Bruce Springsteen’s angry anti-ICE song strikes a powerful chord with Americans
Streets of Minneapolis is an angry lament, critical of the Trump Administration
American rock icon Bruce Springsteen has added his famous husky voice to the protests engulfing ICE.
The Streets of Minneapolis is an angry lament at the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, at the hands of deferral agents in Minnesota.
Springsteen, renowned for singing about the plight of the working class and supporting Amnesty International’s “Human Rights Now” world concert tour in 1988, has been an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump. The president also appears on the song.
Springsteen refers to “King Trump’s private army from the DHS,” sent into Minneapolis during the protests.
“In chants of ‘ICE out now’ / Our city’s heart and soul persists / Through broken glass and bloody tears / On the streets of Minneapolis.”
The Guardian writes: “For Texans used to plainspoken truth — whether from a Panhandle rancher or a Houston organizer — that directness feels familiar.
“Musically, the song leans on the bones of classic 1960s protest folk: simple chords, a driving rhythm, and a harmonica that cuts through like a siren. But unlike the poetic ambiguity of Blowin’ in the Wind or A Change Is Gonna Come, Springsteen isn’t writing for the ages. He’s writing for right now. The trade-off is intentional. Instead of timelessness, he chooses immediacy — the sound of someone who couldn’t wait another day to speak up.”
Springsteen paints Minneapolis as a community refusing to be broken, describing chants of “ICE out now” rising through smoke and rubber bullets. He ties the moment to American tradition — quoting the national anthem, echoing scripture, and reminding listeners that standing up for “the stranger in our midst” is as old as the country itself.
Texans, who pride themselves on both independence and hospitality, will recognize that tension, writes The Guardian.
Whether Texans agree with Springsteen’s politics or not, the song’s spirit — standing up, speaking out, refusing to look away — is something this state understands well, it concludes.