By HARVEY WINJE
“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty; Power is ever stealing from the many to the few!”
-WENDELL PHILLIPS
In one word: Imperialism. In two words: Manifest Destiny. Nations conquered, Dakota Land stolen, settler colonialism in Mpls before and after WWII, WWII, Messiah Congregation vs the American Indian Movement, betrayal of a Covenant in Phillips Community, institutional expansion, trust of leadership and neighbors, production of disguised military bombs locally, and institutional ruse-philanthropy; are all instances of power to the few and imperialism at different levels.
“You are Lucky to be in the Belly of the Beast!”
U.S. attacks Iran! Our losses in Phillips pale in comparison to the devastation, depravity, and negative impacts of innumerable assaults on humanity locally and internationally this last year! Imperialism happens in many ways.
“Ah, the wars they will be fought again
The holy dove, she will be caught again
Bought and sold, and bought again…
While the killers in high places
Say their prayers again”*
Wars in Iran, Ukraine/Russia, and by ICE Surge fulfill Leonard Cohen’s words above from “Anthem.”
Life on Phillips Block 5
Life on the block later named 5 began one year after I was born at Northwestern Hospital 2627 Chicago Ave. in 1940 (to be demolished soon in $2 Billion Allina Health/Abbott-Northwestern campus changes).
My family moved to 2514 Chicago Ave. My Mother returned to Glen Lake Sanatorium, 16 months after my birth, for her third and last hospitalization for tuberculosis treatment. She died 9/8/1945, after the 8/6 & 9/1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Nation United
A “Serving Our Country” banner was in her hospital window; a proud sign that her oldest son was a Marine in the Pacific theater of WWII.
She wouldn’t have known he was in the Battles for the Mariana Archipelago Islands, Saipan, Guam, and Tinian, 6-10/1944 where tens of thousands of troops fought to conquer islands from Japan and build airstrips for 500 Boeing B-29 Super Fortress bombers including Enola Gay and Bockscar, bombers of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 8/6&9/1945.
FDR ‘Fireside Chat,’ news reels, and paraphernalia were to maintain civilian patriotism, support, and boost troop morale.
Razed, Blazed, and Moved
Also a symbol, the wool “Navy” suit I wore to my Mother’s funeral at Albinson Mortuary, 1701 Chicago Ave.; demolished for I-94.
That Mortuary and 35 other buildings are my List of “Razed, Blazed, and Moved” Phillips buildings nostalgic for me.
Some losses are personal. Losses caused by imperialism affect us all.
Belly of the Beast
I envy you. You North Americans are very lucky. You are fighting the most important fight of all. You live in the belly of the beast.
-Dr. ernesto ‘che’ guevara
Che Guevara’s phrase “the belly of the beast” (more often “heart of the beast”) refers to the U.S., which he viewed as the center of imperialism, capitalism, and global oppression.
Imperialism is often hidden behind other veils.
Rev. Peter Erickson, Messiah Evangelical Lutheran Church Congregation-MELCC Pastor 1969-1977;
Took Aim at AIM
Peter Erickson opposed the American Indian Movement. Apparently, he feared AIM advocacy and activism against imperialism of Indigenous people and land:
7/28/1968: AIM fd. by Dennis Banks, Clyde Bellecourt, & George Mitchell; office at 1337 East Franklin Ave.
1968: Fd. AIM Patrol to monitor police brutality.
7/29/1969: 7 detailed demands to the Nat’l Board of Luth. Churches: See “Thunder Before the Storm,” pg. 72 for complete list.
1969-1970: helped fd. first urban Indian Health Board.
11/20/1969–6/11/1971: Occupation of Alcatraz Island, CA. to highlight injustices and treaty violations.
1970: AIM peaceful takeover of a Naval Air Station building at Fort Snelling, to use for a school; “Dakota Treaty of 1805: any territory the U.S. abandoned would go back to the tribe.” Signs read: AIM for Unity.
1970: AIM helps fd. the Legal Rights Center.
1972: Creation of Little Red School House & Heart of the Earth Survival School.
Oct.–Nov. 1972: “Trail of Broken Treaties” March on Wash., D.C., & occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).
2/27/1973–5/8/1973: 71-day armed occupation of Wounded Knee, SD.
1974: Key leaders, Banks & Means go on trial; charges dismissed for government misconduct.
1975: AIM chosen to sponsor “Little Earth of United Tribes,” the first Indian-run HUD housing at 24th St & Cedar, Mpls.
1978: The “Longest Walk” from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., protest to support tribal sovereignty.
Erickson repudiated the legitimacy, credibility, morality, and appropriations of AIM. He demanded that MELC and the national LCA disapprove and deny contributions or endorsement.
AIM, LCA, ALC in Phillips
In a Sunday Worship Service, Rev. Erickson vehemently degraded AIM while wearing the clergy robe and vestment that symbolized his words as “ex cathedra”-with authority.
He was probably angered by Clyde Bellecourt writing later, “While we didn’t get everything we wanted from the Churches, we did start a new kind of relationship with them, particularly when it came to the obliteration of American Indian families. We were pleased—shocked—by the forceful response to our Challenge by the NCLC,” in his autobiography, “The Thunder Before the Storm,” (MN Historical Society Press, 2016).
They made strides in reversing the mantra of “Manifest Destiny” that explorers, countries, churches and governments had used as license for stealing land, obliterating Indigenous languages and culture, and separating families with boarding schools and forced adoptions.
“Elder Alberta Downwind wanted ‘Indian’ to be at the core of telling the world who we are,” according to Clyde Bellecourt. “She said, ‘Indian is the word they used to oppress us, and Indian is the word we will use to gain our freedom.’ From then on we were the American Indian Movement.”
A thorough AIM history is “We Are Still Here,” by Dick Bancroft and Laura Waterman Wittstock, MN Historical Society Press, 2013.
The American Lutheran Church strongly endorsed and supported AIM initiatives; national ALC offices were in Mpls. Our Saviour’s Lutheran Congregation at 24th and Chicago was ALC. Perhaps, this different attitude to Indigenous people was a factor in the dissolution of the Our Saviour’s Congregation and LCA-Messiah Congregation merger talks that had been discussed for several years.
I was at MELC the Sunday when Erickson spoke against AIM. I sat in the balcony to be less obvious wearing carpenter bib overalls; it was an afterthought to attend while on my way to work. I contradicted those intentions when I stood up and spoke near the end of the Service. The Liturgy gives opportunity for members to speak additions to the closing Prayers of the Church. I rose and requested, “that we ask to be forgiven for the times when our means were within acceptable norms but our morals were lacking.”
Wendell and Ann Phillips
I may have been emboldened, that Sunday, by having recently read “Wendell Phillips: Prophet of Liberty,” by Oscar Sherwin published 1958 I saw it at ORR Books, 31st & Hennepin Ave; $1.50.
I was enlightened and questioned why those attending Wendell Phillips Jr. High School (since demolished! Against the campaign of neighbors!) weren’t told of this remarkable couple, Ann Terry Greene Phillips and Wendell Phillips. Their decades-long campaigning for justice of many causes were legendary and could have formed the entire curriculum of the school. A missed opportunity by educational and political leaders except for the large oil painting of Phillips in the Lobby! All subjects could have been taught within that focus including industrial arts. Wendell’s mother said, “A good carpenter was spoiled when Wendell became a lawyer”
Also a worthy namesake of the Phillips Community that included the extremely wealthy business owners of Mpls. and the workers in grain mills, railroads and builders; the “working class” in the same neighborhood as was Wendell and Ann’s neighborhood in MA near Boston Commons; comparable to mansions near Peavey Field.
The context of U.S history with protests, assassinations, a Presidential resignation & pardon, etc of the late 1960s and 1970s is crucial to understanding Erickson’s leadership and the decisions by MELC during his tenure and after.
Peace Through Strength and Bomb Production Disguised
Honeywell International Corp. world headquarters on the west Phillips border, sponsored many philanthropic efforts of housing, employment, and education through its Honeywell Foundation including “Prospects for Peacemaking” advocating against nuclear arms. Their significant contributions were appreciated and successful in making positive public admiration and media attention. An article in Twin Cities Business Monthly by Ann Bauer about Honeywell CEO Michael Bonsignore said, “Probably no legitimate business could survive in Phillips without Honeywell.”
Clearly an insult to hundreds of legitimate Phillips area businesses that existed on their own merits and financing without Honeywell or any other philanthropy. That CEO moved Honeywell to New Jersey and merged with Alliant Corporation before he was terminated with a “golden parachute, firing.
Not all attention was positive, however, there were annual protests against military artillery production by the Honeywell Project for decades. Honeywell rationalized in “peace through strength.”
Four blocks south on Columbus Ave. there was a small start-up business called Phillips Works (PW) that initially collated, punched, and bound pamphlets and booklets such as annual reports. Employment was targeted for hard-to-employ Phillips rodents and especially Indigenous people. Ironically, PW also made campaign buttons. For expansion, PW rehabbed a building directly across from the first small factory. Similar production was planned for a space in the new American Indian Business Development Incubator 1400 East Franklin Ave.
Settler Colonial City
It was accidentally discovered that the parts being made by “hard-to-employ Phillips residents” were for fragmentation bombs! Not incongruous, since the Board President of PW was the Vice-President of Honeywell’s Defense Division. For further detailed explanation of this read Settler Colonial City: Racism and Inequity in Postwar Minneapolis by David Hugill University of Minnesota Press, Publisher, 2021.
“Bibles” for Land
Archbishop Desmond Tutu frequently illustrated the historical collusion between European colonialism and Christian missionary work in Africa. His quote summarizes how foreign powers used religion to facilitate the expropriation of Indigenous land.
When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said ‘Let us pray.’ We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.
-Desmond Tutu
“You are Lucky in the Belly of the Beast”
Dr. Ernesto “Che” Guevara’s words describe the opportunity to dispute Imperialism we have had in MN and here in Phillips.
“I envy you. You North Americans are very lucky. You are fighting the most important fight of all. You live in the belly of the beast.”
We have had imperialism by settler colonialists, missionaries, state and national leaders, corporations, small and large non-profits, and by real estate speculators. We have also had imperialism by religious organizations, hospitals, smaller non-profits, and speculating neighbors.
Who may we trust?
We are in the “belly of these beasts.”
“Eternal vigilance is the price of peace.”
