Racial Reckoning: The Arc of Justice: Recent Episodes
Racial Reckoning: The Arc of Justice
Right now: Covering the trial of Kim Potter accused of killing Daunte Wright, the community’s reaction, and exploring the changes needed to create a more just society.
Racial Reckoning: The Arc of Justice is a journalism initiative from Ampers, Diverse Radio for Minnesota’s Communities, KMOJ Radio, and the Minnesota Humanities Center covering the trials of the officers accused of killing George Floyd, the community’s reaction, and exploring the changes needed to create a more just society.
What happens when you bring together a group of young women of color to cover one of the most racially charged trials in our country’s history? Really. Good. Journalism. In this special, we’re looking back at Racial Reckoning: The Arc of Justice, a journalism project of KMOJ Radio in Minneapolis, Ampers Diverse Radio for Minnesota’s Communities and the Minnesota Humanities Center. You’ll meet the young reporters who made the project a success and hear their thoughts on the future of journalism.
In May of 2020 the horrifying video of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd’s neck rocketed around the world, inciting anger and outrage. KMOJ Radio’s station manager, Freddie Bell, could hear the deep pain and anger of listeners calling into his morning show. His community was in crisis. Demonstrators flooded the streets crying for justice and destructive fires lit up the night skies - but KMOJ didn’t have the resources needed to report on what was happening right in their community. Bell knew he had to change that.
He took his idea to Ampers, a non-profit organization that provides support and programming to 18 public radio stations across the state. With help from the Minnesota Center for the Humanities and several other generous funders, they created “Racial Reckoning: The Arc of Justice.” The goal of the ten month project: to hire young reporters from diverse backgrounds to cover the murder trial of Derek Chauvin and the many racial and social justice issues unearthed in the wake of George Floyd’s killing in May of 2020. Daily updates would air on KMOJ, other Ampers radio stations and across social media platforms.
Ampers assembled this temporary newsroom, hiring a team of five young freelance reporters: Samantha Hoanglong, Chioma Uwagwu, Tiffany Bui, Safiya Mohamed and Feven Gerezgiher. It also brought on board some seasoned professionals to lead the project,including Georgia Fort and Marianne Combs. The Racial Reckoning newsroom quickly got up and running and began filing daily two-minute radio reports. By the end of the project, more than 3-dozen radio stations nationwide aired elements of Racial Reckoning, with some reports reaching more than a million people. The project also included a weekly podcast called Bearing Witness, and weekly updates translated into Spanish, Hmong and Somali in order to reach Minnesota’s largest immigrant communities.
Voices of Change is a production of Ampers, Diverse Radio for Minnesota’s Communities, with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund
After three days of deliberation a jury found former Brooklyn Center police officer Kimberly Potter guilty of two counts of manslaughter in the death of Daunte Wright.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
After three days of deliberation, on Thursday a jury found former Brooklyn Center police officer Kimberly Potter guilty of two counts of manslaughter in the death of Daunte Wright.
Judge Chu rejected the defense’s request to allow Potter home for the holidays while she awaits sentencing.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison gave an impassioned speech after the trial reflecting on Wright’s lost future, and recognizing public safety officers.
“We hold you in high regard,” he said, “and we also hold you to high standards.”
Outside the courthouse, a crowd gathered around Wright’s brother Damik.
“This is the start of a new life for everybody, not just for us but for everybody here,” he said. “Change is coming!”
Minneapolis resident Jessamine McGee says the news meant the world to them.
“Man, I’m very happy about the verdict. I feel like it was well-deserved,” said McGee. “Any other outcome would have been like mockery to this whole country and what it’s supposed to stand for.”
Supporters danced along to music by Brass Solidarity, a musical project “birthed of protest” following a verdict in the Derek Chauvin case.
At a distance from the crowd, Sam Richards from the Pine Ridge reservation drummed and prayed for peace and healing for the Wright family.
Potter’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for February 18th.
As jury deliberation continues in the Kim Potter trial, many are evaluating the state of racial justice in Minnesota. We talk to former Hennepin County Chief Public Defender Mary Moriarty.
Chioma Uwagwu reports:
As jury deliberation continues in the Kim Potter trial, many are evaluating the state of racial justice in Minnesota. Former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter is charged with two counts of manslaughter in the death of Daunte Wright during a traffic stop. Potter says she mistakenly drew her gun instead of her taser.
Former Hennepin County Chief Public Defender Mary Moriarty says that, in her 31 years of work, many of her clients would tell their stories of police brutality but the lack of video evidence left them with no justice. She says the murder of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin changed that.
“I think many more people were surprised at the boldness of Chauvin’s behavior - knowing he was being videoed, having all these people standing there - and so the community pretty much exploded,” said Moriarty. “I look back on it now, and I still think there's an opportunity, but I see that in danger of slipping away because now we're getting a lot of focus on violent crime.”
Homicides are at a near all-time high in Minneapolis. Moriarty says the rise in crime needs to be addressed, but so do racial disparities in public safety.
“Let's look at systemic racism which I do believe many people don't understand,” she said. “It's the racial disparities that we really avoid addressing because it would make us have to do some really hard work and really look at ourselves and how we have contributed to these disparities.”
Moriarty is running for the position of Hennepin County Attorney. The county’s current attorney Mike Freeman has announced that he will retire at the end of his term.
Kim Potter's crying in court is more than an expression of remorse; it’s part of a history of white women weaponizing their tears against people of color.
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Tiffany Bui reports:
The jury in the trial of Kim Potter is deciding whether she is guilty of manslaughter for killing Daunte Wright. The 12 jurors have spent over 14 hours in deliberations. Late Wednesday afternoon, the jury asked the judge what happens if they can’t come to conesus.
On Friday, Potter took the stand as a witness in her own defense. She was visibly distraught, at times sobbing, when questioned about specific parts of the incident. She recalled her fellow officer’s face while they struggled with Wright.
“He had a look of fear on his face. It was nothing like I’d ever seen before,” Potter testified.
Bianet Castellanos, chair of the American Studies Department at the University of Minnesota, said Potter crying is more than an expression of remorse; it’s part of a history of white women weaponizing their tears against people of color.
“Potter's tears showcase her fear, thus marking her as vulnerable, as a victim, even though she was one holding and firing the gun,” said Castellanos. “And so by claiming to be afraid, her fear excuses – if not justifies – her use of deadly force.”
Castellanos pointed to cases like Carolyn Bryant, the white woman who falsely accused Emmet Till of sexually assaulting her, spurring white men to lynch the young teen. The film The Birth of a Nation perpetuated the racist fear that white women were vulnerable to being raped by Black men.
“Historically, white women have been idealized as these vessels of innocence that we have to protect. But again, protect against whom?” asked Castellanos. “Their vulnerability has been used as an excuse to control and punish black people.”
The tears of Black women and other people of color aren’t afforded this same power, Castellanos said.
“In the case of Kim Potter, her tears are critical in her defense case,” said Castellanos. “But then we think about Daunte Wright’s mother's tears and his family's tears. In most cases those tears don't get an action or a response.”
Castellanos said not all tears are weapons. She said some tears get ignored altogether.
The state's prosecution and the defense made their closing arguments Monday.
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I’m Georgia Fort with the latest on the Kim Potter trial
A jury is deliberating the verdict in the Kim Potter trial. Closing arguments concluded Monday afternoon and the State rested its case.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump addressed the media as deliberations got underway, calling for Potter to be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.
“The case was made. The evidence is there. The state went point by point of making the case that she violated the policies of the police department,” he said.
During closing arguments Erin Eldridge, one of the prosecuting attorneys, told the jury that not only did Potter take Daunte’s life but she also jeopardized the lives of her colleagues.
“If anyone saved Sgt. Johnson's life, it was Daunte Wright when he took a bullet to the chest,” she said.
Eldridge also contested the defense’s main argument that Potter accidentally mistook her gun for her taser.
“Human nature did not kill Daunte Wright - the defendant did,” said Eldridge. “The defendant told Dr. Miller ‘I don't make mistakes.’ Take that for what you will.”
Eldridge argued that even the use of a taser would have been negligent in this circumstance.
In closing arguments, defense attorney Earl Gray told the jury that Daunte Wright, not Potter, was responsible for his death, because he failed to comply.
“Her acts were all legal. Everything she did was legal - and then he tries to break away,” said Gray.
The jury began its deliberations in the early afternoon. Daunte Wright’s family and friends audibly gasped when Judge Regina Chu resumed the bench later in the afternoon, thinking the jury might have already come back with a verdict. In fact, the jury had paused its deliberations to ask when one of Potter’s interviews with the defense’s doctor took place. The prosecution had noted some of Potter’s answers in that interview didn’t match statements she made at other times. Judge Chu responded to the jury telling them they have all the evidence they need to decide the case.
Potter said she did not intend to use deadly force against Duante Wright. She stated she didn’t recall saying “I’m going to go to prison” immediately after the shooting.
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Safiya Mohamed reports:
Former Police Officer Kim Potter took the stand on Friday in her own defense.
During her testimony, Potter repeatedly broke down and expressed remorse for her actions.
“I’m sorry it happened. I’m so sorry,” she cried.
Through tears, Potter admitted that she did not intend to use deadly force against Duante Wright. While being questioned by Prosecutor Erin Eldridge, she stated that she didn’t recall saying “I’m going to go to prison” immediately after the shooting.
“I didn’t wanna hurt anybody,” she sobbed.
Prosecutor Eldridge asked Potter what actions she took following the shooting. Potter admitted she did not render aid to Wright.
Psychologist Laurence Miller was also called to testify by the defense. He was asked by Potter’s attorney to explain an “action error,” and how that contributed to the shooting.
“An action error is a sequence of responses in which an intended action has an unintended effect,” said Miller. “You intend to do one thing, think you're doing that thing, but do something else, and only realize later that the action that you intended was not the one you took.”
Miller explained that stress is often what causes action errors. In Kim Potter’s case, she mistook her gun for her taser.
“There's nothing wrong with that person's perception,” said Miller. “If you put the two objects in front of them, they can easily tell the difference. But the perception isn't working. It's offline.”
Outside of the courthouse, the family of Daunte Wright and others pledged to continue fighting police brutality and pushing for legislative change.
The prosecution and the defense are expected to make their closing arguments Monday, after which the jury will begin its deliberations.
The state rested its case Thursday; the defense called on six witnesses.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
The state rested its case in the trial of former Brooklyn Center officer Kim Potter on Thursday. The defense proceeded to present its first 6 witnesses.
Former police chief Timothy Gannon testified that Potter was justified in her use of force.
“When I viewed both camera angles and had all the data in front of me, I saw no violation,” said Gannon.
“Violation of what?” asked defense attorney Paul Engh.
“Of policy, procedure or law,” replied Gannon.
Gannon resigned after 27 years with the Brooklyn Center police force. He cited political pressure to fire Potter, who he testified is a long-time friend and colleague he admires. He said Potter was one of few senior officers willing to be a field training officer.
Policing expert Stephen Ijames said Potter was justified under the alternative taser policy he wrote for an international association. He said Potter could only judge public safety risks based on the arrest warrant she had on hand.
“Police aren’t clairvoyant. The best indicator of what happened tomorrow is what happened yesterday,” he said.
Prosecutor Matthew Frank challenged Ijames’ familiarity with the more restrictive Minnesota and Brooklyn Center policies that Potter would have been subject to.
“Did you review Brooklyn Center Police Department policy about shooting into motor vehicles?” asked Frank.
“I don’t recall,” said Ijames.
“So you’re not familiar with the policy that Ms. Potter would have been subject to as a Brooklyn Center officer?” demanded Frank.
“I’m just saying I don’t recall, sir,” said Ijames.
The jury also heard witness testimony to Potter’s character.
Brooklyn Center police officer Samuel Smith II said Potter is a calming force.
“She is well-respected, and very peaceful, and very professional from my experience working with her,” he said.
The defense said it anticipates presenting two more witnesses on Friday.
Police use of force expert Seth Stoughton testified that even Potter’s use of a taser on Daunte Wright would have been unreasonable. Wright's father also took the stand.
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Tiffany Bui reports:
Former police officer Derek Chauvin pleaded guilty to violating George Floyd’s constitutional rights in federal court on Wednesday.
In a separate case, he also pleaded guilty to willfully depriving a 14-year-old boy of his right to be free from unreasonable force by a police officer. In 2017, Chauvin allegedly held him by the throat and struck him in the head several times.
Meanwhile, in the trial of Kim Potter, police use of force expert Seth Stoughton testified that even Potter’s use of a taser would have been unreasonable.
“It’s really dangerous to incapacitate, the way a taser can incapicitate, someone who is in a position to get a vehicle moving,” Stoughton said. “If the taser was ineffective … if it just caused pain … then you’re providing an incentive for someone to flee.”
Defense lawyer Paul Engh objected to Stoughton's testimony that officers did not need to arrest Wright away. He became increasingly emotional and banged on the table as he spoke to Judge Regina Chu, adding that he would possibly move for a mistrial. The defense has asked for a mistrial once before.
Defense lawyer Earl Gray asked a series of questions meant to point out that Wright was not compliant with officers.
“Mr. Wright – he’s the one who started it, correct? Nothing would have happened, except he broke away once he learned there was a warrant. Is that a fair statement?” Gray asked.
“Sure,” Staughton said.
At the end of the day, jurors heard from Daunte’s father Arbuey Wright. He talked about working with Daunte as his manager at Foot Locker, and how the two enjoyed a close relationship. The prosecution showed a photo of Daunte holding his infant son, Daunte Jr.
“To see him as a father, I was so happy for him because he was so happy about Junior. It was my chance to be a grandfather. He loved his son,” Wright said. “I love Daunte. He was loved.”
The prosecution is expected to rest on Thursday, at which point the defense will present its witnesses.
When asked if he was aware of another officer mistaking their gun for their taser, expert witness Sgt. Mike Peterson said he was not. Other testimony revealed that Potter did not test her taser as required by her department the day she fatally shot Daunte Wright, and that the position of her duty belt was also under question.
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Georgia Fort reports:
A taser spark test in court Tuesday showed jurors in the Kim Potter trial the process that Brooklyn Center officers are required to go through daily to ensure their tasers are functioning properly.
“I simply press my arc switch again and it runs through a 5 second test,” said
Sgt. Mike Peterson, a taser expert. Peterson explained to jurors appropriate uses for tasers. He also testified that Potter had been trained on the newest model taser that she was using at the time of Daunte’s death. Testimony regarding tasers is significant as the defendant is expected to testify that she mistook her taser for her gun.
“In all the years you’ve worked for the Brooklyn Center Police Department are you aware of another officer who has drawn their hand gun when they meant to draw their taser?” asked State Prosecutor Matthew Frank.
“I don’t,” replied Peterson after a long pause.
The prosecution doubled down on tasers and training this week. During Monday’s Testimony from Sam McGinnis, senior special agent with the BCA, it was revealed that Potter did not test her taser as required by her department the day she fatally shot Daunte Wright. The position of her duty belt was also under question.
“It appeared in watching this that their had been a manipulation of her holster,” said McGinnis.
Testimony from Brooklyn Center Commander Garett Flesand detailed the department's pursuit policies.
“In recognizing the risk to public safety created by vehicle pursuits no officer or supervisor shall be criticized or disciplined for deciding not to engage in a vehicle pursuit or for terminating a pursuit already underway underway, even if permitted by state statute or policy,” stated Flesand.
Judge Chu made a ruling Tuesday afternoon that evidence supporting a stricter sentence could be presented if the jury reaches a guilty verdict.
Kim Potter and the former Brooklyn Center chief of police are still expected to take the stand. Judge Chu says the trial should wrap up by Christmas Eve.
The Bush Foundation has selected Saint Paul-based Nexus Community Partners to redistribute $50 million to Black residents across Minnesota, South Dakota, and North Dakota. The funds will focus on building entrepreneurship, homeownership, and education.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
Former officer Derek Chauvin has requested to change his plea of innocence in his federal civil rights case in the death of George Floyd.
Meanwhile in the trial of former Brooklyn Center officer Kim Potter, a jury heard testimony Monday from a medical examiner and forensic scientists that investigated Daunte Wright’s death. An agent with the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension observed that Potter had unlatched her firearm holster as she approached Wright’s car.
In other news, the Bush Foundation has selected Saint Paul-based Nexus Community Partners to redistribute $50 million to Black residents across Minnesota, South Dakota, and North Dakota.
Another $50 million will be distributed to Indigenous communities by the NDN Collective.
Nexus President and CEO Repa Mekha says the Community Trust Fund is a response to systemic injustices faced by Black people.
“Foundations have not spent a lot of resources going directly to individuals and families... particularly geared towards wealth creation,” said Mekha. “We see this as not only an opportunity to do so in terms of getting dollars to individuals and families, but a modeling of how philanthropy can release dollars to the community, and not all [funds] have to go to organizations.”
Mekha says the funds will focus on things like entrepreneurship, homeownership, and education.
Danielle Mkali is the community wealth building director at Nexus. She says $50 million is an incredible amount for any one foundation to give and share.
“As an organization, we don't view these funds as reparations,” she said. “We do view them as an important contribution to our community's ability to create some space, to build some wealth to do the healing and to continue to build connections to move our communities closer to being more free and self-determined together.”
Mkali says Nexus plans to establish an advisory committee over the next year to help design a community engagement process that will most benefit and most impact Black communities. Nexus anticipates launching the Community Trust Fund by early 2023.
For questions on Nexus’ stewardship of the Community Trust Fund or to learn how to get involved, people can reach out to trustfund@nexuscp.org.
Racial Justice scholar Dr. Yohuru Williams says the trial underscores the need for broader conversations that address police brutality and reimagine public safety.
Safiya Mohamed reports:
The trial of former Brooklyn Center Police Officer Kim Potter for the killing of Daunte Wright continues this week.
Dr. Yohuru Williams is a professor of History at the University of St. Thomas and the founding director of the school’s racial justice initiative. Williams says he’s been impressed with the trial’s pacing.
“It seems like the judge has a great command of the courtroom and wants to make sure that this is going to proceed without any hitches,” he said.
Williams says this trial is particularly challenging because one can argue that Potter just made a mistake in drawing her service pistol instead of her taser. However, he stresses the importance of accountability.
“The larger conversation we need to have is around policies, practices and procedures that facilitated what happened that afternoon,” he explained. “The fact that that stop to begin with was unnecessary is one of those conversations we need to be having.”
Williams says there is much work that needs to be done outside of the trial in order to address police brutality. He suggests a holistic approach to reimagining public safety.
“It's not just body cams and technology. It's kind of reimagining criminal justice in a way that says, what's our angle here? Is it to make everyone safer, including officers in the performance of their duty? Or is it simply to empower police to reign over and to be able to occupy communities.”
Williams believes that, through restorative practices, society can collectively work to tackle police brutality and reduce cases like this from happening in the first place.
The Kim Potter trial is expected to conclude before Chritsmas.
Tiffany Bui reports:
Thursday marked the second day of the trial of former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter.
The jury viewed footage of Wright’s car crashing into another civilian’s car after he was shot. Alayna Albrecht-Payton, the passenger in Daunte Wright’s car, testified about her attempts to stop Wright’s bleeding after Potter shot him.
At the end of the day, the defense asked the judge to declare a mistrial, arguing the evidence and testimony presented was meant to invoke sympathy from the jury. Judge Regina Chu denied the motion.
In other news: according to a recent survey, a majority of Minnesotans support more lessons on Native American studies for K-12 students.
The study was commissioned by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux, through the tribe’s Understand Native Minnesota campaign to change the narrative about Native Americans in the state.
Rebecca Crooks-Stratton, secretary and treasurer of Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, says the results put real data behind the organization’s efforts to create a more nuanced understanding of Native Americans and tribes in Minnesota.
“When people think about Native education, they think of history and social studies,” said Crooks-Strattom. “But I think there's room for Native education in civics courses, in science courses.”
Brenda Child, a professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota, says state standards on teaching Native American history and culture in schools have developed significantly. The problem, she says, is teachers often don’t feel prepared to teach it.
Her solution? Aspiring teachers should consider taking American Indian Studies classes.
“I teach courses not just on history, but federal Indian policy,” Child said. “I'm teaching a class on Indians in Minnesota, specifically next semester. So those things are all here. They're not missing, right? We're one of the best departments of its kind in the country. And so people have to find their way there.”
The prosecution and the defense laid out their arguments. The jury also heard from Daunte Wright's mother and another officer on the scene.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
On Wednesday a jury heard opening statements in the trial of former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter. Potter claims she meant to reach for her taser in the traffic stop that led to the death of 20-year-old Daunte Wright.
Prosecutor Erin Eldridge said Potter had the training to know the difference between a gun and a taser.
“We trust them to know wrong from right, and left from right,” said Eldridge. “This case is about an officer who knew not to get it dead wrong, but she failed to get it right.”
Eldridge told jurors Potter was trained to not use a taser, let alone a gun, on someone in a vehicle. Eldridge said Potter’s actions put other people’s lives at risk, including her fellow officers.
Defense attorney Paul Engh countered that grabbing the gun was a matter of human error.
“Over the course of 26 years, she never fired a gun. She never fired one shot. She never fired her taser. She never had to,” said Engh.
In the afternoon, jury heard from Wright’s mother Katie Bryant who gave an emotional testimony to Wright’s character and close relationship to his family. She recounted her last conversation with her son, who called her from the traffic stop.
“He sounded really nervous but I reassured him that it would be okay,” she said through tears.
Jurors viewed the incident from multiple angles, including a body camera on Brooklyn Center officer Anthony Luckey. Luckey, who was a new hire doing field training with Potter, explained he initially pulled Wright over for minor violations.
Outside the courtroom, supporters offered prayer, protest, and candlelight in solidarity with the Wright family.
For the Racial Reckoning project, I’m Feven Gerezgiher.
The Minnesota State Patrol is rolling out body cameras for troopers. Meanwhile, legislators are concerned about the acquisition and use of facial recognition technology by government entities.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
Last week, the Minnesota State Patrol announced the rollout of body cameras for 40 troopers. The entire force will be equipped with body cameras by June 2022.
At a press conference Thursday, Colonel Matt Langer explained troopers will be required to turn on body cameras when interacting with the public in an enforcement capacity.
“The body worn cameras give us an opportunity to have an undeniable record of what occurred roadside to augment what happens with squad video systems,” said Langer.
Cameras will automatically turn on when troopers pull out a gun or taser.
Journalists and activists are suing the Minnesota State Patrol for using excessive force in response to protests. Langer says he welcomes the body cam footage as a way to hold everyone accountable.
“Without a doubt, I wish that we had body-worn cameras to deploy during all of our civil unrest deployments over the past couple of years,” he said. “It leaves little to question about who did what, who said what, who’s at fault.”
In other news, a legislative commission is exploring a statewide ban on the acquisition and use of facial recognition technology by government entities.
At a hearing last week, Rep. Aisha Gomez said legislation is needed to protect people’s privacy.
“The concerns around mass surveillance in public, around the expansion of the government's ability to surveil its citizens is a bipartisan issue,” she said. “Indiscriminate monitoring constitutes interfering with our right to privacy, with our freedom of expression, with our freedom to protest.”
ACLU Minnesota’s Munira Mohamed testified that a test of facial recognition software produced false matches for everyone besides adult white men. She cited one instance in which it misidentified a black congressman as a felon on the run.
An analyst with the Hennepin County Sheriff’s office said the technology is a helpful tool in developing leads in criminal cases and identifying child sex trafficking victims.
Chief Arrandondo made history in 2018 by becoming the first Black police chief in the city’s history.
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Chioma Uwagwu reports:
On Monday Minneapolis chief of police Medaria Arradondo announced he will step down from his position in January 2022.
“After much personal reflection and thoughtful discussions with my family and Mayor Frey, I have made the decision that I will not be accepting a new term as chief of the Minneapolis police department,” he said.
An officer of the Minneapolis Police Department since 1989, Chief Arrandondo made history in 2018 by becoming the first Black police chief in the city’s history.
Civil Rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong says she is disappointed by the news, but she understands it. Levy Armstrong says the chief has faced a great deal of criticism, much of which was related to issues that he inherited with the department.
“There is still a lot of unfinished business in the city of Minneapolis when it comes to public safety and the status of the Minneapolis police department,” she said. “And so perhaps he feels that it's time for someone else to take the baton and run the next leg of the race.”
Levy Armstrong says although she and the chief haven’t always seen eye to eye, she would like to see a similar style of leadership from the next chief.
“One of the most critical moments that happened during the chiefs tenure was the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police department,” she said. “The chief made the decision to fire those officers and we also saw him take a nearly unprecedented step of testifying in the trial against Derek Chauvin.”
Chief Arrandondo says that he is not stepping down to take another job elsewhere nor does he plan to run for elected office.
Mayor Frey is expected to announce an interim chief in the coming days in conjunction with plans for a national search for Arradondo’s replacement.
The Victoria Theater Arts Center mission includes working against gentrification and police brutality.
Tiffany Bui reports:
14 years after being saved from demolition, a historic theater in St. Paul is getting ready to open as a community art space.
The Victoria Theater Arts Center (VTAC) is in the final stretch of fundraising; staff say they anticipate opening in 2023.
However, they aren’t waiting for the official opening to start serving the Rondo and Frogtown neighborhoods. Executive Director Tyler Olsen-Highness said during the George Floyd protests, VTAC was providing plywood to protect businesses from property damage, and muralists to make them colorful.
“Up until that point, we had been a lot about the building itself, and like making the building happen, but I think those events said like, no, that's not enough right now … Right now, what our community needs is people to help organize it and resources to let creativity be a healing element for our community,” said Olsen-Highness.
During unsettling events, such as the murder trial of Derek Chauvin, VTAC sets up murals outside the theater and invites people to come and process their feelings. Community coordinator Sydney Latimer says the Victoria Theater’s mission includes working against gentrification and abuses of power, like police brutality.
“The Victoria, for a lot of us, symbolizes a stance against that state abuse,” said Latimer, “and also the development that's displacing us. We will not be moved, and we will rebuild our communities from the ground up.”
The center is seeking to serve the diverse needs of a community where more than 26 languages are spoken. Staff say they want to especially focus on developing the talent of young artists.
“I see just such a reciprocity between, like social movement and art,” said Olsen-Highness. “This is the place where we're building tomorrow.”
As part of its commitment to serving youth, the center is assembling a youth advisory council to help guide its work.
Thursday, the Hennepin County court seated the last three jurors for the trial of the former Brooklyn Center police officer charged in the death of Daunte Wright. The court still needs to seat two alternate jurors before it can begin testimony.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
Thursday, the Hennepin County court seated the last three jurors for the trial of the former Brooklyn Center police officer charged in the death of Daunte Wright. The court still needs to seat two alternate jurors before it can begin testimony.
Judge Regina Chu says at this pace, it’s possible testimony will begin sooner than initially scheduled.
Of those seated on the jury two are Asian and one is Black.
Judge Chu dismissed an East African immigrant Thursday over concerns about a language barrier.
“Any juror needs to understand every word that is being spoken - legal concepts, principles,” said Chu. “Nobody knows everything, you know, if you haven’t served on a jury or haven't gone to law school, that's not a problem. But understanding every word spoken is a necessity in order to be able to sit.”
Earlier in the week a Hispanic woman was also excused over language concerns.
The defense used peremptory challenges to strike two jurors: a first-year law student who has been vocal on social media about previous police trials, and a woman whose friend quit the Brooklyn Center police force.
Several of Daunte Wright’s family members took turns sitting in the courtroom. Mother Katie Wright wiped tears away while listening to Juror 52 testify as to why she could not be a fair and impartial juror.
“The police have murdered my uncle…and they haven’t treated my family right so it’s very hard to put that aside,” she said. “I personally don’t think I should be a part of this jury because I know that what happened was three blocks from where I used to live and it’s very hard to hear.”
Former Brooklyn Center police officer Kimberly Potter is charged with two counts of manslaughter in the death of 20-year-old Daunte Wright during a traffic stop in April.
The court now has 9 of the 12 jurors needed. Meanwhile a motorist drove through a crowd gathered in solidarity with Daunte Wright’s family.
Feven Gerezgiher reports:
Wednesday, the Hennepin County court seated 5 additional jurors for the trial of former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter. Potter is charged with two counts of manslaughter in the death of Daunte Wright. The court now has 9 of the needed 12 jurors and two alternates. Given the speed of selection, Judge Regina Chu suggested moving the trial up from the December 8th start date.
“We’ll kinda play it by ear and you might want to check with some of your witnesses to see if they can make it earlier,” advised the judge.
According to reporters in the courtroom, six of the jurors are white, two are Asian, and one is Black.
Several potential jurors were excused Wednesday for bias, conflicts of interest, and personal health issues. One person was also excused for a language barrier.
The defense used a peremptory strike to rule out a juror who was unsure of his trust in police.
The prosecution used its last peremptory strikes against a white male who opposes defunding police and a white female with a highly unfavorable view of Black Lives Matter.
In related news, outside the courtroom Tuesday evening, a motorist drove through a crowd gathered in solidarity with Daunte Wright’s family.
According to attendees, no one was harmed. In a video, a witness says the driver turned into a gap in the crowd while shouting expletives.
“This is the problem that we face,” she said. “Like we’re out here for justice for Daunte Wright. We’re being peaceful. Nobody is doing anything wrong. We are being peaceful.”
The witness and other activists expressed concern about white supremacists harming protestors, given similar incidents in Minneapolis in recent years.
Four jurors were confirmed: two white males (one in his 20s and another in his 50s), an Asian woman in her 40s and one white woman in her 60s.
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Chioma Uwagwu reports:
On Monday, jury selection began for the trial of ex-Brooklyn Center police officer Kimberly Potter. Potter is facing first and second degree manslaughter charges in the killing of Daunte Wright.
The prosecution team is led by Matthew Frank, who also served as the state’s prosecutor in the Derek Chauvin trial. Potter is represented by defense attorneys Earl Gray and Paul Engh. Hennepin County Judge Regina Chu is presiding.
The trial is being broadcast live; Judge Chu has ordered that the identities of the jurors be withheld until after the trial. However during the morning session, Defense attorney Earl Gray addressed two jurors by their last names. Both jurors were seated; the judge asked Gray to be particularly careful moving forward.
“A couple of the jurors that were named - it’s out there. I don’t want that to happen again,” Chu said.
Of the 11 panel members questioned, four were confirmed. Among the seated are two white males (one in his 20s and another in his 50s), an Asian woman in her 40s and one white woman in her 60s. Juror #7, who was seated, works as an overnight manager for a Target distribution center. At one point Judge Chu asked him to explain his feelings toward the police.
“People are people, and I don’t think that a badge should exclude you from consequences to actions, potentially,” he stated.
Each side used a peremptory strike which is a dismissal of a potential juror without reason. The state used a peremptory strike to dismiss a retired fire captain; the defense used its peremptory strike to dismiss a woman who volunteered on Attorney General Ellison’s campaign back in 2018.
Jury selection is scheduled to continue the rest of the week. Opening statements are set to begin December 8; Judge Chu says she expects the trial to wrap up by Christmas Eve.
Potter is charged with first and second-degree manslaughter after she shot Daunte Wright on April 11 during a traffic stop. Wright’s family and community leaders held a press conference Monday afternoon to demand Potter be held accountable.
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Georgia Fort reports:
Jury selection for former Brooklyn Center Police officer Kimberly Potter begins today. Potter is charged with the death of Daunte Wright.
Wright’s family and community leaders held a press conference Monday afternoon to demand Potter be held accountable.
“We all thought it was important to be here today,” said the Wright family’s attorney Jeff Storms, “because of the history of this state of not holding officers accountable.”
Potter is charged with first and second degree manslaughter after she shot Daunte Wright on April 11 during a traffic stop. Potter told officials she had mistaken her gun for her taser. Her attorneys are expected to argue that it was an accident.
“Kim Potter was seen as a senior officer who trained officers and cadets who claimed she’d mistaken a gun for a taser,” said George Floyd’s girlfriend, Courteney Ross. “We are in Minnesota and we will not continue to let these racist cops walk the street. We will send them to prison as we did Derek Chauvin.”
Valerie Castile, mother of Philando Castile, was also at the protest. She called out flaws in the State’s judicial system that contributed to the officer who fatally shot her son being found not guilty. She said she hopes that Potter’s trial will be different.
“We really want this jury to use their independent thinking and look at the laws. The laws are flawed,” said Castile.
Testimony in the Kim Potter trial is expected to begin December 8.
Jeanelle Austin is Executive Director of the George Floyd Global Memorial; it's her job to maintain the space and preserve over 3000 offerings at the square.
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Safiya Mohamed reports:
Jeanelle Austin began caretaking for George Floyd’s memorial last summer. She grew up three blocks away from 38th and Chicago, where George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. In the days following his death, people flocked to the site to grieve, process, and protest.
“Every morning I would get up and I would do something [as] mundane as picking up garbage,” said Austin. “But I knew that it would keep the memorial presentable.”
Austin’s background is in racial justice work and activism. This past September she was named Executive Director of the George Floyd Global Memorial. Through her job, she works to maintain the space and preserve over 3000 offerings at the square.
“It really was about just putting in the work to build out this story - preservation as protest - to ensure that the voices of the people are held, are kept, are known,” she explained.
Austin says that everything left at the square is an offering, therefore nothing is thrown away.
“We genuinely believe that it's a sacred site,” she said. “And when someone lays down something as sacred, at a sacred site, it becomes a sacred offering. You just don't throw away the sacred. It comes from a deep spiritual, moral and ethical belief.”
For months, George Floyd Square was closed to traffic, but the city eventually insisted it reopen to cars and buses.
Austin hopes the square will one day become a pedestrian only intersection.
“It's the memorial that the people built,” she said. “It's the memorial, it's not a makeshift memorial. It's not a temporary Memorial. It's not a placeholder until a statue can be built. It's the people's Memorial and it is our working job to honor that and uphold that.”
Tribal Historic Preservation Officer Jaime Arsenault is searching for documents and other artifacts that might provide closure for victims of boarding school assimilation programs.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
Jaime Arsenault wears many hats as the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for White Earth Nation. One includes managing cultural archives, which often first requires finding them.
She says that’s because a lot of tribal information is held in different institutions around the country and around the world. Arsenault says it’s not uncommon for schools, museums and churches to either deny tribal access to archives or to simply not have organized archival collections.
A few years ago the historic preservation office began a collaboration with the College of Saint Benedict and the Saint Benedict’s monastery, which historically operated boarding schools - including one at White Earth.
“We were able to locate many pictures and documents and reports, things that might help families get answers, have some sense of closure, have at least some more information for them to maybe ask that next set of questions,” said Arsenault.
Last spring the Sisters of the Order of Saint Benedict formally apologized for their role in the federal government’s assimilation policy. They are now working with Arsenault and a White Earth advisory committee towards truth finding and truth telling.
“I hear these stories about all that was lost, all that was disrupted, all that was taken, you know, whether it's language, culture, land, family structures, wellness, self esteem,” said Arsenault. “It would be amazing to be able to have this work lead to something that builds those things back up.”
Arsenault says it is critical that Native Nations and survivors continue to inform the truth and reconciliation process every step of the way. As more people become involved, she hopes that this also results in an investment in the wellness and resilience of Indigenous communities nationwide.
Demetrius Hill was killed by St. Paul police officer Gerald Vick in 1997 for suspected robbery. 24 years later Marilyn Hill is still working to prove his innocence.
Tiffany Bui reports:
24 years after her son was killed by St. Paul police, Marilyn Hill got back her son’s belongings.
Demetrius Hill was killed by officer Gerald Vick in 1997 at an apartment complex. Demetrius was 18 years old; the police said he was a robbery suspect that pulled a gun on officers. But his mother questions whether the police report is true.
Marilyn Hill doesn’t believe her son had a gun. And she doesn’t believe the officer stopped to talk to him, but instead opened fire as her son was opening the door to his grandparents’ unit. She says her father saw his grandson on the ground, but the police told him to get back into his apartment.
“Seeing his sweatshirt to verify and confirm he was shot in the back is all I wanted to see,” said Hill. “My eyes filled with tears, because I wanted to just touch his things and be a part of him at that moment.”
Hill says her son - nicknamed “Mechee” - was a caregiver to the family. He taught his younger brother to throw his first football and looked after his sisters.
Hill retained an attorney and filed a data practices request before she received her son’s things. She says some items are still missing, like his wallet and his pants. Though the items can no longer be used as evidence, Hill still wants to see justice for her son.
“I’m hoping to get that case reopened. I am trying to get my voice out there and the stories told because I really search for the truth. And once I find out that the truth is they murdered him… I want to have my son's name taken off the record for the aggravated robbery,” she said. “So I know he's innocent - I want my son to be proven innocent.”
Officer Vick was given an award by the St. Paul Chief of Police for his actions in Hill’s case. Seven years later he was shot and killed while working undercover.
Dozens of students, parents and graduates from the district showed up to speak out about their own racist encounters after a video went viral of a student encouraging a Black teen to kill herself. But school board members refused to hear more than a handful.
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Georgia Fort reports:
Concerned community members shut down Prior Lake-Savage School Board Meeting Monday evening after the board refused to hear more than a handful of complaints on racial attacks within the district.
Dozens of students, parents and graduates from the district were hoping to speak out about their own racist encounters after a video went viral of a girl using the N word and encouraging a Black teen to kill herself. School board members walked out, saying the meeting had become disorderly.
“The fact that you had the audacity to walk out just shows that this happens over and over,” yelled a former student in frustration.
At the beginning of the school board meeting, Superintendent Teri Staloch read a written statement informing the public that the student who used the N word in the video is no longer enrolled in the Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools and that police are still continuing their investigation into the video.
“A few weeks ago we all became aware of a racist video shared by a student on social media,” said Staloch. “The horrific racist video continues to cause pain and hurt to all of our community, particularly our BIPOC students, staff and families. To be clear, our schools do not tolerate hate or racism.”
Kristi Mussman, Director of Communications, said none of the school board members were in a position to comment. Activists say they hope to meet with Governor Walz to get legislation drafted that would create stricter consequences for hate speech in schools.
Over the weekend, education advocates gathered for a forum titled ‘Are Public Schools in Minnesota Failing Black Children?’
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Safiya Mohamed reports:.
On Saturday the Wayfinder Foundation and the Racial Justice Network hosted a forum called ‘Are Public Schools in Minnesota Failing Black Children?’
“I'm sure a lot of adults do not know that Minnesota is placed 50 when it comes to the education quality for black students,” said spoken word artist and attendee Lavera Pounds. Pounds was referring to a national study that found Minnesota has one of the worst education gaps in the country between Black and white students. She said more people need to know about Minnesota’s achievement gap and how it harms Black students.
Rashad Turner, President of the Minnesota Parent Union, says it’s important to focus on Black children.
“I think in Minnesota, it's easy to sort of group people together or have that desire because of Minnesota Nice to, you know, label things BIPOC or POC,” he said.
Rashad believes that school districts have pushed Black parents away from the decision making table, causing the education gap to widen.
Nafeesah Mohamed, an English teacher at Patrick Henry High School, gave the keynote address. She spoke to the importance of having Black educators in the classroom.
“Black children are my passion, whether in the classroom or outside the classroom,” she said. “So anything that I can do to center the experiences of our Black children or Black parents or Black teachers, then I'm gonna show up and say and do it.”
Mohamed said society has normalized negative experiences for Black children in school.
“And what we're trying to say here today is that that is not normal,” she said. “We are black excellence we have been since before we were brought to this country, so we're capable of doing it again, we're capable of being our own self liberators.”
Over the weekend, many Minnesotans took to the streets to denounce the verdict which acquitted Kyle Rittenhouse of murder. Meanwhile, dozens of students and families showed solidarity for the victim of a recent hate crime in Prior Lake.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
On Friday, a Wisconsin judge acquitted 18-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse of all charges related to the shooting - and killing - of protesters for black lives last year. Over the weekend, many Minnesotans took to the streets to denounce the verdict.
In downtown Minneapolis Saturday, activist DJ Hooker criticized the legal system and President Joe Biden, who made remarks supporting the jury’s decision.
“It’s just so messed up to see them making sure to reinforce the fact that these white supremacists...can go around and kill who they want with no repercussions. With no repercussions!” he yelled to the crowd.
Hooker said the verdict was hard to hear having witnessed the death of a protestor for black lives in Minneapolis earlier this summer.
In related news, hours after the verdict on Friday, over 50 students and their supporters gathered outside U.S. Bank Stadium in solidarity with the victim of a racist video out of Prior Lake High School.
“We’re here today because of the injustices that have been happening in our schools, in our state, and first and foremost Prior Lake, said student rally co-organizer Nyagath Keuth.
Keuth, who is with MN Teen Activists, spoke against white teens being given a pass when they harm black youth.
Several South Sudanese parents expressed dismay at how their children are being treated. Langa Oriho spoke as a family friend to the black victim.
“We thought we left our home to come to heaven, though we left our hell to come to another hell,” he said. “But we’re still hopeful, because we’re not going anywhere.”
Oriho said immigrants are here to build a United States that belongs to everyone.
We Are Meant to Rise: Voices for Justice from Minneapolis to the World features numerous local writers bearing witness to the tragedies and changes of the previous year.
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Tiffany Bui reports:
A new book offers a view of 2020 through the lens of 31 different writers of color. We Are Meant to Rise: Voices for Justice from Minneapolis to the World features numerous local writers bearing witness to the tragedies and changes of the previous year.
Co-editors Carolyn Holbrook and David Mura showcase the diversity of stories that exist within Black, Indigenous and other communities of color in Minnesota. It’s a project of Holbrook’s organization, More Than A Single Story, which encourages cross-cultural understanding through public discussions for marginalized people.
According to Holbrook, they tried to select a diversity of authors, in race and ethnicity, as well as age.
“For me, and for More Than a Single Story, it is really important for people across the BIPOC communities to communicate with each other,” said Holbrook. “So that we can recognize that, as groups of people and as a collective group of people, we are stronger, more powerful.”
The book contains 34 stories, each different from the last. Some are on-the-ground reactions to the demonstrations following George Floyd’s murder. Others are personal essays on a variety of themes, like financial trauma and queer and trans survival. Mura writes in the book that these authors provide us with “individualized portraits of who we are.”
“The reader will get a sense of the enormous variety of experience and voices that are there in the Minnesota BIPOC community,” said Mura. “And it really shows that this is a very complex community, racially, ethnically, and we have a mix of different populations that are unlike anywhere in the country, including a very strong representation of Native American writers, which you wouldn't have in many other cities.”
Contributors include nationally-recognized local authors such as Kao Kalia Yang and Louise Erdrich, as well as emerging writers.
Critics say during his previous tenure Luger failed to hold police accountable in the deaths of Jamar Clark and Philando Castile, and harmed Muslim community members with the controversial Countering Violent Extremism program.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
At a press conference Tuesday, community activists in Minneapolis denounced the re-appointment of Andrew Luger as U.S. Attorney for Minnesota. The appointment is pending Senate approval.
President Biden announced Luger’s nomination on Friday upon the recommendation of Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith. In a news release, the senators praised Luger for his work in his previous term as U.S. Attorney, from 2014 to 2017.
“Under no condition should this man be reappointed. He's not an unknown quantity to our community. We know about him. We have a history with him,” said former St Paul NAACP president Nathaniel Khaliq. Khaliq said the appointment would harm progress made by community activists since George Floyd’s death.
“When I think about how hard these folks have worked to get us to this point where we see hope in turning around the various practices and policies of injustice that have been inflicted on our community for years and years. Now, you want to bring Andy Luger on board. He's already tainted the process just because of who he is,” said Khaliq.
Earlier this year, a broad coalition of community organizations and over 20 lawmakers signed a letter to the President opposing Luger’s appointment. The letter noted that as U.S. Attorney, Luger failed to hold police accountable in the deaths of Jamar Clark and Philando Castile, and harmed Muslim community members with the controversial Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) program.
Michelle Gross, president of Communities United Against Police Brutality, says she’s concerned about the ongoing Department of Justice investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department.
“I'm very fearful that Andy Luger sitting in that position of US attorney is going to block that investigation or denature that investigation such that it will be ineffective,” she said.
Organizers said the other two finalists for the U.S. Attorney appointment, former assistant federal prosecutors Lola Velazquez-Aguilu and Surya Saxena, were more credible options.
On election day, Minneapolis voters failed to pass a charter amendment for a new public safety department. Now what?
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Safiya Mohamed reports:
On Nov 2, nearly 44% of Minneapolis residents voted in favor of replacing the Minneapolis Police Department with a Department of Public Safety. However, it wasn’t enough to pass the charter amendment.
Minister JaNae Bates served as the communications director for Yes 4 Minneapolis, the group campaigning for the amendment. She believes that election day marked the beginning of a conversation about the future of public safety, not the end.
“We are at a point right now where something has to change,” said Bates. “And there's no one who voted one way or the other who doesn't recognize that the real change actually has to happen.”
Moving forward, Bates said she wants to build on the relationships that came together in the Yes 4 Minneapolis Coalition.
“This campaign was filled to the brim with people who had varying ideas about what Minneapolis could look like 200 years from now,” said Bates. “But they were all committed to the idea - the belief - that the people of Minneapolis deserve better than what we've been offered.”
Despite the results, Bates said she is proud of how far the coalition has come. She hopes this movement will inspire people to get involved in their communities and hold their elected officials accountable.
“It's really important that you become civically engaged,” she said. “And that doesn't just mean voting in November. That means all the rest of the months of the year being able to say ‘we put you in office’ and, whether you voted for these people or not, the reality is that they're there to represent you.”
Bates is one of many people on both sides of the public safety issue who are now looking at how to hold the city accountable to enacting meaningful public safety reform.
More than a decade after their initial request, three Ojibwe Tribal Nations will have the boundaries of their 1854 treaty with the United States acknowledged on state highways.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
Over a decade after their initial request, three Ojibwe Tribal Nations will have the boundaries of their 1854 treaty with the United States acknowledged on state highways.
Earlier this month, the Minnesota Department of Transportation installed the first of 12 signs acknowledging Native territory. The treaty area encompasses the northeast region of the state, approximately 5.5 million acres.
Anton Treuer, Professor of Ojibwe at Bemidji State University, hopes making treaty areas visible will hopefully remind people of America's legal obligations to uphold its end of treaties.
The United States Constitution has very specific mention of treaties as, quote, the supreme law of the land. There's a treaty at the end of World War Two that says Japan doesn't get to have, you know, a full fledged military, but America is obligated to provide for its military safety and that's binding on both parties. And it is likewise binding when Native people entered into an agreement changing the status of land to enable white settlement. And retaining, not being given new, but retaining their tribal sovereignty, land tenure, and rights.
Treuer said the 1854 treaty allowed for joint shared use with white settlers, not ownership. This is in keeping with the Ojibwe understanding of humanity’s relationship to land.
If you're living up in this part of Minnesota, you are living on Native Land, land that Native people have never extinguished their right to, you know, inhabit, use, hunt, fish, gather, and so forth. Those rights were never extinguished. And so reminding people, Hey, you're on native land. This is shared use territory, not territory from which Native people have been alienated.
Treuer pointed out that Native people continue to face challenges to tribal sovereignty. The highly contested Line 3 pipeline runs through the land covered by the 1854 treaty.
For the Racial Reckoning project, I’m Feven Gerezgiher.
Georgia Fort reports:
Hundreds gathered at Prior Lake High School Thursday to demand a student who used racial slurs in a viral video be expelled.
Students were joined by organizers and activists from Minneapolis. Toshira Garroway, founder of Families Supporting Families Against Police Violence, said if racist behavior goes unaddressed in high school it will manifest into these children’s adult lives.
“We’re asking that the principal of this school…we want a resignation, or we want your [expletive] fired,” said Garroway. “We want those children that were involved expelled immediately.”
Several of the youth became emotional when sharing their concerns for the safety of Nya, the Black student targeted in the viral video while others went on to share their own stories of racial tension and discrimination in the classrooms.
“My chemistry teacher told me that George Floyd’s life didn’t matter,” said one student. “I told my principal about it and he said there is nothing he can do.”
High Schoolers from St. Louis Park and Richfield were also in attendance to show solidarity. Many of them said they had experienced racist situations within their schools as well and demanded teachers who have racial complaints against them be fired as well.
A Prior Lake school board meeting is planned for Monday night. Students and parents say they plan to voice their concerns and demands.
Medical experts point to a variety of reasons for these disparities, including poorer health as a result of structural racism and a hesitancy to get vaccinated.
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Tiffany Bui reports:
As COVID-19 cases spike in Minnesota, racial disparities in the infection rates persist.
Data from the Minnesota Department of Health shows that Black, Latinx and Pacific Islanders are contracting COVID-19 at a higher rate than white Minnesotans, when adjusting for age.
Medical experts point to a variety of reasons for these disparities, namely poorer health as a result of structural racism and a hesitancy to get vaccinated.
According to Dr. Mary Owen, director of the Center of American Indian and Minority Health, vaccinations in tribal nations aren’t coming as quickly as they used to. She said a combination of factors contribute to someone not getting the vaccine, which can include misinformation and just general fear and anxiety.
“We're living in a time that's really frightening in the first place,” said Owen, “and on top of it, we've seen things happen to our climate that are terrible. In Native communities, we see more of our folks impacted. So there's just this baseline of fear, I think that’s already there, it's just simmering. And so when you introduce something different, like a vaccine that some people are saying isn't safe, I think it feeds into some of those fears.”
Owen said her center is focusing on targeting groups who may have more questions about getting vaccinated, particularly pregnant people and parents of young children.
Black and American Indian Minnesotans have the highest gains in vaccination rates week over week, according to the Minnesota Department of Health. MDH’s Senior Equity Adviser Dr. Nathan Chomilo said the department has held 1,000 vaccination events focused on communities of color. However he acknowledged disparities in infections still exist.
“Folks who have underlying health conditions because of long standing disparities in access to health care, nutrition, environmental exposures – all those things continue to persist. We haven't fixed those with a vaccination campaign,” Chomilo said.
This week, Minnesota reported the highest number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 this year, further diminishing the number of hospital beds available across the state.
MEnd Correctional Care was providing medical services for Beltrami jail in 2018 when 27-year-old Hardel Sherrell died in custody. Protesters say the state should shut the organization down.
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Georgia Fort reports:
Protesters gathered at The Minnesota Board of Medical Examiners Friday afternoon to demand the State shutdown MEnD Correctional Care.
MEnd Correctional Care was providing services for Beltrami jail in 2018 when 27-year-old Hardel Sherrell died in custody. Video footage showed guards neglected to take his pain seriously for over a week, even when his condition deteriorated to paralysis. A private autopsy ordered by his mother revealed he was suffering from a rare but treatable disease. A witness nurse stated that, even after his death, medical providers for the North Central Minnesota jail claimed he had been faking his illness.
“No doctor who has taken the oath to save lives would allow what happened to my son to happen,” said Del Shea Perry, Hardell’s mother. Perry said 55 investigations are being conducted into inmate deaths that have raised skepticism.
Nurses from the Minnesota Nurses Association came forward in solidarity with Perry, saying under no circumstance should an inmate have been left neglected the way Hardel was.
“The doctor failed to do his job, why should that doctor be out here still getting paid?” demanded Toshira Garroway, founder of Families Supporting Families Against Police Violence. She said that this case reveals inequities in the medical and incarceration systems.
“We are here to say the inhumanity and the lack of regard for human life has to stop,” said Garroway.
At the beginning of October 2021 the Minnesota Legislature passed the Hardel Sherrell Act to create more protections for inmates who request medical attention.
MEnD Correctional Care denies any wrongdoing. A representative for the organization said in an email that MEnD provided “daily, attentive care” for Sherrell. A civil rights lawsuit is still pending in court.
The tuition waiver program is available to enrolled citizens of federally recognized tribal nations in Minnesota.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
Starting next fall, the University of Minnesota is providing free or reduced tuition for Native American students on all five of its campuses.
The University of Minnesota has offered free tuition to American Indian students on its Morris campus from its founding. This goes back to 1909, when Congress deeded a boarding school to the state of Minnesota with the stipulation that an institution of learning be maintained and American Indian students “be admitted free of charge.”
The tuition waiver program is available to enrolled citizens of federally recognized tribal nations in Minnesota. Students must be starting their first year of an undergraduate program or transferring from a tribal college.
Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College President Stephanie Hammitt said this is a good thing.
“Anything that we can do to help the students to make it easier, make it less stressful for them to continue on - that's what we want to support,” she said. “And definitely with lower or free tuition, that is something that is going to benefit all those students.”
Hammitt said having the financial assistance to attend a large, research institution like the University could encourage students to pursue different fields or advanced degrees.
University officials said in a release that they’re working to improve retention and graduation rates of Native American students by increasing financial assistance and by reinforcing student support programs.
Hammitt said extending the tuition assistance to transfer students from tribal colleges helps set students up for success.
“Some students might not feel comfortable going directly to a university setting,” she said. “And therefore, you know, a smaller tribal college might suit their needs and help them gain the confidence they need to move on.”
Hammitt said ideally the financial aid would be offered to descendants of enrolled members, too.
Critics of charter schools say they are draining funding from school districts; proponents say they are providing much needed options to traditional education.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
According to St. Paul school officials, last year close to 40% of the city’s school-aged children were not attending schools in the district. Instead, families are increasingly enrolling their kids in charter schools. Minneapolis Public Schools have seen a similar decline in enrollment.
Myron Orfield is the director of the Institute of Metropolitan Opportunity at the University of Minnesota. He said proponents of charter schools promised they’d be more racially integrated than traditional public schools and outperform them, but they’ve failed on both counts.
“Charter schools do worse than the public schools in Minneapolis and St. Paul,” said Orfield. “And so charter schools have entered the system, they've taken a huge number of resources away from the city schools. They really kind of crippled the city schools’ finances.”
Orfield said charter schools have accelerated racial segregation, which often leads to gaps in funding and other inequities.
However, for marginalized communities, charter schools can prove helpful.
Dr. Samuel Yigzaw is executive director at Higher Ground Academy, a K-12 charter school in St. Paul known for its predominantly East African student population and diverse staff. He said the school has built relationships with the community, which has attracted more families.
“They are making a choice based on what they see,” said Yigzaw. “They see their neighbor's son or daughter going to a good school and finishing, graduating, and then having a job. And that’s something the parents may value. Even if we say, ‘oh, they’re going to that school because there is someone that looks like them’, there has to be a good reason to come back.”
Yigzaw said while traditional public schools are excellent, they do not work for some students, which is why they need options like Higher Ground.
“Envision SPPS” would close, merge or relocate eleven schools by next fall. Opponents point out that most of the schools slated to close are in communities of color.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
A Saint Paul Public Schools proposal that would close several schools is facing resistance from community members who say the plan leaves behind Black, Latinx, and immigrant families.
School officials announced the proposal at a board meeting in October. Called “Envision SPPS,” it would close, merge or relocate eleven schools by next fall. Faced with 8000 empty seats across the district, officials say they want to consolidate resources to ensure sustainable and well-rounded education programs.
Opponents point out that most of the schools slated to close are in communities of color.
“This is an issue of unequal balance of power,” said parent Tseganesh Selameab. “If you see the schools that are being slated for closure, they're chronically under supported schools through SPPS.”
Selameab said she chose Wellstone Elementary for its proximity and diversity - and doesn’t want to see it close.
“They're really talking about taking a school that has a robust community and splitting it along language lines,” she said. “Like taking the Spanish speaking kids and sending them to the West Side and then the English speaking kids can get dispersed to other classes. It just feels like a very harsh splitting of a robust community that's integrated.”
Saint Paul Federation of Educators President Leah VanDassor said the move is disruptive to students after an already stressful and difficult pandemic year.
“Some of these places found out the day that the district announced it, that the school was closing,” said VanDassor. “I mean, this was a shock to a lot of people. There was a lot of harm done.”
According to officials, the proposal is meant to address competition from charter schools. However VanDassor said, depending on how the school board votes on November 16, families might end up leaving the district in the coming year.
An Indigenous youth group has brought together different nations and generations to heal from the violent legacy of boarding schools.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
When 215 children were found buried on the lands of a former residential school in Canada last spring, local community members found their own histories uncovered.
Over the summer, members of Kalpulli Yaocenoxtli and Indigenous Roots in St Paul gathered to grieve and honor the found children - and the children that survived - through ceremony and sewing spirit medicine dolls. This week, their work culminates in Dia de los Muertos ceremonies and an exhibition.
Ruti Mejia says the project was started by members of her traditional dance group who needed a space for healing. She says it has become an opportunity for intertribal connection.
“We've historically been displaced and been dispersed to not collaborate with each other, and to some extent, sometimes put against each other,” explained Mejia. “But we really are intentionally disabling all of that, and dismantling that and really coming back to our ways of gathering, our ways of sharing, our ways of spending time with community, sharing a meal.”
Elder Maria Morin McCoy is from the Bear Clan and the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. She led the making of the spirit dolls as a way to give life to the uncovered children.
“Through working through the dolls, the spirits of the children began to talk to the doll makers,” said McCoy. “So many of the people that participated in making a doll had actual experiences, dreams, or just knowings as they were sewing the bodies together of what had happened to the children, and they began to tell them their story.”
McCoy said she and others involved with the project have been connecting with their loved ones who were directly impacted by boarding schools, finally opening up about difficult history.
The exhibit is open to the public at the Indigenous Roots Cultural Arts Center through November 30th.
Many racial justice activists were disappointed to see Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey re-elected and the public safety charter amendment rejected.
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Georgia Fort reports:
A small group of protestors marched to the home of Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey after learning he was re-elected. One disappointed voter said “Everybody here really thought that he wasn’t going to win again,” but after two rounds of tabulation, Jacob Frey was re-elected with 49 percent of ranked choice votes. His re-election was criticized by some residents who felt he didn’t effectively use his position to bring forth changes in policing following the murder of George Floyd.
“He’s reverted, he’s gone back and made deals with…[Minneapolis Police Chief] Arradondo,” said another protester.
In St. Paul, incumbent mayor Melvin Carter was re-elected with more than sixty percent of the votes.
The controversial Minneapolis charter amendment on public safety was defeated. The final count revealed 56 percent of people voted “No” on the ballot question. However even those voting no said policing and public safety are still prominent issues.
Ballots in both Saint Paul and Minneapolis included questions on rent control. The proposal in St. Paul caps rent increases at three percent; the Minneapolis ballot question allows policy makers to begin working on a similar plan. The measures passed in both cities.
“It’s really clear to us that housing justice is racial justice,” said one of the advocates for the St. Paul rent cap, “that Saint Paulites care for one another, that they’re going to show up to the polls for one another and we saw that in victory tonight.”
Advocates for both measures said they are key to making housing affordable to low income renters. Opponents said the rent restrictions will discourage new housing construction.
Relationships Evolving Possibilities (REP) is an abolitionist group that runs a crisis hotline which responds to non-violent emergencies such as neighbor complaints or welfare checks.
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Tiffany Bui reports:
It was a summer night when Rivianna Zeller and their team got a call from the hotline from the dispatch center in Minneapolis.
The caller said their neighbors across the street had been evicted from their home multiple times, and were now squatting in the house. The Hennepin County Sheriff's office wouldn’t do anything about it, so could they respond?
Zeller is a volunteer with Relationships Evolving Possibilities, an abolitionist group that runs a crisis hotline which responds to non-violent emergencies, like neighbor complaints or welfare checks. The hotline operates twice a week, from 7 p.m. until 12 a.m. Volunteers carry first aid kits, snacks, condoms and even cigarettes, which they offer to people when situations are especially tense.
In this case, Zeller was surprised; the caller didn’t consider themself an abolitionist at all.
“That was really exciting, honestly, to be like: “People are trying other things,” they said.
“I was just really glad that they called us and that we got to go check on these neighbors … rather than the sheriff or the cops showing up and kicking them out of their house again.”
Though Zeller’s team was not able to talk to the people squatting, they did what they came to do: to offer help with consent and without force.
“A lot of people call us because they just want someone to listen,” Zeller said.
REP was formed during the summer of 2020 at the height of protests by a group of activists working in mutual aid. Their central tenant is “Black love and liberation.” Roxanne Anderson, a core member of REP, said the goal was to help deescalate conflict in communities as tensions soared. They wanted to give people the space to breathe and have compassionate conversations with each other.
“Everybody was kind of like, in reaction mode. And we wanted to find ways to kind of slow down, get to know your neighbor. Think about how you might want to have a conversation about the fact that your neighbor always parks in a way that blocks your driveway, and instead of erupting in, in a violent episode about your driveway being blocked,” Anderson said.
REP also teaches people how to form pods – groups they can turn to in a crisis instead of the police. Though their focus is on policing alternatives, REP stresses that their hotline is not a 911 replacement – at least not yet. Instead they’re focusing on responding to the calls they say don’t need an armed police response at all.
“Oftentimes, that's what people need is somebody just to show up, somebody just to be there,” Anderson said. With their connections in the community, volunteers can offer to help someone make a call to another organization, like the Cultural Wellness Center. “That's what we know that we can do, with doing as little harm as possible.”
Anderson said REP is slowly and carefully building up its services, like the hotline. After a brief pause, the hotline has entered its second phase, where volunteers also received medic training. The group, which receives financial support from Family Tree Clinic, has made a commitment to operate for 10 years.
“We know that it takes 10 years to root, it takes 10 years for systematic change to really be in place. It takes many years to even see if a program works,” they said. “We're not trying to say, ‘This is how you be an abolitionist.’ We're saying, “There are many ways in which abolition can happen. Here are some, what do you all think?’”
Voters in Minneapolis will determine the future of policing and public safety in the first major election since George Floyd was killed.
Georgia Fort reports:
Tuesday marks the first major election in Minneapolis since George Floyd was killed. Voters will determine the future of policing and public safety with a historic vote on the charter amendment. While policing continues to be a prominent issue, the increase in deadly gun violence has made it difficult for community leaders to agree on ways to move forward.
Voting Yes on question 2 would agree to replacing the police department with a department of public safety. If passed, a commissioner would be appointed within 30 days and the city council would have oversight of the department… which is why Civil Rights Attorney and Minneapolis Resident Nekima Levy Armstrong says she’s voting no.
“I am concerned we are going to put ourselves in a worse situation than what we are already in,” said Armstrong at a recent debate. Although voting “no” doesn’t provide the immediate change of replacing the police department, she said it also doesn’t mean she’s content with MPD.
“I want to see MPD completely overhauled,” she said. “I want to see a robust system of police oversight.”
JaNae Bates, communications director of Yes 4 Minneapolis, said police prevention programs are limited and having a public safety department would create more resources to tackle gun violence.
“To be able to finally have some preventive and intervention measures that are part of a comprehensive department,” Bates said. “That means we can start to tackle big things like violence in community and gun violence prevention, something police officers will say is not a part of their work.”
Also on the ballot are yes or no questions on rent control and government structure. You can find a comprehensive bipartisan guide for St. Paul and Minneapolis at blackvotesmattermn.com.
Community members gathered Saturday at the Wilder Recreation Center to mark the anniversary of Demetrius Hill’s death, a Black man who was shot by St.Paul Police in 1997.
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Safiya Mohamed reports:
This Saturday, community members gathered at the Wilder Recreation Center to honor the 24th anniversary of Demetrius Hill’s death, a Black man who was shot by St.Paul Police in 1997.
Katie Wright, the mother of Daunte Wright, was present at the event along with other families who’ve lost their loved ones to police violence.
“I don't know if there's ever really going to be justice,” Wright said. “We can get accountability. We can get our loved ones' murderers held to the highest accountability, but there's never going to be real justice for anyone.”
Minnesota State Representative John Thompson was also present. He said he was there to show his support and to encourage people to vote.
“I want people to know that we're important,” he said. “Our families are important, our communities are important, our votes are important, our voices are important.”
Thompson hopes that attendees will feel inspired by these gatherings and will go out and be the change in their communities.
“We have to put our faces and our voices in places that matter,” Thompson said. “If we're not at the table, we're on the menu and eventually we’re on the plate and we’ve been getting eaten up for years here.”
Attendee Faith Allen hopes events like this remind the community that healing is possible and that they are not alone.
“Healing from the trauma that the families are going through,” Allen said, “and to let them know that we are here for you - to see growth.”
The event was hosted by Families Supporting Families Against Police Violence.
The former Brooklyn Center police officer will face both first and second degree manslaughter charges in the death of Daunte Wright. Meanwhile, Wright's family marked what would have been his 21st birthday. Georgia Fort reports:
A Hennepin county judge has denied a request to drop the most severe charges against former Brooklyn Center police officer Kimberly Potter. Potter fatally shot Daunte Wright during a traffic stop in April. Potter faces both first-degree and second-degree manslaughter charges.
The news came Wednesday which would have been Daunte’s 21st birthday. His family held a public gathering to honor his life. Over a hundred people gathered at the Brooklyn Center Community center.
“I shouldn’t be celebrating my son as a memory. He should be here physically with us. And it’s not fair, said his mother Katie Wright. She said it’s been hard to overcome her grief.
“Before three weeks ago I was like ‘I’m not going to get out of bed - I can’t celebrate his birthday,’ but because so many supporters and family members pushed, they were like ‘No you have to celebrate him’ and I was able to get up and I’m happy I did,” Wright said.
Daunte’s birthday comes just days before a critical vote on the Minneapolis Public Safety Charter Amendment. Regardless of the outcome Daunte’s mother says police have to do better.
Kimberly Potter claims she accidentally drew her pistol on Daunte Wright when she meant to use her taser. Her trial is scheduled to begin November 30.
The jury remained anonymous during court proceedings to protect their safety and ability to be impartial. However, Judge Peter Cahill has now declared that all 14 of the jurors’ identities will be made public.
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Tiffany Bui reports:
Juror number two. Juror number 19. Juror number 27. No names, only numbers; that’s how the court referred to jurors in Derek Chauvin’s murder trial.
The jury remained anonymous during court proceedings to protect their safety and ability to be impartial. However, six months after Chauvin’s case was decided, Judge Peter Cahill declared that all 14 of the jurors’ identities will be made public.
Roy Futterman, a jury consultant and psychologist, says Cahill was likely waiting to see if there were any known threats against the jurors.
“If the Justice Department or the police department said like we've been hearing people are overly interested in finding out about individual jurors, that might have swayed his opinion,” Futterman said. “But I think what he's saying is ‘I don't see any of that.’”
In America, juries are not anonymous by default. While people may be nervous about what happens after the names are released, Futterman says transparency is necessary in the legal process.
“You have to weigh that with the other idea that's very central to us, which is that legal proceedings should be out in the open, and we should know who's making decisions on a case,” he said. “Particularly about things that hinge on racial justice and police interactions with the community.”
This decision comes after the Media Coalition, a group of local and national news organizations, asked Cahill to release juror’s names and other information, like their completed questionnaires. Three jurors have already revealed their identities to the public.
State prosecutors earlier this year disagreed with the Media Coalition, concerned that jurors would be at risk for harassment. They also said that it could make it harder to seat jurors in the trial of the three other officers involved in George Floyd’s murder.
Mpls Cop Charged in Death of Bystander While In Pursuit
Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman has charged Minneapolis police officer Brian Cummings with second degree manslaughter and criminal vehicular homicide in the death of Leneal Frazier.
Feven Gerezgiher reports:
On Friday Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman charged Minneapolis police officer Brian Cummings with second degree manslaughter and criminal vehicular homicide in the death of Leneal Frazier.
“Officers have got to know if they are as brazen and as negligent as Officer Cummings, at least as long as I’m here, they’re going to get charged,” said Freeman.
The county attorney said Cummings was in pursuit of a stolen vehicle near midnight, driving at high speeds for more than 20 blocks through residential streets of North Minneapolis. The attorney says he ran a red light and slammed into the driver’s side of Frazier’s car at nearly 80 mph, killing him.
“That’s tragic. That’s criminal. That’s why we charged,” said Freeman.
Freeman said the drivers of the stolen vehicle were never apprehended. He also said that pursuits have led to 40 fatalities in Minnesota in the last 10 years.
Freeman is now calling on the Minneapolis Police Department to change its policies around pursuits.
Mitchell-Hamline law professor Rick Petry found the news unexpected.
“For a long time, it seemed like the county attorney in Hennepin County didn't charge police officers, no matter what they did,” he said. “So there seems to be a change in the tide for whatever reason.”
Petry said MPD has clear policies indicating pursuits should not continue when they endanger public safety.
“Policies are important, but even more important than the policies are the enforcement of the policy,” said Petry. “And that's been one of the big challenges in the Minneapolis Police Department for as long as I can remember is holding people accountable when they violate the law, or if they violate police policies.”
Petry said Cummings faces up to 10 years in jail.
(audio credit: KARE 11)
On Friday community members gathered to observe the National Day of Protest Against Police Brutality. They held a vigil outside of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Office in St. Paul to honor lives lost to police violence.
Safiya Mohamed reports:
On Friday community members gathered to observe the National Day of Protest Against Police Brutality. They held a vigil outside of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Office in St. Paul to honor lives lost to police violence.
“We’re here to say we are done dying,” said Angela Rose Myers, President of the Minneapolis Chapter of the NAACP. “We are done being lied to by killer cops, and by the ‘bureau of coverups and amorality.’”
Myers said the BCA is responsible for the cover-ups of killings and other brutality by law enforcement. Bayle Gelle echoed this sentiment. Gelle is the father of Dolal Idd, who was shot by police in late 2020. The police then raided Gelle’s home and interrogated his family before telling them that Idd was dead.
“I hope we can change this system of corruption,” Gelle said. “We feel really sad and upset about the way our system, our state is working.”
Gelle said he hopes that public demonstrations will lead to accountability in law enforcement.
“The people in the United States - especially in Minnesota - I think they will understand why we’re standing here, because we need to have police reform.”
For attendees like Maya - who asked not to share her last name - the vigil served as another opportunity to address the injustices going on in the community.
“It's our duty as folks in the community to fight for intersectional issues and show that we care enough to show up,” she said.
Maya said she hoped attendees of the vigil walked away feeling reenergized and a renewed sense of hope.
Noor was initially sentenced to 12.5 years for the 2017 shooting of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, who he shot and killed while responding to her 911 call. His sentence was reduced to four years and nine months.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
On Thursday a judge re-sentenced former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor to four years and nine months in prison. Noor was initially sentenced to 12.5 years for the 2017 shooting of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, who he shot and killed while responding to her 911 call.
In September, the Minnesota Supreme Court threw out Noor’s murder conviction, prompting a need to re-sentence him for the lesser charge of second-degree manslaughter.
University of Saint Thomas law professor Rachel Moran said Judge Kathryn Quaintance gave Noor the highest possible sentence for the charge.
“I think she's legitimately concerned about what he did that night. He did take someone's life, even if not intentionally,” Moran said.
While the Minnesota Supreme Court decision means Derek Chauvin will likely have his third degree murder charge dropped, Moran said his sentencing will not be impacted.
“He was convicted of a more serious offense, which is second degree murder. And in Minnesota, you only get sentenced on the most serious offense,” Moran explained. “So he's serving 22 and a half years for second degree murder. The fact that he can get his third degree murder conviction vacated doesn't have any practical effect on that 22 and a half year sentence.”
As a former public defender, however, Moran has a low view overall of the criminal system's ability to bring justice through prosecution.
“I don't think it necessarily brings safety to the community. I'm not saying it's a bad thing to criminally prosecute officers at all, but the idea that that's what will now hold police accountable for all misconduct and protect communities that have been the targets of police misconduct… I don't think a couple of criminal prosecutions are going to do the trick,” she said.
Based on time already served, Moran says Noor could be released on parole next summer.
The U.N. has demanded the U.S. respond to allegations of Indigenous rights violations related to the pipeline construction. Tiffany Bui reports.
Tiffany Bui reports:
In late March Indigenous-led organizations asked a United Nations committee to take action against the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline.
The Giniw Collective and Honor the Earth argued that the construction of the tar sands pipeline violated numerous rights of the Anishinaabe under an international convention against racial discrimination.
In a win for advocates, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination wrote a letter to the U.S. requesting a response to these allegations.
Kate Finn is the executive director of First Peoples Worldwide, which helped bring the case in front of the UN. Finn said the letter is a key step in acknowledging that the pipeline construction has caused harm to the Anishinaabe.
“It really does plainly state these human rights violations,” said Finn. “And we can take this letter to businesses and to financial institutions and to insurers to say ‘here are the violations that are attendant to Enbridge’s pipeline.’”
The U.S. has yet to make a response viewable by the public, as of the writing of this story. And Finn doesn’t expect there will be one.
Still, the United Nations’ attention to Line 3 has raised awareness to an international level.
Keri Iyall Smith, a professor of sociology at Suffolk University, said it is not uncommon for Indigenous people to turn to the United Nations after exhausting all their legal options at the local, state and federal level.
“I like the words that Walter Echo Hawk uses,” said Smith. “He calls it ‘the courts of the conqueror.’ And it's very logical that it's hard for Indigenous peoples to win in the courts of the conqueror, in the courts of the settler state. More frequently, what does happen is Indigenous peoples need to lean on that international support and international pressure to assert their rights.”
Line 3 began operating at the beginning of October; activists say they will continue fighting for Indigneous cultural and environmental rights.
Over the last year and a half more Black, Indigenous, and people of color are finding community and healing in Twin Cities parks.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
Over the last year and a half more Black, Indigenous, and people of color are finding community and healing in Twin Cities parks.
Maria Fernandez moved from Venezuela with her family five months ago. She now goes on weekly hikes with Huellas Latinas Hiking Club.
“I feel great! I feel this group is an amazing group,” she said, adding thatshe appreciates the space to meet new people.
Luisana Mendez says she started the hiking club during the pandemic to share the peace and inspiration she finds being outdoors.
“I want more of my Latino community to come and enjoy each park in Minnesota and not just hiking,” she said. “You can enjoy biking, or running, or paddle boating or kayaking or whatever you like. But go enjoy the park because every space is for us - it’s for everybody who lives in this beautiful state.”
Mendez says she thinks it’s a barrier for many Latinos that most of the information about outdoor activities is in English.
In June 2020, an outdoors educator formed a Facebook group to get BIPOC outdoors; it now has over 1,200 members.
Chaya Harris is program director for Outdoor Afro, which has chapters across the country, including in Minnesota. She says in the aftermath of several high profile police killings, the organization has seen more people seeking nature to process traumatic experiences.
“We turn to nature as a source of healing, as a source where we can just get outside, unwind, decompress,” she said. “We like to say that we can lay our burdens down by the water side.”
Harris says Outdoor Afro leaders are trained in creating accessible programming to help people feel safe and supported as they explore Minnesota’s green spaces.
Lawyers for the family of Winston Smith are protesting the decision to not prosecute the officers involved in Smith’s death; they say the investigation lacks integrity.
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Georgia Fort reports:
Lawyers for the family of Winston Smith are protesting the decision to not prosecute the officers involved in Smith’s death. Smith was fatally shot by members of a U.S. Marshals task force in the Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis in June. The Smith family's attorney, Eric Newmark, said the investigation lacks integrity.
“Every single member of that task force that was present when Winston Smith was killed refused to submit to an interview with the BCA - think about that,” said Newmark.
Attorney Newmark said there are inconsistencies in the investigation. Original reports from the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension claimed there was no body camera or other surveillance footage. But Newmark said the Crow Wing County Attorney cited body camera footage of the aftermath in a letter explaining his ruling to Attorney Mike Freeman. Freeman was originally assigned the case but handed it off to Crow Wing County due to a conflict of interest.
Winston Smith was a well known comedian, artist and father. His brother Kidale Smith said it’s been challenging for Winston’s children.
“When I show her a picture of her dad she plays with the picture like he’s still here. It’s actually very heartbreaking to watch,” he said.
Community questioned the loophole that allowed an incident like this to happen without any body cameras. Police officers deputized on a Federal task force are not required by law to use them.
“If law-enforcement has their way, all these individuals involved in the shooting - we will never know any of their names and that’s astonishing, it’s disgraceful,” said Newmark.
The case file is still classified as under investigation. Once the case is closed all evidence will be available by request to the BCA.
Feven Gerezgiher reports:
On Saturday, over 80 people participated in a children’s march to end gun violence in North Minneapolis. Organizers said the event was initiated by the family of 12-year-old London Bean who was shot and killed in September. A suspect has been identified, but is still on the run from police. Bean was the third child killed in a shooting in the neighborhood this year.
“None of these kids have gotten justice. Not even one. And that right there is a message within itself,” said Allegra Kennedy, Bean’s aunt and a long-time activist in North Minneapolis. She attended the march with her children. Kennedy says everyone should be getting involved before gun violence impacts their own families.
Four year-old Ariel Wells led the crowd in a chant demanding justice for the children whose lives had been claimed by gun violence. The event - a collaborative effort by several community organizations - included a celebration of children. Wisdom Young with the nonprofit Black Bold and Brilliant led a pledge affirming community values.
“I pledge to honor and protect all black life,” the crowd repeated after her. “I pledge to protect and value our beautiful black children. Our collective black future. We will win together. Ase.”
Young and other organizers urged those who attended to understand their collective responsibility to end gun violence.
Georgia Fort reports:
Debates across Minneapolis are heating up as the deadline to vote for the public safety charter amendment approaches. The amendment is posed as a yes or no question on the city’s November 2021 ballot. It proposes removing the Police Department as a standalone department and creating a new Public Safety Department, which includes police.
During a debate at North High the community heard from Minister JaNae Bates with “Yes 4 Minneapolis.” She said approving the amendment will help with police transparency and accountability.
“If this passes it will be, finally, a way for the people of Minneapolis to raise the standard of public safety in the city,” she said. “They will be able to have an expanded department of public safety and police officers will get to work alongside qualified professionals experienced in crisis.”
Reverend Jerry McAfee urged folks to vote “no” on the amendment and says more resources should be allocated to community led safety alternatives instead.
“Most of the people I kick it with ain’t concerned about the police,” he said. “They concerned about Shorty and Ray Ray with them glocks and them switches on ‘em.”
The Racial Justice Network hosted a debate of its own which included filmmaker DA Bullock. Bullock said he plans to vote “yes” for a new public safety department.
“We know for a fact that this current system is not supplying us with proper protection,” he said.
Sandra Samuels, CEO of North Side Achievement Zone, says she’ll vote no; she says police are needed to deter violence.
“In 24 years of living here I have never experienced the level of violence and crime and despair that I have seen… never,” she said.
The deadline to vote on the Public Safety Charter Amendment is Nov 2.
Native Americans have protested Columbus Day for decades, because it erases thousands of years of Indigenous history, and ignores Columbus’ role as a violent conqueror and a slave trader.
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Chioma Uwagwu reports:
Monday, for the first time in US history, the country recognized Indigenous Peoples’ Day. However, the holiday was celebrated alongside the federally recognized Columbus Day. Native Americans have protested Columbus Day for decades, because it erases thousands of years of Indigenous history, and ignores Columbus’ role as a violent conqueror and a slave trader.
Dr. Steve Hausmann, professor of Native American history, said the presidential proclamation of Indigenous Peoples’ Day is the result of a half century of work by activists:
“At the same time that the Columbus day legislation is going through Congress, you also have groups like the American Indian Movement, as well as native thinkers and writers like Vine Deloria Jr. who are pushing against this Columbus Day narrative, or pushing a counter narrative about what Columbus day really means,” he said.
Hausmann said it was Italian American immigrants who originally lobbied for the recognition of Columbus Day in the 1930s. He said it would take an act of congress to formally reverse the federal holiday.
Tom LaBlanc, a member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota Tribe, said he thinks the U.S. government has resisted recognizing Indigenous history and culture because it contradicts western values.
“And as long as they continue to allow Columbus and that kind of mentality to survive, we'll never face the truth,” said LaBlanc. “So they can continue on with Columbus and we’ll tear down the statues, or ignore it, and have our own celebrations because we represent life, not death.”
While Minnesota celebrates Indigenous People’s Day, it is not a legal holiday. Many cities across the c still recognize the second Monday in October as Columbus Day.
This year the Cine Latino Film Festival includes a focus on African heritage and culture in an effort to better reflect the diversity of Latinidad.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
This year the Cine Latino Film Festival - which runs through October 14 in Minneapolis and online - includes a focus on African heritage and culture.
“A lot of times when we think of African slavery, we imagine America being the primary source of that, when actually it’s Brazil and the Caribbean islands, and also Central America,” said festival programmer Craig Laurence Rice.
Rice says he wanted to show more films reflecting the racial and cultural diversity of Latinidad while bringing an international dimension to race conversations.
“Films are powerful - I mean it’s the most powerful media we have,” said Rice. “Good and/or bad, it has a message, it deals with emotions, it can deal with human issues that will entice people to rethink and to empathize with some of the people in the films or some of the issues. That's the power of cinema and that's why we use it.”
Cine Latino is put on by MSP Film Society. Last year, the Film Society also created a programming initiative with screenings and community conversations around systemic inequality called “We The People: Required Watching.”
To Eliana Reyes, an Afro-Latina creative, such programming is long overdue, especially in the Midwest where Black and Indigenous identities are seen as separate and distinct.
“There’s this whole community of Dominican, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, even in Panama, and Colombia. We're kind of in the middle. And so a few years ago, this term Afro Latino came about, and it's like, oh, that's the closest thing that I identify with,” she said.
Reyes says she wants to see Afro-Latinx stories in major movies that reflect their complex culture.
In the wake of the murder of George Floyd, the theater company created a pop-up pantry to serve the needs of neighbors. The company regularly partners with artists on projects that confront pressing community issues.
Chioma Uwagwu reports:
Pillsbury Theatre in Minneapolis has just closed its season with Aleshea Harris’ What to Send Up When It Goes Down. The play sets out to disrupt the pervasiveness of anti-Blackness and rejoice in the resilience of Black People throughout history. The show marked the directorial debut of Pillsbury’s new artistic producer, Signe Harriday.
“We are trying to meet the needs of our community with love and respect, [while] helping to build the world that we need and want and deserve,” said Harriday.
Harriday calls theatre one of last remaining cultural experiences where a broad spectrum of people can gather together. In an increasingly segregated community - whether it’s by race, class or politics - she says such gatherings are a ‘radical act.’
In the wake of the murder of George Floyd, the theater company created a pop-up pantry to serve the needs of neighbors. And the company regularly partners with artists on projects that confront pressing community issues.
“Our industry has hoarded resources so that certain stories are elevated or overrepresented on the stage and support the status quo, which has diminished our humanity. So institutions like Pillsbury are in the business of restoring and storytelling such that the theater is a place where we get to vibrate and echo back our humanity - that we get to see ourselves represented.”
Pillsbury is currently seeking applicants for the McKnight Community Engaged Artist Fellowship, an annual program that supports artists with personal and monetary resources. The application is open to all Minnesotans and is due Oct 15.
For Web:
Chicago Avenue Project (CAP) : Free 7-week course in acting and script writing for children.
Naked Stages: Mentorship opportunity for early career performance artists in Minnesota.
Body cam footage from the days following George Floyd's murder was used to acquit a man charged with attempted murder for firing on the police. In one video officers talk about ‘hunting’ protestors.
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Georgia Fort reports:
Recently released footage of Minneapolis Police responding to protests in the days after the murder of George Floyd is renewing criticism of the department. In one video officers say they’re ‘hunting’ protestors:
Officer 1: “Tonight it was just nice to hear, we are going to go find some more people instead of chasing people around we're going to hunt em'. You guys are out huntin' people now. It's just a nice change of tempo."
Officer 2: "Yup, Agreed"
The footage was picked up by national media outlets, putting MPD back under scrutiny just weeks ahead of a critical vote on the charter amendment for public safety. The video was one of several used as evidence in a case where the defendant - Jaleel Stallings - was acquitted. Another video shows several officers riding in south Minneapolis in an unmarked van shooting rubber bullets at people, at one point striking the 29 year old Stallings.
According to Stallings’ attorney Eric Rice, who released the footage, Stallings had no idea the unmarked car was driven by police so he fired back in self defense with a gun he has a permit to carry.
“The people in the van stopped and started shouting and that’s when Jaleel realized they were officers,” Rice explained. “So Jaleel put his weapon aside and laid on the ground and waited for officers to approach and when they did they started striking and beating him. Jaleel remained surrendered and submissive. He was ultimately arrested and charged with attempted murder for shooting at the van.”
Rice says despite complying with all officer’s commands his client was kicked and punched repeatedly, leaving him with a fracture near his eye and multiple bruises and cuts.
“Jaleel was arrested for a few days, released on bail. He went to a jury trial and the jury acquitted him on all 8 counts”
Rice says Stallings has yet to decide whether or not to sue the city.
Nearly three dozen tents were thrown away this week during the city-led closure of the Cedar-Franklin encampment in Minneapolis.
Georgia Fort reports:
Nearly three dozen tents were thrown away this past week during the city-led closure of the Cedar/Franklin encampment in Minneapolis. Approximately 20 staff from the city’s Public Works department arrived on scene just before 7am. Bulldozers and rakes were used to clear the area.
Staff from the city of Minneapolis and Hennepin county set up a tent at the encampment the afternoon before the closure in order to screen people for welfare and housing assistance eligibility.
According to a staff member with the city of Minneapolis, 30 openings were identified at a nearby women’s shelter. Some people were being placed in hotels for up to 90 days or until they could find housing.
The city of Minneapolis declined a request for an interview. A city representative did state that limited storage was offered to residents to store belongings for up to 14 days. On Tuesday, government employees either bulldozed or threw away the majority of what remained.
Most residents of the encampment said they wanted to find more permanent housing, but others expressed concerns. Some feared their addiction would prevent them from being accepted, while some couples didn’t want to be separated into men and women only shelters.
Growing up, Mai Thao didn't see any reflections of herself in the media. Now a college senior, she's working to change that by producing a new sitcom.
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Chioma Uwagwu reports:
Media representation has the power to reflect and rewrite what we think about ourselves. Unfortunately many people of color never get to see themselves depicted positively or at all. College senior Mai Thao is using her capstone project to change that. She’s currently producing “Hmong House,” a sitcom about a Hmong family navigating shifts in culture around them.
“Growing up, I didn't see reflections of myself in the media and that really affected the way that I saw myself,” she explained. “I don't think that people realize if you don't see yourself represented in that space it's almost like you're not represented in reality. Media is a space where we can project who we are and imagine who we can be, and when you're not seeing yourself in that space it's almost like you're excluded from the society that you exist in.”
Although there have been increasing portrayals of Asians on screen, Thao said she wants to see more nuanced Asian American and Southeast Asian narratives. Thao hopes that “Hmong House” can be an alternative to the many painful narratives BIPOC youth are used to seeing about themselves.
“When you're doing a story that's about a non white narrative it becomes very serious,” said Thao, “and obviously that's important because there are so many historical, social narratives that need to be told, and they are serious narratives. However, I do think that we need to have the space for mainstream and everyday types of stories.”
The majority of the show’s cast and crew are of Asian descent. Thao hopes that “Hmong House” will show children of immigrants that the arts is a viable career option for them. Thao is planning an initial screening of the sitcom to the public in December.
Four months after Winston Smith was shot by members of a U.S. Marshals task force, his family continues to seek an explanation for his death.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
Dozens of people gathered in Uptown Minneapolis Sunday to mark the death of Winston Smith Jr, who was shot by members of a U.S. Marshals task force four months ago.
Attendees were met with a military vehicle and armed guards. Multiple sources said private security played Martin Luther King speeches on loudspeakers and flashed bright lights.
Smith’s brother Kidale says his family has been gathering with community members at the corner of Lake St and Girard Ave every month on the 3rd to remind the public that they are still waiting for answers as to what happened.
“We have been out here every single month and we know that the people of Uptown have heard and seen and now it gets to the point where Uptown you are now being irresponsible for not bringing out the information that is needed. We know there are witnesses out here,” he said.
Last week, Crow Wing County Attorney Donald Ryan announced he would review Smith’s case to see if it merited charges against the involved officers. Hennepin County deferred the case to the Central Minnesota prosecutor to avoid conflicts of interest.
In the wake of Smith’s death, Seven Points - which owns the parking garage where Smith was killed - hired private security to guard the garage. In July, community members raised concerns after a video showed members of the private security team assaulting a woman. Seven Points did not respond to media requests.
This past Saturday community members celebrated the passage of the act, named in honor of a young man who died in jail after prolonged medical neglect.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
This past Saturday on Saint Paul’s Selby Avenue community members celebrated the passage of reforms to improve safety and standards for people in Minnesota jails. The legislation - passed in June - is named in honor of Hardel Sherrell who died after medical neglect at the Beltrami County jail in 2018.
“For the governor to sign the Hardel Sherrell Act into law lets us know that protest works, that prayer works and that faith works. And that fighting works, too,” said Sherrell’s uncle Trahern Crews, who also leads Black Lives Matter Minnesota. “And that you can’t give up, and we have to keep fighting for justice.”
Among other things, the bill establishes standards around mental health and medical care, and outlines policies around the death of individuals in custody.
After being prompted by Sherrell’s family to reinvestigate, the Minnesota Department of Corrections found evidence of “regular and gross violations in jail standards.” Video footage and medical records revealed that the 27-year-old had told prison guards and medical providers he was in excruciating pain on numerous occasions over the course of several days. His condition deteriorated to paralysis. A witness nurse confirmed that, even after his death, medical providers claimed he had been faking his illness.
In the aftermath, Sherrell’s mother Del Shea Perry started the nonprofit Be Their Voices.
“I felt like I was in this alone,” she said. “And I was like, ‘who dies in jail? Where do they do that at?’ And I thought to myself, ‘Am I the only one that’s going through this?’ Well, I found out real quick I wasn’t.”
Last year, a KARE 11 investigation found there have been at least 50 deaths in Minnesota jails since 2015.
Safiya Mohamed reports:
Early last week flyers with racist language were put up on the University of St. Thomas campus in St. Paul. The flyer targeted Native Americans and included a link to a white nationalist website. In response to this, the university and students hosted rallies and listening sessions.
Alex Hernandez-Siegel is the Director of Student Diversity & Inclusion Services at the university. He said that, while the administration’s response was effective, he wants St. Thomas to better support its BIPOC students by creating an inclusive and welcoming environment for all.
“We need to be more proactive in how we work every single day with our students, especially our students of color, so that they feel at home and they feel protected, they feel heard,” said Hernandez-Siegel.
Many St. Thomas students said they’re processing the incident and reflecting on their experiences as students of color in a white-dominant space.
“I feel confused. I feel kind of just numb to it because, you know, these incidents happen every single year, and we always get like, oh we stand with you like from the institution,” saidsophomore Kathryn Nguyen.
Students of color on predominantly white college campuses often struggle to find acceptance and community. Ilhan Abdulkadir, a sophomore at the University of Minnesota, said she is sometimes the only person of color in her classes.
“It kind of feels like a science experiment at that point,” she said, “because everyone's just looking at you for answers and they want to learn from you, but at the same time I'm a student, I should be learning, I shouldn't be the person that's being learned from.”
Abdulkadir believes universities can better support BIPOC students by giving them the space to heal from racist incidents and working quickly to address their concerns.
Nearly two dozen people are living in tents on the median and boulevard at the intersection of Cedar and Franklin. The city says they have until Oct 5 to move.
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Georgia Fort reports:
The city of Minneapolis is demanding residents of a tent encampment clear out. Nearly two dozen people are living in tents on the median and boulevard at the intersection of Cedar and Franklin. Many say they hope to move to a shelter by the October 5th eviction date. A resident who identified herself as Christine says she plans to stay.
“When we move, we lose. This is public property right here, not private. It's a highway, it's a street,” she said. “I don’t think we should move, I’m putting up a fight.”
Christine says she no longer has custody of her 9-year-old daughter. She’s been trying to overcome homelessness for nearly seven years.
The city of Minneapolis declined a request for an interview, but stated Hennepin County, Metropolitan Urban Indian Directors and the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center are all working to help identify shelters and treatment facilities for the tent residents.
The city has been providing port-a-potties and waste services, and included information for three shelters on the closure notice that’s posted throughout the encampment.
25-year-old Montez Hasley is a father of two. He’s been homeless for more than a year and hopes to use the October 5th deadline as motivation to go to treatment and turn his life around for his kids.
“I plan on going to a shelter and getting housing. I’m tired of living out here in these streets and wearing the same clothes,” he said.
Housing advocates say the root causes of homelessness include a lack of affordable housing and the lack of services to treat both mental illness and addiction.
Renowned speaker and educator Catrice Jackson says white apathy is the pandemic we're not talking about.
Feven Gerezgiher reports:
On the most recent episode of Racial Reckoning’s weekly podcast Bearing Witness, hosts Anthony Galloway and Georgia Fort discussed anti-racism work with renowned educator, speaker, and writer Catrice Jackson. Jackson says one of the principles of her teachings is “a failure to act is a failure to care.”
“So I don’t really care what people say - I watch what they do,” she said. “And as it relates to white apathy, this sense of just not really caring about what’s happening - specifically to black and brown bodies across the country - is one of the worst pandemics that we face.”
Jackson leads anti-racism workshops and has authored several books on white allyship. She also organizes a reparations initiative to purchase houses for Black women. Jackson says she struggles with balancing her time between directly supporting Black communities and doing the critical work of engaging white biases.
“I know we cannot do this without the collective white body having some kind of buy-in. And in order for them to buy in, they have to understand why they need to buy in,” she said. “And they have to be led by someone who’s a part of the movement. Because if you put white folks in a room trying to solve problems for black and brown people, we already know what happens. They cannot do it without us.”
You can find the full Bearing Witness interview with Catrice Jackson on most major podcast platforms and on our website.
With the Minneapolis Police recently reporting the 70th homicide of the year, public safety remains the number one issue for Frey and 16 other mayoral candidates.
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Georgia Fort reports:
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey rolled out a four-point public safety plan Monday which would integrate existing public safety work under one department and hire community-oriented officers.
“We don’t need to knock down one important facet of public safety and policing in order to build another up,” he said. “We can do both at the same time.”
Frey said he hopes to expand alternatives to police and encourage a collective approach to police reform, adding “we all agree that not every response requires an officer with a gun to respond.”
With the Minneapolis Police recently reporting the 70th homicide of the year, public safety remains the number one issue for Frey and 16 other mayoral candidates. Bishop Richard Howell - whose church Shiloh Temple International is at the center of much of the gun violence in north Minneapolis - hosted a forum for the mayoral candidates to discuss their vision for public safety if elected.
“We have to do something, public safety is not an issue we can put under the carpet. It’s the right time to do the right thing,” Howell said.
Mayor Frey’s plan was met with criticism by multiple residents including Angela Williams.
“I don’t appreciate you coming here to Shiloh Temple trying to finesse the Black community once again,” said Williams. “The mayor and these council people need to get this violence under control. I don’t care about none of that stuff you just said… those are words to get re-elected the best way you know how.”
Election day is November 2nd. The public safety charter amendment will also be included on the ballot for Minneapolis residents.
The “Truth and Reparations” initiative focuses on the complicity of Christian faith communities in harm done to African-American and American Indian people.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
Last weekend the Minnesota Council of Churches hosted the first event of an initiative to bring racial equity to churches across the state.
Reverend Jim Bear Jacobs is Co-Director of Racial Justice for the council. He says the “Truth and Reparations” initiative started last year to focus on the complicity of Christian faith communities in harm done to African-American and American Indian people.
“Some of our historic congregations at the Minnesota Council of Churches were active congregations as the systems of white supremacy and institutionalized racism were built into the structure of Minnesota,” he said. “And this is really a call to hold churches accountable, and to be about what churches claim that they are about, which is the work of healing and repair. And so begins with telling the truth.”
The MN Council of Churches plans on a ten year process of truth telling, education, and reparations for its 27 member churches.
Last weekend’s event featured keynote speaker Christine Diindiisi McCleave, CEO of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition.She spoke about persevering generational trauma resulting from Native American boarding schools and the erasure of indigenous culture.
Reverend Pamela Ngunjiri of St. Mark AME Church in Duluth says it is essential to acknowledge the past for healing to take place.
“We have to start at the beginning,” she said. “We have to start telling the truth, the true stories of history and how things have begun before we can even say anything about what we're doing today.”
For four years Asma Mohammed worked to end the Minnesota statute of limitations for sexual assault. Earlier this month, the statute was lifted.
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Safiya Mohamed reports:
Earlier this month, the Minnesota criminal statute of limitations on sexual assault was lifted. Prior to the new law, Minnesota residents had six years to report an incident.
Asma Mohammed, one of the women who fought for the change, said she still has a hard time processing it.
“What happened with me is I could never report, because the time had passed,” she explained. “But I have students, I have so many people I love, and now they have the opportunity to report if something happens to them.”
Many victims of sexual assault are traumatized into silence. It can take years for them to share the experience even with close friends and family, let alone the justice system.
Mohammed, the Advocacy Director for the non-profit RISE, began to challenge the six year statute in 2016 with fellow survivor Sarah Super, the founder of Break the Silence. The process took 4 years, but according to Mohammed, it was all worth it.
“We have people that need to be protected by the law and have not in the past,” she said. “The law protected perpetrators in the past, and now it's hopefully going to serve us and serve some healing.”
Mohammed, who is of South Asian descent, says speaking publicly about sexual assault is still frowned upon in her community. She says listening without judgement is the first step to supporting survivors of sexual assault.
“What I want for every survivor that comes forward and shares their story is a lot of grace, a lot of understanding around how hard it is, just the experience of sharing your story, how difficult that can be,” said Mohammed. “And the bravery it takes, I want that bravery acknowledged.”
The Minnesota Housing Partnership reports that one-third of Twin Cities households live in rentals, with 45% of them paying more than they can afford on housing.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
In Minneapolis and Saint Paul, housing advocates are seeking to limit rent increases in order to make the Twin Cities a more affordable place to live.
The Minnesota Housing Partnership reports that one-third of Twin Cities households live in rentals, with 45% of them paying more than they can afford on housing.
“We need our rent to grow at a rate that is predictable and stable, so that our families, our communities don't get displaced from the homes and the communities that we helped create,” said Tram Hoang, the campaign manager for Housing Equity Now Saint Paul, a diverse coalition of groups and residents that collected over 9000 signatures to get rent stabilization on the city’s ballot.
The proposed ordinance would limit rent increases in Saint Paul to 3% per year, which Hoang says is more than the average rent increase in the region over the past 20 years. She says a 3% cap would allow for property tax growth and maintenance needs, but there would also be a process for landlords to request exceptions if they need more room for major improvements.
Hoang says rent stabilization is critical in a housing system that has historically disenfranchised certain communities from the stability of homeownership.
“Egregious rent increases, statistically speaking, are more likely to be experienced by low wealth renters and renters of color,” she said.
Cecil Smith with the Minnesota Multi Housing Association opposes the measures in both Saint Paul and Minneapolis, where the proposed ordinance simply gives city council the power to regulate rent in the future.
“Rent control is not the solution that we need for our affordable housing challenge. It hasn't worked anywhere else to provide housing affordability and housing availability. And we need other solutions,” said Smith.
He says increasing housing production and supply are better strategies for creating rental price stability.
Feven Gerezgiher reports:
Last Saturday a Minneapolis dispensary ran Minnesota’s first cannabis expungement clinic, working to clear the criminal records of 44 people with non-violent cannabis convictions.
Jon Geffen is Director of the Reentry Clinic at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law and provided pro bono legal services along with his students. He says without expungement, people lose opportunities to live the lives they want.
“We had a nurse lose a job based on a cannabis related offense,” he said. “We had a lot of people denied housing based on low level cannabis offenses. In Minnesota, a small amount of marijuana is a petty misdemeanor, which is actually defined as not a crime. But you know, landlords, employers, they don't know that. They don't care.”
Vireo Health’s Director of Medical Education Dr. Paloma Lehfeldt co-organizes expungement clinics for medical marijuana dispensaries across several states, including for Green Goods Minneapolis.
“Being a member of this industry, it's my responsibility and our responsibility as a company really, to, you know, right the wrongs caused by the so-called war on drugs,” she said.
Lehfeldt says the stigma against cannabis has its roots in efforts to demonize Mexican refugees in the early 1900s. She says people of color continue to be arrested at a much higher rate than their white counterparts.
“People think that drug prohibition and drug criminalization, especially of cannabis, has waned in the years, but it really hasn’t,” she said.
Last year, an ACLU report found that Black people in Minnesota are 5.4 times more likely to be arrested for weed possession, despite similar rates of use.
Georgia Fort reports:
A Native led non-profit is reclaiming and restoring a sacred Indigenous burial site in St. Paul. What’s known as Indian Mounds Park was converted into a park by the city in 1892. According to the city’s website the cultural significance of the site was not understood at the time.
“Even as an Native person I brought my kids here to play on the playground at the time,” said Maggie Lorenz, Executive Director of the Lower Phalen Creek Project. “I didn’t know that there were burial mounds all over this entire bluff and that literally everywhere up here underneath the ground, there are the remains of our ancestors.”
Lorenz says her organization is increasing awareness about the space through increased signage informing park goers that the space is a cemetery for Indigenous ancestors.
“The place you would want to bury your relatives is somewhere high where they can be close to the stars so they can find their way home on the Milky Way and so they can watch over you,” Lorenz explained. “This - being the highest point along the Mississippi River - was the ideal place for our people to be buried.”
Historic records show there were nearly two dozen burial mounds, some of which were destroyed when streets and homes were constructed. The historic records documented each time remains were excavated.
“For newly arrived colonizers this was the best view in the city so a lot of our burial sites were plowed over,” said Lorenz.
The city of Saint Paul is using the Indian Mounds Regional Park Cultural Landscape Study to build community understanding of the significance of the area and find common ground for its proper use and care.
"21 Days of Peace," an outreach effort aimed at combating gun violence, assisted in 36 arrests and helped get 16 guns off the street, according to the Minnesota Public Safety Commissioner.
Georgia Fort reports:
State and city officials met with faith leaders Saturday to review the progress of “21 Days of Peace,” an outreach effort aimed at combating gun violence. Minneapolis Police Chief Arradondo says the collaboration between police and the faith community was a success.
“We as a police department were never going to create safety by ourselves. If there is any narrative out there that says the opposite, that is patently false,” said Arradondo.
According to Minnesota Commissioner of Public Safety John Harrington, 21 Days of Peace assisted in 36 arrests and helped get 16 guns off the street in an effort led by Pastor Jerry McAfee.
“This is not a game,” said McAfee. “Given the problems in our community, how in the world did the problem with police get to be the number one thing?”
More than 100 people attended Saturday’s meeting, including Sharon Smith-Akinsanya, CEO of the Rae Mackenzie Group. She says the success of the program is why she’s voting “no” on the upcoming charter amendment on public safety.
“The partnership between 21 Days of Peace and our law enforcement community - it’s working! Why would we want to stop that? So this ballot amendment that’s coming up needs to be struck down,” said Smith-Akinsanya.
There have been 69 homicides in the city of Minneapolis this year and more than 470 people injured from shootings. This weekend alone 11 were injured following seven shootings.
Advocates for the creation of a new department of public safety say that meaningful change requires addressing the root causes of crime and violence, such as poverty and unstable housing.
A recent poll found that 49% of Minneapolis residents support the proposal for a new Department of Public Safety; 40% oppose the proposal and 10% are undecided.
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Safiya Mohamed reports:
On Thursday evening, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled in favor of the wording of the charter question on the Minneapolis ballot. The proposed amendment would replace the current Minneapolis Police Department with a Department of Public Safety.
“This is an exciting time for the City of Minneapolis,” said Minister JaNae Bates of Yes 4 Minneapolis, the group pushing for the charter change.
Bates says the charter amendment has gained what she describes as “manufactured controversy.” She says people in power are telling lies to the public about the charter for their own self-interests.
“They thought that they could take the votes from over 100,000 people in Minneapolis who deserve to have a say about their public safety,” said Bates. “And the Supreme Court ruled that to be false - that the people do have a right to vote on this important issue that they have fought long and hard for.”
A recent poll taken by MPR, StarTribune, Kare11, and Frontline Minnesota found that 49% of Minneapolis residents support the proposal of a new Department of Public Safety. 40% oppose the proposal; 10% are undecided. Bates says she believes the people of Minneapolis will vote in a way that protects and advances their community.
“The hope and prayer is that the people of Minneapolis, lean into the best version of themselves that they vote their values around just being safe,” she said.
Opponents of the charter proposal say they want to keep the mandatory minimum staffing level for Minneapolis police.
Early voting is open now in Minneapolis at the Office of Elections & Voter Services.
Working to fight for racial equity in a newsroom can take a toll on an already overworked journalist. Unfortunately, when a journalist of color leaves the profession, that leads to fewer stories on communities of color.
Chioma Uwagwu reports:
The murder of George Floyd and the racial uprising that followed inspired a similar uprising in newsrooms across the country. Journalists of color called out management for racist editorial practices. Many left the field in frustration. This is not new in the field of journalism.
In 2018, Emma Sapong left her job reporting for Minnesota Public Radio in favor of becoming a freelance multimedia journalist. Sapong says she initially got into journalism with the attitude that diversity and inclusion were essential to accurate coverage.
“...Get into these newsrooms and make sure, these communities that have been overlooked and not only just overlooked, but maligned for decades--I wanted to change that,” said Sapong. “So journalism for me from the beginning was setting the record straight and moving away from the stereotypical one dimensional coverage of people of color.”
In 2020, journalist Carla Murphy conducted a survey of former journalists of color to understand why they left the industry.
Sapong says working to fight for racial equity in a newsroom can take a toll on an already burnt out journalist. Unfortunately, when a journalist of color leaves the profession, that leads to fewer stories on communities of color.
“I think there needs to be some focus on getting white journalists to also cover these communities,” she said. “If these organizations are really serious about being inclusive,iIt wouldn't be this sort of novelty or side project we do every now and then and pat ourselves on the back.”
Numerous studies of American journalism have concluded that diversity in coverage is essential to the long-term social relevance and financial success of mainstream media.
The ruling will likely result in a shorter sentence for Noor and has implications for the conviction of former police officer Derek Chauvin in the murder of George Floyd.
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Georgia Fort reports:
The conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor was overturned Wednesday by the Minnesota Supreme Court. Noor was convicted of 3rd degree murder and second degree manslaughter for fatally shooting Justine Ruszczyk in2017.
“Now we have Noor who is going to get a lesser sentence,” said legal analyst Lee Hutton. “And I believe if I calculated right, when this goes back to the trial court to determine the correct sentence he may be out in October of this year.”
Hutton says the Supreme Court ruling has broader implications; Noor’s case was used as a legal precedent to charge former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin with third degree murder.
“Chauvin has an appeal circulating in the court of appeals and so the court of appeals is going to take direction from the Supreme Court. And I do believe this 3rd degree murder charge is going to be erased or overturned because of these new developments. Now that doesn’t mean that Chauvin is going to be a free man and get out of prison because he is still convicted on other charges.”
Meanwhile, Chauvin and the other three former officers involved in George Floyd’s death plead not guilty in federal court Tuesday. They’re charged with violating George Floyd’s civil rights. More than a dozen
more pretrial hearings are expected before the federal trial will begin.
Monday, a federal judge sentenced Illinois militia leader Emily Claire Hari to 53 years in jail for the 2017 bombing of the Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington. The sentencing came amidst news of other alleged hate crimes in the Twin Cities.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
Monday, a federal judge sentenced Illinois militia leader Emily Claire Hari to 53 years in jail for the 2017 bombing of the Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington, MN.
At a press conference, Monday, Dar Al-Farooq board member Abdulahi Farah denounced the bombing as a failed terror attack.
“Hate will not win,” said Farah. “Today, although we had to relive the stories of pain and trauma after the terrorist attack on our community, I was once again given hope [by] the resilience of our community.”
The sentencing came amidst news of other alleged hate crimes in the Twin Cities.
This last week, a St Louis Park synagogue canceled in-person services for the Jewish Sabbath after threats of violence. Steve Hunegs with the Jewish Community Relations Council stood in solidarity with the Muslim community on Monday.
“You look at this unfortunate succession of attacks against houses of worship - against mosques, temples, synagogues, churches - and you want to call out the common denominator and/or the community's abhorrence of such attacks,” he said.
Hunegs says there’s been a rise in anti-Semitic incidents stemming from the Israel-Palestine conflict, and also from white supremacist beliefs.
In August, the FBI reported that hate crimes in 2020 were at their highest level in over a decade.
Also last week, a white nationalist message was graffitied on the Hmong Cultural Center, defacing their signage as well as art supporting the Black community. Kang Vang teaches citizenship at the center. He says he was concerned for his students’ safety but made the incident a learning opportunity about America’s racial climate.
“Violence against Asians...violence is part of our history here in the United States, you know?” reflected Vang. “It feels weird that the media had just started recognizing it in the last few years when it’s been going on for such a long time.”
Despite that, Vang is optimistic. He says following the vandalism, the community rallied in support of the cultural center. Vang says it shows his students the importance of being in solidarity with other communities.
Students of color say it’s common to feel invisible or alienated on campus. However they see college as an opportunity to advance themselves and their communities.
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Safiya Mohamed reports:
As the school year begins, students of color are facing a mix of emotions as they go back to in-person learning.
“My first year of university... it's been like online so I hadn't really gotten the full-on college experience,” said Asiya Abdulkadir, a sophomore at the University of Minnesota. “So now it's kind of like a culture shock, but I'm not really complaining.”
Many students of color say it’s not uncommon to feel invisible or alienated on campus. However they see college as an opportunity to advance themselves and their communities. Abdulkadir says that, as a visible Muslim on campus, she tries to uphold a positive image of Islam when interacting with others.
“Because they haven’t really had visibly Muslim friends or they haven’t really been associated with Muslim people, so there’s a lot on your shoulders.”
Kadija Koroma is a first-year student majoring in Business at the University of St. Thomas. She’s grateful to be attending college on a full-ride scholarship and plans on taking advantage of it.
“I feel great about it, that I can be here. Like I actually achieved something that my ancestors wanted for me to be able to achieve, and so for that reason, it feels great,” she said.
While BIPOC students have traditionally been underrepresented in higher education, the percentage of students of color on college campuses is steadily increasing.
Koroma and Abdulkadir both said that finding community with other BIPOC students has helped them to feel more empowered in predominantly white spaces.
Georgia Fort reports:
Nearly one hundred teens and young children marched to the Maplewood police station demanding justice for Marcoz Paramo and Alyjah Thomas. They say the high speed chase that took their friends’ lives violated the city’s policy.
“That’s crazy that we all won’t never get to see him again, get to hug him again, get to talk to him about how I feel again,” said a girl who identified herself as Paramo’s girlfriend. “It’s crazy. His mom and hIs sisters won’t get to do stuff with him how they used to. We won’t get to take those trips on the bus how we used to and have fun how we did again. It won’t be the same. It doesn’t feel real. All because of the police.”
Although the chase ended in Maplewood it was led by Ramsey County sheriffs who have their own policies on pursuits. The Sheriffs’ Department has not made those policies publicly available, and has not responded to a request for comment. Jonathon McClellan, President of the Minnesota Justice Coalition, says they have a duty to respond.
“Our community has questions that do need to be answered to make sure the police are being transparent and accountable for their role in what happened. When will the dash cam and body cam be released unedited?”
McClellan questioned the use of spike strips to stop the car full of teens. He believes it played a role in the crash.
Activist Brandon Tulloch says the pursuit policies need to be changed.
“What’s the purpose of these high speed chases? Either to get the car back or to keep people from being injured. So at the end of the day, police in this incident didn’t do their job. If they were trying to get the car back, it’s totaled. If they were trying to keep people safe, they killed two kids.”
Four other teens in the car survived, including the 15 year old driver who’s now facing two charges of vehicular homicide.
Georgia Fort reports:
Families are questioning the Ramsey County Sheriff's policy on high-speed chases after a vehicle pursuit claimed the lives of two teens in Maplewood on Friday, Sept 3.
14-year-old Marcoz Paramo and 15-year-old Alyjah Thomas were two of six teenagers in a car that police say was reported stolen.
Dispatch audio reveals an initial request for an ambulance was cancelled, a decision Tanya Gile says may have cost her son his life.
“He just turned 14 and he was blossoming and now I won’t ever ever ever get to see that young man,” said Gile through her tears.
Ramsey County’s policy on pursuing vehicles is not publicly available. The county did not respond to a request for comment. Giles says the Ramsey County Sheriff’s department should be transparent with its policies. She says if a policy was violated the sheriff should be held accountable.
“I want these police to be held accountable for these deaths because both of these kids would be alive had the police obeyed the law, like we all should.”
At this time no officers have been charged. However, the 15-year-old driver of the car has been charged with two counts of vehicular homicide. While the pursuit was led by sheriff deputies the crash happened in the city of Maplewood. According to Maplewood’s communications manager, city police are only allowed to pursue violent or felony level suspects.
The community is holding a vigil and protest Friday afternoon for the two teens who lost their lives.
A new report from the Movement for Black Lives found the federal government targeted Black Lives Matter protesters with harsher prosecution in order to disrupt and deter activism.
Tiffany Bui reports:
A new report from the Movement for Black Lives found that the federal government targeted Black Lives Matter protesters with harsher prosecution in order to disrupt and deter activism.
The social justice organization partnered with the CLEAR clinic at the City University of New York School of Law. CLEAR analyzed 326 criminal cases initiated by federal prosecutors against protesters following the murder of George Floyd. According to the report, in over 80% of the cases the federal charges carried more severe punishments than state or local law.
The drive to federally prosecute protesters came from former President Donald Trump and the former Attorney General William Barr. Ash-Lee Henderson, the executive director of the Highlander Research & Education Center in Tennessee, said the report shows the government is continuing a historic campaign against Black-led movements.
“What this data proves is quantitatively what we've been saying qualitatively now for centuries about the overreach of the government to stop and try to slow down or cease and desist the liberation movement led by Black people, particularly as it calls out their complicity in police brutality and mass incarceration of our people,” she said.
Data on the race of the defendants was only available for 27% of cases, and it shows an overwhelming majority were Black men.
“When we look at the anti-mask protests, when we look at the insurrection at the Capitol, these people faced [fewer] consequences than our protesters,” said Henderson. “We're seeing a clear disproportionate response when it's Black people fighting for Black liberation.”
The report states there were 15 federal prosecutions in Minnesota. Kandace Montgomery, the director of Black Visions Collective, says the actions of law enforcement during racial justice protests showed they were not there to keep civilians safe.
“So the ways that our state and federal government are willing to, literally enact war on their citizens and their people is deeply troublesome and needs to be understood as part of this larger conversation,” she said. “It’s not just about policing, it is about a culture of punishment that we’re investing billions of dollars into.”
In response to its findings, the Movement for Black Lives is advocating for amnesty for all racial justice protesters.The federal government has yet to respond to the report.
Two former Minneapolis police officers charged in the death of George Floyd are opposing the broadcast of their upcoming trial. The defense will officially make that request in court on Thursday. Feven Gerezgiher reports.
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This is Feven Gerezgiher.
Two of the three former Minneapolis police officers charged in the death of George Floyd are opposing the broadcast of their upcoming trial. The defense will officially make that request in court on Thursday.
In late August, J. Alexander Keung and Thomas Lane withdrew consent for audio and visual coverage. In their briefs, their lawyers wrote that expert witnesses declined to testify due to the televised proceedings, depriving Keung and Lane of a fair trial.
Jane Kirtley is the Silha Professor for Media Ethics and Law at the University of Minnesota. She says the Derek Chauvin trial ran smoothly, proving wrong many of the initial arguments against allowing cameras in courts. Kirtley also says access to the courts is important for building public trust. And it’s a first amendment right for journalists.
“This is particularly important when government officials, including police are involved,” she said.
“It gives the public confidence that the system is operating correctly. It lets them see for themselves what transpires and it lets them decide for themselves whether they think the outcome is right or not. We all have a stake in criminal trials being run properly and injustice being done. And if we can't see it, we can't be sure that that has happened.”
Last week, the state of Minnesota and a 16-member media coalition - including the Silha Center - filed memoranda supporting audio and visual coverage in the trial. They said that due to continued COVID concerns, televised proceedings are the best way to ensure meaningful public access. The state’s briefs also emphasized that video access to the Chauvin trial provided a “community therapeutic value”.
The Media Coalition is also seeking to have Chauvin juror names publicized.
“We're supposed to be tried by jury of our peers,” Kirtley said. “ And that means people of our community that are known to us are known to the community as well.”
Kirtley says it would be better if the identity of jurors were assumed to be public, and defendants had to prove why they shouldn’t be.
She said the court’s interest should be public access, and only in extraordinary situations should any part of a criminal trial be closed to the media and to the public.
Minnesota hasn't typically allowed cameras in court. After the Chauvin trial, the Supreme Court said it would review what was learned from the pandemic, and consider modifying and expanding audio and visual coverage of criminal cases. A report is expected next summer.
For the Racial Reckoning project, this is Feven Gerezgiher.
The case of a St. Paul man recently acquitted on charges of attempted murder is still raising questions about police and prosecutorial fairness. Feven Gerezgiher reports.
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The case of a St. Paul man recently acquitted on charges of attempted murder is still raising questions about police and prosecutorial fairness. Twenty-nine-year-old Jaleel Stallings had been charged with shooting at police during protests following the murder of George Floyd. No officers were injured.
The Minnesota Reformer acquired body camera footage that supported Stallings’ version of events:
[VIDEO CLIP: scuffles Officer: Hands behind your back! Stallings: Listen, listen sir. I’m trying. Officer: Hands behind your back! ]
Stallings claimed self-defense, noting he thought officers were white supremacists patrolling Lake St. The body camera videos show police shooting rubber bullets at people from an unmarked van without lights.The videos also show Stallings lying on the ground after officers identified themselves. Then you see police punching and kicking him.
Michelle Gross is with Communities United Against Police Brutality.
“The stuff that was coming out of these cops’ mouths is reprehensible,” said Michelle Gross with Communities United Against Police Brutality. “But it's a good way to get kind of a backroom view of the way that cops really think about the community and the way that they operate.”
Gross shared the video with the U.S. Department of Justice, which is investigating the Minneapolis Police Department for use of excessive force.
She said she’s glad Stallings was acquitted, but questioned why the county attorney brought the case to trial since he had access to the body camera evidence.
“Why would you go forward with a prosecution against this man given what you've seen?, she said. Most people don't think about it this way, but use of the criminal justice system against people is a form of retaliation.”
Minneapolis authorities say they are conducting an internal review of the police officers who were involved with Stallings’ arrest. A hearing to decide whether to release more body camera footage will take place later this month.
For the Racial Reckoning project, I’m Feven Gerezgiher.
A neighborhood is still celebrating after Saturday’s annual “Back on the Day Festival.” Safiya Mohamed was there.
Southside Minneapolis neighbors are celebrating community after Saturday’s “11th annual “Back in the Day” festival held in Phelps Park in Minneapolis.
The event included games, activities, vendor markets, and live music by the Grammy-award winning group ‘Sounds of Blackness’.
The theme for this year’s event was “what about the children?”Lisa Crawford, the founder of the event, said gatherings like this will show young people the importance of being in community with one another.
“I think we just need to pass the baton to our kids, and let them know we are able to get together, have a good time, fellowship, and just have a good time,” Crawford said.
Many attendees expressed the joy of being in a space that celebrates community. J. Darnell Johnson, a local author, said he was excited to see old friends and loved ones after a year of being apart due to COVID-19.
“We’re refreshing friendships, renewing vows, Johnson said. “Coming together in ways that only the people who grew up here would recognize because we got some stories to tell.”
Crawford created the event 11 years ago out of her backyard. It began as a space for neighbors to come together and celebrate each other.
Sometimes, we only get together when we're going to funerals, and then we haven't seen each other for a while,” Crawford said. “So we just thought, you know, come on over to our house and let's have a good time in our backyard, and then we've lived a block away and it outgrew our backyard so now we're here, and 11 years later we're still going strong.
This year’s celebration was even more meaningful because the festival did not happen last year because of Covd.
For the Racial Reckoning Project, I’m Safiya Mohamed
Feven Gerezgiher reports on wider adoption of innovative approaches to violence prevention.
In August, 16-year-old Varney Kennedy Jr. was sitting in his car at 63rd and Zane Ave in Brooklyn Park when an unidentified gunman shot and killed him. It was one of many shootings at the intersection over the last year.
“We can't lose a whole generation, “ said long-time civil rights activist Spike Moss. “That's what we're about to do.”
Spike Moss led outreach with gangs across the country for decades. Last week, he helped the city and a nonprofit called Minnesota Acts Now launch an outreach initiative at Brooklyn Park’s crime hotspots. Community members are taking shifts nearly every day to connect with people and understand how to best prevent violence.
“We’re losing far too many people, too many children,” he said. “No one cares about them - otherwise, the person who did it would have been in jail.”
Counseling psychologist Dr. Aja King is coordinating the outreach efforts with a similar community intervention campaign taking place across the Twin Cities called 21 Days of Peace. She says the focus is on meeting people where they’re at.
She said mental health practitioners must ask ‘what happened to you’; not ‘what’s wrong with you.”
“We want to know: how do drugs get introduced? What is it that's putting you at risk that you aren't able to keep yourself safe?,” she said
Dr. King said this approach allows for heartfelt conversations that can create more hope and help bridge people to needed resources.
This kind of work is backed by data-driven research. Following the murder of George Floyd, the City of Brooklyn Park hired Wilder Research to identify root causes of violence and create recommendations on improving public safety. In the report released in June, Wilder said economic insecurity and poor sense of community are risk factors for violence. It recommended community-based mental health and substance use responses and addressing social inequities as crime prevention.
For the Racial Reckoning project, I’m Feven Gerezgiher.
Tiffany Bui reports:
Minnesota’s population has grown much more diverse over the past decade, according to new data from the Census Bureau.
The number of non-white Minnesotans increased across all racial groups. The population of multiracial residents also grew dramatically, by about 176 percent. Meanwhile, the non-Hispanic white population has decreased by one percent since 2010.
Diversity is more prevalent among young people than adults. The Star Tribune reported that over 36% of people under the age of 18 identified as nonwhite, compared to 20% of adults in 2020.
Rodolfo Gutierrez, the executive director of the group Hispanic Advocacy and Community Empowerment through Research (HACER), said the increased percentage of children of color brings with it new needs for the state.
“They are going to be in schools, they are going to be in daycares ... and they are going to need attention, because they are going to be the ones who are going to be replacing the regular workforce,” said Gutierrez. “So we need to prepare that population, the population of color who are behind in education, housing, work and income.”
In the lead-up to Census Day, organizations like HACER pitched the census as a way to ensure marginalized communities are accurately represented and have their voices heard in government. As the Minnesota Legislature prepares to redraw voting districts, Gutierrez is once again encouraging the Latino community, and others, to get involved in the process.
“I hope we are going to be able to create a map that gives us districts that are based on equality or equal representation for everyone,” said Gutierrez. “The communities, as diverse as they are, have to be properly represented in the Congress. And that is our effort.”
Gutierrez says though Minnesota is leading in the nation across many measures, like employment and wealth, it may fall down the ranks if little is done to address racial disparities in a diversifying state.
A Minnesota activist is among those waiting for a response from the U.S. Department of Justice to their demand for an investigation into racist police practices. Tiffany Bui reports.
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Why Toshira Garraway Went to D.C.
A Minnesota activist is among those waiting for a response from the U.S. Department of Justice to their demand for an investigation into racist police practices. Tiffany Bui reports.
Saturday was the 66th anniversary of Emmett Till’s death. Toshira Garraway flew from Minnesota to Washington D.C. to protest outside the Department of Justice building. She was joined by hundreds of other families who have been impacted by police violence.
They demanded the D.O.J investigate the kidnapping and killing of Till at the hands of white men, as well as reopen cases where a person died at the hands of police.
Garraway is the founder of Families Supporting Families Against Police Violence, and the fiancéeof Justin Teigen, whose body was found in a recycling bin in 2009 after he was stopped by St. Paul police.
She said the event was a way to demand attention from the agency that stands above all other law enforcement in the country.
“We're asking the D.O.J to open up these cases and investigate and hold these people accountable for the hurt, the pain, and the murders of Black and Indigenous and minority people in our communities,” she said. “No matter what state we're in, we're fighting in solidarity.
Garraway said there were over 200 people who spoke at the protest about losing a loved one due to a police encounter. This isn’t something that they often get to do on a big platform, Garraway said, as their voices are often silenced by officials and sometimes even by social justice activists.
“[This] was led by the people that are living without their loved ones,” she said. “And we got a chance to have the floor, we got a chance to talk about our loved ones without listening to anybody else’s political agenda.”
According to an analysis by the Star Tribune, 210 people have died after a confrontation with police since 2000.
Of the hundreds of demonstrators who protested in front of the governor’s mansion over the weekend, dozens now face charges. Tiffany Bui reports.
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Line 3 Protesters Face Charges
Of the hundreds of demonstrators who protested in front of the governor’s mansion over the weekend, dozens now face charges.
Tiffany Bui reports that 69 people were arrested Saturday, according to the Ramsey County jail roster.
Some protesters were booked on multiple charges, such as rioting, terroristic threats and damage to property. Jaike Spotted Wolf is a leader of Migizi Camp, an Indigenous-led collective that was one of the main organizers of the protests. Spotted Wolf said the police response and the charges were not proportionate to what was largely a nonviolent protest.
“What one procures in their mind of what constitutes a riot would be, smashing windows and property destruction and violence sometimes,” Spotted Wolf said. “ And that was not the case, during this particular action … most people were either just standing around behind caution tape, or sitting down on the ground with locked arms.”
Spotted Wolf said protesters booked into the Ramsey County Jail were slowly being released in groups, where other activists are providing food, water and other support.
The mass arrests followed several days of protests against the pipeline construction headed by Canadian company Enbridge Energy. All last week, demonstrators showed up at the state capitol for a series of Indigenous-led protests called Treaties over Tar Sands.
Activists say over 800 protesters have been arrested since the Line 3 permit was approved in November 2020. Jaike Spotted Wolf said pipeline opponents have good reason to be active.
“It's all to bring awareness to the devastation that Enbridge will bring to the state of Minnesota and Indigenous communities, and to bring awareness to treaty rights and Indigenous sovereignty, in terms of how treaties are exploited and looked over every time that a billion-dollar company comes in to try to implement resource extraction,” they said.
On Monday, the Minnesota Court of Appeals backed up the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s approval of a key Line 3 permit, limiting opponents’ legal options for stopping the pipeline. The pipeline is expected to be operational by the end of the year.
For the Racial Reckoning Project, I’m Tiffany Bui
Feven Gerezgiher reports:
An alleged hate crime in the town called Cold Spring, located 20 miles outside of St Cloud, has returned attention to longstanding racial divides in central Minnesota. A multiracial family says it was racial bias that motivated the man who harassed them for months before he drove a car into their house in July.
St Cloud State University’s Christopher Lehman said the incident reminded him of an event in 1917, when a lynch mob drove a black man out of St. Cloud for being in an interracial relationship.
“What happened in Cold Spring could certainly happen as a continuation of those feelings that have always been there among people and have just never been confronted or addressed by their families or by the city at large,” said Lehman.
Central Minnesota’s early ties to slavery are strong, but not common knowledge.
Lehman authored the book “Slavery’s Reach: Southern Slaveholders in the North Star State.” He says in the mid-1800s, central Minnesota was a destination for slaveholders looking to invest in real estate and escape summer heat.
“The slaveholders who are investing in Minnesota have political control over St. Cloud and over central Minnesota in general,” Lehman said of the time. “So much so that central Minnesota becomes known as a political stronghold for the slaveholding class.”
Lehman said that influence continued in the area as European immigrants adopted pro-South and pro-slavery politics long after southerners departed. This worked to discourage Black people from moving to St. Cloud for nearly half a century, until the 1960s when government institutions wanted to diversify the local workforce.
According toLehman, in recent years central Minnesota has begun to address its past, both by creating a park named after the state’s first slaves and by hosting community conversations.
The Black Entrepreneur State Fair is designed to support Black businesses. This year's opening drew over 2000 attendees with bouncy houses, 70 vendors, and live entertainment outside Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis. Feven Gerezgiher reports
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
While many celebrate the opening of the Minnesota State Fair this week, people like Isaac Kamsin are sticking to the all black atmosphere across the river at the Black Entrepreneur State Fair.
“I like the idea that this is black-owned,” said Kamsin. “I like to see the diversity of businesses here. You have food, you have apparel… And also just seeing the state coming out here, supporting it with some housing stuff. I think that’s really cool. Good concentration of talent and businesses.”
Co-organizer Keandrea Shelby said the fair started last year as a way to support Black businesses at a time when everything was closed. This year, she said the fair drew over 2000 attendees to its opening, with bouncy houses, 70 vendors, and live entertainment outside Midtown Global Market.
Racial justice advocates have criticized the Minnesota State Fair in recent years for having a disproportionate number of white vendors relative to the state’s population. General Manager Jerry Hammer said the Minnesota State Fair is working to streamline the vendor selection process. The Fair is also gathering data to create a baseline for future diversity work.
At the Black Entrepreneur State Fair, vendors like horticulturalists Shontay Evans appreciate that Black dollars are circulating within the community.
“I’ve been doing my business for two years and this is one of the biggest events I’ve ever done. I’m really happy to be a part of it because seeing all these Black people out here doing our thing is really happy and humbling,” she said.
The Black Entrepreneur State Fair is also launching a girls mentorship program and a back-to-school drive. Visitors can donate new backpacks for entry through the end of the fair this Saturday.
According to the Campaign for Youth Justice, youth in adult jails and prisons are at a higher risk of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse than their peers in the juvenile justice system.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
According to the Minnesota Department of Corrections, there are currently 137 people incarcerated who were juveniles certified as adults at sentencing. Given scientific research showing that youth are fundamentally different from adults, justice advocates in Minnesota say juvenile sentencing needs to change.
A grassroots group called Juvenile Sentencing Reform MN held an event in Minneapolis earlier this month where Myon Burrell spoke about his experience being sentenced to life at the age of 16.
“You see your family, your loved ones, your friends, everybody fall off. Everybody disappears. So that’s where that hopelessness comes in. That’s what that place breeds, is it breeds hopelessness,” said Burrell. “And you see many broken human beings in there, so many children that become broken, because they’re told this is where they’re going to die at.”
According to the Campaign for Youth Justice, youth in adult jails and prisons are at a higher risk of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse than their peers in the juvenile justice system.
In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled mandatory life without parole unconstitutional for juveniles. They cited research that youth use a different part of their brain for decision making and don’t fully understand the consequences of their actions. Since then, legal advocates nationwide have pushed for more rehabilitative approaches.
Avra Anagnostis founded Juvenile Sentencing Reform MN after years of seeing her childhood friend incarcerated. She wants to see all juveniles eligible for review for release after 15 years in prison.
“It’s heartbreaking to see a person that you love so much having everything stripped from them, having their humanity stripped from them really. And especially when they were a child,” she said.
Anagnostis encourages community members to read stories of people incarcerated as juveniles on Juvenile Sentencing Reform MN’s social media. The group hopes to pass legislation next session.
Safiya Mohamed reports:
On Friday the Minneapolis City Council approved the ballot language for the public safety charter amendment. The 9-4 vote overrode Mayor Jacob Frey’s second veto of the bill. Frey had argued that the ballot question lacked transparency.
Minister JaNae Bates is with Yes 4 Minneapolis - a coalition of activists, organizations, and Twin Cities residents - that has spearheaded the push to include the public safety question on the ballot. She says the council’s vote means the coalition’s vision for public safety is that much closer to becoming a reality.
“Yes 4 Minneapolis has been excitedly pushing to create a Department of Public Safety, and what this does is it will replace our current armed police response only model that we have in Minneapolis with a department that’s more expansive,” said Bates.
The proposed Department of Public Safety would include mental health specialists, violence interrupters and other crisis intervention experts. Bates says the charter is a first-step in implementing the changes that community members have been asking for.
“This is an opportunity for folks to come together and declare that they actually are ready to really be safe,” she said, “and that we can do that with police officers, we can do that with mental health specialists, we can do that with all the qualified professionals we need.”
Bates says the next step is to rally voters. Minneapolis residents can vote on the ballot starting September 17th. She says, given everything that’s happened since George Floyds’ murder, she believes the city of Minneapolis is ready to come together and heal.
The pipeline, which is 90% complete, crosses treaty-protected land in Minnesota. Activists say it threatens valuable natural resources.
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Safiya Mohamed reports:
On Monday demonstrators gathered outside Governor Tim Walz’s residence to protest the Line 3 pipeline. Mike McDonald, president of the local chapter of Veterans for Peace, says people must do whatever it takes to stop the line from being completed.
“I supported governor Walz, but I can't next time unless he changes his mind on this because there's nothing bigger than this issue. So I hope he gets the message,” said McDonald. “And hopefully he's getting lots of pressure from Peggy Flanagan, our lieutenant governor, and I hope at some point the courts or the governor or the president say enough and stop it.”
Line 3 is a pipeline expansion that was proposed by Enbridge, a Canadian pipeline company. The pipeline is now 90% complete. The route of the pipeline crosses treaty-protected land in Minnesota on its way from Alberta, Canada to Superior, Wisconsin. Mary Vrabel, an attendee at the protests, says the pipeline threatens valuable natural resources:
“We have some really extraordinary resources in Minnesota, the water, the lakes, wild rice, and all of that is endangered as a result of this,” said Mary Vrabel, who was one of approximately 20 people who showed up for the protest. Vrabel says that the indigenous community has been fighting this pipeline for seven years, and everyone else is just now catching on.
“We have to be a part of this too, to really get enough of a critical mass of people to help stop this pipeline,” she said.
Protesters have been gathering at the Governor's mansion every Monday this month. On Tuesday, activists will take their protest to the state capital.
Feven Gerezgiher reports:
This Saturday, the loved ones of Justin Teigan, Courtney Williams, Daunte Wright and others lost to police violence marched across Saint Paul with a message: we have not forgotten.
Toshira Garraway lost her fiancé Justin Teigan in 2009 after an encounter with Saint Paul police. Recycling facility workers found Teigan’s body in a dumpster the next morning.
Thursday marked the 12th anniversary of Teigan’s death. In his honor this year, Garraway said she wanted to march for all lost lives. In part, to share her grief around the annual reminder.
“We cannot let this momentum die down because they are banking on it,” said Garraway to the gathered crowd. “The momentum has to be just as strong as when they kill somebody months down the line, years down the line.”
Garraway started Families Supporting Families Against Police Violence to support others in her position. Now, she says she wants to prevent others from joining their ranks.
“Demetrius Hill, Marcus Golden, Cordale Handy, Hardel Sherrell, Paul Castaway, Fong Lee, Kobe Haisler, Philando Castile, Jamar Clark…[they] cannot afford for us to be quiet,” said Garraway. “The momentum has to keep going. They’ve done enough damage.”
The families marched Saturday with over 100 people and a 30+ car caravan from the Saint Paul Police Department in Midway to the state capitol. Garraway says later this month, they are taking their protest to the U.S. capitol.
Tiffany Bui
After years of trying to raise attention for missing and murdered Indigenous women, advocates have scored a key win.
This past legislative session, Minnesota lawmakers allocated $500,000 for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Office, which will focus not just on women and girls, but men, boys and the Two Spirit community.
The move comes after the state’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women task force released its report in December 2020, which named the creation of the office as the top priority. For Senator Mary Kunesh, it was important to ensure their findings wouldn’t “sit on a shelf and gather dust.”
“If there is legislation that needs to be done in order to address any of these issues … we can do it easier and quicker through the task force or through the permanent office,” Kunesh said. “And so it's all about accountability, and the ability to do the work that needs to be done.”
Simply understanding the true scope of the problem is among the office’s bevy of priorities.
Data collection on missing Indigenous people is often scattered or incomplete, and may incorrectly identify a Native person’s race, according to the task force report. Government efforts to comprehensively track missing and murdered Indigenous people have historically been sparse. Instead, researchers must piece together information about missing persons from a variety of state and national databases.
To address this issue, Kunesh said the new office will create a data dashboard that draws from multiple sources. With a more complete overview, the office could track what impact new programs and systemic changes have on missing persons statistics, she said.
The office will also investigate cold cases and explore ways to prevent disappearances and murders in the Indigenous community. According to the report, Indigenous women and girls make up about 1% of Minnesota’s population but represented 8% of women and girls who were murdered between 2010 and 2018.
The report identifies colonization, historical trauma, racism and the sexual objectification of Indiegnous women and girls as the root cause of the issue. This leads to factors that put Inidenous women and girls at higher risk, such as poverty, a lack of affordable housing, prostituiton and trafficking.
When Indigenous people go missing, their families face numerous systemic barriers to getting attention on the case, such as miscommunication between various government authorities and inadequate police response.
“There's hardly a Native folk that doesn't have a story to tell of a loved one or a friend that went missing or was murdered and there just was not closure or healing for the individuals, for the families and for the community,” Kunesh said.
She said Black community members face a similar injustice in Minnesota. A Centers for Disease Control study reported that the homicide rate was about four per 100,000 for both Black and American Indian women. The overall rate for all women was two per 100,000.
In response, Rep. Ruth Richardson and Kunesh secured $150,000 for a second task force, one focused on Missing and Murdered African American Women.
“The MMIW Task Force had the outcome that I was hoping for, in a rippling effect for other studies and other task forces that we can create in order to address more of these violences against our whole community,” Kunesh said.
Feven Gerezgiher reports:
Next spring, officials will close a juvenile detention center in Minnetonka for good. Assistant County Administrator Mark Thompson says the Hennepin County Home School is no longer the most effective program for helping children.
“The best interest of the child is to rehabilitate them and get them back with their family, get them back into a functional life, educational systems, social systems, etc.” said Thompson.
Thompson says children of color make up a disproportionately large percentage of detention center residents.
Ramsey County already closed a similar program, successfully transitioning rehabilitation to community-based options.
“A busy kid isn't looking for trouble, typically,” said Thompson. He says youth would be better served by more holistic services and with proactive funding of regular programming.
The Legal Rights Center is engaging community members about how to best redirect funds from the Home School’s closure for long-term success. With millions of dollars at stake, Director of Community Strategy Malaika Eban wants to ensure that youth and their families are supported in community-driven programs, and not shipped out to treatment centers in other states.
“We know that there are lots of community members who are doing this work on the ground,” said Eban, “without the resources from the county because of either the bureaucracy and the long drawn out contracting process, or they've always been underground, and they haven't gotten the recognition that they deserve.”
Eban encourages people to attend Hennepin County’s youth justice council meeting on September 8 to learn more about the process and voice opinions.
Tiffany Bui reports:
For Ace Goff, applying to college was scary. While many of her peers had at least one parent helping them, Goff was on her own as a teenager in foster care.
“I was going to school and then I was working as much as I was going to school. So every day it would be right after classes I'm going straight to work,” Goff said. “I'm not even going home, I'm going straight to work because, you know, my bills need to be paid.”
Goff wanted to make sure other kids like her wouldn’t have to feel that way - which is why she advocated for free college tuition for youth in foster care. The Fostering Higher Education Act passed the Minnesota Legislature with bipartisan approval during the latest session.
Those who have been in the foster care system since they were at least 13 or older are eligible, and they must be under 27 years old. Students attending either private or public universities can receive assistance.
“I feel like when this bill passed, it helped a lot of youth understand, like, hey, we've been through it, we understand it, we're here to help you. We're here to make positive things for you,” Goff said.
Supporters say it’s a bill by and for those who have been in the foster care system. Goff helped brainstorm the beginnings of the bill as a fellow for the nonprofit Foster Advocates.
“We are meeting the potential of fosters to have full and robust and wonderful lives with
a program that will also match the potential of their dreams,” said Hoang Murphy, executive director of Foster Advocates.
Murphy says there is very little government support for foster youth in higher education. He cites research that found just 2% of students who had been in foster care graduate college on time – compared to 60% of their peers.
“We know that going to college isn't going to solve all the challenges that people face in life … But the big difference is that when we think about how you make it in the world, it's through social connections, it's through your place in society. And it's largely through your family structures,” Murphy said. “Foster's have had that connection and that thread cut. And so they need to find it in work and in school.”
Indigenous and Black children are disproportionately caught up in the child welfare system. Murphy is hopeful that the tuition assistance will help alleviate similar racial disparities in higher education enrollment.
“If there's a disproportionate impact that the foster care system has, then there will be a disproportionate benefit that this program then will alleviate,” Murphy said. “It’s my deepest hope that young people take advantage of this program.”
Goff is 21-years-old and striving for her dream at St. Cloud State University – where she will also be supported by the new law.
She says she wants to create transitional housing for foster youth, where they can have the role models she didn’t always have growing up.
“I went through some crazy stuff, okay. But I'm not the first person, I'm not the last. But if I can use my story to help somebody else in a productive way, whether it's ... them being like, ‘Oh, I can relate’ or to making a bigger change like this: ‘Hey, y'all about to go to school for free.’ I'm going to do that.”
Tiffany Bui reports:
The City of Minneapolis must reword a note it plans to include on this fall’s election ballot, after a Hennepin County judge found the language “problematic.”
The re-worded explanatory note will accompany a question on the November ballot about the future of the Minneapolis Police Department.
The proposal, authored by the organization “Yes 4 Minneapolis” would remove the requirement that the city keep a police department. It would replace the police department with a Department of Public Safety. City officials say they added the note to provide more information about the proposal’s impact. But Yes 4 Minneapolis said the note was misleading, and sued the city.
Supporters of the Yes 4 Minneapolis proposal say it allows Minneapolis to move beyond a “police-only” response to public safety, but police would still be part of the department.
While some say the proposal is too extreme, others say it doesn’t go far enough.
Adnan Ahmed, an activist living in the Twin Cities, co-authored an article on the website Left Voice where the authors describe the Yes 4 Minneapolis proposal as a “nonthreatening, palatable option.”
Ahmed is especially critical of its philanthropic funding - which he sees as an act of the wealthy “co-opting” social movements. Yes 4 Minneapolis has previously reported a $500,000 donation from the Open Society Policy Center.
“How is money coming from foundations going to abolish or even reform police when capitalism thrives on maintaining a system of economic disparity? So what is a reformed system of economic disparity going to look like?” Ahmed said.
He worries that people will mistake the passage of the proposal for radical change.
“At the end of the day, we have to kind of see … who is co-opting our language, who is co-opting our movement and what is this really doing?” Ahmed said. “If we're just kind of rearranging furniture in a burning house, then is that really progress?
Chioma Uwagwu reports:
American women die in childbirth at a higher rate than in any other developed nation, according to the American Diabetes Association. Within the United States, non-Hispanic Black women are three times more likely to die from complications in childbirth than white women.
In light of these painful disparities, many women of color are getting involved in birth work.
“A lot of us as birthing parents are looking for solutions to just save our lives,” said maternal health advocate Brittany Wright. “How do we survive the experience of giving birth and live to tell about it? How do we have not just an experience that we can survive from, [but] that we feel empowered and supported in?”
Wright advocates for public policies that impact mothers, particularly black mothers. She was compelled to enter birth work after her own experience in 2018.
“I knew something was wrong,” Wright recalled, “and they kept telling me ‘oh it's just painful contractions, you’re a first time mom, you're just not used to it.’ And in the 20th hour of labor they finally started to believe me.”
The doctor credited for much of modern gynecology - James Marlon Sims - experimented on enslaved women without anesthesia. Wright says given the racist roots of gynecology, it’s not an accident that present-day systems under-serve communities of color.
“So when we look at all of the ways in which black bodies have been exploited - what does it look like to do the exact opposite of that? To uplift black bodies and to center them and to provide them with the care that we have historically been denied?” asked Wright.
Wright is in the process of opening a holistic birthing center that integrates ancient cultural practices into the birthing experience.
Recent national data shows Black businesses were more likely than businesses overall to close during the pandemic. Organizers of multiple
local pop-up marketplaces are finding one way to support Black-owned businesses moving forward.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
Recent national data shows Black businesses were more likely than businesses overall to close during the pandemic. According to the New York Federal Reserve Bank, Black businesses were already at a disadvantage due to their lack of access to capital or federal relief funds.
Organizers of multiple local pop-up marketplaces are finding one way to support Black-owned businesses moving forward.
Seanie Sheppheard runs a directory of black-owned businesses called the MN Black List, and co-leads a monthly marketplace called The Black Market in Minneapolis. Sheppheard says after George Floyd’s death last year, there was a wave of support to “Buy Black.” But many people didn’t know where to look to find Black-owned businesses.
“Our mission at the Black Market is to increase the visibility of black owned businesses, so that people know about them, that they have a platform to learn and to meet the different business owners and different service providers,” says Sheppheard.
She says the marketplace also serves as a supportive space for over 70 vendors.
“We curate our events and our markets in a way where you can feel our culture. You also have good food cooking, you're going to hear the music, you know, you're going to feel the vibe of black community while you're there.”
Laura Preston - who is white - co-organizes the Black Business is Beautiful market in Saint Paul. She says creating the marketplace was a way to support BIPOC business, but also a way to bridge communities.
“Our biggest goal for this market is to use our network and our platform and our privilege to bring in white shoppers to spend their dollars and have an amazing experience with Black entrepreneurs and business owners,” said Preston. “So that they can literally look their bias in the eye, have a great experience, and walk away feeling like ‘okay, they're people. We're all just people’.”
The next Black Business is Beautiful market is this Saturday from 11 to 4.
The program - called “We Win When Black Students Graduate” - is led entirely by Black staff. It takes an interdisciplinary, project-based approach, combining core subjects with afrocentric classes like storytelling and African drumming. Students and teachers say they came away inspired.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
A pilot summer program for Black students in Minneapolis Public Schools concludes its four week run this Friday. The program called “We Win When Black Students Graduate” is led entirely by Black staff. It takes an interdisciplinary, project-based approach, combining core subjects with afrocentric classes like storytelling, African drumming, and herbalism.
“I would love to see more black teachers at our schools,” said Rising senior Kanye Bell. He says he appreciated the teaching style and personal connections.
“Most of my teachers are white. It’s history they're teaching us but it's not the history we want to learn about. We want to learn about black history,” he said. “Not for like one month like February; I'm talking about actually like learning throughout the whole school year.”
Bell says he felt welcome and supported in the program; he says he now wants to make the honor roll this year.
“All the teachers are pushing me to get the credits and graduate on time. It just made me open my eyes,” he said. “LIke, the work’s not hard, especially when you've got a team actually motivated to help you. And they're here for you.”
The summer school was a collaborative effort between the school district’s Office of Black Student Achievement, the WE WIN Institute, and the Racial Justice Network.
Malcolm Lee teaches math at North Community High during the school year. He says the four weeks have been both inspirational and emotional.
“I know for me that some of our students have actually opened up about their personal experience, what's going on outside of school, which actually builds up the relationship,” said Lee. “There's something very powerful and poignant and just paramount about that with the students’ experience here.”
The Office of Black Student Achievement says community partnerships are key to Black students’ success.
The federal Department of Justice is investigating the Minneapolis Police Department; the DOJ has limited capacity for seeking community
engagement and has reached out to organizations like Communities United Against Police Brutality for help. CUAPB is organizing more than 20 sharing sessions across Minneapolis.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the Minneapolis Police Department and activists are determined to make sure community voices are heard. Monday evening, organizers with Communities United Against Police Brutality gathered residents in the Seward neighborhood to talk about police encounters.
“I cannot stress enough how important it is for the community to be a part of this process, to talk about their experiences, so that we can have a better outcome,” said Darlene Scott, with CUAPB. “You know, we protest and we have a right to protest, but I'm hoping that if we have a better connection and engagement with policing, there won't be people being killed by police, harmed by police in the future. That we’ll have a safer community all the way around.”
CUAPB is organizing more than 20 sharing sessions across Minneapolis. Scott says the DOJ has limited capacity for community engagement and reached out to organizations like hers for help.
In April, the justice department announced the investigation into MPD’s patterns and practices to assess its use of force and whether it engages in discriminatory policing. If it finds violations, the DOJ can use consent decrees to enforce changes.
The justice department does not comment on ongoing investigations. On their website, it notes that hearing directly from both police officers and community members is a critical part of the investigation.
In remarks delivered last week, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Kristen Clarke said “Justice Department lawyers have had in-person and virtual meetings with close to one thousand community stakeholders in Minneapolis and Louisville [where police are also being investigated in the wake of Breonna Taylor’s death]. Hundreds more have submitted messages to the Justice Department.”
As part of their sharing sessions, Communities United is also facilitating discussions between residents about what policing should look like.
“I would like to see police officers live in the community where they work, said Carol Lewis, who has lived in the Twin Cities for close to 30 years. “If you live in the suburbs, and you just work here, you're not invested. We only get half of you. We don't get all of you.”
Lewis says she moved from Chicago to raise her son away from violence. “We don’t want to be afraid of police; we want them to serve and protect,” she added.
Darlene Scott said the community engagement was inspired by similar organizing in Cincinnati, where a DOJ investigation led to lasting police reforms.
Communities United will be hosting more sharing sessions across Minneapolis. Community members can also attend virtual events or submit experiences online.
Submit experience through Communities United Against Police Brutality
In-person at events listed here
Online form
Submit experience to Department of Justice
Email: community.minneapolis@usdoj.gov
Phone: 866-432-0268
Civil Rights Division’s reporting portal: civilrights.justice.gov
Idd was a 23-year-old Somali man and the first person killed by Minneapolis police since George Floyd. His death late last year sparked a fresh wave of protests from an already grieving community. The Dakota County Attorney has concluded that the officers’ actions were “legally
justified.”
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Tiffany Bui reports:
The Dakota County Attorney will not press charges against the Minneapolis police officers who shot and killed Dolal Idd at a gas station in December.
Idd was a 23-year-old Somali man and the first person killed by Minneapolis police since George Floyd. His death sparked a fresh wave of protests from an already grieving community.
Idd was under investigation for illegally selling firearms. Through a confidential informant, police set up a sting operation and arranged to buy a gun from Idd at a Holiday Gas Station. The county attorney Kathy Keena wrote in a memo released Thursday that Idd shot out of the driver’s side window and three officers returned fire. Keena concluded that the officers’ actions were “legally justified.”
Activists pushed back against Keena’s decision outside of Governor Tim Walz’s mansion last week. They called on Walz to assign the case to Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office – as the governor did in the prosecution against Derek Chauvin.
Jaylani Hussein, who is the executive director of the Council on American- Islamic Relations in Minnesota, demanded that Idd’s family be given access to all available video footage of his death.
“What the public needs to know is that the family reached out to the interim county prosecutor asking for information in the nearly 100 days that passed in the killing of Dolal Idd, and we came up with nothing,” said Hussein.
Dolal Idd’s father Bayle Gelle questioned why police didn’t try to apprehend him in a different way, or why police initially said it was a traffic stop.
“The decision they [made] today – it is injustice. We don't believe what they were saying,” said Gelle.
Immediately after the sting operation, police raided the home of Idd’s parents in Eden Prairie. It was only after the officers finished their search that they informed Gelle his son had been killed.
On Thursday, the non-profit publishing house Cow-Tipping Press hosted its first-ever “Cowchella,” a literary and music festival celebrating the work of more than 20 neurodiverse writers. The event was organized to heighten awareness of neurodivergent people by amplifying their stories and experiences.
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Safiya Mohamed reports:
On Thursday, the non-profit Cow-Tipping Press hosted its first-ever “Cowchella,” a literary and music festival celebrating the work of more than 20 neurodiverse writers.
Ardell Hudson is an author with Cow Tipping Press. Hudson believes that events like this heighten awareness of neurodivergent people and give them the opportunity to be recognized for their work.
“It allows the chance for individuals to express themselves in ways that otherwise wouldn’t be recognized because the focus is mainly on the physical aspect of disability,” explained Hudson.
Rachel Lieberman, Cow Tipping Press’ program director, believes it’s important to amplify the voices of people with neurological differences.
“So often we are reading things about people with disabilities often in a lens of medicine - kind of a pitying context, -and it’s just really important that we hear from folks directly.”
According to Liberman, events like “Cowchella” give artists of different marginalized backgrounds a chance to merge together.
“It’s really cool for me to see friends who are artists who are really interested in BIPOC art and queer art engage with artists with developmental disabilities and vice versa,” said Liberman.
Several ethnic groups were represented at Thursday’s event. However, the neurodivergent community is not immune to racial inequity, according to mutual aid organizer Sol Battle.
“All of the social establishments are mostly white, and having to answer white people, having to build off of white people’s clout to be able to get a project to go through, like, those are days of the past and they need to stay in the past,” said Battle.
Program Manager Lieberman hopes that more literary spaces will welcome people with developmental disabilities.
The proposal adds three ethnic studies standards to ensure college readiness and the inclusion of multiple perspectives. Those standards include greater emphasis on Indigenous history and societal inequities. According to the proposal, the intention is to better reflect the diversity of Minnesota’s student population.
Feven Gerezgiher reports:
The Minnesota committee on K-12 Academic Standards in Social Studies is wrapping up its 10 year cycle of review and revisions. New on the agenda is ethnic studies. The draft released last week says the intention is to reflect the diversity of Minnesota’s student population.
“Every student deserves to see themselves in their learning,” said Bobby Burnham, assistant commissioner for the Minnesota Department of Education. Burnham said the committee added three ethnic studies standards to ensure college readiness and the inclusion of multiple perspectives. Those standards include greater emphasis on Indigenous history and societal inequities.
“A really important point is the academic standards are reviewed by Minnesotans for Minnesotans,” said Burnham. “We know that our students’ education is at its strongest when Minnesotans are engaged in the planning process. So that's why each time our academic standards are up for review, a committee is formed of Minnesotans with varying perspectives and backgrounds from all across the state.”
Critics of the ethnic studies standards led a tour across the state called Raise Our Standards. On their website, they cite opposition to critical race theory - which the commissioner says is not taught in K-12 education.
In cities like Minneapolis and Saint Paul - where students of color are in the majority - ethnic studies initiatives are already being explored. At a January board meeting launching the pilot courses, Saint Paul superintendent Joe Gothard cited achievement disparities as a motivating factor.
“We all continue to work and lead in a system of education that was not created for all students,” he said. “Our staff have been asking for strategies and supports that stick. Our district is committed to doing just that.”
Education officials are welcoming feedback on the draft standards until August 16. Burnham says community members can submit comments via email or postal mail to Minnesota Department of Education, 1500 Highway 36 West, Roseville, MN 55113.
The Upper Midwest Law Center has announced plans to file three lawsuits against Minnesota government agencies for their use of “critical race theory.” One plaintiff described it as a “racially divisive and demeaning ideology.” At the center of this conflict is a concept many simply don’t understand.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
The Upper Midwest Law Center has announced plans to file three lawsuits against Minnesota government agencies for their use of “critical race theory.” One plaintiff described it as a “racially divisive and demeaning ideology.” And lawmakers in over 20 states are pushing for bans on critical race theory being taught in the K-12 curriculum.
At the center of this conflict is a concept many simply don’t understand.
“I think that it's important for people to understand that all study of race, all critical examination of race, is not critical race theory,”saidDr. T Anansi Wilson, a legal and race scholar at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law. Wilson said critical race theory is a highly specialized area of legal studies. According to Wilson, it says in short that in the application and enforcement of law, who you are matters. He points to the Fourth Amendment.
“This idea of the right to privacy, the right to be against search and seizure, and to be secure in your persons and in your home - we understand that that's a foundational, constitutional right,” said Wilson. “Police need a warrant. They can't just stop you and seize you and throw you in the back of a car. But we also understand that stop and frisk is a real thing in America, racial profiling is a real thing in America.”
Critical race theory got its start in the 1970s; it re-gained traction last year in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder.
Dr. Wilson says pushback today comes from a misunderstanding.
“People think that uncovering... and sitting with the truth of America's racial dynamics - and racial and class and sexuality history - means that because you have maybe benefited from this through no fault of your own that you're a bad person,” said Wilson. “No one's saying that. It's saying that you have to release the guilt and get about the business of solutions.”
Wilson says it’s important to think critically about how old racist ideas continue to affect and infect our current way of life.
The City of Minneapolis has settled a lawsuit with the group Communities United Against Police Brutality. CUAPB claimed that the city violated state law by failing to provide public information on police actions in a timely fashion. In one case, the city did not provide documentation of complaints against officers for two years.
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Tiffany Bui reports:
The City of Minneapolis has settled a lawsuit with the group Communities United Against Police Brutality for $22,500. CUAPB claimed that the city violated state law by failing to provide public information on police actions in a timely fashion. In one case, the city did not provide documentation of complaints against officers for two years.
CUAPB’s attorney Paul Bosman said the organization regularly requests records following a police shooting to learn what really happened, rather than rely on the police narrative.
“Every time the police shot somebody, we would the next day, put in a request that said, ‘Okay, so tell me who the officer is, tell me what weapons were used. Tell me why this happened. And tell me what happened,’” explained Bosman. “And the police would release a statement that, you know, the officers didn't have any choice. They would never tell you who the officers were. But they'd always tell you who the victim was, show a picture of him in an orange jumpsuit… or something that made him look like the bad guy.”
Bosman said it was important for CUAPB to receive public records as soon as possible, before the news media moved on from the police shooting and for the families of victims. In instances where organizers received no city response, they would bring a lawsuit to force Minneapolis to comply.
One of the records the organization obtained through the lawsuit revealed that a Minneapolis police officer body checked a student while working as a school resource officer in 2010. He later lied about injuring her, claiming it was an accident. His account was disputed by video footage and a hall monitor.
“The officer lied about it. If it hadn't been for the hall monitor, hadn't been for the video, would he have gotten away with it? Likely,” said Bosman. “And because of the staff member and the video camera, that officer often no longer works for the MPD. But it's hard to make people believe those kinds of things go on if they don't ever get to hear them.”
When asked for comment about the settlement, the city attorney said in a statement that Minneapolis makes data available online when possible. The city attorney further said the city tries to process data requests as quickly as possible.
During the trial of Derek Chauvin, the world tuned in to watch what was unfolding in a Hennepin County courthouse. The presiding judge in Chauvin’s case was selected by the newly elected Chief Judge of Hennepin County Toddrick Barnette, a Black man - who made history as the first person of color to fill that position. He has worked both as a Hennepin County prosecutor and as a public defender. Tiffany Bui spoke with him about his first year as chief judge.
In a year of difficult decisions, Judge Barnette said his most difficult was to remain quiet after the death of George Floyd. “During social unrest, there were many folks who wanted a statement made,” he said. “I think it was important for us to remain neutral.
You see a community burning, and you see frustration, and you see anger. And that anger is at the justice system. The anger is not just with the police. … It was hard not to be able to address that.”
Barnette said in order to build trust with the community, the workforce needs to be more diverse across the Hennepin County court system. He called employees the biggest ambassadors.
“Me going out to the community only goes so far,” he said. “People are not just going to believe me because I'm a judge, but they will believe someone who works in our system who's a neighbor, or friend, or relative.”
After George Floyd was murdered, some protesters expressed doubt that Chauvin would even be found guilty. When asked how to bridge mistrust between the public and the legal system, Barnette said the court needs to better educate the media and the public about the legal process.
TB: How have you worked to bridge the gap between the public and the justice system? What do you think has been accomplished and what do you think still needs work?
“We have a group called the Hennepin County Disparity Reduction Justice Strategy Work Group. I know that's a long name. But we're able to discuss and address system-wide disparities. And because you have folks there that are decision makers, we’re able to either take that back to our office to deal with, or meet and try to strategize about how we are going to solve a particular issue that impacts disparities.
We have five divisions in our court system. So we have the Criminal Division, which is our largest division; we have civil; we have family; we have juvenile, and we have probate mental health.
We have what we call a judicial retreat twice a year. And that's with judicial officers, meaning judges and referees, and also our top leaders in court administration. What we've done, since I've been Chief, our first retreat, what we did was we broke out into those five divisions. And we talked about where in your division, where do you see disparities, or are there areas in which you would like to work on disparities? And then our second retreat, what we did was, we came back to report out, hey, here's your list of areas that you thought [about], what areas did you touch on and what did you do to address those disparities? So there's a large effort going on right now across the courts, in which each division is looking at that it's not just the judges, but you have, you'll have a supervisor for that division from court administration that can help implement things, change procedures, things like that.
Looking specifically in [each] division is really helpful, because... we have disparities throughout our court system that we need to address.”
TB: The murder of George Floyd has led to more discussions about the need for not just police reform, but criminal justice reform as a whole. And you may have seen some mistrust among committee members about whether courts can actually deliver justice. For example, when an officer gets a sentence that the public doesn't think is as harsh as it should be. I'm wondering what you make of this as chief judge and kind of what you think can be done to address this mistrust.
JB: You know, I think there's two big areas for us in addressing mistrust. And it definitely became apparent when the Derek Chauvin trial was coming up. The media plays an important role in the information that people receive. And it's so important that we make sure that the media understands the process, the legal process, and what's happening in the courtroom, so that they are reporting it accurately. And I probably wouldn't have said that before I was chief. It's not about something that the court’s doing that’s wrong that I don't want him to report, I just want them to report it accurately, you know, report and understand the process to report accurately. And I think that we have been more open about answering questions, and making sure they understand the process.
The second thing that I think is super important for us, and as the court system, I don't think that we've done a good job at educating the public, in just getting out and just being able to say this, this is the process. This is why this happens this way. And so I think that's very important for us is to at least educate folks, you can disagree with the end result, but at least understand maybe why a judge can only give a certain sentence or why someone might get bail, and someone might not get bail.
TB: I'm wondering if you can just kind of tell me how you think the social justice movements – the responses to various police shootings, the sort of energy that has generated discussion – how has that affected your work generally?
JB: I think that there's been a lot of folks who worked on disparity issues in the court system way before me. And they have pushed and pushed and pushed. The momentum at this moment is so great that the voices for change are not just from people of color. It's also from people where maybe some white folks have been in the minority of speaking up to help in this change, but now, the group as a whole is so much more diverse in asking for changes to be made to improve our criminal justice system.
It's just not talk, talk, talk, talk, talk anymore. It's actually hey, discussion, action. And so that's been so impressive to see, and so impressive to see from elected officials. People have been appointed, who have just been great at saying how can I help this issue? Or this problem be resolved? There might have been some negatives outside of our building, but there have been a lot of positives inside of the building. A lot.
TB: Can you share some difficult decisions you've had to make as chief judge, and how you came to your decision in a year of many difficult decisions?
JB: This might be a surprise. The toughest decision, or decisions, I've made is to remain quiet or silent after the death of George Floyd, and to remain silent during social unrest. And I think those are two of the toughest ones, when you see so many folks speaking out in support, and speaking out about things they would like to see happen. And I think it was important for me in order to have a fair trial, that nothing I say or do would be a distraction, and nothing from our court system as far as a statement, that there not be a distraction. And there were many folks who wanted a statement made. And I think it was important for us to remain neutral. That's our job.
TB: Can you talk about why that was a difficult decision for you?
JB: Because you see so much pain from folks in and you see a community burning, and you see frustration, and you see anger. And that anger is at the justice system. The anger is not just with the police. I mean people don't enter our courthouse and say I only just trust the police. I'm only angry at the police. No, they're angry at all of us. And it was hard not to be able to address that. And difficult not being able to talk about some of the things that I think were important.
But it was very important that the trials that we’re having – and ethically there's certain things judges can't say but it’s just important that that process be on that's fair.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
The discovery of the bodies of hundreds of children in unmarked graves at Canadian boarding schools for Indigenous children has many people looking for more information about similar sites in the United States.
Chioma Uwagwu reports:
In May the bodies of 215 children were discovered at a former indigenous boarding school site in Canada. Soon after hundreds more were found at a second school. The news has many people looking for more information about similar sites in the United States.
Dr. Denise Lajimodiere is a citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe located in North Dakota and a retired professor. She was in Canada a few years ago when an Indigenous judge asked her how many boarding schools were in the U.S.; she was shocked to realize she couldn’t answer the question.
“And since then I have found out that nobody has ever asked the government or the Bureau of Indian Affairs or all of the Christian churches how many boarding schools they ran,” she said.
Lajimodiere is now the author of the most comprehensive list of American Indian Boarding Schools in the US - so far she’s identified 407 of them. She says the boarding school era has been America’s best kept secret and is only now gaining national attention.
Both of Lajimodiere’s parents were sent to boarding schools.
“They put lice soap in the kids’ mouths. They put pins through their tongues for not speaking English,” she said, recalling stories from her father. ‘In other places they put rubber bands around their tongues. I mean the kids were literally tortured.”
Lajimodiere says native people must be consulted before any action is taken on sites in the U.S. - and detailed information must be gathered along the way.
“We need to support the survivors, we need to locate the remains, and we need to bring them home,” she said. “We need to find healing places, whatever that looks like for each community.There's just still so much grief across the country and the big question is, how do we handle that grief, how do we heal from that grief and from that trauma.
Dr. Lajimodere’s book “Stringing Rosaries”, a study in boarding school history and cultural genocide is being republished for the third time. It includes an updated list of boarding schools and discusses the power of healing for survivors.
St. Paul’s Suni Lee made a lot of people proud Thursday. The 18-year-old daughter of Hmong immigrants is now a champion and a role model for the ages. Tiffany Bui reports.
St. Paul’s Suni Lee made a lot of people proud Thursday. The 18-year-old daughter of Hmong immigrants is now a champion and a role model for the ages. Tiffany Bui reports.
Sunisa Lee of St. Paul, the first Hmong Olympian, is bringing home the gold in the gymnastics all-around competition. A packed room of friends, family and hundreds of fans in Oakdale erupted in cheers at her victory on Thursday.
Mor Chia Nguyen’s 7-year-old daughter Emma, is also in gymnastics. Nguyen said Sunisa Lee is paving the way for other Asian girls.
“Representation matters so much, especially in a sport like gymnastics where it is predominantly white Americans,” Nguyen said. “For her generation that's growing up, she's seeing more and more people like her achieve higher and higher goals.”
Many Hmong families settled in Minnesota as refugees after the Vietnam War. The CIA recruited Hmong soldiers to fight in the Secret War in Laos, but the U.S. abandoned the population after withdrawing from Vietnam.
Nguyen said there were many classes she wanted to take as a child, but her family couldn’t afford to pay for them. She wanted to make sure her daughter would have the chance to dream bigger - and commends Sunisa Lee’s family for doing the same.
“ I really admire her parents for working so hard to get to her dream,” Nguyen said. She read an article that said it was their dream too..” So I thought that was really beautiful.”
Lee’s win is already inspiring the next generation of Hmong gymnasts. Nine-year-old Ari Lee, no relation to Sunisa, trains at the same gym as the now-Olympian.
“I think her win really helped me and other athletes to believe that they can do it,” Ari said. “My goal is to make it to the elite level and go to the Olympics.”
Sunisa Lee could win even more at her bars final on Sunday. Thanks to Kare 11’s Gia Vang for recording the cheers in Oakdale. For the Racial Reckoning Project, I’m Tiffany Bui.
The legislature appropriated money for planning; now the community wants to make sure its many voices are heard. Fevin Gerezgiher reports.
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This session, the legislature approved $6.2 million for preliminary planning for a land bridge over I-94 in the Rondo neighborhood. As Feven Gerezgiher reports, community members want to make sure they’re consulted.
The land bridge wouldt reconnect the historic Black neighborhood of Rondo, which was torn apart by the highway’s construction in the 1960s. Marivn Anderson co-founded and chairs ReConnect Rondo, the nonprofit leading the land bridge initiative. He said the idea formed when county officials asked for community input on long-needed improvements.
“You take any major American city in the United States and you will likely find a historically black neighborhood that has been demolished, or cut into, or divided, cut off from the rest of the city by a highway,” Anderson said. “Those transportation dollars belong to us. We never got the 40 acres and a mule.”
Anderson said the land bridge would create up to 27 acres of housing, business, and recreational opportunities for the Black community. The funds will go towards conducting impact analyses and community engagement.
For some community members, however, the legacy of large-scale public works projects in the area - like I-94 itself - creates doubt around a land bridge. Joyce Dondson Williams expressed her concern at a community meeting earlier this week.
“I remember Rondo, I remember the freeway being torn,” she said. “ I also remember how the neighborhood was not notified and told the truth about the light rail.”
The meeting was organized by a group called Preserve Rondo.
Third-generation Rondo homeowner Susanne Lovejoy is concerned about gentrification and displacement as a result of the project.
“Where are the convincing factors, not idealistic dreams of black utopia, but concrete studies, findings that this will be good for descendants of Rondo or black people in general,” she asked.
Both ReConnect Rondo and Preserve Rondo are seeking more community input online and at upcoming meetings.
For the Racial Reckoning project, I’m Feven Gerezgiher.
The Minneapolis City Council adopted a resolution recognizing the Confederate flag as a symbol of hate and white supremacy. The resolution cites that opponents to the Black Lives Matter movement have used the flag to intimidate protestors and perpetuate violence against them. Racial justice advocates say it's a step in the right direction, but more concrete action is needed.
Feven Gerezgiher reports:
Friday, the Minneapolis City Council adopted a resolution recognizing the Confederate flag as a symbol of hate and white supremacy. Council Member Alondra Cano co-authored the resolution. She says she was called to action by a similar move in the nation’s capitol following the January 6 attack.
“I thought, if Washington D.C. is going to do it, Minneapolis should be in solidarity with that message, understanding just how severe the presence of that confederate flag and that history was,” she said.
The resolution “rejects” the Confederate flag from being displayed in public buildings, a proactive move according to Cano. Among other things, the resolution cites that opponents to the Black Lives Matter movement have used the flag to intimidate protestors and perpetuate violence against them.
“We felt it would be a good thing for us to do as a city and to include as part of the series of initiatives that we are doing to bring healing to Minneapolis, to reject racism and structural violence, and to ensure that we're moving forward in a positive way, in a welcoming way, in a healing way, with the residents of Minneapolis after last year,” said Cano.
The Minnesota Department of Public Safety reports anti-black incidents nearly doubled between 2019 and 2020. Of bias crimes where the offender’s race was known, offenders were most often white.
Chinese-American organizer Nick Kor is part of Community Combating Hate, a multi-ethnic coalition pushing for policy changes around hate crimes. He says while the resolution is a step in the right direction, more work is needed.
“The police are not trained well enough to understand what's considered a hate crime and what's not. And then when they do report it, nothing really comes of that,” said Kor.
The coalition supports legislation that would expand classification of hate crimes, provide more support to victims, and allow for hate crime reporting to organizations besides the police.
Feven Gerezgiher reports:
On Saturday, All My Relations Arts launched a community art workshop to highlight indigenous and unsheltered peoples’ experiences in Minnesota. Lead artist Courtney Cochran titled the project “Never Homeless Before 1492.”
“Native people are homeless on their own land - stolen land at that,” said Cochran. “These problems started in 1492. And we can still feel and see the impacts of colonization. Native homelessness started with removal and continued through allotment and land theft.”
The Minnesota Department of Transportation and Native American Community Development Institute - or NACDI - are partnering on the 23-panel installation for a fence on Franklin and Hiawatha. In 2018, the area was named the “Wall of Forgotten Natives.” The housing crisis, along with other factors, had led to over 200 people forming an encampment along the fence; many of them identified themselves as Native American.
At the time, community and government agencies worked quickly to move unsheltered people out of the encampment which suffered from difficult public health conditions, fires, and multiple deaths.
Now, MnDOT seeks to restore the site with the recognition of a housing crisis which has only proliferated in Minneapolis after a year of unrest and the pandemic.
All My Relations director Angela Two Stars says she hopes the community-driven project promotes solutions and honest conversations in the two to three years it’s up.
“While there was negativity around this large homeless encampment, it really spoke to how the community - especially the native organizations - had stepped up and offered their resources in a culturally responsive way to our vulnerable relatives at the time,” said Two Stars.
The community is invited to participate in painting the panels. All My Relations will continue hosting workshops throughout the next month.
Activists on Thursday called on local officials to drop all charges against protestors demanding justice for Black lives. Mass arrests have become more common in the last year, with 646 people arrested during a march last November, and another 150 at a protest after the killing of Daunte Wright in April. Some say they are an intimidation tactic to discourage protests against police brutality.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
Activists on Thursday called on local officials to drop all charges against protestors for Black lives. Among them was Eric Dorland with Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Minnesota. He is one of 646 people who were arrested during a march on I-94 last November.
“The political statement made by the state when they arrested us was that they do not see our issues as legitimate,” he said. “They are opposed to [the] justice that we are standing up for.”
Dorland said the arrests were an intimidation tactic to discourage protesting against police violence. Mass arrests have become more common in the last year, with over 150 people arrested following protests after the police killing of Daunte Wright in April.
Immigrant rights advocate Francisco Sanchez says protests were a key part of the fight for justice in the George Floyd case.
“The public lynching of George Floyd pushed the people to act. Nobody should be punished for demanding justice for stolen life, much less punished by the city who took the life in the first place,” said Sanchez.
This more than a year after pawn shop owner John Rieple shot into a crowd protesting for George Floyd, hitting and killing Minneapolis resident Calvin Horton, Jr. No charges were brought in that case.
“There are protesters in this crowd right now that spent more time in jail than John Rieple did,” said activist Toussaint Morrison on Wednesday, when community members gathered on East Lake Street for what would have been Horton’s 45th birthday.
Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said there was not sufficient evidence to bring criminal charges in the shooting. According to his office, the investigators had not found video footage or witnesses to clarify what happened during the unrest, but would reconsider charges if evidence appears.
Minneapolis community members say a private security team in Uptown has seriously injured 3 people. They say they're concerned the city is effectively outsourcing policing to private military contractors.
Feven Gerezgiher reports:
At a press conference Tuesday, community members said a private security team in Uptown has seriously injured 3 people. One person is alleged to have a traumatic brain injury. They said many were targeted when asking questions about an assault by the team last week.
A video from last Thursday shows one of the private security members pushing and detaining an activist who goes by the name Comrade Link.
Activists believe the private security firm is an entity called the Conflict Resolution Group. According to its website, the group uses techniques learned and honed on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. The activists say the security firm is protecting Seven Points, formerly Calhoun Square in Uptown, which has become another site for protests for police accountability.
The Legal Rights Center’s Andrew Gordon opposes the use of private military contractors in Uptown.
“There has been a chilling impact on individuals and their willingness to go into the Uptown space to hold it, to protest, when they know that they may be subject to brutality and assault, and that the individuals who are doing those things are largely unaccountable,” he said.
Seven Points property owners and the City of Minneapolis have yet to answer community questions about the private security team and its relationship to the Minneapolis Police Department. Gordon said he is concerned the MPD is essentially outsourcing policing.
“They are being heavily scrutinized by a number of different individuals, including the courts, including the DOJ,” said Gordon. “And they've effectively said, ‘our response to that scrutiny is to ask other people to do our job for us.’”
The city has yet to respond to a data request regarding its relationship to the Conflict Resolution Group.
In response to the drought, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources suspended some of Enbridge’s permits to draw surface water. At the same time, the DNR has also increased the total amount of groundwater Enbridge can remove at its construction sites to nearly 5 billion gallons. That has Line 3 opponents concerned.
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Tiffany Bui reports:
Line 3 pipeline opponents are raising concerns about Enbridge Energy’s water usage during a drought.
In response to the drought, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources suspended some of Enbridge’s permits to draw surface water. At the same time, the DNR has also increased the total amount of groundwater Enbridge can remove at its construction sites to nearly 5 billion gallons.
Kristy Dolph, a research scientist at Science for the People, said that groundwater is often connected to wetlands, which are sensitive ecosystems.
“There's a concern that if a wetland was drained … that wetland would now be considerably drier than it would normally be,” said Dolph. “And you could [lose] sensitive species. And that also encourages a kind of ongoing degradation because invasive species can handle those types of conditions more easily.
The DNR states on its website that this process of pumping out groundwater, called dewatering, is not expected to have any significant impact on wetlands and other surface water features.
However, Dolph doesn’t know how the DNR can say that with certainty. She says there is no sure way of knowing how quickly or if at all, the water will return to the area once removed - especially during a drought.
“That's why it's so galling that there was really no government-to-government consultation with tribes. There was really no public notification of this huge increase in the amount of water that Enbridge was permitted to take,” said Dolph.
Nancy Beaulieu of the Resilient Indigenous Sisters Engaging Coalition denounced the dewatering at a press conference in Itasca Park on Tuesday.
“It's not okay to continue to ignore our treaties. When they take our water without our permission, that's an assault on our culture, on our people. Our food grows on the water. We are of the water.”
At Shell River, multiple Line 3 activists were arrested Monday for sitting at the river crossing to protest the pipeline. Water protectors have been protesting most of the summer against the pipeline, camping at multiple sites along the construction path.
According to Enbridge, the pipeline is more than 70% complete.
For the past five years, usually some time in August, members of the Flower Power Collective can be seen hauling buckets of flowers to the Indian Mounds Park in St. Paul.
From sunrise to sundown, artists and community members carefully place flower after flower on the grass, working to create a vibrant art piece. Group members say their goal is to provide healing spaces for those who have been impacted by their criminal justice system.
Whether they were incarcerated or knew someone who was, community members are encouraged to bring bouquets and share stories.
“It just comes together in such a beautiful way. Like, there's just enough structure where we can still flow like water. That's that's the only way I can describe it,” said artist Bella Dawson, who joined the group in high school.
Laura LeBlanc, who helped found the Flower Power collective, said it was born during protests after the police shooting of Jamar Clark – particularly because she wasn’t there.
“And I asked myself why I wasn't at the protests, because I believe in the protest deeply,” said LeBlanc, who formerly worked as an advocate for youth in the criminal justice system.
Though she still doesn’t have an answer, “what was clear to me was, we needed other spaces besides protests. We needed spaces where we build the world that we want to live in, that we're honoring the tragedy and not ignoring it. So that's what Flower Power is, is honoring the tragedy of that full continuum of the criminal justice complex.”
The first flower display LeBlanc remembers doing was at Philando Castile’s funeral. LeBlanc said the group started working at 4:30 in the morning at the cathedral grounds, to avoid getting removed before their piece was finished.
But they didn’t get kicked out. Now, the group has a regular relationship with Philando’s mother Valerie Castile, and creates flower arrangements for the yearly candlelight vigil she hosts for her son.
Many of the Flower Power artists bring a passion for advocacy and social justice, said LeBlanc. And for Dawson, the young artist, Flower Power provides a new kind of way to protest - one that doesn’t necessarily mean taking to the streets.
“At the end of the day, if you're not right within here, within your heart, it's like, how are you showing up in the community?” asked Dawson. “We don't want a space like Flower Power to just be on that day. We want to be able to create spaces like this, where people can flow like water, and breathe and love and connect.”
Fellow artist and roommate Sabrina Nur said that’s exactly what Flower Power was able to do last summer at George Floyd Square: provide a space for people to breathe.
“Because people are chanting, “I can't breathe” and like you're putting that into the universe, you know, so it's affecting you. People don't realize the words they say and the actions they do, how that affects you,” Nur said. “So we need spaces like Flower Power where we can breathe, we will breathe, we have the right to breathe.”
The Flower Power collective is housed within the nonprofit Oyate Hotanin, which focuses on uplifting American Indian art and activism. The artists gather at the Indian Mounds Park due to their long fight to keep the area preserved and respected as a burial ground, said executive director Strong Buffalo.
The grounds were where Dakota people used to bury their dead, along with their belongings. Today, only six of the dozens of the original burial mounds are still standing, as the others were destroyed by farming, housing and park development.
“It was almost like our ancestors were imprisoned, too,” said Strong Buffalo. “Those Indian mounds have been burials for Indian people for probably about 10,000 years and has been inside of this city park in St. Paul for about 160 years without people really realizing that these are the remains of people.”
The Flower Power Collective’s next event at Mounds Park takes place on August 7 from sunrise to sundown.
Protestors gathered at the Minnesota state capitol Saturday to remember civil rights icon Congressman John Lewis on
the one-year anniversary of his death. It was part of a nationwide action supporting federal voting rights legislation.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
A small group of protestors gathered at the Minnesota state capitol Saturday to remember civil rights icon Congressman John Lewis on the one-year anniversary of his death. It was part of a nationwide action supporting federal voting rights legislation.
High school student Eileen Carter, who came from southwest Minnesota to attend, said she believes in equality.
“The idea of taking away somebody’s right to vote and restricting somebody’s right to vote takes [away] the equality of the people in this country,” she said.
Two bills are currently stalled in Congress that would improve voting rights. Before his death, John Lewis helped draft the “For the People Act” which, in addition to automatic voter registration and expanded access to early voting, includes sweeping elections reform.
Voting rights advocates were alarmed by a Supreme Court ruling earlier this month , which undermined key components in the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Though the act has had bipartisan support for decades, lawmakers have introduced close to 400 bills over the last year attempting to restrict voter access.
Annastacia Belladonna-Carrera is with Common Cause Minnesota, which organized the local protest and is one of several organizations petitioning the MN Supreme Court. They filed a suit Thursday to ensure BIPOC voices are represented in the state redistricting process this year.
“For far too long, Black, indigenous, and Minnesotans of color have had their political vote diluted in the redistricting process,” said Belladonna-Carrera. “As a result, many do not benefit from equitable electoral power or a fair opportunity to elect candidates with shared interest.”
State legislators will draw and debate district maps starting in September when they receive detailed 2020 Census counts.
A video taken Wednesday night shows several armed men assaulting a woman in the Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis. The men refused to identify themselves to bystanders, but appeared to be acting as security for Seven Points, formerly known as Calhoun Square.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
A video taken Wednesday night shows several armed men assaulting a woman in the Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis. The men refused to identify themselves to bystanders, but appeared to be acting as security for Seven Points, formerly known as Calhoun Square.
At a press conference Thursday the woman, who identified herself as Hayley, said she was questioning the men when they punched her in the head, put her in a chokehold, and tried to arrest her.
Activists had gathered in Uptown Wednesday night after private contractors and Minneapolis police removed a memorial for Winston Smith Jr and Deona Marie Erickson. Though the owners of Seven Points initially supported the protest space, they said in a statement that it had led to an “unsustainable and unhealthy situation”.
Racial justice activist Dizzy filmed the incident. “This is why we say people over property,” she said at Thursday’s press conference. “Y'all will protect a public parking garage before you protect a human body.”
Dizzy said she found it alarming that unidentified white men in tactical gear were carrying what appeared to be assault rifles in Uptown.
CAIR-Minnesota’s Jaylani Hussein said it’s about corporate greed.
“They want everyone to forget that Winston Smith was killed here, after he had lunch with his girlfriend in Stella's,” he said. “They want to delete that Deona Marie was killed right here…They took down a peaceful garden of all things, a peaceful garden. Why? Because the businesses in this community do not care about black lives, or any lives that do not bring back to them some wealth.”
Hussein says despite the barriers, people will not stop coming to Uptown to seek justice.
Olivia, Minnesota attracted attention last week when a police officer shot and killed Ricardo Torres Jr. Torres’ friends and relatives say the officer has repeatedly harassed their community. According to the Minnesota chapter of the ACLU, it's not an isolated incident.
Feven Gerezgiher reports:
Olivia, Minnesota attracted attention last week when a police officer shot and killed Ricardo Torres Jr. Torres’ friends and relatives say the officer has repeatedly harassed their community. ACLU-MN’s Julio Zelaya says Torres' case is an example of policing issues in Greater Minnesota, and that “this is not an isolated incident that just happens in the Twin Cities.”
In 2019, Worthington police officers beat Kelvin Rodriguez during an arrest, rupturing two organs and breaking his ribs. Rodriguez was not convicted of any crime.
As part of a legal settlement last fall, the Worthington police department agreed to reforms, including implicit bias awareness training. According to Worthington Police Chief Troy Appel, his department “agreed and adapted to each of the terms of the Rodriguez settlement.”
But local organizers like Cheniqua Johnson say the process of holding police accountable has been “frustrating and disheartening.”
“Following the Solidarity march in June 2020, no action by the city, city electeds, police Department, or Sheriff’s office has been made to even remotely entertain a conversation surrounding police accountability,” Johnson said.
Zelaya is a coordinator with the Greater Minnesota Racial Justice Project at the ACLU, which led the Worthington lawsuit. He said rural areas have less legal infrastructure and public advocacy to help protect civil liberties.
“We see small towns, small counties that will say we don’t have the money for body cameras or won’t want to invest in those kind of accountability measures,” said Zelaya.
The ACLU previously won a lawsuit against Worthington for illegal detention of immigrants for ICE. Zelaya said changing demographics in the region have helped drive conversations.
“Rural Minnesota is becoming more brown. And that means that the policies and the way that we conduct governance is really being challenged,” he explained. “Places that were primarily white are now having to essentially deal with and work through social, political issues of multiculturalism... issues that they haven’t had to before.”
Zelaya said without state and federal legislation to lead the way, it’s up to people in small towns like Worthington to drive changes around policing for themselves.
The coalition Yes4Minneapolis gathered more than 20,000 signatures to get its proposal onto voter’s ballots. If a majority of voters approve, the city’s charter would no longer require Minneapolis to have a police department. Instead, MPD would be replaced by a Department of Public Safety and a new commissioner to lead it.
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Racial Reckoning reporter Tiffany Bui interviewed JaNaé Bates, communications director for Yes4Minneapolis, to find out more about the charter amendment that will be on the Minneapolis ballot this November. Here’s an excerpt of their conversation.
TB: What was the process to craft the charter language amendment?
JB: It's been a long process, because the campaign itself is a coalition. So that means that there are organizations involved, there are families across Minneapolis, their small businesses, there's church communities.
But to be clear, like this charter amendment, the biggest thing that it does is remove a barrier. Right? So currently, we have a barrier in the city charter for Minneapolis, that prevents the people of Minneapolis, the residents of Minneapolis making any real, any real concrete changes to how policing is done, because it puts the city in a box to where we really only have a
police-only model. And so when we wanted to create this language that folks get to vote on in November, we want to be clear that it is really just about removing the barrier to make it possible for people to use all of the tools in our tool belt to keep us safe.
So that means yes, most certainly, you know, licensed peace officers are known as police officers when they're necessary, but also knowing that we call on them for way too many things that they aren't necessarily qualified, trained for or disciplined enough to handle. And so we also want to make sure that we're implementing proven strategies, you know, violence intervention and prevention, licensed professionals and experts in a broad range of fields and strategies.
And so putting the language together to make it clear that that's what it does, was really important to us. And it was important that community was involved every step of the way.
TB: The charter amendment seeks to remove the section of the charter that requires the city maintain a police force, and instead replace it with a Department of Public Safety. How would this be different than a police department?
JB: Well, right now our police department in Minneapolis is set up so that it gets to control all of the resources in the city. And that was intentional. So the police union, the police Federation, they they wrote this charter with a couple of lawmakers back in 1961. So this is, you know, before we even had a Civil Rights Movement, so a lot of the things that have happened in the city has shifted and changed. It's become far more diverse, and I mean, diversity across gender, race, income, and ethnicity.
And so, as the city becomes more diverse as the city is growing, we want to make sure that all of our policies and our practices match to the city that we're becoming and right now our hands are tied because with the current charter, we are only able to implement police-enforced strategies. And while most certainly we understand that there are communities and folks regard police as something that helps to create safe communities for some, we also know that right now the current Minneapolis Police Department has not been able to do that.
And so what this new department will do is make it possible to move officers who, you know, are ready to create, you know, to create safe communities with community create accountability, and transparency, which is something we do not have the teeth to be able to do in the city right now under the current charter, and to get them to be able to work hand in hand, with community based strategies with professionals and personnel and expert based strategies. So where they're not competing for resources, they're not competing for power. And there's not a hierarchy where the police make all the calls and all the say, with no accountability and get to do things with impunity. And so this new department makes it possible for every single person in Minneapolis to be able to be safe, regardless of what part of the city they live in, what race they are, what religion they choose to have or not have. Everyone gets to be able to be a part of that community together.
TB: As I understand it, the work of Yes4Mpls stemmed from advocacy by Black Visions Collective, which has pushed to defund and abolish the police - which we saw some Council members pledge to do in Powderhorn Park last year, though that hasn’t really manifested. Would the Department of Public Safety include police officers?
JB: The new Department of Public Safety would include police as necessary. And I want to be explicit that while most certainly there are organizations like Black Visions Collective and Reclaim the Block that are a part of the coalition, there are also organizations like labor unions like SEIU, Local 26. And Isaiah, and Faith in Minnesota, and the Minnesota Federation of Teachers. All of these folks, all of these different businesses and organizations, and congregations, they all have a similar mission, and that's about keeping people safe.
When we're seeing the violence that has been raised in the city. A child should be able to bounce on a trampoline, a grandmother shouldn't have to worry about them being hurt, you know, maybe that they might fall and bump their elbow, but not that they'd actually experienced any community harm. In the same way, someone should be able to go to the store, and not think that a $20 bill would cost them their life. And so that city is possible in the city of Minneapolis, and the Department of Public Safety is going to help make that happen.
While there are, you know, some organizations and some folks who who have been calling for very specific measures on how to get there, but the Yes for Minneapolis campaign, again, is really just about removing the barriers so that the people of Minneapolis, the communities, the families, those who are directly impacted by the day to day actions of the police and other community members who are their neighbors, that they get to make the say that they get to make a call. And they're not beholden to, quite frankly, a law that was written by the police union 60 plus years ago, that they're not beholden to an old and outdated way that doesn't actually fit the city that they're becoming, and that they need to be.
TB: What steps need to be taken to ensure that the new Department of Public Safety would not replicate the same institutional problems of the Minneapolis Police Department?
JB: So that will absolutely require community. I know that there are city council members, there are community groups that are coming together creating the strategies and talking to the professionals that are needed to really build up this department to be exactly what it needs to be. … But making sure that the department has all of the different people and strategies that it needs to really be able to thrive, that's going to happen through ordinance processes, it's going to happen through community members talking to their city council members and making sure that their voices are being heard that their input is being raised.
It's going to be an ongoing process, but one that we get to do together, one that the people of Minneapolis get to have a say about, and one that quite frankly, what we're finding in community, folks are excited for and hungry for. It is incredibly exciting to know that the residents of Minneapolis get to be history makers, that they get to have, you know, the prophetic imagination and vision for what can, quite frankly, be a model that will be replicated across the country, as we're saying, you know, more and more black people being harmed names killed and surveyed by the police. We’re also seeing community members step up and say that this is not okay, and that we can do something about it.
And again, it's not, you know, this is most certainly not an anti police movement, but instead a pro-safety movement. And we can do this with folks who believe in reform, folks who believe in abolition, if that's their jam, folks who believe in really – the bare bones is just for folks who believe in keeping one another safe. This is a big tent for a whole lot of people with a whole lot of different ideologies. But in the end, they just want to be able to go to work, take care of their families, enjoy some play and joy. And that's what this campaign is about.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher is facing criticism for a comment he made to a colleague on a livestream that appeared to reference sundown towns. Fletcher says the comment was not racially motivated, despite the fact that sundown town practices were inherently motivated by racism.
Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher is facing backlash for a comment he made to a colleague about how police used to be able to treat suspected criminals.
“100 years ago, though, we woulda just told them, ‘OK, son, you got ’til sundown to get outta of town,” Fletcher said during one of his regular livestream broadcasts called “Live on Patrol.” The comment drew swift rebuke from local politicians and on social media after the Twitter account Whittier Cop Watch posted a clip from the broadcast.
Critics connected his words with the history of “sundown towns” – places where residents enforced segregation by preventing people of color from living there or even entering after a certain time. Dr. Christopher Lehman, a professor of Ethnic Studies at St. Cloud State University, says these sundown policies could be a local law or an unwritten understanding.
“There are some sundown towns in which it was perfectly fine for people who are not considered white, to go into the town in the morning and work a nine to five job. But then as soon as it was five o'clock, then those same employees had about an hour to leave the town, or else they could suffer some severe repercussions,” Lehman said.
“There would be people in town who were residents of the town who would harass, at best, any people of color who were still in the town when they weren't supposed to be. And at worst, there'll be violence, perhaps even death.”
Sundown towns were prevalent in the Midwest. Some towns, like Manitowoc Wisconsin, put up signs warning Black people: “N*gger, Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On You In Our Town.” Such towns would even market their all-white population as a selling point to new potential residents.
A nationwide directory of sundown towns based on the research of sociologist James Loewen lists Edina, Mankato and South St. Paul, among 18 other towns in Minnesota, that practiced this forcible exclusion of Black residents and groups.
Fletcher defended his comment to the Pioneer Press by saying he was referring to Western movies where sheriffs told criminals to “get out of town.” He said the bad guys in these movies were often white, and that his comment had “no racial connotations.”
Regardless of Fletcher’s intent, Lehman says the comment references a history of racial oppression. Black residents driven out of sundown towns by whites lost their homes and would face barriers to finding new jobs and schools for their children.
“It would be great if he would take the opportunity that this controversy has provided for him to very publicly inform himself … and then holding a press conference and telling the taxpayers what he's learned about sundown towns, what he's learned about the history of law enforcement in this country and in this state, and how telling people to “get out of town” is very much something that is wrapped in discrimination in oppression by skin color,” Lehman said.
Sundown towns were outlawed just 53 years ago when the Fair Housing Act of 1968 was passed, but the effects of de facto segregation still linger in some places.
Roxanne Anderson, or ROX, is the co-host of “Fresh Fruit” on KFAI, the longest running weekly queer radio show in the country. Anderson is also a community organizer; their work is focused on creating spaces where queer and trans people of color feel seen and safe.
Safiya Mohamed reports:
Roxanne Anderson, or “Rox,” is the co-host of “Fresh Fruit” on KFAI, the longest running weekly queer radio show in the country.
Anderson is also the co-founder and CEO of RARE Productions, an arts and entertainment media production company.
Their work is focused on creating spaces where Black, brown, and indigenous people feel safe.
“When folks are coming to RARE events or things that we’re showing up to, and they feel safe and they feel heard and they feel like that event was created for them, that means everything.”
In addition to being an on-air personality, Anderson is also a community organizer. They are the director of the Minnesota Transgender Health Coalition and a board member of POC Pride.
Anderson says it’s important to create events and spaces for trans and queer people of color.
“Because often when we’re talking about the gay community, the thing that comes to mind is white gay men, and that is definitely not our focus,” said Anderson. “We’re really focusing on how we create events that brown, Black, and Indigenous folks feel comfortable and they’re welcomed in.”
Anderson says the LGBT community is not immune to white supremacy. BIPOC people who identify as queer face both racism and homophobia.
Anderson says their work as an artist and activist aims to combat the racial injustices faced by trans and queer people of color.
“I think for me, success looks like liberation through abolition and social justice with art rolling and pushing, formulating the way.”
Anderson sees their role in the social justice movement as creating space and sharing resources while making great radio.
The Twin Cities have the largest gap in homeownership between Black and white residents - 51% - and the gap is widening. The reason? Gentrification and the rise of single family rentals owned by investor companies.
Tiffany Bui reports:
In the Twin Cities, the gap between the number of Black residents who own their home and white residents is the widest in the country.
Researchers from the Urban Institute found that, Black homeownership has declined dramatically since 2000. This resulted in a 51 percentage point difference between the two groups.
Yonah Freemark, one of the researchers, identified two reasons that contribute to fewer Black homeowners: gentrification, and the rise of single family rentals owned by big investor companies.
“So the Great Recession, and the years that followed, were associated with a significant increase in foreclosures, especially among homeowners of color,” explained Freemark. “And so there were a lot of investors who were able to sort of leverage the inability of people of color to continue to own their homes and buy up residences in those neighborhoods.”
The companies that own the most single family rentals in the Twin Cities include Front Yard Residential Corporation and Invitation Homes. These investors buy up properties in typically low-income and minority neighborhoods like North Minneapolis and central St. Paul. This funnels the wealth out of neighborhoods; researchers estimate about 1 billion dollars worth in Hennepin and Ramsey counties over a period of 15 years.
Catrice Williams heads a team of financial coaches for Project for Pride in Living, a Minneapolis organization that prepares people to buy a home. She said more investors in the market can make it harder for individuals to win a bid, especially for those who can’t afford to come with cash in hand.
“So they can't buy and they can't build wealth. And that puts them right back into that renting cycle where they again cannot build wealth, they can't invest in the community to uplift and rebuild,” Williams said.
Researchers say that government regulation of single family rentals and homeownership assistance to Black families can help close the gap.
A police officer crashed into Leneal Frazier’s vehicle while chasing a suspect at high speed. Frazier later died from his injuries. Darnella Frazier, the teenager who filmed the murder of George Floyd, identified him as her uncle.
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Tiffany Bui reports:
A Minneapolis police officer was pursuing a carjacking and robbery suspect Tuesday morning when he hit two cars, killing a driver.
Officer Brian Cummings crashed into Leneal Frazier’s vehicle while chasing the suspect at high speed through the Camden neighborhood. Frazier later died from his injuries. The suspect escaped the police.
On Wednesday morning, friends and family members gathered at the gas station near the intersection where Frazier was killed. Darnella Frazier, the teenager who filmed the murder of George Floyd, identified him as her uncle.
He was the oldest of five siblings. Leneal Frazier’s brother Orlando Frazier remembers him as the family protector.
“He was the best big brother I could ever ask for,” said Frazier. “Anything I wanted, anything I needed, if he had, he'll get it for us. My brother was a protector, you know what I'm saying, like, every time we went somewhere, my brother was my bodyguard. I ain’t have to worry about nothing. And then for this to happen to him, it's just unbelievable.”
Frazier’s family says he loved to barbecue, and manned the grill during the Fourth of July.
Frazier leaves behind 6 children and a grandchild. His oldest daughter Lanesha says she wants to see the police officer arrested.
“I just don't see how my dad is gone and that man is still here. I want justice. I want him to be put away,” she said.
In 2019, the Minneapolis Police Department announced it would only allow chases for a “serious and violent felony or gross misdemeanor” or if the suspect is driving recklessly. The policy prohibits police from giving chase when it poses an unreasonable risk to officers and the public.
MPD is conducting an internal investigation to see if the officer had his lights and sirens on as required.
It’s been over a month since Winston Smith, Jr. was killed by members of a federal task force, and charges have yet to be brought against any involved. The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said Smith fired shots at officers as they tried to arrest him. But lawyers for the only eyewitness countered official statements.
Feven Gerezgiher reports:
It’s been over a month since Winston Smith Jr. was killed by members of a federal task force, and charges have yet to be brought against any involved.
“I can only describe what's happening in one word - ‘cover-up’’ said Johnathon McClellan, founder of the Minnesota Justice Coalition.
The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said Smith fired shots at officers as they tried to arrest him. But lawyers for the only eyewitness countered official statements.
They say Norhan Askar was leaving a lunch date with Smith when officers surrounded them in unmarked cars. She claims they did not announce themselves as law enforcement and shot Smith when he raised his phone to record the incident.According to the lawyers, the BCA did not run tests that would verify whether Smith had fired shots as claimed.
“Based on the fact that Ms. Askar had suffered significant injuries from shattered glass, I think the facts bear out that some of the statements that are being made by our agencies aren't physically possible,” said one of her lawyers.
In Uptown, community members have transformed protest space into a peace garden. It’s named after both Winston and Deona Marie Erickson, who died after being hit by a car at a vigil for Smith. An activist named Nero who helped create the space said the site has been repeatedly torn down. He says the garden was created to preserve the street movement.
“Police was ruthless,” said Nero. “They did everything from shooting a dog with marker rounds to macing people and leaving them there. Grabbing random people, snatching people, you know, breaking stuff. Pulling handles out, like they destroyed people’s cars, stabbed tires.”
Nero said he wants to see justice for Smith, Erickson, and all other protestors against police violence.He hopes the garden keeps focus towards long-term solutions.
On July 5, 2016 a police officer shot and killed Philando Castile during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights. A jury failed to convict the officer. Still, Castile’s legacy lives on in the people he inspired.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
Five years ago today, a police officer shot and killed Philando Castile during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights. A jury failed to convict the officer. Still, Castile’s legacy lives on in the people he inspired.
On Sunday, activists with Visual Black Justice led a theatrical performance created in response to his death. Participants marched along University Ave to the state capitol. They carried mock coffins, body bags, and tombstones engraved with names of victims of police brutality.Founder Athena Papagiannopoulos (Papa-gin-ah-polis) wants people to keep talking about policing, even when it’s not on the news.
“Don't wait until it's someone you love or someone you know, or someone you kind of knew,” said Papagiannopoulos. “We have to come out here in the streets for these families and make sure we're preventing this situation from happening to more of our loved ones.”
After Philando’s death, the Castile family created a foundation to support victims of gun and police violence. This evening, the family is hosting a candlelight vigil in his honor. To Castile’s former classmate Adrian Perryman, the commemoration serves to keep public safety on people’s minds.
“I think doing something on the anniversary is a reminder, even if nothing has happened in the last week, last month, just keep that same energy that you had five years ago, and keep fighting until nothing happens like this, like what happened to George Floyd and other individuals in the community,” said Perryman.
Castile was beloved by students in Saint Paul schools, where he was known to pay for their lunches when they couldn’t afford it.
In 2016, Perryman and other Central High School alumni created a college scholarship in Castile’s name that has since funded four students. The scholarship is geared towards encouraging black men to pursue careers in education.
Safiya Mohamed reports:
This weekend, Americans celebrated Independence Day. Just a few days earlier, on July 1st, Somali-Americans celebrated Somali independence day. The holiday dates back to 1960 when Somalia liberated itself from British and Italian colonial powers.
Hundreds of Somali residents gathered in Eagan to mark the occasion.
Local author Deqo Muhidin said this day means a lot to her.
“Being able to celebrate our independence, being able to dance, celebrate, listen to music together, and just be a part of history as we continue to celebrate our legacy of building our nation,” she explained.
Muhidin has yet to experience a peaceful Somalia, but it’s something she dreams of.
The majority of Somali-Minnesotans came here in the 1990s to escape civil war. Minnesota Compass estimates that there are between 72,000 and 85,000 Somali residents in the state.
As black immigrants in a white majority culture, celebrations like this also provide an opportunity to recharge and heal from racialized trauma.
Hodo Ali is the financial manager of Isuroon, the non-profit that organized the event.
“It means to me that I have something, that I remember where I come from. And it also means to me that I have a country and I have a culture,” she said.
Ali says she hopes the event connects young people with their homeland and their history. For teenagers Luqman Abdi and Zaki Sahal, it appears to have been a success. They said the event means a lot to them, and showed them just how big their community is. Many attendees said it was exciting and emotional to see so many Somali people gathered together in a predominately white city.
The law now requires courts to appoint an attorney for all parents, even those who can’t afford it. It also allows those convicted of low-level crimes to be eligible for a foster care license. Childcare advocates say people of color too often are disqualified from fostering their grandchildren to convictions unrelated to child safety.
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Tiffany Bui reports:
Child welfare advocates are celebrating key reforms passed by the state Legislature this week.
The law now requires courts appoint an attorney for all parents, even those who can’t afford it. Larene Randal Wade leads MN One Stop, which provides parents navigating the child protective system with a mentor. She’s seen firsthand how confusing and stressful the process can be for parents to figure out alone.
“I believe that having an effective parent representation there at the onset, when a parent is brought into court, is going to help tremendously because parents don't even know their rights,” said Randal Wade.
According to a 2018 state report, American Indian children are 18 times more likely than white children to be removed from their homes and placed under the care of a social service agency. Black children are nearly three times as likely.
The new policies also allow those convicted of low-level crimes to be eligible for a foster care license. Joanna Woolman pushed for these changes as the director of the Institute to Transform Child Protection. She says people of color, many who were grandparents of a child in protective services, were disqualified from being able to foster due to convictions unrelated to child safety.
“What we're doing is eliminating the unnecessary barriers that end up impacting our communities of color much more profoundly, because we know that the criminal justice system hits non-white individuals harder across the board,” said Woolman. “And that trickle-down, when we rely on our criminal convictions and the criminal justice system to make decisions about our foster care licensing - that same disparity exists.”
Advocates say the end goal is to keep children with their families as often as possible.
The final bill limits no-knock search warrants, expands access to private information on police misconduct, and creates “sign-and-release” warrants. Racial justice activists say negotiations left out significant policing reforms.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
Early Wednesday morning, the Minnesota Legislature passed the long-awaited public safety and criminal justice reform bill.
The final bill limits no-knock search warrants, expands access to private information on police misconduct, and creates “sign-and-release” warrants.
At a rally Wednesday, racial justice activists called on Governor Walz to veto the bill. Toshira Galloway said negotiations left out significant policing reforms.
“You listen to our stories..you watch us cry. You hear all that they’ve done. You’ve heard about the 470 murders in addition to George Floyd... So how can you make a deal to say this is ok?”
Despite this, Justin Terrell, Executive Director of the Minnesota Justice Research Center, said the bill is good overall.
“There's a couple things here that people will actually feel,” said Terrell. “People are going to notice that they get pulled over by the police that they're getting a sign and release notice, as opposed to being arrested on the side of the street. When you call 911, if you're in a mental health situation, the 911 operator now has the option to send a mental health response, right, as opposed to just an armed officer.”
Terrell is a member of the POST Board, which has power over licensing and setting standards for Minnesota law enforcement. Earlier this week, Governor Walz announced an executive action investing $15 million in community violence prevention grants, as well as supporting data collection by the POST Board.
Terrell said he hopes the POST board can be more proactive in holding police accountable for misconduct.
Racial Reckoning: The Arc of Justice is a journalism initiative, created by Ampers, KMOJ, and the Minnesota Humanities Center, covering the trials of the former Minneapolis police officers charged with the murder of George Floyd, the community’s response, and the changes needed to create a more just society.
For The Racial Reckoning: The Arc of Justice project, Ampers employs seasoned reporters, as well as up-and-coming broadcast journalists from BIPOC communities, to create daily updates, weekly updates in Hmong, Somali, and Spanish (when court is in session), as well as in-depth weekly radio shows and podcasts exploring criminal justice reform, community healing, community resiliency, and more. The programs air on KMOJ as well as 16 other Ampers stations in Minnesota and five additional radio stations around the country. The Minnesota Humanities Center will use the content that’s created to engage grassroots leaders from BIPOC communities in a series of listening sessions and public events to deepen dialog and spark change on issues arising during the trial. Additionally, the Minnesota Humanities Center will work with youth organizations and schools to provide teachers and students with tools for approaching controversial public issues responsive to current events. The long-term goal of Racial Reckoning: The Arc of Justice is to work toward changing problematic racial narratives in local news media, engage communities, amplify community solutions to narrative change, and empower educators to discuss race in the classroom.
Several Twin Cities co-ops hosted “Art + Abolition,” a community celebration of protest art created over the past year. Participating artist Maiya Lea Hartmann says her work seeks to honor lives lost and celebrate Black people.
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Chioma Uwagwu reports:
Last week, several Twin Cities co-ops hosted “Art + Abolition,” a community celebration of protest art created over the past year.
Seward Co-op’s Addie DeMery said the event is a follow-up to last summer, when the store invited BIPOC artists to create murals on its boarded up windows.
“ I feel like art is a way to express pain-but also happiness, and also like a revolution,” said DeMery. “There's been plenty of art, where you can see, like, how it tells a story, and I feel like a lot of the art that we put up, that was put up at our stores, told the story of what happened, the pain and also how community members have come together.”
DeMery said even grocery stores have a role to play in the social justice movement.
One of the participating artists, Maiya Lea Hartmann, created a portrait of Makiyah Bryant for the one year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd. The 16 year old girl was shot by police in Columbus, Ohio this past April. Makiyah’s face is shown inside a fortuneteller’s crystal ball. She’s surrounded by flowers and the words “We deserve a future where all our babies can grow old.”
“How often do our babies not even get to experience being babies because of that fear that black people have to hold?” asked Hartmann. ‘That is the reality, that like, at any point, that could be your fate. And so I think it is important to honor all of the lives that have been lost - and there's so many! And, for me, it was important to honor Makiya Brian just alongside George Floyd.”
Hartmann says she likes to create artwork that people feel compelled to touch and physically interact with. She says she’s always looking for a balance between honoring lives and celebrating Black people.
On Friday, Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22 and a half years of prison for the murder of George Floyd. Many community members say they are disappointed that Chauvin did not get the maximum sentence of 40 years.
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Safiya Mohamed reports:
On Friday, Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22 and a half years of prison. He is the first white Minneapolis Police Officer to be convicted of murdering a black person.
Dozens gathered outside the Hennepin County Government Center to witness the historic sentencing and to hear from Floyd’s family.
Floyd’s nephew Brandon Williams said he is not celebrating the sentence.
“When you think about George being murdered in cold blood with a knee on his neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds, execution style in broad daylight, 22 and a half years is not enough,” said Williams.
Local community members like Elula Doga echoed the family’s sentiments.
“I’m pissed to say the least,” said Doga. “I thought they were going to give him 30 years and then get him out [earlier] on good behavior, but I feel like he’s gonna get 15-years in at most, probably less.”
Many community members were disappointed that Chauvin was not getting the maximum 40 year sentencing.
Justin Blake was at the courthouse to show his support for Floyd’s family. He is the uncle of Jacob Blake, a black man who was shot 7 times by Kenosha police last summer.
“If they’re happy - not happy, but can move forward - then we are here to support them, and we’re gonna move forward with them,” said Blake.
Blake was hoping for 30 to 40 years, but is satisfied that Chauvin is serving jail time.
“22 years, it’s significant. So, it’s not what we wanted, which was 40 or 30, but 22 counts,” he said.
Blake says he hopes the Floyd family can now start rebuilding their lives.
Legislators are debating how to phase out the statewide eviction ban that has been in place since March 2020. Critics say the plan does not provide enough renter protections, and disproportionately affects communities of color.
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Tiffany Bui reports:
Legislators are debating how to phase out the statewide eviction ban that has been in place since March 2020. The current proposal provides a gradual “off-ramp” before fully lifting restrictions in June 2022.
As of Thursday evening, the House has passed a bill that includes the eviction moratorium “off ramp,” and it now awaits a Senate decision. The new rules would allow landlords to evict a resident if they commit a “material” breach of the lease - like failing to pay rent or having an adult not on the lease staying with them.
Mike Vraa, the managing attorney of HOME Line, says landlords will have more grounds for getting rid of residents during the phaseout, but that may not always be the best decision if a renter owes a lot of money.
“In many of these cases, the only realistic way they're going to get paid is if the money comes from the federal government,” says Vraa.
And Minnesota has money from the federal government - about $672 million, which the state is using to fund the rental assistance program RentHelpMN.org. The state is offering to pay up to 15 months of rent for eligible residents. State data shows that over half of applicants to RentHelp MN are people of color.
But Nelima Sitati Munene says the plan does not provide enough renter protections. She works with renters of African descent through the community organization ACER, and she says a majority have told her that their landlord has not renewed their lease.
“We have spoken to a number of tenants whose landlords have been frustrated with the slow payment and the slow processing of the rental assistance,” said Munene. And they have promised a lot of their tenants that they will evict them or are not planning to renew their lease, because of the delayed payments.”
Munene emphasizes that racial inequities in housing existed before the pandemic, and will continue unless housing is treated as human right.
The Biden administration launched a new plan to tackle gun violence on Wednesday. The White House is looking to crack down on illegal firearm distribution, expand employment opportunities and help formerly incarcerated people adjust to life after prison. The surge in recent gun violence in the Twin Cities has claimed the lives of several children, leaving community members grieving and demanding change.
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Tiffany Bui reports:
The country has watched homicide rates soar in large cities throughout the country - and experts say the prevalence of guns is partly to blame.
The Biden administration launched a new plan to tackle gun violence on Wednesday. The White House is looking to crack down on illegal firearm distribution, expand employment opportunities and help formerly incarcerated people adjust to life after prison.
“Crime historically rises during the summer,” said President Biden. “With the country opening back up again, the traditional summers’ spike may be more pronounced than it usually would be.”
The plan also allows local governments’ dollars from the COVID-19 stimulus package to fund gun violence prevention. Politicians could use the money to invest in youth summer programs or hire more law enforcement.
Rashmi Seneviratne, the executive director of the gun violence prevention nonprofit Protect Minnesota, says the plan does a good job of acknowledging some of the underlying causes. But she emphasizes gun violence isn’t just about crime.
“We had about 483 gun deaths in 2020. About 68% of those were white male suicides in rural Minnesota,” explained Seneviratne. “So this idea that it's based in Minneapolis or St. Paul is actually a huge misconception.”
Still, Biden has an eye on the Twin Cities in his plan. He’s allocating funds for community violence intervention programs in St. Paul and Minneapolis, which use “trusted messengers” to work with people most likely to commit gun violence.
James Farnsworth with Students Demand Action MN says community members should determine how the programs are shaped.
“My biggest priority is making sure that there's thorough community engagement, to have everyone from across the city have a voice in how this money is being used,” said Farnsworth.
The surge in recent gun violence in the Twin Cities has claimed the lives of several children, leaving community members grieving and demanding change.
Legislators are first tackling less contentious issues, in order to prevent a government shutdown. GOP Senator Paul Gazelka says there is only so much Republicans will compromise on when it comes to policing.
Feven Gerezgiher reports:
With just over a week left of budget negotiations in the special session of the Minnesota State Legislature, public safety is last on the agenda.
Governor Walz said legislators are first tackling less contentious issues, in order to prevent a government shutdown.
GOP Senator Paul Gazelka said there is only so much Republicans will compromise on when it comes to policing.
“We don’t think right now the message is really about police accountability, it’s helping the police keep the streets safe,” said Gazelka, “and so that’s why we really would rather wrap up right now and call it good.”
Racial justice activists submitted over 65,000 signatures to the governor’s office last week in support of reforms, stressing urgency for police accountability given recent high-profile killings.
CAIR-MN’s Mohamed Ibrahim said he is frustrated by the lack of action during a historic moment.
“All we've seen is lip service, we've seen politicians show up to funerals, we've seen politicians say that they will demand for things to change, yet we don't see the change.”
Ibrahim said it feels like police accountability efforts have lost ground.
“What we need to do is we need to stop negotiating from Republican standpoints and actually hold the line and actually make sure that if we do not get any police accountability measures passed that are meaningful, that we do not compromise on anything,” he said.
The state legislature needs to wrap up the special session by July 1 in order to avoid a government shutdown.
Eleven mayors from across the country - including Saint Paul Mayor Melvin Carter - have launched an initiative pledging reparations for American descendants of slavery. The coalition is pushing for federal reparations legislation, while also committing to setting examples at the local level.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
Eleven mayors from across the country - including Saint Paul Mayor Melvin Carter - have launched an initiative pledging reparations for American descendants of slavery.
“It's how we finally bring some resolution to the fact that our country, for hundreds of years, legally practiced the practice of kidnapping and slaving African captives here on this soil, and that every single aspect of our American economy is built on that legacy,” said Carter.
The coalition, called Mayors Organized for Reparations and Equity, is pushing for federal reparations legislation, while also committing to setting examples at the local level.
Trahern Crews is on St Paul’s advisory committee. He said local initiatives are key, since city governments have participated in creating racial disparities in homeownership, employment, education, and healthcare:
“If they got money to build stadiums with taxpayer money, then they got money to pay the descendants of slavery who they have harmed since the City of St. Paul and Ramsey County has been a political entity,” said Crews. “But reparations also isn't just cash payment. It’s also looking at land. It's also looking at housing. It’s also looking at business development.”
Crews pointed to city control over the police department, which he said is the deadliest in Minnesota per capita.
“Another part of reparations is cessation or stopping the wrong from happening,” said Crews. “So St. Paul needs to stop police brutality, Saint Paul needs to stop housing discrimination.”
In January, the City of Saint Paul apologized for its role in institutional racism, and committed to making amends.
The reparations advisory committee will convene for a year starting in July. In addition to making recommendations to the city government, its work includes educating and learning from residents about reparations possibilities.
After a year marked by trauma, Twin Cities Black communities gathered to mark Juneteenth with music, food, and conversations about justice.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
This Saturday, hundreds of Twin Cities residents celebrated a warm, sunny Juneteenth.
Gaye Adams Massey is CEO of YWCA Saint Paul. This year, the YWCA held Juneteenth festivities publicly for the first time, just blocks from the historic Black neighborhood of Rondo.
“This has been such a year for all of us with COVID, with a real focus on racial injustice in our communities,” said Adams Massey. “And looking for opportunities to celebrate something as important as Juneteenth with our entire community, we thought was a fun and special thing to do.”
The celebration featured local talents T. Mychael Rambo and Thomasina Petrus, while also showcasing upcoming stars such as the Walker West Youth Jazz Ensemble.
In Minneapolis’s Seward neighborhood, LaDonna Sanders-Redmond offered libations to the ancestors before a food justice panel.
“Frederick Douglas...Nat Turner...Rosa Parks...Fanny Lou Hamer….ase, ase, ase,” she said.
While many embraced the day to be in community, the legacy of Juneteenth was not far from their minds. Kevin Reese is the founder of Until We Are All Free, an organization that supports incarcerated people and their families. He said the day reminds him of all those beaten, brutalized, murdered, or lynched.
“The next step is reparations,” said Reese. “The next step is we need to rewrite the Constitution. And we need to do reparations first and let everybody come back to the table on equal playing fields. And until we do that, everything else that we're doing is just dressing.”
The new federal holiday recognizes the end of slavery in 1865. But activists worry the new holiday is an empty gesture if it isn't accompanied by meaningful racial progress.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
Thursday, President Biden signed a bill making Juneteenth a federal holiday to commemorate the end of slavery in the U.S. Minneapolis City Council made it a paid city holiday earlier in May. Councilmember Andrea Jenkins said Juneteenth was important to highlight given the inequities uncovered over the past year.
“I really hope that people are taking the time to reflect on, you know, the very dark chapter in American history that was slavery,” said Jenkins. “And then subsequently, reflect on all of the work that we must continue to do.”
The Emancipation Proclamation passed in 1863. But it wasn’t until June 19, 1865 when enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas learned of their freedom. Slavery would not be abolished, however, until 6 months later with the ratification of the 13th amendment.
Today, Juneteenth is celebrated with community-led programming like black-owned bazaars, sweet potato pie jubilees, and local storytelling.
With the broader recognition of the holiday, writer and doctoral student Ebony Adedayo is concerned that Juneteenth will be co-opted by capitalists, turning it into another MLK Day.
“These symbols of our resistance, corporations and organizations get their hands around and weaken and reduce them to soundbites that don't even honor black people,” said Adedayo.
She pointed to the pushback in some states against critical race theory being taught in schools.
“We don't want to talk about structural racism, we don't want to talk about the root causes of these things. But we want these holidays and these festivals and these snapshots that show that America is making progress, even though we're not.”
Adedayo said she will be commemorating Juneteenth, but she willcontinue to resist and to fight against racism all year long.
As construction on the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline continues, so too does resistance against its completion. The Fire Light Camp set up base near La Salle Lake for eight days before being escorted out by the Clearwater County Sheriff, at the request of Enbridge.
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Tiffany Bui reports:
As construction on the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline continues, so too does resistance against its completion.
In northern Minnesota, protesters have set up several camps along the pipeline route to stop construction work from advancing. The Fire Light Camp set up base near La Salle Lake for eight days before being escorted out by the Clearwater County Sheriff, at the request of Enbridge.
During the occupation, the Indigenous women of the RISE Coalition led activists in marches and ceremonies. One of the leaders, Nancy Beaulieu, said the encampment serves as a reminder of the treaties signed between the US government and American Indian tribes.
“The intent of those treaties were to live in peace, and to leave the earth in a better way than we found it,” explained Beaulieu. “Treaties are nonpartisan, and it isn't a matter of choice - it's an agreement that we have. And agreements are legal and binding - treaties are very much alive today as the day they were signed.”
These treaty agreements protect American Indians’ right to hunt, gather and fish. Activists say the risk of a pipeline oil spill runs counters to these rights - and threatens the environment during an ongoing climate crisis.
“We can't count on Walmart and bottled water to save the future,” quipped Beaulieu.
Audio credit: Honor the Earth
A Minnesota Court of Appeals decision has presented a major setback for the movement, as judges backed key project permits for Enbridge on Monday.
Deona Marie Knajdek was at an Uptown intersection mourning the death of Winston Smith with other protesters when a man rammed his car at high speed into Knadjek’s vehicle, which was parked to shield the crowd from traffic. Knadjek was killed and three others
were injured.
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Tiffany Bui reports:
June 16 would have been Deona Marie Knajdek’s 32nd birthday.
On Sunday, the mother of two was at an Uptown intersection mourning the death of Winston Smith with other protesters. A white man rammed his car at high speed into Knadjek’s vehicle, which was parked to shield the crowd from traffic. Knadjek, who was white, was killed and three others were injured.
Bystanders apprehended the man until police arrived - and were shocked at how officers treated them. DJ Hooker, an organizer with Twin Cities Justice 4 Jamar, said the officers who arrived at the scene wouldn’t listen as protesters tried to explain where the driver was.
“The cops decided that they were just going to start screaming that they were going to mace us, they came in with their big guns drawn,” Hooker said. “And just to have the cops come over and treat us like we were the villains or like we were the ones that were attacking people seemed absolutely crazy.”
On a livestream video recorded by local artist Lavish Mack, a uniformed officer can be seen yelling at bystanders who are demanding an ambulance for Knadjek.
Lavish Mack: Get an ambulance! Where’s the [expletive] ambulance?!
Police officer: It’s on it’s way! It’d be here a lot sooner if you guys weren’t in the [expletive] street!
Activists held a press conference at the State Capitol Monday, where legislators have yet to pass a police reform bill. Representative John Thompson, a friend of Philando Castile’s, said the activists wouldn’t have been there if they had passed “meaningful legislation.”
“For Christ's sake, Deona Marie will still be here because she wouldn’t be outside protesting injustice! C’mon y’all. We’re losing our lives here,” said Thompson.
Minneapolis city workers and armed police officers arrived in Uptown Tuesday afternoon to remove barriers created by activists to shield the vigil site for Winston Smith. Those holding space put up new barriers in response; Mayor Jacob Frey has vowed to remove those as well.
On June 15, 1920 a white mob killed three young Black men accused of the alleged rape of a white woman. At a Minnesota Humanities Center event on Monday, speakers reflected on the legacy of lynching and racial violence in Minnesota.
Feven Gerezgiher reports:
June 15 marks the anniversary of the 1920 Duluth lynching, when a white mob killed three young Black men accused of the alleged rape of a white woman.
At a Minnesota Humanities Center event on Monday, law professor John Bessler said racially motivated killings are not uncommon in Minnesota history.
In the 19th century, both state sanctioned executions and lynchings occurred in Minnesota with executions fueled by this desire for vengeance or revenge and lynchings fueled by societal outrage at those responsible or thought to be responsible for heinous crimes.
Bessler referred to examples like the 1862 mass hanging outside Mankato of 38 Dakota men charged with war crimes, the largest mass execution in U.S. history.
In addition to the public lynching of three men, a fourth - Max Mason - was convicted of the rape, despite there being no supporting evidence.
He served five years in prison after which he was released on the condition that he leave the state. He died in Memphis in 1942. Last June, 100 years later, lawyers Jerry Blackwell and Corey Gordon won Mason a posthumous pardon. The pardon came just weeks after the murder of George Floyd. Blackwell said the pardon is only a small steppingstone on the path to racial justice.
The fact that the majority of posthumous pardons have gone to African-Americans underscores the importance of the posthumous pardon as a vehicle for shining light on the racial injustices of the past and also helping the nation itself as a whole with curing some of the problems we have with social and moral amnesia. // And we can’t address or fix that which we don’t acknowledge even exists.
The pardon was the first of its kind in Minnesota.
On June 3 members of a federal task force shot Smith on top of a parking garage in Uptown. According to authorities, they were attempting to arrest him when he fired his weapon from the vehicle. But according to an eyewitness' attorney, Smith didn't have a gun.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
Over the weekend, both a funeral and a rally were held for Winston Smith, a 32-year-old Black man. On June 3 members of a federal task force shot Smith on top of a parking garage in Uptown. Authorities said he had a warrant for a felony firearm violation. They said they were attempting to arrest him when he fired his weapon from the vehicle.
At a press conference late last week, legal representatives for the only eyewitness to the incident came forward.
“She never saw a gun on Winston Smith and she never saw a gun inside the vehicle at any time,” said attorney Racey Rodne.
The eyewitness was in the car with Smith after a lunch date when deputies circled and fired at them from unmarked vehicles.
“We now ask for the government to come forward and show us what they have to support this narrative that they have created which has already been disproved in part from the outset and is now contradicted here today,” said Jeff Storms, the lawyer representing Smith's family.
The absence of body camera footage has been a point of contention. Both the Hennepin and Ramsey county sheriff’s offices have stated they will no longer be participating in the federal task force until body cameras are implemented. The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) reports that deputies from both departments fired the shots that killed Smith.
“Typically when a U.S. Marshal Service in a particular district kills someone, it is the local bureaucratic agency that investigates those police killings,” said lawyer and activist Nekima Levy Armstrong. “Usually, it is not the federal government. And that's been part of the problem.”
Levy Armstrong said the BCA is unsuitable to lead investigations, in part due to conflicts of interest. She is pressing the White House to establish an independent investigation into Smith’s death.
From northern Minnesota to the metro area, protesters have mobilized this week against the construction of the Line 3 oil sands pipeline. The movement is led by Indigenous women; they emphasize the pipeline violates agreements upholding the Anishinaabe people’s rights to fish, hunt and gather on treaty-protected land.
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Tiffany Bui reports:
From northern Minnesota to the metro area, protesters have mobilized this week against the construction of the Line 3 oil sands pipeline. The proposed pipeline expansion by Canadian company Enbridge would cross treaty-protected land. Activists say the pipeline poses an environmental risk to numerous bodies of water.
On Thursday, over 120 protesters gathered in Gold Medal Park in Minneapolis to show solidarity with their northern counterparts. Winona LaDuke, director of Honor the Earth, spoke at the rally after weeks of camping with other activists at Shell City Campground.
“I don't feel like our water, our land should go to a Canadian multinational trying to make a buck at the end of the fossil fuel era,” said LaDuke. “That's not right. That's not right.”
The protesters main goal was to pressure state Senator Amy Klobuchar to denounce the pipeline. Speakers at the rally want Klobuchar to help convince the Biden administration to halt Line 3, just as it did the Keystone XL pipeline.
Demonstrators linked the protests to Line 3 to other social justice movements. Beatrice Ogeh says she’s concerned about the influx of male pipeline workers to areas where Indigenous women live on tribal reservations.
“These pipelines really perpetuate a lot of sexual assault against Indigenous people. These man camps … put a lot of the women at risk,” said Ogeh.
A coalition of groups called Treaty People Gathering have set up camp in northern Minnesota to resist pipeline construction. Some have even chained themselves to the construction equipment. Activists say this was their biggest move yet against the pipeline, with 2000 protesters attending and nearly 200 arrested.
The movement is led by Indigenous women; they emphasize the pipeline violates agreements upholding the Anishinaabe people’s rights to fish, hunt and gather on treaty-protected land.
At PYC Arts and Technology High School, students are learning how to navigate and address police and community violence. The class covers policing past and present, public safety models in other countries, and the role of youth in liberation struggles. The community-based course was created in response to the reality of students’ lives.
Feven Gerezgiher reports:
At PYC Arts and Technology High School, students are learning how to navigate and address police and community violence. Social studies teacher David Boehnke said the school started a community-based class last year to connect with students’ lives.
“We’re in North Minneapolis. People are overpoliced and underprotected. There’s a lot of shootings that happen here. We actually had a bullet hit our building this year,” said Boehnke. “It’s a very personal and daily issue for folks.”
The class covers policing past and present, public safety models in other countries, and the role of youth in liberation struggles.
On Tuesday, the class watched a video by local comedian and activist Winston Smith, Jr., who was shot and killed by members of a federal task force last week. In the video, which he posted to Instagram, Smith encouraged others to learn from his past.
“Why am I even here? Cus hopefully it helps somebody, one person. As long as one helps that person. Cus I am that person that need that help. I was that person that needed that help…I wish it was a person talking, giving me advice, giving me a head’s up on how to think. I felt like when I go through a situation I ain’t have no one to talk to.”
Students Ronald Carlson and Donte Beck say the class has allowed them to engage with current events.
“We’re kinda going over things as they happen and it’s kind of like processing how we feel about it, just kind of like what we can do about it. What we can do to change it. What needs to change,” said Carlson. “Like actual current world problems,” Beck added.
In May, PYC students hosted a community conversation on self-governance. Over 30 Northside residents attended, sharing experiences and exchanging advice with youth on community issues.
PYC students say they plan to continue holding these conversations.
Racial justice activists say it's unacceptable that none of the members of the federal task force were wearing body cams when Winston Smith was shot and killed in Minneapolis late last. Although the Department of Justice passed a policy in 2020 allowing officers to wear body cameras on federal task forces, authorities say it had not yet been implemented by the Minnesota task force.
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Tiffany Bui reports:
Minneapolis city workers returned to George Floyd Square at dawn Tuesday to reopen the intersection. This was the second time crews arrived in less than a week. Those at the square moved quickly to create makeshift barriers to block off vehicle traffic.
Many parts of the memorial such as the community gardens, flowers, pictures and the iconic fist statue remain intact, although some are now behind concrete barricades.
In other news, activists are calling for the resignation of the head of the U.S. Marshals for the District of Minnesota Ramona Dohman. The agency was involved in the fatal shooting of Winston Boogie Smith Jr.
“We know that they are not doing the right thing, even when people are looking and filming for nine and a half minutes. How can you expect them to do the right thing when nobody's looking and the body cameras are off and the squad footage is nonexistent?” asked activist Toussaint Morrison.
The police and media have also been criticized for spreading misinformation that Smith was a murder suspect. Lawyer Nekima Levy Armstrong said the U.S. Marshals have long perpetrated violence against Black people.
“It's important for people to understand that the Marshals are the oldest federal law enforcement agency in the history of our country,” explained Levy Armstrong. “And in 1850, marshals were being used to round up fugitive slaves. And just like they did from 1850 to 1864, they're still rounding up Black people and denying them access to their freedom.”
Although the Department of Justice passed a policy in 2020 allowing officers to wear body cameras on federal task forces, authorities say it had not yet been implemented by the Minnesota task force.
Black Table Arts hosts events and writing workshops. Over the last couple of months it has served as a community hub, handing out gas masks to protestors and holding healing space during the Derek Chauvin trial. This Friday it's hosting “Embracing Our Roots,” a speaker series about the history of Black literary arts in Minnesota.
Samantha HoangLong reports:
There was a packed room at Black Table Arts last Friday night for “Chai and Chill,” an open mic event for Black artists to share their poetry and connect with one another.
“It's very simple. It’s fun. Black folks checking in with one another. It’s a function of joy,” says Program Director Donte Collins.
Black Table Arts has been empowering Black artists in the Twin Cities community since 2016, but didn’t open a physical space until February. The co-operative is located just blocks from where the third precinct of the Minneapolis Police Department burned down. Executive Director Keno Evol says the space grew out of a flood of financial support the non-profit received in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.
“We had a conversation with the community at the time called Imagine Black Space Together; how should we respond to the support that we’re getting?” Evol said. “Let’s have a home base for black artists; that’s literally how the co-operative came about.”
Black Table Arts hosts events and writing workshops, and over the last couple of months, has served as a community hub, handing out gas masks to protestors and holding healing space during the Derek Chauvin trial.
Evol says the goal is “to have a space that is unapologetically black where folks can just be themselves and breathe a little bit easier.”
Collins says the space allows people to really see each other in their communities, especially in times of resistance.
“I believe that this space allows folks to look at each other and to ask each other what we need and not to ask those who wish to harm us and wish us gone,” Collins says.
This Friday Black Table Arts is hosting “Embracing Our Roots,” a speaker series about the history of Black literary arts in Minnesota.
32-year-old Smith was shot and killed during an attempted arrest by a federal task force Thursday. Authorities say there is no bodycam or squad car video of the incident, which took place on top of a parking ramp in Uptown Minneapolis. Smith was a father to three children, a comedian, a musician and a social media personality.
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Samantha HoangLong reports:
Just days after the one year anniversary of George Floyd’s murder, protestors gathered in South Minneapolis over the weekend demanding transparency and accountability for Winston Smith, a 32-year old Black man.
Smith was shot and killed during an attempted arrest by a federal task force Thursday. Authorities say there is no bodycam or squad car video of the incident, which took place on top of a parking ramp in Uptown Minneapolis. Smith’s sister, Tieshia Floyd, wants a thorough investigation.
“We’re asking for transparency, video footage, just solid evidence,” Floyd said. “My brother was kind. No, he wasn’t perfect. None of us are. He was trying to turn over a new leaf but they took that away from him. They’re using his past to tarnish his character.”
Smith was a father of three children, a comedian, a musician and a social media personality whose many followers knew him as “Wince Me Boi.”
“If you knew him, he was a comedian. So this doesn’t sound like him. He was funny, full of love and life, and I’m not just saying that because I’m his sister,” Floyd said.
As the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigates, the community continues to demand more details around Smith’s death.
On Thursday morning, neighbors near George Floyd Square awoke to find that city workers had removed the concrete barriers that blocked off 38th and Chicago. City officials say this is the first phase of a three year plan. Some local organizers criticized the city for not alerting caretakers of the community space.
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Tiffany Bui reports:
On Thursday morning, neighbors near George Floyd Square awoke to find that city workers had removed the concrete barriers that blocked off 38th and Chicago. Afterwards, volunteers arrived to hand out food, replant flowers and put up makeshift barriers.
Julia Johnson says though the concrete barriers provided a sense of security for the square, she believes the community would be able to fill that gap.
“I have faith in my community that … if another drop of blood is spilled, if one more person from our community is stolen from us, that we will erect another George Floyd square,” said Johnson.
City officials say this is the first phase of a three year plan. The plan includes building a roundabout encircling the statue of a fist at the heart of the square and investing in other projects in the neighborhood. Officials partnered with the Agape Movement, a group which seeks to connect law enforcement and community members. Group leader Steve Floyd, no relation to George Floyd, said at a city press conference that Agape wanted to reopen the square for businesses and to prevent shootings.
“The building that’s across the street from Cup Foods - we got African American men... looking to purchase that building,” said Floyd. “So all up and down that block is Black businesses, and basically through the shutdown, they were the ones being oppressed.”
Some speakers at George Floyd Square pushed back against the reopening. They say the city failed to communicate with those who regularly take care of the memorial. Vine Adams says the city’s action left her heartbroken and mad.
“For all the people who came to the square, who cried, who celebrated, who danced - did you do it for a roundabout?” Adams asked the crowd. “Did you do it for somebody to tell you when we done, when we finished, when we done grieving?”
Mayor Jacob Frey said officials didn’t expect to complete reopening the square Thursday, but they are continuing efforts to fully open the intersection to vehicle traffic.
While the celebration of Pride each June is becoming increasingly mainstream, trans rights activists say the space is not as inclusive as it should be – particularly for Black queer people.
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Tiffany Bui reports:
Marsha P. Johnson, a Black transgender woman, was a trans rights activist and a leading force during the 1969 Stonewall Riots. While the celebration of Pride each June is becoming increasingly mainstream, trans rights activists say the space is not as inclusive as it should be – particularly for Black queer people.
According to Iola Kostrzewski, “Pride is a celebration, but not everyone gets to take part in that celebration.”
Kostrzewski is a Black and nonbinary activist who is running for Minnetonka City Council. Kostrzewski says one year after the world watched Derek Chauvin murder George Floyd, anti-transgender legislation and violence continues to run rampant. To them, Pride is something they observe, rather than celebrate.
“I'll order the pride sign from Twin Cities Pride, but when it comes to celebrating it, no, I observe it,” says Kostrzewski. “I observe it, because that's what it will continue to be until everyone can celebrate Pride.”
Kostrzewski says they’re waiting for a year to go by without any murders of trans or non-binary people. Last year, according to the Human Rights Campaign, 44 were killed. Most of the victims were Black or Latinx trans women. Last summer, Kostrzewski and Alex Palacios, the chair of the Stonewall DFL caucus, held a protest at George Floyd Square to remember trans people who were victims of violence.
“That's the whole point behind Black Lives Matter,” says Palacios. “It's a push against oppression. It's an embracing of the inherent value of our very lives, let alone our identities. And if that's not addressed, then we can't move forward.”
The activists say while Black and queer communities carry generational trauma, they carry legacies of resilience too. And this keeps them hopeful.
This week people marked the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa massacre on a Black neighborhood , and mourned the loss of 215 Native children whose bodies were found in unmarked graves in British Columbia.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
This memorial day weekend people remembered countless lost lives; those lost in military service and those lost to racial violence. On Tuesday, President Biden commemorated the 100 year anniversary of the Tulsa massacre.
“For much too long, the history of what took place here was told in silence, cloaked in darkness,” said Biden. “But just because history is silent, it doesn’t mean that it did not take place. And while darkness can hide much, it erases nothing.”
In Oklahoma in 1921, a white mob killed hundreds of black residents and burned over 35 blocks of a prosperous Black neighborhood. The destruction displaced 10,000 people yet was largely erased from history.
Biden went on to say “Some injustices are so heinous, so horrific, so grievous, they can't be buried, no matter how people try.”
Also this past week, the Canadian government confirmed the discovery of the bodies of 215 indigenous children in British Columbia. The remains were found on the ground of a residential school that closed decades ago. Such schools were known for forced cultural assimilation as well as physical and sexual abuse. Mourners held a vigil in downtown Minneapolis on Monday.
Historian Peter Rachleff said this past year has unearthed painful history.
“Part of this awakening in the last year has also been an awareness of the way the past has been remembered,” said Rachleff. “We're in a great period of awareness that not only do the events in history matter, but how we remember them, how we tell the story of them, how we engage with them, is a critical issue.”
Rachleff said he’s hopeful this increased awareness ultimately leads to change, reconciliation and reparations.
In response to recent shootings that have left child victims in their wake, volunteers are posted at North Minneapolis hot spots to offer prayers and de-escalate volatile situations.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
Following weeks of gun violence in North Minneapolis, Pastor Jalilia Brown with Shiloh Temple International Ministries stood outin the Merwin Liquors parking lot with a sign that read “Do you need a prayer?”
When asked what people have wanted prayers for, she says most reply “safety and protection.”
Church and community leaders are “taking back the streets” with an initiative they call “21 days of peace.” This after recent shootings left two children dead and one in critical condition. Coordinator Jeremi Thomas said volunteers are posted at all the Northside hotspots. From 7 am to 1 am, he says they’re doing what police cannot.
“We’re just trying to change the atmosphere, so from prayer, just talking to get to know the people, trying to de-escalate anything that’s going on that could potentially turn into some harmful events,” says Thomas. “We’re just trying to be involved. And with us being involved, we feel like eventually the atmosphere would have to change.”
Thomas is from the Northside, where he has noticed things get worse over the last year. He says residents have been receptive.
Everyone wants hope. And I think if you’re dealing with people who don’t have hope, when they see people that do want change and do want better, it gives them hope even if it’s indirectly.
Organizers are inviting people to contribute to the street presence, to bring hope into North Minneapolis and the city at large.
Racial Reckoning: The Arc of Justice is a journalism initiative, created by Ampers, KMOJ, and the Minnesota Humanities Center, covering the trials of the former Minneapolis police officers charged with the murder of George Floyd, the community’s response, and the changes needed to create a more just society. Hear our programs on Minnesota public and educational radio stations across Minnesota.
Communities of color are often criminalized for their drug use. In the Derek Chauvin murder
trial, the defense attributed George Floyd’s death in part to his substance
abuse. But the frank manner in which Floyd's drug use was discussed in court
has helped break down the stigma of addiction.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
In the Derek Chauvin murder trial, the defense attributed George Floyd’s death in part to his substance abuse. Allie Carey is with the Steve Rummler HOPE Network. She says communities of color are often criminalized for substance use.
“It can still come as a surprise sometimes, the degree to which substance use continues to be framed as a personal choice, a personal failing, a moral failing, and used to justify a huge range of outcomes for the people who get impacted by it,” says Carey.
Despite this, Angela Reed says over the last year she has seen more people under the age of 25 seeking treatment for addictions. Reed is with Turning Point, an established North Minneapolis treatment center where George Floyd was once a client. She says the past year has brought open conversations around addiction.
“The way they did the trial, the way they talked about it openly right from the get go, that helped people also really understand and normalize what addiction is,” said Reed. “I mean, addiction is related to a medical condition, and there are a lot of factors that lead to people's drug use. And so to hear [witnesses say] that, you know, the death of his mother really triggered him.”
Reed says the best way to address substance abuse - and related violence - is to provide holistic social services.
“With African Americans, you might have someone who uses and their triggering factor might be, at the last week of the month, ‘I never have food for my kids,’” says Reed. “Or their trigger might be ‘I've worked 12 hours, I need to come home and cook, I need that extra energy.’ We call those the impacting factors, why we use, we’ll use, because we're dealing with trauma.”
Reed says whether for prevention or in treatment, community support is important for success.
For the Racial Reckoning Project, this is Feven Gerezgiher.
More than a dozen universities have created scholarships in honor of George Floyd. But critics say schools need to do much more to address inequities in education. Tiffany Bui reports.
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At George Floyd’s memorial service in June of last year, Scott Hagan, the president of North Central University in Minneapolis announced the creation of a scholarship in Floyd’s memory.
“Far beyond North Central University, I am now challenging every university president in the United States to establish your own George Floyd Memorial Scholarship Fund,” said Hagan.
More than a dozen universities have answered the call, with the University of Minnesota being one of the first. On the one year anniversary of George Floyd’s murder, the Carlson School of Business announced it would be establishing a scholarship to honor Floyd. The University of Minnesota has now created four George Floyd scholarships.
Fanta Diallo, a University of Minnesota alum and activist, thinks universities need to do more than create scholarships in Floyd’s name. To her, universities need to acknowledge their role in upholding racism in the status quo.
“If we're not calling out when, like, University cops are being racist, if we're not highlighting Black voices on campus, if we're not making safe spaces for POC students, if we're not doing all of those things and more, we are a part of the problem,” said Diallo.
Davarian Baldwin, a professor of American studies at Trinity College and a scholar focused on reparations at American universities, said the creation of scholarships is just one small part of the greater investments schools need to make into communities of color.
“If we end up developing a limited pool of college eligible students from a world not built to nurture their growth, and then place them in a college setting that has not been transformed to cultivate their development, then what have we really done?” asked Baldwin.
Baldwin suggests universities use their endowments to create affordable housing and other equity building projects.
For the Racial Reckoning project, I’m Tiffany Bui.
Feven Gerezgiher reports.
On the anniversary of George Floyd’s death, the community came out to commemorate his life and push for continued changes. In downtown Minneapolis, the George Floyd Memorial Foundation held a celebration with music, a community resource fair, and guest speakers from across the country. This is Dallas rapper Tony B.
"Still I got ties. recognize that my blackness kills, straight RIP to my peoples will, drop the gun don't shoot lil brother. they killed George Floyd, you dont think they’d shoot my brother?" rapped Tony B
Bianca Austin came here from Louisville. She said her family is still seeking justice for her niece Breonna Taylor.
"We need y’all more than ever right now. So we ask y’all to just keep standing, keep going. And in my message to George Floyd...we going to make sure you rest in power, brother (cheers). We down here. We’re going to make sure you rest in power," she said.
There was a similar remembrance at George Floyd Square, the intersection residents and organizers have occupied for the past year.
(music)
Anthony Galloway is a faith leader and co-host of Bearing Witness. He said community gatherings are a way to keep people activated.
"Celebration is part of us continuing that momentum. We have to be able to celebrate and show that we aren't going to go along with these things that hurt us." said Galloway.
Earlier in the day, preparations were interrupted by nearby gunshots. Despite the incident, hundreds gathered in honor of Floyd’s life. Other celebrations and demonstrations for George Floyd were held across the country and the world.
For the Racial Reckoning Project, this is Feven Gerezgiher.
"George Floyd should still be alive! Daunte Wright should still be alive! Jamar Clark should still be alive! Terrence Franklin should still be alive! Philando Castile!..." said Nekima Levy Armstrong, an activist who's been raising her voice since before George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police a year ago today.
This year has seen ups and downs - the spark of social change and the deaths of Daunte Wright, Ma’Khia Bryant, and others at the hands of police in the midst of a pandemic. As the Twin Cities honors the anniversary of Floyd’s murder, many still feel the pain of his passing.
Camden Nguyen lives blocks away from 38th & Chicago.
"Sometimes I’ve been dreaming about George Floyd and sometimes I pray for him and I pray that his family is safe and not so sad about when he died. And I pray that every black person is safe in their homes," said Nguyen.
For police victims’ families, the anniversary is an opportunity to come together to push for justice. Ma’Khia Bryant’s aunt Myra Duke said she finds this moment helpful.
"It’s been healing. And it's been therapeutic for us because we’ve been able to meet people that have just welcomed us and encouraged us and let us know that we are not in our fight alone." said Duke.
The remembrance events come in the midst of increased violence in the Twin Cities. Minneapolis resident Greg Coleman said all violence needs to be addressed.
"The loss of life of whether it's from a cop, whether it's from another black man, whether it's from another white man, it's something that takes a toll on you. I mean, we do have all this big celebration, but also last night, 10 people were shot. // The violence that's going on in the city, the violence that's going on overall in America is just ridiculous, whether it comes from the cops, whether it comes from citizens, whether it comes from whatever, we need to figure out something to try to figure out all this anxiety, all this understanding." said Coleman.
Remembrance events continue through Tuesday evening at George Floyd Square, but people across the world will always remember what happened there.
For the Racial Reckoning Project, I’m Feven Gerezgiher.
Samantha HoangLong reports:
Almost one year after the murder of George Floyd, art commemorating his life - and the movement that followed - was put on display at Phelps Park in Minneapolis. The art was created on plywood that was being used to board up storefronts in the days following his death.
Lessa Kelly is one of the people leading the effort to collect and preserve the plywood protest art. She’s the founder and executive director of Memorialize the Movement.
“What happened in Minneapolis last year was a historic event, and like all historic events, we want to record that. We want to keep those artifacts and preserve them so that we can look back on it and learn from it and that’s what I want to see here today. I want us to go back to the summer of 2020 when the boards were on storefronts and reflect on that and think about how we can be better as a community, how we can be better as a city and as a country so we don’t see this continuing to happen.”
Kelly began collecting and preserving the boards from businesses and artists last summer. She now has more than 800 pieces.
“I think these boards really spoke to me because they put words and images to emotions that I couldn’t explain at the time,” Kelly said.
Tony Pendelton used to live in the neighborhood, and passed by 38th and Chicago frequently. He came to the art display with his wife. He says the art is inspiring, and that it’s been cathartic to see how people are remembering George Floyd.
“History is always something that is incredible. It’s ongoing, it occurs. We’ll never forget George Floyd. We’ll never forget what happened to him and the inhumanity that was shown him. And I think this is what affects me, that says okay, he’s not a footnote in history. Change has happened because of him,” Pendelton said.
Events commemorating George Floyd’s death continue through Tuesday.
On May 25, 2020, George Floyd took his last labored breaths, while Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck. What happened that night reverberated around the world. One year later, we reflect on how George Floyd’s death galvanized a racial justice movement in Minnesota that was years in the making. Independent Journalist Georgia Fort looks at what progress has been made since then.
“George Floyd: A Year Later” was written and produced by Georgia Fort and Marianne Combs, with production assistance from Justus Sanchez and Erin Warhol.
“George Floyd: A Year Later” is a production of Racial Reckoning: The Arc of Justice, a journalism project created and supported by Ampers, Diverse Radio for Minnesota's Communities, in partnership with KMOJ Radio, The Minnesota Humanities Center, and with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. https://racialreckoningmn.org/
Rallies and many other events are planned across the Twin Cities for the next five days. Meanwhile, it looks like Congress will fail to pass the George Floyd Policing Act by May 25.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
Aniya Allen, the 6-year-old struck by a stray bullet, died on Wednesday afternoon. Hundreds gathered for a vigil in the evening, calling for an end to gun violence in North Minneapolis.
Meanwhile, state and national legislators continue to negotiate needed changes for public safety. President Joe Biden had urged Congress to pass policing reform by the anniversary of Floyd’s death on May 25th. A co-author of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, however, says it will not pass by that deadline.
Rallies and many other events are planned across the Twin Cities for the days leading up to the anniversary. Jacari Harris, executive director for the Floyd family’s foundation, wants to use the moment to reflect.
“When we look back to this past year, we asked ourselves what has changed,” said Harris. “Well, the George Floyd Policing Act has not been signed into law. That has not changed. When we look at elected officials, when we look at community development, when we look at so many issues, many things have not changed.”
Jeanelle Austin is the lead caretaker for the George Floyd Global Memorial. She said the anniversary allows people to be in community.
“When George Floyd was lynched last year, the world collectively grieved,” said Austin. “And I think there is something powerful and important to allow ourselves to pause to remember what we went through together and to hold space with one another. And to remember that we’re still here for one another. And we’re still moving forward toward the work of justice.”
The Floyd family will host a rally in downtown Minneapolis on Sunday. At George Floyd Square, the remembrance event is on Tuesday.
Ten Black, Indigenious, Latino and Asian American-led arts organizations in the Twin Cities and Dultuth are getting grants of at least half a million dollars each. The grants were given in recognition that these organizations have not enjoyed the deep and sustained investment that many predominantly white cultural institutions have received.
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Samantha HoangLong reports:
Ten Black, Indigenious, Latino and Asian American-led arts organizations in the Twin Cities and Duluth got news Tuesday of surprise grants of at least half a million dollars each.
One of the organizations awarded is Theater Mu, a company dedicated to celebrating and empowering Asian Americans through theater. Artistic Director Lily Tung Crystal says she’s grateful for the award — especially after the past year.
“It’s been a challenging time for the Asian American communities around the country with the rise in Anti-Asian violence, and we believe one reason for the violence is that Asian American stories are not told enough in the general media, like in film, television and stage, so we will continue our work in telling those stories in our theater,” said Tung Crystal. “And the funding will help us do that in that it will help us give work opportunities to our artists.”
The grants, totaling $7 million to be distributed over the next five years, were instigated by the Ford Foundation, and matched by the McKnight Foundation. McKnight Arts Program Director DeAnna Cummings says the Cultural Treasures initiative aims to honor the important work these POC organizations have done.
“Recognizing that these organizations are real treasures in our country, and that they have not received the kind of deep and sustained investment that many other predominantly white cultural institutions have received over time,” Cummings said. “These organizations are the bedrock of culture in our country, and that in fact, they should be thought of, recognized and held up as the treasures that they are.”
Other organizations awarded include Indigenious Roots, Ananya Dance Theatre, TruArt Speaks, and the Somali Museum of Minnesota.
Six year old Aniya Allen is the third child to be shot in North Minneapolis in as many weeks. Families say such shootings deserve as much attention as police brutality has received.
Georgia Fort reports:
Residents in North Minneapolis are grief-stricken and furious following the shooting of another child. Aniya Allen, the 6-year-old granddaughter of peace activist Kay G is in critical condition at North Memorial hospital. Aniya is the third child to be shot in the last three weeks.
Sondra Samuels, President of North Side Achievement Zone, spoke to the other two shootings on Monday.
“I am going to say the name cause the protestors aren’t here saying the name. So I got to stand here saying the name of Trinity, who got shot in the head on my block down the street from my house Saturday night. 8-years-old. I’m saying her name. Where are the other people?,” asked Samuels. “I guess we’re not saying her name because a white police officer didn’t shoot her in the head. I’m saying LaDavion’s name because Ladavion a 10-year-old on 35th and Morgan got shot in the head. Maybe, we’re not saying his name maybe we’re not marching maybe we’re not demanding change because a white police officer did not assault.”
A vigil for Aniya was held outside of the North Memorial Hospital. Meanwhile councilmember Philippe Cunninigham continues to call for community-centered solutions.
“I live in this neighborhood. I have heard the gunshots that have killed a 16-year-old. I heard the gunshots last night that shot a 6 year old. I live in the middle of this. We as city council members are not in an ivory tower. My family is impacted too. We are all in on disrupting the spread of the violence we are experiencing.”
This just one day after Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced new programs to address the ongoing gun violence.
Just days after Brooklyn Center passed aggressive public safety reforms, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey says his city is moving to make similar changes.
Georgia Fort Reports:
The trial for the former Brooklyn Center Police Officer who shot Daunte Wright has been tentatively set for December 6. The former officer, Kimberly Potter, appeared in court Monday afternoon for a pretrial hearing with her attorney Earl Gray.
This after a weekend vote by the city of Brooklyn Center passed a new public safety resolution. Jonathan McClellan, the president of the Minnesota Justice Coalition says Brooklyn Center is setting an example for cities like Minneapolis by moving so swiftly after Wright’s death.
“Here we are 35 days later Brooklyn Center has taken historic steps to be a beacon of hope and show not only the city but the State and country leadership by example,” said McLellan.
Meanwhile Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey says he is moving on public safety issues as well.
“We’re committed to ending traffic stops solely for low level offenses, such as small objects hanging from rearview mirrors, inoperable license plate lights, or a busted taillight,” said Frey. “Likewise, we intend also to be in coordination with the State of Minnesota around the issue of expired tabs violations, making sure that these are no longer the primary reason for the traffic stop to begin with.”
Frey also used this moment to announce another public safety effort. He says he plans to launch new programs to address the city's uptick in gun violence.
“This year alone, not even at the halfway point, 19 children have been struck by gunfire,” said Frey. “This is not acceptable. This needs to be a turning point right now for our city.”
The announcement comes one day after a 9-year-old was shot in the head at a birthday party in North Minneapolis.
On a farm an hour away from the Twin Cities, a cooperative is creating a respite from tense police-community relations. "The Fields at Rootsprings" offers a connection to nature for communities of color who've historically had limited access.
Feven Gerezgiher reports:
This Saturday, the City of Brooklyn Center passed a sweeping public safety resolution that would put policing under a new, public-health oriented department. The news was welcomed by the family of Daunte Wright, whose killing by Brooklyn Center police in April sparked protests and a militarized law enforcement response.
On a farm and retreat space an hour away from the Twin Cities, a cooperative is creating a respite from tense police-community relations. Rootsprings Cooperative member Erin Sharkey says black, brown, and queer people need a space for healing.
“The sort of ambient stress it has been to be in the Cities as a person of color over the last year has been really challenging,” said Sharkey. “It has felt like we are being surveilled where it just feels, we’re feeling it all the time, it's all around us. And so to be able to get away from that, to hear the sounds of nature, to connect with a slowness, to unplug from our devices - it's something we deserve.”
The retreat space, called the Fields at Rootsprings, has cabins, hiking trails, and a wellness center to facilitate rest.
The cooperative was given the opportunity to take over the long-established farm and retreat center after the uprising last summer. Sharkey says they center black and brown people reclaiming their relationship with land.
“There are lots of folks in Minnesota who understand the power of nature, understand the power of retreat, and have had that because of privilege, because of their families’ generational wealth,” said Sharkey. “Folks maybe aren't wealthy in other ways but it's part of Minnesota culture that a lot of folks have been able to go out north to have respite and connection with lakes, and with rivers and streams and forests.”
The cooperative is still raising funds to complete the purchase of the retreat center which officially opens to the public on May 24.
Poet and artist Joe Davis has been inspired by the experiences of the past year to co-create the "Radical Joy Sessions," featuring music, dance and storytelling. Davis says radical joy is more powerful than oppression.
Georgia Fort reports:
The trial for three former Minneapolis Police officers charged with the death of George Floyd is being pushed back from this August to March of next year. Judge Cahill said he’s postponing the trial because of the high-profile federal indictment announced last week.
Poet and artist Joe Davis said the postponement just adds to everything else the community has had to endure this year.
“Living in Minnesota after George Floyd I’ve experienced the grief and rage but I also have experienced the hope,” said Davis.
The experiences of the past year inspired Davis to co-create with other artists the “Radical Joy Sessions,” a virtual concert series created to celebrate Black joy and amplify Black voices.
“Radical joy is more powerful than oppression. It is a joy that can’t be policed,” said Davis. “When I say radical joy I’m talking about an embodiment of a deeply rooted connection to one’s culture and identity especially in times of communal grief and collective trauma.”
Davis said it’s important for people to have space to process their emotions “so we can move with more clarity and so we can create the world that we long to live in, a world of abundance, a word of joy, a world of possibilities.”
The next radical joy session is May 15, including music, dance, and storytelling.
With only five days left in the Minnesota legislative session, Governor Tim Walz, democratic representatives and faith leaders are calling on the Republican-led state senate to move with urgency on the police reform bills. Meanwhile, Judge Cahill found four aggravating factors in the death of George Floyd that would justify a tougher sentence for Derek Chauvin.
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Samantha HoangLong reports:
With only five days left in the Minnesota legislative session, Governor Tim Walz, democratic representatives and faith leaders are calling on the Republican-led state senate to move with urgency on the police reform bills. Representative Cedrick Frazier serves on the public safety conference committee:
“The good news is that we have provided several offers to the GOP senate. The bad news is that they have not responded to any of those offers. The bad news is also that they have provided several excuses as to why they have not responded to any of those offers,” said Frasier. “None that prevent them from responding to the pain, the grief and the heartache of community members that have been crying out for years, for decades, to have change and reform, to make the lives of all Minnesotans better.”
Frazier says GOP senators invited law enforcement to testify this past Monday.
“Fortunately, we have been engaged with law enforcement throughout this session and to have them in the room on Monday saying they largely agree with many of the provisions in the bill that will move us forward - that makes me hopeful and that keeps me hopeful,” said Frasier.
Meanwhile, Judge Cahill found four aggravating factors in the death of George Floyd that would justify a tougher sentence for Derek Chauvin.
The judge ruled that Chauvin abused his power of authority as a police officer and treated Floyd with particular cruelty. He also noted the presence of children when Chauvin committed the crime, and that three other officers were involved.
Based on those findings, the judge could sentence Chauvin up to 40 years, but experts say the most he will likely face is 30 years.
Chauvin is currently being held in solitary confinement at the state’s maximum security prison in Oak Park Heights. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 25.
Yes 4 Minneapolis is a Black-led campaign seeking to replace the Minneapolis Police Department with a new department of public safety. The campaign is proposing an amendment to the Minneapolis city charter requirement for a police department. Organizers recently submitted over 20,000 signatures to the city council to get the amendment question on the ballot in November.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
While state and national legislators debate the future of policing, Minneapolis organizers are taking matters into their own hands. Yes 4 Minneapolis is a Black-led campaign seeking to replace the Minneapolis Police Department with a new department of public safety.
Black Visions Collective is part of the broad coalition behind the campaign. Senior communications strategist Kennedy-Ezra Kastle says policing and police reform legislation is not effective.
“Historically police departments were formed from slave catching institutions and served to protect property and to return black slaves back to white folks because black folks were seen as property,” says Kastle. “When we watch through the George Floyd protest or the Brooklyn Center protest recently from Daunte Wright, we can see that the police are not protecting the citizens but are protecting, in fact, buildings and property and so they have not escaped those horrendous origins.”
The campaign is proposing an amendment to the Minneapolis city charter requirement for a police department. Organizers recently submitted over 20,000 signatures to the city council to get the amendment question on the ballot in November.
The petition calls for a more holistic approach to public safety. Kastle says a new department should be formed with the community leading the decision-making process.
“This department doesn't just focus on the policing of historic black and brown communities, but it focuses on safety as a whole making sure we can tie in mental health professionals when someone is having a mental health crisis, making sure we utilize the Office of Nonviolence Prevention in Minneapolis, so that we can use the violence interrupters who have been there and who have a track record of breaking up violence,” says Kastle.
The Yes 4 Minneapolis campaign will seek public input over the summer on the proposed amendment.
In an open letter on social media, Minneapolis councilmember Phillipe Cunningham says his efforts to address gun violence have been blocked by Mayor Frey and the police department.
Georgia Fort reports:
Ward 4 City Councilmember Phillipe Cunningham is calling on Mayor Jacob Frey to come up with a plan to address the gun violence in North Minneapolis. Cunningham addressed the mayor in an open letter on social media.
“I’ve reached a place as a councilmember where I can’t quietly try to bring this mayor along in prioritizing North Siders and our lives here,” said Cunningham. “Instead I had to bring it out to the public, so folks can see what I have been dealing with.”
Cunningham says he has a responsibility to his constituents and they deserve to know his efforts are continually road blocked by the Mayor and the Minneapolis Police Department.
“This is about life or death. I live in one of the hottest hotspots in North Minneapolis. 78 shots fired just a couple of days ago, 2 children killed blocks from my house,” said Cunningham. “We need this to be urgently addressed. Children are dying. We need a plan Mayor, what is the plan?”
The Mayor did respond to Cunningham. According to Fox 9 News a part of his response said “I would encourage you to support Chief Arradondo’s request for increased staffing levels moving forward.”
Cunningham says that’s not the solution:
“In no way is this asking for simply more police. When we talk about comprehensive public safety we’re not just talking about reducing police violence we are talking about reducing community violence.”
Cunningham says he wants to take intel from the MPD and the Office of Violence Prevention to identify key groups committing violent behavior and provide resources to their families. Providing a way out is a strategy Cunningham says has been proven to work nationally.
Samantha HoangLong reports:
Less than a month after veteran police officer Kim Potter shot and killed 20-year-old Daunte Wright during a traffic stop, Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliot presented Saturday a series of proposals that would revamp the city’s police policies and operations.
"This resolution is the first step to a community centered process that will ultimately remove police from traffic enforcement and create a new department of community safety and violence prevention," said Mayor Elliott.
The resolution would direct police officers to give citations instead of making arrests for any non-moving traffic infraction or non-felony warrant. This could prevent deaths like Daunte Wright’s, as officers tried to arrest him for a non-felony warrant.
The proposal also includes a “Community Response Department,” which would dispatch unarmed staff to respond to low-level traffic violations and mental health calls instead of police.
"Brooklyn Center can do better, Brooklyn Center must do more, and Brooklyn Center is ready for change," said Mayor Mike Elliott.
If approved by the city council, a committee of civilians and experts will work out the plan’s details and budget.
Audio for this story was provided by KARE11.
Meanwhile, the city released Potter’s service file late Wednesday, overviewing some of her 26 years working in the Brooklyn Center Police Department. The file includes a commendation from the police chief in 2007 for her handling of a both suicidal and homicidal suspect. It also noted a handful of reprimands.
Both the police chief and Potter resigned two days after the shooting. According to the police department, Potter grabbed her gun instead of her taser. Her next court hearing is May 17.
Audio credit: KARE 11
With a little over a week left before the end of the Minnesota legislative session, the House and Senate have yet to agree on policing reforms.
Feven Gerezgiher reports:
With a little over a week left before the end of the Minnesota legislative session, the House and Senate have yet to agree on policing reforms.
At a hearing Thursday, the mother of Daunte Wright and relatives of other victims of police testified before a joint committee.
“You have the power today to spare so many people the grief that we’re carrying, that we’re going to be carrying for the rest of our lives,” said Katie Wright. “I’m asking you to do the right thing and vote for these bills in Daunte’s name.”
The committee heard additional testimony from police, researchers, and community organizers in favor of statewide policy changes.
If passed, the bill would end no-knock warrants, as well as police-only responses to mental health crisis calls. It would also increase public access to body camera footage. Deputy Director of CAIR-MN Mohamed Ibrahim said opponents to the bill point to legislation passed last year after the death of George Floyd.
“The rhetoric we’re hearing from Republicans is that we haven’t had enough time for those things to materialize, that's why we’re not able to get meaningful change,” said Ibrahim. “But the truth is they were all watered down bills that we knew were not the transformative changes that we need. It wasn’t enough to save Dolal Idd. It wasn’t enough to save Daunte Wright, and the others that died right after George Floyd.”
Ibrahim said Minnesota is at the center of a nationwide push for police reform.
“I think it's important to remember that this is a moment, that we may never get it another chance like this to make meaningful reform and meaningful change that is transformational,” said Ibrahim.
On Saturday, the committee will hear testimony on prison safety and corrections reform, issues which are also included in the bill.
The defense attorney filed a motion arguing that the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd was not given due process. The motion alleges that the publicity surrounding the trial intimidated the defense’s witnesses and influenced the jury. Legal experts say such claims are commonplace in legal proceedings.
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Feven Gerezgiher reports:
On Tuesday, the defense attorney for Derek Chauvin filed a motion requesting a new trial. The motion argues that the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd was not given due process. Among other things, it alleges that the publicity surrounding the trial intimidated the defense’s witnesses and influenced the jury.
Attorney Andrew Gordon of the Legal Rights Center says a new trial would not change the amount of publicity.
“When they're talking about a new trial, I don't honestly think they care necessarily about the publicity and I don't think they care necessarily about the protests,” said Gordon. “What they're looking for is a jury pool that is more favorable to someone like Derek Chauvin. So you need the jury pool and actual jury to get whiter, you need it to get more conservative. You'll likely need it to be a little bit more rural than the urban jury and the suburban jury that you got in Hennepin County.”
A juror for the Chauvin trial sparked concerns about bias when it was recently revealed he attended the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s March on Washington last summer, wearing a Black Lives Matter hat and t-shirt.
But Gordon says that such motions are common for anyone facing jail time. He says it is unlikely Chauvin will get a new trial.
“The rationale for filing a motion like this is not necessarily because you think you're going to win in front of the trial judge...The rationale for filing a motion like this is because you have to file it, you have to make the objection, so that an appellate court can look at the same issues.”
Gordon said that after sentencing, Chauvin will be able to take his case to an appellate court. From there, the case could be taken to the MN Supreme Court. The attorney says the process could take one to two years.
I’m Georgia Fort with the latest in Minneapolis
Brooklyn center Mayor Mike Elliot is addressing concerns of residents following a week of tear gas being used in front of their homes to disperse protestors demanding justice for Daunte Wright. Here’s what he said in an exclusive interview.
“People have said there is still residue left in the carpets and that kids are still having a reaction so we are contracting to have the carpets cleaned to remove what’s left of the tear gas.”
Two mothers in the apartment across from the Brooklyn Center Police department say their children are still suffering from health issues as a result.
“They were coughing instantly, choking at some point, vomiting, loose stomach.” (Second mom) “when a week goes pst and my son is having nose bleeds, I mean we are getting assurance from poison control but no assistance from the police”
Residents say their priority at this point is to relocate.
“We do need mental health resources but more importantly how can we move away from here into a more safer environment.”
Mayor Elliot held a listening session Monday evening to hear from community members on reimagining public safety within their city.
A local organization called our sisters keeper is also working with landlords to help residents who no longer feel safe get out of their lease.
On Tuesday, the lawyer for convicted murderer Derek Chauvin filed a motion for a new trial. We’ll have more on that later this week.
For the racial reckoning project, I’m Georgia Fort
Georgia Fort reports:
A total of nearly 300 protestors were arrested in Brooklyn Center the week following Daunte Wright’s death. 18-year-old Jonah Ralph-Guentouri was one of them. He says he was protesting peacefully and volunteering as a medic when he and other protestors were sprayed with tear gas and rounded up.
“I don’t like people getting killed by police repeatedly because of their color. Like it hasn’t even been a year since George Floyd - that’s why I go out,” he said.
136 people were arrested that night. Jonah says he was held over the weekend on a 36 hour hold.
“Every hour feels like a day. I was held from Saturday morning until Monday afternoon. They didn’t charge me - everybody was arrested on probable cause riot.”
Protestors were at the Brooklyn Center Police Department to demand murder charges for former officer Kimberly Potter. Potter, who has been charged with second degree manslaughter for shooting Daunte Wright, was released on bail just hours after being arrested.
Meanwhile Republican Senator David Osmek authored a bill proposing that anyone convicted of offenses related to protests, rallies or civil unrest be prohibited from obtaining any kind of financial assistance from the state. It has yet to be scheduled to be heard at the Senate.
Feven Gerezgiher reports:
This weekend, union organizers celebrated May Day, a holiday with a long history in South Minneapolis.
At the International Workers Day March on Saturday, racial justice organizer Monique Cullars Doty spoke to the labor movement’s solidarity with black and brown lives since the death of George Floyd.
“Solidarity indicates the people who are oppressed are coming together,” said Cullars Doty. “It takes all oppressed people. And laborers have been oppressed throughout history.”
Labor unions got some attention after the shooting of Daunte Wright by a former Brooklyn Center police officer earlier in April. Transit union leaders defended their drivers’ decision to not transport protest arrestees.
Labor organizers noted that the working class experience overlaps with the experience of marginalized communities. Troy Bowman, an SEIU janitor, said as an essential worker, he felt expendable.
“In the last year, I have had to quarantine two times missing over thirty days of work and I haven’t even been paid for that time.”
Bowman said he is frustrated that many essential workers did not receive hazard pay. Other laborers also shared concerns around union-busting and exploitation of immigrant workers during the pandemic.
Marcia Howard is an organizer at George Floyd Square and a union member. She said collective bargaining can be applied for both racial and economic justice:
“When we stand together, we show and prove each and every day the power of the people, do not doubt it,” said Howard. “We have seen it work. We are seeing it work. We will see it work. Stand with us.”
Howard says George Floyd Square should not reopen to traffic until all the police officers involved in Floyd’s death have been convicted.
Samantha HoangLong reports:
With only two and a half weeks left in the Minnesota legislative session, lawmakers are pushing for police reform bills to be heard and passed in the Republican-majority state senate.
The DFL-controlled House passed a public safety bill last week. It includes expanding civilian oversight on police agencies, adding stricter rules for no-knock search warrants, and restricting traffic stops for expired tabs. But, the Senate has yet to hear any bills on police reform this session. Senate Minority Leader Susan Kent is urging her colleagues to move quickly:
“Right now we have a window of time, while the world is watching, to be the leaders that our communities of color need us to be,” said Kent. “We have over two weeks to pass meaningful public safety reform. We’ve seen how fast the senate can act when they choose to.”
Senate Republicans say the first public safety conference committee meeting is set for Monday. DFL Representative Carlos Mariani, chair of the Public Safety and Criminal Justice Reform Committee, says now is the time to act.
“The public wants police reform, and it wants police to be their partners. We can achieve both,” said Mariani. “But the Senate needs to act, because it’s never the wrong time to do the right thing.”
Meanwhile, federal prosecutors are asking a grand jury to indict the four former police officers involved in the murder of George Floyd on charges of civil rights violations.
This comes after Derek Chauvin was found guilty on three murder charges last week. The other three officers face aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter charges. Their trial is set to begin in August.
If the grand jury votes to indict, the former officers will face federal civil rights charges in addition to the state’s cases.
Georgia Fort reports:
Over fifty people gathered in Saint Paul Wednesday demanding all cases of police violence be reopened for investigation. The gathering was spearheaded by Marilyn Hill, in remembrance of her son Demetrius Hill who was killed by Saint Paul Police in 1997. No officer was charged.
“They shot an innocent young boy who was 18 years old, had a career, was gonna graduate,” said Hill.
The 24th anniversary of Demetrius’ death prompted the gathering, just one week following the conviction of former police officer Derek Chauvin. Marilyn Hill was joined by nearly a dozen others who have lost loved ones at the hands of police.
The Minnesota Coalition for Police Accountability is pushing eight police reform bills at the state legislature, including one which would remove the statute of limitations on cases like Marilyn’s.
“So I’m here fighting for justice to get my case reopened,” said Hill. “Justice for all the mothers that’s child has been victimized and involved in a murder. I’m 62 years old - I’m tired of loved ones getting killed for non reason.”
Governor Tim Walz and the People of Color and Indigenous Caucus of the Minnesota Senate are urging the state legislature to pass meaningful reforms by May 3rd, so that they aren’t reduced to end-of-session bargaining chips.
Georgia Fort reports:
Fencing and barricades came down from around the Hennepin County government center Tuesday. While downtown Minneapolis may appear to be returning to normal in the wake of Derek Chauvin’s conviction, for some protestors things will never be the same.
19 year old Victor Ramierez Bustamente is one of several who were injured at recent protests.
“The doctor said I will probably have to see a plastic surgeon because I have a fracture in my face,” he said.
Bustamente was struck with what’s called a “less lethal munition” while demanding justice for Daunte Wright outside of the Brooklyn Center Police department. In order to disperse crowds, law enforcement used pepper spray, flash-bangs, rubber bullets and tear gas. The tear gas not only affected protestors, but families living in apartments across the street.
Doctors at the University of Minnesota have published new research showing the lasting negative health impacts of tear gas and rubber bullets. Erika Kaske, lead author on the project, says the research was inspired by witnessing law enforcement’s response to protests after George Floyd’s death.
“We wanted to quantify the impact these weapons had on our communities’ health,” she said. “We found that 89 people required professional medical care due to their injuries from less lethal weapons”
Kaske says researchers observed a high rate of both head injuries and respiratory injuries in protestors. They concluded that “less-lethal weapons” are “not appropriate for crowd control.”
Kaske says her team plans to use its findings to support policy changes that would improve public health and safety.
Georgia Fort reports:
The home of Washington County Attorney Pete Orput has been the site of multiple protests since he was selected to prosecute the Daunte Wright case. Activists gathered in the street, chanting “bring murder charges” and “do the right thing.”
Orput was given the case after the Hennepin County attorney said he had a conflict of interest. Although Orput has charged former Brooklyn Center officer Kim Potter with Second degree manslaughter, community leaders say it’s not enough. During one protest at Orput’s home he came outside to confront protestors, asking civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong if she wanted to try the case instead.
Armstrong led similar actions outside of Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman’s home last year after George Floyd was killed. The technique was successful in getting some of the protestors’ demands met.
“Gone are the days when people like Pete Orput can rest comfortably,” said Armstrong, “because he doesn’t know when we are going to pop up in front of his doorstep.”
Armstrong is calling for Orput to retire and for Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to reassign the case to Jerry Blackwell.
On Sunday dozens gathered for a third demonstration at Pete Orput’s home, including several families who lost a loved one to police. This time the protest took the form of a church service, complete with gospel music and prayer.
“I pray that God touches Pete’s heart. I pray that God delivers him from hard-heartedness, from thinking that he is in control when he needs to understand that God is in control,” said Armstrong.
Although Orput did not come outside, his neighbors did, using racial slurs and other derogatory language. The Minnesota Department of Corrections has identified one of Orput’s neighbors as its employee - who is currently under investigation.
Feven Gerezgiher reports.
Former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of the murder of George Floyd last week, but the trial has not ended just yet. Chauvin will be sentenced on June 16, after which he will have 90 days to file an appeal.
Meanwhile community members are demanding murder charges against the Brooklyn Center police officer who shot 20 year old Daunte Wright. Washington County Attorney Pete Orput is in charge of the prosecution. Monique Cullars-Doty says Orput failed to bring a conviction in the police killing of her nephew Marcus Golden in 2015.
“Pete Orput is not competent to present any cases that are involving people of color and African-Americans,” said Cullars-Doty. “He is not competent to understand the law as it should apply to us equally as it would to his white counterparts. And we see that he backs the thin blue line.”
Orput has a long history of donating his legal services to the Minnesota Association of Chiefs of Police. Cullars-Doty and others are asking the governor to turn over prosecution to Attorney General Keith Ellison.
Community members continue to advocate for police reform. Kimberly Handy-Jones says her son Cordale was killed in 2017 by St Paul Police.
“There is work to be done. Because Chauvin is just one out of so many murderous cops around the globe,” said Handy-Jones. “And as a mother who lost a kid, It's hard to digest what is happening to our children. We don’t get to see our sons’ and our daughters’ full potential. Because soon as we can get one cop convicted, here comes another murder. In Ohio, the same day, Ma’Khia Bryant. This is ridiculous.”
16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant was shot by Columbus police last Tuesday after calling them for help. According to the New York Times, there was an average of three police killings per day throughout the Chauvin trial.
Samantha HoangLong reports:
Two days after Derek Chauvin was convicted for the murder of George Floyd, hundreds gathered Thursday at Shiloh Temple International Ministries in Minneapolis to celebrate the life of 20-year-old Daunte Wright.
"My son had a smile that was worth a million dollars,” said his mother, Katie Wright. “When he walked in the room, he lit up the room. He was a brother, a jokester, he was loved by so many. He's going to be so missed."
Wright leaves behind his almost 2-year-old son, Daunte Jr.
"The joy that Junior brought to Daunte’s life was truly amazing - he was so happy and so proud,” said Katie Wright through her tears. “He always said he couldn’t wait to make his son proud… Junior was the joy of his life. He lived for him every single day. And now he's not going to be able to see him.”
The police say they pulled over Wright on April 11 because he had both expired tabs, and an air freshener hanging from his rear view mirror. They claim that the officer meant to tase him, but fired her gun instead.
Civil rights leader Reverend Al Sharpton delivered an impassioned eulogy, which served both to remember Daunte and rally people for the fight ahead.
“We come today as the air fresheners for Minnesota,” Sharpton said. “We’re trying to get the stench of police brutality out of the atmosphere. We’re trying to get the stench of racism out of the atmosphere. We’re trying to get the stench of racial profiling out of the atmosphere… We come to Minnesota as air fresheners because your air is too odorous for us to breathe. We can’t breathe in your stinking air no more!”
Many families who have experienced police violence attended the funeral, including those of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Emmett Till.
Feven Gerezgiher reports:
The Justice Department is beginning a widespread civil investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department. Attorney General Merrick Garland made the announcement the day after a jury found former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin guilty in the murder of George Floyd.
“Yesterday’s verdict in the state criminal trial does not address potentially systemic policing issues in Minneapolis,” said Merrick. “Today I am announcing that the Justice department has opened a civil investigation to determine whether the Minneapolis Police Department engages in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional or unlawful policing.”
The investigation will look at discrimination and use of excessive force by Minneapolis police, including at protests. Garland said it would also assess police accountability mechanisms. Should there be violations, he said the Justice Department can use its powers to ensure prompt and effective changes to policing practices.
“Building trust between community and law enforcement will take time and effort by all of us. But we undertake this task with determination and urgency knowing that change cannot wait,” said Merrick.
In press releases, both the police chief and the Minneapolis City Council welcomed the investigation.
Activists called on the Biden administration to intervene in the aggressive policing of protests following Daunte Wright’s death. Wednesday afternoon, with the trial over, law enforcement announced a demobilization of forces. Major General Shawn Manke spoke on behalf of the National Guard:
“We are going to be rapidly maneuvering our soldiers and airmen out of the Twin Cities metro area back to their communities,” he said. “You’ll see less of a visible presence of our forces tonight and we’ll continue to ramp down over the next few days.”
Manke said over 3000 National Guard soldiers and airmen were activated for the trial. Minneapolis Police Chief Arradondo said law enforcement agencies will plan a coordinated response for the trial of the other three officers involved in George Floyd’s death in August.
Feven Gerezgiher reports:
On Tuesday a jury found former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty on three counts in the murder of George Floyd. He faces up to 40 years in prison.
Thousands gathered outside the courthouse and at George Floyd Square, anxiously waiting for the verdict. The news came as a relief to many; neighborhoods erupted in cheers and honking horns. Floyd’s brother Philonise said his family can finally breathe again.
“I feel relieved today that I finally have the opportunity to get hopefully some sleep,” he said. “A lot of days that I prayed and I hoped and I was speaking everything into existence. I said I have faith that he will be convicted.”
Dr. Yohuru Williams is a civil rights scholar at the University of St. Thomas. He said the verdict is just one win in an ongoing battle.
“We’re still facing the spectre of what happened to Daunte Wright, we’re still talking about a national reckoning with race and policing in this country, and we still have to deal with foundational issues that contributed to this case,” said Williams. “It’s one thing to talk about and focus on what happened to George Floyd - it’s another thing to look at the unjust laws that contributed to this circumstance.”
Community activists continue to call for investments in public safety as well as the passage of eight police reform bills at the state legislature.
Three other police officers are charged with the murder of George Floyd. They are scheduled to go to trial on August 23rd.
Georgia Fort reports:
Closing arguments concluded Monday afternoon in the Derek Chauvin trial.
Defense attorney Eric Nelson stressed the complicating factors in Floyd’s death, including his health, his drug addiction and the distraction of vocal bystanders.
Special Prosecutor Jerry Blackwell told the jury to believe what they saw with their own eyes:
"You were told that Mr. Floyd died because his heart was too big,” said Blackwell. “And now having seen all the evidence, having heard all the evidence, you know the truth. And the truth of the matter is that the reason George Floyd is dead is because Mr. Chauvin's heart is too small."
Following closing statements, Judge Cahill provided the jurors with instructions and they left to begin deliberations. As soon as they were gone, Chauvin’s attorney Eric Nelson requested a mistrial.
"In rebuttal there were repeated comments about how we were... ‘shading’ was one example, that we were creating Halloween stories was another example... that we misrepresented facts and put words into Dr. Baker's mouth," said Nelson.
Judge Cahill denied the defense’s request. The prosecution stated, if Chauvin is convicted, it will seek an aggravated sentence because of the particular cruelty shown to Floyd.
Jury deliberations broke off at 8 p.m. Monday night and will resume Tuesday morning.
Hundreds gathered outside the courthouse, renewing their demands for Justice.
“We’re on the clock,” said Jaylani Hussein, Executive Director of CAIR Minnesota. “Either we wait until we get a guilty verdict or we stay in the streets until we get justice.”
Governor Walz, Mayor Frey and Mayor Carter held a press briefing to say they are trying to create space for protestors while also protecting business owners.
Feven Gerezgiher reports:
Protests echoed across the Twin Cities metro area this weekend, calling for justice for victims of police brutality and for a de-escalation of the law enforcement initiative called Operation Safety Net.
On Friday night, state troopers, National Guard, and local police arrested more than 100 protestors outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department. In the process, they also arrested medics, and physically assaulted reporters, drawing widespread criticism.
Amidst the chaos, however, people were able to find some solace. On Saturday, artists and healers hosted a community event at the memorial for Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center. Minneapolis resident Maiya Hartman said it’s been an emotionally exhausting week.
“I feel really tired but I am really grateful to be in this space today where I can once again be reminded of the fact that there is hope and there is really community and we are here to look out for each other,” said Hartman. “At the end of the day, that’s what’s going to find us liberation.”
St Paul resident Davu Seru said he is also hopeful... because he has to be.
“I remember ’91, I remember L.A. [when the police beat Rodney King]. So to some degree, I’m familiar with what it looks like when the system fails people too many times, particularly when it seems rather obvious what the right thing to do is. And because of procedure, we get stuck in the same cycle of denial and don’t do what’s right.”
Seru says the right thing to do would be to convict Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd.
The jury will begin deliberating its verdict after closing arguments.
Meanwhile, the funeral for Daunte Wright is scheduled for this Thursday.
Samantha HoangLong reports:
Authorities have arrested more than 130 protestors so far this week in the wake of Daunte Wright’s death in Brooklyn Center. Police and National Guard used pepper spray, tear gas, flash bangs and rubber bullets to disperse the crowds.
Several elected officials and community leaders have called for the end of such militarized actions. CAIR Minnesota President Jaylani Hussein says the so-called Operation Safety Net has only led to greater injustice.
“The governor right now needs to stop and end Safety Net. They are not helping, they are only hurting us,” said Hussein.
The Wright family is now represented by civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who also represented the family of George Floyd. He says the fact that the officer in Wright’s case has already been charged is a sign of change.
“We are making progress, so I want to encourage those protestors, those young people, those activists, that you are making a difference,” said Crump. “And Minneapolis, Minnesota, right here right now, is ground zero for that change.”
Meanwhile, the defense rested its case in the Derek Chauvin murder trial Thursday morning. Chauvin invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege and did not testify.
Court is in recess until Monday morning when both sides will give their closing arguments. After that, the jury will be sequestered and deliberate until they reach a unanimous verdict on Chauvin’s second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter charges.
Georgia Fort reports:
A request to acquit Derek Chauvin was denied Wednesday morning by Judge Cahill.
“The court’s duty at this point is to look at the evidence in a light most favorable to the state. Based on that standard, the motion for judgment of acquittal is denied.”
Cahill says he expects the trial to wrap up in less than a week, telling jurors they should expect closing arguments on Monday.
The decision to not acquit Derek Chauvin comes just three days after another unarmed black man was killed by police.
Prosecutors charged former Brooklyn Center police officer Kimberly Potter Wednesday with second-degree manslaughter. Jaylani Hussein, the director of CAIR Minnesota, said it’s not enough:
“What happened to Daunte Wright wasn’t an accident,” said Hussein. “What happened to Daunte Wright was murder. We are tired of this justice system - a system that works for White people, and a system that does not work for People of Color.”
The recent shooting of Daunte Wright in combination with the on-going trial have created a renewed sense of urgency for lawmakers. John Thompson, a friend of Philando Castile and now a House Representative, pushed to suspend normal duties until substantial legislation on police accountability is adopted.
“I’m asking this whole body to take a bold move and end all budget negotiations until they say Black Lives Matter here in this state,” said Thompson. “We have bills that are not even being heard in the Senate. Bills that will change the trajectory of our communities.”
As protests continue curfews are being determined city by city and assessed day to day.
Some of the audio for this story was provided by CAIR Minnesota.
Protestors took to the streets of Brooklyn Center for the third night in a row since a police officer shot and killed Daunte Wright. According to the Brooklyn Center police chief, Officer Kim Potter accidentally grabbed her gun instead of her taser.
Wright’s family was joined by the family of George Floyd and other victims of police violence in downtown Minneapolis Tuesday. Floyd’s nephew Brandon Williams said the officer’s “so-called mistake” is “unacceptable.”
“Can you blame Daunte for being terrified as a black man in the custody of police, when you just watched George Floyd murdered?” asked Williams. “At some point we need change. At some point, we need better policing. At some point we need officers to be held accountable, charged, convicted.”
According to Brooklyn Center’s mayor, both Officer Potter and Chief Gannon have resigned from the city’s police department.
Meanwhile, the state rested its case in the Derek Chauvin murder trial, allowing the defense to begin calling up its own witnesses. Use of force expert Barry Brodd testified that Chauvin’s actions last May were “objectively reasonable.”
“I felt that Derek Chauvin was justified, was acting with objective reasonableness, following Minneapolis Police Department policy and current standards of law enforcement in his interactions with Mr. Floyd,” said Brodd.
Brodd’s testimony countered those of the state’s witnesses, who said that Chauvin’s use of force was unnecessary and acted against the Minneapolis Police Department’s policy.
Samantha HoangLong reporting for the Racial Reckoning project.
Coverage of the Derek Chauvin murder trial was overshadowed Monday by statewide updates regarding the fatal police shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright in nearby Brooklyn Center Sunday afternoon.
The young black man was stopped by police for a traffic violation; within moments he was shot and killed. While an investigation is underway, Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon says the officer on duty accidentally drew and fired her gun when she meant to reach for her taser.
“This appears to me - from what I viewed and the officer’s reaction and distress immediately after - that this was an accidental discharge that resulted in a tragic death of Mr. Wright,” said Gannon.
Multiple elected officials expressed frustration at yet another life lost to law enforcement.
St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter says police violence needs to be tackled head on - not just in the police departments, but at the city and state levels.
"We have to know that Daunte Wright will not be the last name, will not be the last hashtag on this list, until and unless we take decisive and urgent action to ensure that he is,” said Carter.
Meanwhile the brother of George Floyd took the stand to give what’s called “spark of life testimony,” meant to humanize the victim. Philonise Floyd’s testimony took jurors back to George’s childhood. He shared photos of George as a young boy and told jurors how much he loved his mother.
“He would just lay up on her in the fetus position like he was still in the womb,” said Floyd. “And I’d say ‘Perry’ - because we called him Perry instead of George - and he would always say ‘Hold on, let me kiss momma before I come over there.’”
The defense declined cross-examination.
Georgia Fort reporting for the Racial Reckoning project
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating a police shooting Sunday afternoon in Brooklyn Center, just north of Minneapolis. According to his mother, 20-year-old Daunte Wright was pulled over for hanging an air freshener from the rearview mirror of his car. Moments later, he was lying dead in the street.
“All he did was have air fresheners in the car, and they told him to get out of the car. He got out of the car and his girlfriend said they shot him. He got back in the car and drove away and the car crashed,” said his mother through tears. “And now he’s dead on the ground since 1:47pm - no one will tell us anything.”
A crowd gathered at the scene. Many of them came straight from a protest at St. Paul Police’s Western District, where they were marking what would have been Justin Teigen’s 36th birthday. Teigen died at the age of 24 in 2009. His body was found in a recycling bin hours after fleeing an encounter with police.
Meanwhile, at George Floyd Square, three new full-sized billboards created by local artists have been put on display.
Seitu Jones says his piece stands as a reminder of what this work means for the community.
“With all the work that we’ve done and with this work here, it still is all about rethinking public safety. I mean that’s really why we’re here,” said Jones.
In the billboard, Floyd’s face floats against a blue background of words including “revolution,” “reform,” and “repair.” The billboard project is funded by the Northeast Sculpture and Gallery Factory. It is part of a community effort to share and preserve art made to memorialize Floyd’s death.
Samantha HoangLong reporting for the Racial Reckoning Projet
On Thursday, the jury in the Derek Chauvin trial heard expert medical witnesses testify as to how low oxygen levels led to George Floyd’s death. Pulmonologist and critical care physician Dr. Martin Tobin presented what he viewed after the first five minutes of restraint.
“We’re seeing that the level of oxygen has gone down to zero,” said Tobin. “That there is, at that point, there’s not an ounce of oxygen left in his body.”
Dr. Tobin explained that the combination of being handcuffed while held chest down on the street, and having knees to his neck and back would have seriously inhibited Floyd’s lung capacity. He pointed out moments throughout the video showing Floyd’s body resisting against these forces to find air.
“So he’s using his fingers and his knuckles against the street to try and crank up the right side of his chest,” said Tobin. “This is his only way to try and get air into his right lung.”
The defense’s stance is that George Floyd died of a drug overdose, NOT due to asphyxiation caused by Derek Chauvin’s knee on his neck.
But, later witnesses to the stand agreed with Tobin’s claim that drug use had NO impact on Floyd’s oxygen levels. Dr. William Smock, a Surgeon and Forensics Specialist with the Louisville Police Department, added that Floyd’s behavior was inconsistent with an overdose or with delirium.
“He's breathing. He's talking. He's not snoring. He's saying, 'please, please get off of me, I want to breathe. I can’t breathe,'” said Smock. “That is not a fentanyl overdose. That is someone begging to breathe.”
The experts noted that low oxygen levels would not show up in an autopsy.
Feven Gerezgiher reporting for the Racial Reckoning project.
A bit of back and forth during the Derek Chauvin Trial left a witness changing his testimony. BCA Special Agent James Reyerson was asked what he thought George Floyd was saying at a specific moment during his fatal arrest.
Attorney Eric Nelson: “Did you hear that?”
Reyerson: “Yes I did.”
Nelson: “Did it appear that Mr. Floyd said ‘I ate too many drugs.’?”
Reyerson: “Yes it did.”
That was BCA Special Agent James Reyerson’s response when he was questioned by defense attorney Eric Nelson. Nelson’s question was followed by a 3-second video clip. After a short recess, the Prosecution played over 15 seconds of the same video to give the witness more context to what other people were saying. Special Agent Reyerson then changed his testimony.
Assistant Minnesota Attorney General Matthew Frank: “Having heard it in context, are you able to tell what Mr. Floyd was saying there?”
Reyerson: “Yes I believe Mr. Floyd was saying ‘I ain’t do no drugs.’”
Frank: “So it’s a little different than what you were asked about when you only saw a portion of the video, correct?”
Reyerson: “Yes, sir.”
The defense’s stance is that George Floyd died of a drug overdose, not due to asphyxiation caused by Derek Chauvin’s knee on his neck.
Two more employees of the BCA took the stand, both forensic scientists. During their testimony, attorneys presented never before seen photos of inside of George Floyd’s vehicle. More than a dozen evidence samples were collected and tested included drops of blood and drug paraphernalia.
George Floyd’s brother Rodney was in the courtroom today speaking with court reporters briefly, he appeared to be emotionally drained.
Georgia Fort reporting for the Racial Reckoning project
Los Angeles Police Sgt. Jody Stiger took the stand Tuesday afternoon as the State’s expert witness on use of force. Having done extensive research on use of force policies nationwide Stiger concluded that Derek Chauvin’s use of force on George Floyd was excessive. Stiger said that initially, when Floyd was actively resisting arrest, the officers were justified in using force.
“However once he was placed in the prone position on the ground, he slowly ceased his resistance and the ex-officers should have stopped their force as well,” said Stiger.
Sgt. Stiger was still being questioned by the state when Judge Cahill abruptly ended court an hour early.
Meanwhile, outside of the courtroom, Reverend Al Sharpton held a public prayer followed by remarks from George Floyd’s family, including his brother Philonise.
“After we get this verdict, and we get this conviction, we’ll be able to breathe,” he said.
Court is scheduled to resume at 9:30 am Wednesday, however more pretrial hearings are scheduled before court. The Judge has stated he plans to make a ruling on the testimony of George Floyd’s friend Morries Hall. Hall has asked to plead the 5th in fear that his testimony could be incriminating. Hall was with Floyd when he died and is currently in jail on charges unrelated to Mr. Floyd’s death.
Georgia For reporting for the Racial Reckoning project.
The Minneapolis Chief of police Medaria Arradondo testified Monday afternoon denouncing the actions of former police officer Derek Chauvin.
“That is not our policy, that is not what we teach and it shouldn’t be condoned,” said Arradondo.
Arradondo is the first African American to serve as chief of the Minneapolis police department. He was appointed to the position following the abrupt resignation of the previous chief, who stepped down after Officer Mohamed Noor shot and killed a white woman in 2017. During Chief Arradando’s testimony he went on to share how Chauvin’s actions did not align with MPD’s ethics.
Prosecuting attorney: “Did you see the defendant or any of the officers, attempt to provide first aid to Mr. Floyd?”
Chief Arradondo: “I did not see any of the defendants attempt to provide first aid to Mr. Floyd. The defendant violated our policy in terms of rendering aid”
Arradondo also stated that in most situations a counterfeit $20 bill is not an arrestable offense. The chief was released from the stand after nearly four hours of testimony. He was followed by Commander Kate Blackwell who was in charge of training at MPD. She says she’s known Derek Chauvin for 20 years.
She says the maneuver Derek Chauvin is not something the Minneapolis police are trained to use. When asked how it differs from what they teach, she responded “I don’t know what kind of improvised position that is.”
George Floyd’s brothers were both in the courtroom Monday - one in the morning, and one in the afternoon. Meanwhile the chair set aside for Derek Chauvin’s family has been removed due to lack of use.
Georgia Fort reporting for the Racial Reckoning project.
The first week of the Derek Chauvin trial concluded Friday with one longtime Minneapolis officer testifying that Chauvin’s use of force on George Floyd was “totally unnecessary.”
“Pulling him down to the ground face down and putting your knee on the neck for that amount of time...it’s just uncalled for,” said Chief of Homicide Lt Richard Zimmerman.
Zimmerman has served on the force since 1985. He said Chauvin violated his training in using the most deadly level of force, adding that having Floyd in handcuffs had already reduced the threat to officer safety. Zimmerman’s criticisms echoed an earlier testimony by Chauvin’s former police supervisor.
Thursday the City of Minneapolis released survey results indicating local support for the reopening of 38th & Chicago as part of its public safety plan. However, some community members are skeptical. Organizer Marcia Howard challenges the narrative that local residents and George Floyd Square occupiers are two distinct groups.
“If you're in the space, you see that it’s residents, we walk to the barricades from our homes,” said Howard. “We’re residents who are just sick and tired of being sick and tired. And it’s our neighborhood. So we’re the ones that sweep the streets, we feed people, we house the houseless.”
Howard says the square is a center for art and mutual aid that has brought the neighborhood together. She says the city must continue to take meaningful steps toward police reform.
Until then, Howard says organizers plan to continue to resist the re-opening of George Floyd Square.
“It’s only after we get a modicum of justice that we'll talk about moving out of the way,” she said. “But to be clear, injustice closed these streets so shouldn’t justice open them?”
Feven Gerezgiher reporting for the Racial Reckoning Project
On the fourth day of the murder trial of Derek Chauvin, Courteney Ross - George Floyd’s girlfriend of nearly three years - shared their struggles with opioid addiction.
“We both suffer from chronic pain,” explained Ross. “Mine was in my neck, his was in his back. We both had prescriptions that were filled. And we got addicted. We tried hard to break that addiction many times.”
It’s worth noting that in the first week of the trial, there’s been a lot of discussion of Floyd’s character, even though it’s Chauvin who is on trial. Racial justice scholar Yohuru Williams says in cases like this, it’s typical that the burden of character falls on the victim.
“Unfortunately, in a legal context like this, you often have more protections for the person who’s on trial,” said Williams.
Williams says it’s fortunate so much of the incident was captured on video.
“This incident is documented from so many different perspectives,” said Williams. “And all of those seem to bear out the idea that George Floyd, while certainly agitated by the arrest and what was happening, didn’t do anything to provoke what we ultimately witnessed. 2:01
Now-retired Minneapolis Police Sergeant David Pleoger was Chauvin’s supervisor in May of 2020. He testified that putting a knee on someone’s neck is an acceptable use of force as long as the subject is resisting arrest.
Pleoger says he believes the physical restraint should have ended “when Mr. Floyd was no longer offering up any resistance to the officers.”
Minneapolis Police Chief Arradondo is expected to testify in court Friday.
Samantha HoangLong reporting for the Racial Reckoning project
Intensity continues to build in the courtroom following yet another day of emotional testimony in the Derek Chauvin murder trial.
A 61-year-old man who witnessed the death of George Floyd - Charles McMillian - broke down on the stand when the prosecution replayed footage of the moments leading up to Floyd’s death. In the footage you can hear McMillian pleading with Floyd.
Following McMillians testimony Attorneys for the State played multiple recordings including the body camera footage of all officers involved and surveillance from inside of Cup Foods. The surveillance footage shows George Floyd in the store interacting with multiple people, even laughing with another customer at one point.
A 19-year-old cashier testified Wednesday afternoon about the moment he realized George Floyd gave him a counterfeit 20 dollar bill.
“When I saw the bill I noticed that it had a blue pigment to it, kind of how a hundred dollar bill would have and I found that kind of odd,” said the cashier. “So I assumed that it was fake.”
The cashier said he now feels guilt for the choices he made that evening.
Outside of the courtroom, the community continues to protest demanding justice for George Floyd. Protestors once again wrote names of those killed by police on locks and hung them on the fence surrounding the government center; previous locks were cut off by the National Guard.
Georgia Fort reporting for the Racial Reckoning project.
A 9 year old who witnessed the death of George Floyd testified in court Tuesday against Derek Chauvin. In an exclusive interview with the Racial Reckoning project, the girl - who’s name is Judea - said she had to be brave in court like she was brave the day she saw George Floyd die.
“I met George Floyd’s daughter today,” Judea told reporter Georgia Fort. “She was pretty nice. Her mom kept crying, saying ‘thank you, thank you.’”
During Judea’s testimony the Judge decided not to transmit video of her or any of the other three underage witnesses who took the stand Tuesday. Prosecuting attorney Jerry Blackwell asked Judea how seeing Chauvin with his knee on George Floyd’s neck made her feel.
“I was sad and kind of mad,” said Judea on the witness stand, “‘cuz it feels like it was stopping his breathing and kind of hurting him.”
Judea’s cousin Darnella Frazier also testified in court. Frazier was 17 when she filmed the now viral video of Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd’s neck.
“It’s been nights I’ve stayed up apologizing and apologizing to George Floyd for not doing more and not physically interacting and not saving his life, but it’s not what I should have done - it’s what HE should have done,” Frazier said, indicating to Derek Chauvin.
While Frazier didn’t know Floyd, she says it could have been her father or her brother under Chauvin’s knee.
Georgia Fort reporting for the Racial Reckoning project.
Energy remains high throughout the city of Minneapolis with nearly a thousand protestors taking to the streets following the first day of the Derek Chauvin trial.
The prosecution held nothing back in opening statements, showing the viral video of George Floyd’s death to jurors within the first 30 minutes of the trial.
During the prosecution’s opening statements Attorney Blackwell presented a timeline that revealed Derek Chauvin kept his knee on George Floyd’s neck for more than four minutes after he became unresponsive.
“He doesn’t get up even when the paramedics come to check his pulse and doesn’t find one, Mr. Chauvin doesn't get up,” said Blackwell. “You’ll see the paramedic have taken the gurney out of the ambulance, have rolled it over next to the body of Mr. Floyd and you’ll be able to see Mr. Chauvin still doesn’t let up and doesn’t get up.”
The defense argued George Floyd was killed not by Derek Chauvin, but by a combination of the drugs in his system and pre-existing health issues.
Donald Williams, the last witness to take the stand on Monday, was a bystander who yelled for Chauvin to stop as he was kneeling on George Floyd’s neck. With a background of mixed martial arts Williams is being presented as an expert. He gave the jury a breakdown on the type of moves Chauvin was using, including what’s called a “blood choke,” and how he knew immediately that Floyd’s life was in danger.
“He was going through distress because of the knee, and he vocalized it - ‘I can’t breathe, I need to get up and I’m sorry,’” said Williams. “And his eyes slowly rolled to the back of his head.”
Members of George Floyd’s family, their lawyers and the Reverend Al Sharpton knelt in silence for 8 minutes and 46 seconds in front of the federal courthouse this morning. They say while Derek Chauvin may be in the courtroom, it’s America’s justice system that is on trial.
Georgia Fort reporting for the Racial Reckoning project.
Community members marched in downtown Minneapolis over the weekend, calling for justice for George Floyd.
Protestors pointed out there is a long history of police brutality against Black people in Minnesota... including Jamar Clark in 20-15 and Philando Castile in 20-17. Castile’s death was captured on video by his girlfriend, who live-streamed the incident. Yet, says Saint Paul School Board Member Chauntyll Allen, the officer involved was acquitted.
“With the Philando Castile case, we watched that brother get murdered. We watched the trial. We were hopeful when we saw that there were jurors of color. We thought that we could possibly get some justice... and still, there was no justice.”
The difference with George Floyd’s death is that the trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin is being live-streamed, for anyone to view in real-time. This is the first time that’s ever happened in Minnesota.
“We need this system to know that we’re watching,” said Allen. “It’s not just the Twin Cities, it’s not just the state of Minnesota. It’s not just the United States of America, but the whole entire world is watching this case.”
Tahlia Root, a student at the University of Northwestern in St. Paul, says watching jury selection made her question the judicial process and its fairness.
“I watched it and it’s crazy because they’re trying to be impartial and I am just battling internally with ‘what is impartiality?’ Are you actually being impartial or are you just being complacent with the situation? And how do we seek justice while also being impartial?”
Derek Chauvin’s murder trial resumes Monday morning when attorneys will give their opening statements.
Samantha HoangLong reporting for the Racial Reckoning project
Minneapolis community leaders are demanding the firing of an officer caught on camera using what they say was excessive force.
“We demand an immediate termination of the officer involved. He gotta go. He gotta go. He gotta go,” chanted Elizer Darris of ACLU Minnesota.
A 4-minute video recorded Wednesday that’s now gone viral shows a man being slammed to the ground and punched several times. During a press conference Thursday, the Minneapolis Police Chief explained what he believes led up to the incident.
“A violent felony carjacking occurred in the city of New Hope, eventually that vehicle was picked up by Robbinsdale Police department. It made its way into Minneapolis”
Community leaders held their own press conference in front of the 4th precinct in North Minneapolis where they shared concerns about the State of the Minneapolis police department. They say it’s in the same condition it was when George Floyd died under Derek Chauvin's knee. Among those present was the young man who recorded the video. He said this is not the first time he’s witnessed police brutality.
“If we already hurting, why still hurt us?” he asked.
According to Mayor Frey the incident is being investigated by internal affairs.
Georgia Fort reporting for the Racial Reckoning project.
Court remains in recess through Monday March 29 in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former officer charged with the death of George Floyd.
Meanwhile a video of Police slamming and punching a man in north Minneapolis on Wednesday afternoon has gone viral. The nearly 4-minute video reignites concerns over police brutality and excessive use of force in Black and Brown communities. In the beginning of the video you see a young man crying while being arrested by police. Bystanders plead for police to wait for his mom to arrive.
As the amount of bystanders increased officers walked the young man away from their vehicles down the street. The man recording tried to follow but soon realized another man behind him was being thrown to the ground and punched several times by police. Several officers with the Sheriff’s department arrived on the scene, wearing helmets, vests, and carrying weapons.
At the time of this report the Minneapolis Police Department had yet to comment on the incident. We did confirm with other sources the incident happened in front of North Side Boxing gym. One of the members, Donald Williams is a key witness for the Derek Chauvin Trial. The gym’s head coach says the incident did not involve any of its members.
Georgia Fort for the Racial Reckoning project
Jury selection has concluded in the Derek Chauvin trial. On Tuesday the court selected a 15th and final juror - a white male accountant in his 20s. The juror expressed strong support for police, yet he questioned the behavior of the officers charged with George Floyd’s murder. Defense attorney Eric Nelson read from the juror’s questionnaire:
“You wrote ‘While I do not have all the facts of the case, it seems like it would not have taken 4-5 officers to respond to a call regarding a counterfeit bill and that the restraint of George Floyd for 5-10 minutes might have been unnecessary,” said Nelson.
This case marks the first time in Minnesota history that cameras are being allowed into a courtroom from start to finish, allowing viewers an unprecedented view into a criminal trial.
Racial Reckoning reporter Georgia Fort was in the courtroom Tuesday. She says entering the courthouse was like going through airport security - a pleasant but sometimes tense, heavily guarded process that one juror described as “intimidating.” Fort says the security can make some jurors feel safe. For black and brown people with negative experiences with law enforcement, it could have the opposite effect.
Fort says at times she found being the only black person in the room challenging. One juror was excused after making several comments that were dismissive of George Floyd and Black Lives Matter.
“That was a tense moment for me as a Black person - profession aside,” said Fort. “I just had to have a moment where I stopped taking notes and I looked around and everybody just kept doing what they were doing like it didn’t impact them, but that was hard for me to hear that that was someone’s true understanding of what happened.”
Now that jury selection is over, the trial is on recess until Monday, March 29 when the prosecution and the defense will make opening statements.
Feven Gerezgiher reporting for the Racial Reckoning project
Jury selection is wrapping up in the Derek Chauvin murder trial. On Monday afternoon the court confirmed a 14th juror - a White woman in her 20s. Judge Cahill says he wants to find at least one more alternate for the trial before wrapping up the selection process.
Currently eight of the jurors are White, two are Black, two are African immigrants, and two are of mixed-race.
Alex Reyes Schroeder, a Twin Cities resident, has been following the trial closely. She says she’s hopeful about the amount of diversity on the jury.
“As of right now we are looking at a little less than 50 percent people of color and that is a lot more than we have in Hennepin County,” said Schroeder. “Hennepin County is about 74 percent white.”
Other residents - like community organizer Francisco Sanchez - feel the jury selection process is not equitable for people who speak English as a second language.
“The decision to not have interpreters during the trial of Derek Chauvin seems purposeful, “ said Sanchez. “Immigrant voices must be heard in this trial. Our accents don’t disqualify us from knowing the difference between right and wrong.”
Earlier this month Judge Cahill dismissed a Mexican woman from the jury because, he said, she was “not sophisticated.”
Once jury selection is complete, the court will adjourn until March 29. That’s when the prosecution and the defense will make their opening statements.
Georgia Fort reporting for the Racial Reckoning project
Protestors were out in force across the Twin Cities this weekend. Some protests were in solidarity with Asian Americans killed in Atlanta last week, while others were a continuation of the demand for justice for George Floyd and other lives taken by police.
Dolal Idd’s father, Bayle Gelle, stood in front of the Governor's mansion Sunday pleading for State officials to intervene in his son’s case. Dolal was killed by Minneapolis Police in December 2020 just one mile away from where George Floyd took his last breath.
“I don’t care how long it takes,” said Gelle. “I will never ever ever shut my mouth and I will never stop my struggle until I get justice for my son.”
Dolal Idd, 23, was Somali American. He was enrolled in classes at Normandale Community College at the time of his death. The police have released disturbing footage of their raid on Dolal Idd’s home after he was shot; his parents and siblings say they were terrorized. Jaylani Hussein, executive director of CAIR Minnesota, said the case should be reassigned to a special prosecution team as was done for the George Floyd case.
“There’s a lot of people who think we are protesting aimlessly. No, we are protesting with a purpose. We have eight bills we are trying to pass in the house in the State of Minnesota.”
Meanwhile, jury selection for the Derek Chauvin trial continues. So far 13 people have been selected to serve on the jury. Judge Cahill stated Friday he now expects the court to select up to 16 jurors, with as many as four alternates.
And in case you missed it, two big rulings were made Friday. The judge denied a change of venue request and a motion to delay the trial. However he did rule to allow the defense to submit details of a previous arrest of George Floyd as evidence.
Georgia Fort for the Racial Reckoning project
Due to an increase in violent crime in the area, city leaders say they won’t wait for the end of Derek Chauvin’s trial to re-open the intersection of 38th and Chicago to traffic. Critics say the city is essentially responding to demands for police reform with increased law enforcement.
Critics say the jury for the Derek Chauvin Trial won’t be truly fair if Black people’s experiences with police aren’t represented. Meanwhile, two jurors were dismissed after they revealed the $27 million dollar settlement for the George Floyd family had swayed their opinions. Samantha HoangLong reports.
Derek Chauvin’s attorneys argued George Floyd had a pattern of behavior with the police. The State argued the defense must be desperate to stoop to such tactics. Judge Cahill said he saw merit in both arguments. Georgia Fort reports
The settlement is the largest the city has ever paid out for police conduct; it sets a new legal precedent for how Black life is valued. Samantha HoangLong reports
Several potential jurors have been rejected because they said they were fearful of police or were traumatized by the video that captured George Floyd’s death. Attorney and activist Nekima Levy Armstrong says this is unfairly weighting the jury in Derek Chauvin’s favor. Report by Feven Gerezgiher
Attorneys added just one juror Wednesday; meanwhile, the Minnesota Coalition for Police Accountability pushes statewide reforms.
Potential jurors were asked to share their thoughts on Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter
Attorneys debated whether or not the judge has jurisdiction to begin jury selection; a ruling by the Minnesota Court of Appeals to add a third-degree murder charge has not yet been finalized.
Protestors took to the streets of St. Paul and Minneapolis over the weekend in anticipation of the murder trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin. Georgia Fort has this report:
Minnesota Prosecutors push the state appeals court to reinstate a third-degree murder charge against ex-cop Derek Chauvin in the police-custody death of George Floyd. Reporter Georgia Fort has the story.