Happy Birthday, Minnesota?

The following anonymous report was originally sent to and published on Conflict Minnesota.

On May 11th, 1858, Minnesota became an official member of the United States of colonization. On this weekend of “celebration” in 2019, it’s clear we have no choice but to decolonize and build anew. As every day passes, it becomes more urgent. We cannot wait. We have little time left as the destruction of colonization harmed the land and water that gives us life. You need to walk no further than to the river right behind this bleeding statue to see it’s swollen banks. Those banks further downstream are currently flooding towns. In Iowa, these towns are flooded with both water and politicians. Politicians that promise a brighter future; that promise changes to reduce some harms. Words that are meaningless without radical change to end colonization, destructive capitalism, and the state itself. We can vote all we want in a crumbling empire and dying earth, but it doesn’t change enough to remove us from this path towards extinction.

The future is bleak, but life demands we struggle if we want to exist. May we struggle with those who push us forward and take actions that reduce harms. May we open our senses and be careful of all the distractions that blind us. Recently, the flood waters temporarily took back a colonizer statute in St. Louis. The flood waters won’t wait around for the next election.

Happy Birthday, flood waters. Here are our gifts. We won’t miss any statutes you take from us, but we grieve for the life that you take. In your path of destruction, may new seeds be planted if we have any time left at all.