RAISE YOUR VOICE
By PETER MOLENAAR
Manoomin is the “wild rice” which sustains the Anishinaabe. The word is especially familiar to the Ojibwa among us. Sadly, the manoomin has faded due to habitat loss, degraded water quality”¦ climate crisis. Like the canary in the mine shaft, manoomin speaks”¦ and speaks to us all.
My place in the world”¦
Molten iron flows just north of Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery, and just south of the Roof Depot on 28th Street. Smith Foundry is the place I labored for 35 years: repetitive motion, 500,000 molds of sand”¦ ankles worn down to bone on bone. Was once a “people”™s soldier”. Now with titanium and plastic surgically implanted, perhaps I will march again.
July 14, 2021”¦
The old soldier sported a fancy ankle brace and wielded an aluminum crutch. Hobbling along, he traversed the granite flat before ascending. Minnesota”™s grand rotunda was occupied by the manoomin spirit. The call rang out: STOP LINE THREE!
Actually, the original Line 3 was the source of millions of gallons of oil spills (check online: line 3 pipeline). Want to go tit for tat over the merit of fresh pipe? Hey, we are talking tar sand oil here, at a time when we desperately need to be weaned from fossil fuels, period. No number of temporary high wage “man camps” will compensate for the loss of a viable planet. To which I will add: the assertion of “white privilege” by some of these campers must end immediately.
WORKERS AND OPPRESSED PEOPLES UNITE!
The fog of COVID has lifted now. So, let”™s self-educate and begin marching in stride. Ilhan Omar put it this way: The decision that U.S. entities make on line 3 is a decision for the entire world.” Do we side with short term corporate profits, or do we side with the seven generations yet to come? I intend to soldier on, but dear neighbors, you must decide.
