St. Paul, MN – The Climate Justice Committee (CJC) and East Side Environmental Justice hosted a community meeting, March 15, in the Payne-Phalen neighborhood of Saint Paul, raising awareness among community members about the growing campaign against the Northern Iron foundry, a major polluter in the area.

Around 50 people were in attendance, including local residents, neighborhood activists, elected officials such as Saint Paul City Council Member Nelsie Yang and state House Representative Peter Fischer, and other concerned community members.

Neighbors near the foundry have been documenting dark soot on their windows, in their homes and on their cars. Testing confirmed the soot contained the same toxic compounds that can be found inside Northern Iron. Northern Iron has also been found in violation of their emissions permits by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), but it has refused to clean up its act, even taking the MPCA to court to avoid compliance with the agency’s enforcement action.

First, Mel Lorentz, an attorney and Payne-Phalen resident, talked through the details of Northern Iron’s operations and known pollution history, stating, “They’re taking in up to 30 tons per day of scrap metal, and up to 100,000 tons per year of silica sand, they pour molten metal into molds to make equipment for oil and gas drilling, agricultural equipment.”

Lorentz then offered a major update on the status of Northern Iron’s court battle with the MPCA, telling audience members that the agency recently sent Northern Iron a letter setting a deadline of March 27 to submit testing data and detailed plans for how they would get in compliance, or else face potentially having their permits revoked. Lorentz pointed out that this is a major escalation from the MPCA, calling out that “many people in this room know that this kind of thing almost never happens,” and that this was clearly the result of the community’s organizing efforts.

Next, a nursing and public health student, Candis Moore, offered a presentation on the adverse health effects that are commonly associated with the pollutants coming from Northern Iron, primarily lead and PM 2.5 (also known as fine particulate matter).

“Blood lead levels are important because it’s a neurotoxin, so when this is introduced to children, when their brains are growing very fast, it can actually impede that process. This can lead to problems in school, behavioral problems, and this is so important because these are foundational building blocks to kids leading fulfilling lives in their futures,” Moore said., She highlighted the fact that lead pollution is a common factor among many working-class cities and neighborhoods around the country that have high rates of school dropouts and crime among youth, such as many parts of Chicago and Detroit. During the Q&A, Moore underlined that “there is no safe level of lead in the body.”

The audience heard from Minneapolis-based community activist Joe Vital, who played an important role in winning the shutdown of Smith Foundry in East Phillips in 2024. Joe recounted the story of fighting for justice alongside the CJC and other allies in his own neighborhood, emphasizing the lesson that these fights require a diversity of tactics, such as call-ins, putting pressure on elected officials, and community rallies and protests. Vital put it succinctly: “It’s only when people get in the streets that things finally start to move.”

Finally, Britney Bruce, who lives right behind the foundry, shared her story of moving into the neighborhood with high hopes, only to have her dreams dashed when she learned her new home was right next to a major polluter.

“I spent many, many years saving up for my first home. I had plans of having a big backyard to host family barbecues, bonfires, have a garden, a place where my kids can run wild – a place that my boys could always call home,” she said. Bruce moved in almost exactly one year ago and quickly noticed that things were not right. “I noticed that no matter how much I cleaned my windowsills and baseboards, they were always covered in black dust. My oldest, who is diabetic, started having breathing problems. My middle child developed eczema all over his body. I went back to using an inhaler that I hadn’t used since high school.”

Bruce called for everyone in the room to stay in communication with one another, to spread awareness, and to continue to fight so that Northern Iron can’t pollute any longer. She concluded, “It’s easy to mute one voice, but it’s hard to mute many.”

The Climate Justice Committee is organizing a rally outside Northern Iron next week on March 22, and continues to build the struggle against urban pollution and environmental racism in the Twin Cities.

#StPaulMN #MN #Environment #CJC #TwinCities #ClimateJustice

Minneapolis, MN – In frigid weather, February 20, 50 people rallied with the Climate Justice Committee (CJC) to oppose Trump's attacks on the environment, along with the barrage of other attacks that have happened in the first month of Trump’s presidency. 

Speakers connected Trump's attacks on immigrants, trans rights, workers and Palestine to the rollback of environmental protections that Trump instituted in his first days in office.

Trump has used executive orders to push more fossil fuels and end the U.S. role in the Paris Climate Accords, ensuring that previously agreed upon goals to curb climate change won’t happen. The CJC speaker emphasized how every tenth of a percent of rising temperatures mean more intense weather, food scarcity and increasing energy costs that fall disproportionately on oppressed nationality and working class families and their communities. They also talked about the lack of action by Democrats like Senator Klobuchar, whose office the rally was in front of.

Rally goers chanted, “Stand up fight back” as the emcee rotated the attacks on immigrants, trans rights, Palestine, and workers that are happening from Trump and his cronies. 

Kristen Bledsoe from Minnesota Abortion Action Committee talked about the heart wrenching case of Sam Nordquist, a Minnesota native who had recently been tortured and killed in New York as a logical conclusion of the transphobic rhetoric coming from the Trump administration. 

Bledsoe ended her speech with, “We have to resist the impulse to shut down and hide. We have to recognize that the cruelty and the chaos of the Trump administration is meant to make us lose focus, and we have to counter that by being more strategic, more united, and more organized than ever before.” 

“Trump’s attacks on DEI show the white supremacist mindset, trying to kill anything that would make this country more equal for those who have been left out for centuries,” stated Minnesota Workers United speaker Neil Radford. Radford called on rally goers to focus on solidarity of the working class that needs to stand together and not allow Trump and his ilk to divide us. 

Mira Altobell-Resendez from the Minnesota Immigrant Action Committee talked about the important work MIRAC is doing using Know Your Rights trainings with immigrant communities and allies to stand against ICE and governmental agencies. 

Trent Fast from the Minnesota Anti-War Committee made a clear case, “We need to be mad as hell at Donald Trump and his attacks on everyday working people here at home - and those in Palestine. We all have more in common with everyday Palestinians than we ever will with people like Donald Trump. Solidarity across movements is our sharpest weapon against his presidency. Because when we stand together, there's way more of us than there are of them!”

All of the speakers emphasized the importance of getting involved and building solidarity among the people’s movements to stand against the Trump attacks over the next four years and beyond.

#MinneapolisMN #TwinCities #CJC #ClimateJustice #MNAWC #AWC #ICE #MIRAC #Immigration #NoDeportations #DEI

Minneapolis, MN – For the seventh year running, community members disrupted the Twin Cities Pride parade, June 30, to protest the inclusion of cops and corporations. Their inclusion comes at the expense of queer community members who want the event to honor the spirit of radical resistance Pride came out of and to continue the fight for LGBTQ liberation. This year, more than 1000 protesters marched with the Taking Back Pride Coalition for not only LGBTQ liberation, but especially for Palestinian liberation.

TC Pride is one of the largest such events in the country, drawing hundreds of thousands of people. Taking Back Pride, a coalition initiated by Twin Cities Coalition for Justice (TCC4J), took the street in protest ahead of the corporate-sponsored parade.

The first Taking Back Pride protest focused on demanding an end to police presence in the parade and the festival, but organizers soon expanded their demands to address Pride’s failure to address the needs of Black, brown and indigenous community members, especially trans folks. They have long called on Pride to break ties with the corporations that dominate the parade and festival.

As TCC4J organizer Loretta VanPelt put it, “These corporations funnel millions of dollars into conservative campaigns and laws, they pollute the planet, they support war and genocide. Then once a year they throw a rainbow on their logo and think we’ll just forget all that. But we remember and we want to remind people that our rights as LGBT people are far from secure and that these corporations only care about us when we’re profitable.”

The first Pride march was held in New York City in 1970, marking one year after the Stonewall rebellion, when LGBTQ folks fought back against a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar. The confrontation lasted five nights where, with bricks and molotov cocktails, the community fought back against police terror. This was the time when the LGBTQ liberation made strong connections to other movements, from the Black liberation movement to the movement to end U.S. war in Vietnam. Cities across the country continue to celebrate Pride, but most of these events, including in Minneapolis, have devolved to a party for tourists instead of a political event commemorating the Stonewall uprising against police brutality.

Hundreds of anti-trans bills are set to pass in the next year. Black and brown people continue to be brutalized and killed by police. 40,000 Palestinians have been murdered since October 7. Taking Back Pride Coalition organizers say TC Pride is complicit in these injustices, through silence, inaction and even making space for the FBI, the National Guard, and weapons manufacturers to participate.

A statement by organizers said, “We refuse to allow this disgusting pinkwashing of genocide to continue unchallenged. We march for a free Palestine and an end to all imperialist occupations, for substantive accountability for those impacted by police brutality through community control, for our queer and trans siblings who have been stolen by violence, and for true queer liberation. We march to honor the legacy of Black and brown trans women and nonbinary people who fought for the rights and acceptance of all LGBTQ people.”

Led by Bikers Riding Against Police Brutality (BRAPB), a social justice motorcycle group, and Fury du Nord – a queer and trans motorcycle riding club, protesters marched the same route as the corporate parade, to the beat of the Yalla Drum group and the Unlawful Assembly Marching Band. The corporate parade was delayed, as protesters stopped every few blocks for speakers and performance. One powerful stop was a die-in, where the names of trans people killed in the last year were read aloud. Parade organizers and security complained about delays, but most onlookers were supportive, joining in many of the chants. Some even left the sidelines and joined the march.

The protest ended with multiple actions inside the massive Pride festival at Loring Park. First, protesters took over the Stonewall Stage. Organizer Jae Yates explained the reason for the protest, and then Levi Lake spoke in tribute to Liara Tsai, a trans DJ who was killed just the week before.

Smaller groups broke off to disrupt problematic festival vendors. The FBI and the National Guard both had booths, aiming to recruit from the LGBTQ community. Protesters blocked their booths with massive banners and addressed the crowds of people about their role in oppressing people’s movements at home and abroad. Another group disrupted the Target corporation photobooth, by displaying images of Palestinian martyrs as a protest of the U.S.-backed genocide.

In addition to TCC4J, the Taking Back Pride Coalition includes Anti War Committee MN, Bikers Riding Against Police Brutality, Climate Justice Committee, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, MN Abortion Action Committee, MN Immigrant Rights Action Committee, MN Workers United, People’s Pride, UMN Students for a Democratic Society, Unlawful Assembly Marching Band, and Women Against Military Madness.

#MinneapolisMN #TakingBackPride #TCC4J #WAMM #AntiWarCommitteeMN #Pride #LGBTQLiberation #StandUpFightBack #FreePalestine #MIRAC #SDS #UMNSDS #TwinCitiesPride #TwinCities #Stonewall

St. Paul, MN – On February 18, 1000 protesters marched in Saint Paul’s upscale Summit Hill neighborhood to protest Israel’s assault on the city of Rafah, the last zone of relative safety for Palestinians in Gaza.

The action was organized by the Free Palestine Coalition which comprises dozens of Twin Cities progressive and solidarity organizations.

Around 1.4 million Palestinians, over half of the Gazan population, are estimated to have been displaced to the enclave’s southernmost city of Rafah, after Israel declared it a “safe zone” early in its invasion of Gaza. Most are living in tents and overcrowded shelters in what health organizations have repeatedly characterized as a humanitarian catastrophe.

On February 10, Israel carried out airstrikes and raids in Rafah that left dozens of civilians dead. The attacks followed the declaration by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that a ground invasion of Rafah would go ahead. The United Nations has stated that such an invasion would amount to a “disaster beyond imagination.”

Lina Jebara, a member of the MN Anti-War Committee, participated in the protest, and felt moved to come out, “Even if the state of Minnesota was not investing hundreds of millions of dollars into entities that have been profiting off of Israel’s genocidal campaign, our politicians and our news cycles that have continued to make excuses for the slaughtering of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians, even after ‘following the rules’ and ‘heeding the warnings’ of their colonizers, Palestinians are still being executed en masse in their only remaining ‘safe’ zone. While the ongoing genocide is kept afloat with the help of our local resources, we have an obligation to stand up and fight for Palestinian lives.”

The Free Palestine Coalition has been campaigning for the Saint Paul city council to pass a ceasefire resolution, following the passage of resolutions in Minneapolis and Hastings, and progress towards one in Columbia Heights.

Dr. Sima Shakhsari, a Saint Paul resident and founder of Faculty, Librarians, Alumni, Graduate Students, & Staff for Justice in Palestine (FLAGS-JP) at the University of Minnesota, was the closing speaker at the march, stating, “And to those who are not bothered by this genocide, even when we bring it home and say ‘imagine if this was happening in your town,’ to those council members who say this is not a local issue, this is what I have to say to you: I am a Saint Paul resident. Hear me out! It can’t be any more local when several homeless shelters in Saint Paul have been closed in the last couple of years and when Saint Paul has the highest poverty rate in Minnesota, but our tax money is going to support this genocide.”

The Free Palestine Coalition is planning on packing the Saint Paul City Council meeting again on February 21.

#StPaulMN #TwinCities #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #MNFreePalestineCoalition #MNAWC #Feature

Saint Paul, MN – On November 19, the MN Anti-War Committee held a rally on the Lake Street/Marshall Avenue bridge over the Mississippi River that was attended by over 3000 Minnesotans. After an hour of holding signs and chanting on both sides of the bridge, the protest marched to Minnesota Governor Walz’ Eastcliff Mansion in Saint Paul to interrupt his Sunday football viewing and demand that he divest Minnesota from apartheid Israel.

Skyler Dorr, a clerical worker at the University of Minnesota and a member of AFSCME 3800, spoke about the Minnesota State Board of Investment’s (SBI) role in investing public worker pensions in companies complicit in the occupation of Palestine. They specifically mentioned Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons company, and Caterpillar, the ubiquitous construction equipment company.

Dorr stated, “There is blood on the hands of not only these companies, but also Governor Tim Walz and his SBI for continuing to invest in these companies, and yet when we cry out for I