In this blog:
- #LetThePeopleVote Rally for Democracy, Friday, Sept. 17
- Boarding School Survivor and Victim Memorial March, Friday, Sept. 24
- MN Council of Church’s first ‘truth telling’ event on the state’s racial legacy, Sept. 24-25
- 2021 Overcoming Racism Conference set for Nov. 12-13 online
#LetThePeopleVote Rally for Democracy, Friday, Sept. 17
Early voting starts in Minneapolis starts Friday, and a debate still rages over the proper wording for a city charter amendment that would give the City Council the authority to replace the Minneapolis Police Department with a Department of Public Safety. The new department would take a public health approach to public safety.
The issue has been tied up in litigation, which threatens voting officials’ ability to get the language on absentee ballots.
Yes 4 Minneapolis, a group pushing the charter amendment, is holding a rally tomorrow, Friday, from 3-4 p.m. at the Hennepin County Government Center, 300 S. 6th St.
“A handful of very wealthy, very powerful people don’t think we should be able to vote on what keeps us safe,” Yes 4 Minneapolis said on a Facebook Post. “We disagree. Join us and add your voice to #LetThePeopleVote on Question 2.”
CBS Channel 4 reported on the impact of the charter amendment lawsuits:
By law the city and county are required to send out absentee ballots Friday to people who have requested for them. However, the delays could disenfranchise overseas voters, including members of the military. Hennepin County, which is in charge of printing and sending out the ballots, argued in a court filing that if the wording is changed again it could mean not counting the amendment votes at all.
CBS Channel 4 website
Boarding School Survivor and Victim Memorial March, Friday, Sept. 24
The Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center has organized a march to honor board school survivors and victims on Saturday, Sept. 24, starting at 1 p.m. at the Minneapolis American Indian Resource Center.
Speakers will include Doreen Day and Mitch Walking Elk and a drumming by Midnight Express. The event will also offer space for community members to speak.
The march will go from the Center to East Lake Street, East Lake Street to Chicago Avenue, Chicago Avenue to Franklin Avenue, then Franklin Avenue to the end point at Pow Wow Grounds Coffee.
MN Council of Church’s first ‘truth telling’ event on the state’s racial legacy, Sept. 24-25
The Minnesota Council of Churches first ‘truth telling’ event, a first step its broader commitment to reparations with Native American and African American communities, will be Friday-Saturday, Sept. 24-25.
You can participate in person or on line. You can register here.
According to the Council’s website:
After announcing the ambitious 10-year plan for Truth and Reparations in Minnesota we immediately began hearing from people eager to be a part of truth-telling, and people eager to hear the truth about Minnesota’s racial legacy. People eager to hear how our past shapes our present and how Minnesotans, knowing the truth, can begin to leave the legacy of a more equitable state.
The first truth-telling event will begin Friday, September 24, at Plymouth Congregational Church. Christine Diindiisi McCleave, Chief Executive Officer of the Twin Cities-based National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, will give the keynote address on Friday night. She is an enrolled citizen of Turtle Mountain Ojibwe Nation and a leader and an activist for Indigenous Rights advocating for truth, justice, and healing for the genocidal policy of U.S. Indian Boarding Schools.
The Saturday morning keynote will be delivered by Dr. Yohuru Williams, a history professor at St. Thomas University. He is the Founding Director of St. Thomas’ Racial Justice Initiative and the author of several books, including Rethinking the Black Freedom Movement.
2021 Overcoming Racism Conference set for Nov. 12-13 online
The theme for this year’s Overcoming Racism Conference is The Fierce Urgency for Transformation Now! The conference’s webpage is now available on-line. Registration opens Oct. 4.
This year’s keynote speaker is Ruth Buffalo, a citizen of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation. She has served in various capacities focused on building healthy and safe communities. Ruth was elected into the North Dakota House of Representatives in 2018 and proudly serves the people of District 27 in south Fargo.
The event includes a screening and facilitated discussion of PBS’s American Portrait “I Rise”(Ep. 4)
The Conference also will include a large number of workshop options, which are still being organized.
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Hi Scott, thanks for sharing these events. In the text about the Boarding School Memorial March, the date is also listed as March rather than September.
The characterization that “debate still rages over the proper wording for a city charter amendment” isn’t really right either, whatever opponents of the amendment would have you believe. Don and Sondra Samuels are now saying they want to work with City Council and Yes4Mpls on new language. If that were their true concern, they could have done that weeks, months ago.
The campaign in the courts against the measure was always about fearmongering and bolstering the vote no side, and now that they realize they might have gone too far in striking it from the ballot altogether and disenfranchising the whole city when the judge actually gave them what they wanted, they’re trying to walk it back.
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