Speaker 1 00:00:04 To me, I'm, I'm the mic corner.
Speaker 2 00:00:29 What's up? It's your boy IWiN. Make sure you tune into my show No t No Shade every Wednesday at 6:00 PM The no t No Shade Show is full of entertainment, music interviews and informative conversations. You never know what genre we gonna tap into. You never know what messy story we going to cover. Hey, you don't even know who we going to interview or what taboo topic we getting into. Only on 90.3 FM Cafe I streaming
[email protected] and is no Tino Shade. I
Speaker 3 00:01:11 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 00:01:32 You can burn a whole thing down. I don't care if you are uncomfortable. We can burn a whole thing down.
Speaker 0 00:01:42 Couldn't
Speaker 4 00:01:43 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 00:01:54 Yeah, we about to go to work. Yeah, we about to let it burn. Extended 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, aint the whizz, ain't no easing down the road where we live. That a biz. We can't go out for a jog or a 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 him back. Screens up. Make a few bucks. My life is in market. Hoo. 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 enough people are not playing with you now. Yeah, you can burn a whole thing down. Yes ya. I don't care if you are uncomfortable. We can burn a whole thing down. You can burn a 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 the brother until we burn our thing down. Down. Yeah, we about to go to work. Yeah, we about to let it burn.
Speaker 5 00:03:07 No, come on the youngins what I'm focused on. I'm so old then. Golden. I ain't know you was talking about Pokemon, 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 like be soi watching all the leaders leading banking Nona. But we torture enough to take us and we give into survivors city liars making black people compliant. Coon Rapids. Who are you asking? I'm crew. Survive the trick bro. Ethics got me laughing at your message and in Black Lives Matter, you would not get so defensive. We got cops and ths and robberies and gas light us. We are not the same. We on the scene we pass typing cuz y'all don't care about us and we ain't come. Na we just mind up businessing and people be so stuck and mad. So pass the gun and mask and pass 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 norm. It is. You can
Speaker 4 00:04:05 Burn, burn the whole thing down. Yeah, you can burn it all. I don't care if y'all uncomfortable. We can burn whole thing down. You can burn it, burn it, burn it down. Couldn't care about it. Zone. You can burn a whole down down. Y'all don't really care about a brother until we burn. Whole thing down. Burn down. Yeah, we about to go to work. Yeah, we about to let it burn.
Speaker 6 00:04:54 Views from the
Speaker 7 00:04:54 Ground, views from the damn ground views
Speaker 6 00:04:56 From the ground
Speaker 7 00:04:57 Views from the damn ground views
Speaker 6 00:04:58 From the ground
Speaker 7 00:04:59 Views from the damn ground.
Speaker 6 00:05:00 And that's on that, on that, on that. Hey, welcome, welcome. Uh, this is your favorite agender host dj. I use Dayum pronouns.
Speaker 7 00:05:12 Uh, my name is Jay. I will be doing the new segment and I use, they are he pronouns.
Speaker 6 00:05:18 All right. And we will jump right into it. So go ahead and introduce your segment for
Speaker 7 00:05:24 Um, yeah. So today on historical currents, um, I am talking about the history, um, of mutual aid, um, the black history of mutual aid specifically. Um, and, uh, I kind of wanna focus on medical intervention in black communities, um, to give some more context to, um, our later discussion with our guest interview. Um, but many people think of white anarchist collectives when they think of mutual aid. Um, but the practice actually has deep, longstanding roots in black and brown communities and movements. And it's important to understand that history, especially as we're seeing, um, this big revival of mutual aid in the wake of the George Floyd uprising. Um, so to start off, what is mutual aid? Um, while mutual aid is a concept has existed for as long as there have been humans on earth, the term itself was actually coined by a Russian zoologist and naturalist named Carl Kressler.
Speaker 7 00:06:23 In his lecture, the law of mutual aid Kessler's work was later expanded on posthumously by Peter PR Kropotkin, it's really hard name to say Russian names, um, who was a contemporary of Kessler's and an anarch anarcho socialist revolutionary Kropotkin would consolidate kessler's ideas into a paper titled Mutual Aid, A Factor of Evolution, which was a direct rebuttal to popular Darwinist evolutionary theories that posit dominance and struggle as a main driver of evol evolutionary fitness. In essence, the paper argued that there is material evidence to suggest that cooperation is not only practiced by most species in some capacity, but that cooperation is more evolutionarily advantageous than struggle, particularly in human evolution. Croak can use used multiple examples to support his claim and concluded that the vast majority of animal species live in societies that are based upon mutual aid. Instead of struggle and power. The association support an aid that they lend to one another is the best tool for the preservation of life.
Speaker 7 00:07:27 The advancement of knowledge, continuation of the species, rearing of children, enjoyment, safety, and provision of food. Um, and that's a direct quote from, um, mutual Aid, a factor Revolution in our modern context. Mutual aid is a model of community care in which members form networks of care outside of official channels like non-profits or non or government programs. Mutual aid networks sometimes seek to supplement existing services, but often replace them entirely in areas that are especially underserved. In Minneapolis, most of us probably think of encampment support or food distribution services when we think of mutual aid. But the practice can take many forms from legal services to community security. Cop watches, skill shares and medical services. For example, we can interpret the Underground Railroad as an early example of mutual aid, where free and enslaved blacks and their white allies created a cooperative system to free slaves.
Speaker 7 00:08:23 Mutual aid can be as complex as a nationwide network of safe, safe houses, or as simple as a neighborhood community garden. The main tenant of mutual aid is that the people providing the aid are also encouraged to utilize the service. This is different from traditional charity-based aid systems because the organizational structure is often horizontal or collective instead of hierarchical. Mutual aid also seeks to actively involve participants in the organization of the aid. In other words, the people who need the service are often the organizers are volunteers which help ensure that the aid organization stays connected to the community they're serving. This model of care is inherently political and is often used to strengthen the organiza the organizing capacity of movements and uprisings. So the politics of mutual aid and who practices mutual aid and why and what circumstances, um, is a question that I think really merits a lot more historical, um, analysis than it gets.
Speaker 7 00:09:23 Um, and we know that mutual aid often arises out of political movements as a way of interrupting systems of harm in the community that impede or bar people from political development. Basically, it's hard to engage and struggle on an empty stomach or form collectivist net networks when you're struggling to pay for rent or childcare. Many revolutionary organizations such as the Black Panthers and Young Lords pioneered mutual aid services in their communities, both out of a genuine love for the people and the realization that mass organization simply wasn't possible so long as needs went unmet. In January, 1969, the Black Panther party began their free breakfast program at St. Augustine's Church in Oakland. Prior to 1969, most schools only offered reduced lunch to children, and many poor black children were accustomed to going to school hungry. Under the direction of Black Panther party leadership volunteers were recruited and organized to solicit monetary and in-kind donations from local stores as well as cook and serve the food.
Speaker 7 00:10:22 Ultimately, the program was such a success that by the end of that year, the program had been implemented in more than 23 cities feeding over 20,000 children nationally without a cent of government funding. In addition to the relatively famous Black Panther Party breakfast program, the Panthers organized over 65 other mutual aid services, including free clinics, senior and disability focused transportation, childcare, and prison support. Similarly, the Young Lords a primarily Puerto Rican organization active around the same time as the Panthers focused on the specific needs of their community, especially in the realm of healthcare. They created the Health Revolutionary Unit movement, which addressed a number of the inequalities and barriers black and brown urban poor were experiencing. They created a system for door to door, uh, tuberculosis testing by liberating, stealing an x-ray truck from the city. And in 1970, partnered with the Black Panthers to establish the People's Detox out of Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx.
Speaker 7 00:11:22 Um, the Lincoln Hospital, uh, detox program was really cool for a lot of re reasons, um, but namely because, um, as part of the occupation, um, the Black Panther Party and the Lords were able to fundamentally transform hospital operations like relatively permanently. Um, and established a number of truly innovative programs that have been modeled internationally. In addition to popularizing an approach to addiction and substance abuse that utilized acupuncture and holistic medicine instead of methadone, which can be addictive in and of itself, the two groups used the program as an opportunity to build class consciousness and unity among the urban poor. They formed lasting relationships with street trans site action revolutionaries, gay Liberation front and third world gay liberation. Um, and Sylvia Rivera, a founding member of, um, star, was a member of the Lord's Lesbian and Gay Caucus, and was instrumental in establishing the group's line on gay liberation.
Speaker 7 00:12:18 The Young Lords explicitly rejected the male chauvinism present in other revolutionary struggles and used the medical services programs to highlight how racism and anti L G B T poli politics were bound together. Um, these so-called survival programs were essential to movement building as well as crucial part of resisting state violence against activists who were routinely denied medical care in and outside protests and uprisings. The street medic community and revolutionary groups like the Panthers and Lords worked together to form these systems of medical defense, um, that they said prioritize the needs of the people that go unmet as a result of direct state violence or neglect. And this relationship remains strong today in modern times and in addition to more comprehensive medical services. Like those mentioned above, the history of street medics can be traced slightly earlier to 1964 at the height of the civil rights era, um, in the first large scale organization of street medics was established by the Medical Committee Committee for Human Rights, which engaged in a number of healthcare advocacy struggles, including desegregation and compliance investigations.
Speaker 7 00:13:27 Street medics as a practice street medicine as a practice focuses on basic first aid that anyone can learn, training medics to stabilize serious injuries and preserve life until more robust medical care is available. They often treat protestors who are denied medical care by police and ems and often act as mediators between hospital staff and injured protestors. Street medic guides are published online by various collectives across the country. Um, and I always make it a point actually to, um, update myself on a street medic guide each year. Um, I read the one, um, published by, uh, the Chicago, um, it's on Paper Revolution, but it's, um, basically a, a Chicago based, um, medic, uh, street Medic Collective. Um, okay. So basically like the whole point of street medicine is for it to be accessible for regular people, um, to be able to like have the, the medical knowledge to, to help anyone on the street during an action, um, be that like a protest or an interaction with the police.
Speaker 7 00:14:33 Um, so yeah, like that's sort of like the history of, of street medicine. I, I think I would argue that, um, what the Black Panthers and the Young Lords were doing at the time were like, that was an an early form of, of street ing. Um, and then another cool example of um, sort of like a proto, uh, street medic service is the Freedom House Ambulance Service, um, which was active in Pittsburgh, um, in 1967. So like, kind of around the same time as the Black Panthers, um, in the Young Lords had their programs. Um, and it was the first ambulance service in the us. Um, it operated for eight years before being shut down, um, by the city. Um, which organizers said was mainly because of, you know, like racism and like not wanting the EMS to be staffed by black people. Um, <laugh> Yeah, <laugh>.
Speaker 7 00:15:25 Uh, and one of the cool things about the program was that they were in an area of Pittsburgh that, um, had a high concentration of black urban poor. Um, and they gave them jobs. Um, some of them were volunteers, but um, others were actually paid for their work. Um, so it was like a way of, um, kind of using community resources that already exist in the terms of like people power to like provide this service that was clearly needed. Um, and they served as not just a model for modern ems, but like the model for like existing EMS in the us. Um, and in its first year, um, the Freedom House Ambulance service was, was really wildly successful. They made, um, 5,868 responses to emergency calls, um, and transported 4,627 patients to the hospital from the Hill District, um, in downtown Pittsburgh. Mind you, they're doing this with like secondhand equipment and like an old bus <laugh> that they drove around to pick people up.
Speaker 7 00:16:33 Like it's kind of nuts that they were able to have that level of responsiveness and organization with such limited resources. Um, and the paramedics responded to an average of 15 calls a day, which again is a lot, um, given like the size of their volunteer force. And only 1.9% of patients died before arriving at the hospital, which I think is actually better than like the current percentage of people that die in route to the hospital now. Um, and that's from the University of Pittsburgh. Um, so these are all really cool examples of like mutual aid, um, and specifically medical mutual aid. Um, but yeah, I kind of want to ask you, um, sort of what's, what's another historical example of a mutual aid organization that like you can think of or like what sort of like a modern, um, like a modern one that you can think of?
Speaker 6 00:17:34 A modern one. Let's see. Yeah. Cuz historically when I think about it, I think a lot about, like you were saying, um, with the Panthers, um, and, uh, the Breakfast program. That's the biggest one. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> as far as mutual aid, um, locally, um, you know, we've had a lot of the different mutual aids, um, on the show. Like, uh, we had North Star on last week mm-hmm. <affirmative> and I think of like Freedom Street Health, uh, community Kitchen, uh, um, Canam, uh, MN <laugh>,
Speaker 7 00:18:09 Yeah. Community Aid Network.
Speaker 6 00:18:10 Uh, yeah. So, uh, I I think a lot about all of those and I mean, you know, trying to highlight all the amazing mutual aid work that is happening out here, you know, people getting on the same page, so.
Speaker 7 00:18:23 Totally. And I think like, uh, I think that our, our movement like locally is, is like our, our health, um, collectives and mutual aid organizations like do have like a, a good grounding in, in sort of like the history of mutual aid, but I also feel like that political education like piece is something that is missing in a lot of the mutual aid that happens in the, in the cities. Like I think, I think one of the strengths of, um, the way that the Black Panthers and the Young Lords approached mutual aid as like an opportunity to like concretely show the community they were interacting with, like how these like larger political concepts, like have these practical applications was through providing mutual aid. Like it was an opportunity to talk about and analyze like the material conditions that led them to need these services and why these services aren't provided by anyone else to their community. And then like being able to use that to be like, this is why we're doing it this way. Like, this is why we're organizing around this and stealing an X-ray machine from city government because like, if we don't do that and if we don't have this radical politics behind what we're doing, like we're never going to get what we need. We're never going to address these problems that have been kind of plaguing the community for, for years, you know?
Speaker 6 00:19:53 Yes, yes. I, yes, as you're saying, I agree with you. Like it's important to build these structures outside of the system mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but it's important to remind people like, we built this structure because the system was exactly not working for us. Exactly. You know? Yeah. Uh, I think that's really important. I I will say, um, as far as mutual aid locally, I feel like, um, what we need to see is more unions participating Yeah. In mutual aid. Absolutely. Um, and I think it's, it gives them a really good end. I, I remember when I went, um, when I went down to Chicago, um, what was that conference we went to together?
Speaker 7 00:20:28 Naber?
Speaker 6 00:20:28 Yeah. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, national Alliance Against Racial and Political Repression. Yeah. Um, I remember meeting some of the Chicago Teacher Union mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and they were talking about how they use the Chicago Teacher Union as a way to do mutual aid. Right. Which I think, you know, as a public sector union, um, when you go on strike, you know, it's a little bit harder because when you go on strike, they already have the taxes mm-hmm. <affirmative>, so you, the employer is getting more money when you're on strike mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But I feel like if, um, a union started like providing a mutual aid, um, they could update people on what's going on with their, their work and stuff like that. And also when they went on strike, people would miss out on that and they would be more likely because, you know, a lot of it is battling for public opinion. Yeah, definitely. When it comes to public sector workers. So I would love to see more, um, mutual aid around that. Yeah. So,
Speaker 7 00:21:17 Yeah, I totally agree. And like, to, to speak about the, the teacher strike that, that happened in Minneapolis. Yes. Was that last year? That feels like so long ago, man.
Speaker 6 00:21:28 <laugh>,
Speaker 7 00:21:29 I think it was last year, but I'm honestly, I
Speaker 6 00:21:31 Swear it was last year when it feels three years
Speaker 7 00:21:33 Ago. It literally feels like it was like, like five years ago. Um, but yeah, I, I think that the idea, the idea behind, behind Canam men getting involved in that strike was ex was precisely what you're talking about, that we wanted to, to like strengthen that relationship between like a mutual aid organization and, and a union and like make that connection like explicit because Yeah, I think, I think that like sometimes there can be this, this like separation in our movement, like where it doesn't feel like, like different areas of work are, are talking to each other in that way, especially when it comes to like providing people with, with aid. Um, and I think that that's, that's like something that can only help us accomplish our goals because mm-hmm. <affirmative>, like I said, when when people have food to eat and they have a place to live and they have rent assistance and all of these things, like, it's so much easier for them to engage politically because they have like the brain space and like, time to do that because like being poor is a huge time suck and it's expensive and tiring <laugh>.
Speaker 7 00:22:47 And so like when you, when you can, when you can like interrupt that and be like, Hey, not only am I going to like help you with, with this problem that you're facing, but that I have a actual political reason for doing it. And you can be involved in that and you can, you can be part of correcting this issue. Like, I think that that's really powerful for, for recruiting people into our movement. Yeah.
Speaker 6 00:23:12 I think that could be really powerful as long as they don't do it in like a nagging way.
Speaker 7 00:23:16 Sure. Totally. Totally.
Speaker 6 00:23:18 Which, which can definitely happen with some people.
Speaker 7 00:23:20 Yeah. But like, I think that that's the strength of mutual aid is that it's supposed to be run by the people that are affected by the issue. Like the, the young Lords who were implementing these programs, like they were also poor, they were also from that neighborhood. And like, they also benefited from these services being available. And so it was about like bringing people into that process and instead of like this, like, oh, here I'm giving you this thing in exchange for like your political loyalty. It was like, no, like, we're doing this like, because of our politics. And like, you can be part of that if you want.
Speaker 6 00:23:58 Yes. <laugh> yes. I, I completely agree with you. So, um, thank you so much for, um, bringing this topic, uh, onto the show and I just really appreciate it. Yeah.
Speaker 7 00:24:10 It's something I'm passionate about talking about.
Speaker 6 00:24:13 So with that being said, um, our next program, um, our next segment here, it's gonna be, um, words for words of freedom. So take it away, Brandon.
Speaker 8 00:24:28 What's up y'all? It's Brandon. Uh, thank y'all for tuning in to another segment of Words of Freedom. Um, we've been listening to my work all month as it is, uh, my birth month. Uh, it is actually my birthday tomorrow, so shout out to me. Um, black History Month. Uh, so I've been playing a lot of my stuff this month because why not highlight your boy? You know, I'll be doing some things, so let's put him out there and, uh, show 'em to the people. But, um, you know, black History Month is my birthday, but it was also Valentine's Day, uh, just yesterday. So, you know, if you booed up, happy Valentine's Day to you. Uh, if you are not booed up, I hope you were able to give some extra love to yourself and your other loved ones, friends, family, what have you. Um, in the topic or on the topic of love, I figured we could, uh, show some of my work that has to do with, uh, a little bit of love, quite a bit of heartbreak, uh, <laugh>, you know, uh, talking about some sad boy stuff. So we're gonna listen to a couple of my pieces today. So sit back and relax and I hope you enjoy.
Speaker 8 00:25:51 Who would've thought that they could find each other in the world? So big two souls on their own paths. And those paths just happen to intersect two soul trying to find themselves where some able to find themselves in each other. Two, becoming whole. Two, heart sharing the same beat two people in love, two people madly in love, who would've thought that they could find each other in the world, so would've thought that they could lose each other just as quickly. And now here they are, two souls on their own paths, just trying to find themselves again. My apologies. I got distracted. I was too busy listening to the way you look. Your appearance spoke so powerfully that I was able to hear your heart loud and clear. The movements of your luscious lips were too deafening to decipher the vocalizations vibrating through your voice. Your smile screams, sincerity, serenity, and significance as if it's creator molded it some meticulously, making it a perfect paradigm of art.
Speaker 8 00:28:00 Your eyes whisper happiness, shining like stars used as directions for travel, leading the loss toward love. I felt as if I was abroad alone on an adventure, searching for someone similar when you somehow were fluent in the language of my soul. Your beauty radiated with the energy of a spring sunshine melting away, the cold of winter. Soul alluring and captivating, capturing all of my attention. I was taken back to a younger me to elementary, the teacher was speaking, but your beauty was the clock. All I could focus on was the sound of the seconds ticking away until class was dismissed. I know love is patient, but you've made me anxious with all the turmoil in my life. Your beauty was the break I needed. You felt like recess. And as I sit thinking about how the rest of your attributes may sound, it's the same as me daydreaming in class about playing on the playground. It took me so many years to learn how to function on my own without needing a single soul beside me. Years of breaking down and rebuilding myself until I was stronger than I was before. I was alone for so long. I was used to only need myself,
Speaker 8 00:29:48 But you changed me. It all happened so fast than before I knew it. I was an entirely different person. You changed me. I became so full of optimism, happiness, hope, love. And now, I don't know if you changed me for better hope it works. See, I used to be numb. I remember I was at a point where nothing could hurt me anymore. But then again, nothing could really make me feel love either. And I can't help but think that the me that I used to be would've been able to brush all this off. But the me that you turned me into simply can't function without you. And it's funny because you would always tell me I was on my phone too much, but that's all I was used to having before you came into my life. And now I don't even want to pick it up. Now I have it on do not disturb. And it's not because I don't want to be bothered, but because it bothers me. Knowing you won't be the reason for any of my notifications anymore. And just like that, it's back to being alone. I think some hearts are just meant to be broken.
Speaker 8 00:31:43 When I love, I love hard, I love fully, I love wholeheartedly. I love with every ounce of my being. I'll put someone before me, over me and in front of me. Any chance I get their happiness becomes my priority. My heart is too selfless. It will give away every single drop of blood it had, if that's what they needed. And I guess in a way, all I want is to feel that energy reciprocated. But then isn't it selfish to expect someone to do the same for you, you to love? And beloved in return is all I ask. But the way that I love, maybe I'm asking too much.
Speaker 8 00:33:06 Sorry, man. There you have it. Uh, again, that was me, Brandon Lee Tek, uh, one of your co-hosts here on Views From the Ground, um, playing some of my work this month. I will get a little bit more and next month or next week as well. My apologies. Uh, next week we'll be listening to some more, um, ending the month off with some, uh, uh, something special. So stay tuned, um, for the rest of February. Uh, big shout out to dj Big shout out to Nerd d. Uh, big shout out to K F A I, uh, appreciate you all and happy birthday to me tomorrow. 26 years old, if you can believe it. Your boy is getting old man. Dang. Near 30. Dang near 40. Dang near 50. I feel like I'm grown. My knees, my knee <laugh> my knees, man, they up there. So <laugh>. Now I'm just playing with y'all. But thank you. Appreciate y'all for tuning in
Speaker 0 00:33:57 <laugh>.
Speaker 6 00:33:59 Yep. Just wanted to say happy birthday to Brandon. Yeah. Um, and his
Speaker 4 00:34:03 Old ass knees.
Speaker 6 00:34:05 Yep. Uh, <laugh> and yeah. Um, I just really appreciate everything he contributes to the show. And also just like, you know, him just being a great friend too, you know. So, uh, happy birthday, shout out to him. So, and, and we got to do my, um, favorite poem Do Not Disturb. That was like, um, the third poem we play today. Uh, it was my favorite personally. Um, so yeah, with that, we're gonna move straight on to the nerdy segment. So, uh, take it away. Nerdy.
Speaker 4 00:34:39 Hello my guys gal and non-binary pals. It's Your Boy Nerdy Back again with another episode of The Artist Spotlight. I hope you had a lovely Valentine's Day. I hope you enjoyed it with your special somebody, ya boo the boo thing, the bay, whoever it is, because we are back again with another time to highlight and give our flowers. You see what I did there to our amazing Minnesota music artist and this month we're talking all about sj, the Afrocentric Ratt. If you haven't taken the time to listen to SJ outside of this program, let me tell you, you aren't missing out. She has an amazing catalog of music, all of which highlights so many awesome things. And one of the things I think is really fantastic, it is her ability to convey sensuality in such an interesting and unconventional way. This next song for all of yours enjoyment is called Print Poke.
Speaker 11 00:36:01 What's real? I need to know where it fell like baby, make it Baby. Make it where you make it Pop. Make it Maybe baby I Yeah. Stuck in your page. Stuck in your page. I'm in the babe, I'm in the matrix. I'm in engagement. I'm just trying to, I like song up Ride home. That piano on that her with your gas. I wasn't feeling the fact that you got then I said, got all my feelings and got on my bull. Reaching your Ds. You know, I got poor. I see. I know that they full, they in love. No, I don't usually share. I'm thinking about cuffing your chick.
Speaker 12 00:38:06 Ima pull up Poppy. What? Something like that. Lemme hear that.
Speaker 13 00:38:12 Programming support on K ffe. I is brought to you by Ramsey County Workforce Solutions. Build your future Land a union job, setting up some of Minnesota's largest events. Join us Saturday, March 25th for a training day, featuring on the spot hiring free tools of voucher for work. Boots free lunch. A gift card for completing the training and more. No registration is required. Bring your hiring documents and a schedule of your availability and trade up to a union job. Learn more at Ramsey County us slash trade up. This opportunity is funded through the American Rescue Plan Act.
Speaker 14 00:38:54 Afro cursory, the Grio series returns to the Cedar Cultural Center. Monday, February 20th. 20th. February's Grio series features. Alicia Steele Tierra, also body prayers artist Deja Joel, our storyteller, brother Ashay. Yvette Gria, gray Spoon and Theory Handmade uca Mama, the Horny Human. And more. Don't miss the February 20th Grio series at the Cedar Cultural Center. That's t h e c e d a r dot o r g, the Grio series, Afro Futuristic, her history at the Cedar Cultural Center. Monday, February 20th at 7:00 PM
Speaker 6 00:40:19 All right, welcome back to Views From the Ground. Views from the Damn Ground. So just wanna give a shout out to, um, nerdy. Uh, really appreciate it. Um, uh, nerdy also just dropped a new single crush. It's a great song. So, um, yeah, we might get to play it sometime this month. With that being said, um, um, tonight's guest, we, we have, um, Simeon and Young Ego, um, which are gonna come and talk about the People Council and kind of like the raids that the city has been doing the last couple of weeks. So welcome to the show.
Speaker 16 00:40:59 How you doing?
Speaker 6 00:41:01 Yeah. Uh, go ahead and introduce yourself. Uh, what's your names? Yep. Uh, what's your pronouns? Yep.
Speaker 16 00:41:06 I'm Young Eagle. Um, I identify as they them, she herp please. Um, and, uh, that's kind of been a newer thing for me over the past year and a half or whatever. And, uh, that's been interesting ride.
Speaker 17 00:41:18 Yep. And my name is Simeon, uh, they, them pronouns.
Speaker 6 00:41:21 Yay. Yeah. Embi gang in the house. That's right. We are Legian. Truly <laugh>. Yeah. So, so yeah, <laugh>. So, yeah. Um, go ahead. And kinda let's start with, um, the encampment, um, raids that have been happening around the city. We've seen, uh, pickup in the number that the city has been doing in the last couple of weeks. Uh, we know they've been doing it all winter and they've been targeting a lot of the bigger camps. Uh, but the last couple of weeks we've just seen like a flurry. Like we've seen like, what, like six or seven, um, raids, which almost, you know, just in the past week. Yeah. Just in the last like week, week and a half, like near, you know, nearly doubling them out for the whole winter. So like, tell us about, um, those
Speaker 16 00:42:14 Okay, well, I mean, starting off or whatever with the raid at 2 0 6 Northard or whatever, where the police showed up with the militarized tank with an L ride on top of it, um, showed up with like multiple, like tons of police and like light riot tactical gear and established five checkpoints in the blocks around it, which seems completely unnecessary for a simple like, homeless camp eviction or whatever and stuff like that. And on that same day, there was multiple other camps that were swept, um, as well as like, uh, a halfway house that was given very little notice for people who were recently incarcerated, displacing an additional 70 some people or whatever for a total of like, somewhere between 102 hundred people displaced on the displaced on the same day. I believe there was 11 shelter beds available on the specific day that that happened.
Speaker 16 00:43:02 And that's where things started to amplify, like, as far as I can like identify. Recently since then, we've seen wave after wave of like, people call them sweeps. I don't really like using that word. It's a brutal eviction. It's police brutality. Um, and so we've been seeing like this amplification that's been happening steadily since then. And you know, like a lot of it has to just do with the politics of control as far as I'm concerned. And like, also just like carceral apparatuses, which are a continuation of slavery, which is where the carceral state and all of this police stuff sort of comes from to begin with.
Speaker 17 00:43:41 Yeah. And that sweep that they were mentioning, um, was back in October. Um, and shortly afterwards, um, because of the, the kind of collective outrage that a lot of us were feeling in response to that escalation of violence, um, with three attacks on encampments in one day, as well as that halfway house. Um, well, yeah, mostly, mostly black fathers formerly incarcerated were in recovery or, you know, paths to, you know, quote unquote getting back into society kind of thing. Um, just pulling the rug out from them as well. Um, a lot of the outrage that we were collectively feeling kind of resulted in people, um, coming together around an action that, um, was held at City Hall. There was an encampment. We set up some tents, and over the next few days, a bunch of people started. Um, a lot of the unhoused people that had been displaced from the various camps came and, um, set up, set up camp there.
Speaker 17 00:44:38 Basically, we held a massive supply drive, um, and then we had, you know, constant delivery of, of the most basic necessities that people needed, most of which, you know, a lot of which people needed because it had just recently been destroyed, burned, um, or thrown dumpsters, um, by the police and the city workers, um, at the encampments that they were evicted from. So that started off kind of, um, in, in response to the escalation of violence from the city. The people also escalated our, um, standing up and fighting back. Um, and it's kind of led to, um, some, a direct kind of a, uh, I don't know, pro project experiment of sorts, um, that we've been involved in with several other people as well, um, called The People's Council. Um, this Sunday we'll be having our third one, and it's essentially a, a space to amplify and platform, um, unhoused and marginalized voices, um, as well as to like model, um, the idea of a neighborhood council, um, as a primary form of, of, of people power and community-based self-governance. Um, which is extremely important for, you know, for the success of, um, any empire in decline. <laugh>, as far as I know. <laugh>.
Speaker 6 00:45:52 Yeah. And, and, and, and, and tell us like why you feel like this is how this became an ideal. Like, like, like tell, like walk us through that. Like what came to the point where people felt like we deeded a people's council. There was a, there was a lot of supply drives that were happening outside of City Hall and mayor and Mayor Fry's house. And how did that, um, that type of organizing lead us to the, the People's Council?
Speaker 17 00:46:24 Yeah. So it was, it was kind of a direct response, or at least the idea came out of a direct response of the frustration that a lot of us were feeling being turned away by city council and our elected officials. Um, several meetings, several city council meetings and public hearings. Um, a a lot of us went to, um, in the days following that three sweep day, um, in October, um, to express our outrage and to, to come to our elected officials who are supposed to represent the people and say, y'all aren't representing the people. This is violent, this is destructive, this is lethal. Um, and time and time again, we were turned away in some form with multiple times city council members literally standing up and walking out of the room while unhoused people were talking. Um, and it was, yeah, it was a disgusting display of, of ignorance, of othering state violence.
Speaker 17 00:47:20 Um, and so kind of the, kind of the, the sentiment was like, well, screw it. If they're not gonna listen to us and the mayor refuses to respond to anybody or take any action, we're just gonna make our own town hall, our own city council. It's gonna be run by the people, for the people, every one person one vote. Um, and we're going to center the voices that need to be centered right now, cuz that that wasn't happening, in fact, quite the opposite. They were getting silenced, marginalized, and shut down at every corner. So it was an opportunity to change the narrative and to present an alternative where, um, our established representatives and and govern government structures were failing.
Speaker 7 00:48:02 Can I ask, like, um, what are the, the demands that the, that the council is bringing forward just for people that haven't seen that on social media?
Speaker 16 00:48:12 Oh, for people's council? Yeah.
Speaker 16 00:48:15 Well, I mean, first of all, um, we wanna see our neighbors housed. Um, the people, um, meaning the citizens of the Minneapolis St. Paul and surrounding communities have been working double, triple overtime to do the job that essentially the state should be doing mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, that the city has failed to do that. The county has failed to do that. Um, the federal government has failed to do. And additionally, like if you look at what's happening like, you know, nationwide, if you still believe in this illegal nation state, and if you look at what's sort of happening in the illegal Canadian occupation or whatever as well, these same things are happening nonstop. And it's a part of the private prison industrial complex, and it's lobbying and stuff like that. They want to criminalize on housed people and push them in the carceral solutions, whether it's pushing 'em in the carceral mental health services or pushing 'em into other sort of like carceral systems and stuff like that.
Speaker 16 00:49:09 Which again, I wanna stress as a continuation of the slave state, which, you know, which is why, like really what we're talking about with People's Council is a sort of beginning as sort of like taking some baby steps towards engaging in the revolutionary abolitionist movement, um, which has a pretty clear platform or whatever, um, building the Underground Railroad, um, an anti carceral railroad, um, building, like the Neighborhood council has a unit of self-governance. Um, we govern ourselves, oto, nomos, self-govern, and um, basically they're just like, you know, if you're gonna be nice agency and authority over our own city that we all grew up in together and just sell us out because you wanna gentrify everything which is happening from city to city, everybody points the finger. Nobody wants to fucking actually take resp, sorry, swore nobody wants to take responsibility for that or whatever.
Speaker 16 00:50:04 Um, and, uh, just, uh, you know, like that the, the demands would just be like, first of all, like, how's, how's our homies? Mm-hmm. <affirmative> like, how's our homies? Like, how's our street famer? Or whatever. Just like you wanna start talking about like services and stuff like that, like the services that you try to access to Hennepin County, like, you know, Hennepin Health are, it's ridiculous. Like, and if you have a brain that's scrambled up from years of living on the streets and not having proper nutrition or proper care or proper love in your life, how are you supposed to navigate those services easily, even with the workers? So just, but the primary concern would be to house our homies in a non carceral way mm-hmm. <affirmative> without making demands on sobriety or anything like that. And to simply start taking care of the people, which is what the state is supposed to do. Yeah.
Speaker 17 00:50:53 And, and I'd add to that, to take care of the people on the people's terms as the people need that care. Something that's been really important for me as a housed ally, if you wanna call me that, like coming into spaces where I'm interacting with unhoused, people who've had a very different experience day-to-day experience, um, sometimes for very long periods of time, it's been really important for me to check my assumptions, my privilege, and to realize that I might have an idea of what would be helpful to people, whether it's like material needs or, you know, organizing stuff like kind of on the political level or social level. But that doesn't, that often doesn't line up with what people actually need and want. Um, and even stuff as simple as like, um, crunchy versus soft granola bars, you know, like that's one of the, that's one of the main points of feedback that we got from the first people's council is like, y'all really appreciate these care packages and stuff, but please no more crunchy, good old bars when it's the middle of winter. That shit sucks. Excuse me. Um, and so taking, taking listening, you know, truly listening to people and letting them tell you what their liberation looks like, rather than you coming in and trying to assume that you have the solutions has been a really important part of this. And, and it's kind of at the heart of the, the spirit of the People's Council.
Speaker 6 00:52:08 Yes. And, um, I just want to let people know, um, this is dj. Um, we are on Views on the Ground.
Speaker 17 00:52:15 He's from the damn ground.
Speaker 6 00:52:17 And, um, we are out here talking about the Minneapolis People Council and Supply Drive, which is gonna be on February 19th, it's coming up Sunday, um, from two to 5:00 PM at 4,200 Cedar Avenue, uh, in Minneapolis. So we're talking about that, and I just, I, I just wanna know, um, so is this, uh, the People's Council, is this something that is being run by, uh, unhoused people? Is this something that is actually taking their feedback, feedback into consideration? Or like who's helping like actually run these supply drivers?
Speaker 16 00:52:53 It's a combination of different factors. Um, so we're pulling in people, um, who are unhoused and we're trying to help them, like, you know, like spread their voice and to encourage them to use their voice to speak up for themselves, not just to help people, but to help people help themselves, which is really what Anarchy seeks to do. And like, with, to be quite clear about this or whatever, this is essentially an anarchist project, although we work with people from different orgs and all sorts of other things like that, that are part of non anarchist things and you know, church groups and things like that. Hey, if you're helping people out, you're helping people out, you're our friends. Cool. You know what I mean? You don't have to participate in that. Yeah. But, but to just, just to be kind of clear on that.
Speaker 6 00:53:36 Yeah. And, and I just wanna say when you say like, this is an anarchy, um, project, like, um, that goes back to kind of what we were talking about earlier in the show where we're talking about building structures outside of the system that currently shows that it does not value black, indigenous, queer unhoused people's lives. And, um, a way of like actually changing people's like immediate needs and getting them what they need. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And, uh, I think that's like, uh, really important. And so with, with all of that being, uh, said, um, what, what can people expect when they show up, um, to the People's Council? I know there's a supply drive where people are being asked to drop off things. What are people being asked to drop off? And then also, what kind of stuff do y'all cover in the meetings?
Speaker 17 00:54:27 Um, so right now the, the list of the most urgent needs is kind of the same as it's been in the past. Um, which is, um, number one, portable heaters and propane, um, that's most unhoused folks. Number one concern is just staying warm, making it through the night in cold temperatures and recently like wet, uh, weather. So yeah, heaters and propane that you can, you can pick up from any hardware store, home Depot and stuff like that. Um, and the little green propane tanks as well as the full size propane tanks are both useful. Um, warm winter clothes, like hats, gloves, scarves, preferably, you know, water resistant weatherproof, um, wool socks, clean, dry, warm wool, socks, uh, tents, tarps especially, um, and sleeping bags. Those are kind of the main things that are most commonly needed right now. You got anything to add to that?
Speaker 16 00:55:17 Um, well, I would say, what can you expect, or whatever you can expect, a warm welcome. Um, we try to make it friendly and make it welcoming to everybody. Um, whether you're just part of the community, again, this is kind of a prototype for building like neighborhood councils and things of that nature, like to build units of self-governance and just deciding like, how do is we, how are we as a community going to interact with each other and do something about the problems that are happening around us? Because clearly the state is not going to take care of these things for us, and a corporation certainly has not been able to find profit in it, um, other than putting us in prisons, they're killing us. So you can expect a warm welcome and, uh, a friendly vibe. And, you know, we, we've been starting the breakout in the small groups and things like that. So like people show up and they're just like, Hey, I'm just checking this out. And we'd like, by the end of it, instead of just be like, I'm checking this out to being, like becoming, I'm a part of something, I'm a part of what's happening here or whatever. Like it's not, instead of just like I walked in, we've now become, we
Speaker 17 00:56:21 And, uh, the, at the last people's council, um, those breakout groups, kind of whatever, whatever you want to call them, um, we, we kind of just had everybody split up into groups between like five and 10 people in size. Um, and made sure that there was at least one unhoused person, um, in each group. And the goal of those groups last, last people's council was to, um, to come up with the ultimate supply drop list of, because there's a lot of like organizations, families, uh, you know, church groups, school projects, stuff like that, that go to encampments or drive around and, and deliver to unhoused people, you know, little care packages, bags with, you know, a sandwich and some basic necessities inside of it. Um, but a lot of times those necessities are really like, well intended but, but useless and, and pointless, like, you know, um, canned food without a can opener.
Speaker 17 00:57:11 Yeah. And, and, and a dry pack of ramen when like, a lot of people living in tents don't have the ability to like boil water and make soup. So, um, it was, it was an idea that one of the unhoused people that's been involved in organizing stuff brought up, and so we broke out into those groups and just made this huge list of like, the most useful stuff for winter. Um, and so at, at the next people's council, we'd like to kind of, uh, repeat that and have something that's, that's actionable. You know, like, what can we produce here collectively? Um, not just like ideologically building community and power, but like, let's, let's make something like some material difference that we can walk away with this having put out into the world. So yeah, that's kinda the goal of those. And then the, the first bit of the people's Council is usually just an open space for any unhoused folks to, to, to share their story, to say who they are, to express rage, anger, um, talk about their experience, um, and whatever they want to see or hear from the people that are there trying to support them.
Speaker 6 00:58:07 Yeah. And, and, and, uh, I really appreciate that. And I just, I just wanna say, I've been talking a lot, um, with my friend and we, we've been talking a lot about the, you know, winning, um, fights and battles, but also like the way you win those fights and battles and how that's also important on raising like consciousness among the people. And, and I think by building these structures outside of these terrible racist, um, you know, systems, um, problematic systems, it reminds people that, you know, the people who really have the power or the people and not these politicians out here. So, and, and I think that is really highlighting this and uh, appreciate that. With that being said, um, I really appreciate you Young Eagle and Simeon for coming on to the show. Um, and with that, this has been your favorite agender host DJ on views from the grounds from the ground fuse from the ground, fuse from the damn ground fuse from the ground fuse from the damn ground. And that's on that, on that on
Speaker 18 00:59:17 Democracy capital. It's no democracy. I demand to return to my sovereignty. No apology, independence, autonomy, no need to mommy me. I could run my own country. If you could just stop bombing me, gimme my lamb back, gimme my gold back, my heritage, my birthright. You outright stole that. Organize, organize, organize. Do what? Wait. With all the lies. All the lies, all the lies. They come in with the act of the clock and the 45 in between the protests, we protest and r lawyers. Yes, we are the organized, organized what we would. All the lies. All the lies, all the lies they come in with the teargas blocks and 45 in between the protests we protest, and R lies.
