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War on Iran, Juneteenth, Free Palestine Coalition Graduation Ceremony, and More |
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Friends,
- This Juneteenth, we honor the struggles of Black people in the U.S. whose freedom from slavery (from Vermont and Pennsylvania to Galveston, Texas) was not handed to them by White saviors, but with the resistance, uprisings, and the unbreakable will of Black people. But the fight for abolition continues, because "freedom is a constant struggle." As abolitionists such as Michelle Alexander and Angela Davis have argued, the U.S. prison industrial complex is a continuation of slavery, convict leasing, and the Jim Crow era. Angela Davis, along with many Black scholars such as Robin D.G. Kelley, has emphasized the connections between the Black liberation movement and the Palestinian liberation movement. We echo Angela Davis when she says, "solidarity with Palestine has the potential to further transform and render more capacious the political consciousness of our contemporary movements. BLM activists and others associated with this very important historical moment of a surging collective consciousness calling for recognition of the persisting structures of racism can play an important role in compelling other areas of social justice activism to take up the cause of Palestine solidarity—specifically the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement."
- Last Friday, Israel launched an unprovoked and deadly attack on the people of Iran. Israel has targeted and destroyed numerous residential areas and civilian infrastructures, including children’s hospitals and the national broadcasting in Iran, killing at least 585 people and injuring 1481. According to Iran's Ministry of Health, 90% of those killed and injured are civilians. A group of Iranian scholars in the U.S. released a statement yesterday. They end their statement with, "We invite all people of conscience fighting for justice to sign this statement, stand in solidarity, divest from Israel, and demand an end to Israel’s war on Iran and the genocide in Gaza. We call on the U.S. lawmakers to end financial, tactical, and strategic military support and arms shipments to Israel and not take Netanyahu’s bait to enter yet another bloody war on behalf of the Israeli state. We believe money spent on Israel’s wars should be spent on affordable healthcare, education, and housing here at home. Hands off Iran! Free Palestine!" You can sign the statement here. **You don't have to be Iranian or live in the U.S. to sign.**
- The wars on Iran and Palestine are enabled by investments and contracts with weapons manufacturing companies, in which our university shamefully invests. Please keep asking the University to end all its contracts with weapons manufacturing companies and end its plan to use our university's resources for North Wind's hypersonic missile testing. Last week, our brave students disrupted the Board of Regents meeting and protested the University's contract with North Wind. Board of regents lack of response to all calls, emails, and dismissing protests against the contract with North Wind, and their undemocratic and secretive hiring of Gretchen Ritters for $675,000+ a year (really, closer to $725,000 with perks and ridiculously high raises) reveal, more than ever before, that this university's leadership upholds an authoritarian decision-making model, while giving the illusion of democratic decision making. The performance of "voting" as a formality at the Board of Regents meetings does not fool us.
- The MN Free Palestine Coalition held a celebration ceremony for our Palestinian graduates and all student activists fighting for liberation in Palestine who graduated in 2025. We also celebrated the courageous Halimy Hall arrestees who showed the Twin Cities what solidarity looks like. The event was a reminder that even when under attack, we must pause, share space, and take joy in the presence of those who give us hope in the face of hostility from the administration.
Upcoming Events
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TODAY!!! Thursday, June 19
5:30 PM
Emergency Protest: Hands Off Iran!
Federal Building, 300 S 4th Street, Mpls
🚨 EMERGENCY PROTEST: the military attack on Iran is escalating!
⚠️ URGENT: Israel has issued a 24-hour evacuation warning to the residents of District 3 of Tehran. President Trump has now committed to partnering with Israel in its escalation against Iran and has given the Iranian leaders 24-48 hours to “surrender” unconditionally. A full-scale US and Israeli bombardment is on the horizon.
We are witnessing a repetition of the same pretexts the US imperial machine used to justify the war in Iraq. 224 Iranians have already been killed.
📣 WE HAVE TO SAY NO TO US BOMBING OF IRAN!
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Monday, June 23
6 PM
Fighting Pinkwashing & Navigating Queer/Transness in Our SWANA and Muslim Communities
301 Cedar Ave S, Minneapolis, 55454
EJP, Mizna, Afghan Cultural Society, and US Palestinian Community Network, MN: Join us for a conversation among SWANA queer and trans activists, artists, and scholars to discuss the challenges of organizing against the Israeli settler colonial occupation, apartheid, and genocide, while navigating queerness and transness in our multiple communities. Fighting anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian, anti-immigrant, and anti-SWANA hate while facing anti-queer/trans hate/discrimination from White supremacists and Zionists is exhausting. Being discriminated against and devalued by some members of our own communities is not only demoralizing, but it weakens our collective movement to end U.S. imperialism and Israeli occupation.
In this conversation, speakers will discuss the U.S. and Israeli pinkwashing propaganda machines that attempt to instrumentalize our lives and our struggles for their imperialistic and Zionist expansionist agendas. We will also discuss what it means to be queer and Muslim, queer and Palestinian, or queer and SWANA when the dominant binary discourses (which assume the incommensurability of queerness and Islam, queerness and Palestinian-ness, or queerness and SWANAness) erase/exclude those who refuse to choose between multiple facets of their identities and struggles. In a time when the Muslim ban, ICE raids, and anti-trans laws target our communities, we find it necessary to build stronger coalitions.
This conversation is organized by EJP and endorsed/co-presented by Mizna, USPCN, and the Afghan Cultural Society. 🇵🇸✊🏽
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Saturday, June 21
2 PM
Resisting the Raids: A Panel on Police Violence and Resistance from Stonewall to ICE
New City Center
3400 15th Ave, Minneapolis
Taking Back Pride, MIRAC, and TCC4J: Join us for a Juneteenth edition of our Resisting the Raids panel with @tcc4j and @miracmn Learn about queer resistance to police violence and repression from Stonewall to ICE.
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Saturday, June 21
Immigration Raid Response Training
Register for time and place.
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Saturday, June 28
MPLS People's Pride 2025
📅 Saturday, June 28th
⏰ 12-4 PM
📍Powderhorn Park
Minneapolis People's Pride is back on June 28th, 12-4pm at Powderhorn Park! This is a masks required event. Every break in the chain of transmission of Covid (and other airborne illnesses) is a benefit to our community! Masking up also helps the most vulnerable in our community be able to attend - and since anyone can be impacted by Covid illness and Long Covid, masks help protect all of us.
For all those able to, please find places to purchase masks ahead of time in our linktree: @maskblocmsp. For all those who need, you can make a request ahead of time for free masks from our form @maskblocmsp. There will be a limited stock of free masks available at the event. We can't wait to see you there!
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Sunday, June 29
Taking Back Pride March 2025
📅 Sunday, June 29th
⏰ 10 AM
📍6th St between Hennepin and 1st
🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈MARCH WITH US TO TAKE BACK PRIDE FROM COPS AND CORPORATIONS 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
Taking Back Pride is a response to the corporatization of Pride and the refusal of TC Pride to listen to community demands to remove cops from an explicitly anti-cop event. The Stonewall Uprising was a protest against police brutality and violence that was led by Black trans women. Taking Back Pride wants to restore the history of pride to TC Pride and all Pride events. Join us to demand NO cops and NO corporations at TC pride!
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