Today a grand jury refused to indict the police officer who shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland. Back in October, Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote, “It should be increasingly clear that the police officer who killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice will not be tried; and should he be tried, he will not be convicted.” Today, he tweeted: “Yeah. Knew this was coming. For me the saddest in the recent parade. City should be ashamed of itself.”
So should we all. Continue reading
Filed under human rights, race
Sometimes it seems like I’m talking – and writing – about Black Lives Matter all the time. Let me explain why.
Back in 1903, W.E.B. DuBois wrote The Souls of Black Folk. He began the book with these lines:
“HEREIN lie buried many things which if read with patience may show the strange meaning of being black here in the dawning of the Twentieth Century. This meaning is not without interest to you, Gentle Reader; for the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line.”
Today, despite all of the organizing, all of the marching, all of the blood shed and people martyred in the civil rights movement of the 20th century, the problem of the color line is still the problem of our time, the problem of the 21st century, in the United States and around the world. And today, Black Lives Matter embodies the challenge of the new civil rights movement. Continue reading
Photo by Nicholas Upton, December 2014, used under Creative Commons license.
Black Lives Matter announced another December gathering in the Mall of America this year. Many reasons: Justice for Jamar Clark, killed this year by a Minneapolis police officer; one more year of unbearable racial differences in income, education, health, housing; unequal enforcement practices of transit police; racially disparate stops, frisks, arrests by city police …
Last year, MOA called in the Bloomington police, who broke up a peaceful gathering and arrested protesters and leaders. The Mall stood its ground, righteously claiming that its private property rights are superior to any protest. The Mall welcomes all kinds of people to sing and dance on its private property.
MOA allowed 7,000+ people to gather and sing to raise awareness about cancer. They did not allow 3,000 protesters to gather and sing to raise awareness about racism. Instead, MOA called in police in riot gear to close down a large part of the mall, trapping demonstrators and shoppers alike.
Some of those charges are still pending — many have been dismissed by the court as without merit. Hard feelings remain.
This year could be different.
Imagine what could happen if the Mall of America welcomed Black Lives Matter.
Imagine MOA and the city attorney announcing that all of last year’s charges will be dropped, instead of wasting more time and public money on prosecutions of peaceful protesters.
Imagine a mall spokesperson sending out a press release that says, “We agree: Black Lives Matter. You are part of our community. You are welcome here.”
Imagine the rotunda filled with people singing and chanting and listening to speeches. Imagine them spreading out afterwards, shopping and drinking coffee and eating dinner at MOA.
Imagine MOA sending a symbolic donation of coats and scarves and hats to Shiloh Temple or Neighborhoods Organizing for Change for distribution to those in need in North Minneapolis.
Imagine MOA inviting the NAACP and Black Lives Matter and Neighborhoods Organizing for Change to organize an MOA event marking Martin Luther King Day in January.
Imagine a Mall of America that takes positive steps to welcome Black Americans.
Imagine a Mall of America that says “Come in,” instead of “Keep out” to protesters.
December 23 will roll around, and the MOA may once again choose force over imagination, but it doesn’t need to be that way. In the words of John Lennon:
Imagine all the people sharing all the world
You may say I’m a dreamer,
but I’m not the only one
I hope some day you’ll join us
And the world will live as one
Filed under human rights, race
First, the city council refused to allow public testimony about the police shooting of Jamar Clark. Then, without notice to protesters and their supporters, a council committee voted to open its meeting to immediate public testimony about the Fourth Precinct protests. The people present and ready to testify? Opponents of the protest, of course, including Police Federation head Bob Kroll. This is not what democracy looks like. Continue reading
Filed under human rights, race, Uncategorized
The day after Mayor Betsy Hodges, Congressmember Keith Ellison, City Council members Barbara Johnson and Blong Yang, and an assorted group of “community leaders” called for an end to the protest on Plymouth Avenue, the protesters are staying strong. Continue reading
Filed under human rights, race
UPDATE 10 p.m.: A huge crowd marched from the 4th Precinct to downtown Minneapolis Tuesday afternoon, unintimidated by the white supremacist shooting of five protesters on Monday night. As of Tuesday evening, police have three young white men in custody. A Hispanic man was arrested but then released, as he was not at the shooting scene. For more, see Star Tribune article. [This article has been substantially revised and updated, following the march.]
Filed under human rights, race
Poster by Ricardo Levins Morales
Nekima Levy-Pounds, Erica Mauter, Bill Lindeke, and Karen Wills: these are just a few of the eloquent voices I’ve been reading over the past week. They’ve written through the police attacks on demonstrators on November 18 and through the political and police debates going on all over the Twin Cities media. I know it’s hard to keep up with the news — just compiling the information for this post took me all of Sunday afternoon. So, if you want good information and don’t want to spend all day searching for it, here’s a brief recap of the week’s events, followed by links to and quotes from some of the best of this week’s statements and analyses. Continue reading
Filed under human rights, race
Photo of banner outside the Minneapolis Police Department fourth precinct by Tony Webster. Published under Creative Commons license.
Someone called police early Sunday morning. Domestic assault, they said. Paramedics helping the victim, and a man interfering with them, they said. Did he want to talk? To fight? Maybe even to apologize? We don’t know. We do know that police acted, taking Jamar Clark away from the paramedics. Minutes later, the 24-year-old black man lay on the ground with a police bullet in his head. Continue reading
Filed under human rights, race
Father Hennepin at the Falls of St. Anthony – described by Scott Russell in The Circle: “The painting shows Father Hennepin at the falls, renaming it after his patron saint. The term “discovers” is wrong. Hennepin stands in a position of authority, towering over the people sitting below him, when in fact he was a Dakota prisoner at the time. At right, the painting shows a half-naked Dakota woman carrying a heavy pack. Her lack of covering is historically inaccurate and offensive, an apparent effort to show her as uncivilized.”
Last week’s blog post on offensive, racist, and historically inaccurate art in the Minnesota Capitol sparked an intense and informative discussion between Joline Gitis, who advocated keeping the art in place in order to “provide important opportunities to discuss painful chapters in Minnesota’s history–chapters that might otherwise be glossed over or ignored” and Scott Russell, who argues that the Capitol is a place where “art should inspire people, not make some feel excluded.” Both offered thoughtful, respectful arguments, in a dialogue that played out on Facebook. I found their dialogue thought-provoking and received their permission to share it here. Continue reading
Filed under race, Uncategorized
Father Hennepin at the Falls of St. Anthony – described by Scott Russell in The Circle: “The painting shows Father Hennepin at the falls, renaming it after his patron saint. The term “discovers” is wrong. Hennepin stands in a position of authority, towering over the people sitting below him, when in fact he was a Dakota prisoner at the time. At right, the painting shows a half-naked Dakota woman carrying a heavy pack. Her lack of covering is historically inaccurate and offensive, an apparent effort to show her as uncivilized.”
The Minnesota Capitol features some truly awful art. Whatever the judgment from an aesthetic perspective, several paintings inside the building are awful because they are offensive, racist, and historically inaccurate. They show heroic white “discoverers,” backed by priests and angels, bringing Christianity and “civilization” to Indians in Minnesota. Continue reading
Filed under race
Mary Turck