Hope And Healing Begin In Minneapolis

There is so much to process, I needed a few days to mull it all over before I went went off on a rant for the ages. People are real touchy, myself included. The world has changed since the Memorial Day murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, and we can never go back to how it was. After so much grief and upheaval, it really does seem like the future will now be brighter - no matter what your race is. It HAS to be.

The last couple of weeks have been SO heavy, yet also so incredibly beautiful. The moments of true humanity and grace will stay with me forever, and give me the encouragement to hope against all hopes that this time - THIS TIME - really will be different, and that our country's future will truly be better and equal for us ALL. It HAS to be.

Pimento Jamaican Kitchen has been a real community leader through all of the uprising after the murder of George Floyd on Memorial Day. They have fed people, they have organized the donation drives ... they are honestly Nobel Prize-worthy. They are also fun. They hosted a "Summit" on Saturday at their location on Nicollet Avenue, as a day of peace and healing for everyone who has been so super maxed out stressed.

Art, Mural making, kid activities, Jamaican food, live reggae ... it was all the stuff I love on a regular day, but this time it was for the cause. It was for JUSTICE and PEACE. Because it HAS to be.

My dear friend and fellow activist, Rebecca, met me at Pimento, and we got to meet Tomme Beevas, the owner and ringleader of all of the activities happening in and around Pimento. What a cool dude, and what a good heart. The kind of heart we now all need to strive for in order to truly implement change. Because we HAVE to.

Nicollet Avenue was packed all day, with people walking the sidewalks and looking at all of the new mural art that has popped up since that day the world began to change in Minneapolis - because it HAD to. The soundtrack of the day was heavy on Bob Marley, which was totally fine with me.

A big, crazy thunderstorm moved in on Saturday night, so our outdoor revelry was cut short, but Sunday dawned very gorgeous, and very hot. There was a community meeting planned for Powderhorn Park in the afternoon, so I headed that way to see what the City Council was going to say. I hoped that there would be a call for real and systemic change, and boy, was I not disappointed! The beautiful park was full of concerned citizens of Minneapolis, all there because we need to stand together now to implement the ideas on all of the signs we've been reading at the marches the last couple of weeks.

*Speaking of marches - they are working. There has already been so many cases of people demanding accountability from the police, it's actually staggering. Minneapolis Schools and Parks have cut ties with the MPD. So has First Avenue and the Minneapolis Institute of Art. All four murderers of George Floyd have now been arrested. Believe me, NONE of this would ever have happened without the video taken of the murder. It would have just been yet another murder of a black man swept under the disgusting police department rug. But not anymore.

Keep filming everything messed up that you see, because that is really now the first line of defense. And stick up for people yourself! I'd really like to think that George Floyd would not have been dead if I had been there. I can't imagine not bum-rushing that sicko cop the minute I heard "I can't breathe!" I just can't. We HAVE to put ourselves out there to protect our fellow citizens of all colors if there is ever to be peace for everyone. Seriously. I've already had an incident at Augsburg Park in Richfield, with yet another gross, entitled white woman telling a Somalian woman she didn't belong in the park with her "Disgusting, yucky children." My heart was crushed that someone could behave like that, especially NOW. Racists are getting terrified that their time is up, and there will be more gross examples as they struggle to try to be superior - as usually their being white is about all they have going for them - at least in this case. We all simply must be better.

OK - back to Powderhorn Park. Speakers spoke, poems were read, and then the City Council President, Lisa Bender, got up there and said she was no longer a "reformist", and didn't believe that the MPD could be reformed. She and a veto-proof group of 9 council members straight up told the crowd that they were going to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department! And look into how we can go forward with "Community Led Public Safety (CLAPS vs COPS?!). The crowd went wild, as it was exactly what we wanted to hear. This is obviously early stages of figuring it all out, but THAT is progress - in just two weeks.

Of course the arguments online began immediately, with an uproar (usually from suburban whites) about how in the world can there be a world without police? Well, to that I would reply, when was it last safe WITH police? Breonna Taylor was killed in her OWN HOME by police - they got the wrong house, shrug. Justine Damond (white woman) called the police to help someone else, and ended up being shot and killed by the police, in a case that I still can't believe. If you live in Venice, California - they just never come, and if they do, the person causing the trouble is usually back out on the streets the same day. I've had my own run-ins with the police as a blonde, blue-eyed woman, enough that I don't even think to call them. If I had to call 911, I would ask them to send EMTs (Heroes), never the police. And judging from all of the mass gatherings I've been involved in the last couple of weeks, the PEOPLE are way better at policing themselves. The only trouble I saw was both started and escalated by the police. Period.

The brutality we're seeing coming out of cities around the country has been sickening. Even on camera now, the police just don't care. I've seen maybe two good cop stories among the thousands of brutal ones. We will be better off without them, trust me. I know this is super controversial right now, but it's new. And it's been done before, with far better results for Camden, NJ. Also, for those arguing about defunding the police - Okaaaaaay ... but you were fine with the government defunding of schools, national parks, Medicare, food safety, the postal service, the sciences, and the arts, just to name a few? Please educate yourselves before you begin your panicked rants, because ... C'mon. You and WE can all be better - and scrapping the police department as it has been is a wonderful start. I can't wait.

After that large victory of a speech at Powderhorn, I headed back over to 38th and Chicago to see how even bigger the George Floyd Memorial has become. I mean, WOW. An entire block of Chicago is now painted with the names of the many, many people who have drawn their last breaths in the hands of police officers. Flowers had been laid on every name, and it was both beautiful and soul-crushing to see so many lives lost at the hands of those intended to protect and serve us. They have failed miserably at that basic tenet of their jobs, and are not even close to being worthy of the keepers of peace intention either. It's terribly sad what that line of work has become, and I'm really sad for the men and women that got into it to try to be "the good ones", because it's so systemic that they end up being bad too, just by being complicit and not preventing their colleagues from their dastardly deeds. The saying is "One rotten apple spoils the whole bunch" - meaning they're all spoiled by proximity, not that there are good ones exempt. (Please stop using that line of defense - you sound dumb. And why are you defending murder and brutality anyway? That would be a good self-reflection moment for many).

The street fair atmosphere continues, as so many people are coming to pay their respects and to see this place that has been plastered all over the news. The feeling of unity that lives there now between everyone there is beautiful and humbling - as the tangible feeling of solidarity is the biggest takeaway. It's now finally starting to feel like people are starting to really get that we are ALL IN THIS TOGETHER. That's always been a nice platitude, but when white people start realizing that black people being murdered by the police makes us ALL less safe - then change can really occur. And it MUST. We absolutely cannot let this feeling die among all the other deaths.

A block or so away from the Memorial is a big park field, now filled with cardboard gravestones of people who were also all murdered by the police. There are so many that it feels like a gut punch, and the people walking among the names were very quiet and reverent as they did so. The sad thing is that the artists add to it every day - because they can. They won't run out of names. And that is why we march.

A big cardboard fist had been erected in the middle of the circle of flower at the 38th and Chicago intersection. A fierce looking Black woman got up to have her picture taken, and raised her fist in the international symbol of fighting the power. I raised my fist back to her and we looked directly at each other when I took her photo. That is what it's going to take - people of other races looking out for each other - because we HAVE TO. I believe the majority of us have decided that enough has been WAY more than enough, and will now do what it takes to implement the real change this country so desperately needs. For the sad few who still don't get it and still argue online about how "All Lives Matter" (we know, we know -that's not the point right now), and how "It's just a few bad apples in the police" and care about the "rioting" (peaceful protesting) and having their commuter route messed up for an afternoon, I plead with you to educate yourselves, and learn how to be an Anti-Racist. Because when you say all of those above tone-deaf things - your innate racism and privilege really is showing, and it's not a good look.

To those who choose to remain on the sidelines and say nothing - that is a problem too. Now is EXACTLY the time to be speaking up and out, and worrying what your play group moms or whoever will think is not advancing anything - and prolonging everything. Think about the world you want to leave for those kids - and I'll bet it's not one where you have to explain to them why the nice officer murdered someone in broad daylight on t.v. as they shouted for their mother. I'm pretty sure that sucks for you too. I saw this yesterday, and share it with you now because it's so extra right on:

Pandemics are real, whether or not you know someone who is sick. 

Racism is real, even if you aren't a racist.

White privilege is real, even if you don't feel it (but you do).

Police brutality is real, even if the cop you know is kind and just. 

Your world isn't THE world Everything is not about you.

George Floyd was finally laid to rest yesterday in Houston, Texas, next to that mother he was crying out for (after a four hour funeral that also insisted that this time IS different). I think that's what has stuck with most people - because we've all been scared, and we've all cried out for our mothers - just not with a policeman's knee choking the life out of us.

And we're all witnessing what happens when we decide we're never going to allow that to happen again. As we slowly but surely get on the same page (aside from those sad, disgusting racists that you just have to hope die out soon and ignore and block in the time-being - and many are trolls/bots so keep that in mind before you self-combust with anger at the guy with something MAGA in his profile pic), the time for healing has begun. The time to maybe dare to have the audacity of HOPE, that we will one day be deserving of the name UNITED States. I'm pretty sure we can do it, and we're already seeing what happens when the People have the Power - and there will always be more of us than them. That too is hope.

So, as my favorite piece on Nicollet last Saturday said, LOVE TO ALL WHO FIGHT FOR JUSTICE! And I'd like to think that means love to ALL. The work continues ... and I will see you out there in the brighter, better future. Thank you for doing your part too. We need you. YOU.

I'll leave you with the video my brother Paul just released, using footage from my marching in Minneapolis, and friends marching in Venice. It's rad and so is he.

*I know I'm super left-leaning, and pretty radical to many of my Minnesota friends. I've lived in the Venice bubble of like minds for really long time, and it's weird to hear counter-arguments - or worse, silence - from some here that don't jive at all with my thinking. I don't apologize for my stance on these issues, because I know my heart is in the right place. I would ask anyone who disagrees with anything I have to say to first think about it, and see if you can find some common ground with me before you freak out. I bet you can. And if you can't ... you might want to go back and think some more, because I pretty much only care about justice for all - why wouldn't you? 

XOXO.

Minneapolis Rising From The Ashes - Saturday

I woke up Saturday morning with the feeling that I absolutely had to help. All of last week was raging in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder by the police a week ago today. Minneapolis was burning. Everyone felt helpless and scared. I had to go down there to see if I could be of any help. And boy, was I not alone. Lake Street looked like a Chimney Sweep convention, with people of all colors and ages were walking down both sides of the boarded up street carrying their brooms over their shoulders. I started to cry and had chills the instant I walked up the to the street, because I knew right then that Minnesota was going to get through this - and be better for it.

Businesses were boarded up all the way to Richfield, as I drove north to Lake Street down Cedar Avenue. The beautiful thing was that on every single boarded up window were also signs that SUPPORTED the protest, and have joined the struggle for justice and equal rights that is so sorely in need of allies.

I parked the car, grabbed my broom, and set off down the street. The first thing I saw were the women from the Panaderia San Miguel on the corner of Lake and 17th handing out free pastries that they had bagged up. While their own business struggles, they were out there handing out their wares to anyone who wanted it. Beautiful.

All the stores were boarded up, and one that really hit home for me was our beloved Norwegian (OK, all Scandanavia) store, Ingebretsen's. Their windows had been broken out and were now boarded, but they had a sign saying ONE HUMAN FAMILY, and their total support of justice for Floyd. That is grace itself. And understanding.

Understanding has been in fairly low supply from many that I've seen on social media (which I should totally avoid, because the trolls have been so bad, and I've been so triggered, but you have to stay on top of things too). Calling peaceful protesters "Rioters" and "Looters", not understanding that people have been driven to this. After hundreds of years of terrible oppression. Voting, calling your government officials, blah blah blah ... nothing has ever produced real change other than the People standing UP, and loudly, for what is right. And that's what we see now happening around the entire GLOBE over this. That's why this time feels different, and that's why it must continue until there IS justice. For EVERYONE.

Yes, there have been rioters and looters, but we now know many of them have infiltrated the peaceful process from out of town, and from organized terror groups. Yes, there were also local hoodlums getting in their licks - but I hope you saw how many of those were young white jackasses, looting just because they wanted stuff. That's always going to happen in the way of peaceful protests, but they are still necessary - or nothing changes.

I'm white. I'm blonde, like really white. I think it's very important for people who look like me to be out there too, side by side with our community, showing others - and the media - that it isn't just all angry Black people - it's everyone. If I had been in front of Cup Foods last Monday, I'd like to think I would have tackled murdering Officer Chauvin (no shock that his name is short for chauvinistic. I mean, Central Casting white supremacist pig name!), and forced him to try to do something to the blonde lady on camera. I'm sad that I even have to think like that, but that's truly the way our society has always been. I read an article about how white women should get all snazzed up when we go out to march, and if anyone gets in trouble with the police, to put ourselves between them and the police to make sure everyone sees that. I'm totally down. Systemic racism and murder hurts us all as is now very clear to see.

One of the best signs I saw all day was Cops = Virus, I Can't Breathe! Because unchecked police brutality/murder has been going on for far too long, and it really is a global pandemic also. Not that anyone really seemed to care about the pandemic this weekend. Most everyone was wearing masks and gloves, but there were an awful lot of people in close proximity too. We'll have to see. It's pretty impressive that so many came out to help, virus or not. That means something.

It appeared that everything had already been cleaned up where I was on Lake Street, and was a very upbeat atmosphere, amid some tears too. Live music was going down in the parking lot of The Salvation Army, and a cute little man was there handing out sandwiches to anyone who was hungry.

That's the thing. Everywhere you looked, people were helping others. Ladies were in the street, handing out bottles of water to people on their way to help. I asked them where help was still needed, and they told me to keep walking ... I'd see it real easy for myself.

Wheelbarrows full of cleaning supplies from peoples' own homes were making their way down the sidewalks among all the chimney sweeps. Chimney sweeps is accurate too, because a lot of the clean up was ashes.

Like at the totally destroyed MPD Third Precinct. Kids were inside the building getting souvenirs as it was still smoldering. They would come out with handcuffs, live rounds of ammo (! - great planning, cops), whatever they could get their hands on. It's not often police abandon their own building and leave it to the people to destroy in their anger. Rightfully, if you ask me. Today, a week later, there are three officers that remain free, and the main murderer is only charged with third degree murder. That's not nearly enough for what we have all seen ad nauseum on our televisions. It's VERY telling that the police had now arrested over 4,000 protesters (I prefer activists), and cities worldwide are being destroyed, and it could all end if they would simply charge all four murderers. But nope. The "Blue Brotherhood" sticks together. As was evidenced by the army of police protecting Chauvin's house the night of the worst rioting, and not caring at all about their own city. It's disgusting.

The Auto Zone was completely gone, and we know that was started by a white man, rumored to be a St. Paul police officer. The media skews everything so badly, that people who don't dig deeper don't get all of that. They just knee-jerk react "Oh, more angry black people messing up my commute", and that makes me SO sad. They're just not getting it - because they've never had to. Their privilege allows them to say those kinds of thing with zero empathy, but you KNOW if it was their relative with a knee choking the life out of them, there would be an outrage like you've never seen yet.

And that's why there IS one now ... because people are finally beginning to understand that we can't live like this anymore as an entire world. At least I sure hope they are. The WHOLE world has never collectively stood up against something like this together before, and that is WONDERFUL to see - whether white commuters see that yet or not.

Arby's was gone.

Walgreen's was gone.

The Hexagon Bar was gone.

There were huge crowds of helpers, like nothing I've ever seen. I made my way over to the destroyed Target, where the biggest crowds seemed to be. People were sweeping debris and water out of the building and into the parking lot, where more people would sweep that up. A little boy, no more than five, was out there with his gloves on, totally meaning business with his sweeping. It made my heart fully swell.

There were organizers letting ten people at a time into Target to help. I didn't go in because it was dark and sad and creepy, but I was happy to be on outside duty. The mood generally seemed pretty high, as I think it meant a lot to everyone there that, well, everyone was there! Helping!

It was one of the most inspiring things I've ever seen, and really did make me feel like not only will this time be different, but better. Now we all KNOW how much most of us really do care, about all of us. That's the only way we're going to be able to go forward, actually, if we all can once and for all realize that everything that happens affects ALL OF US. The Covid-19 virus showed us that first, that one little market in China can - and will - spread around the whole world. And now, one man's murder at the hands of the very people who are meant to protect and serve EVERYONE, has also shown us that the racism pandemic has also spread worldwide, and everyone is fighting against that too. (In fact, it's great that we're already wearing masks - no facial recognition to bust peaceful people with).

I made my way back home feeling way better about everything. I passed by neighbors meeting in their yards to discuss the strategy for the night ahead (no burning happened, yet police still shot paint bullets at people on their own porches, not realizing still that they are the problem and who we are marching against.) Still, the unity and support I saw was overwhelming, even from people who had their businesses destroyed. They were helping as much if not more than everyone else. They get that material things can be replaced, but human lives cannot. They get that to get to justice, we all might have to sacrifice ... but in the end, it will be so very worth it.

I wasn't made to sit by and watch when I think something is very wrong. I'm not afraid to say something. I'm not afraid to do something. I'm not afraid to show my absolute solidarity with people that have been hurting for their whole lives by how our society treats them, and it's very important to me to show them that I am an ally, a friend, and that I will be there for them - whatever they need.

The Ingebretsen's sign really was all anyone needs to know. We are ONE HUMAN FAMILY, honestly, whether you like it or not. Whether you think pale skin makes you better or not (It doesn't, fyi, and stop going sunbathing then, you hypocrites). Whether you're scared or not. Whether you're mad or not. Whether you're sad or not. Whether you're tired or not. Whether you really don't care or not. Whether this directly affects your family or not (It does. You're on curfew and your streets and businesses are most likely closed). Whether you love the police or not. Whether your commute is disrupted or not. Whether you like hippie idealists like me or not. It just doesn't matter. We're all in this together, period.

Thank you to everyone who I saw out there helping, supporting, and caring. I encourage those of you who haven't been to give it a try. Being among your fellow citizens side by side in a noble effort to better the world is one of the most beautiful experience you will ever have. You're not supporting "rioters" by doing it. You're showing the whole world that everyone here cares about justice. And we'll get it by standing up to injustice together, united in these states, finally once and for all.

There is no other choice if we are to ever have harmony. One Love!

*There are SO many ways to help. Donate to We Love Lake Street.  Donate food. Help clean up. March. Show your white face caring! You can do it. TRY EMPATHY. Thank you. Deeply.

**Please stay tuned for the story of Sunday. Whoa. 

Venice Vs. Snapchat - Communities, Not Corporations!

Snapchat, the awful corporation currently trying to ruin Venice, is poised to go public with their IPO tomorrow, and our Venice community had something to say about it. A hastily planned protest went down yesterday on Market Street right out in front of Snap Inc's headquarters to let them know we're not at all pleased.

Venice locals and concerned members of our community gathered on Pacific and Market, armed with signs letting these tech jerks know exactly what we're thinking.

There was a pretty good turnout considering it was a Tuesday (Fat Tuesday, at that!) in the afternoon, and it was encouraging to see all the familiar faces we've known and loved around Venice for years come together in the name of preserving our bohemian beach town that we all deeply love. We live here because it's different - and we like that.

As citizens marched up and down the sidewalks in front of Snapchat, they chanted hilarious (and true) rhymes and waved their signs ("Evan Spiegel is the Trump of Venice!) for the news outlets gathered. Protest organizer, Jim Robb, was interviewed by USA Today here, letting the whole country know that we think they're lame if they choose to invest in a company that cares so little about one of the coolest places on Earth.

I added that the app itself is so lame that no respectable adult should be using that thing for flower crowns and animal faces, it's never made a profit, and basically, it's a stupid fad that we're not willing to give up on our town for. If you've ever enjoyed a visit to Venice, you shouldn't be supporting it or investing in it either. Period.

It was easy to tell who the Snapchat workers were - that dared to come outside, that is. They all wear the boring, Millenial tech worker bland uniform of neutrals with zero character. No flair. No personality at all. A couple of the corporate drone douchebags walked through the protest actually Snapchatting it, drawing our jeers and ire. The less brave peeked out the office windows and took pictures. It's all just SO not Venice, that it's hard to believe THEY even want to be here. They simply do not fit in. Nor do they even try. Why be someplace where you're so extremely unwanted? That's never a good feeling. The overarching sentiment of the day was really just Go Away, Snapchat! ASAP.

 With the Snap, Inc. IPO looming tomorrow, it stand to make this dumb company even more money, which would allow them to gobble up even more of Venice, displacing all the wonderful originality that made Venice a destination to begin with. Money and greed running all the cool out of town to create a corporate campus of rich, little brats that think life in Venice is all about them - which it plainly is not.

The Snapchat security (notoriously known to be dicks) skulked around the fringe, occasionally doing laps in their dumb little golf carts or plain cars, and we all just yelled louder. The cops on the scene were pretty chill, mostly staying out of our way unless someone tried to jaywalk outside of the crosswalk or march in the street instead of the sidewalks, which was mostly about just safety.  Cars would drive by and honk their support and solidarity, drawing louder cheers each time. The best was when a gang of motorcycles did laps around Market, revving their superloud motors right outside the front doors of Snapchat. I bet not that much got done in there yesterday. Good.

We all know how much Venice has already changed, and that change is inevitable. There is, however, a respectful way to implement change, and that is not the course being laid out by Snapchat. They release little statements about how they want to be a part of and give back to the community, but it's all b.s. They think Venice is their Snap world, and we're just living in it -while we still can afford it. We were there yesterday to let them know that the opposite is true. They are in OUR town, and we're not going anywhere. We can chant and protest every day. They can go somewhere else and be an office park in a place established for that, not turn one of the most beloved Southern California destinations into one.

Speakers chanted and orated about their love for Venice over a makeshift P.A., and a playlist of protest-appropriate jams blared in between. Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, Rage Against The Machine ... a soundtrack for the resistance that we all sang and danced along with ... because Venice follows the Emma Goldman dictate of "If I can't dance, I don't want to part of your Revolution." Venice protests - like everything else - are fun. And that's what we're fighting for. We don't want to be a corporate playground, and no one that visits here wants that. We/They want that funky, unique, exciting, unpredictable Venice. Think about it. Mull it over, Snapchat, because you picked the wrong group of People to fight with. We won't go away.

We won't go away because of little dudes like our friend, Kingston, here. He was born and is being raised here in Venice, by parents that love it here and want a cool Venice to bring their son up in. No one wants to tell their kids that it USED to be hip here. Why would any company want to be responsible for that? Why would anyone support a company that would do that to a World landmark without a second thought? It's disgraceful.

Little Kingston felt it. He could not be contained, insisting on getting right out in the street with his tiny fist raised, all on his own. He is why we were there. We want to make sure he gets to be proud of his Venice. People don't move here or come here or stay here because they want to be like everywhere else. They're here because they felt that something special that is Venice, and don't want to be anywhere else. Chants like "Keep Venice Weird" kept up until after sunset, and as the rush hour traffic on Pacific grew, so did the noise. If I worked at Snapchat (which I never would), I'd be embarrassed. First, for adding nothing to society but a time-waster, and second, for working for a company that is so widely despised and unwanted here. Clearly.

We're all hoping this IPO fully tanks, and soon the unfriendly ghost of Snapchat will just be a bad nightmare memory here in Venice, and we can all go back to gathering in the name of good vibes. Venice vibes. No matter what happens with it, they can expect to keep hearing from the still very strong Venice community, loudly and proudly.

Resist! Keep Venice Weird!