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

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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. 

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. 

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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. 

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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.

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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.  

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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.

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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. 

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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.

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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.

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. 

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.”

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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.

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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.

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.

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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. 

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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. 

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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.” 

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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.

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. 

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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. 

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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.”

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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.

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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. 

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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.

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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. 

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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.

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.

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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.

--

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.

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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. 

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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.

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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. 

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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.

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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. 

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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?’”

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. 

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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. 

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.

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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.

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)

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. 

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.

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. 

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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 that she 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.

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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.

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.

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.

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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. 

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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.

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.

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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. 

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.

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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.

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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. 

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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.

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,” said sophomore 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. 

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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. 

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.

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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.

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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.”

-- 

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.” 

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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.

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.

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.  

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.

--

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. 

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. 

--

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 in 2017. 

“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.  

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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.

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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. 

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.

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 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.

--

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.

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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.

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

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.

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. 

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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.

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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

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 to Lehman, 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. 

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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. 

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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.

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. 

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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?

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.

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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.

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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. 

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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

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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.

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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. 

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.

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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,” said Dr. 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.

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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.