The Sanctuary Movement is a vital part of the uprising for justice in Minneapolis and beyond.
Parks are sanctuaries. They are spaces for the community, which includes houseless neighbors who may depend on the space at more times of day and night than the rest of the community.
Houseless folks have been on the forefront of movements for justice, including Stonewall, the Occupy movement, and so many more. There is a chance now to show up for neighbors and community by supporting parks as sanctuaries.
As the Sanctuary Movement website explains, “Our community care effort is fighting for housing justice, abolition, and land reclamation by supporting the most impacted people to take the lead.”
As Minneapolis moves from the first days of uprising into work for the longer term, there is a need for more sustainable support. Transformative justice is needed to address daily longstanding harms created by colonization, slavery, and the resulting systems that perpetuate violence. Folks suggested a role for MNTJ in this work.
We are currently putting together resources and creating new ones that can be used to support the movement. They will be posted on a new Slack channel for volunteers. We have been notified that a lot of volunteers are overloaded already with tasks, so the goal is to have some low intensity resources to begin with, where volunteers can just click on a support resource or video when they have time, or reach out to someone one-on-one when they need support.
If you want to participate in helping gather or create content, please let us know via mntj.org.