JUNE 8, 2020

"For those of you just starting now...I want to tell you: slow down. This is a long journey, a thankless one, but the most important thing is that you don't stop walking the path." -Samin Nosrat on commitment to anti-racism

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Progress Report:Minneapolis Council Members Pledge to Dismantle MPD

Yesterday, 9 Minneapolis City Council members voted to begin dismantling the Minneapolis Police Department. Addressing the community gathered in Powderhorn Park for "The Path Forward" meeting, council members proclaimed, "We are here today to begin the process of ending the Minneapolis Police Department and creating a new, transformative model for cultivating safety in Minneapolis.” This would not have been possible without the years of organizing by Black Visions Collective and Reclaim the Block. 

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Educational: 

It will be imperative that council members, law-makers and community members center BIPOC (Black Indigenous People of Color) experiences and insights in the process of rebuilding. How can we all support and amplify these experiences and insights? Below is a very bare-bones starting list. Please send more if you have them!

1) For fellow white people, #1 rule is tonot center ourselves. We are kept safe by the same system that killed George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and too many others. How could we know safer alternatives when we've never felt unsafe? 

2) Reclaim the Block has organized #WeKeepUsSafe- a way for individuals and communities to share how they have created networks of care and safety without police presence. Please follow Reclaim the Block and the hashtag to stay up to date on what is being shared. 

3) Understand how and why past and current policing practices are so harmful to BIPOC individuals and communities. This is a HUGE topic - start with thisNPR segment on Throughline. It's a 64 minute listen so you can do it TODAY! Historian, author and teacher Khalil Gibran Muhammad dives into the history of policing in America, beginning with his own experience. 

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An Important Take on Anti-Racist Resources: 

4)This is a must-read. It's literary, it's not an "easy read," but read it. Lauren Michele Jackson writes for Vulture, "I have this pet theory about book recommendations. They feel good to solicit, good to mete out, but someone at some point has to get down to the business of reading. And there, between giving and receiving, lies a great gulf. No one can quite account for what happens. Reading, hopefully, but you never can be sure."

Jackson exposes and discusses a core concern that comes with the influx of resource sharing: how, really, are people engaging with these materials?

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On-Going Resource Bank: 

- This spreadsheet, organized by Jodi Taylor and L, is a resource-sharing jackpot. It details petitions to sign, black business to support, places to donate and more.