“It’s important to make an example out of these organizers, so that this never happens again.” This message was sent to the managers of the Mall of America by Sandra Johnson, the […]
Martin Luther King Goes to the Mall (or WWMD?)
Black Lives at the Mall of America: the long shadow of history
In the dock are eleven Black Lives Matter activists fingered by police as the “ringleaders” of a peaceful rally at the Mall of America last December. An additional 25 have been charged […]
History Moves in a Spiral
It is not enough to revere those who came before. We must engage them in conversation.
Whites fighting racism: what it’s about
Note: I was asked by SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice – a group which organizes white folks against racism) to write a few paragraphs offering a perspective on white solidarity. It […]
Ferguson and the long wave
At the local Ferguson protest the other night two students from Minneapolis’ South High School talked about the sit-in and walk-out they’d organized, coordinated with other high schools. I realized that forty […]
Community Soil and Exchange Capacity
When I think about the East Side Freedom Library I think about dirt. More specifically, about dirt and community and the similar ways they are structured and how those structures determine the […]
Unity and Division in the Ninth Ward
I wasn’t going to say anything aloud about the ninth ward, Minneapolis city council race. I don’t ignore electoral contests exactly but they don’t dominate my attention, either. You see city councils, […]
Miss Saigon With the Wind
I would like to invite the leadership of the Ordway Theater to a panel discussion on why I didn’t consult them before creating this poster and why they should be grateful for […]
Tecumseh in the Time of Monsanto: A Voice in the Wind. Part 3 of 3
There are no discontinuities in history. The trees of today were yesterday’s seeds; the gentle hills were once mountains, worn down by time; the transformation of forest into desert proceeds by small […]
Tecumseh in the Time of Monsanto, Part 2 of 3
The United States in Tecumseh’s day was bold and brash but untested, its survival far from assured. It had only won independence with backing from the Dutch, Spanish and (decisively) the French […]
Ricardo Levins Morales
Ricardo Levins Morales Art Studio 