Racial justice demands continue for Native American, African American communities

Sounds of Blackness sang as part of the one-year anniversary remembrance of George Floyd’s murder.

Tuesday, hundreds and hundreds of people gathered at 38th and Chicago in Minneapolis to commemorate the one-year anniversary of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of city police. Today, another 100 people gathered outside the Governor’s Mansion in St. Paul to continue demands to stop the Enbridge Line 3 tar sands pipeline, a project that creates the most harm for the Anishinaabe peoples of northern Minnesota.

The two events are linked by the legacy and ongoing reality of white supremacy culture.

This country has not valued Black or Indigenous lives. It has stolen Black labor and Indigenous lands. It has not honored treaties with Indigenous peoples. Decades of police reforms have fallen short of their promises.

This country has made small efforts at equity and repair, though momentum is growing. Until we get serious about this work, we will keep seeing the vigils and protests that are all to common around the country.

Here’s a brief photo essay from two Twin Cities events this week.

The gray hairs were out in force to oppose Line 3: Members of the 1,000 Grandmothers for Future Generations arrived in the Twin Cities from California to New York. They joined Indigenous leaders and allies in front of the Governor’s Mansion today. Center: Patricia St. Onge, member of the 1,000 Grandmothers Coordinating Committee, spoke. Others speaking included Water Walker Sharon Day (Ojibwe) Great Grandmother Mary Lyons (Ojibwe) and Madonna Thunder Hawk (Lakota), a leader in the Dakota Access Pipeline resistance. The NDN Collective live streamed the event. Here’s a link.

George Floyd Square is about more than George Floyd. At Tuesday’s event, there were memorials to Duante Wright and other Black people who had died at the hands of police.

The 1,000 Grandmothers work is about more than Line 3. Event organizers asked people to bring pictures of children, for whom the Grandmothers are standing.

Some of the new art at George Floyd Square.

People held up a long blue tarp in front of the Governor’s mansion, representing all the clean waters threatened by Line 3.

Photos can be reproduced for non-commercial use.