Black State of Emergency in Iowa #BlackEmergencyIA

Posted on October 16, 2020 by Jeff Kisling

Des Moines Black Lives Matter October 13 at 11:20 AM  · Black Iowans are not safe. We’re joining with a number of other community organizations to implement strategies and policies to protect one another. #BlackEmergencyIA The Press Release can be found at the end of this post.

Key Points:

  • A coalition of 10 organizations working to end police brutality, violence and enact a host of other reforms declared a ‘state of emergency’ for Black Iowans and also warned them not to travel alone — especially at night.
  • Learn more about the coalition’s efforts by following the social media hashtag #BlackEmergencyIA.
  • Des Moines Black Lives Matter clarified why it’s now known as the Des Moines Black Liberation Movement. Matthew Bruce, an organizer with BLM, said the group wanted to make sure that “we reflected that not only are we valuing our lives, but we are dismantling the systems that keep us oppressed.”

Blacks Iowans exist in a “state of emergency” and need resources to fight longstanding racial disparities and violence, said a coalition of 10 community organizations from across central and eastern Iowa.

“With this declaration of a state of emergency for Black Iowans, we are also calling on all local elected officials — from city elected officials to state representatives — to Governor Reynolds to our federal elected officials in the congress and the senate — to join with us in recognizing the state of emergency for Black Iowans and reacting with the resources that are necessary to help combat this,” said Jaylen Cavil, an organizer with the Des Moines Black Liberation Movement (BLM).

The coalition of groups include:

Black Iowa in ‘State of Emergency’. Activists sound the alarm about the dire longstanding racial disparities harming Black lives by Dana James, Black Iowa News, October 14, 2020

This video is of the #BlackEmergencyIA press conference on 10/13/2020

Following is part of the transcript of the video. It begins with Matthew Bruce speaking.

Matthew: All right everybody, I want to thank everyone that’s come out, especially those that have supported BLM – Des Moines BLM – all summer.
Just to run down some of the things we’ve accomplished:
we’ve accomplished getting the curfew ended – a racist curfew ended –
we accomplished getting all of our protesters out of the Polk County Jail
we accomplished a racial profiling ban here in Des Moines
we accomplished a plan for a more perfect union statewide
we got 60,000 people their rights to vote back, and
we’ve established also – Iowa City has done a lot of work on police accountability. The only city, the only city council to force their police department to release body [camera] footage of tear gassing people, the only people to get that level of accountability.
And we have institutionalized a direct action movement, and that is bigger than any of those one things, is that the tools that got us those amendments to the system is gonna sit here and exist indefinitely. And that’s the most – yeah that’s some claps – that’s the most important part of what we’ve built so far.

Those remarks were followed with more people speaking. I’m including what Patrick Stahl said, because he is one of the people I’m getting to know from my recent engagement with Des Moines Mutual Aid’s food giveaway program.

Patrick: Hi, I’m Patrick Stahl with Des Moines Mutual Aid.

Des Moines Mutual Aid is a collective that does outreach for homeless folks in our community, houseless folks in our community. We also assist BLM with their rent relief fund, and most of the work we’ve done is running the bail fund for the protests over the summer. In the course of that work, we have witnessed firsthand the violence that is done upon people of color, Black people specifically, by the white supremacist forces of the state – in this state, in this city, in this county. There is absolutely a state of emergency for people of color and Black people in Iowa. The state of emergency has been a long time coming. We will support – DMMA will absolutely support any and all efforts of this community – BLM, and the people of color community more generally- to keep themselves safe. Power to the people.

#BlackEmergencyIA

Posted in Black Lives, Des Moines Black Lives Matter, Des Moines Mutual Aid, race, solidarity, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Reflections on Indigenous People’s Day 2020

Posted on October 15, 2020 by Jeff Kisling

I’m still thinking about things I noticed and am trying to understand from Indigenous people’s day I attended in Des Moines. Besides all of what follows, it was an intensely spiritual time for me, and that I continue to feel.

I noticed every person was wearing a mask and practicing social distancing.

There were tables with literature and staffed with people from the main organizer, Great Plains Action Society. And Des Moines Mutual Aid Bail Fund.

I saw people I am just getting to know from working on the free food giveaway. People who I would not have known otherwise. Which shows how those involved in justice work support each other.

One jarring experience was hearing eloquent messages from people who could not attend the event because they were banned from the state Capitol grounds where the ceremony took place. Racial justice protesters banned from Iowa Capitol in “stunning misuse of power”

Ronnie James read what Matthew Bruce wrote in his Instagram post below (theblackartivist). “The same state that stole this land has the audacity to ban me from the capitol grounds.”

He also expressed what I felt in school: “I remember in school I remember having deep compassionate urges to learn more about the indigenous cultures who were presented to us as some ghost people of American history.”

“For now though, i know this; we- the black and indigenous survivors of this white war on humanity -are people with intertwined (if complicated) histories and one evil common enemy.”

Matthew is one of the protesters who have been arrested at demonstrations, and has been supported by the Des Moines Mutual Aid Bail Fund. Mutual Aid in Des Moines is involved in distributing food, helping provide shelter for those who a houseless or evicted, and supporting those who are arrested for agitating for change by providing bail money.

Another speaker was Alejandro Murguia-Ortiz, who told us the following. You can read his entire statement here: https://www.afsc.org/story/remarks-indigenous-peoples-day-2020-des-moines

Mexico, the USA, and Canada in many ways represent forced assimilation, forced migration, history erasure and stolen lands. And all of that is of course still happening today.

Sometimes it’s trade deals written by mega corporations forcefully taking Indigenous lands and forcing my parents and many others to leave their families in order to find a job in the US so they can send money home. Other times, it’s climate change caused by corporate greed that is pushing communities from lands they’ve inhabited for centuries. Or maybe it’s imperialist military coups creating instability across the globe. What these colonists are saying is that you have to leave your lands, you just can’t come here. If you do come here, you have to act and sound like us and we can kick you out when we want. 

That mentality lives in our communities. It lives in our laws. Immigration laws that tell Indigenous communities that they are not free to roam the land that belongs to them. English only laws like the one in Iowa that say that in order to survive and succeed you must assimilate. A police state that incarcerates and enslaves BIPOC.  And economic laws that say that our communities can never be equal.

Alejandro Murguia-Ortiz, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)

Des Moines Black Lives Matter

October 12 at 8:50 AM  · You are living on and directly benefitting from stolen land, within a nation built by stolen bodies, which is the foundation of the police state that occupies these sacred grounds of the original peoples. #indigenouspeoplesday native-land.ca

I’m of the firm opinion that a system that was built by stolen bodies on stolen land for the benefit of a few is a system that is not repairable. It is operating as designed, and small changes (which are the result of huge efforts) to lessen the blow on those it was not designed for are merely half measures that can’t ever fully succeed.

So the question is now, where do we go from here? Do we continue to make incremental changes while the wealthy hoard more wealth and the climate crisis deepens, or do we do something drastic that has never been done before? Can we envision and create a world where a class war from above isn’t a reality anymore?”

Ronnie James
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

NATIVE AMERICANS TEAR GASSED, ARRESTED ON INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ DAY

Posted on October 14, 2020 by Jeff Kisling

I was blessed to attend a beautiful, yet solemn Indigenous People’s Day celebration at the State Capitol in Des Moines. The main organizer was the Great Plains Action Society:  greatplainsaction.org

There was an undercurrent of sadness as many were reminded of the past, and ongoing oppression and violence against native peoples, against themselves.

Mexico, the USA, and Canada in many ways represent forced assimilation, forced migration, history erasure and stolen lands. And all of that is of course still happening today.

Alejandro Murguia-Ortiz

One example was many who would like to have attended could not, because of past arrests during gatherings at the Iowa Capitol. Ronnie James read powerful messages from several of them.

Alejandro Murguia-Ortiz told us the following. You can read his entire statement here: https://www.afsc.org/story/remarks-indigenous-peoples-day-2020-des-moines

Mexico, the USA, and Canada in many ways represent forced assimilation, forced migration, history erasure and stolen lands. And all of that is of course still happening today.

Sometimes it’s trade deals written by mega corporations forcefully taking Indigenous lands and forcing my parents and many others to leave their families in order to find a job in the US so they can send money home. Other times, it’s climate change caused by corporate greed that is pushing communities from lands they’ve inhabited for centuries. Or maybe it’s imperialist military coups creating instability across the globe. What these colonists are saying is that you have to leave your lands, you just can’t come here. If you do come here, you have to act and sound like us and we can kick you out when we want. 

That mentality lives in our communities. It lives in our laws. Immigration laws that tell Indigenous communities that they are not free to roam the land that belongs to them. English only laws like the one in Iowa that say that in order to survive and succeed you must assimilate. A police state that incarcerates and enslaves BIPOC.  And economic laws that say that our communities can never be equal.

Alejandro Murguia-Ortiz, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)

Use this link to sign today to demand that Iowa legislators do the right thing and pass a bill that will remove all white supremacist, misogynistic and, homo/transphobic historical depictions, names, and holidays from all Iowa state grounds and facilities. 

Moving on to another Indigenous People’s Day story, this video shows about a dozen land and water protectors who were arrested after Border Patrol and Arizona State Troopers used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse a Native American ceremony on Indigenous Peoples’ Day on October 12, 2020.

The O’odham Anti Border Collective—a group of Akimel O’odham, Tohono O’odham, and Hia Ced O’odham tribal members that seeks to promote the cultural practices and protect the homelands of all O’odham nations “through the dismantling of colonial borders”—organized an Indigenous prayer ceremony to voice opposition to the cultural and ecological destruction caused by the construction of President Donald Trump’s border wall.

According to a statement released by the group, O’odham families “sang traditional songs, prayed, and attempted to discuss the Freedom of Religion Act that decriminalized Native American religions and opened the path towards the protection of sacred sites.”

According to the group, the police “grabbed children who had been in vehicles and abducted them from their parents—stealing children from Indigenous parents for practicing their religion is a clear violation of the Freedom of Religion Act and the Indian Child Welfare Act.”

“It’s obscene and offensive to us that local and state governments move to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day while the federal government blows up our sacred sites, steals our kids, militarily occupies our communities, and shoots at Native Americans praying to protect our land and ancestors from desecration,” said one O’odham tribal member who was present at the ceremony Monday morning.

The O’odham Anti Border Collective made the following demands:

  • Immediate release of all who were arrested Monday;
  • Immediate release of all minors abducted by the state Monday;
  • Information about and reparations for all who were injured Monday;
  • End the checkpoints and remove all Customs and Border Protection agencies from O’odham lands;
  • Immediate and indefinite discontinuation of border wall construction at Quitobaquito Springs and throughout O’odham territories;
  • Immediate removal of the white supremacist border wall and restoration of the land;
  • Immediate demilitarization of O’odham lands;
  • Remove the Integrated Fixed Towers;
  • End racial profiling and harassment of Indigenous peoples;
  • End incarceration and deportation of O’odham people from O’odham homelands by border patrol;
  • End sexual and gender violence by border patrol;
  • End white supremacist attacks, incarceration, and deportation of refugees and migrants on Indigenous lands; and
  • Support Indigenous autonomy against colonial borders.

NATIVE AMERICANS TEAR GASSED, ARRESTED ON INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ DAY By Kenny Stancil, Commondreams, October 13, 2020

Posted in American Friends Service Committee, decolonize, Des Moines Mutual Aid, Indigenous, Native Americans, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Indigenous People’s Day, Des Moines, 2020

Posted on October 13, 2020 by Jeff Kisling

Yesterday’s gathering at the Iowa State Capitol to celebrate Indigenous People’s Day was a beautiful and yet somber occasion. Ralph Moisa sang and played the drum. My friend Christine Nobiss spoke about the petition (below) to abolish monuments, names and holidays to White supremacy in Iowa.

The petition that was presented to Iowa State Representative Ako Abdul-Samad (below) builds upon a similar petition presented to him on July 4th. Forcing the government to do their part in removing statues to white supremacy

My friend Ronnie James read a number of messages from those who could not attend, including some who have been banned from being on the State Capitol grounds as a result of previous arrests. Racial justice protesters banned from Iowa Capitol in “stunning misuse of power”

I saw Austin, Patrick and Molly, all of whom I just recently met on the Saturday mornings when we worked together to distribute free food. One of the projects of Des Moines Mutual Aid. https://kislingjeff.wordpress.com/?s=mutual It was good to see my friend Jon Krieg from the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) who I hadn’t seen for a while because of the virus.

People were being helped to register to vote.

Activists called for the removal of statues and for Columbus Day to no longer be recognized in Iowa at an Indigenous Peoples’ Day celebration at the Iowa State Capitol Monday.

Great Plains Action Society, Iowa CCI and Des Moines Mutual Aid hosted the celebration, where Indigenous activists spoke and shared music celebrating the holiday. But Christine Nobiss, aka Sikowis, who is Plains Cree-Saulteaux, said the event was also “a resistance.”

“It is important that Iowans demand that their government carry out a genuine act of truth and reconciliation on stolen land, removing all depictions of white supremacy,” Nobiss said.

Organizers presented Iowa State Rep. Ako Abdul-Samad a petition calling for the removal of the bust of Columbus, Pioneer and friendly Indian Statue and “mural of manifest destiny” on Iowa State Capitol grounds. 

Activists petition to remove Columbus statue and others on Indigenous Peoples’ Day celebration by Robin Opsahl, Des Moines Register, October 12, 2020

Abolish White Supremacist Monuments, Names and Holidays in Iowa

We demand that all white supremacist, misogynistic and, homo/transphobic historical monuments, names, and holidays be removed from all Iowa state grounds and facilities. By removing these monuments, we are not erasing history—we are correcting it. These depictions fall into the realm of hate propaganda and human rights violations because they make specific segments of the population feel unwelcome in public spaces. 

This propaganda is everywhere but many do not realize it depicts enslavement, land theft, violence, and genocide. Indigenous, Black, Latinx, and many other oppressed folks in this country must face these images every day in their neighborhoods, commutes, or at their places of work. It is important that Iowans demand that their government carry out a genuine act of truth and reconciliation on stolen land by removing all depictions of white supremacy.

Sign today to demand that Iowa legislators do the right thing and pass a bill that will remove all white supremacist, misogynistic and, homo/transphobic historical depictions, names, and holidays from all Iowa state grounds and facilities. 

Democrats, in the state of Virginia, have begun this process by passing two similar bills in the house and senate that “allow cities to ‘remove, relocate, contextualize, cover or alter’ monuments in public spaces.” Iowa needs to follow suit. For instance, the Iowa Department of Human Services states that any facility they operate may not promote any discriminatory practice nor shall the Department become a party to any agreement that permits any discriminatory practice. This rule must be expanded to include monuments, names, and holidays–examples are listed below:

– The bust of Columbus on Iowa State Capitol grounds
– Columbus Day, which is still celebrated and taught in the public school system
– Pioneer and friendly Indian Statue on Iowa State Capitol Grounds
– The Marion Indian mascot and name
– The name “Squaw Creek” for the tributary to South Skunk River in Ames
– 40 foot mural of manifest destiny in the Iowa State Capitol building
– Manifest Destiny murals in the Polk County Courthouse
– Confederate monuments in Bloomfield

These monuments, names, and holidays clearly celebrate white supremacy as they whitewash the history of colonization, genocide, slavery, and Jim Crow in this county. They are an overt act of institutionalized racism. For instance, when referring to a statue of “Johnny Reb” in a recent speech, Jay Jones, a black Democratic delegate from Virginia said, “Every time I drive past it — which is every day to get to my law office — my heart breaks a little bit,” It is time for Iowa to accept responsibility for the past and for the continued retraumatization of BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ folks through these public displays of white supremacy and the heteropatriarchy. 

If there is a monument, mural, or any other celebration of White supremacy in your neighborhood, we ask that you take the time to learn more about it and take action. Write to your local legislator, organize a rally, or start an online campaign. There is a lot that we all can do to clear the social landscape of a false history told only by white men.

To learn more about Great Plains Action Society, go to greatplainsaction.org

Posted in American Friends Service Committee, decolonize, Des Moines Mutual Aid, Great Plains Action Society, Indigenous, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, Native Americans, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Indigenous People’s Day 2020

Posted on October 12, 2020 by Jeff Kisling

Welcome morning. This is the sky’s greeting for us this day. Two of my turkey vulture friends just flew over. The colors of the leaves are glorious.

Today is Indigenous People’s Day. I’m looking forward to seeing friends and attending the celebration in Des Moines. Information about that here: https://atomic-temporary-82209146.wpcomstaging.com/2020/10/07/indigenous-peoples-day-des-moines/

Join a coalition of organizations in Des Moines on October 12th from 4-7 (South Lawn of the Capitol Building) to celebrate Indigenous People’s Day! However, as we celebrate this day we also recognize that columbus day has not yet been abolished in Iowa and is simultaneously celebrated and taught in the public school system. Furthermore, monuments to white supremacy litter the landscape of Iowa and we demand that they be removed.

WE DEMAND:
THAT COLUMBUS DAY BE ABOLISHED IN IOWA!
THAT THE COLUMBUS STATUE BE REMOVED AT THE IOWA STATE CAPITOL!

Organizers will present Iowa legislators with a petition that will kick off at the event demanding that all racist, misogynistic, homo/transphobic, whitewashed historical depictions be removed from all state grounds and facilities. On the South Lawn, there is a Christopher Columbus Monument that was celebrated in 1938 by five thousand people who showed up for the dedication of the statue on Columbus Day.

Indigenous People’s Day, Des Moines, 2020

My first personal connections with Native Americans began about five years ago in Indianapolis, when we worked together to bring attention to the dangers of the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL), to protect the water. I closely followed the amazing gatherings, prayers and actions of those at Standing Rock.

Since then I have been praying for, and led to numerous ways to continue connections with, build friendships with, Native people. I was blessed to join the First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March, September 1 – 8, 2018. We walked and camped along the route of the Dakota Access pipeline, from Des Moines to Fort Dodge, Iowa. Some of the most powerful spiritual experiences I’ve ever had were the times we stopped for prayers, every time we walked over the pipeline. There are many writings, photos and videos of that March here: https://firstnationfarmer.com/

I recently tried to express what I’ve been learning and feeling about my role in all of this as a White settler colonist. https://atomic-temporary-82209146.wpcomstaging.com/2020/10/08/a-white-settler-colonist-and-indigenous-peoples-day/ I believe it is important for those of us who are White, and living on native lands, to state that we are, here and now, colonizers. Until we do, we will not have the perspective needed to understand how we can begin to heal the damage our ancestors did. And we continue to do, both to native peoples, ourselves, and Mother Earth.

Decolonization requires both education and healing. Attending events such as Indigenous People’s Day are opportunities for education. These events can also contribute to healing as we White people show up for support. We can contact our Iowa legislators to support the petition that will kick off the event in Des Moines today, demanding that all racist, misogynistic, homo/transphobic, whitewashed historical depictions be removed from all state grounds and facilities.

Another educational resource is this link to a PowerPoint presentation I created, Native and non-native peoples. And as mentioned above, there is a lot of writing and photos and videos related to the First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March. Other sources are Decolonizing Quakers, and Toward Right Relationship with Native Peoples.

Following is a depiction of what I’ve been learning. I hope many of us will take this opportunity today to find ways to learn and to begin to heal.

Posted in #NDAPL, decolonize, First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March, Indigenous, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Mutual Aid in Brazil and Iowa

Posted on October 11, 2020 by Jeff Kisling

A recent article caught my attention, SOLIDARITY, DIRECT ACTION, AND SELF-DETERMINATION: KASA INVISÍVEL. An Occupied Social Center Becomes A Hub Of Mutual Aid In Belo Horizonte, Brazil. I had not known about the concept of Mutual Aid, nor its global reach. I’ve been writing about what I’ve been learning. https://kislingjeff.wordpress.com/?s=mutual+aid

In a speech my friend Ronnie James recently gave at a Black Lives Matter teach-in, The Police State and Why We Must Resist, he said he represented Des Moines Mutual Aid. I asked him to tell me about that

It started as group of my friends working with the houseless camps some years back. It has now grown into a solid crew that runs a free food store started by the Black Panthers, still work with the camps, we organized a bail fund that has gotten every protester out of jail the last few months, and we just started an eviction relief fund to try to get a head of the coming crisis, in cooperation with Des Moines BLM. We have raised $13,000 since Wednesday and the application to apply for the grants goes live this week.

Ronnie James

DM Mutual Aid
https://www.facebook.com/Des-Moines-Mutual-Aid-108955753983592/
DM Rent Relief
https://www.facebook.com/DSMBLMRentRelief/
DM Bail Fund
https://www.facebook.com/dsmbailfund

I love this concept. It puts the focus on us helping each other, instead of us helping someone else. I also like this multi-pronged approach. Helping each other with food, shelter, and supporting those arrested for agitating for change.

When Patrick was talking with me my first day at the food project, he said mutual aid means we should also feel free to take some of the food ourselves.

In this post, Be Vulnerable, I explain the free food program that I’ve been helping with. https://kislingjeff.wordpress.com/2020/09/16/be-vulnerable/ Yesterday on two separate occasions, two people told me these two hours are the best part of their week.

I’ve read, thought and written a lot over the years about Beloved community. I’ve found it here with Mutual Aid.

The Zapatistas have said the best solidarity anyone can offer is to start their own social centers, projects, movements, and revolutions wherever they are based. In Belo Horizonte, the capital city of the state of Minas Gerais in southeastern Brazil, a collective called Kasa Invisível (Portuguese for “Invisible House”) has heeded that proposal, and hopes to inspire you to do the same.

The three formerly abandoned houses now occupied by this autonomous, anti-capitalist collective serve as a home for people in need, a social and cultural center for the community, and a meeting and organizing space for anti-authoritarian resistance and mutual aid. While there are hundreds of building and land occupations in Minas Gerais alone, Kasa is one of only a few squats in the region that explicitly exist to support struggles against the state and capitalism. As they refocus their efforts to meet their neighbors’ needs during the COVID-19 pandemic, the collective maintains a consistent relationship of mutual aid with the surrounding community, both giving support to and receiving support from those who live and work there. While they aim to be a reference and inspiration for similar projects throughout Brazil for a long time to come, recent circumstances have put the future of their occupation in question, prompting them to call for solidarity from the international community to keep this vital center of resistance active.

SOLIDARITY, DIRECT ACTION, AND SELF-DETERMINATION: KASA INVISÍVEL By Meghan McGee, GEO-coop. October 9, 2020, CREATE
An Occupied Social Center Becomes A Hub Of Mutual Aid In Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

In recent months, members of progressive direct-action organizations have developed new systems for checking on their neighbors, dropping off food and medicine, providing protective personal equipment to incarcerated family members, and giving cash to those suddenly unemployed to meet immediate rent, food, and medical needs. At the same time, they’re continuing to press for workers’ rights and proper health care during the pandemic, as well as ensure access to federal stimulus money for individuals and small minority-owned businesses.

In so doing, these organizations are harkening back to their roots: people creating social ties by helping each other out, and those ties fueling collective fights for new systems and policies.

Combining mutual aid and direct action might seem like common sense, but in today’s corporatized and professionalized nonprofit world, this model had disappeared almost completely. Community-based nonprofits in the United States today are split into distinct silos, with service provision firmly compartmentalized in one box and direct-action organizing in another.

WHY TODAY’S SOCIAL REVOLUTIONS INCLUDE KALE, MEDICAL CARE, AND HELP WITH RENT. In the Pandemic, Community Organizations Have Returned to Their Roots in Mutual Aid and Self-Determination by by RINKU SEN, Zocalo Public Square,  JULY 1, 2020

For millions of poor and working people, life in this country is going to change – and change very quickly. Already, many companies are starting to lay off workers as the economy slows and things begin to shut down. Low wage workers, many already living just on the edge of eviction and homelessness, now find themselves with even less money coming in and with young children, recently forced out of school, to watch and feed.

Autonomous Groups Are Mobilizing Mutual Aid Initiatives To Combat The Coronavirus, It’s Going Down, March 20, 2020
https://twitter.com/IGD_News/status/1238266465788276736?s=20

Teach In 8/22/2020
Des Moines BLM
Ronnie James

The Police State and Why We Must Resist

Hello all, my name is Ronnie James, and I am here representing Des Moines Mutual Aid.

I am descended from numerous peoples of so-called north america.

At this point I am supposed to do a land acknowledgment, but I don’t like what those have been distorted into. Instead I will say you are standing on and directly benefiting from stolen land, within a nation built by stolen bodies, which is the foundation of the police state that occupies these sacred grounds of the original peoples.  If you would like to know more of who’s land you are on, there are numerous resources. We are still here, and numerous, just ask us.

Historically, the police and other law enforcement were formed to protect the interests and property of the moneyed classes from the rest of the People. This “property” included the bodies of the enslaved and was the justification for brutally repressing the righteous and inevitable revolts born from the atrocity of slavery. This same philosophy of endless possession was the bloodlust that fueled the “Indian Wars” and the theft of Indigenous land and bodies that continues to this day.   (Wampanoag, 2020)

Today, this same war of conquest, the repression of the many for the benefit of the few, continues. 

Currently, Des Moines Mutual Aid and its many accomplices have been fighting a battle with the city of des moines and it’s foot soldiers trying to repress our houseless population from utilizing unused “property”. The basic universal need of a place to rest and be safe is trumped by the need of the wealthy, and the wannabe wealthy, to control every inch they can possess. It is a war for control, and the pigs have enlisted willingly.

This same war of conquest is currently using the mass incarceration machine to instill fear in the populace, warehouse cheap labor, and destabilize communities that dare to defy a system that would rather see you dead than noncompliant. This is the same war where it’s soldiers will kill a black or brown body, basically instinctively, because our very existence reminds them of all that they have stolen and the possibility of a revolution that can create a new world where conquest is a shameful memory.

As bleak as this is, there is a significant amount of resistance and hope to turn the tide we currently suffer under. We stand on the shoulders of giants that have been doing this work for centuries, and there are many lessons we can learn from.

The first, and possibly the most important, is that it was not always this way, which proves it does not have to stay this way.  

What we have is each other. We can and need to take care of each other. We may have limited power on the political stage, a stage they built, but we have the power of numbers.

Those numbers represent unlimited amounts of talents and skills each community can utilize to replace the systems that fail us.  The recent past shows us that mutual aid is not only a tool of survival, but also a tool of revolution. The more we take care of each other, the less they can fracture a community with their ways of war. Organized groups like The American Indian Movement and the Black Panther Party for Self Defense showed that we can build not only aggressive security forces for our communities, but they also built many programs that directly responded to the general wellbeing of their communities. This tradition began long before them and continues to this day. Look into the Zapatistas in Southern so-called Mexico for a current and effective example.

These people’s security forces, or the “policing of the police” not only helps to minimize the abuse and trauma they can inflict on us, but it begins to shift the power balance from them to us.

Mutual Aid programs that help our most marginalized or other events that work to maintain our spirits result in stronger communities. A strong community is less vulnerable to police intrusion. 99% of our conflicts can be solved by those affected by them, but only with the support of those around them. Anytime we call on the police to mediate our problems, we are risking ourselves or a loved one from being hurt or worse.

The more we replace the police with organized community response to conflict, the safer we will be. Another powerful benefit is the removal of power from those that take their orders from those that have no interest in your well-being, at least past it being useful to amass and increase wealth.

Of course, part of this fight of police abolition will be fought on the political stage, but let’s not fool ourselves that the state and the wealthy will ever give up tight control on all resources. We can lobby and vote to have police resources diverted to less dangerous organizations, but they will still be working for the same state and same class that have dispossessed and repressed us for centuries. Every election has the possibility of reversing any policy gain we may won. Some of the fight will be in the government offices, but the majority of it will be us, in the street.

Many communities work to train amongst themselves mental and physical health workers, conflict mediators, and anything else we need, despite the state and it’s soldiers insistence that they are the sole “authority” of these skills, and always with the implied threat of violence.

As we work toward this, and this summer has proven des moines has the heart, desire, and skills to do so, we still have to deal with what’s in front of us.

We each have skills and resources we can utilize towards the abolition project. Some of us can use the halls of the system to make short term change there, others have skills that produce food, provide medical care, or care for our precious youth, some are skilled in the more confrontational tactics needed. Once we envision that world our ancestors want for us, finding our role is natural.

All Power To The People.

Ronnie James

If we are to survive, and more importantly, thrive, we know what we will have to do.

Posted in decolonize, Des Moines Black Lives Matter, Des Moines Mutual Aid, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Racial justice protesters banned from Iowa Capitol in “stunning misuse of power”

Posted on October 9, 2020 by Jeff Kisling

I don’t have first hand knowledge about these stories, but as someone who has participated in peaceful protests, I am shocked by the actions of the police.

The reason this came to my attention is I have heard some who would have participated in this Monday’s Indigenous People’s Day event at the Iowa Capitol will not be able to attend because of the arrests described here in articles from the Des Moines Register. I appreciate the Register’s reporting of these events. Register reporter, Andrea Sahouri, was arrested as she was covering a protest. (her story below).

Police say an altercation between Black Lives Matter demonstrators and officers at the state Capitol on Wednesday ignited when a protester in a crowd that tried to pull two people from police custody allegedly jumped on an officer’s back, put him in a chokehold and managed to disarm him. 

Police say they used pepper spray on the crowd and arrested 17 people, including two juveniles. At least three of the arrests included charges in connection with a June 20 protest outside a Hy-Vee where a police car and other property was damaged.

Wednesday’s Black Lives Matter demonstration was organized to demand that Gov. Kim Reynolds restore felon voting rights by executive order. The Hy-Vee protest came into play when officers arrested three people inside the Capitol in connection with that incident, Des Moines Sgt. Paul Parizek said in a news release early Wednesday evening. 

Protester disarmed officer in fight outside Capitol, police say by Register Staff Reports, Des Moines Register, July 1, 2020.

That article contains a timeline of events, photos and videos.

As a result of the arrests, the protesters received notice they will be arrested if they return to state property.

Iowa has warned multiple civil rights protesters arrested at the Capitol last month that they will face trespassing charges if they return to state property anytime this year, an action the ACLU of Iowa contends would be unconstitutional. 

The warning to protesters from Sgt. Tyson Underwood of the Iowa State Patrol followed a July 1 altercation between Black Lives Matter demonstrators and officers at the Capitol who tried to pull two people from police custody, allegedly jumping on an officer’s back, placing him in a chokehold and disarming him.

Police used pepper spray on the crowd and arrested 17 people, including two juveniles in the July 1 event.

“As a result of your actions and/or behavior towards citizen(s) and/or employee(s) of the State of Iowa on July 1, 2020, any continued and future presence on or about the property after the date of this letter will not be welcome or tolerated,” Underwood wrote in a July 15 letter that cited a state trespassing law.

Iowa protesters told they will be arrested if they return to state property, Andrea May Sahouri, Des Moines Register, August 17, 2020

This sounds like an extreme response, and infringement on First Amendment rights of free speech and assembly. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the protesters.

A federal lawsuit has been filed on behalf of five racial justice protesters who were arrested and banned from the Iowa State Capitol following a July 1 altercation between Black Lives Matter supporters and law enforcement on Capitol grounds, the ACLU of Iowa announced Monday.

ACLU officials say the Capitol ban is unconstitutional, as it blocks individuals from their their rights to free speech, assembly, movement and to petition their government, the civil rights organization wrote in a news release.

The five protesters named in the lawsuit — Jalesha Johnson, Louise Bequeaith, Haley Jo Dikkers, Brad Penna and Brandi Ramus — were among 17 people arrested, including two juveniles, July 1.

The lawsuit is filed against Stephan K. Bayens, the Commissioner of the Iowa Department of Public Safety; Lt. Steve Lawrence, Iowa State Patrol District 16 Commander; Sgt. Tyson Underwood, ISP Assistant District 16 Commander; ISP Trooper Durk Pearston, and another unnamed ISP trooper.

The lawsuit claims the civil rights of the five protesters named in the suit, which are protected by the First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth and 14th amendments, have been violated.

ACLU of Iowa Legal Director Rita Bettis Austen says the Capitol ban is a “stunning misuse of power” and retaliation from the ISP, and an attempt to silence free speech and protest that is critical of law enforcement and the government. 

“You can’t block people’s right to protest simply because you don’t like them or think they’ve behaved in a way you disagree with, or even if they’ve been arrested during a prior protest,” Bettis Austen said in Monday’s news release. “We are also challenging the bans as a violation of our clients’ fundamental freedom of movement, and due process.”

ACLU of Iowa: Group of racial justice protesters banned from Capitol file lawsuit by Andrea May Sahouri, Des Moines Register, October 5, 2020

As I searched for more information about these actions against protesters, I was shocked by another story in the Des Moines Register about the arrest of their reporter on a separate occasion, who wrote the articles above. The following article contains a video Sahouri recorded at the time of her arrest.

More than 250 students and staff from the Columbia University School of Journalism — the alma mater of a Des Moines Register journalist arrested in May while covering a Black Lives Matter protest — have signed a letter asking Polk County Attorney John Sarcone to drop what they call “unjustified” charges.

Andrea Sahouri has pleaded not guilty to the charges of interference with official acts and failure to disperse. She was on assignment at the scene of a May 31 Merle Hay Mall demonstration that had turned violent when she and her former boyfriend — who she said accompanied her for safety reasons — were arrested.

Sahouri, who earned a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia in 2019, says she told officers multiple times that she was a journalist, but that they nevertheless used pepper spray on her, handcuffed her and took her to jail.

Des Moines police contend that Sahouri, who previously had reported from the scene on their handling of other demonstrations, did not clearly identify herself as a journalist, unlike other reporters covering the Merle Hay protest. Another Register journalist who was with Sahouri at the time of her arrest was not detained.

Drop charges against Des Moines Register reporter, Columbia University demands by Jason Clayworth, Des Moines Register, October 5, 2020
Posted in Black Lives, civil disobedience, Des Moines Black Lives Matter, Indigenous, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

A White settler colonist and Indigenous people’s day

Posted on October 8, 2020 by Jeff Kisling

This is one of those times when I’m really uncomfortable as I begin to write because this is solely based on my own experiences. Which is a bit silly compared to the perspective of people putting their lives on the line. Basically what life is like for Black, Indigenous and other people of color (BIPOC) every day in this country. That has to stop.

As Indigenous People’s Day approaches we have an opportunity, or I would say obligation, to reflect upon where we are today. By we, I mean White settler colonists such as myself.

Settler colonialism is a form of colonialism that seeks to replace[1] the original population of the colonized territory with a new society of settlers.[citation needed] As with all forms of colonialism, it is based on exogenous domination, typically organized or supported by an imperial authority.[2] Settler colonialism is enacted by a variety of means ranging from violent depopulation of the previous inhabitants to more subtle, legal means such as assimilation or recognition of indigenous identity within a colonial framework.[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Settler_colonialism

In the same way one of the first steps toward recovery from addiction is to admit one has the addiction, I believe we White settler colonists need to face this is what we are. If you are a White person, can you say “I am a White settler colonist?”

Most White people in this country would like to believe the White version of the history of this land since the arrival of their ancestors. And whenever we White people hear parts of the true history, most of us try to convince ourselves those acts occurred in the past and are no longer relevant.

But William Faulkner was correct when he wrote “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” The effects of trauma are carried from one generation to the next, intergenerational trauma. The tragedies of the history of forced assimilation of native children generations ago, for example, are an “open wound” in native communities today.

White settler colonialism continues to this day. We White people are living on, have settled on native land. Can you, if you are a White person, say “I am a White settler colonist?” Do you believe it?

Though not even on the same order of magnitude, trauma also affects those who inflict the trauma. Those adverse affects are also passed from generation to generation. If you are a White person, can you look deep inside yourself to find your trauma? Can you look for stories about your ancestors, and see them in a different light now?

Decolonizing is, of course, the opposite of colonizing. We, as White people, need to be open to, to search for help to decolonize ourselves. The process of decolonizing involves education and healing. Two resources to help us do so are Decolonizing Quakers, https://www.decolonizingquakers.org/, and Toward Right Relationship with Native Peoples, https://friendspeaceteams.org/announcing-trr/

Yesterday I wrote about Indigenous People’s Day in Des Moines, Iowa. This is an opportunity for us White people to learn, for the education part of decolonization. https://kislingjeff.wordpress.com/2020/10/07/indigenous-peoples-day-des-moines/ This is organized by my friends of the Great Plains Action Society. It is also an opportunity to publicly support BIPOC.

Great Plains Action Society

MISSION STATEMENT

We are Indigenous Peoples of the Great Plains proactively working to resist and Indigenize colonial-capitalist institutions and behaviors. We defend the land where our ancestors lie and where the children walk. Our goal is to reclaim what has been stolen and oppressed to create a better world for us all.

https://www.greatplainsaction.org/

Join a coalition of organizations in Des Moines on October 12th from 4-7 (South Lawn of the Capitol Building) to celebrate Indigenous People’s Day! However, as we celebrate this day we also recognize that columbus day has not yet been abolished in Iowa and is simultaneously celebrated and taught in the public school system. Furthermore, monuments to white supremacy litter the landscape of Iowa and we demand that they be removed.

WE DEMAND:
THAT COLUMBUS DAY BE ABOLISHED IN IOWA!
THAT THE COLUMBUS STATUE BE REMOVED AT THE IOWA STATE CAPITOL!

Indigenous Peoples Day 2020 – Des Moines, MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2020 AT 4 PM CDT – 7 PM CDT, Iowa State Capitol

Indigenous People’s Day is coming up. This is a good time to have conversations about colonization and respecting Indigenous sovereignty. Climate Justice Alliance provides a set of policy proposals we can support and organize around. 

This is one of the Policy Planks of the United Frontline Table’s toolkit A People’s Orientation to a Regenerative Economy. The policy planks are one of three tools in the kit, together with series of Strategy Questions and the Protect, Repair, Invest, and Transform Framework. Make sure the check out the section on How to Use This Resource to Enhance Your Work and the Working Definitions.

BREAKING THE CYCLE OF COLONIZATION by Climate Justice Alliance. October 6, 2020

Posted in decolonize, Des Moines Mutual Aid, Indigenous, Native Americans, Toward Right Relationship with Native Peoples, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Indigenous People’s Day Des Moines

Posted on October 7, 2020 by Jeff Kisling

Following is information about Indigenous People’s Day, this coming Monday, Oct. 12. Organized by my friends of the Great Plains Action Society (previously known as Indigenous Iowa). You may have heard me talk about Seeding Sovereignty, where my friend Christine Nobiss did so much work. She is no longer involved there, but is now with the Great Plains Action Society.

Let’s look at the Indigenous Peoples that have survived genocide and continue to carry on their ways—ways which can save the world. Let’s look to our tribal nations for an Indigenous-led regenerative economy created through traditional ecological knowledge. An effective way we can protect, preserve and restore the climate is by seeing and taking the word of people who fight colonial oppression by tenaciously holding onto traditions that tell a different story about this planet.
Let’s get funds to Indigenous Peoples first. We have answers.

Christine Nobiss

After reading that statement, Bear Creek Friends Meeting sent a donation.

Great Plains Action Society

MISSION STATEMENT

We are Indigenous Peoples of the Great Plains proactively working to resist and Indigenize colonial-capitalist institutions and behaviors. We defend the land where our ancestors lie and where the children walk. Our goal is to reclaim what has been stolen and oppressed to create a better world for us all.

https://www.greatplainsaction.org/

Indigenous Peoples Day 2020 – Des Moines, MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2020 AT 4 PM – 7 PM CDT, Iowa State Capitol

https://www.facebook.com/GreatPlainsActionSociety

Join a coalition of organizations in Des Moines on October 12th from 4-7 (South Lawn of the Capitol Building) to celebrate Indigenous People’s Day! However, as we celebrate this day we also recognize that columbus day has not yet been abolished in Iowa and is simultaneously celebrated and taught in the public school system. Furthermore, monuments to white supremacy litter the landscape of Iowa and we demand that they be removed.

WE DEMAND:
THAT COLUMBUS DAY BE ABOLISHED IN IOWA!
THAT THE COLUMBUS STATUE BE REMOVED AT THE IOWA STATE CAPITOL!

Organizers will present Iowa legislators with a petition that will kick off at the event demanding that all racist, misogynistic, homo/transphobic, whitewashed historical depictions be removed from all state grounds and facilities. On the South Lawn, there is a Christopher Columbus Monument that was celebrated in 1938 by five thousand people who showed up for the dedication of the statue on Columbus Day.

Local leaders will speak, but we will also provide time for testimony from the crowd. Organizations will have tables with information and Great Plains Action and Vote Mob will have a table where folx can register to vote. If we want the changes we demand on the frontlines to take place then we need legislators in government that will write them into law. Let’s bring the frontlines to polls.

COVID-19 is still an issue and we ask all who attend to wear masks and stand 6 feet apart. If you would like to testify and have access to a bullhorn or mic, please bring it. propaganda and make folx feel unwelcome in public spaces. This is a peaceful event led by Indigenous Folx. Please do not take actions that will put Brown and Black folx in jeopardy.

Indigenous Peoples Day 2020 – Des Moines, MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2020 AT 4 PM CDT – 7 PM CDT, Iowa State Capitol

The demand for the removal of the Columbus statue was also part of the event July 4th, HEY! Come Get Your Racist Uncle. Remove Monuments to White Supremacy in Iowa:

In response to police brutality and racial injustice, monuments to white supremacy are being removed all over the country but People of the World Majority are being forced to put their safety on the line to carry out this long-overdue purge. Folx have been shot, arrested, and targeted. Now, #45 has signed an executive order to arrest anyone who vandalizes, removes a statue or threatens federal property and jail them for up to 10 years.

This is an Indigenous-led rally and we do not want any more People of the World Majority to put their bodies on the line so this is a permitted event with the intent of making the state–the colonizers–do the job for us. All we should need to do is ask, especially when these monuments fall into the realm of hate propaganda and make folx feel unwelcome in public spaces. However, this colonially enforced government is built upon white supremacy and human rights violations and, thus, will not budge unless we make them take action on the issue. If they won’t protect those that are doing the right thing to create a better society then we demand legislation that removes all monuments, murals, and depictions of white supremacist persons, acts, and ideologies from all Iowa state grounds and state-funded institutions.

To start, we insist that the following statues and mural be removed from the Iowa State Capitol Building and grounds.

On the West Lawn, there is a 15-foot bronze statue on a large pedestal that stands in front of the Iowa State Capitol Building. According to the Iowa State Government website, the statue depicts “The Pioneer of the former territory, a group consisting of father and son guided by a friendly Indian in search of a home. The pioneer depicted was to be hardy, capable of overcoming the hardships of territorial days to make Iowa his home.” The father and son settler invaders are standing tall and proud, looking west, as the “friendly Indian” sits behind them in a less powerful, dejected position.

Inside the capitol is a piece that overwhelmingly encompasses this sentiment called the Westward Mural, which covers a massive wall. The artist writes that “The main idea of the picture is symbolical presentation of the Pioneers led by the spirits of Civilization and Enlightenment to the conquest by cultivation of the Great West.” He also speaks about overcoming the wilderness with plowed fields–as if the current Indigenous inhabitants, such as the Ioway and the Meskwaki, had not already created capable and efficient land management systems.

On the South Lawn, there is a Christopher Columbus Monument that was celebrated in 1938 by five thousand people who showed up for the dedication of the statue on Columbus Day. The statue was put up just a couple years after the Columbus Club of Iowa successfully lobbied to have Walker Park renamed to Columbus Park and have a Columbus monument placed there.

Indigenous People’s Day is coming up. This is a good time to have conversations about colonization and respecting Indigenous sovereignty. Climate Justice Alliance provides a set of policy proposals we can support and organize around. 

This is one of the Policy Planks of the United Frontline Table’s toolkit A People’s Orientation to a Regenerative Economy. The policy planks are one of three tools in the kit, together with series of Strategy Questions and the Protect, Repair, Invest, and Transform Framework. Make sure the check out the section on How to Use This Resource to Enhance Your Work and the Working Definitions.

BREAKING THE CYCLE OF COLONIZATION by Climate Justice Alliance. October 6, 2020
Posted in climate change, decolonize, Great Plains Action Society, Indigenous, Native Americans, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policy in the United States bill

Posted on October 5, 2020 by Jeff Kisling

There is a long and terrible history related to the attempts to forcibly assimilate native children into the White settler culture that colonized the lands and people in what are known as the United States and Canada.

This is a subject I have had a concern about for a long time. (see: https://kislingjeff.wordpress.com/?s=%22boarding+schools%22)

The timing of the introduction of the bill described below is intentional. The president said he would sign an executive order encouraging schools to give students a “patriotic education,” one that doesn’t teach “lies” about the country being “plagued with racism.”

This is ironic because the history taught in schools absolutely needs to be corrected since it is taught from the view of White settler colonialism. With little or no truthful material about the history of slavery and the genocide of indigenous peoples.

The president’s intention to rewrite history is extremely alarming because it is one of the fundamental tactics of authoritarianism. Added to a long list of other authoritarian acts by this administration.

Regardless of those politics, we really need a Truth and Healing Commission on Boarding School Policy in the United States.

This video by my friend Paula Palmer is an excellent introduction to this subject.

Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) will introduce legislation Tuesday to make the federal government address the “intergenerational trauma” it has caused for Native Americans with its former Indian boarding school policy, a nearly century-long policy of forcibly removing Indigenous children from tribal lands and putting them into boarding schools to be assimilated into white culture.

Their bill, the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policy Act, would create a first-of-its-kind U.S. commission to document and acknowledge the past injustices of the government’s “cultural genocide and assimilation practices.” The commission would enlist Congress to come up with recommendations for improving public awareness and education on the government’s former policy.

The issue is personal for Haaland, who is one of just two Native American women to ever serve in Congress. Her grandparents were taken away to attend boarding schools.

“Native people are resilient and strong, but the painful and traumatic history of genocide and forced assimilation by the federal government lives on in our communities and our people have never been able to fully heal,” Haaland said in a statement. “I know not many people are aware of the history of Indian boarding schools, and I know it’s not taught in schools ― but our country must do better to acknowledge our real history and push for truth and reconciliation.”

The timing of the bill’s introduction is intentional: It is in response to President Donald Trump announcing this month that he would sign an executive order encouraging schools to give students a “patriotic education,” one that doesn’t teach “lies” about the country being “plagued with racism.”

It was an entirely political move on Trump’s part; the federal government does not control local school curriculums. He announced his executive action after a decision by some school districts to teach history in a more honest and even-handed way, as outlined by The New York Times’ 1619 Project, which reframes the narrative of U.S. history in the context of slavery and contributions of Black Americans.

Democrats To Unveil Bill Addressing Government’s Cultural Genocide Of Native Americans. The bill spotlights the “intergenerational trauma” faced by Indigenous people after children were forcibly separated from their parents and put into white boarding schools by Jennifer Bendery, HufPost, 9/29/2020

Here is a link to the PDF file of the following, which is easier to read. https://turtletalk.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/truthandhealingcommissiononindianboardingschoolpolicy.pdf

https://turtletalk.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/truthandhealingcommissiononindianboardingschoolpolicy.pdf

S.4752 – A bill to establish the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policy in the United States, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Sen. Warren, Elizabeth [D-MA] (Introduced 09/29/2020)
Committees: Senate – Indian Affairs
Latest Action: Senate – 09/29/2020 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/4752

H.R.8420 – To establish the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policy in the United States, and for other purposes.
Date All Actions
09/29/2020 Referred to the Committee on Education and Labor, and in addition to the Committee on Natural Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Action By: House of Representatives
09/29/2020 Introduced in House
Action By: House of Representatives
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/8420/

https://www.warren.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/The%20Truth%20and%20Healing%20Commission%20on%20Indian%20Boarding%20School%20Policy%20Act.pdf
Posted in enslavement, Indigenous, Native Americans, Quaker, Toward Right Relationship with Native Peoples, Uncategorized | Leave a comment