Subscribe
Katrina Plotz, Writer
Katrina Plotz grew up in St. Paul and currently lives in Bloomington. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in 2005 with a degree in secondary education and English. After teaching 7th grade for a year, she now divides her time among substitute teaching, freelance writing, and serving at Houlihan’s Restaurant in Richfield. Much of her free time is spent on peace and social justice activism. She has been a member of the Anti-War Committee since 2005 and is also part of the Protest RNC 2008 Coalition. She was recently hired to be a part-time local organizer for CODEPINK: Women for Peace.
Immigrants and workers march in St. Paul
“Aqui estamos y no nos vamos!” “We are here and we aren’t going away!” “We are not aliens. We are human beings with rights.” “No borders, no nations! No more deportations!” More than 500 immigrants and supporters chanted these and similar slogans as they marched to celebrate International Workers Day in St. Paul on May 1. They gathered on the corner of Kellogg Blvd. and Robert St. at 2 pm with colorful signs, flags, and plastic buckets fashioned into drums, before marching to the state capitol. MORE »
Critical Mass: Not guilty UPDATED
On April 14, after a week-long trial, Gus Ganley was found not guilty of charges stemming from last August’s clash between Critical Mass bike riders and Minneapolis police. On August 31, 2007, Gus Ganley was among 19 people arrested during Critical Mass, a bike ride that takes place on the last Friday of every month in Minneapolis. The August event, which drew hundreds of riders, included participants in the pReNC, a gathering organized by the RNC Welcoming Committee, an anarchist/anti-authoritarian group planning protests at next fall’s Republican National Convention. MORE »
Iraq War protests in Minnesota
Protesting the war, honoring the dead, listening to eyewitness accounts of the occupation, Twin Cities residents marked the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in events spanning a week. On March 15, nearly 2,000 people lined the sidewalk in front of the Uptown library, displaing colorful anti-war banners, signs, and flags. This demonstration was organized by the local Iraq Peace Action Coalition. More than 100 high school students from Youth Against War and Racism (YAWR) soon arrived, chanting, “Money for schools not for war.” MORE »
Bellecourt denounces KQRS for disguising racism as entertainment
Overlooking 35W and 94th St. in Bloomington, a billboard for KQRS radio reads ‘Our Lawyer is Always Busy.’ According to protesters who gathered outside station headquarters last week, KQRS has a battle on its hands. On December 6, more than 75 people braved single-digit temperatures to demand that the classic rock station fire popular morning DJs Tom Barnard and Terri Traen for derogatory statements they made about American Indians more than two months ago. MORE »
Jena 6 case sparks student organizing in Twin Cities
When tens of thousands marched for racial justice in Jena, Louisiana on September 20, Reverend Al Sharpton called it “the beginning of a new civil rights movement.” On November 2, more than fifty Twin Cities residents gathered in front of the federal courthouse in downtown Minneapolis to call for an end to racism in the nation’s legal system and other institutions. MORE »
