by Kyle Hooten
A well-funded black power group will use strippers and party buses to entice people to vote for a measure to amend the Minneapolis City Charter to “remove” the police department later this month.
The Black Visions Collective is a Minnesota-based organization that promotes “black power” and advocates for total abolition of the police. It has also raised $30 million since the George Floyd riots last summer and is using some of this money to run shuttles from a strip club to a voting center to turn out the vote for the municipal election.
The collective is calling the event “Poles to the Polls: Shake That Azz to the Voting Booth!” Participants will “ride a party bus to the Early Voting Cener [sic] to vote yes on question 2 to create a Dept. of Public Safety,” according to the website used to register attendees. The site also asks if those attending are black, “non-black POC” or white and how much they support question 2.
Question 2 will ask voters if the “Minneapolis City Charter [should] be amended to remove the Police Department and replace it with a Department of Public Safety.” Early voting began Sept. 17, while Election Day is Nov. 2.
Join Black Visions and @SWOPMPLS for Poles to the Polls: Get That Azz to the Voting Booth. Saturday, Oct. 30th 1p – 4p outside of Choice Gentlemen’s Club (254 N 2nd Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55401). https://t.co/RNjCzSZbc7 pic.twitter.com/pKmZ3hAXEH
— Black Visions (@BlackVisionsMN) October 19, 2021
“We are a Black Queer + Trans centering, body and sex positive organization that is committed to holding space for and protecting folks inside these marginalized identities,” Black Visions explains in its social media posts announcing the stripper voting party. “With that, we are explicitly requesting that you respect those who hold these identities and practice radical consent when engaging with them,” the group continues.
What is Black Visions?
Black Visions promotes a baseless conspiracy theory that America has suffered multiple “attempted white supremacist insurrectionist coups” and advocates a “black liberation” ideology that has historically been connected to terrorism. Despite this, it has been able to impact major changes in mainstream politics.
In coordination with its sister organization Reclaim the Block, Black Visions negotiated over a million dollars away from the Minneapolis Police Department, per Minnesota Monthly. The group also takes credit for applying the political pressure that led to another $8 million being removed from the department.
“[We] moved a veto-proof majority of our city council to commit to dismantling the Minneapolis Police Department, so that all their future actions would be measured against this public commitment,” the organization writes on its website.
These efforts have largely been funded by private donors, but the group has received money from the Minneapolis Climate Action and Racial Equity Fund, which was founded in partnership with the city.
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Kyle Hooten is Managing Editor of Alpha News. His coverage of Minneapolis has been featured on television shows like Tucker Carlson Tonight and in print media outlets like the Wall Street Journal.
