Photograph by Mike Novak
Town Talk Diner After Protests
It's hard to believe that this all started at a grocery store.
What happened at Cup Foods last Monday night, has changed us forever. The murder of George Floyd, in front of the world, on the pavement, under a knee, is not something we will soon forget. Nor should we.
In fact, our city is making sure that we don't. It is hungry for justice. It is hungry for change. So it was driven on Wednesday night to rise up and feed that need to be heard, to be seen. In demanding accountability and an admission that #BlackLivesMatter, the crowds were met with official force. The people and the police clashed all night long in the Minnehaha/E. Lake area, and a neighborhood was caught in the crossfire.
Overnight, the area was transformed into a food desert.
Due to fires and looting, the neighborhood lost Target, Cub Foods, and Aldi, all affordable grocery options in walking distance for an economically challenged neighborhood. For safety reasons, all the food shelves in the area locked up. Between Wednesday and Thursday nights' actions, it lost many restaurants too–the majority of which were small, independently owned spots that were run by families, or immigrants, or immigrant families. And now that Metro Transit has halted bus and light rail service, it's even harder for residents to get the food and medications they might need.
Usually this is when you start to get riled up about broken windows and missing bottles and brunches that will never come to pass, until you remember that all those things are replaceable, and human lives are not. Suddenly you're back outside that grocery store on Monday night and you remember that the world has changed, there's no going back.
But this is the part where you get to choose the good way forward.
Lets: Because hungry souls are waking up in that neighborhood today and they need your help to feed them. In the Minnehaha Commons building, Touchstone Mental Health provides 24 hr onsite supportive housing and services for people ages 55 and older who have experienced homelessness. All residents are very low-income and rely heavily on local food shelves, which are currently not open. So today, from 3-6pm let's go rock their Food Drive for Residents of the Minnehaha Commons. Touchstone's Natalie Kerber told me,"Residents are cooking for one so we need single person meals that are easy to make (bread, peanut butter, sandwich fixings, cans of soup, pasta and sauce, rice, canned fruit, veggies, beans). And they also need toilet paper. What we don't need is opened, outdated or bulk foods. No perishable items like fresh fruits and vegetables, milk, eggs." You can drive up and hand off your bags curbside, wearing a mask is the chic thing to do. And if you're still on the Stay Home plan, you can donate online at www.touchstonemh.org/donate.
Next: Let's help rebuild Lake Street, which is populated by so many great restaurants, from sambusa to paletas, chicken wings to sushi, burgers to whiskies and beyond. Donate to We Love Lake Street which will funnel 100% of all funds to rebuilding the small business community that runs through the center of our cities and our hearts.
Then: Let's not forget St. Paul, which saw the most action last night. University Avenue will need some love and attention when you wake up. Why not join up with Union Park District Council Helping Hands Clean Up today. Meet up at Bethlehem Lutheran In-the-Midway on the corner of Spruce Tree and Roy at 10am. Look for the bright orange Union Park District Council shirts. Bring work gloves, brooms, and dustpans and garbage bags. (Check to make sure times are still the same before you set out.)
Also: Let's support those supporting others. Modist Brewing is donating all their proceeds from Monday through the end of the month to the #GeorgeFloyd gofundme, the MN Freedom Fund, and other orgs supporting the protests. Grand Cafe has pledged 100% of fancy meal kit sales, through today so get on it, directly to the #GeorgeFloyd gofundme. Lowry Hill Meats is donating the proceeds from today's BBQ dinner sales to the cause.
And: Lift the community that's in the most pain right now. Use your dollars to affect change right here by shopping and eating with Black-Owned Businesses.
So: Remember kids, this is just how we start. Stay hungry for positive change that could impact millions of people. Listen for ways to serve your community, and above all: feed each other. If we are all walking around with bellies full of respect, love, and hope ... how great of a world could we make?
Please wear a mask! XO
