catherineldf | Updates, state of the Catherine, Minneapolis etc. (Reply)

Hi there. Okay, I've had some decent sleep for the first time in a few days. The last couple of days have been very intense and I've been sleeping in the living room with the fire extinguisher, etc. while the helicopters buzzed overhead, there was lots of gunfire, I kept getting up to check the "perimeter" on the regular, etc. We are far enough away (4 blocks or so) from the site where George Floyd was murdered by the MPD that we haven't gotten tear gas in the house; homes closer to the the site and the protestors keeping vigil there haven't been so lucky. There are so many opportunities for multi-level rage right now and we don't even have to leave our own neighborhood!

So, some things that came as recent pleasant surprises, in no particular order:

The protestors at the vigil site weren't harassed last night.
The attempts to burn down and/or vandalize several buildings, including my friend's birthing clinic in North Minneapolis and DreamHaven Books, failed thanks to alert community members.
Mail delivery and trash pickup started again yesterday.
The Minneapolis Police Department is now under investigation by the State of MN for cases going back 10 years.
This is honestly the angriest bunch of Midwestern white people I've ever seen, outside of lefty organizing or a sporting event, and most of them are angry for good reasons, even if some of that revolves around a dream they wanted to believe was true for everyone.
A whole bunch of us went and cleaned up on Lake Street, on the Northside and Midway and at individual businesses; people formed watch committees and block patrols; food shelves have been overrun with donations and volunteers; a local hotel opened itself up to a newly formed collective as a shelter for people who had lost housing; fundraisers are going on all over the place. None of this takes away from the cops, the State Patrol, the Sheriff's Department, a supposedly random truck driver, roving white supremacists, or National Guard personnel brutalizing protestors, community members and journalists or, you know, centuries of white supremacy, but it's still pretty amazing to watch come together and participate in it.

What you can do:

Do you live in Minneapolis? The MPD's contract is being negotiated right now. Reach out to your council person and the Mayor with your concerns. Here's a handy list of reforms that Minneapolis for a Better Police Contract tried to get them to consider last year; they got shut out of the process. But now, thanks to murder, over brutality, the "blue flu" that caused them to unable to actually respond to actual problems instead of shooting people on porches and harassing neighborhood patrols, and the aforementioned angry white people, there's a chance to be heard. Seize it.
Fundraisers, we got 'em! Here's a list on Bring Me the News - I've been sending them daily updates and you can too! I just sent them this one so it should be up tomorrow - Uncle Hugo's and Uncle Edgar's Bookstore rebuilding fund.
Volunteer, if you can. It helps. There's a ton of stuff going on - check Holy Trinity Church in Minneapolis, this list here and North Minneapolis churches and the Midway neighbor's group. Cleaning, medics, people to help at the Sheraton, people to pick things up, distribute things, etc. etc. The need to gigantic.
And when they're looking at people to help with COVID-19 testing and support, gonna need help for that too, unfortunately.
Buy things from locally-owned businesses that are still open or reopening. Seriously, a lot of them/us were hurting before this. Hold off on getting shit from Amazon if you can find it locally in your price range. Check local first.
Fight police brutality, military occupation and racism on your local level, if you don't live here. National level, as well.
Pace your self as much as you can. People burn out fast on this stuff. Go smell whatever proverbial roses that you got.

And tomorrow, we start the Pride Month StoryBundle and I'm curating so expect things to be about that for a few weeks, interspersed with rage and news. Good times!