interdependence. Hildegard: “Everything that is in the heavens, on the earth, and under the earth is penetrated with connectedness, penetrated with relatedness.”

* Mitch Smith, “In Court Filings, Witnesses Describe Fatal Minneapolis Shooting of Alex Pretti,” New York Times, January 24, 2026.

Banner Image: “Solidarity: The Movement Is For Us All.” Painting by Terrance Osborne, on Wikimedia Commons.

Queries for Contemplation

Do you give credit to the citizens of Minnesota and beyond who are standing up to ICE for witnessing to and teaching Americans about solidarity? How important is solidarity to building community?

Related Readings by Matthew Fox

Confessions: The Making of a Post-denominational Priest, pp. 238f., 276

Hildegard of Bingen, A Saint for Our Times: Unleashing Her Power in the 21st Century, pp. 54-56

Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul & Society

Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ

Creativity: Where the Divine and the Human Meet

Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth

A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice

Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality

Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision For a New Generation by Adam Bucko and Matthew Fox