Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Thanks for listening. This has been Counter Stories, a co-production of the Counter Stories crew and Ampers Diverse Radio from Minnesota's communities with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. For our full conversation, please visit counter stories.com.
Speaker 3 00:00:21 The viewpoints expressed in this program are the opinions of the people expressing them and are not necessarily those of fresh air Incorporated its staff or its board of directors.
Speaker 4 00:00:42 You can burn a whole thing down. I don't care if you are uncomfortable, we can burn a whole thing down.
Speaker 2 00:00:52 Couldn't
Speaker 4 00:00:53 Care about another zone. You can burn a whole thing down. Y'all don't really care about a brother till we burn our thing down.
Speaker 4 00:01:04 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 us in till and that's really freaking generous cuz honestly they have been killing us since we were property. No stopping me from saying how it is. Listen, ain't the whizz, ain't no easing down the road where we live that the biz, we can't go out for a jog, aa swim, fuck 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 but do not care what gusher say. Put 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. Like don't you think you said enough? Well that's freaking tough cuz I'm being loud and the people are not playing with you now. Yeah, you can burn our whole thing down. Yes. Yeah. I don't care if you are uncomfortable, 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, down. Y'all don't really care about a brother until we burn own thing down.
Speaker 4 00:02:14 Yeah, we about to go to work. Yeah, we about to let it burn.
Speaker 5 00:02:17 No, come on the youngins. 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. So watching all the leaders leading think Nona. But we taught you enough to take us and we give into survivors city liars making black people compliant. <laugh> Coon Rapids. Who are you asking? I'm proof. Survive the boom trick bro. Ethics got me laughing at your message. And in Black Lives Matter, you would not get so defensive. We got cops and deans and robberies and gas light us. We are not the same. We on the scene, we passed typing cuz y'all don't care about us and we ain't come ask. We just mind up businessing them. People be so stuck 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 head of normative. You can
Speaker 4 00:03:15 Burn the whole thing
Speaker 5 00:03:16 Down.
Speaker 4 00:03:17 You can burn it all. I don't care if you uncomfortable, we can burn a 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, down. Y'all don't really care about a brother until we burn whole thing down.
Speaker 2 00:03:35 Burn
Speaker 4 00:03:35 It down. Yeah, we about to go to work. Yeah, we let
Speaker 6 00:04:04 Views from the ground, views from the damn ground views from the ground views from the damn ground views from the ground views from the damn ground. And that's on that, on that, on that. All right. So, um, this is dj. I am your agender host. I use day them pronouns.
Speaker 7 00:04:23 My name is Brandon. I use he, him pronouns,
Speaker 8 00:04:28 Sis Francisco. And I also use he him pronouns.
Speaker 6 00:04:31 All right. With that, we are gonna get straight into, um, our weekly segment. So take it away, Francisco.
Speaker 8 00:04:39 Hey y'all, thanks for having me on. Views from the ground,
Speaker 6 00:04:42 Views from the damn ground.
Speaker 8 00:04:44 And I'm coming at you with my, with my report this month for Pancho and Panchos will focus on the Americas, um, different organizing efforts, different things that are happening in, um, the American Diaspora. I know it's pretty large, but you know, there's always stuff popping up. So, um, this week I'm gonna come at y'all with the unfolding situation. Inci,
Speaker 7 00:05:15 Could you, uh, translate Ticas for us for
Speaker 8 00:05:18 Oh yeah, Pancho's. Ticas basically translates to talks with Pancho. Okay. Okay. And Pancho's a nickname for Francisco, which is my name. Yeah. Gotcha. So Panchos talks Pancho, appreciate it, Brandon. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah. So this weekend we'll be talking about and the unfolding situation with the riots that are going on there after the recent inauguration of Breastfeeding's President Lula Silva. Um, and I just wanted to give mostly background information on the situation. Um, I know this is the type of news that that gets the, the highlight, but I think it's really important for people to understand the situation inacio politically and how we got to this point where, um, it's so polarized. So the two candidates were Bodo and Lula. That's kind of how they're known publicly. And I'm gonna start by talking about Lula. His full name is Lula Silva. And he moved with his family as a child to South Pao from a small town, um, in the Southwest, uh, grail called Beco.
Speaker 8 00:06:33 And Lula actually only went to school for, um, a couple of years. He, he had to drop out when he was in second grade and didn't actually learn how to read until he was 10 years old. He had to drop out because he had to help his mom, um, with, you know, he had to go to work, he had to support, support the family because, you know, the dad actually moved away to South Pao earlier. And then when his mom and him got there, he actually had basically a whole nother family mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And they initially tried to move in with them and it just, it just didn't get go so, so hot for the, for that part of the family. So Lula started getting involved in steel working metalworking, and he began, began organizing and he joined, uh, the, the metalworking Union. And actually in 1975, he was voted to be the president of the Union.
Speaker 8 00:07:26 Um, and he was the president of the union during the Brazilian mil military dictatorship. And he helped to organize worker strikes between 1978 and 1980. And he was actually jailed. Um, he was put in jail for a month for his organizing efforts during that, that military dictatorship. And he was actually one of the founding members of the Workers' Party in Budi, which continues to be the party that he's a part of now. And we're gonna get back to it because that's, that's one of the major polarizing forces in Budi. Um, and the Workers' Party actually ended up being one of the major forces that, um, was campaigning and pushing and organizing for Democratic elections in pa. And, and they actually ended up winning that fight. And they ended up being democratic elections in Brazil, you know, after the eighties. So, uh, Lulu ran for president in 19 80, 19 89, 94 and 98, and he lost all three times and then he ran again in 2002, was elected and then won his reelection campaign in 2006.
Speaker 8 00:08:42 Think it's important to note here that Brazilian presidents always win their reelection campaigns, and we're gonna get that to that a little bit later. So he was president in 2002, 2006, and his presidency actually marked what's now known as the Maria Rosa in all of Latin America, which translates to the pink wave. And it was a wave of not necessarily leftist policies, but a move away from neoliberal governments and neoliberal policies in Latin America. Um, and for those who don't know, neoliberalism is, is just a way of thinking where it's like, you know, pull yourself up from your bootstraps, you know, uh, ultra capitalistic, you know, every man for himself type of thinking. So, um, do during Lula's first, you know, run as president from 2002, um, and then getting reelected in 2006, he made the environments a priority, um, which makes sense since the largest rainforest in the world.
Speaker 8 00:09:51 Amazon, you know, most of it is within the borders of Brazil. Um, during his presidency, poverty, inequality, illiteracy, unemployment and infant mortality rate, and the infant mortality rate fell while the minimum wage, the average income access to school, access to university, and access to healthcare all, um, expanded. So Lulu was president for eight years. Um, and then afterwards he faced accusations of corruption and was actually convicted of money laundering by federal Judge Sato Moto, who later became Minister of Justice and Public Security in Bo Son's government. So Lula actually went on to serve a year in prison, uh, because he was convicted of, of the money laundering charges. And then recently in 2021, the Brazilian Supreme Court, um, nullified his sentence ruling that SEMO had been biased in the trial. So the nullification in two, 2021, um, which was actually, well, boson Nado was still president, um, opened it up again so Lula would be able to get back into politics because when you've been convicted of a crime like that, you know, you can't run or nothing.
Speaker 8 00:11:14 Um, so he ran for president again in 2022, um, and the, the elections went on to runoff and with the incumbent incumbent. Ha Now we're gonna talk a little bit about who Bodo is. Um, he was born in SA Pao and is actually the great grandson of Italian immigrants. Bodo transferred to a military prep school, then went on to the Acade Academia, which translates to Military Academy of the Black Eagles. In 1986, Bo son gained publicity as he was an advocate for higher wages and less budget cuts for military personnel. And by this time he was a military personnel himself. And the following year in 1987, he started to become more of a household name when he was ac accused applauding a terrorist attack with, um, a fellow army colleague. Drawings were made public of plans for the attack and accusers, um, were basically saying that the drawings were his, that they recognized the way he wrote, um, an administrative military bureau.
Speaker 8 00:12:39 The administrative, the administrative military bureau conducted an investigation and actually deemed most not guilty of the plot. Then the charges were were later overturned by the military Supreme Court, noting that there was no testimonial evidence to prove that it was his plan. So the next year, boson, I Bega began his political career. And that was in 1988 with a short stunt as a city council member in Rio de Janero representing the Christian Democratic Party. The following year, Bolsonaro went on to serve on the National Congress for 27 years. During his 27 year stunt as a Congress men, he wrote over 150 bills and only two of them became law. So this brings us to 2018 when bots, nado runs for president under a coalition of political parties. Cuz while he was the congressman, he kind of bounced around between parties, um, and actually turned some liberal parties, conservative. And so then when he's running for president, there's like this coalition of parties that's backing him. And they, the unifying slogan was <unk> which translates to above everything, God above everyone. So on October 21st, um, it seemed that, um, boon was gonna win his campaign. And he made, um, this speech to this is part of the speech he gave to his supporters
Speaker 8 00:14:49 So in this speech to his supporters, you can hear him say, you will see a proud armed forces, which will be collaborating with the future of Brazil. You <unk>, which is a derogatory term for workers party supporters, will see a civilian and military police with a judicial regard to enforce the laws on your back. He continued this speech, um, stating that those who participated in social movements would be declared terrorists, that they will be banned from their homelands, and that if they don't leave, um, they will be sent to the edge of the beach. And a lot of people knew exactly what that meant, but a lot of people were confused about what the edge of the beach was referencing. And it was later confirmed by one of Bo son's aids that he was referencing, uh, military, uh, military dictatorship era, navy base, where the military dictatorship would send, um, people who oppose a dictatorship and torture and kill them there.
Speaker 8 00:16:02 So Bo was sworn in, he won, and he was sworn in January 1st, 2019. And one of his first actions was stripping the Indigenous affairs agency of all their power to keep indigenous territory sovereign. Um, through his presidency, he would meet consistently with then president of the United States, Donald and me, his rhetoric, including downplaying the, you know, COVID 19 epidemic, saying it was no deadlier than the flu. And time after time, uh, pharmaceutical companies would come to bots, Nado and then Brazilian, you know, government and try to, you know, negotiate, telling them the vaccine. And Boson would over and over again, refuse to negotiate, um, even though millions of Brazilians were dying. And he finally, you know, agreed to make a deal with, uh, with an Indian pharmaceutical company for a vaccine that had not been, actually not been approved, um, by any of the, you know, any of the, the, the legal measures, or it hadn't been tested thoroughly.
Speaker 8 00:17:12 And then it was later uncovered that he, the, the government actually dished out 10 times the amount than the agreed a pound. Then the, then the, then the pharmaceutical company actually asked for, so they, they they dished out 10 times the amount, um, which prompted the Brazilian Supreme Court to launch an investigation where he faced criminal charges. Um, and he also faced crimes against humanity for, for the way that he ended up, you know, mishandling that the, the pandemic where over five 50 million Brazilians died. So this brings us back into these runoff elections between Lula and Bodo. Um, you know, Lula is, you know, fresh off beating his case is getting back into the political realm. And Bodo is, you know, running, um, he's facing charges. But, you know, uh, like I said earlier, an incumbent has never lost, um, a presidential, you know, reelection campaign.
Speaker 8 00:18:20 Um, and then in the, in the before a runoff, you know, Lulu was actually way ahead, which was, you know, unprecedented in, in a situation like this. And they went to runoff and it was a little bit closer, but Lule actually ended up winning. So some of his fir some of some of Lula's first moves were big steps forward for the safety of the Amazon rainforest and the sovereignty of indigenous peoples in Brazil. Um, Lula made six declarations and, and I'm just gonna talk about two of them. The first one was a knowing mining on indigenous lands, which is huge because, you know, we even see it here where indigenous people here in the United States are, are constantly fighting, you know, to keep transnational corporations out of their, their land. And we see the police, you know, helping these corporations, um, beating up protestors pretty much constantly.
Speaker 8 00:19:14 We see this, um, in the us So for a president, you know, with such a large part of the Amazon rainforest within the borders of his country, to do something like this is, is pretty astounding. And, um, a lot of people are really excited about this. And the second thing that, the second declaration he made was to create a whole new institution, which is called the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples. And this is gonna give just a, a much greater voice for indigenous peoples within, um, within the country. And I, I, I find it interesting, again to connect it back to the United States where the US used to have a Bureau of Indian Affairs, which turned into the Department of Interior. And it's basically been used to do the opposite. It's, it's any time indigenous people are trying to fight back and gain some autonomy, it's the, the Department of Interiors used to strategize, um, ways to combat that. So that brings us to, um, three days ago, January 8th, winter, porters of Boon Storm of the Brazil, Brazil Supreme Court, their National Congress and the Presidential Palace. And this is, this is an unfolding situation. Um, you can look this up on Google, you can look this up on Twitter. I'm not gonna get too much into this. Um, but I just encourage all of our listeners to, to keep up with this situation. Um, so yeah,
Speaker 6 00:20:34 Yeah, yeah. Thank you, um, for, um, bringing that history lesson, trying to get us up to date, to extort, trying to, you know, having the resources to start understanding what happened on January 8th, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, we, we definitely saw a lot leading up to that cuz after, um, Lula had one, a lot of people were unsure if Bolson Air was actually going to step down or say he lost. So there was a lot of tension going on for there cuz it took a couple of days for him to recognize officially publicly that he lost.
Speaker 8 00:21:12 That's
Speaker 6 00:21:12 Right. And then there was the truckers who, um, went and shut down the highway. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, Ali, the can, the Canadian trucker thing that's been going through the world. Um, they were a lot more successful over there than, than the American truckers, um, <laugh>. So, and um, yeah, and it was just, it was just wild to us. Um, you know, it was real interesting to just see it develop, um, a January, um, eight. Uh, it had some interesting, um, parallels of January 6th, but like, it was definitely different in the sense that they hit more buildings, uh, cuz they, you know, here they just kinda went after the house, but the buildings were empty. Um, they were vacant so they didn't have like politicians that were actively inside. Um, that was part of it. Um, and so it was, and then they also waited for Lula to actually get sworn in.
Speaker 6 00:22:14 Um, that's right, because here they did it while Trump was still in office, which is one of the, the biggest ones differences I can see in it. And it, and it's really interesting, um, because when they storm the capital here, it was like, okay, the days went on and all that, but when they stormed the capitals, um, in the President palace and stuff in Brazil, they ended up, um, having like huge protests about it. Like, you know, thousands of people coming out on the street showing solidarity for democracy. And you know, that really shows like when you give people something to believe in what they're willing to do to defend their games. Cuz there was no like, huge protest. Those like d Defend Biden or something, you know, like, you know, we didn't see that here. So, you know, those are just like some of the interesting things that I've seen, um, going on. So, um, and you know, there was, there was, um, but it looks like, um, Lula does have, um, it looks like he's gonna have control of the military and hope, you know, um, might be able to keep power. So, you know,
Speaker 8 00:23:20 Um, yeah, there, there, if you go on Twitter, there's literally videos of of, you know, people getting arrested by the military and, uh, Bolsonaro supporters literally getting on their knees, like, almost literally kissing their, their boots. So it's pretty crazy.
Speaker 6 00:23:36 Yeah. And there was, um, some videos I saw of, um, military and cops that were either helping or giving command to some of the Bolero supporters who were storming various buildings. So that too. So it was, it was, it was a moment where I was like, what's gonna happen? Like, I don't know what's gonna happen. So, but yeah. Once again, thank you so much, uh, Francisco for um, bringing this amazing segment. So thanks for
Speaker 7 00:24:03 Having
Speaker 6 00:24:03 Me. Yeah. With that, um, next we're gonna, um, have Brandon, um, with the Words for Freedom segment.
Speaker 7 00:24:12 How's everyone doing out there? I hope your, uh, 2023 is off to a good start. Um, January. So we got our first poet of the month. So this is, uh, words of freedom, a segment here on views from the ground,
Speaker 6 00:24:24 Views from the damn ground
Speaker 7 00:24:25 Where we give local poets a chance to free their minds, free their hearts, and liberate their souls with their words of freedom. So this month we have Leno Elaine, who is an educator and artist hauling, hailing from Minneapolis. Uh, the Slam champion has been teaching children for 14 years and is the founder of Horizon Arts and Wellness, an organization with services, products, and events dedicated to the holistic health of all Earth links she has performed on stages across the country, but you can have her right at home by purchasing her first book. Everything is everything. The philosophy of Leno Elaine on Amazon. So we're gonna be listening to a little bit of her work tonight. The first poem we are gonna listen to is titled Missing You During Twilight.
Speaker 11 00:25:19 It is often in twilights, I miss you like I do
Speaker 11 00:25:24 In the silence. All I hear is painful truth. All I know is this heart won't beat the same move these hands like my throat still grabs onto love and peace. Don't go as if I don't know. We've been done. You've been going. I've been gone. It's been a long time coming the right direction though and feel wrong. And I am in between hoping you would call and hoping to move on. But no one is like you accept me. We beautiful and bruised holy beings after all Holy War. All the reasons I grieve and all the reasons I can soar. I never knew I needed you to explore all what these molecules could be. Mama know is I got your name clocking up my throat and that you had to go and that I couldn't stay and that maybe we were meant to end this way broken so we can bloom dismembered to make room for more. I imagine the big vein that created our world first felt like doom. But luckily this universe decided to resume. And now I'm looking up at the Stars store in Twilight, hoping to find you jealous as the sun gets to hold hands with the moon, knowing life will go on and pains don't last long and daytime will come soon.
Speaker 7 00:27:05 And next we are going to uh, listen to uh, p She just posted to her Instagram the other day titled, I know you know
Speaker 12 00:27:16 I know. Short breath. I know back pain. I know worry, I know not enough. I know getting up and wishing I could lay down. I know it like the face of my mother, like my father's crooning grievances like the grit caught between my sister's teeth and fingertips like my cousins dark lips and cannabis sent his soundtracks like the bend in my grandmother's back, like the grief in my student's eyes. But the church lady's prayer request after she testifies, like wondering if God is really there, but knowing there's something pushing my heart to beat. One more time. I know. Trying to find the grace and the grind. We made a sky and sea so I know we get blue too. I know wanting to cry but feeling to cruel to I know wanting a drink when needing empathy. I know a series of misfortunes can start feeling like it's meant to be.
Speaker 12 00:28:20 But I recall the second law as above so below. So I am what I see, flip my perspective our sipping ca milk tea, sit under a tree and let it speak. Decide my f self free and let my limb stretch to a gym Bay beat ak. I'm made of son. The God means something. I'm a random conjunctions of Adams and evenings a divine timing. So laugh or cry, I'm gonna keep climbing grass. Whatever glory Nestles is suffering the crevices of my being operate as if I'm third eye sing. I got faith while I twerk. I know truth may sting me. I know I'm greater than I heard.
Speaker 12 00:29:01 My ancestors taught me about prayer. And root work taught me about the power of shea butter. And my creator taught me how to catch the love of my neighbor in between my ribs. I know God exists cuz here we is. Like we all we got. I know about the sound healing of hip hop and the electric slide. I know a smile can kill your pride. I know Paul Santo can cleanse the vibe. I know we made our startups. So when darkness come, we can decide to let it swallow us or be the light. When darkness comes, we can decide to let it. When darkness comes, we can decide to give up or continue to shine.
Speaker 7 00:30:01 Next we have a peace titled melanin for Sandra.
Speaker 11 00:30:08 We laid side by side, laid hand in hand. Us woman and man like this land ain't trying to kill us like we don't have things to do. Us two, hoping to resurrect like Lew type love that make life less blue, less molasses on back of shoe less aching love. So good it feel like we faking. But how do we know what's real when fire is the only thing we can feel and the ash created after revolution is the only way we know it is time to rebuild. But still it won't kill you to stay will it? I know we can't lay here all day. We have duties dedicated to futures they trying to take away. But sometimes it feels like we in line waiting for our turn. Sometimes it feels like this body ain't nothing but something to burn. And in those times, in those times, I hope to earn time with you. Ain't we good for the cause we all planting and pause, but spritz let involved trying to get down on planets and we can't get off. Like take me to <unk> Neptune something. I can't stay here no more. They killing off God. So I feel like I can't pray here no more. So I kissed your temple hoping to simplify this union or simplify this confusion. I'm just singing what they doing and I don't want you to go.
Speaker 7 00:31:51 And this last piece we'll listen to today is titled Five Things That Happened when he helped me.
Speaker 11 00:31:58 Five things That Happened when He helped Me. One, there are rules we put on love, they make us feel caged. I feel love is a wildfire which rebuilds what God made. Two, he helped me. And I realize my beautiful woman, right? Say I love songs and it's moments like these, they leave you when memories so heavy that loneliness burns a fire in your belly. It feels like his kiss focused, meticulous and feelings. This good make you forget your reality. Make you doubt your dreams, make you ice cream. Sweets and sloppy. And all of our hands like a good mistake make you forget your mama's words and or your mama's tears and you know you should wait but you give yourself on a silver plate. Anyway, he helped me and I remember too many sad those songs. He helped me and I was trying to feel uncreate solar systems in his kiss.
Speaker 11 00:32:55 I was trying to feel the kind of grip that makes you overstand, the futuristic, the curse. And this gift makes Abel's bodies crimp like fingers of the Youngs trying to prove they are strong. Makes back bend, like bending knees bending to pray to God to remember that he, he is just a man. Just the kind that holds me and justifies beauty. Who sings sadness in the hymns? Three, I wonder what intimate conversations my grandmother had with my grandfather before he decided to leave. How did he react when she had her heart on his leave and told him all the things she wanted to be? Did he believe? Sometimes I feel like a person can only love you when they see you on fire and running wild and naked, embracing God at the same time. Maybe, maybe if we allow ourselves to be the son, love will come. Or maybe I just need to understand what makes a man run. Four. If I introduce you to my world, will it scare you? Five, the skin. The skin just holds my soul and ain't so big sometimes. So sometimes it can't tell you what it wants to say. It settles for I love you, but the soul, the soul knows a different tongue has faced a thousand sons has never burned once. And what it wants to say might make you stay, might make you run.
Speaker 7 00:34:23 Can we get some snacks please?
Speaker 6 00:34:25 <laugh>?
Speaker 7 00:34:26 So yeah, that is my, uh, my friend Lenore Elaine. Um, we're gonna be listening to her stuff all month long and we'll get her in at the end of the month for an interview here. Um, you know, I've had so many poets on last year and we're starting off the year on a good foot, that's for sure. She has stuff that we just played from Spotify, from, from SoundCloud, from Instagram. She's everywhere. And uh, so yeah, so we are going to keep playing her stuff if you want in the meantime to follow her on Instagram. Her at is at L e n o r A e L A I N e underscore, that's at Leno Elaine underscore. So stay in touch with her, uh, and you're gonna hear more of her if you stay in tune with us. So we'll see you next time.
Speaker 6 00:35:13 All right. Thank you so much. Um, we really appreciate the segment dope poetry as always. And with that, we're gonna go straight in to the nerdy spotlight. So take it away nerdy.
Speaker 4 00:35:27 Hey everybody out there in the radio world, it's your boy nerdy and we are back again for the first time of 2023 with the Artist's Spotlight. If this is your first time with us, I am so thankful that you've tuned in because just like we did all last year, we take this time at the Artist Spotlight to highlight some of the amazing artists we have in our very own community. And this year ain't gonna be nothing different. We have an amazing artist up for you. His name is X. That's right. I'm new to the X fandom. That's E X X E. But let me tell you something. This cat has got it. He has got something special. I have seen him at seventh Street entry. I've seen him at Modest Brewing. There is something really special there. The K Y N collective has really got some amazing talent and X is sure enough, one of the shining stars of that. So let's take a listen to his song. Boondocks.
Speaker 13 00:36:35 Well, all right, I've hit the finals tonight. I ripped the title, I've prepped for this for years. This is my life. This is my survival. My sights sato, my riv myself and number him just the man inside the mirror. Once he's wiped, I'm going viral These nights I spit. I sleep, sleeping, just trying to make something work. Enticed by high lil visas. So easy. Let's be his verse. I practice to allow was perfect blue person. No. Now with persons won't try and stop me. I leave ass in the dirt talking. If you ain't talking about <unk> that's going get me heard. I'm trying to blow through your speakers to reach your wherever word I'm hopping on every feature and leaving y'all with the her day state life of monster that believe that I'm eating first. So best. Remember my name. I'm the adventure waiting for us.
Speaker 13 00:37:23 No stress lane. Main attraction about to take the floor on next. I'm James, who y'all came with. If you ain't with me, then you up against me. Y'all best out talk in my language. Y'all stay stuck on that same, I keep moving. I changed. Y'all just shooting. Don't. I'm all that talk is so aimless. Boy, I'm hot. And so shameless can't compare me to none of these about me. That same my life. I feel it coming. These lights, the thrill is buzzing. I'm right here on the cusp at the height when no fear jumping. I made my way out the mud. Turn nothing into what? Something these haters think I'm a bluff. I'm about to end the discussion. I'm hype these tweaking. They thinking it's just a game. When I might be ploting scheming into ladies, it's in craves. You best be praying to Jesus a lot to Ja.
Speaker 13 00:38:14 And y'all win cuz you gonna need someone beside you when I decide it's my day. So talking. If you ain't talking best, that's going get me paid. I'm trying to go put my mama in something off by the leg. My money just make more problems. At least that's they saying what I'm about to try live rich. Cause this broke just ain't the way. So best remember my name I'm waiting for so no stress outta my lane. Main attraction about to take the floor on next. You who y'all came with. If you ain't with me, then you up against me. Y'all best out talking my language. Y'all say stuck on that same, I keep moving. I changed y'all just shooting. Don't so, so shame to of that's
Speaker 14 00:39:20 K F A I is proud to present Robert Glasser at the Dakota for a weekend of six performances. Over three dates between January 27th through 29th.
Speaker 15 00:39:29 Robert Glasser is the leader of a new sonic paradigm with a career that bridges musical and artistic genres. To date, he boasts four Grammy wins in nine nominations across 11 categories. Glasser's breakout crossover album, black Radio changed the face of the genre and set a new expectation for what popular music could be.
Speaker 14 00:39:50 Tickets for Robert Glassberg could be found at the Dakota website. Visit dakota cooks.com for more details.
Speaker 6 00:40:06 All right, we are back here on Views from the ground. Views from the damn ground. Um, and I just want to thank Nerdy, um, for bringing X on the show. I'm super excited to hear the rest of the music and see the interview, um, later on this month. Um, today's guest, uh, we actually have, um, you know, we've, we saw that they actually rated the Corey, um, what about like a week and a half ago. And so today we actually have, um, we have the founder and a long-term resident of the Cory in the house. So go ahead and introduce yourselves.
Speaker 16 00:40:47 Hi, my name is Melanie Groves and I go by she or they pronouns. Um, I am a mutual aid worker that's, uh, been help trying to support people who are unhoused for several years, um, especially with mental health issues, um, as I've struggled with my own. And then I became homeless this past, uh, gosh, I guess it was about a year ago, a little over a year ago. And, um, lived at the quarry Encampment.
Speaker 17 00:41:15 Uh, I'm Nate. Uh, I go by he him and, uh, really I'm just like, I'm a resident just out here. I hired.
Speaker 6 00:41:27 So, so, um, yeah. Melanie, how about you? Tell us you, you, um, helped found the Corey, right? And yeah. And, and tell us why you felt the need to, um, found the quarry in the first place and stuff like that. Go ahead.
Speaker 16 00:41:40 Sure. So, um, with Covid, um, this global Pandemic, um, we realized that some of the most vulnerable people in our communities were people who are unhoused. Um, they lost access to everything. No bathrooms, no sanitation, no uh, indoor showers. There were all the places that normally people would be able to turn for things that they weren't going to be able to anymore. And they were able to go. And there was the sanctuary movement, which meant that people could live in, uh, area parks and be supported by their neighbors, which turned out to be a good, uh, a good experiment for a lot of these camps. They were small, they were supported by people in the neighborhood. There was an expectation on both sides that we are neighbors, you know, uh, you're not the homeless problem, you are our unhoused neighbors who are in need of some support.
Speaker 16 00:42:34 And, um, the park board decided that it was no longer, um, feasible to have people living in parks. Um, because, you know, if you're walking your dog, you might be disturbed by there being some tents in the park. Um, and so they ended up evicting all of the people who were living in these areas, um, in the parks. Uh, so people were scattered again. Um, when you are unhoused, when you are homeless, it is very difficult to be safe. Um, you have no walls, you have no locks, you have no expectation of privacy or being left alone for even a small amount of time. So, um, what ended up happening after the murder of George Floyd is that people were really galvanized to look at how we could make a more equitable society. How we could treat everybody with respect and care. And we ended up with a lot of folks who were helping out, trying to support unhoused people.
Speaker 16 00:43:37 Um, we had a city council that was abolitionist, that was looking to abolish the police state. That's basically made it illegal for us to be poor in this country anymore. Um, and so we were looking for city owned land. And I've lived northeast most of my life, and I knew the Quarry Shopping Center very well. And there was this big, beautiful piece of land at the backside. It's not near people's houses, it's not interfering with any roadways. It's not, you know, it's, it's very hard to even tell. In fact, we were there about four months before anybody even noticed we were there from the Corey, uh, management. But, um, there were people that I cared very deeply about who were, um, losing their toes from amputations because of frostbite, and they were gonna be evicted from where they were at by the river. So we decided that, you know, okay, we were gonna sneak in at night and we dug out some areas and put down some pallets and tents for people who were being evicted from these park sanctuaries. And that's how we started the quarry. Um, and it was a wonderful experimenting community. We, um, had expectations for people who were living there. Um, we took care of each other. Um, a lot of us have issues of mental health, uh, problems have addiction issues, things like that. And we supported and took care of each other. And that was, that was, has really been a beautiful thing.
Speaker 6 00:45:05 Yes. Thank you for giving us that introduction. Um, we, um, just also got joined by Carrie, um, who is also a resident, um, at Corey. Um, Nate, um, Carrie, would y'all wanted, um, uh, you know, say how y'all got to the qu or Oh yeah. What brought y'all there?
Speaker 17 00:45:29 So,
Speaker 17 00:45:32 So I guess, uh, pretty much I call him my older brother. Really. You know, he's a dick, you know, and we argue a lot more times. Af we argue more than we don't argue. But he brought us up there and I remember we met Mel and I had really bad anxiety around that time, and so we were gonna come back the next day and I didn't know where he went. So I'm like, yeah, I'm not gonna do that. A year goes by and we somehow end up back up there. That's a long story how we ended up there. So that's, that's for another day. But we ended back up there and Mel remembered us like it was just boom yesterday and it was really, uh, comforting. Dude. Next thing you know, we had our own tent. Uh, I don't know really. It was, it was a, it was a trip, that's for sure.
Speaker 17 00:46:15 It was a lot better than being out there by yourself. That's the worst part. Like, when people ask me, what do these camps mean to you? I'm like, dude, if you haven't been out there literally by yourself before, like you wouldn't understand it. Like, I don't, it's not that I don't like them, but I don't kick it with a lot of my neighbors there, but they're my neighbors dude. And then I feel comfortable sleeping at night. There'd be times where, yeah, it's a bunny rabbit jumping around and leaves and I'd be like, Hey, yo. And somebody like, oh, you're good dude. And I'd be like, ah, yeah, I figured I was, but you know, it's all good <laugh>. Yeah, it was cool to have that. And now, now, like yesterday was the first day that we were just like, really back out there. And I'm like, dude, this blows hard.
Speaker 17 00:46:55 Like, and I like totally, I've become complacent. Like, I don't even know, like, well, I mean, I don't know. I mean, I'm good. We're gonna be good. Always good, but it's just different. It's a change. And it sucks, dude, because I've grown so, uh, connected with these people, you know, and now just like, don't even wanna answer their calls cuz it's depressing as hell for real. Like, it's like, damn dude, I, you're all the way in St. Paul over here. I'm good. You know, I got enough stuff to deal with and it sounds bad saying that. I hate saying that. Yeah. But I'm like super butt hurt over this whole situation.
Speaker 16 00:47:40 Well you should be. They took away our home, they took away our community, they took away our safety, they took away the supports that we have. Uh, people who regularly bring meals. Like, um,
Speaker 17 00:47:50 Dude, that dawned on me, me to Kitchen too. I was sitting there thinking about it. I'm like, dude, not only did they just like shut this camp down, like they displaced all of us. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, like we were a community and our own, like we were outcast together. You know, like I felt accepted, you know? Mm-hmm. <affirmative> even, you know, that I miss arguing with like, uh, people for not turning down my music. Yep. I miss that so much. I turn my speaker back at him, turn it up louder. Cause it was just so much fun. And it's, and it sounds terrible, but it, I miss it so much. Yeah. And
Speaker 18 00:48:24 It's overwhelming as well, like trying to even think about finding, uh, like a place to put a tent up again. We had left the quarry in the summer and you know, every tent that we had was, you know, told to be taken down. You know, within a couple days all of our belongings were seized and taken to the landfill. Um, so when we came back up to the quarry in the fall, we had literally just backpacks again. And that's all we owned. And through the time of being there, you know, we start, you know, gaining things again and starting feeling good about ourselves, you know, and then to have it all taken away again. So it's just, it's like you don't want to try and go set something up somewhere just to, you know, be told to take it down and have your things all taken again. You know, so out of fear from that, like we, you know, we're just nervous to even bring our tents out of the storage, you know, like, but it's cold out and we have to, cuz otherwise we're not gonna survive out here. Yeah. You know, in the winter. And it makes it tough, you know, just to want a place that's warm to go to sleep at night and to not be able to have that really sucks. So, you know. Yeah. It's been overwhelming.
Speaker 6 00:50:07 So. So take us to the morning of the encampment rate. Um, what did y'all see happening?
Speaker 17 00:50:23 Uh, well, what did I see happening? I remember hearing right away when I woke up. That is like stuck with me, dude. It's like, uh, and you know what it makes me think of like the other countries, like the war stuff going on where they have propaganda going,
Speaker 18 00:50:38 The Hunger
Speaker 17 00:50:39 Games. Yeah, dude, it was crazy. Just kept going on a loop and it kept medications and important documents like we're all just way out there crazy. And, uh, to be honest, dude, if I did have medications, I woke up, it was dark out. If you ever been in a tent at six 40 in the morning during the wintertime, it's dark. You're fumbling. Yeah. Cold. It's, yeah, for sure. And then there was just a wall, like it, just a wall of threat just come tent to tent to tent to tent closer and closer and closer. And so I did the best thing I knew and just started popping off of the mouth. And that's all I could do. That's all I could think. It was like a, I don't know, fight or flight.
Speaker 18 00:51:19 Nate was so delirious when he woke up that I had to tell him before he went to sleep, uh, the night before I took his snow pants off cuz he just passed out cold. And so when he woke up, he thought he still had 'em on. So I was telling him, you know, get your snow pants, you know, your coats over here. And the cops just kept, you know, telling us we're trespassing and we gotta leave. And, you know, you could hear 'em coming and coming and coming and they were getting closer and the momentum is just building, you know, and <laugh> and all of that. Nate, you know, Nate starts flipping out and I ended up just leaving the tent and left all my winter supplies in there. No snow pants, no gloves, no hat. Um, out of fear of basically getting arrested just for being there because it's how they were making us feel like.
Speaker 18 00:52:17 And for them to come in with 150 something cops and SWAT and whatever else, county workers and city workers for eight people that were up there sleeping. Every last one of us was sleeping, was just crazy. I mean, none of us grabbed anything. Almost everybody lost their phones. <laugh>, uh, we only had ours because they were in our backpacks and we grabbed those on the way out the door and the only thing in our mind was grab the heater because that's survival. And so we grabbed our heater, I left all my winter clothes behind and, you know, everything else went in our tent, which was packed up, sitting right outside our tent being wait to go to storage that morning, but didn't get a chance to move it into storage. So
Speaker 17 00:53:14 Noie dok.
Speaker 18 00:53:15 Yeah, they're, uh, they told us that they were postponing the, you know, the closing and I, that there was no postponing. They were just waiting to come in at the right moment. Um, they, they definitely surprised everybody that was up there. We all felt like betrayed, really. I mean, we're all struggling and we already have nothing, you know? I mean, we're already at the bottom, you know, and just to make us feel that way, just for, I mean, we're not up there selling drugs. We're not up there dealing guns and, you know, doing, you know, sex trade or whatever. A lot of the stereotypes are, we're just up there living. So for them to come in, like that was just scary, you know? And Nate <laugh> Nate was, you know, demanding that the police look at us because we didn't see a single cop even glance at us as they were making us march out of there. You know, he was like, can't you even look at us as you're telling me to leave my home? You know? And he got one cop to, to look at us on our way out right before we got out of the Home Depot parking lot. And that was it. No other cops would look at us, they just flash flashlights in our face, you know? And it was just, I mean, it was something else.
Speaker 16 00:54:56 I think if our Minneapolis housed neighbors had any idea the type of, of militarized force that you are woken up in the middle of the night in, in darkness in cold people with, uh, automatic weapons, cops yelling at you, telling you you have to leave the trauma, the fear, all of that that's created, I think they would be appalled, you know, this new strong mayor powers that have come into play. Um, uh, the mayor has basically made it illegal to be poor in the city of Minneapolis. A lot of us have issues with police officers because we have been poor and had to do things out of necessity to survive. But they don't care. You know, they come in, they cordon off areas, they wouldn't allow any support into the encampments. I've been to over a dozen evictions either being evicted myself or being there to support the residents that were being evicted from these camps.
Speaker 16 00:55:49 And they are brutal. They are hostile, they are mean. They laugh, they ridicule people who are doing their best to survive. And I think that that Minnesota and Minneapolis in particular, the people have good hearts. And I think if they knew what was going on, the type of money, the type of manpower that was being created to terrorize a dozen tents of people who are unhoused, who are homeless, who have nothing else but this small community and this little bit of safety they've created, I think they would be up in arms. They would be appalled. They would help us to help our fellow, um, neighbors.
Speaker 6 00:56:29 Yeah. And, um, we have about four more minutes here. How, how many, um, cops would you say were there?
Speaker 16 00:56:38 Generally there's 150 or more. Yeah. They generally have swat team support up at the quarry. They have private security as well. Tons of cameras. Um, you know, they, if they took the money that they spent to evict us on housing us, there would be no homeless problem. We would all be housed, we would all have adequate resources, we would be supported. We would have the help that we need to maintain a life inside. Um, people don't understand that when you have nothing and you're in fear every day, you don't have a place to rest, even a place to just be, you get kicked out of any place you're in, you're known as homeless people don't want you around. That is so hard. And when you find a community that supports you, that's huge and it's a level of safety that helps you move on to the next level. It's that Maslow's hierarchy of needs. If you don't build the bottom of the pyramid, your food and shelter and safety, you can't go to those higher things that dealing with mental health issues, addiction issues, uh, legal issues, um, making sure that you have all of those other needs met has to come from housing first. You have to get people inside and safe. And the city refuses to do that.
Speaker 6 00:57:52 Yes. It, um, and, um, uh, Simeon has also joined us. Can you tell us about, uh, Minneapolis People Council and Supply Drive?
Speaker 20 00:58:00 Yeah. My name is Simeon. I'm a community member. Um, and last month we started doing an event called the Minneapolis Peoples Council. Um, which was basically an attempt to build people power, build community, and, um, build revolutionary care. Um, centered around unhoused people and unhoused voices their experiences, um, and prioritizing the things that, that they need, giving them a voice, um, in a space, in a space where they're often marginalized and silenced. And, um, we're having it again, um, this Sunday, January 15th from two to 5:00 PM at 4,200 Cedar Ave in South Minneapolis. Um, if you're an unhoused person listening to this, uh, come to, we'll have a hot meal for folks. We'll have, we're also having a supply drive. Um, if you need to gear up, get gloves closed, et cetera, um, come on through and meet other unhoused folks and housed allies. If you're housed and a resident of Minneapolis or the Twin Cities area and you wanna come listen and learn, please do. Um, our goal is to, is to, yeah, build revolutionary power and empower, give people a voice. So Sunday, two to 5:00 PM 4,200 Cedar Ave.
Speaker 6 00:59:06 All right. And I just want to thank y'all for coming on to the show and, uh, sharing your stories. Uh, we really appreciate it. We hope that the strong mayor fry, um, will put an eviction, will put a stop to these raids that are happening. Yes. Um, to our unhoused neighbors that is jeopardizing people's lives. Yes. Um, and killing folks, quite frankly. Yeah. Um, with that, I want to, I want to thank, um, you know, Brandon and Francisco and nerdy for their, um, segments and their contributions. Um, this has been DJing your agender host here on Views from the ground. Views from the damn ground. And we are out
Speaker 21 00:59:49 With all the lies. All the lies, all the lies they come in with, the tear ass and 45 in between the protests we protest under.
