Tomorrow, We Step Out | Free America Walkout at 2PM Local Time
Walkouts create pressure without violence. How to join even if you can’t leave work.
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TL;DR
Tomorrow (Tuesday) is the Free America Walkout, a coordinated, nationwide disruption effort designed to show that public participation is not automatic when power is escalating.
Today is also Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and the meaning of MLK. MLK day was created to force the country to remember disciplined civic pressure.
And Minnesota is still under intense strain right now, the clearest way to help is mutual aid, share verified updates, and material support through MN50501 Mutual Aid and other Minnesota Mutual Aid groups.
Tomorrow: The Free America Walkout: what it is, and why it can work
Tomorrow, January 20th, at 2 PM local time, the Free America Walkout is a coordinated nationwide action where people intentionally withdraw from normal participation: work, school, shopping, “business as usual” as a visible reminder that the system functions because everyday people keep it functioning, and when government power begins behaving as if it has no limits, peaceful non-cooperation becomes one of the only levers the public can pull at scale without violence.
A walkout isn’t “just skipping work.” It’s collective leverage, the same kind of pressure that shifts any complex system. The moment leadership can’t count on predictable compliance, they’re forced to reassess risk, optics, and consequences. Because mass participation is what keeps institutions stable, even when those institutions are actively harming people.
If you want the cleanest explanation straight from the source so you can share it without confusion, use the walkout’s official FAQ and the walkout resources page those pages explain the purpose, timing, and how to participate safely.
“What if I can’t walk out of work?” ,or I’ll get in trouble
Then you do not put yourself at risk because this movement needs people housed, employed, and still standing next week. That said, participation isn’t binary: you can support the walkout in many different ways such as avoiding nonessential spending during the action window, using your break to amplify verified resources, and sharing one clear post with the official link so people aren’t relying on misinformation.
“What if I’m retired?”… You can absolutely participate
Retired people are not “outside” civic action, you are often the backbone of it, because your time, stability, and community connections are powerful forms of capacity. Participation for retirees can look like: withholding commerce, sharing the official walkout link once with clarity (Free America Walkout), helping someone else safely participate through rides or childcare swaps, and supporting mutual aid so families under pressure don’t collapse under the weight of fear-driven disruption.
Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day
This year, we’re watching something darker than symbolism: the federal government deciding what gets honored, what gets minimized, and what gets quietly erased in public memory. California’s Governor Newsom announced free entry to over 200 California state parks on MLK Day, explicitly contrasting it with federal decisions and framing it as refusing to let Dr. King’s legacy be whitewashed or traded out for political ego, and you can read that statement directly here: Newsom’s MLK Day parks announcement.
And for anyone seeing misinformation online: MLK Day is still a federal holiday, and it is being observed today (January 19, 2026) because it falls on the third Monday of January which is not a debate, that’s the calendar. Here’s a straightforward explainer on the 2026 observance date.
Minnesota is under pressure:
Here is how we help right now
Minnesota is a real-time demonstration of federal escalation arriving heavy, fast, and politically defended, and expecting people to adapt to fear as a permanent condition of public life.
Local reporting from MPR News on tensions in Minneapolis shows how volatile the situation remains and how quickly it’s evolving on the ground.
We’re watching the conflict expand into legal and political warfare: PBS NewsHour reports that the Justice Department is investigating Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey over whether they impeded federal immigration enforcement which is not “routine oversight,” but a warning shot about when local officials openly resist federal operations.
And critically, the courts are stepping in: Reuters reports that a federal judge in Minnesota issued an injunction restricting immigration agents from detaining or using force against peaceful protesters and legal observers unless there’s reasonable suspicion of criminal activity, including prohibitions on tactics like pepper spray against nonviolent participants.
What Minnesota needs from us
If you feel helpless reading updates, remember: mutual aid is not charity, it is resistance logistics, and when fear disrupts daily life, mutual aid is the infrastructure that keeps communities stable enough to keep fighting.
The most direct way to help is through verified Minnesota community networks that are already matching needs with resources:
That hub includes pathways for people who need help, people who can offer help, and resources for families dealing with detention or emergency disruption.
Here’s what we can support them with right now:
Grocery / rent / emergency support when people can’t safely move or can’t work
Childcare support (because when childcare breaks, life gets hard)
Transportation + delivery support for supplies and check-ins
Verified amplification so people don’t get trapped in panic-misinformation
Detainee support resources for families dealing with detention stress and confusion
If you can’t donate, share the hub anyway, because in a crisis, information is protection.
What’s Next
Today we honor Dr. King by telling the truth: democracy does not survive on its own. It survives on us holding accountability to systems, participation, pressure, and the refusal to let dehumanization normalize.
Tomorrow we walk out because walkouts are historically proven tools of collective leverage, and because when the country needs help, our job is to become more difficult to silence, and harder to isolate or intimidate.
If you’re in Minnesota: we see you, hear you, and support you and we are learning from you.
If you’re watching from somewhere else: you are not powerless.
Share your plan for tomorrow at 2 PM local time.
And if you can help Minnesota use the hub: MN50501 Mutual Aid.
What does “participation” look like for you tomorrow? A walkout, withheld spending, sharing verified resources, helping someone else participate, or supporting mutual aid?
Sources
I hope it's the BIGGEST PROTEST MARCH the world has ever seen!!! This RACIST in the highest office in your land that hasn't kept ONE SINGLE campaign promise except to get rid of anybody who isn't White by beating and killing them if they can't deport them. He has started more wars, taken over AND THREATENED more countries in a year than any of your war mongering presidents in the past. He has to be made to really feel the rage. The fact that he has no emotion except hate is going to make it a tough one to get across to him, but you REALLY have to try!!!
Boicoting the big companies that support this admin and its agenda has proven the best tactic than the marches. These people have cared less about the marches, and are now looking for any excuse to shoot peaceful protesters and call them terrorists, they are trying to gaslight everyone around them, like of people were stupid. They can care less about anyone’s lives. Financial boicoting is the one key to bring the oligarchy down.