(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Elbows Up! Showing Some Love For Our Neighbor to the North (with photo diary) [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-07-07
Saturday, I boarded a bus with a friend from church to travel to the Canadian border at Pembina-Emerson. The event was organized by two local chapters of Indivisible (one on the Fargo, ND side and one on the Moorhead, MN side). These are some of the same folks who helped organize the big No Kings rally on June 14th in the Fargo-Moorhead area.
This was definitely a much smaller affair, but did not lack for enthusiasm. The bus left at 9 am, stopping in Grand Forks to pick up a few more folks, for a trip that took a little over two hours. Another group of folks had driven up on their own. Even with everyone there, don’t think there was much more than 40 folks total. The weather was a cool but pleasant mid-70s (getting warmer in the afternoon), and some of us had brought food to share. The only down side was a stiff wind, which made it hard to hang onto the signs and flags.
The U.S. Border Patrol had given us permission to be there. They were courteous and professional, although they could be stern when warning us to stay within a defined area. This was at least partly for our own protection, as one officer stated that someone could get “pissed off and jump the curb.” Have to give them kudos because they were taking a risk allowing us to be there (not from us, of course, but things could have gone south and created more work for them).
We were not permitted to approach the main facility except to use the bathroom, and only along a designated pathway.
“Elbows up” is an expression used in Canadian hockey, which is a position players take either defensively or offensively. It also has a broader meaning beyond hockey, as an encouragement to stand your ground and be brave. The purpose of the event was to show solidarity with our Canadian neighbors and to let them know that Americans (at least most of us) were not their enemy.
Like a lot of the Indivisible events, it opened with words, prayer and song from a member of the Anishinaabe and Oceti Sakowin peoples/nations.
The Canadian and American national anthems were played on the sound system, which then segued to a variety of more mellow background music. We then took up positions along the narrow spaces we were allowed to be to display our signs and wave at traffic going through the border facility.
There was not a lot of traffic going through. Most of it was truckers, and surprisingly, we received a lot of friendly honks and waves from truckers. There were sporadic passenger vehicles going through, some with boats in tow. Most of the travelers were either friendly or neutral. One guy had a bewildered WTF look until he read some of our signs and smiled. Only one car sped through in a hostile manner, but there were no “incidents.”
I commented on the dearth of traffic and inquired if it was always this slow. Most folks who were there did not cross the border regularly. Someone suggested it was a holiday weekend and Pembina is in “the middle of nowhere.” However, my sister said later that she recalled going through there over ten years ago and there was a line with a long wait both ways. So, whether the place was already “dead” or Trump killed it couldn’t be definitely determined.
Some folks positioned themselves to greet drivers coming up from the U.S. side:
Others of us faced the folks driving south from the Canadian side:
Some of the signs expressed the Elbows Up! encouragement:
A couple of cute collies also made an appearance:
Many of us let our Canadian neighbors know that we love them. One lady driving through hollered back at us, “We love you!”
A few folks were openly apologetic:
This person’s outfit—complete with red and blue hair and split US-Canada flag—was probably the most creative. Have to admit that I was feeling ambivalent about “celebrating” the 4th of July, but seeing all the patriotic regalia was encouraging. It was good to see that folks are taking back what it means to be an American while at the same time showing solidarity with another country.
As our two hour time wrapped up, the music played both national anthems again while we cleaned up. We left the place just as we found it and waved at the Border Patrol. Think they were relieved that the event was over, again not because of us but because one can never predict what might happen.
Nothing like a good day of grass roots diplomacy.
Elbows Up!
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/7/7/2332224/-Elbows-Up-Showing-Some-Love-For-Our-Neighbor-to-the-North-with-photo-diary?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
