A Heart's a Heavy Burden

After our first protest night at the 3rd precinct (the infamous destroyed Target stands behind us), we ended up on the header of this opinion piece (it's not worth reading - the summary: "I am a retired cop. Derek Chauvin and the officers with him were way out of line, but NOT ALL COPS!!! Plus, most protesters are peaceful. Not all protesters are looters!!"). We're the ones with the signs behind the person in the foreground. He came and sat in front of us. Even though there was a car burning behind us, where we all were standing was very quiet.

From left: brother Adam, his partner Jack, sister-in-law Brittany, sister Bethany, Me.

They set out charges for the other officers and upgraded Chauvin's charges. This man's sitting in some probably safe section of the Oak Park Heights jail and thinking about those medals he got for killing people in the past, and probably confused about why the hell this is all happening to him. GOOD. All cops around the country and world better be rethinking their untouchable status.

Several key partners have terminated their contracts with MPD. The U was the first one I know of. Joan Gabel took a stand immediately. Soon after, Minneapolis Public schools followed. Then the MIA (art institute), and venues (First Ave), etc. The park police, while they failed to rename themselves as park rangers, voted to sever their ties with MPD AND change their uniform colors to green. There continues to be demand for accountability. We need to keep this pressure up.

For all the complaints I have about working at the U, I am glad I work for such a strong president right now, and that I have a supportive team and department. Our director Phoebe and our CIO Bernie both issues statements as well.

I've been having a LOT of good conversations with Courtney. One thing I love about her, is her willingness to identify something within herself, and how she has changed. She's struggled a lot because she and her family have lived very sheltered, white suburban lives. She has identified thought patterns that she used in the past to give herself permission to justify and turn away from events like this. She says her parents are still there, and so she has been working hard to try to bring information to their level and open their eyes. We have been patient with each other and talked through any roadblocks between us.

I've also challenged Tyler a few times, because he is unintentionally quite harmful in some of the shit he shares. I told him I keep coming after him because I KNOW he wants to be a good person, but that means he needs to THINK about the shit that he posts and what message he's trying to send. We're cool. His ~wife~ made a very good post and hopefully she's talking to him about this stuff too.

And, ya know, things like this make me laugh:


Life:

Courtney was on a video call with us last night, and she was researching fonts and starting her next art piece, and I started a new shawl but got just a few stitches in before I was sucked back into the protest stuff. It's so hard for me to pull away. We got to watch a good amount of Kripp, and Lack. Courtney mentioned an artist whose work she loves, but who has been completely silent since this all went down. We had a good conversation about the people who have the privilege to just... literally... not engage at all? Even when the whole world is talking about it? What the fuck?

I made an additional donation to Northside communities and have been boosting important posts. Courtney said she'd love to do a "book club" of sorts of two texts we both purchased about defunding police.

They officially started construction on the roads in our neighborhood and our cul de sac is a storage spot so it's always packed with machinery and rocks and stuff.

I need to clean. Connie still wants to go to the farmer's market tomorrow. Might force me to focus on something for a minute.

Email sent to us from President Gabel this evening:

The U has been sending updates as needed regarding travel and precautions regarding Coronavirus (referred to as COVID-19). In this most recent email, after reporting that travel abroad programs to South Korea and China are suspended through the summer, the U also provided links and additional suggestions, reminding the community that there have been no suspected cases in Minnesota.

At the end of the email, there was the following text:

"We recognize this is a stressful situation for many of you. As we move forward with our public health response, please remember that viruses do not discriminate and neither should we as a campus community. Though we have no confirmed cases on our campuses, many are still affected by COVID-19 in very personal ways. Be compassionate to those affected. Do not let fear lead to inappropriate assumptions."

Knowing what I know of how communications are developed and drawn up, I think the Unversity did a decent job here just bringing the humanity piece into the picture, and it made me feel a lot of feelings. Especially having been exposed to some really shitty, insidiously (and in some cases, overtly) racist garbage opinions/statements by people who work at the University. I feel protective of our students and marginalized people in general, and hate the continuous discrimination of various Asian populations here, COVID-19 or not.

I'm a bit in my feelings today.