AllHipHop Talks To Tufawon On Minneapolis, Mutual Aid, ICE Watch Networks, And “Gradient”
Minneapolis has been a national flashpoint since May 25, 2020, when George Floyd was murdered. The city became shorthand for uprising, police accountability, and what happens when a community refuses to “move on.” The Twin Cities also carry older scars that still shape who lives where, who gets protected, and who gets boxed in. Highway projects like I-94 and I-35W tore through neighborhoods and displaced tens of thousands, accelerating segregation and cutting cultural corridors into isolated pockets.
For Indigenous communities, history is not abstract. After the U.S.-Dakota War, thousands of Dakota people were imprisoned at a Fort Snelling concentration camp site, a trauma Minnesota institutions now openly acknowledge.
Into that pressure cooker steps Tufawon, a Dakota and Puerto Rican artist-activist on the ground in Minneapolis, watching coalition-building form across Native, Somali, Black, and immigrant communities, while also dropping a museum-linked EP, Gradient, commissioned through the American Composers Forum’s “Recomposing America” initiative and featured with Duluth Art Institute exhibitions running January 12 to April 3, 2026.
AllHipHop: Tufawon. How are you, brother?
Tufawon: All things considered, I’m doing well. I’m feeling inspiration from the people on the ground getting organized. I’m going through waves of emotions because everything is chaotic, but the movement of the people is giving me hope.
AllHipHop: As a Black man, knowing the history of the country, it felt like we were making advances toward justice and equality. Now it feels like we’ve taken decades backwards. What are your general thoughts on this moment as it relates to history?
Tufawon: There’s a lot of history repeating itself, and this whole administration is taking steps backwards. It’s blatant, out in the open. Even though it’s really bad right now, there’s so much movement happening with the people. They’re getting organized on a level I’ve never seen. My hope is greater than the atrocities. Greater than the fascism plaguing our communities. I believe they’re afraid of it. With the momentum we have, we can defeat fascism and what they’re trying to do.
AllHipHop: What keeps you going when you’re seeing people essentially being executed this way? And have you felt fear that this could continue?
Tufawon: I do. But I think the Trump administration is backtracking a bit because a lot of people, specifically white people who might have been on the fence, are looking at what happened and saying, “I can’t support this.” I’m seeing people say they’re not voting Republican in the midterms.
And the problem with ICE is many agents are untrained or minimally trained, and they think they’re above the law. When you see white folks harmed too, it makes the agenda look really bad. That’s shifting some people.
AllHipHop: You’re talking about a shift with conservative, Second Amendment folks.
Tufawon: Yeah. I go beyond voting, I always vote, I encourage people to vote, but power is truly held in the people. I’m seeing Republicans who are anti-Trump now. I’m seeing Second Amendment people like, “This is an attack.”
And I’m seeing people I never thought would be out there. Because this impacts everybody, especially Black and brown people in immigrant communities. I’ve never seen so many people locked in, communicating, providing mutual aid, trainings, resources. Every day there’s something happening, we’re building skills.
AllHipHop: The hypocrisy is crazy. Kyle Rittenhouse shows up strapped and he’s treated like a hero. But now people are flipping the script.
Tufawon: It backs them into a corner. Same right-wing people who called Rittenhouse a hero, now say a concealed-carry guy is wrong for being at a protest. If one is wrong, why is the other a hero? The hypocrisy is being exposed and they’re looking bad. That’s part of why you’re seeing a shift.
AllHipHop: You also point out something emotional here: you’re describing someone being disarmed, jumped, protecting a woman.
Tufawon: That’s what gets us emotional. He was protecting a woman. He was protecting all of us from violent extremist fascism. He went down as a martyr. That’s not the same as some kid with a rifle showing up trying to execute people.
AllHipHop: What are you seeing on the ground that people outside Minnesota might not understand?
Tufawon: Minneapolis is segregated like a lot of cities. Cedar-Riverside, the Somali community, is blocked off. The Native community is blocked off. The North Side, the historically Black community, is sectioned off. But I’m seeing coalition-building that breaks barriers down. We’re meeting together, holding space, having meals, crying together, strategizing, taking action that can lead to liberation and defeating fascist violence.
And there’s an irony that hits hard. People are detained on our own land, sent to a detention center in the Whipple building at Fort Snelling, which was a concentration camp for my ancestors. That’s heavy. People try to say, “This is just immigration.” No. They’re terrorizing the Black community too. It’s connected.
AllHipHop: Explain mutual aid.
Tufawon: Mutual aid is people providing resources, money, food, whatever, to communities in need. Some people can’t leave their houses, can’t go to work. It’s getting resources into the hands of people impacted most.
Pow Wow Grounds coffee shop has been a hub. They’re so well-resourced they’re directing food to other orgs so it spreads around.
And it hits income too. I’m a rapper, but also a teaching artist. I teach Native youth, we make songs start to finish. Gigs get pushed back. Restaurants take a hit. So mutual aid is also directing funds to people who need it now.
AllHipHop: You mentioned rapid response teams.
Tufawon: People are posted up across blocks, South Side, North Side, St. Paul, suburbs too. There are Signal chats, real-time dispatch of ICE activity. If agents show up to raid or snatch somebody, the community blows whistles and comes together. It’s been successful pushing agents out. We did one yesterday. It saves lives.
AllHipHop: You shouted out people you call heroes and martyrs.
Tufawon: Everybody in Minneapolis is a hero right now, but especially those risking their lives every day. They could get shot up. I want to honor them, send love and prayers.
And I’m also holding white people accountable. Keep going after it “gets normal.” Don’t stop once you go back to regular life. There’s no stopping.
AllHipHop: You make a point that even when it’s “blue,” oppression still happens.
Tufawon: Exactly. We can’t take our foot off the gas after Trump’s out or whatever. People are realizing the people hold power. We’re more powerful than any party.
And there’s another awakening: racism is used as a tool in class warfare. The wealthy elite pit us against each other. Some ICE agents are middle class trying to get a paycheck. There’s turnover. Some sign up and realize, “I didn’t know I’d be snatching a woman, deporting her, and now her kids never see her again.” People are realizing the system doesn’t care about them either. It’s about time it crumbles.
AllHipHop: You said, “Defund ICE.” You’re also talking about budgets and Minneapolis being a testing ground.
Tufawon: Minneapolis is the testing ground. We’ve been trained since 2020, and before that through the American Indian Movement, and before that through our ancestors. They thought we’d riot so they could deploy military and run a whole regime. But we flipped strategy. They can’t deploy the way they wanted. They’re p#####.
And we want to flood resources out to other cities: trainings on mutual aid, rapid response, knowing your rights. Arm the people with that knowledge.
AllHipHop: You also frame this as ethnic cleansing and “keeping America white.”
Tufawon: That’s what it is. Make America great again is code. You see similar dynamics globally. Push people of color out, whiten it again. That’s what we’re fighting.
AllHipHop: Before we get into your latest project, I saw something about infiltration, people saying ICE is dressing in flannels and using whistles, trying to infiltrate like COINTELPRO. Are y’all addressing that?
Tufawon: A lot of us are trained in this. Going back to Standing Rock, Dakota Access Pipeline. We learned skills there, and people learned in 2020. We’ve heard about utility vehicles, people pretending to be plumbers. We have a vetting system. They can get into Signal chats, so security culture is important. Know who you’re working with, ask questions, identify possible infiltrators. We’re putting people on game.
AllHipHop: Let’s talk about the new project, Gradient.
Tufawon: Gradient is a seven-song EP commissioned by the American Composers Forum as part of their Recomposing America project. It’s part of a Duluth Art Institute exhibition: Fur Trade Nation and Ojibwe Adornment. Visitors can experience the museum while listening to my project. I’m the sonic sound of it.
The theme ties into what’s happening now: fighting colonialism and imperialism, but also going beyond the colonial narrative, who we were before colonizers, who we are today, and what the future is for Native people. It’s about sophisticated trade networks, intermarriage, mixing cultures, creating a beautiful gradient. Indigenous people come in so many colors, dark to light. Our cultures are like that sunset gradient sky.
I produced everything. I rapped and sang. I played instruments, Native flute, electric guitar. It leans Hip-Hop, but also R&B because I’m an R&B singer too.
AllHipHop: I love that. And I love what you said about roles. Everybody can’t do everything.
Tufawon: Taking care of your family is revolutionary. Babysitting for someone on the front line is revolutionary. Raising money for gas cards is revolutionary. Everybody has a role. Some people come to the front line and they’re not good at it and get hurt. Tap into what you’re good at.
AllHipHop: I respect a politically trained rapper. Some artists step into it and get cooked.
Tufawon: It’s okay to say, “I’m still learning.” Maybe you’re not fit for interviews yet. You can still do mutual aid, fundraise, learn, and come back armed for the conversations. Shout out Vic Mensa, he pulled up yesterday. That’s love.
AllHipHop: Gradient out right now. Continued blessings. Pray for protection over you and everybody out there.
Tufawon: We can take all the prayers we can get. I’m honored y’all let me speak on what’s going on and speak about my EP.