Our Beloved Black community,
We write this in a moment of profound grief, pain, and power. It has become increasingly clear that organized groups of white nationalists have infiltrated the protests and are attempting to take over the cities, distracting from our righteous rage and powerful movement for the end of the police state in our communities. We see them protected by and working with the police. We want to lovingly encourage folks to not go outside tonight unless your plan is to protect Black lives.
Let’s be clear. Young people have always created and sustained movements. We support the Black youth standing on the front lines defending our lives and honoring the memories of the many Black folks who have been murdered by police.
Black people are taking care of Black people, as we always have and always will. While our lives are being threatened, we have also centered the care and needs of our people risking their lives on the front lines. We have seen the capacity of our communities to ensure our own safety, reinforcing our demand to #DefundThePolice. From supply trains to sites throughout the Twin Cities, to supporters navigating food and mutual aid to those most in need, to community medics treating burns and injuries from police, to healers coming together to hold collective space to process grief, to artists reflecting the beauty of our existence. Once again, we are affirming, we have exactly what we need.
Our government has failed to provide justice for centuries; it is failing us again right now. We are angry, but we are not surprised. The police will not keep us safe, they never have and were never meant to do so.
White supremacy has threatened and harmed our neighborhoods since we established them. White supremacy allowed the murder of George Floyd, allowed his murderer to walk free for days and allows his accomplices to remain free now. White supremacy, alongside economic inequity and the hoarding of wealth, has brought us this culture of politicians valuing profit over our lives, as evidenced by Governor Walz calling in escalatory forces like the National Guard, with 1700 additional forces descending upon our cities tonight. This is not new. This is the legacy of white folks protecting their right to murder us without punishment and protect their profits, whether as paid cops or deputized white vigilantes. The white nationalists infiltrating our cities will not hesitate to destroy our neighborhoods or destroy Black bodies. We will not let them.
Today is a time for Black folks to ground in our community, our personal safety, and care for Black people. Prepare for the journey of healing and justice that will unfold in the coming days and the unforeseeable future. This moment is a reckoning with the disease of state sanctioned violence that has stolen so much from us.
We are experiencing a deep and painful trauma within our community since George Floyd was murdered in front of our eyes passing into Ancestorhood, and as a powerful uprising has emerged right here at home. His death echoes in our souls, affirming our right to safety, rest, and healing. We must prepare: take time to find food, drink water, protect our homes, honor our ancestors lost to police violence and stay strong.
It is also important to note that we got here not because of the benevolence or charity of City Government, but because of the solidarity and power of the people. Our power is evident. Pressure from Black people forced the city to immediately fire all four officers and to prosecute George Floyd’s murderer. We have called for Minneapolis City Council members to #DefundMPD and are waiting on their overdue response.
The call for abolition is growing louder and people are realizing a world free of police is possible. It is because of the legacy of Black organizing and collective struggle that we have won and will continue to win even in moments of great strife and pain inside of our cities caused by police terror and ambivalent elected leadership.
We are proud of our ability to demonstrate what community care looks like while the State shows its’ inability to protect us, and we will continue to model the possibilities of a world without police.
Black Love,
