mlncn

Letter to the directors of the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board – 2020 June 12

Thank you for allowing some of the gathered houseless in Minneapolis to gather in Powderhorn Park.

We all know that it is morally abhorrent and practically disastrous for people to go without housing, nutritious food, medical care, and opportunities to live a full life.

But if we keep police around to push it out of sight, we'll never make the other big structural changes we need— whether the police kill some people in the process of holding us down or not.

It's not fair that your parks, our parks, is where this is playing out— but that is the smaller unfairness. We need to tackle the problems that are bigger than anything park police can clear out of a park (and abolish policing in parks, too).

What can you do, individually and as organizations, to work for real justice?

Speak out on these larger issues is a start.

What does this broader fairness even look like?

Here are some ideas: https://write.as/mlncn/ideas-for-our-police-free-future

Thank you,

benjamin melançon resident of Minneapolis (Near North)