Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:05 You can burn a whole thing down. I don't care if you are uncomfortable, we can burn a whole thing down. Couldn't care about another zone. You can burn a whole thing down. Y'all don't really care about a brother till we burn our bang down.
Speaker 1 00:00:27 Yeah, we about to go to work. Yeah, we about to let it burn. Like send Quill. Yeah, I bet you will try to skip a They've been lynching nothing till and that's really freaking generous cuz honestly they have been killing us since we with property. No stopping me from saying how it is. Listen, the whizz ain't no easing down the road where we live, that's a biz. We can't go out for a jog or swim like a dog. Fall asleep in the car, fall asleep where we live. So we about to let it burn. Just like gusher say they be trying. Butler do not care what gusher say. Put him back, screens up, make a few bucks. My life isn't marketing who you think you trying to play? Um, I like it better when like nerdy was all fun and stuff. This is really angry.
Speaker 1 00:01:09 Like don't you think you said enough? Well that's freaking tough cause I'm being loud and the people are not playing with you now. Yeah, you can burn a whole thing down. Yeah. Yeah. I don't care if y'all comfortable we can burn a whole thing down. You can burn our whole thing down. Couldn't care about a another zone. You can burn a whole thing down. Burn it down. Y'all don't really care about a brother until we burn whole thing down. Burn it down, down. Yeah, we about to go to work. Yeah, we about to let it burn.
Speaker 2 00:01:40 Come on the young ends. What I'm focused on. I'm so old then go then. I ain't know you was talking about Pokemon Ha but I'm more like me and nerdy next to a burndown system with a candle of gas and a handful of matches and know we ain't miss some famous. Now my mission ladies be so complic watching all the leaders leading banking Nona Minions. But we torture enough to take us and we give into survivors city. Elis making black people compliant. <laugh> Coon Rapids. Who are you asking? I'm proof. Survive the boomba trick bro. Ethics got me laughing at your message and Black Lives Matter. You would not get so defensive. We got cops and deeds and robberies and gas light us. We are not the same. We on the scene we passed typing cuz y'all care about us and we ain't come to ask. We just mind up business and them people be so suck and mad. So Pastor, the gun and mask and pastor, the athe Nu y'all can really kill us for anything. Y'all just bend the laws the same performance art, the same performative saving the racist header normative. You
Speaker 1 00:02:38 Can burn the whole thing down. I don't care if you are uncomfortable, we can burn our whole thing down. You can burn it, burn it, burn it down. Couldn't care about it. Not zone. You can burn a whole thing down. Y'all don't really care about it brother. Until we burn our whole thing down. Burn it
Speaker 3 00:02:58 Down. Yeah, we about to go to work. Yeah, we about let it
Speaker 5 00:03:27 Views from the ground,
Speaker 4 00:03:28 Views from the damn ground
Speaker 5 00:03:29 Views from the ground
Speaker 4 00:03:30 Views from the damn ground views from the ground views from the damn ground. And that's on that, on that, on that.
Speaker 5 00:03:37 All right. Welcome back everyone. Um, first thing I wanna do is give a shout out to everyone who, um, donated during our pledge drive. We, uh, really appreciate it. So, um, thank you. With that being said, we're gonna get straight into the weekly news segment. Uh, so this week, um, what I want to talk about is I wanna talk about, um, the Brazil elections which have been going on. Um, it was the reigning president who is uh, for right. Um, and he was going against Lula, which was a former, uh, he's a, he used to be Prime minister and he's a leftist, like he's a socialist. And he, and it was just really cool, you know, he, he came back from after, you know, not being prime minister for 12 years. And at one point, um, the last, the last administration before the current president ended up going under a huge scandal and they actually, he actually ended up serving time for part of the scandal years later.
Speaker 5 00:04:49 He ended up getting acquitted. And so he, um, actually ran, um, to unify the country. It was a really close, um, vote. It was actually um, 50 point, um, nine to 49.1. So it was a real close election. Um, people were really scared of the, uh, current president. Bolero wasn't actually going to, um, concede and say that he won. And so that was a whole thing cuz Bolero was actually really quiet for like a day and a half. He just didn't leave his house, you know? Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and all his supporters, um, actually ended up going out with their trucks and shutting down the biggest highway in Brazil. Uh, you know, learning lessons from Canada. Yeah. Um, because you know, that's what a lot of the uh, the for right people in Canada did. They shut down a lot of stuff and then they tried to do in America, but they couldn't get their stuff together quick enough to actually orchestrate it fully.
Speaker 5 00:05:52 So they ended up doing that. Um, and so earlier this morning, um, ERO actually ended up coming out and saying that, uh, he respects the constitution. He didn't say he lost, but you know, he's like, I respect the constitution. You know, we gonna do this. I was like, okay. I was just sitting there waiting to see what's gonna happen. Uh, his, so one of his ministers came behind him, was like, yo, we'll start the transfer of power. So a lot of people are commenting how they're gonna try to speed up the deforesting of the Amazon, uh, while, while he's still president because he was allowing that. Cuz they don't think Lula's going to be able to actually, uh, they, they think Lula's gonna put an end to it. It's gonna be interesting because um, they're their equivalent to like their Congress or Senate is um, still predominantly for Right.
Speaker 5 00:06:41 So we'll still see how much Lula can do even as a progressive over there. So, um, that was, um, that's what happened in Brazil. Uh, that was real intense. Um, and then, um, Israel, um, it's actually interesting. So I was following some of Israel's elections and you know, of course it's always free Palestine. Uh, but it was, it was really weird cuz the way they were like framing it and narrating it was just so strange to me cuz they were like, oh yeah, you know, the for right party, um, the four right Zionists, and then there's the central Zionist. And I was like, what do you mean? Like, you know what I mean? Like how is there a four? Right. Zionist, either you're pro genocide or you're not pro genocide, you know what I mean? Like mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I don't see where this in between central like, you know, like all of the parties are, you know, fine with the genocide that is going against, um, the Palestinian.
Speaker 5 00:07:42 So as far as I'm considered, they're all Fort Wright parties, so, um, so that was really crazy to hear, you know? So that election, uh, just wrapped up. Um, I think they just solidified the results. So I don't know, um, um, tried to be following all their politics, but you know, best to be informed. So with that, um, with that, I um, also want to talk about our supply drive. The supply drive that we did for the unhoused. Uh, we ended up doing it Sunday in front of Mayor Fry's house. And when we did it, we, uh, yeah, we were there from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM and we got a lot of supplies, um, throughout the day. We ended up actually, um, I can confirm the ma um, <laugh>, the, it was the mayor's house on someone that was with our party did, um, see the mayor. So, um, so that did happen. It got, um, pretty decent press coverage and the mayor even responded. So, um, what was the mayor's response? The mayor response was really weird. Um, he said, we're not gonna pass the moratorium. Um, we're having record levels of like the programs we have for having record levels. I was like, so there's a record number of un the house folks. Like, I don't know, this sounds like a really weird flex to me, but like go off, I guess, you know what I mean? It
Speaker 6 00:09:15 Was very pr
Speaker 5 00:09:18 Yeah.
Speaker 6 00:09:19 Uh, the mayor's response was very pr He basically said we're not going to do a moratorium. Uh, we're focusing all of our efforts on getting people into affordable stable housing. And we're doing, we're getting people into supportive housing at record levels, which was a weird way to rephrase. We're having record levels of homeless people <laugh>, and so it's straining our system.
Speaker 5 00:09:41 Yeah. So, so that, that, that was a very strange response. But you know, like I, it is just like, it doesn't make any sense, right? Um, because the, one of the other reasons why the supply drive was outside of Mayor Fry's house is because the other week we were at city council and, um, they actually brought forth the, um, the motion to get the moratorium on the encampment evictions. And it got ruled. The city attorney tried to say it was out of order despite the fact that these, um, encampment evictions are done with M P D and city council has, has controlled their budget. And then the city workers that city council also oversees are like, well, you can't do that. Like, blah, blah, blah. And I was, it was real confusing because like council member were like, we can't do it or you don't like the way we worded it.
Speaker 5 00:10:32 Like, you know, people were like, but what if we said but <laugh>? And they was like, wow, then it still wouldn't be allowed, it still wouldn't be allowed because of that word, or it wouldn't be a allowed period. And it, and of course the, the lawyers were billing being super cagey about it, so it got, and it ended up getting ruled out of order. Um, um, but then they actually passed, uh, they actually ended up passing a thing that said that they wanted more information on the last five years of how much all the evictions had been costing. And so, um, that was something that even the majority of the city council was fine with. They were like, yeah, we want the last five year records my next year April. And it's like, cool. Doesn't really do much, but, you know mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it'd be nice to finally get a actual number cuz I've heard anything, um, from elected officials from 55,000 to 140,000, um, Prairie encampment, um, raid and eviction. And so, but, um, mayor Fry even veto that one and that was, that was just wild. That was actually wild because I was just like, I was like, isn't this man in enough scandals already? Like, can he afford to do this? Like, I mean, wow. Like this man, this man
Speaker 7 00:11:49 Coming from the man who said he was gonna end homelessness in five years, right? Wasn't that his,
Speaker 5 00:11:53 It's year five he got, he got,
Speaker 7 00:11:55 Yeah. That was his original plan. So I guess evictions <laugh> is, is his, is his final plan, I guess mm-hmm. <affirmative> and not letting anyone see the money that goes into evictions.
Speaker 5 00:12:06 Yeah. You know, as you know, uh, one of his friends who was trying to tell us to leave on Sunday that was agitating with people, um, he just told them to move somewhere else, so mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I was like, all right. Um, that's definitely what evictions do. Yep. <laugh>.
Speaker 7 00:12:23 Yeah.
Speaker 5 00:12:24 Yeah. He, yeah. So, um, I, I just don't, I just don't get what's going on anymore. But
Speaker 7 00:12:31 The, uh, the social media, there was a big, uh, discourse about the action that happened on Sunday, especially like on Twitter. Um, there were people, you know, a lot of liberals saying like, um, I get that people are upset, but being outside of his house is, you know, uh, frightening him, his family, he has a two year old like this is, this is, there's no reason to be violent. And there's many people who are saying, well, how is that violence any worse than kicking unhoused people out of their tents than slashing tents? Throwing away belongings? Like, what is, what's actually violent? People standing outside your house collecting supplies or, or further un housings houseless people? Which, which, which definition of violence are we talking about here? Um, and there were these people that like were being kind of like shallow. They couldn't see the, the justification of this is the only person cuz can't go through, uh, city council.
Speaker 7 00:13:32 This is the only person that can do something about these evictions if he has control over M P d, if he has control over the city, if, if evictions, they can't even get, uh, the funding information without him vetoing it. So this is the only person that can handle the encampments and what happens with the encampments. Why would you not, why would you not, uh, bring it to their doorstep if, if he is bringing his cops and his city workers to the doorsteps of the unhoused, why can't the unhoused then go to his doorstep? Um, so there was a lot of back and forth talking about how it's just not right. I know if people are upset, I know that the evictions may not be the answer, but this definitely isn't the answer. And I'm just sitting back like you saying, that is coming from a place of comfortability saying that is coming from a place of privilege.
Speaker 7 00:14:22 You know, and again, I can't speak for someone who is unhoused, but if we are supporting the unhoused, if people are supporting the unhoused and the unhoused are okay with the way that they're supporting it, I mean that's who we should be trying to help instead of throwing them out in the streets when it is fall heading into winter. Um, and who knows when the snow gets here? Um, and just, I mean, what today they cleared the encampment, uh, under cedar in 94 under the bridge. Yeah. And they <laugh>, instead of having sidewalks that go under the bridge, now you have concrete barriers, <laugh>. So literally making it less accessible for all people. Um, basically saying, we don't care about us having usable sidewalk, we just don't want unhoused people staying here. So again, like Andy said, this isn't a a fix, this isn't giving unhoused people housing. This is just giving unhoused people less than what they already have by taking it away from them, what little shelter they have taking it away. And that seems to be Mayor Fry's answer. And so who else can we question? Who else can we uh, uh, go to other than Mayor Fry?
Speaker 5 00:15:36 Yeah. And it's, it's, it's just crazy because they're spending, they're spending anywhere from 50 to a hundred thousand dollars, over a hundred thousand dollars per encampment to have people go down the street just to repeat the process, which is just a big waste of taxpayers money, which is definitely why he veles it cuz he doesn't want to know, he doesn't want people to realize how much money that they've wasted in the last five years on making people like go down the street and destroying their houses in the process and burning it. And I mean, it, it, it is just wild and crazy to me because like in Minnesota, in the wintertime, you can't even turn someone's like electricity off like, like, like their heat legally like, but apparently you can burn their tents and poke holes in them and like, it, like, you know, like it's just, it's just absolutely wild to think about that. So with that being said though, um, we're gonna move on to our next segment, which is gonna be Words From Freedom.
Speaker 7 00:16:38 Yes. We are here, uh, words of freedom, a segment here on views from the ground,
Speaker 5 00:16:43 Views from the damn ground
Speaker 7 00:16:44 Where we give a local poet the freedom to express themselves with their words and their poetry. So this week we are gonna have my good good friend Farrah Habad. Um, Farrah is a poet, an organizer based in Minneapolis by way of Oakland with over a decade of experience in public speaking and performance. His commitment to bearing witness for his community translates directly to his approach and execution on stage. And he seeks to use performance as a community building tool. So we'll be listening to forest's, poetry all month and then we will have him, uh, in the studio at the end of the month for a in-person interview. So you want to stay tuned, make sure you hear all of that. But for today we are going to listen to forest's, uh, poem titled Groundhog Day.
Speaker 8 00:17:33 I wake up, I show up, I perform, I repeat, I wake up, I show up, I perform, I repeat, and I do this dance daily, no piecemealing, these little pieces of myself and the curtains draw and I greet the day. Begrudgingly often I wake up, I show up, I perform, I repeat, but what I've emptied every part of myself, tell me how I greet that which remains, damn with all the survival this body has seen, one would think it's earned existence, but the day breaks, the curtains draw and it's showtime. And that's love, right? Right. A persistent performance, a weight of wanting.
Speaker 8 00:19:39 Tell me, how do I negotiate a need for solitude with a fear of insignificance? I mean, what is a life if not lived of note, what is safety, if not cloaked behind some self-preserving armor? I mean there's love here and even if I'm not my best self, even if I'm not in my good self, they all still hear so they all still love me, right? Get rid of me. This, if someone caps in the woods and ain't no one around to hear 'em, is it ka or is it a coping mechanism? I fear that which is good to me.
Speaker 8 00:20:31 I reject that which is good for me because the best performers know the goal of any good performance is to make believers of the skeptics, you know, to break out all the bells and all the whistles and hopes that none of y'all realize how much I'm hiding that don't none of y'all realize how little of myself I still recognize how my joy, my joy and my peace can't seem to find a way to coexist. How every time, every time I find either of them feel like a fraud. You know what's funny how joy often feels like being an imposter in heaven? Like a clerical error and joy maybe snatched away the moment you find a semblance of peace. So I wake up, I show up, I perform and I repeat.
Speaker 7 00:22:06 I get some snaps please. Yeah. So that was my boy Farra habad. Um, we're gonna be hearing his stuff all month long so make sure that you, uh, tune in cuz you want to hear more of his stuff. And like I said, we're gonna have him here in studio at the end of the month. So, uh, in the meantime if you want to catch up with him on social media, uh, you can go to his Instagram. His at is f a r a h l e f T so far left like Farrah went to the left. So f a r a h l e f t. So that's my boy Farrah. And tune in next week and the rest of the month and you'll hear more from him. Thank you.
Speaker 5 00:22:48 All right, uh, we're gonna take a quick break and we'll be right back.
Speaker 9 00:22:52 K F E I is proud to present Collie buds at Amsterdam Farron Hall on Tuesday, November 15th, Bermuda based artist Cali Buds is touring behind fully self-produced 2019 album hybrid celebrating over 15 years in the music industry. Tickets for Cali Buds can be found at the first Avenue website. Visit first-avenue.com for more details.
Speaker 10 00:23:17 Programming is supported by NorthPoint Health and Wellness Center, located at Penn and Plymouth in North Minneapolis this summer. NorthPoint reminds you that if you feel sick, check for Covid symptoms, start wearing your mask, get tested and stay home if you test positive. And remember to get your covid vaccine. NorthPoint Health and Wellness Center is now vaccinating children six months and older against Covid 19. For more information, please visit NorthPoint health.org.
Speaker 5 00:23:49 All right, welcome back to Views from the Ground. Views from the Damn Ground. So, uh, now we are at the nerdy spotlight, so take it away nerdy.
Speaker 1 00:24:00 Hello everybody. In the radio world, it's dubois Nerdy and we are back again with another installment of the Artist's Spotlight. Yo spooky season might be outta here, but we are not done scaring up some amazing local talent here on views from the ground. This month is no exception. As we focus in on the one, the only Minneapolis troop, the young kid called M P L S is one of the best in the Midwest. See what I did there? And he has been rocking stages all across our lovely area. Not only that but some of his music videos look like a fricking movie. I'm talking M c u level quality people. You gotta hear this. And we are very excited because today I've used from the ground, we have a very first ever in the artist spotlight. A brand new, never before heard track called Fruit of Passion. Let's go
Speaker 11 00:24:51 The fruit of passion, the fruit of passion, the fruit of
Speaker 12 00:25:05 Thank y'all gonna like this one.
Speaker 12 00:25:11 When I'm alone, I feel at home. Dealing with these problems by myself is all I've known. Reminisce so young at days, can't wait till I get grown. Just to my credit though, can't help me with no loan. It's almost like they set it up to make sure that I owe I'm in leg. Ain't good enough. They coming for your soul. Better days ahead of your quickly on your road. Don't bring don't bring no around here. Quickly get exposed trying to ride the wave that I'm making from this boat. The grind is not the lazy river. Hope you stay afloat, giving too much gain so they listen when I spoke, smile like a jacket. You can't see beneath the coat. If you ask me if I'm good, what you gonna do? If I say no, if I tell you that I'm lost. And you gonna know which way to go.
Speaker 12 00:25:48 No answers to the question rhetoric cause I know the futurism a mystery. But one thing that I know Uhhuh my problem solving is passion driven. You have to listen. Enjoy the journey surroundings or you'll be fast. Miss it. Ignore the gift of the present. Like we ain't having Christmas now. You stuck in the past. That was the bad decision. The fruit of passion and soul food that you've been lacking on. Embrace my wrongs. It's the only thing they attacked me for. Lose the habit of believing that others are perfect. My hard work led to legislative. Everything was worth it. It wasn't easy hand my downs worth relied on my passion. People mad cuz I went further than they could have fathom. I done broke out of the box and my mental was trapped. And if you ain't trying to do the same, you see nail a distraction, the seed won't grow the same day planet I was living for the moment. Now I'm looking past it. Put the drop tos what you wanted. You could really have it man. You could keep rewards of labor. I get my from pass and pass. Uhhuh <affirmative>. You could keep rewards of labor. I get my from
Speaker 0 00:26:43 Pass. Pass Uhhuh,
Speaker 9 00:26:59 You're on the beat side with Kfi FI's. Word jazz. Raaz, let's hear an open mind on the open mic.
Speaker 13 00:27:07 Cars go past fast and slow. Cars are cars, they come and they go. Cars wear out like a bad bingo. Bango, hip bongo. K, ffa, I will give it a tow. Cars get turned into cool radio Daddy.
Speaker 9 00:27:24 Yeah, I'm hip. Go to kfa.org and turn your old buggy into something funky. Programming on Kfa I is sponsored by Community Action Partnership of Ramsey and Washington County's energy assistance program. The Energy Assistance program helps low-income households pay a portion of their heating bills. We assist Ramsey and Washington County residents with home energy payments, energy crises, and emergency furnace repairs. We also offer referrals to the Home Weatherization program. Call 6 5 1 6 4 5 6 4 7 0 or visit the website at C A P R w.org for more information on how to apply.
Speaker 5 00:28:09 All right, welcome back. The views from the ground, views
Speaker 0 00:28:12 From the damn
Speaker 5 00:28:13 Ground. And I, uh, wanna give a special shout out to nerdy once again for having this excellent spotlight. So thank you nerdy. Now moving on to the guest for the hour. So
Speaker 6 00:28:28 Hi, my name's Andy. Um, I'm with the s Sanctuary Supply Depot in Minneapolis and the pronouns I use are he him.
Speaker 5 00:28:36 All right, so tell us about the Supply Depot.
Speaker 6 00:28:39 Yeah, so the Supply depot is, um, a closet that's full of supplies for, um, specifically our unhoused or tenuously housed neighbors in, um, the denser urban part of the Twin Cities. Uh, we collect primarily, uh, tents, tarps, sleeping bags, you know, the sort of thing you would need to survive outside 24 7 and actually live.
Speaker 5 00:29:06 Yeah. Okay, cool. And so how long have you been, um, connected with Supply Depot?
Speaker 6 00:29:12 Yeah, I've been with Supply Depot probably since 2020, early 2020 that, or late 2019. Um, I am unhoused and have been unhoused throughout my life, so it was something that I really wanted to get involved in when I heard about it.
Speaker 5 00:29:32 Yeah, okay. And so tell us more about like, uh, how you got involved into supply drive.
Speaker 6 00:29:39 Yeah, so I think I, I just heard about it somewhere because, um, I already knew about it and then the Floyd protests happened and I was a protest medic during those protests. Um, and I was super involved and up for like 50 hours at a time, uh, while everything was going on after that, there's not really much need for a protest medic, but I was really inspired by all the change going on in the cities and all the people I had met. And some of them were connected with the Supply Depot or mentioned the Supply Depot because people might be outside 24 7 during a protest, but people are really outside 24 7, 365 when they're homeless. So it was just the sort of place that a lot of people who had skills useful in protests needed to be. Um, and I volunteered a little bit, donated a few things, didn't get super involved until a year or two in, and now I help run the place.
Speaker 5 00:30:39 Why do you feel like Mutual Aid is important?
Speaker 6 00:30:43 Mutual Aid is a different model that's sort of in the same area as charity and nonprofits. Um, mutual aid is really important because like I said, I'm unhoused, I'm what you call sheltered unhoused. I do have somewhere to sleep at night, but it's not really mine and I don't know how long I'm going to be there. So sheltered unhoused is not really that different from being unsheltered, unhoused, tbh, but it is the, the word that's used. Um, and it's important for me because a lot of people when they think about doing good, they think about the time and the money or the, like being there physically and they think, I can't do that. I don't have the time, I don't have the money, I don't have the ability to like physically be there helping people. Um, but Mutual Aid doesn't demand that of you. Mutual aid isn't about having time or money or an able body. Um, mutual aid is about using your skills and whatever it is you are good at, um, and applying that towards places that your neighbors might be lacking. And it's called Mutual because the idea is that potentially in the future they help you or they help someone else who ends up helping you. It's about giving back to the community, um, in ways that aren't tied to our capitalist economic model.
Speaker 5 00:32:08 Okay. Yeah. Um, and, and so when you explain that, can you explain, um, what you feel like charity is then?
Speaker 6 00:32:16 Yeah, charity. Um, so the nonprofit sector, but specifically the giving sector in general has been going through some changes. We did not originally think of charity in the terms of it being money or like a top-down relationship with people. Um, I mean, frequently when you think of charity you think of like some sort of shelter that gives people clothes and food, but that inherently po Posites that the shelter has more power over these people. Um, and it's not like a human to human or a neighbor to neighbor connection, it's a entity corporation, um, gaining to be kind enough to people to give them things that they need to survive. Um, it creates a power imbalance that frequently has terrible consequences for people. A lot, a lot of people that the Supply depot serves refuse to go to shelters for one reason or another. Frequently because shelters are understaffed or underfunded, they can't actually manage the amount of people they take in.
Speaker 6 00:33:22 They can't protect people, they can't protect themselves. The staff are not quality. They're frequently not good people. People who aren't suited for the job or people who take advantage of their position. Um, you know, there's all sorts of issues that unhoused people have no power to address. And so they frequently just don't want anything to do with that particular system. Um, and you know, people, people with the least power that canary in the coal mine for the rest of what goes on in our society. So a lot of people don't want to be involved in the charity system anymore and are going towards more things like mutual aid because it's a very equal, um, equal exchange of skills and it doesn't really involve the power structure of someone being able to do everything for someone. Um, it is, it's also something that, um, is a direct, uh, refutation to things like White Saviorism, which is a huge problem in the, um, nonprofit and the giving structure.
Speaker 6 00:34:32 Um, a lot of people think that they can do everything for everyone or the moment they show up they're gonna like save someone's life, turn the whole thing around. But really all of this is about community. You're not gonna solve homelessness or even one person's particular experience of homelessness without a community. Um, and so it's charity is a lot about individualism and capitalism and, um, having power over people. Mutual aid is the answer to that, to not being that, to actually being, you know, a model that every day people can take part in. And that is more ethical and fair.
Speaker 5 00:35:11 And we saw a rise in this, um, mutual aid right in 2020 once people started like with Powder Horn and we saw a lot of these big encampments started to, um, develop. And, um, can you tell us more about that and how that ties in?
Speaker 6 00:35:29 Yeah, so frequently when most people's experience with homeless people is, you know, they pass by them, them during the day, if they're downtown and they work downtown or a homeless person like sleeps outside their house or maybe an encampment even moves in next to their house, that puts them in a position where they're like, I don't know what to do. Like we, we aren't taught as a society or as people like how to respond to homeless people or people in great need. Um, and it makes people really uncomfortable, but there are some people that they just go ask, what do you need? Like, Hey, I noticed that you're struggling and you're nearby to where I am, so I'm just wondering if there's anything I can do to help you. Um, and that's what really started fueling a lot of the aid in these encampments was these camps are next to homes.
Speaker 6 00:36:20 And so neighbors come out and they're like, a lot of 'em are like, I mean, listen, I really don't want you here <laugh>, I understand that you're having a horrible time of life right now and I don't wanna make it worse, but I also don't want you here. So a lot of them when they first reach out, it's like, what can I do so that you don't have to be here bothering me? But a lot of the time it transforms from that. Once they get to know people and work with them over and over again, they realize that this is a bigger problem than like they can just solve and that these people can't help, you know, apparently imposing upon this neighborhood. Um, and so then it becomes mutual aid. A lot of people who just show up because they care, meet other people who show up because they care. And then just sort of, you know, form relationships and networks and things like that. That's how the depot started is a bunch of people who just showed up at camps were like, it would be way more effective if we just coordinated all of this together and we were, you know, the depot instead of just a bunch of people showing up, you know, without coordinating.
Speaker 5 00:37:24 Yeah. And, and, and that's a lot different than uh, uh, what the nonprofits are, um, offering, which, which is charity. Um, because this is actually community building. These are people that are working together, getting to know one's neighbor, and all of those things are important, you know, for, you know, uh, to get to know people housed or unhoused, you know, just period for community building. So, um, so yeah. So how did the supply depot start the farm? So there's a lot of encampments going on in Powderhorn and, and, and other places. Bracket Park, I was helping out over there. Um, so, so so tell me how the, the pieces of the Supply Depot started to form.
Speaker 6 00:38:13 Um, I did not come into the Supply Depot until they'd already been running a few years. So everything I know is just sort of like what I've been told, but I can definitely, I can definitely tell you what I've been told. So yeah, go ahead. Um, when a lot of these encampments started popping up, especially after the Floyd protests, they started to get a lot of support because a lot of people had been out at the protests and, you know, they were sort of refocusing their efforts as the protests wrapped up. Um, and part of that turned into it was also the pandemic. So homelessness in the Twin Cities and all over the world spiked like way crazy. Um, we, we, the government tends to estimate there's about 500 to 2000 people unhoused in the Twin Cities every night. That's a really big difference in numbers, but they are not very good at counting and they also don't wanna be.
Speaker 6 00:39:06 Um, but during the pandemic, they definitely knew there were 900 people unhoused, um, every night, which is way bigger than their 500 lowest estimate. And on you can, you can estimate another thousand on top of that who don't get counted. Um, so there were just way, way more unhoused people than usual. Um, and also anybody was becoming unhoused. Usually it's people who are already up multiple intersections of being marginalized, like mental health, disability, uh, income, age, you know, skin color, ethnicities, trauma, stuff like that. Um, but it kind of became that anybody was losing their job, anybody was losing their support people to a disease. You know, people were stuck in places they didn't actually live because all of the planes and the buses stopped working and um, they had nowhere to stay and they didn't have the money to be paying for it. So suddenly homelessness was really relevant to a lot of people.
Speaker 6 00:40:10 Um, and it was also really visible because, you know, the population swelled enough that it was impossible to ignore. And also, um, the people who hadn't been homeless before didn't know how to do it <laugh> as it were. So they were trying, they were doing things differently than you might normally expect. And so everyday people were sort of coming into contact with it more than they might normally. Um, so on top of, so the population swelling and also just being more visible, um, there started to be this movement in the Minneapolis parks specifically I believe called the sanctuary movement, where I think the board originally voted that it was okay for unhoused people to stay in the parks. Um, because it's, it's public land. The board controls who is, who is there and who is not. Um, and they considered it to be a, uh, uh, you know, everybody was expecting the pandemic to end <laugh>.
Speaker 6 00:41:05 So, um, they were thinking of it as a temporary solution. Like so long as we have all these unhoused people, I suppose they can stay in the parks, the public parks is as good as any other place. Um, we all know the pandemic isn't ending. Um, so that was pretty naive of them at the time. But it was good for a lot of people because there were a lot of people that got housed thankfully. Um, but those resources were sort of made up and don't exist anymore unfortunately. But, so the sanctuary movement started. Um, there were people who were opposed obviously to people sleeping in parks and there were people who were for it. Um, and then the park boards started to sort of sour on the idea when they realized, you know, how much it actually involved and whether or not the pandemic would ever end.
Speaker 6 00:41:50 So people were advocating towards the park board to keep the sanctuary movement. Um, and so on top of all that stuff happening, some of the people, like I said, who showed up to the camps decided it would make more sense to coordinate with each other to support the camps instead of just showing up and, you know, stepping on each other's toes. And so that became the sanctuary supply depot. The sanctuary in the name comes from the sanctuary movement and um, the sanctuary movement is not so much of a thing anymore, unfortunately. But the Sanctuary Supply Depot is still here. And we still operate on the principles of the original sanctuary movement that also came out of the George Floyd protests. And then, um, the principles long running of harm reduction and mutual aid.
Speaker 5 00:42:37 Yeah. Yeah. And it's just, it's just really strange cuz like you said, like, um, like anybody and anyone was becoming unhoused because of people losing their support people and then also just like it being impossible to pay rent cuz some places were not, were firing a bunch of people. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But I also think, um, you know, another thing that was really important that happened is like, you know, there's this big, there's this disease. It's, um, you know, this that's killing everyone. And you know, like, no, no one's like, you know, telling any of the unhoused folks, like, you know, some of them like, you know, when they don't get all the information and stuff like that. So everyone just went in their house one day and they're just like, and they're like, what's going on? I can't get any of the things I used to be able to get.
Speaker 5 00:43:26 They're all shut down and now mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, I can't do this and I can't do that. So, so then they're like, okay, well I, you know, I I think we should probably just start working together since it seems like everyone kind of just abandoned us. Yeah. And then, and then, and then I could just like imagine how weird it is, it's like, okay, so something's going on. No one really told us what's going on. We're gonna chill at the like park and then like people will come out. No, no, no, no, no, no. You can't be right there <laugh>. And it's like, where did y'all come from? Like you, it doesn't matter, y'all just can't be there. We're going back in the houses though, like mm-hmm <affirmative> and it's just like, it's just like super strange, like
Speaker 6 00:44:01 Yeah. Yeah. People don't realize that unhoused people kind of experience a completely different society from what we do. Like, um, I know that there was someone at the camps recently with me who was helping someone that was donating wood scraps to a camp, unload his truck and the person unloading the truck wouldn't even look at or speak to the unhoused people who were helping him unload his truck that he was also donating things to. And he was like, this is very strange. Is he just like anti-social? And I was like, no, that's what people who come here all the time are like unhoused people are kind of like an entirely different reality. Once you become unhoused, it's almost impossible to become housed again. And then on top of that, everybody, all of society treats you differently. Um, including like the pandemic revealed one of the weaknesses of the charity system that Mutual Aid tries to not be that everything shut down with the pandemic. Like your neighbors don't stop being your neighbors with the pandemic. But charities stopped doing charity during the pandemic. So Mutual aid grew because charities left a void. Um, and you know, people were, people were still there. Obviously people exist, charity doesn't actually really exist, so people were still there helping each other
Speaker 5 00:45:19 <laugh>. Wow. Yeah. Wow. Yeah, so, so that's um, so the sanctuary movement is really where the supply deep was born. So tell us about when you started to join the Supply Depot.
Speaker 6 00:45:33 Yeah, so I graduated, I didn't actually really graduate college. I have one class left. But you know, being that I'm also at multiple intersections of being, um, marginalized, I have not been able to finish that class. But I quote unquote graduated, I walked on stage in 2019 in Spring. Um, and I had already been decently involved in all sorts of community efforts before then. What
Speaker 5 00:45:56 Was your major?
Speaker 6 00:45:57 Oh, I majored in new media studies, promotional communication, digital content and graphic design. Oh, nice. Yeah. New media studies actually has been useful for like, like organizing because it's not really like teaching you how to use a computer. It's teaching you why computers exist and you know what they might become like their social role. Um, so they're really good for organizing socially. I mean, it doesn't really impress employers cuz they don't know what I'm talking about. <laugh>
Speaker 5 00:46:30 <laugh>.
Speaker 6 00:46:31 Um, but, but it's a really good framework for, you know, my work and you know, helping other people do work too. Um, but yeah, so in 2019 spring I graduated sort of, and I had already been involved in a lot of different community things. I had been living in Cedar Riverside for several years for school, uh, which is a really impoverished community. It's the highest population of Somali people outside of Somalia, which is really impressive. Um, and so I had already been deeply involved in things there and I lived in Frogtown, um, the last half Rabbit <laugh>, the last half of my schooling and was really involved in the community there, Frogtown and Midway, honestly best parts, best places to live in the entire Twin Cities <laugh>. I know a lot of people look at me funny when I say that, but it has the best community
Speaker 6 00:47:27 Ommunity, it has the best community. It really taught me the foundations of what became my dedication to mutual aid. Um, they don't think of it that way, it's just a na that's what a neighborhood is to them. Um, but you know, in an organized way of thinking it was mutual aid. Um, and so I had been really involved in the George Floyd protests. I had been like shot by police. I was, um, clearly identified as a medic, but we all know they didn't care about stuff like that. Um, and still don't <laugh>. And um, you know, after that, um, I was helping a lot with community aid because since I was in Frogtown in Midway there were also protests there that resulted in a bunch of the businesses shutting down. Um, it was already kind of a food desert, but it shut down like everything. So now it was a complete food desert.
Speaker 6 00:48:18 There were a lot of really impoverished people there who already struggled with food and now they physically can't even get food. Um, so one of the first things that I started doing was organizing with, um, I'm pretty highly involved in Christianity. As weird as it might sound, I think of myself as a super radical Christian, um, and don't agree with probably 99% of Christians that exist right now. But I reached out to congregations that are like in the suburbs or you know, places that didn't, that weren't shut down for whatever reason. And I was like, Hey, all these porous ad people in the cities need food. Can you like give us food? And they were like, yeah, we'll give you food. So I started by coordinating food, diapers, water, bringing that into, um, the, the Frog Town and Midway Neighborhoods. And then we got so inundated with donations cuz people wanted to do things, but they didn't know what to do.
Speaker 6 00:49:11 So when they heard that we were accepting like water, they were like, oh, we'll give you a hundred pallets of water. Um, physically there was too much food for even the people in like Midway and Frogtown. So I started coordinating with other sites that had been providing aid, like along Lake Street where everything started and in other parts of the cities, like places that had always been struggling, like not just with the pandemic and the protests, but they had been, you know, struggling before that too. And, um, providing them with food that we had too much of and like finding people and saying, Hey, we need people with trucks and cars. Can you like bring this stuff out to this neighborhood or this development? Um, and they'd say yes. They'd just show up, we'd load up their car and then we'd go over there. I made lifelong friends with this guy named Pastor Sunday, who's this Nigerian pastor that is very effusive who lives in the, um, mini haha area of St. Paul. Um, his apartment complex had been experiencing all the issues that everybody was suddenly experiencing with Covid like forever. Um, so they were very excited to see me and we still, I still coordinate aid every once in a while to that area. Um, and so that kind of of stopped being an issue and so I needed to find somewhere to continue to do that stuff. And, you know, I got connected more with the sanctuary supply depot.
Speaker 5 00:50:37 And what, what work do does the Supply Depot do? Like,
Speaker 6 00:50:41 Yeah, so, um, we ask on how's people, what they need and we give it to 'em. <laugh>, there's only so much that we can do, obviously mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, in a society ruled by money. It would be great if we could just give them money. Um, but you know, it's a mutual aid venture. It's not, it's not charity. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So we don't have large sums of money, we just have people who care. So we try and figure out other solutions. Like for example, they need an apartment. Well, we can't really get them an apartment, but we can get people to give us tents to give to them, um, and things like that.
Speaker 5 00:51:15 And what is your way of communicating with the unhoused? Uh, see to what their needs
Speaker 6 00:51:20 Are? Yeah, we go to the camps. I mean, some of them have phones, some of them have data, some of them don't. Um, usually like we're, we're sort of a network. There's no one who's really in charge. We just show up and like coordinate with one another. Um, and everybody kind of finds their own camp that they continually visit or develops relationships with the unha, with the unhoused people there and might follow them across the city sometimes. Like, we even still have relationships when they get housed. And so then we help them every once in a while, um, keeping housed because the first three years of somebody getting housed from homelessness is like the time where they're most likely to become homeless again. Um, so for the first three years that they're housed, we need to make sure we're still providing them with some kind of aid to make sure that they stay there.
Speaker 6 00:52:09 Um, but we get, we, we form personal relationships with people. Um, people also just sort of realize who we are, <laugh> when we show up and hand out stuff and talk. Um, like if I go to a couple of the camps, people will be like, Hey, it's Andy, and then, you know, let me know if they need something or how things are going. Um, a lot of the time they invite me to like eat, um, because this is a mutual aid. They feel really grateful and they wanna give back in whatever way they can and I really appreciate it. Um, but that's, that's how we know what they need is we just ask, like we, we come to the camp, we're like, Hey, who needs stuff? And then we ask and then we try and coordinate with people who have a little more social power in getting that to them.
Speaker 7 00:52:55 Um, I have a question. So, you know, you've talked about how you've gotten into it and you talked about the work that you do. Um, can you kind of talk about what keeps you doing the work, you know, in, in something that can be so crushing? Um, with We Fight. We fight, we fight. And so little change happens. What keeps you motivated and keeps you doing this work?
Speaker 6 00:53:22 Yeah, complex things like, first of all, I've struggled with being unhoused for a long time. Like when I was a kid my house burned down and so we were unhoused for a while. Um, my parents were abusive so I was unhoused despite the fact that I technically did have a house. Um, and in college I made like no money at all. So I lived in a dorm, but that was just on loans. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And if those didn't come through for some reason, then I wasn't living anywhere. And now I am sheltered unhoused, I'm living with a friend cuz I'm trying to get disability and that's a whole crazy process. <laugh> by itself, that usually involves people being unhoused. Most people in encampments are on lists for aid and it just takes years and years and years to get it, which is what I would be doing too.
Speaker 6 00:54:10 Since I'm waiting for disability. I know tons of people in the camps in the same situation as me, but, um, the reason I do it, so I'm unhoused so it's very close to me and I feel like, you know, if I can help other unhoused people that I'm going to. The second is because I feel like it's my responsibility as a white person. I suppose you can't see me on the radio, but I'm white. Um, my family, uh, came to America. We're from the Scandinavian countries, just all of them. We came during the westward expansion and claimed land in Minnesota, which was, uh, previously, you know, Dakota and Ojibwe land. Um, and so I feel like it's my responsibility as a white American, um, to serve people who haven't been served by my ancestors. I was given privilege is because of my ancestors' violence against these people.
Speaker 6 00:55:02 And of course I can't go back and undo it, but there are things that I can do myself, um, to sort of bring society back where I feel like it should be if everything was equal and that had not happened. Um, and the third thing is that I'm Christian. I know I mentioned it, I feel like this is wrong on like a moral level that everybody agrees that homelessness shouldn't be a thing. But like from a Christian standpoint, it it, it literally says in the Bible that God made society to provide for everyone. And that if there are rich people it's because um, people are taking advantage of others. So <laugh>, um, the fact that there are unhoused people means there's direct violence happening against them from, um, you know, rich people or whoever happens to have power. It's not supposed to be like that. So, um, it's your personal responsibility as a Christian any way to reach out and, you know, tell people that things are wrong and take care of people who need help.
Speaker 5 00:56:02 Very beautiful. Yeah. So if someone wants to donate, how do they donate to the supply people?
Speaker 6 00:56:08 Yeah, so you can look us up on social media. I believe we're on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. We don't post too often because we're busy doing a lot of other things. But, um, you can always message us on there. Um, every once in a while we post our needs on there, there, um, and we can coordinate getting donations dropped off or we are at bone shaker books in Minneapolis, which is a really great bookstore if you've never been before yourself. Um, and you can come drop things off there. I think our open hours are usually like Wednesday to Sunday from like four to six, but during off hours Bone Shaker employees can take your donations at their discretion.
Speaker 5 00:56:52 And if someone wanted to join and help out Supply Depot and be a volunteer, what would be the best way to do that?
Speaker 6 00:56:58 Yeah, so contacting us through our social media again. Um, or you could show up at Bone Shaker on from like Wednesday to Sunday from four to six during our open hours and if someone's there you can talk to 'em. Um, we're always really happy to get people involved in this work. Obviously it takes everybody, it takes the whole community, um, to solve issues like this and to help people, you know, thrive. So yeah, we are always willing and willing to take in more people.
Speaker 5 00:57:27 Yeah. Well I'm, I'm just super appreciated that you would come, um, you come on the show and talk about Supply Depot. Um, at a lot of the protests we always say, show me what community looks like and this is what community looks like. Um, actually doing the mutual aid, doing the work. And I think it's important to make sure that we highlight, um, that this is happening because you know, a lot of people, you know, in between the protest, you know, cuz you know, a lot of times the protests flare up and people get excited about things. But like there's still a lot of things going on in between the big flareups and all this work that is happening that like goes unnoticed sometimes. That definitely needs to be highlighted and I just appreciate you Andy, and everyone else at the Supply depot for doing that work. So
Speaker 6 00:58:18 Yeah, I always say we need the people who are in it for the long haul and we need the people who are in it for, you know, the bright flashes, the bursts of when things boil over and we're definitely the long haul people.
Speaker 5 00:58:31 Thank you so much with that. I just wanna give a shout out to Nerdy and also to Brandon, um, for their segments. Um, with that we are out of here learning.
Speaker 14 00:58:42 They acting like they shot with these cops. They just learning. See you Mr. Floyd on the ground and got 'em squirming. Now we can see they are the Nazis, we the German blacks, organized, organize, organize away with all the lies. Lies all the lies they call me with the and the black and the 45. In between the protests, we protest and realize, yes, we have to organize, organize with all the lights. All the lights, all the lights. They come in with the ti ass and Glock in the 45 in between the protests, we protest every your life here we always wake up, but then we go back to sleep again. In between the protest is when we begin and weak again. We hear about the loop. Another shoot In this week again, this gets the police another excuse to hit the streets again. White police, black population can never be your friend.
Speaker 14 00:59:27 Our mothers and our fathers and our families, they be season them. They to overseers. We the ss to them. We gotta rise to the level where we ain't needing them. Everybody organiz, organize, organized do we went. All the lights, all the lies. All the lies. They come in with the and the black and the 45. In between the protests, we protest and realize, yes, we have to organize, organize, organize, do away with all the lies. All the lies. All the lies. They come in with the take. And, and the 45 in between the protests, we protest.
