Tag Archives: J4A
Ideas Worth Fighting For: End of Session & Series Wrap-Up
Posted March 4, 2018
This Ideas Worth Fighting For workshop is the completion of our winter & spring series on Climate Justice, Caring Economy, and Justice 4 All (i.e. ending Mass Incarceration). We will summarize & reflect on what we’ve learned, how we’ve deepened our analyses on race, gender, & corporate power, and we will plan what’s next, including end-of-legislative session activities. The format is interactive & relational. It’s designed to be exploratory, engaging, & creative, while still being knowledge-based, political, and pragmatic. Inspiring & grounded: that’s the goal. The agenda is designed to level-set between new & returning attendees. 6:00-6:30 will be an organizational orientation. 6:30-7:30 will be issue deeper dives. 7:30-8:30 will be planning time. 8:30-9:00 will be unstructured social time. Pre-readings will be emailed to registered attendees.
Ideas Worth Fighting For: Climate Justice, Caring Economy, and Justice 4 All
Posted
This Ideas Worth Fighting For workshop is designed to introduce and relate our program areas in Climate Justice, Caring Economy, and Justice 4 All (i.e. ending Mass Incarceration). The format is interactive & relational. It’s designed to be exploratory, engaging, & creative, while still being knowledge-based, political, and pragmatic. Inspiring & grounded: that’s the goal. This workshop will feature orientations on the organization & how we campaign, policy basics on each issue area (and their intersections), our analysis on race, gender, & corporate power, and concrete next steps, if you want to go deeper on any of them. The agenda is designed to level-set between new & returning attendees. 6:00-6:30 will be an organizational orientation. 6:30-7:15 will be issue orientations. 7:15-8:30 will be work shopping time. 8:30-9:00 will be unstructured social time. Pre-readings will be emailed to registered attendees.… Continue reading »
Still Fighting to Make 47K Voices Heard
Posted May 21, 2015
Last weekend, strong, bi-partisan language that would restore the right to vote to 47,000 Minnesotans stalled at the Capitol.
Thousands of Minnesotans like you took action this year to move this campaign forward — Minnesotan’s like Debra, who fought every week to honor the memory of her son.
Debra’s family is just one of many that knows the pain of being isolated from the community — and also the joy of being part of our democracy. Her story is why we fought this year, and why we’ll keep fighting.
“I am in the fight to restore the vote for my son.
He was a great child, and as he grew older he had run-ins with the justice system that resulted in his incarceration. After his release, he did all he could to show everyone that he was a better man, father, and citizen. But the system wouldn’t allow that. He could not sign a lease to stay and support his family. He could not vote to change discriminatory laws. Because of his criminal record he faced barriers to moving on with his life. For years, my son battled depression, expressing tear-filled frustrations to me because of his unfair treatment.
In 2012, after waiting what seemed like a lifetime, a little blue slip of paper came in the mail.… Continue reading »
How to Eat an Elephant
Posted April 27, 2015
Nathanal Doehling is a Leader with the Justice 4 All Program at TakeAction Minnesota. He has been through the Justice System and is dedicated to making sure all people have a fair shot at a job and a voice in their Democracy. Here’s a blog by him on the campaign to restore the vote:
It is no accident that over 47k people have been locked out of their Democracy. It is no accident that over 20k of those people are people of color. Since we know it’s not an accident and those who make the laws know it’s no accident, let’s correct the language being used. The system is not broken. It is working the way it was intended to. Locking up people of color and locking us out of our Democracy.
But a problem that is people made can be people solved. People on all sides of the political spectrum using our vote and our voice is the only way we can change the way things are.
But sometimes this problem can feel bigger than an elephant.
How do you eat an elephant? One bite a time! How do you eat a donkey? One bite at a time! I don’t see me eating any elephants or donkeys but I do know that the system has made a meal off of our communities for too long.… Continue reading »
47,000 Voices Heard
Posted April 13, 2015
This week leaders from the Justice 4 All Program will be hosting a rally for the 47,000 Minnesotans being denied the vote by our Justice System. Jason Sole is a Professor at Metro State University and a respected trainer and advocate for Justice Reform. Jason has a compelling story to tell that you can read in his book “From Prison to PHD.”
Below are remarks Jason made in support of voting rights restoration. I invite you to read his story and come out and join us as we rally this week to make these 47,000 voices heard.
“I have only been able to vote once in my lifetime.
As a young black man in America, I got into trouble and tried to defend myself in the only ways I knew how. I felt there was nowhere for me to run for protection. I paid the price and took responsibility for my actions, but now, even though I’ve been on probation since 2006, I will not be able to vote until 2026.
Across the world, we are hearing people screaming that Black lives matter. But according to Minnesota, with respect to voting, Black and Native American lives don’t matter at all because we are the most disenfranchised.… Continue reading »
Lining the highway to St. Cloud
Posted April 6, 2015
There are enough Minnesotans being denied the right to vote to theoretically line the highway between MPLS and St. Cloud. These are people working and paying taxes. Parents who can’t vote for school board, people who have spent time in a cell but can’t vote for Judges responsible for sentencing. And for what? What do we gain as a society from stopping these 50,000 Minnesotans from influencing who governs them?
Last month, over 100 people from communities impacted by the justice system took to the phones at TakeAction Minnesota to fight for the restoration of voting rights. These were new partners like Minneapolis Mad Dads, Better Futures MN, Change Equals Opportunity (C.E.O.), Ujama Place and NdCAD. Progressive allies like the Communication Workers of America (CWA) and the Restore the Vote Coalition.
Together we made over 12,000 calls to connect Minnesotans to their legislators asking them to support the restoration of voting rights. Out of the folks who took action with us, one third knew someone with a criminal record.
We have strong bi-partisan support with over 30 Republican legislators signed-on on to the bill, and communities are asking elected officials at the Capitol to do the right thing and give every day Minnesotans a voice in their democracy.… Continue reading »
A letter to Sandra Johnson
Posted March 5, 2015
Today I’m sending a letter to Sandra Johnson, the Bloomington City Attorney who has charged 11 people for protesting at the Mall of America last December. I wanted to share it with you here. Take a look, and join us in encouraging Ms. Johnson to drop the charges by sharing this with your friends and family on Facebook and Twitter. Always feel free to get in touch and let me know what you think.
…
March 5, 2015
Sandra Johnson, City Attorney
City of Bloomington
1800 West Old Shakopee Road
Bloomington, MN 55431-3027
Dear Ms. Johnson,
I ask that you to use your legal authority and moral responsibility to work toward racial justice and choose not prosecute the 11 members of #BlackLivesMatter who peacefully protested at the Mall of America on December 20, 2014.
The #BlackLivesMatter movement has done much to reveal the profound impacts of our nation’s racism. It is a forum where new and emerging community leaders all across the country, people who are most harmed by these structural inequities, have said the killing of black people by police must stop. It is also a space where white allies can stand in solidarity against these injustices. I am one of those white allies. … Continue reading »
Top 9 Photos of 2014 (and one awesome video)
Posted December 16, 2014
From marching with single moms in a Polar Vortex in Brooklyn Center, to Rosie the Riveters in Duluth and Grand Rapids, and even heading to the White House — it’s been a busy year! Take a look at some of our favorite pictures, and make sure you scroll all the way to the bottom for our favorite video of 2014. Happy New Year!
We Never Got a First Chance
Posted August 20, 2014
The other day I had a scary experience that I and many black women experience over the course of our lifetimes. My partner, a dark-skinned, young, African American man, was walking the 6 blocks over to my house from his house late after work when he was followed by the police and a K-9 dog, profiling him to see if he was up to no good. As he walked, he could feel their presence, the dog’s nostrils sniffing for something wrong, and his sense of safety quickly disappearing.
Thankfully, he got to me safely and without incident but we know that this is a common reality in our community. How many black women like me, wait scared until their sons, uncles, brothers, and partners, come home from an errand, shopping, or work? Recent events in Ferguson, New York and even here in the Twin Cities, remind us, people of color, that we still have a reason to worry about our loved ones’ safety.
We have a justice system that is designed in a way to rob our communities of a fair first chance. My partner’s story is one that shows how young black men in this country are assumed to be “up to no good” and therefore need to be over-patrolled, profiled, and controlled in order to ensure everyone’s “safety”.… Continue reading »
