If you haven’t seen social media, or national news, or been to Mall of America, or even seen the Oscar nominations, you have been hiding. Black Lives Matter! There is a movement afoot to wake America up, and Monday you can help shake us from our slumber!
For Minnesota Pagans, this movement has stimulated a lot of online debate, analysis of our privilege, and discussion of our response. Well, “Words are Wind”, and Monday many Pagans hope to change that with action. Several area Pagans have pledged on social media to attend the march, and some are meeting in advance to make signage and arrive together.
http://fergusonaction.com organizers are encouraging this weekend of events to reclaim the legacy of Martin Luther King with national resistance to injustice and demand action. The TC metro area has a March planned for Monday 1/19/15 at 1:00 PM in St. Paul, MN at. Snelling and University Ave .
From the Facebook event:
Join us for a March to #ReclaimMLK as part of a national day of action.We can’t stop now. Eyes on the prize. Text @BlackLives to 23559 for action updates
Martin Luther King Jr’s life’s work was the elevation, honoring, and defense of Black Lives. His tools included non-violent civil disobedience and direct action. Dr. King was part of a larger movement of women, and men, queer, and straight, young and old. This movement was built on a bold vision that was radical, principled, and uncompromising. The freedom fighters who believed in this vision were called impractical, rash, irrational, and naive. Their tactics were controversial. Some elders distanced themselves from what was then a new movement for change. Some of the older generation joined in. Our movement draws a direct line from the legacy of Dr. King.
Unfortunately, Dr. King’s legacy has been clouded by efforts to soften, sanitize, and commercialize it. Impulses to remove Dr. King from the movement that elevated him must end. We resist efforts to reduce a long history marred with the blood of countless women and men into iconic images of men in suits behind pulpits.
From here on, MLK weekend will be known as a time of national resistance to injustice.This MLK weekend we will walk in the legacy of Dr. King and the movement that raised him. We will #ReclaimMLK http://fergusonaction.com/reclaim-mlk/
OUR DEMANDS:
Our basic demands are an immediate end to the unjust police murders of unarmed Black people, including Black children and teens, and for Minnesota to take measures to eliminate our worst in the country racial disparities. Our initial policy demands include:
1. Adopt statewide legislation to end racial profiling.
2. Require all Minnesota law enforcement officers to take implicit bias and cultural competency training.
3. Establish an independent community review board for police departments with full disciplinary powers and establish a federal oversight system.
4. Increase the number of officers that live in the communities they serve and immediately repeal the 1990 “Stanek Residency Freedom Bill.”
5. De-militarize local law enforcement across the country.
We also demand that Bloomington City attorney Sandra Johnson and the Mall of America halt the outrageous charges and restitution for “lost revenue” and “police overtime” being threatened against “organizers” of our peaceful gathering at the MOA. This is an evolving list. We want to form a community commission to address the biggest racial disparities in policing in the United States now. We won’t wait. Black lives are at stake. We remember Terrance Franklin.
Pagan Newswire Collective - Minnesota Bureau 