As a writer in the health and wellness world and as an urban microfarmer, I must call attention to and take action against this injustice. I hope you will too. Following you’ll find a summary of the issue, and an “Open Letter to the Minneapolis City Council” that you may copy in your own email to the City Council.
The Backstory: I’m originally from Minneapolis. I still have dear friends there, and they keep me apprised of news that doesn’t make the national feed. Right now—while national news covers the City’s settlement regarding the horrific killing of George Floyd—the Minneapolis City Council is simultaneously in the middle of a land grab that will directly harm Indigenous, Black, and Brown communities in East Phillips. This is happening near the epicenter of last year’s collective trauma.
We must speak out before March 25, 2021. Otherwise, Minneapolis intends to demolish the building that the community had planned to revitalize as an income-generating, urban farm, educational space, and affordable housing community. Through the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute (EPNI), Native, Somali, and Latinx leaders, and many others want to heal and empower their communities. Instead, Minneapolis wants to take the land—and install a heavily polluting public works facility instead. (What?!) If we do nothing, the demolition begins this month.
This is exactly what it looks like:
it’s Systemic Environmental Racism.
This is real. This is appalling and an affront to justice. Join me in speaking out!
Quick Action Tasks:
* Email Minneapolis City Council (hilary.dvorak@minneapolismn.gov) before March 25, 2021! This is the most powerful action you can take. Please copy-paste any of my text from the Open Letter below.
* Sign the Change.org Petition to STOP THE LAND GRAB and support EPNI’s Urban Farm.
* Visit the EPNI website to learn more about the Urban Farm initiative.
* Donate to EPNI’s legal fund. This supports emergency legal action that may be necessary if the City Council slates the demolition despite public outrage.
Open Letter to Minneapolis City Council
Yes, copy any of this for your own use!
TO: Hilary Dvorak, Principal City Planner, hilary.dvorak@minneapolismn.gov
CC: Citycouncilmembers@
Subject: Comment Period on the East Phillips EAW
Dear. Ms. Dvorak,
I live in Montana but I’m from Minneapolis. I have heard recent and deeply troubling news from East Phillips in South Minneapolis—a neighborhood wracked by horrifying police violence, ongoing oppression, and high levels of respiratory disease due to industrial pollution. I learned that a multi-ethnic initiative has raised funds to buy an old industrial property and transform it into life-changing affordable housing, an indoor urban farm, and commercial space with job and educational opportunities.
What was Minneapolis City Council’s response? Squash it!
South Minneapolis is clearly trying to heal itself from decades of oppression. You have in front of you an opportunity, not only to support that healing process, but also make proactive reparations. If you destroy the old Roof Depot building and install a heavily polluting facility instead, you not only don’t make the most of this opportunity, you do the opposite in the most damaging way possible. You will send a clear message to the BIPOC and white ally community: “Shame on you for trying to create a better future. Any time you try to build upward, we will punish you.”
What. Are. You. Doing? How, in any realm of logic, does this look like a wise choice? You have in one hand a matter of convenience (the location of a public works facility) and in the other hand, matters of life and death.
The Council’s actions these past years and especially this month, speak way louder than words. Your actions have clearly stated:
“The conveniences of comfortable white people matter more than the LIVES and health of racial minorities and their allies. Period.”
Yes, I’m angry. And stunned and grieved. City Council has a matter of days to reverse this horrifying decision, APOLOGIZE, and begin the work of real reparations. By the way, reparations are supposed to COST something. They’re supposed to be inconvenient. They’re not supposed to be token. Educate yourself. Then become the leaders you’re meant to be. Show the nation how actual healing is done at ground zero.
I have heard about the poorly crafted Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW). As far as that is concerned, I whole-heartedly agree with the statement shared by EPNI:
The Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) performed for the Hiawatha Expansion Project does not even begin to cover East Phillips’ long history of deadly pollution and environmental racism. I oppose the City’s proposed Campus Expansion Project and demand the City complete an Environmental Impact Study for East Phillips. This community has suffered from deadly levels of pollution in their backyards for generations. An environmental impact statement must be completed to ensure all the pollution impacts are properly studied, and to ensure East Phillips residents will have access to clean air, water, and soil. For these reasons, I demand that Minneapolis Public Works immediately stop plans to demolish and repurpose the Roof Depot site until an Environmental Impact Study is completed. I oppose the Hiawatha Expansion Project and request that the City advance an alternative, community-owned proposal.
That “alternative, community-owned proposal” already exists. You know the right thing to do. Do it! Hoping for a miracle of common sense and collective responsibility restored to the Minneapolis City Council.
Sincerely,
Anika Hanisch
Bozeman, Montana
* Deeper Dive: Has this struck a vein for you? Want to get more involved? Watch the most recent Press Conference, which includes a hopeful message of support from the Minneapolis City Council Vice President Andrea Jenkins. Vice President Jenkins is the only Council Member who has been vocally supportive. She boldly declares that “racism is a public health crisis.” If you email the City Council to voice your concern, provide an extra message of thanks to Vice President Jenkins!