There’s a new threat to law and order on US streets.
They are angry. They are organized. And, if you believe the narrative was pushed by a conservative pundit, they brought wine.
Sunday Fox News published a column. SConfronting “Organized Wine Moms” Over Renee Nicole Goode’s Death by Immigration Officers in Minneapolis, “Self-Employed White Women” are harassing law enforcement officers and misrepresenting civil disobedience by breaking the law.
“TThe confusion killed 37-year-old Renee Goode,” wrote opinion columnist David Marcus.
Online response It has been fast to the column, but beyond the mockery, what comes between Many experts have said That is the issue. narrative Playing in American politics just now.
Because it’s not just about one column in a medium, it’s about the entire response. Good’s death and disagreements with the administration’s tactics, says Shana McDonald, the O’Donovan Communications Chair at the University of Waterloo, who studies digital media and the rise of hate online.
Stop the Madness: “What we’re seeing as organized wine moms using Antifa tactics to harass and obstruct ICE agents is not a civil uprising. It’s not even a protest, it’s just a crime,” writes David Marcus. pic.twitter.com/DQwMTRQlKi
“We’re seeing this American administration use their language to create public enemies,” McDonald said. She cited the example of US President Donald Trump describing protesters as “professional activists” and ICE agents as “patriots”. True Social Thursday.
News outlets supporting the administration’s actions are using similar communication strategies, he added.
“The big change in language is really, really worrying,” Macdonald told CBC News. “I think people need to take note of the way language is changing and who is going to be the enemy.”
The state of Minnesota, along with the cities of Minneapolis-St.
Blame the victim
Goode, 37, was killed after being shot in the face by a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ISA) officer. Minneapolis last week In a massive immigration crackdown that sent thousands of officers to the Twin Cities.
The killing immediately spawned a dual storyline. Trump and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Nome said The ICE officer acted in self-defenseDemocratic officials say the Trump administration is lying.
Later, Nom Good’s actions are called “domestic terrorism”. Trump He told the New York Times. That thing “had a terrible character.” Vice President JD Vance described the death of Guden as followsA tragedy of her own making.” And further described her as a “deviant leftist”.
The New York Post, In one topicHe was described as a good “leftist fighter”. A Fox News hostShe called on the news that she was a good victimShe’s a self-proclaimed poet from Colorado with pronouns in her bio.
On X, conservative talk radio host Eric Erickson is called good “Progressive whites are turning violent,” added one “horrible (rich white female urban liberal).” And then on Sunday, Fox’s Marcus wrote about “misguided grape mothers” committing “murderous crimes.”
Although the Fox News story is one opinion among conservative scholars, says Michelle Chen, a professor of communication at Brock University who studies digital media and social movements.
It’s a distraction tactic, Chen added.
“It’s an experiment. To lose peopleI’m either saddened or outraged by the killing of a white woman and mother,” Chen told CBC.
Mothers pay attention
On social media, meanwhile, some moms in Minneapolis are posting videos that suggest they’re not paying attention. A single mother like “Mrs. Nicole”. Documenting daily life ICE is closing in on the city.
“I can’t take my kids to the library or the grocery store tomorrow morning without four passports with me,” she said. Video posted last week. “I can’t go to Walmart … because of my views, even though I’m a citizen.”
Yelena Kibasova, who posts about her children, youth hockey and fitness, said. In this week’s TikTok video (with nearly 50,000 views) She couldn’t express her fear of looking out her kitchen window and seeing ICE agents in her neighborhood.
“That’s why we moved to America, to avoid things like this,” she said.
Other Minneapolis women have them too It has been said that they are known as wine mothers. Adrianna Goblersch, who lives in the Twin Cities metro area, called the statement “ridiculous.”
as if The TikTok video was posted on WednesdayGoblirsch says what’s really happening is moms are paying attention — neighbors are afraid to leave their homes, schools and daycares are demanding ICE protocols, and families are noticing the impact.
“So yes, make fun of us. Try to reduce us to stereotypes. If that makes you more comfortable, call us ‘vine moms,'” she said.
“Anger is happening to mothers.”
There is nothing new about mothers organizing and becoming politicized, said activist Reshma Saujani. In a viral Instagram video. She points to the suffragettes in the early 20th century, Moms Demand Action in the 1980s to end drunken driving, and Moms Demand Action, a campaign to end gun violence.
“What is new is the anger towards mothers who enter public spaces,” Saujani said.
It wasn’t that long ago “Cats are women without kids,” Vance said. They were ruining the country, Saujani continued – a comment the vice president made in a 2021 interview that resurfaced during the 2024 election campaign.
A common thread, Saujani says, is ridicule of women who dare to use their voices.
“This tells us something about the condom we’re sold – the only acceptable way to be a mother is to keep quiet, stay at home and stay out of the public eye.”
US Vice President JD Vance said on Wednesday that Renee Nicole Goode, the woman who was shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, Minn., ‘died because she tried to kill someone with her car.’ John Gross, a law and use-of-force expert at the University of Wisconsin, breaks down every step of the relationship between ICE and Good, who says in the video that she ‘never tried to grab the officer.’ Minnesota State Senator Zeinab Muhammad Goode then dismissed Vance’s claim that he was part of a radical left-wing network, saying his administration was the ‘only radical group’ invading American cities.
It is the practice of denying the opposition legitimacy to influence public opinion. as well It’s not new, says Chen at Brock University.
The media sometimes focuses on protests as violence, lawlessness or name-calling — like “vine mothers,” she added. In the past, the report of the American protest was seen, says Chen Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, while opponents are sometimes described as “”.Extremists“And”Angry mobs.”
This used to be especially common in protests involving minorities, Chen said, but now it’s a different target.
MacDonald, a communications expert at the University of Waterloo, said wine moms are a popular voting demographic for politicians. If we go by comments, they are middle-class, suburban, have money for entertainment and are white, she added.
“To change that and then make an enemy of it is terrifying,” MacDonald said.