By Dave Healy

Sherm Eagles has been moderating the SAPark listserv since its inception in 2001. Occasionally he’s stepped into exchanges he’s felt went on long enough and told participants it was time to move on.

Recently, though, Eagles did something he’s never done before: He created an offshoot of SAPark to facilitate a topic he thought deserved its own forum.

“It seemed like there were contributors to SAPark who wanted to talk about events following the 2024 elections, and some wanted to know if what they were reading on various forms of social media could be trusted,” Eagles said. “Others thought such discussions weren’t central to the purposes of SAPark, so it seemed like a separate forum was in order.”

The new listserv is the third leg in a larger enterprise called SAP for Democracy. The other components are a website and a weekly newsletter.

A new website too

The website (sap4democracy.org) is the creation of longtime St. Anthony Park resident Meg Kersey-
Isaacson. It grew out of her sense that many neighborhood people wanted trusted information and practical suggestions for action in response to what they see as recent threats to democracy and public services.

“This started with me asking, ‘What can I do?’” said Kersey-Isaacson. “But I know that collective action is what’s most effective.”

She learned that lesson during the first Trump administration when she joined the Indivisible movement, and sap4democracy.org directs readers to the local Indivisible group (indivisibletwincities.org) for more information.

The website lists phone numbers for U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith and Rep. Betty McCollum, urging daily calls. It alerts subscribers to events, such as the March 28 protest at a pedestrian bridge over I-94 and the April 5 nationwide “hands off” protest at the state Capitol. And it posts pictures of “protest signs of the week.”

SAP for Democracy is avowedly nonpartisan, but it’s not afraid to choose some sides, recommending, for example, Bluesky over Twitter, Cub over Whole Foods (an Amazon subsidiary), Lyft over Uber, VRBO over AirBnB.

The group supports independent journalists and recommends particular podcasts, YouTube channels, Substacks and authors.

Eagles said that SAPark has always served users who are comfortable with email but who might be less active online. SAP for Democracy assumes users are conversant with various forms of social media.

Kersey-Isaacson started her efforts with an e-newsletter, but she found that it got blocked by many recipients’ email filters. That led to the creation of the website, which she updates weekly.

And the realization that even interested people won’t necessarily remember to visit the site for updates led to the creation of a weekly newsletter, which is put together and distributed by neighborhood resident Kristina Halvorson. One of its features is the “weekly call,” a request to call legislators about an issue of particular relevance that week.

Other than her initial announcement on SAPark, Kersey-Isaacson hasn’t advertised SAP for Democracy. It’s grown by word of mouth and by other people helping keep her informed about opportunities for action. She said she’s received emails from former St. Anthony Park residents who appreciate having a convenient repository of information and suggestions.

“I’m lucky to live in a neighborhood with great interest in what’s happening outside our neighborhood,” Kersey-Isaacson said. “I’ll keep doing what I’m doing as long as there’s a need for it.”

To subscribe to the SAP for Democracy listserv, email [email protected]. For the newsletter, go to buttondown.com/sap4democracy. 

Dave Healy lives in St Anthony Park and is a former editor of the Park Bugle.

Photo: The sign above was among many protest signs seen at the pro-democracy rally held at the Minnesota State Capitol in early April. Photos by Meg Kersey-Isaacson.