Dear John,

How are you doing? I’m sending love to all of you and truly appreciate all your responses to these emails. I’m closing this week feeling resolved.

Our liberation, our aliveness, is tied together. We know the work that needs to be done to affirm the life, dignity, and dreams of every Black person in our country. Of all the clips of Attorney General Keith Ellison this week, I want to highlight this 19-second clip where he says:

“The work of our generation is to put an end to the vestiges of Jim Crow and the centuries of trauma and finally put an end to racism. We can end it! It doesn’t have to be with us into the future if we decide now to have true liberty and justice for all.”

We do have power, together, to decide the future and the world we will live in. We also have the power to decide who our elected leaders are and choose the ones who are bold, pragmatic, and unapologetic about the future that is ours to create.

If you live in Minneapolis, sign up to caucus for TakeAction endorsed candidates by April 30. If it’s your first time, learn more at our caucus and conventions training on Tuesday.

Here’s what we’re reading, watching, and listening to this week:

1. MPLS Park Board

We cannot normalize nor accept police violence in response to police violence. This week, TakeAction leader and Minneapolis Park Board Commissioner Londel French led the Board to pass an emergency resolution ending its relationship with the State Patrol in response to its violence against protesters. Read the story in the Star Tribune. As I’m writing this, Mayor Frey just announced he’s going to veto the measure. He claims pushing back on police violence is not “good policymaking” and it “doesn’t help people.”

2. Bad Cops

The Dept. of Justice is investigating patterns of racism in MPD. We do not need the U.S. Justice Dept. to tell us what we already know. We need change. Instead of sharing the DOJ news, take another look at this piece from the Minnesota Reformer about how Minneapolis protects its worst police officers.

3. National Guard

The state needs to take right-wing extremism in policing and the National Guard more seriously. Read why in this MinnPost article, written by a member of the National Guard.

4. The End of Policing

“The problem is not police training, police diversity, or police methods,” Alex Vitale writes. “The problem is the dramatic and unprecedented expansion and intensity of policing in the last 40 years, a fundamental shift in the role of police in society. The problem is policing itself.” Vitale’s book The End of Policing is available for free downloads this week. Get it now.

5. Keith Ellison

The whole country is talking about Attorney General Keith Ellison. Watch this clip, read this New York Times piece, and check out this spotlight in Politico.

6. Yes 4 Minneapolis

TakeAction is proud to be part of the coalition that gathered over 20,000 signatures to replace MPD with a new public safety department. People voted on the current city charter in 1961 and we, the people, can change it. Catch up on the movement’s latest news.

7. Affordable Medicine

This week, the MN House passed a nation-leading Prescription Drug Affordability Board bill. This comes after years of organizing by patients including leaders of #Insulin4AllMN. Celebrate being one step closer to affordable medicine for every Minnesotan.

8. Care Economy

The White House just proposed huge investments in families and the care economy. Read about the next recovery bill in the Washington Post.

9. The Red Deal

This interview is highly recommended by Magdalena, TakeAction’s climate justice organizer. Listen to this interview with leaders of The Red Nation, a grassroots Indigenous liberation organization, on an Indigenous plan to save the Earth.

10. Music

Whatever you’re feeling in your body today, shake it out. Enjoy this song Alive by Tyrone Briggs.

That’s a wrap. Send me what you're reading.
- Kenza Hadj-Moussa