Northern Progressive Updates
Member newsletter 2025.04.20
Next Meeting!
- When:
- Wednesday, May 7, 6:30PM
- Where:
- Cook Community Center
510 Gopher Dr.
Cook, MN
(note location change due to Tower not being available)
What is to be done?
Burning questions in international and global affairs
Professor Schumacher, the son of Leah Rogne and Fred Schumacher of Gheen, is a scholar of Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. In his current course at Harvard, students learn about the central principles of international affairs and foreign policy analysis. Topics include key concepts of international relations and global affairs, tools of statecraft, and the implications of such features for contemporary policy problems.
In addition to his work in the Kennedy School, he is also an Associate in Harvard’s History Department and a Faculty Affiliate in the university’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs—one of the world’s leading international relations and public policy research centers.
Schumacher graduated from Orr High School in 2001, got his BA in history and religious studies from Hamline University, and received his PhD in modern European and Middle Eastern history from the University of Minnesota. He has taught global leadership and European regional studies at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and served as an Einaudi research fellow at Cornell University. He continues to serve on Cornell’s Fulbright Committee for European Programs.
Outside of his teaching, Schumacher serves as a Senior Fellow in the National Security Program at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia, and he was previously the Director of the Intelligence Community Center for Academic Excellence at Wells College. He held fellowships at Harvard University, the University of London, and Saint Joseph’s University.
Schumacher has long worked in political and community outreach, including serving as the Tompkins County (NY) Democratic Co-Chair for NY-23’s Congressional race in 2016. In 2017, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) in honor of his civic engagement on refugee affairs in Philadelphia. In 2024, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in honor of his book, The Eastern Question in 1870s Britain: Democracy and Diplomacy, Orientalism and Empire (2023).
Action items or events
Signing/Resisting Events
Each Friday at noon at the following locations:- Cook
- Hwy 53 and River Street
- Ely
- Whiteside Park (note location change)
- Tower
- Mainstreet by the locomotive
Signs should include issues common to everyone like good jobs, enough money for food and healthcare, and a good education.
Congresswoman Angie Craig's Town Halls
Congresswoman Angie Craig will host an in-person town hall in each of the districts held by Minnesota’s Republican members of Congress to give voice to Minnesotans who want to hear what’s happening in Washington.
- When
- Monday, April 21 at 6:00PM
- Where
- Grand Rapids
Practicing Democracy Town Halls
Hinckley
- When
- April 21 5:30PM
- Where
- Hinckley
Grand Marais
- When
- April 22 5:30PM
- Where
- Grand Marais
Silent March for Democracy
- When
- April 21 6:00PM
- Where
- Cloquet
Representative Stauber will be meeting with the Carlton County Republicans at the Cloquet Library starting at 6:30 p.m. Please join other area protectors of democracy for this silent march. We the People Cloquet Area Indivisible will meet in front of the Cloquet Library- 320 14th St. Line up on 14th St. with signs and walk back and forth along 14th Street.
Tell The Story of Federal Funding Cuts
Percent for Place is collecting stories of impact of the recent U.S. federal funding freezes and agency layoffs on civic infrastructure. Learn more about how to share your organization's story.
Training & Support: Indivisible
The Struggle for Antiracist Education in Our Classrooms
Virtual Red, Wine, and Blue Event
Across the country, there’s a growing movement to ban books, silence discussions of race, and erase the truth of our history from curriculums. But the fight for antiracist education is not new. From the legacy of Black teachers during Reconstruction to the Civil Rights-era freedom schools, there is a long history of people standing up for equity and truth in education. Join us to hear from educator, author, and activist Jesse Hagopian, a veteran teacher and leading voice for racial justice in education. He will share insights on the past and present battles to teach accurate history, the coordinated campaigns to restrict classroom conversations, and how we can organize to protect the right to learn — and to teach — the truth.
- When
- April 29 6:30PM
- Where
- Online
Safety While Protesting
Yale’s Guide to Protestors’ Rights
Inspirations
Excerpt from the OutFront Policy & Organizing newsletter
"Be radical.
Let your joy be radical.
Most people associate the word radical with an extreme difference from the norm. However, the term is also described as growing from the root of a plant. In this way, our radical joy must grow from our roots. We must know who we are, love who we are, and surround ourselves with those who affirm and support our growth. That love within ourselves and through our community become our roots. Be radical and nurture yourself.
Let your passion be radical."
1st Amendment Win!
In a win for the 1st Amendment, the Associated Press has been re-given access to cover presidential events.
Proud Boys Lose Trademark!
After the Proud Boys destroyed Black Lives Matter signs at two historically Black churches, a judge has given the church use of the group's name and symbols. Proceeds from sales are now going to community justice funds.
Free School Meals for Kids in Utah!
In a win for children, Utah's governor Spencer Cox has approved a bill to get rid of reduced cost lunches, and instead make them free.
Illinois returns stolen land to Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation!
The Land Back movement has grown to include 1,500 acres given to the Potawatomi Nation.
Ongoing Northern Progressives Structure
- NP Group meetings:
- 1st Wednesday in Tower
3rd Wednesday in Cook - Breakfast Club:
- Pattenn’s Café in Orr at 10 am on 2nd and 4th Wednesdays.
Northern Progressives Communication Committee
- Betty Firth
- bfirth88@gmail.com
- Beth Peterson
- edithepeterson@gmail.com
- Judith Ulseth
- jgtulseth@gmail.com