If you have any institutional power whatsoever with the city of Minneapolis—if you serve on a board, neighborhood org, committee, staff, etc.—now is the time to flex that power to demand our elected officials divest from our racist, murderous police department.

The city needs to get this message from every single avenue: Police do not protect us. They murdered George Floyd. We do not consent to funding them.

The police department is already working to discredit yesterday's protest. They will attempt to spin it as violent radicals making unfair demands. So in addition to protests, we also need to flex any power that we have within those institutions.

Every government entity is political, and they all have power to wield.

On the Arts Commission? Demand police funding be cut and put towards art programs for youth, a proven crime prevention tactic.

On a preservation commission? Demand police funding be cut because its clear they don't value the preservation of Black lives.

Planning commission? Pedestrian Advisory Committee? Zoning board? They're all political, they all hold power, and they can all be used to hold the police to account for murdering George Floyd.

Even if you think your elected officials support police divestment, they'll need political capital to pursue that goal. If they know all of the neighborhood boards in their ward support police abolition, they can play that card while fighting for it.