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reactivismtc:

Couldn’t make the game but curious about the challenges? Want to play on your own? Here are the challenges that the Re:Activism teams completed for points 8/29/2009.

MARION STREET BRIDGE
Challenge 1
Welcome to the Marion Street bridge, overlooking I-94 and cutting through the old Rondo neighborhood. “In the 1930s, Rondo Avenue was the heart of St. Paul’s largest Black neighborhood. African-Americans whose families had lived in Minnesota for decades and others who were just arriving from the South made up a vibrant, vital community that was in many ways independent of the white society around it. The construction of I-94 in the 1960s shattered this tight-knit community, displaced thousands of African-Americans into a racially segregated city and a discriminatory housing market, and erased a now-legendary neighborhood.” (From the Minnesota Historical Society)

Interview passersby about what they know about the old Rondo neighborhood.

Challenge 2
The Marion Street Bridge was also the site of the largest mass arrest during the 2008 RNC. Over 400 people were forced onto the bridge, detained for hours and eventually arrested. Create a memorial on the inside of the bridge to commemorate the Marion Street Bridge arrests and to remember the 800+ people arrested that week, some of whom are still fighting their charges in court. The Marion Street Bridge was also the site of the largest mass arrest during the 2008 RNC. Over 400 people were forced onto the bridge, detained for hours and eventually arrested.

Create a memorial on the inside of the bridge to commemorate the Marion Street Bridge arrests and to remember the 800+ people arrested that week, some of whom are still fighting their charges in court.

6th AND WALL STREET
Challenge 1
This location is where seven activists, later known as the Wall 7, were arrested for allegedly participating in a blockade several blocks away. At trial, all charges were dismissed by the judge from the bench for lack of evidence, marking the first RNC court victory.

Find seven people who don’t know each other very well to take a picture together
at the corner of 6th and Wall.

Challenge 2
Play a game of red light/green light, starting at 6th & Wall and finish-
ing at 9th & Wacouta, which is where the actual blockade the Wall 7 
were accused of allegedly took place. Feel free to invite people from
the public to join your team in the game.

THE FORMER YWCA BUILDING
Challenge 1
A collective of feminist activists founded the first rape crisis line at this site in the early 1970s when it used to be the St. Paul YWCA. Around this same time, a feminist collective called Women’s Advocates founded the nation’s first domestic violence shelter for women and their children just two miles away. While the Re:Activism team was not able to find a conclusive link between these two collectives or to establish that this was the work of the same collective, we would like to dedicate this space to the strong women and allies who pioneered a movement to create safer spaces for everyone. As a team, create a thank you card for Women’s Advocates.

Challenge 2
Many collectives move away from authoritarian structures in their organizing in favor of a more directly democratic consensus-driven process. Use the consensus process to determine and carry out a challenge of your team’s own devising. A consensus-process guide has been provided for you if you need it. Document both the process and the challenge with notes and photos.

MINNESOTA HOUSE (FARMERS MARKET)
Challenge 1
Charles Luth, a switchman, was murdered here by Charles Leonard, chief clerk to the superintendent of the Omaha Railroad on July 14, 1894. Leonard was registering scabs at the hotel when Luth objected. A fight ensued and Leonard shot Luth. After trial Leonard was found not guilty. A funeral procession of 3,000 to Oakland Cemetery was led by the Knights of Pythias band, a fraternal lodge to which Luth belonged.

Light a candle/hold a vigil for fallen comrades.

Challenge 2 
The Luth murder happened at the same time as the Pullman strike. The Pullman Strike was a nationwide conflict between labor unions and railroads that occurred in the United States in 1894. The strike began as a wildcat strike in response to a reduction in wages, bringing traffic west of Chicago to a halt. The American Railway Union, the nation’s first industry-wide union, led by Eugene V. Debs, subsequently became embroiled in what The New York Times described as “a struggle between the greatest and most important labor organization and the entire railroad capital” that involved some 250,000 workers in 27 states at its peak.

Stage a revival march for workers rights. Go on strike!

RICE PARK
Challenge 1
Rice Park is named after Henry Mower Rice, a one-time MN Senator who was instrumental in “negotiating” many treaties with Native people, including the notorious “Fort Laramie Treaty” of 1851. Rice was, among other things, an “intermediary” between settlers and natives during “negotiations.”

Interview: Ask people in and around park about the Rice the park is named after. Also ask what they know about the native history of MN. If people don’t know much about the park’s history take the opportunity to explain it to them and get at least one person to take a copy of the fact sheet provided in your materials.

historical note: Thousands of workers gathered here for the funeral procession of Charles Luth, killed during the Pullman strike in 1894 (discussed earlier at the Minnesota House/Farmer’s Market location). In addition, St. Paul Public Works Commissioner Oscar Keller was indicted by a Ramsey County Grand jury for a “disloyal” speech here supporting workers during the 1917 streetcar strike (see Challenge 2 for more details.)

Challenge 2
Rice Park was the site of many protests during the 1917 streetcar strike. St. Paul Public Works Commissioner Oscar Keller was arrested for “inciting a riot and sedition” and later indicted by a Ramsey County Grand jury for a “disloyal” speech he gave at a rally in support of the striking workers on December 2, 1917. Two days later, he was re-nominated in the city primaries by the largest vote a commissioner had ever received in a primary election (MN History, Summer 1955).

Recite this Keller quote in an impassioned manner for other park-goers: “The machinery of government has been commandeered by a little clique whose blind obedience to Wall Street is responsible for the stupid, selfish and short-sighted policy that is retarding our prosperity and creating profound distrust and discontent among our people.”

RAMSEY COUNTY COURTHOUSE
Challenge 1
The RNC 8/RNC Eight are organizers against the 2008 Twin Cities Republican National Convention who have been falsely charged in response to their political organizing. All were preemptively arrested prior to the RNC and have been charged with Conspiracy to Riot and Conspiracy to Commit Property Damage. Although the charge enhancements that included “Furtherance of Terrorism” under the Minnesota PATRIOT have been dropped, all eight still await trial for their remaining felony charges.

Get signatures from at least three people on the RNC8 support petition, which is included in your bag.

Challenge 2
Defend freedom of speech! Chalk the 1st Amendment somewhere outside of the Courthouse. Then call Susan Gaertner and John Choi and tell them to drop the charges against the RNC 8. Susan Gaertner, Ramsey County Prosecutor (running for Governor 2010) 651.266.3222. John Choi, City Attorney 651.266.8710 

LAW ENFORCEMENT CENTER
Challenge 1
Coldsnap Legal Collective organized and staffed a 24-hr jail vigil to support arrestees as they were being released. As the first large group of arrestees were being released late on September 3, friends and supporters erupted into song.

As a team, sing Solidarity Forever all the way through. Lyrics provided in backpack.

Challenge 2
While the LEC housed many RNC activists temporarily, many political prisoners remain in jail locally and around the country. Take the time out to write a letter, card or note to an imprisoned comrade. A list of imprisoned activists are provided in your bag. We have also included a how-to guide if this is your first time writing to a prisoner. Please be sure to give us your letter at the finish line. All letters written will get sent. Be sure to include your return address if you want a letter back!

XCEL CENTER
Challenge 1
The Xcel Energy Center was the site of the Republican National Convention in 2008. 818 people were arrested during the RNC protests in St. Paul. Many of these people were not protesters. They were journalists, medics, legal observers, bystanders, concertgoers and people going to their cars. One was even an RNC delegate.

Interview people in the area about their recollections and experiences during the RNC.

Challenge 2
“The city of St. Paul is a free-speech zone. I say that proudly. I was disappointed when I saw what Boston did (at the 2004 Democratic Convention). I don’t understand this idea of putting people in a pen someplace so they can express themselves. That’s not the way we will do things.” - Matt Bostrom, assistant chief of the St. Paul Police Department, regarding security plans for the 2008 RNC.

Re-enactment: You have 10 minutes to create a free speech zone using the supplies in your bag. Speak your mind. Invite others to as well. But do it quickly before someone official-looking notices.

MINNESOTA HISTORY CENTER
Challenge 1
Protest/Interruption: There is a guided segway tour on Saturday at 1pm, so the odds that you’ll run into the tour are high. The challenge is to insert an often forgotten narrative, the Dakota land struggle, into the Minnesota History Center’s dominant discourse. There is a sheet of facts about the Dakota land struggle in your team bag. Each team member takes a turn stating a fact, and when they are finished, they should stage a die-in.

***If you would like to do this challenge and there is not a segway tour happening outside, team members are encouraged to modify this theatrical act so it can be completed. An audience isn’t completely necessary, but documentation is so take pictures.

Challenge 2
Create chalk outlines of team members’ bodies and write “Dakota Land” inside of each.

ECOLAB
Challenge 1
On Day 3 of the 2008 RNC, Women Against Military Madness organized a silent protest against torture on the steps of the Ecolab plaza. Group members stood on the steps, wearing bright orange bodysuits with black bags over their heads, reminiscent of Guantanamo Bay prisoners. Stage your own silent protest for the cause of your choice.

Challenge 2
Sanitation supply company Ecolab is notorious for its animal testing practices. Make a memorial to a pet that you have lost.