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 Israeli bombs to stop for good, when we demand an end to the brutal, unjustified occupation, we're called antisemites. As a Jewish person myself I'm proud of the long history of my people fighting back against oppression. History rightfully praises the uprisings of the Warsaw Ghetto and the concentration camps of Treblinka, Sobibor, Buchenwald and others – history will also praise the Palestinian resistance against occupation!”

Drake Myers, a member of the MN Anti-War Committee and an associate educator in the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers and Education Support Professionals Local 59, spoke about a Palestine solidarity resolution that the membership voted to pass. “We don't want to teach our kids that genocide is okay, and we don't want teachers fired for speaking out against Israel. This resolution has gotten national coverage for showing that working people in America don’t support this genocide. It acknowledges that the American government has picked the wrong side of history yet again!”

Myers also spoke about the attacks on MFT 59 after the publication of the resolution: “After posting the resolution the union has been attacked by right wingers, Zionists, who called the union antisemitic, terrorist supporters, and Jewish members who supported the resolution were told multiple times that they weren’t real Jews. As working-class educators, we are under no obligation to support racists or make space for racists or to support racist apartheids. Very much the opposite.”

Miguel Hernandez of the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee was the final speaker, discussing his time in various people’s movements and the group’s recent delegation to the U.S./Mexico border. “I got the privilege to go to the border wall and see what oppression my family, my lineage, had to go through. It's hard to put it into words, to see the trauma that has stayed with generations here in the U.S. and just see that wall built. I saw these gray towers surveilling every inch of that wall, and you knew you were being watched. And those towers are made by an Israeli company called Elbit Systems.”

Hernandez concluded his speech: “Every revolution that has happened has had just as much intelligence, creativity, and power as we do here now. We can do this together. Just take a look at each other. This is what it looks like. These are the faces, the people who will stick with you, the same way people did in the Civil Rights struggle, the Chicano movement, the labor rights movement, all those movements.”

Other speakers at the protest included Donia Abu from Students for Justice in Palestine and Erin Gable from the Anti-War Committee. Protesters were encouraged to keep showing up, especially to the SBI’s next meeting on November 29, with Gable noting how direct actions like these got Minnesota Congresswoman Betty McCollum to join on to congressional calls for President Biden to facilitate a ceasefire.

#StPaulMN #FreePalestine #SJP #UMN #TwinCities #MNAWC

Minneapolis, MN – On November 18, three University of Minnesota Twin Cities student organizations; (Students for a Democratic Society, Young Democratic Socialists of America, and Students for Justice in Palestine) held a rally and march starting in front of the Humphrey School of Public affairs on UMN campus.

This protest marked the end of the sixth week of Israel’s bombardment campaign against Gaza, and anger at the University of Minnesota’s unwillingness to denounce Israel’s ongoing war crimes in Gaza. Demands were directed at Jeff Ettinger in particular, the current interim president of the UMN, after he made a university-wide statement on October 11 condemning the “abhorrent acts committed by Hamas” without any reference to the ongoing Israeli occupation or acknowledging Israel’s war crimes and subjugation of the Palestinian people.

Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) member Amira Ahmed had this to say on Ettinger’s statement, “Do you, Jeff Ettinger, not see that in your silence, you are allowing the justification of terrorist acts committed by the IDF?” Ahmed went on to criticize Ettinger for refusing to acknowledge Israel’s bombing of hospitals and schools across Gaza and “failing to include historical significance, perpetuating a one sided agenda against the Palestinian people.”

U.S. divestment from Israel was highlighted as a step for Palestinian liberation by several speakers during the event. Emily Chu from Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) said, “Israel cannot stand on its own without substantial financial and military support from the U.S.” Tracy Molm from Freedom Road Socialist Organization spoke further on this topic: “We must stand with Palestine and say no more to our hard-earned money, our tax dollars that we work for day in and day out at shitty jobs with no healthcare, no food or housing security, huge amounts of student debt; paying for the genocide of Palestinians.”

Molm also spoke about her visit to Gaza in 2004 and connected the Palestinian right to rebel to the struggle against police brutality in America. “Just like in 2020 when millions in the U.S. and across the world stood for justice for George Floyd, said no more to the unjust and cruel murder of Black people, we had a right to rebel against the oppression that the U.S. imposes on Black people and other oppressed nationalities in this country. The Palestinian people have a legal and moral right to rebel against the Israeli occupation forces, and a right to their land.”

After the first half of speakers, a contingent of roughly 300 students marched from the Humphrey building to Amy Klobuchar’s office. While marching, several bystanders and families from the residential Cedar Riverside neighborhood, through which the march route traversed, ran up to join in the chanting and marching.

After arriving at Klobuchar’s office, the speaker program resumed with Maysoon Pali from Americans for Muslim in Palestine (AMP), who highlighted some of the IDF’s most recent attempts at social media, particularly their now-deleted Twitter post claiming that a calendar they found in the basement of al-Shifa hospital was actually a list of Hamas actions. She continued to speak about how the tide is turning in favor of Palestine on social media stating, “Israel and the U.S. are terrified of this new tide on social media for exposing their lies. More people than ever now are seeing the truth about the real victims of this conflict, and it is up to us to keep pushing the truth to the front. Even just one more person who becomes educated on the conflict can become a wave of truth that spreads to other people, and it is through spreading the truth that we will free Palestine!”

Matt Steitz, speaking on behalf of Young Democratic Socialists of America, emphasized the importance of not staying neutral in times of global crises. “Today, those who do not stand up and proclaim that they support the liberation of the Palestinian people are not just giving in to the status quo. They are complicit in genocide!”

Other speakers at the protest included Sasmit Rahman from SDS and Erin Gable from the Anti-War Committee, who both spoke on the importance of continued protesting and not relenting until the demands for permanent divestment from Israel and the liberation of Palestine are met.

#MinneapolisMN #TwinCities #SDS #FreePalestine #Klobuchar #SJP #UMN

 St Paul, MN – 100 people rallied at the weekly Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) bannering at rush hour at the intersection of Snelling and Summit Avenues, November 17. People gathered to show their outrage of against the Israeli bombings on children, hospitals, homes and schools.

They chanted, “Hey Biden what do you say, how many kids did you kill today?” “Netanyahu you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide” and “Not another nickel not another dime, no more money for Israel’s war crimes.” They held signs and banners calling for an “End to U.S. aid to Israel,” to “Free Palestine” and “To Let Gaza live.” The response from motorists passing by continued to be unanimously positive and loud.

Penny Gardner, a member of WAMM and a retired nurse, spoke to the crowd. She said that she couldn’t possibly imagine what the nurses are going through to take care of the injured people in Gaza today. She read an article written by a Gazan nurse working at Al Shifa Hospital. The letter stated, “24 hours a day, every hour, every minute we receive injured patients. Hundreds every day. Their injuries are horrific and devastating. We don’t have enough supplies, enough gauze, enough medicines, enough pain killers. 2000 people are on the waiting list for emergency surgeries. It’s a health catastrophe. It’s overwhelming but we keep going.”

Erin Gable, member of the MN Anti-War Committee, talked of being welcomed into a Palestinian family, “I have seen through their eyes the strength of resistance and compassion that shine through the cracks of memory of war and occupation.” She went on to say, “I am Irish and my people knew the forced withholding and monopolizing of resources by the British. We were called terrorists for our resistance. After the ceasefire in 1921 the British immediately went to Palestine and the same forces that terrorized us, terrorized the Palestinians to the nth degree.” 

Bob Goonin, member of the Boycott Divest and Sanctions community said to the crowd, ”The BDS movement works to end international complicity in Israel’s oppression of Palestinians, and it draws its inspiration from the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. BDS has three goals. Equal rights for Palestinian citizens living in Israel, to end the colonization of Palestinian lands, and the right of return of all Palestinian refugees and their descendants. Some have charged that the BDS movement is anti-Semitic. As a jew I am here to tell you that is a lie.”

Gillian Rath, representing SDS at the University of MN, also spoke, “Historically and certainly right now, students have been at the forefront of anti-war movements. All the way back to the very first Vietnam war protests, to protesting the war on Iraq and now protesting the genocide in Palestine, students have been one of the loudest voices saying ‘no’ to U.S. intervention. We have had many political wins and we have mobilized thousands. But this does not come without a fight. Administrators and public officials know that students are powerful and they are scared of us.”

Rath continued, “A couple of weeks ago, in the state of Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis banned the presence of Students for Justice in Palestine at universities in Florida. The same week, a group of students here in Minnesota from Edina High school were harassed by faculty and are now facing suspension for participating in a national walkout for Palestine. Student activists at universities across the country have been facing so much backlash. I feel like every day I see videos on social media of protesters on campuses being harassed and violated. These attacks are racist, xenophobic and just absolutely disgusting. These are attempts to suppress the student movement. Now more than ever, student activists need to stand up and fight back.”

Protesters were encouraged to keep coming out. Protests on Saturday and Sunday were announced.

#StPaulMN #TwinCities #FreePalestine #UMN #SDS #BDS #WAMM

Edina, MN – In alignment with the national student walkout in solidarity with Palestine, held Wednesday, October 25, students at Edina High School held a walkout and speak-out for Palestine.

Edina is an inner-ring Twin Cities suburb; the school is a predominantly white institution, with enrollment of students of color being at only 33% according to US News. Nevertheless, Muslim students wanted to make sure their voices were heard, especially while faculty have made statements on behalf of the school that are pro-Israel. 

The Edina High School Walkout for Palestine group, which planned the walkout, stated in one of its posts,  “Those who remain silent inadvertently support this oppression. Not speaking up is giving the green light to the Zionist.”

On Wednesday, at least 100 students participated in the walkout. They held Palestinian flags, wore keffiyehs, and led chants. Students were invited to speak by the organizers, and it was made clear that all were welcome. However, Edina High School faculty did not share a similar sentiment. Instead of granting Muslim students and their allies space to exercise their freedom of speech, faculty wanted to take control of the narrative and actively silence students’ voices. Pro-Israel students even attacked and threw water bottles at people from a staircase during the event, but faculty has yet to take action.

Eyewitness accounts from the organizers reported that administrators claimed the students’ chant, “From the river to the sea Palestine will be free” was antisemitic, and also claimed that “it’s not Palestine’s land.” These comments are a blatant erasure on Palestine’s history as a nation, but for school officials it was seen as the best method to disband the walkout and avoid negative media coverage.

However, faculty only continued to escalate the situation. At least two administrators began to record students while at the walkout, visibly making students uncomfortable. When asked to stop, administrators refused to comply. These videos were eventually posted by faculty themselves and were circulated by a conservative local Twitter account @CrimeWatchMpls.

As a result, students were quickly and unjustly labeled as “criminals,” and adults, including parents of students and Zionists, used derogatory and hateful language targeted at protesters attending, who were as young as 14. One Zionist user tweeted “May all who support Palestine get their just due…with lead.” Wishing for violent death for high school students because they are protesting in support of human rights and the end to war crimes that have been taking place in Gaza by the Israeli occupation for over 75 years is a disgrace, and not one that faculty should take lightly.

At the time of writing, three students from Edina High School are now facing suspension for simply participating in the walkout. However, the organizers and community of supporters around them will not accept this without a fight. EHS Walkout stated, “We have the right to freedom of speech and expression. Our objective was to facilitate a platform for open discourse on a pressing global matter, especially that pertaining to Palestine, all while refraining from engaging in hate speech or discriminatory behavior.”

They are calling on the community and any allies to the Palestinian struggle to participate in their ongoing call-in/email-in to top administrators