occupy minutes 9-20-16

September 21, 2016 nightcleaner Leave a comment

occupy minutes 9-20-16

G.A. Minutes 9-20-16

The brakes on the truck are almost fixed. Just a few minor things left that will hopefully get taken care of this weekend and it will be good to go. Needless to say, the Food Occupier drives up with all the fire circle stuff packed into her little car.

Weather-wise, it looks like they’re going to have another good evening. The temperature is in the low 70s, skies are overcast and there’s no wind.

When the Food Occupier gets out of her vehicle she sees a lump of clothes or something lying halfway under one of the bushes in the front of People’s Plaza. Upon looking closer, she realizes that it is a person. . She thinks that whoever it is must have needed to fall down real quick. If they had been capable of formulating a plan, they would have gone to the back bushes where they would not have been seen by the people on the street.

The Fire Magician is unloading the vehicle. She taps him on the shoulder and says, “What do you think about this?” The Magician answers, “Better just leave him alone”. The bringer of the food replies, “Well, I just want to make sure he’s breathing”. She walks over and from a short distance peers onto the non-moving guy. The poor dude looks rough, he’s lying kind of upside down and the color has drained from his face. With great difficulty, the man opens his eyes slightly. Food Occupier backs off and tells him, “It’s o.k. dude, I was just checking to see if you were breathing”.

She goes back to the circle and reports, “He opened his eyes a little. We’d better keep an eye on him. I think he’s probably on heroin. If you remember, that’s how Ogiima died….from a heroin overdose and no one to help him. We’d better watch because I know the dude is somebody’s child”.

The first fire worshippers arrive. They help with the setup. Much to the relief of the Occupiers with the supplies, the possible junkie guy sits up….sort of. He’s having trouble holding his head up and his body wants to far over sideways but at least he’s up.

We start up the fire and the guy who has the drowsy street name comes walking from across the street. We were wondering when he was gonna make his way down here. He was a regular at our Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial fires last year. He’s the king of the street in front of the liquor store up on First St, so he’s kept rather busy managing his fiefdom but we thought he could at least stop by to say hi. Well, here he is.

The Drowsy Man exclaims, “I wish you guys were still up at the Memorial! I don’t like coming down here.” Another man, who we’ve always found to be rather obnoxious, is with him. It appears they are running some type of a scam. They have a cardboard sign that says Will Work For Food. They go off to a corner to count their money and to drink from a really big bottle of vodka. As they leave, an Occupier says to another, “That’s really not right. There are people who really do need money for food holding signs like that”.

The city official joins us. Right behind him is the gray haired woman. They take their seats. After exchanging the obligatory greetings, the city official opens the topic race as a construct. The gray haired woman is fascinated with this subject. The official man explains how the whole concept of the 4 races of the world was just something cooked up by the leading Christian church officials during the 15^thcentury. What we think of as the red, yellow, black and white people of the world is a lie. People were never created as 4 separate groups. The official then explains that the false concept of white supremacy was also introduced at the same time. All this stupid stuff was indoctrinated into the general population so as to make control of the masses easier for the rulers.

An Occupier comments, “I learned all this stuff at college back in the 80s. I remember that I was furious with all my previous teachers for lying to me and for withholding that knowledge from me. As I got older, I realized they were not to blame. The knowledge had been withheld from them too. Almost everyone believes in the false concept of 4 races”.

The Stylish Native woman and her partner sit down. The partner seems calm and friendly. We think they are still homeless but tonight they appear to be taking it in stride.

The city official tells us a new apartment building is being built at E 1^st St and 7^thAve E. He reports that the lowest apartment rent will be $2,000 a month. Everyone is aghast. The city man says one word, “Gentrification”. An Occupier exclaims, “That just doesn’t make any sense! Why would someone who can afford $2,000 a month move into a neighborhood where sirens blare 24/7, neighbors fight in the streets and needles lie about in the front laws? Are we gonna have another empty building when low income housing is what we desperately need?”

A group discussion breaks out. The gray haired woman wants to know what we think of the current presidential race. We tell her we don’t pay attention to it because none of it is real. It’s just another sideshow to keep the people focused on trivialities. This leads to a discussion of women’s role in Christian civilization and winds up with the Bible’s references to homosexuality.

The Stylish Native Woman cries out, “Wow! Sodom and Gomora wasn’t about being gay. I never knew that. My father was a preacher and he always used to say it was. It was really about hospitality….. Interesting”.

The city official announces, “November 15^th thru 18^th Mahmoud El Konti will be in town. He’s a very important scholar who has proof that race is a construct”. An Occupier adds, “I am definitely going to go hear him”.

Menagerie Woman rolls up. She is riding her bike and wearing a beautiful and sparkly, long pink scarf. Everyone comments on the beauty of her scarf. Someone says, “I bet that comes in real handy when riding your bike”.

As we are talking, a few little drops of rain come down. Most of those in the circle are deep in conversation and don’t even notice.

An Occupier couple walks in. We tease them a bit because we haven’t seen them in a couple of weeks. They joke, “Our choir started up again 3 weeks ago. Nothing is gonna take precedence over our choir”.

The gray haired woman wants to know more about the choir. She sang in a choir for many years. The couple gives her the information and invites her to come to the next rehearsal with them. The gray haired woman writes everything down. It’s too bad she can’t remember anything because she probably would have fun singing in a choir.

The possibly junkie guy comes to the table and gets some food. His eyes are very glassy and he’s unable to talk but at least he’s eating. That’s a good sign.

An Occupier says to the choir Occupier couple, “Seeing as we haven’t seen you in a while, I’d better hip you to a few things. On this upcoming Thursday, the Homeless Bill of Rights people are going to have a pizza party for interested homeless people. They need to get homeless people’s take on the Bill of Rights. They want us to show up and help them.

“On Saturday, September 24^th from 11am to 2pm, Northwoods 350, Duluth IWW and Idle No More/Northwoods Wolf Alliance are having a Pancakes Not Pipelines event. They need us to help out or at least eat pancakes.

“On Thursday, September 29^th at 1:30pm, a few of us are going to meet with Officer Lepak in his office. We’re going to hear his opinion on returning our fire to CJMM.

“Also, INM/NWA is trying out holding their fry bread taco sales in the kitchen of the Washington Center. Their next sale will be Friday, October 7^th and of course they will need us to help them.

An Occupier opines at the city official, “Did you see the video put out today by the Superior Organizer?” The official responds, “I saw it but I didn’t have time to watch it”. The Occupier tells him, “It was good. She was, understandably, very angry. She said, ‘2 more young black men were murdered by cops over the week end. What are you gonna do about it? I am angry and scared. Is my son, son in law or one of my grandbabies gonna be next. Cops get away with murdering innocent young black men. I need this to stop! I need you white people to make it stop! What are you gonna do about it?’

“I was in the middle of doing several other things and I had to leave to come to this fire. I didn’t know what to do about it. I reposted her video; posted a good article about the subject and a Color of Change petition and then I had to leave. I don’t know what to do. I think I need direction from Black Lives Matter or someone. I read somewhere that white people charged with doing things to help get equity for people of color, need to assess the skills that they have and decide how they can make use of them in the struggle.

“I’m gonna have to think about that. I know what skills I have but I need direction about how I should use them. I don’t want to do something that is actually unhelpful”.

The newest Occupier checks in. We’re pleasantly surprised to see her. We know she’s on mandatory overtime at her slave job so we didn’t think she’d be able to make it. She entertains the gray haired woman with stories of her (the Occupier’s) past.

We’re about to pack up when we get a visit from a couple of tourists. They are on their way to an Irish pub but come over to check us out. After they are gone an Occupier states, “They are the first tourists that didn’t look at us with scorn and/or fear and then move on”.

It’s well past our bedtime again. Everyone helps pack up. We’re not going to have a fire on Saturday because we’ll be working the pancake event. We hope to return to People’s Plaza next Tuesday.

General Assembly Minutes

G.A. Minutes 9-17-16

September 18, 2016 nightcleaner Leave a comment

G.A. Minutes 9-17-16

The Occupiers still have not been able to get the brakes on the truck fixed. The main problem is lack of funds. They are relying on mechanically gifted friends to get the job done. The friends are only able to help during the spare time their slave jobs allot. So fixing the brakes may take a while.

The Fire Magician is riding with the Food Occupier again tonight. They arrive at People’s Power Plaza in a little car stuffed to the gills with supplies for the circle. More Occupiers quickly follow; they are bringing things too.

The Occupier who usually does a quick general cleanup of the space is amazed at how clean everything is this evening. He says, “Wow, they must have had a whole cleanup crew here this afternoon. Another Occupier laughs and adds, “Maybe that head maintenance dude was embarrassed about what poor condition he and his crew were keeping the Plaza in, especially now that they have regular guests”.

We think it will be a slightly chilly evening. The sun is down; skies have been covered with dark, threatening clouds all day but no rain. Temperatures are in the low 60s; a chilly, light and variable wind has caused us to bring our jackets.

The Magician starts up a big fire right away. It produces a lot of smoke at first then settles down, soothing us with tall glowing flames.

Immediately a big young man walks up. We remember him from one of our earlier fires. He was living and sleeping on one of the benches. An unassuming middle-aged man who appears to be chronically homeless comes up too. The two men know each other well.

The city official arrives. As is not unusual, his dance card is full tonight. He’s just coming from a dinner event and on his way to hear a speaker from the St. Paul Black Lives Matter group. He’ll stop and visit for a while.

He comments to an Occupier, “So I heard the Human Rights Commission has been disbanded”. The Occupier responds, “Well, that’s not exactly what happened. Apparently, the mayor or whoever is responsible for such things, neglected to inform the current commissioners that their terms were up and that they needed to reapply. The mayor still has not appointed any new members to any of the commissions so technically, there are no commissioners so therefore, no Human Rights Commission”.

The city man states, “Oh, so that’s what happened. I knew there was more to the story than what I was told. Well, considering how government works, this will all be worked out”.

An Occupier changes the subject, “I don’t know how the Water Protectors are gonna make it through winter in tents. I mean, a winter in North Dakota?” Another Occupier answers, “Well, they’re not gonna have white man camping tents. They’re gonna have teepees and wigwams. Those things must be warm. Native people have been using those structures and living in winter for thousands of years. I think they must know something”.

The Newest Occupier tells a few stories. She reports, “I placed a call to the Energy Transfer’s vandalism hotline the other day. A lady answered and asked me who was doing the vandalism. I said, ‘Actually, I want to report your company for vandalism. They sicced dogs on peaceful women and children and ripped up sacred artifacts and graves’. As I started to explain more, she hung up on me. When I thought about it later I thought maybe I should have asked everybody to call the hotline”.

Another Occupier exclaims, “What a brilliant idea! Tuck it in the back of your mind for the next time the oil company commits a faux pax”.

The New Occupier continues, “Did you hear what the women of Indiana did when the legislature was trying to pass a bill that said anytime a woman suffered a miscarriage she would be mandated to report it to a government agency and then come in for ‘tests’? The women called the Governor to report every time they were having their periods. They’d say stuff like ‘Well, I had unprotected sex and now I’m having my period so do you think I might be doing something wrong? Just wanted to check in, you know’. The Governor received thousands of calls. Unfortunately the bill passed so now they’ll have to call all the legislators who voted for the bill too”.

Bench Man pulls out a paper bag. We look at him quizzically. He says, “I remember, no drinking in the circle.” All the homeless men in the circle, except one, take their food and go over to another part of the Plaza to share a drink or two.

Bench Man soon returns. He tells us he’s from Red Lake and that many of his relatives are out in Standing Rock. He tells us, “Yeah, the oil company sicced attack dogs on our women and children. The local warriors went home and got their own dogs. I don’t think their dogs would be much of a match for our dogs”.

The unassuming middle-aged man who did not go off for a drink smudges himself. He talks about the many places in the Central Hillside where sage grows wildly. He talks about building sweat lodges and wigwams. He says, “I’m not genetically Anishinaabe but I know their ways. He tells us he has lived on the streets for 11 years. The rest of his story is fairly typical of the stories we hear from older homeless men. He had a wife, family and very good job. Something bad happened, he lost his job and things fell apart. He ended up homeless.

An Occupier who is facing the lake exclaims, “Look at the moon!” We turn and look. It’s very large and sort of melon colored. Someone says, “It’s a Harvest Moon”. We sit in silence for a while, looking at the moon.

An Occupier asks of another, “Did you get that meeting set up with Officer Lepak?” The questioned Occupier answers, “I did. We’re supposed to meet him on Thursday, September 29^th, 1:30pm at his office in the Transit Center”. To those who look confused she says, “We’re going to talk about the possibility of bringing our fires back to the Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial. I don’t really expect anything to come of the meeting but we can’t turn down a chance of going back”.

Another Occupier reminds us, “Remember to give one of those Homeless Folks Pizza Nights flyers to everyone who comes by. The event will be Thursday, September 22^nd 5pm at Trepanier Hall.

“Also, we’re needed to help Idle No More/Northwoods Wolf Alliance with some kind of Pancakes Not Pipelines event on Saturday, September 24^th at the Hillside Community Center. I’m not sure what they want us to do yet but I think the event will run from 11am-2pm. I’ll try to have more info for our next meeting”.

The male from the couple who have been forced to live at CHUM shows up. He’s on his way to make curfew at CHUM but stops to express his solidarity with the circle. He remarks, “My partner has decided to spend the night somewhere else. She’s entitled to her choice but I hope she’s o.k.”

A couple of Native hipster kids who we may or may not know come to the table. They are happy that there is good food left. When they spot the double use salt and pepper shaker that sits by the hard boiled eggs, one of them exclaims, “You guys have really been around the block a few times!”

Ms. Community Cleanup’s partner is on the stairs. He is with a group of fashionably dressed adolescent boys. They all have skateboards. The partner is attempting to do some tricks. It appears that he was once a real skateboarder but he’s much older now. He seems to have lost his touch.

The middle-aged man quietly comments, “You know those kids are just watching him and waiting for him to take a bad fall so they can laugh”.

The man then tells us a story about watching ducks. He points over across the street to a tree in front of the Lake Place entrance. He and his former wife watched a mother duck build a nest in that tree and lay her eggs. They watched her sit on the eggs and they talked to her a lot. Eventually she got to know them and the sound of their voices. The mother duck hatched eleven ducklings. The man talked about how cute it was when he and his wife would arrive and call to the mama. Eleven baby ducks would come popping out from under her. They watched the first time mama took all the ducklings to the lake. Only four of the babies actually made it to the lake. The others died of various mishaps during the trek over the property of the humans.

The city official returns. He says the BLM speaker was fantastic. An Occupier remarks, “We were all wishing to attend his speech but we found out about it too late. We’d already promised everyone a fire, so couldn’t change horses in the middle of the stream”

Another Occupier says to the official, “So what’s up with our local BLM Chapter?” The city man smiles knowingly and replies, “I think we’re about to hit the streets”.

We should be thinking about packing up but instead, we get a visit from the grey haired woman. We haven’t seen her since springtime. She laughs, “I finally found you! I’ve been looking for you forever!” We know we told her dates and times to look for us the last time we saw her. We also know that the grey haired woman’s short term memory is basically toast It doesn’t matter though. Given the small area of town that she covers and the fact that everyone knows her, she gets along just fine.

We sit around chat, laugh and tell jokes with the woman of the grey hair. When the big clock strikes 9:30pm, she and the city official help us pack up. We give her times and dates again but we know we’ll just see her when we see her.

We hope to be back at People’s Plaza on Saturday.

Uncategorized

Red Warrior Camp is reported though social media to have issued a call to action alert, urging everyone to come to Standing Rock.

September 14, 2016 nightcleaner Leave a comment

Update 201609140338 Red Warrior Camp is reported though social media to have issued a call to action alert, urging everyone to come to Standing Rock in a good way. All kinds of supplies are needed. If you can go, bring enough for yourself and more to share.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1stNations.TurtleIsland/permalink/1112250048869700/?pnref=story

General Assembly Minutes

G.A. Minutes 9-13-16

September 14, 2016 nightcleaner Leave a comment

G.A. Minutes 9-13-16

It’s not summer anymore; at least not tonight at People’s Plaza. All the leaves are still green and flowers are still growing but the air definitely feels like autumn.

The temperature is in the low 60s; the sky is overcast and a strong, chilly wind can’t make up its mind which direction it is blowing from.

As we begin to set up we see Ms. Community Cleanup and her partner heading into the bushes way in the back of the Plaza. They stay there for a short time, then come to join us.

Ms. Cleanup tells us they have been sleeping in a spot in the bushes off and on for several years. She says she was not evicted from Gimaajii but left of her own accord because she couldn’t tolerate the environment. She felt like she was living in some type of concentration camp. She explains, “When you have been homeless for a few years, it gets to where you don’t like being indoors anymore. You want to sleep outside whenever possible”.

However, she and her partner were not prepared for the cold temperatures they experienced last night. We tell them that the weather people are forecasting a freeze warning tonight for the countryside and temps 5 to 10 degrees warmer here in the city.

This is not good news for them. Apparently they were robbed of all their warm clothing while taking a shower at CHUM today. The partner is wearing a thin t-shirt, it’s all he has. They have 1 blanket and some cardboard to lie on. In this situation, many homeless people would just go to the Damiono Free Clothing Store and find what they needed. With the serious mental illnesses this couple have, they will have a hard time getting that together. It will probably take them about a week to organize themselves for such an undertaking.

An Occupier has a good warm blanket and a warm jacket in his car. He gets these things and gives them to the couple. They are very grateful. They sit close to the big fire with us and chat a while, then go off to sleep. They will need to be up and gone from the bushes before sunrise and before all the business people arrive and take over the Plaza until 5pm.

The Stylish Native Woman arrives. She looks exhausted. We know she and her partner were evicted from their apartment about a week ago. An Occupier who accompanied them to eviction court told us the judge would not listen to any of their explanations. The only thing the judge wanted to know was whether or not they had the money for back rent. At that exact minute, they did not….. Too bad…. 3 days and you’re out on the street…… no excuses.

It was just 1 week until they both got paid. They would definitely be able to pay all the rent then. Too bad…. No excuses. The amount they owed the landlord? $217.00.

When the Occupier told us the story, we said we wished we would have known in advance. We would have been able to come up with that amount of money between all of us.

After the stylish woman gets her coffee and settles down, an Occupier inquires, “So how are you guys doing?” The woman shakes her head and replies, “We’re just hanging on by the skin of our teeth. My partner is taking it real bad”.

As if on cue, the partner walks by. He is seriously ranting about something. It appears he is fighting with the demons in his head. He walks around the Plaza several times then comes to our table. Knowing that he likes sandwiches, an Occupier chirps, “We have sandwiches tonight”. A homeless woman shows him the sandwich she holds in her hand.

The partner growls, “Do you think I can’t make up my own mind?!? Do you think you’re my mother?!? I don’t need anyone to tell me what to do!” He stomps off, continuing to mutter to himself.

We all look at each other in amazement. We have never heard him talk like this before. He returns and says softly, “I’m sorry, I never should of said that. It was completely uncalled for. I’m sorry”. He gets a sandwich and some juice and goes off down the street. The Stylish Woman gets her bags saying, “I guess I’d better follow him. I’ll see you later”.

A woman we’ve known for years comes up. She has the look of a young girl but she’s actually middle aged and a heavy drinker. She likes to fight with other women when she’s drunk. Tonight she’s friendly so we’re happy to see her.

Another guy who is vaguely familiar rolls up. He’s silently dancing. It quickly becomes apparent he is rolling with the heavy drinking woman. He continues silently dancing. A homeless woman says, “Oh look! He’s a grass dancer. He continues dancing; another states, “No, he’s dancing traditional”. We all watch him; an Occupier also votes for traditional. The man stops; he admits he was dancing traditional Anishinaabe style.

The dancing guy asks a man sitting on the bench for a dollar. The man gives it to him; the dancing man and the heavy drinking woman go off arm in arm down the street. They head off in the direction of the liquor store.

An Occupier reports, “Do you know Officer Nick Lepak the main community officer in the CHUM area of Central Hillside?” Everyone knows him. “When we were at that meeting at the Red Herring last Wednesday, I ended up in a breakout group session with him and others. Officer Lepak commented he thought it might be time to bring our fire back to the Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial. I told him I wanted to follow up with him on that. I took his card and last night I sent him an email. I asked to set up a meeting with him”.

She passes around a copy of the email she sent and continues, “Just before I left to come here I received a return email stating the times he would be available to meet. I picked a date and time and asked if it would work for him. I’m waiting for a response”. She turns to another Occupier and asks, “Once I get a meeting set, will you come with me?” The other Occupier agrees to accompany her.

An Occupier attended the Homeless Bill of Right meeting today. He has brought flyers for the big homeless folk’s pizza feed on Thursday, September 22^nd, Trepanier Hall, 5pm. We give some to the people sitting at the fire and put the rest away for later. We know we will need to give out the flyers as close to the date of the event as possible. When one is homeless and surviving day by day, it’s difficult to remember things too far in advance.

Someone asks if there is any news from Standing Rock. No one has any and we are all very concerned. The last thing we heard was given us about 2pm. The report said that even though several government department heads as well as the President Obama had asked the oil company to stop construction on the pipeline until an investigation of the legality of the Dakota Access Pipeline was completed, the company went ahead today and began construction again.

The Water Protectors went to the construction site and chained themselves to the construction equipment. The National Guard has disappeared and been replaced by at least 100 North Dakota police officers. These officers are carrying assault rifles.

At least 20 people were arrested. The film makers from Unicorn Riot were arrested too. Since then, as far as we know, no one has received a phone call or a message on social media from anyone at Standing Rock. We think the police have probably shut off everyone’s cell phones in the Standing Rock area. This is very scary. All we can do is to send prayers to them right now.

An Occupier tells us, “It looks like Idle No More/ Nothwoods Wolf Alliance will be having their NDN Taco Sales at the Washington Center from now on. Since All Nations has moved to the Damiono Center, they have had to find another venue. The next sale will be on October 7^th and of course, they will need our help.

Several young people we haven’t met yet come up the stairs. They get food and ask if rumors they have heard about the Storytelling Woman are true. They proceed to tell us an outrageous story.

An Occupier responds, “I very much doubt any of that is true. If her body had been found in the old water pipe every type of cop imaginable would have turned up and all the streets would have been blocked. I live right across the street from the Steve O’Neil apartments. If something like that had happened I would have noticed. The people that were seen in special white uniforms were probably the plumbers putting in new water pipes for the new CAIR Center. Geez…..”

After the young ones leave, we shake our heads in disbelief. The rumors on the street are so bizarre.

Someone brings up the subject of Hillary Clinton’s recent health problems and rumors she may not be able to be the DFL’s candidate for president. An Occupier jokes, “Are you kidding me? Hillary could be dead and in her grave but if you said she couldn’t be president, she’d jump right out of her coffin and kick your ass”. We all laugh.

We get a visit from a formerly very physically beautiful street woman. We haven’t seen her for about a year. She’s been a heavy drinker for a long time and it’s begun to take a toll on her beauty. She gets juice and cookies and takes a seat.

She tells us she’s been living up in White Earth over the summer and taking care of friends and relatives. During that time she did not drink. She says, “As soon as I got back to the city I started drinking again”. She explains that she is currently homeless but is house sitting for a friend who is in the hospital.

When all of the street people have gone, an Occupier comments, “Everyone is so sober tonight”. Another adds, “Probably because they’re broke and/or are seriously thinking about the upcoming winter season”.

With only Occupiers around the fire, we talk about the multitude of ways in which the 1% is ripping off the people. We toss it around for a bit and all come to the same conclusion. The system sucks.

We start to pack up when Menagerie Woman rides up on her bike. We cease packing and sit with her at the fire. She’s done her usual Tuesday night ritual of going to the Plasma Donor Center and then to a movie.

She tells us she has two more homeless people staying with her and an extra dog. That makes 5 people and 8 dogs living in her little trailer. She remarks, “I just had to get away. It’s so crowded and noisy; I just needed a break”.

The last logs of the fire are burning out; the big clock strikes 10pm. It’s time to go. We say goodnight and expect to see her and everyone else back here at People’s Plaza on Saturday, unless it rains. If it does, we’ll be at Coney Island.

General Assembly Minutes

G.A. Minutes 9-3-16

September 4, 2016 nightcleaner Leave a comment

G.A. Minutes 9-3-16

It’s going to be a great night for a fire. We’re at People’s Plaza again. The brakes on the truck have not been fixed yet so we can’t bring our chairs this time either. The benches belonging to the Plaza will have to be used again and will work reasonably well. It’s nice that they are moveable.

The sun is already behind the buildings, the sky is cloudy, temperatures are in the low 70s and a strong, cool wind is blowing. We start the fire right away. The wind makes the flames shoot high; it also makes the air slightly chilly so the heat feels good on our skin.

An Occupier comments, “Seeing as it’s still the first days of the month, I don’t expect we’ll have many street folks visiting tonight. Most of them just received their small government checks so will be off having their monthly indulgences”.

We’re missing Occupiers tonight too. They and a large group of our allies left yesterday for Sacred Stone Camp at Standing Rock. They were bringing a big trailer full of supplies; food and lots of blankets, caps and gloves for when the weather turns cold. Most of the donations were from people on the Fond du Lac Reservation.

An Occupier tells us, “I received a message from our friend who works at CHUM. He said they all arrived safely at Sacred Stone. He also said the oil company had their construction crew start working on the pipeline this afternoon. So far, one protestor had been arrested. He sent a few pictures; they were of the confrontation in progress.

Another Occupier exclaims, “What?!? They’re not supposed to do any work until the court decision comes down on September 9^th. The first Occupier responds, “Yeah, I know. I guess the oil company thinks it can do anything it wants because it has the whole state of North Dakota in Its pocket”.

A man walking a dog comes up. He is wearing top of the line walking your dog on the street type clothes. He asks us what we are doing and we explain. He knows about Occupy but didn’t realize there are still small groups of Occupiers all over the country.

He’s quite well versed in progressive issues and tells us he is the nephew of our Federal House Representative, Rick Nolan. We say we think Nolan is good on a lot of progressive issues but his support of the Polymet mine and of pipelines is unforgiveable.

The man states, “Yeah, I feel the same way. Uncle Rick says his job in the House is very difficult; because the House is so messed up and he pushes hard on many progressive issues, he has very few friends among his colleagues.

“Rick is the reason I’m now living in Duluth. I was living in Florida until six months ago and really wanted to move; he told me that Duluth was a good place to live. I recently became the director of The March of Dimes here”.

We ask him what he likes about Duluth so far and he answers, “The abundance of nature is great and I’m also glad there are no poisoness insects or snakes. I’m overwhelmed with how nice all the people are too”.

An Occupier adds, “Have you heard about ‘MN nice?” Or as I prefer to call it ‘MN passive aggression’?” The man laughs and says, “Oh yeah, I’ve come across that too”.

When we ask him what he doesn’t like about Duluth, he responds, “The cold winters are horrible and I’m just appalled at the amount of prejudice against Native Americans here”.

An Occupier agrees, “I know what you mean. I’m from here but I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for many years. When I left this area, people who were Native American tried to hide their heritage. In the Bay Area I saw racism related to black people, Latinos and Asians. I ran across very few Native Americans. When I returned to this area I saw Native people were no longer hiding their heritage but the amount of general hatred toward them was just unbelievable”.

The March of Dimes man says, “Many rich people refuse to donate to us because they know that we give about 90% of our donations to the Native American community. That’s because they are the ones that need it the most”.

The man wants to know what other things are going on. We tell him about our friends at Standing Rock, the Homeless Bill of Rights, the meeting at the Red Herring on Wednesday and the vigil for trafficked women on Saturday. He puts this information in his phone, says he’ll see us there and continues his walk.

As he is leaving, an Occupier remarks, “I wonder if I should have mentioned the vigil for the disappeared Storytelling Woman at noon on Wednesday at Central Hillside Park?”

The city official arrives. He’s later than usual because he’s just finished a long volunteer shift serving food to hungry people at the Dom. He tells us, “I wasn’t scheduled to serve tonight but some of the other volunteers didn’t show up so they asked me to help”.

Someone comments, “That’s a problem with volunteers, they don’t have to show up if they don’t want to. I imagine the holiday weekend caused them to make other plans”.

A couple who we have known since they stayed at our homeless camp comes up the stairs. We have not seen them for almost a year. They are not homeless but they look unhealthy and very unhappy. They don’t seem in the mood to tell us their problems; we don’t ask. They take food and leave.

The new Occupier asks, “Did anybody attend the Pride Festival today?” Another replies, “No, I would have liked to because I think they were going to have some really good bands. However, the bands I wanted to see were playing at the same time as our fire circle. I decided to come here instead”.

One of the quiet men who usually come around for food comes out of the shadows. He gets what he needs and makes a little small talk. We notice he is wearing a medallion that leads us to believe he has come from the Pride Festival. We comment on that fact; he just smiles and leaves. We’ll probably see him again next time.

A man with a long beard and backpack who appears to be in his early forties is standing a ways away looking at us. We invite him to take food and/or join us. He steps forward and responds, “Do you have any clean water?” We show him the water jug and give him a cup.

He sits and tells us he’s been homeless for much of his life. He’s hoping to move into an apartment in a week or so. His cat is being fostered by a friend and he’s looking forward to being reunited soon.

The homeless man is a quiet but good conversationalist so we sit and talk about many things. The place where he pitches his tent, the cops who don’t actually give him much trouble, things that happened in the 60s and 70s, memories of cartoons and children’s shows watched as kids, the stupidity of the current election cycle, climate change and the fate of the world. An Occupier gives him a copy of the Homeless Bill of Rights.

The big clock chimes 10pm. We were so lost in conversation with the homeless man; we didn’t notice the time go by. As he helps us pack up, we tell him that we are generally at the People’s Plaza, if it’s not raining, on Tuesdays and Saturdays from 6pm til 9pm. Except for next week, we’ll be at the Homeless Bill of Rights meeting on Tuesday and at the Hildegard House Vigil on Saturday.

We expect to return to the Plaza on Tuesday, September 13^th.

Occupy Duluth

Monthly Archives: September 2016

occupy minutes 9-20-16