Solidarity and Cultural Organizing in Minneapolis and Beyond
In this episode, guest host UyenThi talks to Minneapolis organizer Ricardo Levins Morales about cultural organizing, coalition building, and how solidarity work can be messy, chaotic, and full of possibility.
“One of the most important things that we can invest our hearts into is solidarity. And solidarity often starts out transactional and morphs into profound. The ultimate relational solidarity is the idea that an injury to you is an injury to me, that I actually feel it, that the people who I’m in support with are loved ones. When they are hurt, I feel the hurt. It doesn’t always start out that way, but that is the material we have to work with.”
ABOUT THE GUEST
Ricardo Levins Morales is a long-time artist and organizer based in Minneapolis. He has been part of movements for justice and deep change since coming to the US from Puerto Rico as a young person in the late 1960s. Whether through art-making, speaking, or writing, Ricardo strives to promote healing, clarity, and collective power in the face of oppressive systems and behaviors.
EPISODE NOTES
Ricardo Levins Morales Art Studio website; social media: Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky
Tending The Soil – Lessons For Organizing zine
Ricardo’s Book: The Land Knows the Way: Eco-Social Insights for Liberation
Liberation Calendar and free monthly download with historical dates for classroom, workplace, or personal use
MPD150 narrative organizing project; find the report online + options for physical copies in Minneapolis
The U.S. and the Holocaust, a documentary by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein on PBS
Related resources:
BMP’s Solidarity Lessons from a Year of Crisis and Change (March 2026), including observations from Minneapolis
Solidarity Story: Crises Bring Possibilities to Build Together - lessons from NAKASEC, which was founded in response to the Los Angeles Uprising of 1992.