Real stories. Bold action. Powering all women & their communities to dismantle oppression.
Join us to demand that Minnesota be a leader in securing reproductive freedom with a day of action on Sunday, July 17 starting at 11:00 am at St. Paul College with a march to the Capitol at noon.
Our Future: March for Abortion Access is an action for everyone to show our leaders and our country what Minnesotans really stand for in this historic moment. Join us!
The US Supreme Court is poised to undo 50 years of formal federal protections for access to abortion care in America! How will this ideological attack on reproductive rights and reproductive health care affect us? What could happen next? What can we do to protect and expand Abortion Access, Reproductive Freedom and Reproductive Justice? What are the options at the federal level, including the path toward Supreme Court Reform/Expansion in America? How secure is legal abortion here in MN and what needs to happen to safeguard and expand reproductive rights in our state?
We’re co-hosting a lunch hour event on the subject with Sen. Tina Smith - Protecting Reproductive Freedom in MN - June 15th, 11.30-12.30. Join us!
We'll hear from... U.S. Senator Tina Smith, 11:30-11:45am Meagan Hatcher Mays, Indivisible National, 11:45-12:05 * Maggie Meyer, Pro-Choice Minnesota, 12:05-12:25
Sign up here.
Read MoreFind a March For Our Lives event near you (6/11):
Find more MFOL events across the U.S. this Saturday.
Read MoreTwin Cities Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee have shared a Call to Action…
This April 13th, 2022, Department of Corrections officer Christopher Wendover sexually assaulted Angela Jackson, in solitary confinement, groping her breasts and vaginal area while she was in handcuffs, and threatening her with violence not to tell. Another male guard was present, and while he didn’t directly intervene he did press the panic button, which ended the assault. Angela Jackson reported the information to the people at Shakopee prison and the police. The entire incident should be captured on prison video.
The Department of Corrections has closed this investigation without firing the officer, and until another incarcerated person complained, had officer Wendover staring at Mrs. Jackson every day in the cafeteria. Shakopee Prison has a history of sexual and other abuse, particularly after adding male staff in 1992, including lack of accountability for white officers. Just a few years ago, Sergeant Boegeman was fired from Shakopee for similar misconduct but was rehired in arbitration, so he continues to work at the facility, as well as others implicated.
These are also Department of Corrections wide issues, from failing to stop sexual assault or violence, to holding the mentally ill to solitary confinement, to policy 301.083 which allows the use of segregation for “overflow”, to holding people who are suicidal or a 'threat' naked in "wet cells". Shakopee prison also has bought but refuses to use an airport style body scanner to prevent the regular strip searching of incarcerated people, a procedure many consider sexual assault. Note that a majority of incarcerated women are survivors of sexual violence.
Angela Jackson needs your help via phone call and email --
Call the Scott County Attorney 952-496-8240 and tell them you believe it's important that they prosecute officer Christopher Wendover, Police Case Number 22007875.
Call or email the Commissioner of Corrections paul.schnell@state.mn.us 651-361-7226 and tell him to fire officer Wendover and ensure Angela Jackson is not retaliated against in her job, treatment, and work release placement. Also:
Ask him what he will do to end this pattern of abuse against vulnerable adults in his care
Tell him to start using the body scanner at Shakopee Prison to prevent strip searches which many consider to be sexual assaults, and to invest in them at all facilities
Tell him to medically release the mentally ill instead of sending them to solitary confinement
Finally, call the Attorney General’s office and ask them to investigate the pattern of abuse of in the Department of Corrections and Shakopee Prison in particular: 651-296-3353 -- they can contact us at tc.iwoc@gmail.com.
We will do our best to update the list – but things are happening quickly.
Minnesota
Eagan, Protect Reproductive Rights 5/14, 10-11am
St. Cloud - Bans Off Our Bodies March - 10-12pm
Duluth - Rally to Protect Rights for Abortion Access - 12pm
St. Paul - Rally for Abortion Access - 12-1pm
Brainerd - Bans Off Our Bodies - 12-2pm
Just outside MN
Dubuque, IA - 11am
Cedar Rapids, IA - 11am-1pm
Grand Forks, ND - 10-12noon
Fargo, ND 5.45-7.30pm
For all the events happening across the US
Read MoreThanks to those who joined us for Time to Act Monday night (May 9). It was a great crowd.
In less than an hour we were able to make a difference. We share our notes for those who can take a minute join the effort after the fact using the instruction sheets below to make it easy for you to know who to contact and what to say. If you can personalize the message, even better, but the following will get your started:
· Women's Health Protection Act
Thank you for your activism on these important issues
Read MoreJoin us on Wednesday, May 18th at 6:30 p.m. CT
Register now!
We are excited to hear from Bernadine Joselyn who just spent three weeks at the Polish-Ukrainian border welcoming and processing evacuees fleeing Russia’s war with Ukraine. Bernadine, who is director of Public Policy and Engagement at Blandin Foundation, lived and worked in Russia 20 years ago with the U.S. Foreign Service and other international development organizations, and now lives in Grand Rapids, MN with her Ukrainian husband.
Bernadine heard about the opportunity to help and quickly found herself in the evacuee center at Korcwoza, about 20 kilometers from the actual border
Read MoreNow is a good time to tell our legislators what we want. Here are Actions from the MN-Leg Action team to make a difference. Click on an Action to get to the full instruction sheet on how to take the action - the background to the bill and issue, who to contact and what to say. If you can personalize the message, even better.
Thank you for your activism!
Read MoreThe Minnesota Legislature returns from spring break this week. It’s a good time to help them focus on what we want to see happen. So we will be meeting online Tuesday evening to go through actions and scripts to contact legislators on several bills. Please join us, especially if contacting legislators is new to you.
April 19 - 6pm
Calls for Tuesday:
Read MoreLast week was Black Maternal Health Week. In its honor, the MN State House Black Maternal Health Caucus hosted the “Expecting Better” roundtable. MN legislators and health advocates addressed Black maternal mortality and morbidity disparities in MN. The U.S. has one of the highest maternal mortality rates among wealthy nations. In the U.S., the rates are higher for people of color, due to structural racism and lack of access to healthcare. In MN, Black people are more than twice as likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than white people. The participants in the roundtable gave powerful accounts of how racism in healthcare had impacted them personally, as well as other people in their lives.
Read MoreA contingency from Women’s March Minnesota (WMM) had a night out with the Island of Discarded Women. The Island is a podcast that is recorded live at the Women’s Club in Minneapolis. The show is hosted by Sue Scott, whose work with the Prairie Home Companion is well known. It features storytelling, music and a conversation with accomplished women who working to make the world better, often by lifting up other women or others in need of lift.
On April 10, Sue was joined by Dr. Artika Tyner, is the director of the Center on Race, Leadership and Social Justice at the University of St. Thomas and the founder of Planting People Growing Justice and musical guest, powerhouse singer/songwriter Rachel Kurtz.
Read MoreA group of Women’s March MN members are planning to go see Sue Scott's Island of Discarded Women LIVE Show and Podcast at the Woman's Club of Minneapolis on April 10. It’s an evening of empowering stories, music, and conversation with or without dinner and drinks. The plan is to each get our own tickets from the Island of Discarded Women website – but reply to this email by April 7 if you plan to come and we’ll try to sit all together. (It’s tabled seating.)
Just the facts:
Show Tickets are $20 (Buy online)
DATE: Sunday April 10
TIME: Doors open at 5:30pm for purchasing dinner + drinks at your table (Service continues throughout the show. Menu includes Vegan and GF options.)
Show from 7:00 to 8:30pm
PLACE: The Lounge at the Woman's Club of Minneapolis, 410 Oak Grove St., Minneapolis, 55403
COVID PROTOCOLS: Island of Discarded Women will continue to require proof of vaccination, or a negative Covid test. Audience members are encouraged to wear masks except when dining.
Let us know you’re coming, if you want to sit with other WMM members. (Reply to this message or email mailto:admin@womensmarchmn.com)
Read MoreThere’s still time to join us tonight (March 29) at 6pm or use the information below to act in your own time.
We’re going try to get through an ambitious five actions:
Still ready to act? Check out this longer list of Calls to Action on important legislation at the Capitol right now. This list is put together weekly by the MN Legislative Action team that we are part of. Pls share as you want.
Read MoreStill time to beat the March 25 first deadline at the MN Legislature, which means a bill must be heard in a committee to move forward. So now is a good time to tell our legislators what we want. Here are Actions from the MN-Leg Action team to make a difference. Click on the Action to get to the full instruction sheet on how to take the action - the background to the bill and issue, who to contact and what to say. If you can personalize the message, even better.
Read MoreMarch 25 is the first deadline at the MN Legislature, which means a bill must be heard in a committee to move forward. So now is a good time to tell our legislators what we want. Here are 3 new Actions to take this week - 2 on bills in the MN Legislature and one on the educators' strike in Mpls. (These Actions are from the MN-Leg Action team ; we are members). Click on the Action to get to the full instruction sheet on how to take the action - the background to the bill and issue, who to contact and what to say. If you can personalize the message, even better.
Read MoreThank you to everyone who joined us, Indivisible St Paul and St Croix Valley Indivisible for the online Tuesday Action Hour this week. Because Tuesday (March 8) was International Women’s Day, we spent the hour contacting policymakers about bills that would impact the lives of women, trans and nonbinary people.
In less than an hour we were able to make a difference. We’d also like in advance to thank all of you who take a minute join the effort after the fact using the instruction sheets below to make it easy for you to know who to contact and what to say. If you can personalize the message, even better, but the following will get your started:
Missing & Murdered Black Women and Girls
ERA (Equal Rights Amendment)
Free Menstrual Products in Schools
Equality Act
To celebrate International Women’s Day (March 8), ERA Minnesota (ERAMN) held a press conference to deliver “Minnesotans for Equality” Petition to MN Senate leadership demanding they allow Minnesotans to vote for Equal Rights Amendment in Minnesota on November ballot. (Petition is still open.) We heard from MN Lynx Head Coach Cheryl Reeve, ERAMN executive director Suzann Willhite, ERAMN Founder Betty Folliard and several legislators: Senator Kunesch, Senator Pappas, Senator Dibble, Senator Chuck Wiger and Representative Bahner.
And then delivered the “Minnesotans for Equality” Petition to Senate leadership: Senator Jeremy Miller (R, 28), Senator Warren Limmer (R, 34) and Andrew Mathews (R, 15) Contact them to demand they allow Minnesotans to vote for Equality on November ballot.
Read MoreWomen's March MN (WMM) hosts ERA Minnesota (ERAMN) on KFAI’s International Women’s Day programming on March 8 from 6-7pm. Please tune in at 90.3fm in the Twin Cities or online around the world.
WMM board member Ann Treacy hosts the conversion on ERA Minnesota and making gender rights part of Minnesota constitution. First joined by MNERA president, Suzann Willhite, we talk about the history and the need for Equal Rights Amendment in Minnesota and in the US. Many people believe the gender is a protected class in the constitution – it is not. And until it is we are not equally represented or protected. We’ll talk about what needs to happen to make it happen and then speak with Representative Hornstein and Representation Bahner about the bills they have introduced to get it done. Finally, we’ll hear from folks on the street (or from a Zoom) on what passing of the ERA would mean to them.
We also hear music from Minnesota musicians: Dessa, Kashimana, Nora Montenez Patterson (borrowed with permission from Sue Scott and the Island of Discarded Women) and Kiss the Tiger.
Read MoreTime to take a minute to tell the Legislators what you want. As members of MN-Leg Action, we are creating instruction sheets to make it easy for you to know who to contact and what to say. If you can personalize the message, even better, but the following will get your started:
MN-Leg Action aim to share actions every week until the end of the Legislative session.
Read More
