BACP Meeting 6-6-22 Minutes

Brainerd Area Coalition for Peace (BACP) held our monthly meeting on Monday, June 6, 2022, at 7 p.m.   The meeting took place in Gregory Park.  Judi Schiller, Richard Schiller, Donna Bowen, Larry Mjolness, and Doug Olson joined the BACP meeting.   (BACP plans to meet in Gregory Park in July and August, weather permitting).

Meeting participants discussed BACP hosting a table at the Brainerd Pride Picnic on Saturday, June 18.   The Brainerd Pride Picnic will be held in Gregory Park from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.   Brainerd Lakes Pride, a Brainerd area LGBTQ rights organization, is hosting the Brainerd Pride Picnic.  Donna, Doug, Isaiah, Judi, and Richard are interested in volunteering at the BACP table.  Doug will send out a request for volunteers for the BACP table to the BACP listserv before the Brainerd Pride Picnic.

Meeting participants supported the idea of BACP marching in the Brainerd Fourth of July parade under the Brainerd Democracy Alliance name.  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).   For the purposes of the Brainerd Fourth of July parade unit, the group will be referred to as the Brainerd Democracy Alliance.

BLUE, DSA, and LAMTA plan to discuss whether their organizations will march in a joint parade unit as part of the Brainerd Democracy Alliance at their upcoming meetings on Thursday, June 9 for BLUE and Tuesday, June 14 for DSA and LAMTA.   [All three organizations supported marching in the Brainerd Fourth of July parade under the Brainerd Democracy Alliance name].

Doug will mail the parade unit application to Brainerd Community Action.   Brainerd Community Action hosts the Brainerd Fourth of July parade.  The Brainerd Fourth of July parade will be held on Monday, July 4 at 6 p.m.    


Richard and Judi turned in the Crow Wing County Fair booth application.   BACP will host a booth at the Crow Wing County Fair.   
The Crow Wing County Fair will be held from Tuesday, August 2 through Saturday, August 6.   The BACP booth will be open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day of the Fair.    

BACP member Elaine Kain is creating buttons for the BACP Crow Wing County Fair booth.    Elaine's buttons are extremely popular with fairgoers who visit the BACP booth.   Elaine creating the buttons is greatly appreciated.


Because the Brainerd Fourth of July parade is being held on the first Monday of the month, when BACP usually meets, the July BACP meeting will be held on Monday, July 11 at 7 p.m.  in Gregory Park, weather permitting.   


BACP meeting participants agreed the email addresses of active BACP members can be submitted to DSA co-chair Julius Kapushinski for the purpose of Julius organizing an online vote to change the name of the Brainerd Area Joint Democracy Group.   Julius will not use the emails to recruit for DSA.   He will delete the emails immediately after the vote.   The online vote will be held later this summer.

Doug will send Richard an email with Julius' email address and the email addresses of active BACP members so Richard can forward the email addresses to Julius.


The March for Our Lives gun violence vigil will be held on Saturday, June 11.   Lakes Area Activism, an online Brainerd liberal activist group, organized the Brainerd March for Our Lives vigil.   The Brainerd vigil is part of a national March for Our Lives day of action, including a march in Washington, D.C. and vigils and rallies throughout the U.S.    

The Brainerd March for Our Lives event begins with a rally at Gregory Park at noon.   Rally participants will walk to the intersection of Sixth and Washington Streets, Brainerd, to hold a vigil across from the historic Brainerd water tower.   The vigil is scheduled to last until 2 p.m.


The Monday, July 11 BACP meeting will be held in Gregory Park at 7 p.m., weather permitting.   Gregory Park is located at 511 North Fifth Street, Brainerd.   If bad weather prevents an outdoor meeting, the BACP meeting will be held in the Brainerd United Church of Christ (UCC) upstairs library.    The Brainerd UCC is located at 415 Juniper Street, Brainerd, near Gregory Park.  

The BACP meeting adjourned at 8 p.m.   

BACP Meeting Notes Submitted by Doug Olson