June 8, 2020 to June 12, 2020

I write this update with a heavy heart as we learned about the passing of Marny Xiong, Saint Paul Public School Board Chairwoman, due to the COVID-19 virus. SPPS is home to Minnesota’s largest Asian student population, who are also the district’s largest student of color population. Marny’s presence and leadership helped them feel seen and heard. Marny was particularly effective as a Board member because of her lived experience as a SPPS graduate herself. She was passionate about equity and ensuring quality education for all, and made the most of her power and place on the Board. I will remember her fondly as someone who was generous, fiercely committed to racial justice, and a believer of our young people. Our hearts and thoughts go out to her family and loved ones during this difficult time. 

We are faced with a great evolutionary time. Our participation in this transformation has not been optional as COVID-19 has already forced us to change whether we wanted to or not. Now with the uprisings that have followed the killing of George Floyd, we must all deal with our country’s 400-year-old racism problem that breathes in every system we now operate in. What I am witnessing on the streets, that’s beginning to seep into our structures, is the realization that we cannot just be ‘woke’ anymore; we must walk towards a rebuilding that truly ensures everyone’s freedom, peace and prosperity.

As an Asian Minnesotan organization whose cores are rooted in social justice, we have been processing this moment as one of the officers is a son of our community. While we take that in, we are not wavering on where we stand in terms of justice and liberation, because we know that Tou Thao was just part of a system that is deeply entrenched in racism. So instead, we are living fully into a spectrum of solidarity – from calling in our own communities’ anti-Blackness, to organizing so that people can be on the frontlines to protests, to supporting the demands and actions of Black leaders’ asking for justice and transformation, to providing mutual aid to those in our communities who need us now, to discussing what policies can be changed. We are doing these things because we truly believe that our liberation is shared and tied together. And yes, we’re doing all this and have not forgotten our work. You can read our latest press release to learn about what we have been working on. 

I believe that we can build a more perfect union, and this is the moment when we must look even deeper within, and use our voice and resources to do that.

With care and commitment,
Bo Thao-Urabe
Executive & Network Director

Minneapolis Public Schools Terminates Contract with Minneapolis Police Department

For years now, the community has called for the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) to end its relationship with the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) that put school resources officers in schools. At its June 2 meeting, amidst the uprising to demand justice for George Floyd and defend Black lives, the MPS Board voted to terminate their contract with the MPD. We applaud the decision, and the Board’s commitment to “identifying and correcting practices and policies that perpetuate the achievement gap and institutional racism in all forms in order to provide all of its students with the opportunity to succeed…the elimination of bias, particularly racism and cultural bias, as factors affecting student achievement and learning experiences, and to promote learning and work environments that welcome, respect and value diversity.” The Board directed the Superintendent to come up with recommendations by August 18, 2020 on how students will be served and safety maintained.

We now call on Saint Paul Public Schools (SPPS) and other school districts to divest from policing systems that have often over-criminalize our students of color, and instead to invest in our students’ health and well-being, and to develop restorative practices within schools.

Read MPS’s resolution here.

Learn + Act

COVID-19 brought an increase in anti-Asian bias, discrimination and violence rooted in racism and xenophobia. That’s why we created the Asian Minnesotans Against Racism and Xenophobia Collaborative. Together are moving work in four primary strategies:

1. Community Political Education
2. Rapid Response
3. Solidarity
4. Policy

If you’d like to learn more or take action, you can do any of the following:

• Learn about and support Black businesses and artists (arts, businesses, restaurants).
• Support these recovery funds, including the Du Nord one for Black and brown businesses, or the North Side.
• Donate to support Asian American businesses impacted. 
• Learn where to find mutual aid here. 
• Sign onto Black Vision Collective and Reclaim the Block’s petition to Defund MPD.
• Support Black Transgender individuals. In order for all Black Lives to Matter, we must also honor Transgender lives and the sacrifices their community often make for the sake of the movement. #IyanaDior
• Join our daily actions calls here.

Join us for these upcoming sessions…