WMMN-AF Blog
Real stories. Bold action. Powering all women & their communities to dismantle oppression.
A Restoration of Hope
A wrench has been thrown into the cyclical experience of our post-school-shooting national mourning process and it’s being led by those most affected: the students have had enough.
Students in high schools across the country are organizing themselves and taking to the streets so that their voices -- seemingly ignored for so long by the adults charged with protecting them -- will finally be heard. Minnesota youth, empowered and inspired by the actions and words of the survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting on Feb. 14, are compounding the call for stronger gun control regulations. And they’re just getting started.
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.
March: The Fight For Equal Pay
March 26, 2018
On average, woman are paid 20% less than their male counterparts, and that ratio is even worse for woman of color. We "celebrate" Equal Pay Day on April 10, the day in 2018 where women will finally have made as much money as their male counterparts did during the 2017 calendar year. The wage gap is real, and it's time we do something about it.
#MNLeg session has begun!
The 2018 MN Legislative Session has begun and will run to mid-May. If you are interested in legislation, what is happening at the State Capitol and knowing what you can do about it, here are some good ways of keeping up.
#NotOneMore - Weekly WMM Update - Demand Gun Legislation Change
"We know that gun control works, we know how to establish it. So why do we act as if it's a hypothetical fantasy attainable everywhere but here? Why are we surprised every time an assault rifle capable of firing 15 to 45 rounds a minute kills that many people? There's no ifs, butts, or maybes, we are done with excuses and BS." She went on to say that, "we are not just asking for shooters to stop shooting, we are asking our government to stop giving them the means to do so!" - Eva Goldfarb, (Member; Women's March Minnesota Youth Empower committee)
Thank You Women's March MN Volunteers!!
THANK YOU to the all of the Women’s March Volunteers who attended the first monthly All Volunteer Committee Meeting Day this past Saturday. It was an amazing turnout of talented, enthusiastic, and passionate people of all ages and backgrounds!
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:
Third Thursday Recap: Roe Unrealized
February's Third Thursday Re-Cap
Roe Unrealized: The war on women is worse than we realize. Roe vs Wade is in place, but far too many women cannot get the reproductive healthcare they need and the GOP is making it more difficult. Karen Law, director of Our Justice, discussed how birth control, abortion, race, poverty and access to resources are being talked about at both national and local levels and how they tilt the playing field even more against some women. She talked about upcoming legislation aimed at further restricting access, and what we can do to make a change for equal access to the healthcare women need. “From unnecessary restrictions at reproductive health clinics, teen mom shaming, and legal challenges blocking insurance coverage for birth control, the need to challenge reproductive injustice remains central to gender equity” – Karen Law, Our Justice.
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!