Solidarity to Bemidji!
We keep us safe
On June 11 ICE swarmed into Bemidji sweeping up 30-45 people on that day alone. The agents remain in the area. Brave local citizen rapid responders are on the scene & have asked for further support from Constitutional Observers. An amazing network of support state-wide support organizations, elected officials, the AG, people from the ACLU, and others have stepped up.
from Star Tribune on June 12: "Ryan Lamusga assembled a crew of 30 men to repair roofs from last summer’s derecho that destroyed millions of trees and damaged homes.
"His military veteran-owned Rhino Roofing and Siding, based 80 miles south in Nisswa, is one of several companies that have descended on Bemidji in recent weeks after homeowners went through the insurance claims process to get their roofs fixed a year after 120 mph winds ripped through town.
"On Thursday, federal agents swarmed their job site in a subdivision of 127 townhouses, sending some workers scrambling into nearby woods and reducing Lamusga’s crew to just seven.
Flannery Clark, a notary and Twin Cities activist, said that because construction workers are so visible, it’s easy for ICE to target them. It’s difficult for community members to protect roofing crews unless they are actively keeping watch, she said.
"Patty Eichstadt, 79, was rattled Friday morning after witnessing a young man jump from her roof and run.
"'I’m so hurt to think that we live where this happens,” Eichstadt said in tears. 'I said, ‘ICE get the hell out of here.’ The guy turned around and looked at me and I said, ‘They are just kids, they’re just working.’”
"Eichstadt knows a little Spanish and said she had been talking with workers who were singing songs while working on her roof Thursday.
"'They were happy. That’s what makes me so mad,” Eichstadt said. 'He said, ‘I have my papers,’ and they took him anyways. I am so mad.”"
Mutual Aid
ICE and CBP continue their terror in greater MN. Please chip in to the GoFundMe to support our neighbors from Grand Marais to Bemidji with legal costs and basic needs, if you are able!
There are number of requests for assistance to impacted families.
The ones we know of at this point:
ICE is active in our region
Let's watch out for our neighbors. Let's be prepared.
Upcoming Events ^
Indivisible for Peggy Flanagan Kickoff
featuring Ezra Levin
- When:
- June 15, 7:00–7:45pm
- Where:
- Online (RSVP for link)
Join with Indivisibles across the country to learn about what Indivisible National is doing to help secure a big win for Peggy Flanagan in the MN-Sen Primary on August 11th.
We'll kick things off with Indivisible's Ezra Levin, who will tell us the stakes of this primary and why Indivisible is proud to endorse Peggy Flanagan. Then we'll get into the opportunities available to you to get involved, reach voters across Minnesota, and help get Peggy over the finish line.
Luke Gulbranson Candidate Forum
Part of our candidate information series
- When:
- June 16, 6:00pm
- Where:
- Jim's Sports Bar
Chisholm, MN
Trina Swanson for MN08
State of the Race Zoom
- When:
- June 23, 7:00pm
- Where:
- Online (RSVP for link)
Join us for a State of the Race update Zoom with CD8 DFL- Endorsed candidate, Trina Swanson!
This is a great opportunity to hear directly from Trina and her campaign team about where the race stands, what we've been working on, and our plans for the months ahead. You'll also learn how you can get involved and help build the momentum needed to win in November.
DFL St Louis County 03
Join us for our 4th Thursday Pizza Party!
- When:
- June 25, 5:30pm
- Where:
- Do North Pizza
5116 Miller Trunk Hwy
Hermantown, MN
Join us to welcome guest speakers Eoin Small from Minneapolis, and Leanna Goose from Leech Lake. Eoin and Leanna are two lead facilitators from the Rise and Repair Alliance which is made up of 21 different Indigenous, environmental and faith organizations that work together to advance indigenous, and climate justice at the state level.
You will enjoy an evening of thought-provoking discussions on how their platform intersects with lawmaker policies, and their impacts that Native Tribal Communities experience today. Topic will mainly focus on protections of wild rice, but other issues may come forward such as: responsible mining practices, returning unlawfully seized public state lands to tribal nations, protections of pipestone quarry, and 100% Electronic waste and recycling.
There will be a pizza buffet with voluntary donations.
Minnesota says’ GAAWIIN! ‘NO’ to Big Tech!
- When:
- June 26, 1:00–2:45pm
- Where:
- Minnesota Capitol Front Lawn
St. Paul, MN
Join us June 26th for a rally in front of the Minnesota Capitol, where we will be presenting the Mother Earth Vs Big Tech Petition. This petition advocates for a two-year moratorium on the construction of hyperscaled data centers. Our goal is to deliver this important message directly to the office of the Governor of Minnesota.
More info about Big Tech Issues
Hoyt Lakes Day of Action and Picnic
- When:
- June 27, 10:30am–5:00pm
- Where:
- 101 Kennedy Memorial Dr
Hoyt Lakes, MN
Attention all St Louis County DFL'ers! Join your local DFL'ers and our amazing candidates like Senator Hauschild and Aaron Kania for a community potluck and some door-knocking! We have a lot of work to do this election season, and our candidates need all of the support we can offer. Come connect with DFL'ers learn about what issues voters care about, and get us one step closer to our BLUE WAVE!
We will be meeting at 10:30 am for a training, knocking to about 1pm, and then reconvening for a picnic potluck afterwards!
Don't worry, we will never send you out to knock on your own if you don't want to!
Unfinished Freedom: 250 Years On
A Free Community Concert
- When:
- June 28, 1:00–8:00pm
- Where:
- Miner's Pavilion
1401 NW 3rd Ave
Grand Rapids
(Road Trip!!)
Join us for a fun community event full of music, food and drink for purchase, and connection.
Free event & parking, food & drinks for purchase. Bring a lawn chair!
America’s 250th Birthday!
Bring a Sign That Commemorates Our Rights & Freedoms
- When:
- July 3, 12:00–1:00pm
- Location 1:
- Sheridan & Central
Ely, MN
- Location 2
- Main Street at the Locomotive
Tower, MN
We, the People, recognize that we have responsibilities as well as rights; that our destinies are bound together; that a freedom which only asks what's in it for me, a freedom without a commitment to others, a freedom without love or charity or duty or patriotism, is unworthy of our founding ideals, and those who died in their defense.
Minnesota America 250
Sharing the Spirit of America: Nationwide Reading of the Declaration of Independence
- When:
- July 8, 5:00–6:30pm
- Where:
- MN State Capital Rotunda
St. Paul, MN
Join us in the Rotunda for a historic nationwide initiative as citizens across all 50 states, territories, and the District of Columbia unite to read the Declaration of Independence. Commemorating the 250th anniversary of the first public reading on July 8, 1776, this reading celebrates our shared principles and reflects on the unalienable rights of Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness which continue to define the American spirit today.
Calls to Action ^
Oppose USPS Rule Change Threatening Mail Voting
by July 2, 2026
On June 2, 2026, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) published a proposed rule to allow the federal government to control who can cast a mail-in or absentee ballot. The rule, a response to an executive order that Donald Trump signed in March, would require states to send USPS a list of every voter slated to receive a ballot by mail. USPS could then refuse to deliver ballots to any voters whose names are not on states’ pre-approved lists.
The rule threatens to disenfranchise the thousands of voters who rely on mailed ballots to participate in elections, including American citizens living abroad, people with disabilities, rural residents, and other communities that have long faced obstacles at the polls. Under this rule, a data or administrative error could block voters from receiving ballots through no fault of their own. Further, election administrators across the country say there is neither time nor funding to comply
with the new rule before November 2026 midterms.
Urge Governor Walz to do all they can to stop this rule from taking effect and protect state control over elections and mail-in voting.
Then, submit a public comment to USPS opposing this unlawful rule change. USPS is accepting written comments via email until 5 p.m. ET on Thursday, July 2, 2026.
ICE wants to reopen the Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton, MN
What happens next depends on us. We keep us safe.
ICE wants to reopen the Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton, MN as a 1,600 capacity immigration detention center, run by private prison giant CoreCivic. If approved, it would become one of the largest ICE detention facilities in the US, ~60% larger than Delaney Hall.
They're betting this can happen quietly in a small town far from the headlines. Don't let it.
Call your elected officials and demand an end to for-profit detention. Organize locally. Talk to your neighbors. Learn from the protests and hunger strikes happening at detention facilities across the country.
Write Postcards to Swing States
Progressive Turnout Project
Sign up for our Get Out the Vote postcards. We'll send you the postcards for free, along with voter lists and instructions with proven message options. You will need to provide the Postcard Stamps (currently $0.61). All the mailing dates for these postcards are in October.
5calls
Pick an action & make a call
Call for Writing
Activate your voice — storytellers, poets & independent journalists wanted
Panatrope wants you for the launch their new journal!
They are accepting written work of any genre: Poetry: up to 5 pages
Short Fiction or nonfiction: between 400-5000 words.
Call for Storytellers
New show planned to launch in July
"Humans evolved opposable thumbs to be able to hold on. We evolved Story to know what to hold on to."
What’s your story? We’re celebrating the art of oral storytelling —
the every day way we all communicate with each other.
For our new podcast, “North Star Lane”, we’re collecting personal stories about connections —
to place, to the past, to each other.
Stories should be 3–10 minutes in length, and can range in tone from funny incident to elegy and everything in between.
Michael Goldberg is collecting the stories.
Send audio to him — or a note to arrange a phone call or zoom —
at goldberg.actionmedia@gmail.com.
He is also looking for storytellers for a live storytelling show in Grand Rapids,Labor Day weekend, themed On the Job. Let him know if you’d like more information about that.
North Star Lane is produced by Michael Goldberg, who lives in the woods of northern Minnesota and collects stories from his friends and neighbors. They tell stories about their connections – to place, to the past, to each other – and about things that are important to them. We think a lot of the same things are important to us all.
Training Opportunities ^
Activist Care Circle
First of the series starts June 15
- When:
- June 15, 7:00pm CT
- Where:
- Online
Activist Care Circle for Indivisible is here to celebrate you and the work you do, as well as comfort you on the difficult days this work, and this world, can bring. ACC is a space for activists, by activists. We’re honored to invite you and your group members to a special Midterms Monthly Meeting Series exclusively for Indivisibles every third Monday through November.
Each Activist Care Circle workshop includes a mix of interactive lessons, mindfulness moments, self-care practice, group discussion, and of course fun. Join your fellow activists and spend time with folks who get it. Our goal is for you to leave with stress-reduction tools for your activist toolbox, and more peace than you came in with.
Understanding and Responding to Christian Nationalism
by Christians Against Christian Nationalism Minnesota
- When:
- June 16, 6:30–7:30pm
- Where:
- Online
Christian nationalism seeks to merge Christian and American identities, damaging both the Christian faith and America’s democracy. It implies that to be a good American, one must be a Christian. This workshop provides information about Christian nationalism and ways for Christians, people of other faiths, and secular individuals to respond to Christian nationalism.
The Legacy & History of Open Culture
by Creative Commons
- When:
- June 16, 9:30am–10:30 CT
- Where:
- Online
In the early 2000s, a handful of trailblazing galleries, libraries, archives, and museums made a radical choice: to digitize their collections and release them freely, without restriction, to anyone in the world. There was no playbook. There was no mandate. There was only a conviction that cultural heritage, the shared memory of humanity, belonged to everyone, and that the internet had made it possible, for the first time, to act on that conviction at scale.
This panel traces that origin story. Who were the institutions and individuals willing to go first, and what did they risk? How did CC licenses and public domain tools become the infrastructure that made openness not just a philosophy but a practice? And what did twenty-five years of building this movement teach us about what it takes to change not just institutions, but the systems that govern them?
Trans Equity Training
- When:
- June 17, 3:00–4:15pm
- Where:
- Online (RSVP for link)
Trans people everywhere are being faced with an escalation of violence, as those who are pushing an agenda of trans erasure continue to spread hateful propaganda and advance legislative efforts to codify discrimination against transgender people into law. These attacks cannot be allowed to continue, but to stop them, we must come together and take action.
That's why Gender Justice hosts our interactive Trans Equity Training series where you will learn how to best talk about trans issues, find ways to take action, and meet others who are passionate about the fight for trans equity and empowerment.
De-Google Workshop
- When:
- June 18, 5:30–7:00pm
- Where:
- Dovetail Cafe
Duluth, MN
Come learn how to take back control of our privacy,
our environment, and our futures from billionaires
and their corporations by getting Google out of your life.
At this hands-on workshop we'll share practical alternatives
and help you de-Google your devices.
Bring your devices, chargers & enthusiasm to learn & change.
Major Win for Asylum Rights
District Court Strikes Down Restrictions in Biden-Era Rule that Severely Limited Asylum
"'Today’s decision is a critical step in peeling back the illegal asylum restrictions at the border,' said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project. 'Unfortunately, as a country we have forgotten the historic commitment we made after World War II to never turn our back on people fleeing persecution.'"
However:
Five takeaways from inside Fort Snelling Immigration Court
It’s one of 70 immigration courts across the U.S. where asylum denials have skyrocketed and secrecy is growing.
"During Operation Metro Surge, many of the people detained ended up in a nondescript government building at Fort Snelling where immigration judges decided their cases.
"At the peak of the surge in January and February, judges inside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building ruled on more than 980 asylum cases. They granted it only two times, according to a data analysis by the Minnesota Star Tribune."
World Refugee Day
June 20
Each year on 20 June, the world honours the strength and courage of people who have been forced to flee their home country to escape conflict or persecution.
Talking Politics with Neighbors, Friends and Family
Recorded Sessions from Rural Urban Bridge Initiative
This 2-part series includes the following sessions:
- Best Practices for Communicating with Rural Voters "Talk Like a Neighbor" Workshop
- Talking Politics with Friends and Family Communications Workshop
Arguing about politics often ends in frustration and damaged relationships. This hour-long workshop will go over some basic interpersonal communication principles that can help shift the conversation from a grueling debate to a more respectful exchange of ideas.
Organizing to Protect Democracy
Recorded training from the ACLU
In a moment when our right to vote is facing relentless attacks, understanding how elections work has never been more important.
Now, we have the electoral knowledge and skills to be active in protecting our democracy.
88 Corporations That Paid No US Federal Income Tax in 2025
Spent $852 Million on Recent Lobbying, Elections
"'The result,' said the author of a new Public Citizen analysis, 'is a self-reinforcing loop where corporate cash buys policy, and policy pays cash back.'"
Inspiration ^
Our Once-In-A-Lifetime Opportunity in 2026: Let’s Not Blow it
Expand the Playing Field and Spread the Wealth
"Trump’s river of political blunders plus Democrats’ army of energetic, appealing candidates up and down the ballot offer a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for massive gains and maybe even a major realignment."
How ACT UP Did It
ACT UP was most effective when it had the broadest coalition of members. Its story cannot be reduced to a few 'heroes' and their journey.
"...activist movements must set their priorities from the bottom—from those who have the least; those who need the most—or their success will always be partial
"ACT UP’s members achieved incredible wins, against impossible odds, while watching their world crumble around them. They made mistakes and kept going, literally carrying each other when necessary. A few hundred dying people battled the United States, and often they won.
Reading Let the Record Show made me wonder what they could have done with more bodies on the line; more help; more hands; more heart; more anger. 'Unfortunately, most people do not participate in making change,' Schulman notes. 'Only tiny vanguards actually take the actions necessary, and even fewer do this with a commitment to being effective.'"
