WMMN-AF Blog
Real stories. Bold action. Powering all women & their communities to dismantle oppression.
Support DACA, TPS, and DED Recipients!
A chance for Congress to reach a legislative resolution for DACA, TPS and DED recipients!
Congress has another chance THIS WEEK to pass legislation to protect Dreamers - by insisting a clean Dream Act be included in the must-pass gov. spending bill (by 23rd March). They should also include protections for TPS and DED recipients. Let's get the whole job done!
Call US Senators Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar and urge them to fight with all their might for this to happen
Two bills with hearings on 3/23 could do with some help to get them passed
As the first Mn Leg Committee deadline looms at the end of Thursday 23rd March, some bills need your support:
HF3371 - establishes a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women task force to report on the issue of violence against Indigenous women and girls. For more information on the bill.
Gov. Ops Committee, Basement Hearing Rm, 10.15am.
HF951 - restores voting rights to 51,000 Minnesotans on probation or parole, who are living in the community, paying taxes, but are denied the right to vote. For more on the issue of vote restoration in Minnesota. Public Safety Committee, Rm 10, State Office Bldg, 10.15am.
Demand Universal Background Checks!
On the morning of yet another fatal school shooting, MN Legislature voted along party lines AGAINST moving forward universal background checks HF1669 (except for Rep. Franke) and protective order HF1605. This is not okay! #Enough #NotOneMore
National Walkout - Gun Reform Now!
#Enough #GunReformNow #NotOneMore
As students and teachers across the country take part in Enough: National School Walkout, let's amplify their voices by calling our US Representative and Senators about some important federal gun bills.
Northside Students - March For Our Lives - March 24, 2018
Students across the US are calling for sensible gun laws and an end to gun violence. In 2 weeks, March For Our Lives events will take place across the country and the world.
Young Black activists have been calling for an end to gun violence for decades without much media attention or mass support. Let’s make sure the concerns of our MN communities most impacted by gun violence are represented at the national event, that their voices get heard.
Did you know?
- As many as 1/4 low-income urban youth have witnessed a murder, and 75% have heard gunshots.
- Black kids are 3x more likely to be killed by guns than white kids.
- Black kids are 10x more likely to die by gun homicides than white kids, but white kids are more likely to use guns for suicides.
Let's make that the concerns of the communities most impacted by gun violence are represented. Let's ensure their voices are heard.
Equal Rights Amendments Must Pass! HF189/313/3257 & SF224/101/2827
What do we want? The Equal Rights Amendment.
When do we want it? NOW!
In the US, women still face inequality due to sexual harassment, inequitable pay and unequal treatment in the courts. Let’s change that and make women equal under the law. It is time!
Let’s join the 24 other states who have added an Equal Rights Amendment to their State Constitution (including Texas)! Let’s get the ratification going again at the federal level!
ERA Day of Action
Re-Sisters – Join us THIS THURSDAY for ERA Day of Action at the Capitol! Let’s pack those halls to demand Equal Rights for Women Guaranteed by the Constitution. MAKE EQUAL LEGAL!
Last year MNLeg refused to hear the Equal Rights Amendment bills. Let’s send a message so loud they cannot ignore us this session. We need your voice!
Join us March 8th in the Capitol Rotunda – please wear RED!
Beyond DACA - Permanent Protection For All!
The March 5th DACA deadline is all but gone, with no legislative solution for Dreamers. Or TPS holders. Or DED holders. Meanwhile ICE detention and deportations are ripping families apart. Our legislators are failing our immigrant brothers and sisters.
“Beyond DACA” is a series of actions hosted by local immigrant rights groups THIS WEEK to hold our MN legislators to account for their in/action. Let’s join them in demanding permanent protection for all!
Taskforce for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in Minnesota
Indigenous women are 2 ½ times more likely to suffer violence than any other group in the US. In some parts of Minnesota, the murder rate of Indigenous women is over 10 times higher than anywhere else in the country. This must stop!
MN Reps Kunesh-Podein and Becker-Finn are calling for a taskforce to be set up to address the endemic crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Minnesota. Let's support this call!
Planned Parenthood - March. Vote. Win!
"We're sending a clear message to the politicians who made careers of undermining our freedom and rights: we're voting you out in 2018." said Deirdre Schifeling, Director of PPAF.
2 Gun Violence Protection Bills 'Tabled' in Committee
Today, the Minnesota Legislature GOP-led Public Safety Committee tabled 2 Gun Control bills, rather than vote on them and go on record with where they stand on Gun Reform Now. This is cowardly!
But we are watching, and in November we will vote.
These 2 bills are now essentially dead, but more gun safety bills are being introduced. We must keep the pressure up!
If your MN Rep sits on the Public Safety committee, contact them and let them know what you think of them delaying sensible gun laws.
Stop Line 3 - No Permits to Enbridge - #LoveWaterNotOil
"Minnesota utility regulators Thursday rejected a request by the state's Ojibwe bands to require a comprehensive tribal cultural analysis for Enbridge's proposed pipeline across northern Minnesota.
The tribes have asked the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to include a full state study of tribal historic sites as part of the state's Environmental Impact Statement for Enbridge's proposed new Line 3. The controversial pipeline would ferry Canadian oil to Enbridge's terminal in Superior, Wis.
The PUC declined to include such a survey in the environmental review.." -Source
Rally for Sensible Gun Laws - An Update
Thank you to all who attended today’s Rally for Sensible Gun Laws. What a turn out! What a powerful message for #MNLeg about where we stand on gun violence. #GunReformNow #Enough #NeverAgain #KeepUsSafe
What’s next? Contact your MN legislators and make sure they have heard this message and are ready to fight for it at the Capitol.
These are the gun related bills in MN Leg so far this session. Talk to your representatives about them:
DREAMers Need Immediate Relief - hosted by IndivisibleMN03 and Caile
Wednesday, February 21st - 4:30pm-6:30pm Congressman Erik Paulsen District Office
4:30 demonstration starts. Bring your hand-lettered signs related to the DREAMER theme.
5:30 Switch to Light brigade message PASS THE DREAM ACT. (Sun sets around 5:50pm). Light brigade will remain until 6:15.
Last week the US Senate failed to find a legal pathway to citizenship for 800,000 #DACA recipients (7,000 in MN). With 2 different federal courts blocking the WH’s ending of DACA on March 5th, some seem to think the pressure to find a solution is off. We need to keep the pressure on! These young people need a #DreamActNow #HereToStay
Call your US Congress person and tell them to get on with it! They’re on recess this week, so it’s a good time to catch them. Call their office, email them, tweet them. For more info on what to say: Town Hall Questions
Send a clear message to Rep. Paulsen on this issue TONIGHT by joining Indivisible MN03 and Caile as they Stand Up for Young Immigrants.
- For updates on the situation
Senate Fails to Act on DACA
Is the March 5 DACA Deadline Meaningful?
- Find your US Representative or Senator
- Donate to Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota's fund to help Dreamers pay for their hefty DACA renewal fees
National School Walk Out - #GunReformNow #Enough
Wednesday, March 14 at 10 AM - 10:15 AM
Students and staff have the right to teach and learn in an environment free from the worry of being gunned down in their classrooms or on their way home from school.
Parents have the right to send their kids to school in the mornings and see them home alive at the end of the day.
We are not safe at school. We are not safe in our cities and towns. Congress must take meaningful action to keep us safe and pass federal gun reform legislation that address the public health crisis of gun violence. We want Congress to pay attention and take note: many of us will vote this November and many others will join in 2020.
Join us in saying #ENOUGH!
Line 3 Pipeline - Pack the Room! - Study Needed
Thursday; Feb 22, 8:30a-11:30 - State of Minnesota Public Utilities Commission.
PACK THE ROOM!
On February 22, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission will consider whether to require a full tribal resources survey before deciding to approve or deny the Line 3 pipeline. Line 3 is a project by the Canadian pipeline company Enbridge to build a huge tar sands pipeline across northern Minnesota, the Mississippi River, and tribal treaty land. A project of this scale absolutely needs a full survey of tribal impacts.
Let's fill up the hearing room, support the tribes and environmental groups and others opposing the pipeline, and show the PUC that we're here and we care and we're not going anywhere.
International Women's Day Rally - State Capitol
Thursday; March 8, 8:00-Noon - International Women's Day Rally at the State Capitol
ERA MN & Women's March MN are joining together for our International Women's Day rally at the capitol!
Pro-Choice Lobby Day at the Capitol
Pro-Choice Lobby Day is back and we need you to join us on Thursday, March 1, 2018 to stand up for reproductive rights in Minnesota and push back against any and all anti-choice attacks on the basic human right to control ones reproductive health!
With the Minnesota Legislature's completely anti-choice majority in both Houses we cannot sit back and hope for the best. We need Minnesota's Pro-Choice majority to join is at the Capitol to make our voices heard!
Support A Clean Dream Act!
Shame on Congress for failing to include a solution for #Dreamers in the latest funding bill. Call your US House of Representatives and US Senate reps and tell them to pass a #CleanDreamAct now!
Discussions are set to start next week because they have until Mar 5th to find a legal pathway to citizenship for 800,000 undocumented immigrants brought into this country illegally as children (7,000 in MN alone). Let’s hold them to it!
2018 Women's Leadership Conference: Muslim Women Strong
March 3, 7:30-4:30 RISE 2018 Women's Leadership Conference: Muslim Women Strong
Keynote: Ibtijah Muhammad, Bronze Medalist American Olympian Sabre Fencer. Entertainment by Pearls of Islam, from London, UK. Tickets on sale today. Early bird special of $50.00/person until Jan. 30, 2018. After Feb 1, tickets will be $75.00.