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Life & Culture

How a Biker Club Evolved Into Protest Marshals and Fundraisers

We recently talked to a few riders in a Twin Cities motorcycle club — including people named Barbie, Kassie, Bridget, Rachel, Amie, Marni, and Megan. The group is known as Bikers Riding Against Policy Brutality, and was formed to protect protestors after George Floyd was murdered by police in 2020. Today they are still engaged in marshaling at various marches, but also in fundraising and mutual aid efforts.
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Hegseth Made the Fitness Test Harder: Most Female Marines Are Passing

“I think [Hegseth's] mandate is based on the belief that women can’t meet men’s fitness standards within combat arms." According to Marine Corps data, 91.38 percent of women and 96.53 percent of men in combat arms who have taken the test since January have met or exceeded that threshold.
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Compulsory Safety, Continued: What Black Rural Families Are Building Now

School has begun in Minnesota. For many families, this is…
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Talk & Do: Mothers in Greater Minnesota Call for Anti-Racist Education and Accountability (Part 1)

Yes, kids will be kids, “until you teach a child what they can and cannot do, and then they're going to be a different kind of kid.” By humanizing school systems, kids can “show up as whole people, not scared, not timid, and not head on a swivel — learning is not taking place in those situations, when we're just trying to get through a day.”
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YOUTH: How Do We Apply Community to Housing Solutions?

"By 16, I was sleeping in my own truck. When I turned 18, I bounced between my car, my grandfather’s house, and unstable rentals."
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One Family’s Journey Into Building an Intentional Community

Twin Cities Family Cooperative uses consensus for decision-making, which is common in cohousing communities compared to more general cooperatives. Households own a share in the community rather than owning a unit. As such, they can move spaces as family needs change. Monthly operating dues are based on a percentage of the household’s income regardless of the space.
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ACTION: What You Can Do About Homelessness

Sindy Mau has been work with people experiencing homelessness for years. Here are her suggestions of how everyone — individuals, employers, landlords, and social service agents — can help resolve the housing crisis in small but big ways.
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A Conversation With Jewelean Jackson

"We have the resources to address it. What we lack is political will. Still, I believe in perseverance. I’ve seen legislation pass by a single vote. I’ve seen young people fight back against unfair housing practices and win. I’ve seen what happens when people refuse to give up. So, as long as I’m here, that’s exactly what I intend to do."
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FUTURE FORWARD: A Solution to Youth Homelessness 

As a member of the youth delegation connecting with legislators this year, we are recommending development of a pilot program to identify, renovate, and repurpose vacant buildings into affordable housing for youth, with dedicated funding allocated in the next state budget cycle.
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COMMENTARY: Compulsory Safety — What Black Rural Families Need

"The systemic failure at the heart of the issue: The lack of consideration for Black children in Minnesota's education system has produced generations of predictable and preventable harm."
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Third Act Turns Up the Heat on ICE Affiliations

“Turn Up the Heat: Melt the Companies That Profit from ICE and DHS” is a national boycott with a local chapter of Third Act — which was co-founded by climate activist Bill McKibben to mobilize people over age 60 through community organizing, digital communication, and targeted campaigns.
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What I Am Building For Homeless and At-Risk Teens, and Why

"Inspirations for Aspirations is my answer to the question that haunted me through foster care: Where do kids like me go when there's nowhere safe to land? Now I'm building that place — the sanctuary I needed, designed by someone who understands what these youth are surviving because I survived it too."
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Future Forward: How My Advocacy Work Began at Age 13

The spring of my eighth grade year, Roe v. Wade was overturned. Up to that point, I had not been involved in advocacy work nor had I paid close attention to politics. I organized a walkout that involved 500 students in our small community.
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From Malcolm X to ICE: Echoes from Earlier Generations on Resistance

Sagirah Shahid offers details of the histories that led up to this moment in Minnesota, centering the roots of the Black Muslim and Black power movements of the early 20th century — and a 1951 petition.
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ESSAY: Whistling with my Neighbors

From my distant — but not too distant perch — in Colorado, watching Minnesotans in action, I realize there is a bullheaded-ness to Minnesota Nice. Neighbors will bring you a tater tot hotdish, like it or not. In the face of adversity, I have watched the actions of Minnesotans who answer force with steadfastness, despite the dangers. 
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