A group of St. Louisans hope to counter the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement by singing.
Singing Resistance STL is the new St. Louis chapter of a national movement begun in Minneapolis after ICE agents swarmed the city. This Sunday, they’re hosting their first public-facing event: a gathering “singing the songs of resistance” on South Grand. The idea is that singing songs about resistance can be a way to push for change and show solidarity with immigrant neighbors, even while countering narratives about protestors. Says Sara Irlbeck, who is one of the organizers, “It’s hard to call someone a domestic terrorist when they’re singing.”
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The singers got together for the first time on Feb. 7, a get-together organized by word of mouth that nevertheless drew 60 people. Irlbeck credits South City resident Teri Wells for first bringing the group together, with word quickly spreading at St. Vincent DePaul Parish in Soulard and then fanning out from there.
“We just sang together, and it was beautiful,” she says. “And then we said, Let’s do this again.”
Since the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis led to the death of two people in January, protestors have taken to the streets in St. Louis, with gatherings that have drawn hundreds in Clayton, Brentwood, St. Peters, and the city. Students have walked out of several St. Louis County high schools, including an estimated 1,000 at Webster Groves High School.
Like a previous protest downtown, Singing Resistance STL plans to call out St. Louis-based Enterprise Mobility, which has refused to answer questions about its relationship with ICE. The company leases some cars to ICE, although it’s not clear how many or under what terms.
“On their website, they say that they’re here to connect communities,” Irlbeck says. “They’re here to keep neighborhoods together. And so why are they providing cars to ICE? Because they’re not keeping neighborhoods together, they’re tearing neighborhoods apart.”
Irlbeck says after that first meeting, organizers were able to participate in a Zoom call with the Minneapolis group that organized the first chapter. They’re now one of 75 Singing Resistance groups forming up around the country. They hope to draw more St. Louisans to their cause, with their initial event taking place March 1 at South Grand and Arsenal from 2–4 p.m.
She says they chose their location on South Grand intentionally, because it’s both a high visibility area and, thanks to the nearby International Institute, long been considered a destination for many new immigrants settling in the area.
“We’d like people to see us,” Irlbeck says. “We want to get the word out that we’re here and we want to help, and we want to be here for our neighbors. We want to close the gap instead of broadening it.”
