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Klecko: Hitman-Baker-Casketmaker - Aftermath of an American's Clash with ICE

In Klecko's new book "Hitman-Baker-Casketmaker: Aftermath of an American's Clash with ICE" he reminds us to pay attention.  Pay attention to the people in our world that make things happen.  Your home ec teacher.  The people who clean your hotel room.  The people who bake your hot dog bun at the Superbowl. 

These people matter to our daily lives.  Klecko tells a personal story of his life and the aftermath of an ICE raid at St. Agnes Bakery right before the Super Bowl in Minneapolis. 

Mary Ann Grossman wrote in the Pioneer Press:

Klecko was in the news in 2018 when his almost 30-year-old St. Agnes Baking Company, a wholesale operation based in St. Paul, was poised to be a primary vendor for the Super Bowl taking place in Minneapolis. Just weeks before the big event, Klecko learned of an audit by ICE that made him close the bakery for good because some 23 of his longtime employees were not eligible to work in the U.S. In tender poems he writes of the loyalty of his staff:

The results of our I-9 audit arrived 

Half of you aren’t qualified for employment 

The lawyer said you can work 10 more days 

But he assured me you wouldn’t 

 
He said you’d be afraid and bolt 

If that’s true, I wouldn’t blame you 

But I propose we tell our accounts 

We are closing after Friday’s bake 

Our purpose has been taken 

But not our dignity …

The packing supervisor responded

You can’t close the doors 

It’s our fault, we will work for free 

Until you find replacements 

I smiled and said no, not without you 

And the crew went back to work.

Heidi Holtan is KAXE's Director of Content and Public Affairs where she manages producers and is the local host of Morning Edition from NPR. Heidi is a regional correspondent for WDSE/WRPT's Duluth Public Television’s Almanac North.