Brainerd Area Coalition for Peace (BACP) held our monthly meeting on Monday, February 7.   The meeting took place online via the Zoom website.   (BACP plans to hold our monthly meetings online via Zoom until at least April).   Judi and Richard Schiller, Isaiah Oleson, and Doug Olson joined the BACP meeting.

BACP meeting participants discussed the recent formation of the Brainerd Area Joint Democracy Group.  The Brainerd Area Joint Democracy Group is a coalition of Brainerd Area progressive organizations, including BACP, Brainerd Lakers United for the Environment (BLUE), Brainerd Lakes Area Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), Brainerd Lakes Pride, and Lakes Area Move to Amend (LAMTA).
The new group held its first online meeting on Wednesday, January 19.   11 people joined the meeting, including BACP members Pat Scott, Judi, Richard, and Doug.   Meeting participants agreed the Brainerd Area Joint Democracy Group would hold monthly meetings and create a private Facebook page.   [LAMTA member Joe Stattine created a private Facebook page for the group before the Wednesday, February 16 Brainerd Area Joint Democracy Group meeting].

BACP meeting participants discussed the possibility of the Brainerd Area Joint Democracy Group marching in the Brainerd Fourth of July parade or hosting a booth at the Crow Wing County Fair.   

Meeting participants agreed marching in a joint parade unit would be a good idea, if the other groups agreed to it.  There were some concerns about a joint Crow Wing County Fair booth, given BACP's goal of sharing our message of peace with interested fairgoers and not wanting to confuse our message with other groups' messages.    

Any decision about a joint parade unit or Crow Wing County Fair booth would have to be approved by the members of the organizations involved in the Brainerd Area Joint Democracy Group.


Meeting participants discussed whether BACP should endorse the Brainerd May Day event.   DSA is organizing the Brainerd May Day event.   The Brainerd May Day event will advocate economic justice and workers' rights.   There will be a march from the Brainerd Area AFL-CIO headquarters in downtown Brainerd to Brainerd city hall on Laurel Street.   There will be a rally at Brainerd city hall with speakers.   More details about the Brainerd May Day event will become known as the event is organized.

Doug, Judi, and Richard supported BACP endorsing the Brainerd May Day event.  BACP's mission statement supports economic justice.
BACP endorsed the 2021 Brainerd May Day parade hosted by the Brainerd Area AFL-CIO and DSA.   Isaiah supported the goals of the Brainerd May Day event but expressed concerns about endorsing the Brainerd May Day event before more information about it is known.   With most meeting participants supporting endorsing the Brainerd May Day event, BACP gave the Brainerd May Day event a preliminary endorsement.

[Doug submitted a question to fellow BACP members on the BACP listserv asking if BACP should endorse the Brainerd May Day event.
No one expressed opposition to BACP endorsing the Brainerd May Day event.    BACP now officially endorses the Brainerd May Day event].

Meeting participants unanimously agreed BACP should renew our commitment to the Adopt a Highway program for two years.  
(Groups participating  in the Adopt a Highway program renew their sections every two years).    BACP Adopt a Highway cleanup volunteers enjoy the cleanups.   The cleanups are a good way to help protect the environment, give back to the community, and share our message of peace.   

[Doug submitted a question to fellow BACP members on the BACP listserv asking if BACP should continue participating in the Adopt a Highway cleanups.   Fellow BACP member Gayle Nielsen said BACP should continue the cleanups.   No one expressed opposition.
Doug mailed the form MN DOT provides to renew Adopt a Highway commitments to the Baxter MN DOT office].


Meeting participants discussed how BACP could support the movement to free Wikileaks founder and publisher Julian Assange.   
The United Kingdom is holding Assange in Belmarsh Prison in London as the British government weighs extraditing Assange to the U.S. to face Espionage Act charges.   Peace activists and civil libertarians are demanding Assange be freed and the U.S. drop all charges against him.   Assange is suffering from physical and mental health problems.    He had a stroke in October 2021 and has significant mental health issues due to being held in solidarity confinement in Belmarsh Prison for nearly three years.   Nils Melzer, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, called Assange's treatment psychological torture.

Doug proposed BACP incorporate the demand to free Julian Assange in BACP's Spring peace vigil.

Isaiah proposed BACP look into submitting an ad to the Brainerd License Office (BLO) demanding Assange's freedom and calling for defending freedom of the press.   The BLO, where drivers renew licenses, has a screen running ads.   Ads can run for one month ($25), three months ($70), six months ($125), and twelve months ($225).   Everyone agreed this idea should be pursued further at the Monday, March 7 BACP meeting.

[If the BLO did not accept BACP's Free Julian Assange ad, an alternative might be running a Free Julian Assange ad in the Brainerd Dispatch].

Judi proposed the BACP Crow Wing County Fair booth have literature calling for Julian Assange's freedom if he has not been freed by the time of the fair in late July/early August.   Free Julian Assange literature should be available on the Internet.


Meeting participants expressed disgust at the Minneapolis police murder of Amir Locke on Wednesday, February 2.   Minneapolis police officer Mark Hanneman killed Locke after police burst into an apartment Locke slept in in a predawn raid.   The police, using a no-knock warrant, barged into the apartment, barked out commands, and kicked the bed Locke slept in.   When Hanneman saw Locke, who was under a blanket, holding a gun, he shot him three times and killed him.   Video from police body cameras show Locke pointed his gun towards the ground, not at the police officers.  Neither Hanneman nor any of the other police officers told Locke to drop his gun before Hanneman killed him.  Nine seconds elapsed between the police busting into the apartment and the murder of Amir Locke.

Locke was not a suspect in the homicide case cited in the no-knock warrant.   Locke had a legal permit for his gun.   Locke, a DoorDash driver, carried the gun to protect himself from being carjacked.   By all accounts, he was a good, hard-working person.

BACP meeting participants support the demands for justice for Amir Locke.   Many protests took place after Locke's murder.  Legislation is being discussed to ban or severely restrict no-knock warrants in the Minnesota legislature and Congress.


BACP will hold our next monthly meeting on Monday, March 7 at 7 p.m.   The BACP meeting will be held online via the Zoom website.  The meeting will last 40 minutes, the maximum amount of time Zoom provides for free meetings.   A Zoom link to the BACP meeting will be provided in the BACP meeting notice.


The BACP meeting adjourned at 7:55 p.m.   


BACP Meeting Notes Submitted by Doug Olson