Dear John,
Yesterday (Thursday) we learned Kevin Yang was killed by law enforcement. Kevin and so many others should still be alive today.
Ruth Wilson Gilmore reminds us that when we talk about a police-free future, “abolition is about presence, not absence. It’s about building life-saving institutions.”
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There are consequential victories on the horizon for Minnesota if our champions decide to side with the people. These legislative victories are life-saving strides in the ongoing movement towards racial, economic, and gender justice; towards our broader vision of a world free from murder, evictions, detentions and deportations; and towards a world that embraces new relationships and potential futures for all.
Already this year, legislative champions have passed crucial bills. We’re making progress, and the work is not over. Corporations and the establishment are eroding, obstructing, and slowing down critical legislation to protect their profits. Join us virtually on Tuesday at 6:30pm as we organize for our lives and our health at our emergency town hall.
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And, be sure Senate Majority Leader Kari Dziedzic hears from you. Call her at 651-296-7809 to say: “Keep pushing back against corporations and work to get Earned Sick & Safe Time, Paid Family & Medical Leave, and the Cumulative Impacts Bill done for Minnesotans.”
Here’s what we’re reading, watching, and listening to this week.
1. “You are seen, you matter, you are loved.”
In the wake of infringements on LGBTQ+ and reproductive rights across the country, Governor Walz signed into law a package of critical bills protecting LGBTQ+ communities and the right to reproductive care. House bill author Rep. Athena Hollins shared, “This is just the beginning of what we are prepared to do for LGBTQIA+ individuals because you belong here.”
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2. Cannabis + Expungement
Sahan Journal reports that Black Minnesotans are five times as likely to get arrested on a marijuana charge as white Minnesotans, even though both populations use marijuana at similar rates.
Today (Friday), the state Senate’s vote on marijuana legalization also includes an expungement process for past convictions involving marijuana.
Rod Adams, Executive Director of Minnesota’s New Justice Project, reflects on what expungement could have meant – and still could mean – for his life as someone who had a marijuana conviction.
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3. Pharma
Pharma was behind a poison pill amendment that gutted the Senate version of the Prescription Drug Affordability bill passed earlier this month. “They’ll do anything to protect their profits over people’s lives,” Attorney General Keith Ellison wrote after the Senate vote. Yesterday, the House passed a version of the bill without the poison pill. In fact, it’s the strongest legislation of its kind in the nation! The next step is to ensure the strongest version of the bill goes to the Governor’s desk.
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4. “A win for all of us”
Andy Kuhlmann worked at the front desk of a community clinic in the Twin Cities. He has seen firsthand how access to healthcare is lifechanging and lifesaving. Read his story and learn how expanding the MinnesotaCare public option is one important pathway towards healing our broken healthcare system.
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5. Young people demand a seat
Guns are the number one cause of death for U.S. children. The young people that have grown up in the horribly literal crosshairs of the gun violence epidemic in the U.S. are ready to run for office and change the status quo. [link removed]
6. 32-Hour Workweek
Early this month, Senator Bernie Sanders renewed his longstanding call to reduce the workweek to 32 hours. Learn more about the 1940 Fair Labor Standards Act that capped the workweek at forty hours and possible paths to change this mandate.
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7. Minnesotans deserve #PaidSickDays
Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Duluth City Council Members share why Earned Sick & Safe Time policies (which workers in all of their cities benefit from) should be expanded to all Minnesotans. They write that paid sick time is a “basic protection that keeps workers and families healthy, safe and secure.”
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8. Long Covid Revolution
An estimated 10 to 30 percent of Covid-19 survivors developed post-viral symptoms, also known as Long Covid. Long Covid is causing temporary and permanent worsened health, destroying livelihoods and contributing to the labor shortage. Researchers with the National Institutes of Health are wasting time revisiting treatment approaches that have already been discredited – motivating grassroots activists and advocacy networks into action on this mass disabling event.
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9. “A people’s art is the genesis of their freedom”
Hammer & Hope is an online magazine of Black politics and culture birthed out of the 2020 uprisings when millions of people came together to demand a new kind of politics. We shared this magazine in March and want to be sure you’ve checked it out, along with this accompanying playlist by Brooklyn musician, Taja Cheek.
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10. Big blob of plasma
Did you see the Northern Lights this week?! The New York Times reports on all of the unusual places that the aurora borealis was visible this week. I (Katie) was very sad to miss them on a flight home. The pilot announced they could be seen over Minot, ND, but I was on the wrong side of the plane!
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And that’s a wrap!
Send us what you’re reading, watching and listening to.
Until next time,
Katie Blanchard (she/her)
Basebuilding Director
Jessica Zimmerman (she/her)
Development Director
Paid for by TakeAction Minnesota
TakeAction Minnesota
705 Raymond Ave Ste 100
Saint Paul, MN 55114
United States
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