Hi John! 

My name is LyLy Vang-Yang (she/her). I’m a proud Saint Paulite, daughter of refugee immigrants, dedicated cat mom, and OK-ish cook. Pre-COVID, you could find me at a coffee shop with a peppermint mocha. With our new normal, I microwave instant coffee and stare wistfully out my window. 

I’m one of the care organizers at TakeAction Minnesota, and in this moment, I’m finding comfort in our ability to be resilient as humans.

A facilitator at a retreat I attended pre-COVID-19 defined resiliency as the ability to bounce back to purpose – rather than grit or endurance. We’re in a moment of crisis now, and our systems and institutions have proven to be grossly inadequate to meet our current challenge. This moment is providing us an opportunity to lean into our collective resiliency and root ourselves in our purpose as humans: to care for each other and the earth.

In our communities, we’re meeting this moment with ideas and dreams that would have been unthinkable just a few months ago. Single payer health care. Prison abolition. Homes for everyone. 

We’re also being creative in how we win this future. The organizers at Inquilinxs Unidxs por Justica organized a car and bike protest for rent and mortgage relief at the Capitol yesterday. This was the second one of these protests they’ve organized in a week. They’re getting results too, with local officials supporting a rent moratorium.

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If you weren’t able to attend their powerful action, take action online. No one should be homeless, especially during a pandemic. Tweet your support, use the hashtags #CancelRent and #CancelMortgages, and tag @GovTimWalz and @TakeActionMN. You can also post on Facebook or Instagram too.

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I also want to welcome you to The Spark, our weekly COVID-19 newsletter. I’m hoping this email series will offer you a few things: 

• Political education – I’ll be sharing more content to combat misinformation and build our collective political consciousness and imagination. 
• Space to be human and connected – I’ll be sending out articles, memes, songs, and other content that made us laugh, cry, rage, and hope. We’re in a strange moment, and it’s important to be rooted in our humanity and honor the full spectrum of our feelings. 
• Tangible ways to take action - This looks like mutual aid funds to support, socially distant rallies to attend, digital actions to participate in, articles to share with your mom, and more.

Before I wrap up, I’ve got two asks:

1. Remember to post your support to #CancelRent and #CancelMortgages on social media. We want to make sure our elected officials hear our demands, and in this age of social distancing, Twitter is an easy way to reach them. Tag @GovWalz and tag @TakeActionMN too so we can repost your message. 
2. Reply to this email with the photos, articles, songs, podcasts, tweets, or videos you are consuming. We want to hear from you! What’s making you hopeful? Cry? Full of rage? Laugh? TikTok videos and baby animal photos are especially welcome. 

Hang in there. We get through this together or not at all. Talk to you next week. 

[sprout emoji], 

LyLy 
she/her
organizer
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TakeAction Minnesota
705 Raymond Ave. #100
Saint Paul, MN 55114
United States
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