EldErs

Continued from page 1 any of the Justice Coalition’s bills on their agenda despite having a trifecta in the state government. McClellan is hoping his team can convince lawmakers to support bills targeting police brutality.

Local civil rights lawyer Nekima Levy Armstrong also condemned the killings: “It does not matter that the officers were Black, in that incident they were blue,” Armstrong said, referring to the “thin blue line,” a term that is often used to describe the position of law enforcement.

“That’s what we need to recognize— this is a part of a blue culture that is anti-Black that does not hesitate to discriminate against Black people because they know that typically sorrow. As a community, we must come together to decry these acts and create a better future. It is a sacred honor to be entrusted to serve and protect your community. We also know that when this trust is violated and broken it is a betrayal of the highest order. No one is above the law, particularly those of us who have been entrusted to represent and enforce it.” indulge in their creativity.

Now the longtime St. Paul native has taken the top job in the department with the task of solving the city’s most pressing criminal issues, at a time when the role of the police department in public safety is hotly contested.

MSR: You’ve held several leadership positions in the department and spearheaded the body-camera program in Minnesota, which provided city residents with more insight into police conduct. As chief, how will you continue to foster more transparency in the department?

Henry (AH): My path to this current job is unique and kind of unusual. There are a lot of different things that historically have been stopping points for people who are on this kind of trajectory. I’ve been very fortunate to stay in St. Paul, and I’ve been asked to do a lot of things for the department.

“We discussed legacy and the importance of taking ownership of individual legacy for the greater good,” Kingsbury continued. “Looking at three generations before us and three generations ahead, what have we learned, and what do we pass forward? What can we strengthen?

What must we do away with?”

Each site hosted a cohort of 12-15

BraiN

Continued from page 1 they are concerned about Alzheimer’s or dementia. they will get away with it.”

• A reported 65 percent of Black Americans say they know somebody with Alzheimer’s or dementia, but 55 percent think that significant loss of cognitive abilities or memory is a natural part of aging rather than a disease.

Last year’s conference had nearly 700 people sign up for the virtual sessions and over 200 people attended in person, reported Turner. “This year we expect to exceed that number,” he predicted. The conference title is also intentional, continued Turner.

Hussein, McClellan and Armstrong all called on State leaders to utilize the Democrat trifecta to pass bills to protect Black Minnesotans and prevent police brutality.

Several Minneapolis City officials released statements. Minneapolis Office of Community Safety Commis-

The primary driver behind that is me being an instructor and a trainer in different disciplines. I’ve been teaching and trying to coach and develop people my whole career. As a part of that you become kind of a salesman, someone that can affect change management by getting people to do new and different things and believe in that change.

The first one of those was the Blueprint for Safety, which I was asked to help with because there was a lot of conflict about “will the police officers buy into this and will they believe in what’s happening.” As a person who teaches the other side of the job—the tactical part—I was asked to sell or deliver the idea. We did that, and it became a very successful national—now international—model.

Part of our strategy was that we believe that if body cameras are supposed to create increased trust in law enforcement, then the community—we’re all members of the community—and the process we use for our program older adults who met regularly with a teaching artist and additional Minneapolis Adult Community Education facilitator to share in storytelling, exchange knowledge, and work on individual art pieces representing life lessons they wished to share.

The teaching artists used different mediums at each site, with Esther Osayande leading painting on canvas at North Market, Taneka Graves teaching woodburning design at Sabathani, and Christopher Lutter-Gardella overseeing casting and sculpture at Westminster.

The unique program was made possible through a Community Wellbeing grant from the Minneapolis Health Department (MHD) and State

“We call it the Black Men’s Brain Health Conference, not mental health conference,” he explained.

“We say what is good for the heart is also good for the head.

We’re concerned about the long-term impact of head injury, both concussions in sports and then also folks that have been in the military that have been exposed to blasts, and how that might impact head injury.

“Do you know that Black men, older Black men suffer higher rates of concussions from falls than other groups?”

Turner asked. “Is there something about our physical makeup that makes it the case? We cover all of those issues.

“We’re doing it from the perspective of trying to understand by bringing together researchers, clinicians, doctors, practitioners, as well as members of the community and sioner Cedric Alexander said he was “shocked and horrified” by the killings, which he called an “embarrassment to the first responders who serve this nation with honor and dignity.”

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara also released a statement condemning the killing. “The privilege to protect with courage and serve with compassion is sacred,” O’Hara said. “Violent abuses of authority, such as displayed in this incident, have absolutely no place in our profession.”

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey released a statement on Twitter Friday evening calling the killing of Nichols “horrific and inhumane. We need every single officer in this country—including those serving in should be equally powerful. What happened was that different groups came together and got to hear from each other. The group that didn’t want the [body cameras] heard from the group that wanted them. Not only did the community embrace the process, but they actually started to embrace each other.

MSR: There’s been a lot of debate around the vision of public safety and where police fit in. What’s your view on public safety and where do you see things going in the future?

AH: Probably the easiest way to answer that question is that law enforcement has been very reactive in the past. We drive around and we look for stuff that’s happening. What drives our behavior is someone picks up a phone and calls 911 and says, “Oh my God, there’s a creepy guy in my front yard,” or “My house is being burglarized.” I think the first iterations of communitypolicing has been feeling out our community, figuring out our city and state—to insist their colleagues actively prevent injustice and meet the standards of the oath they take,” Frey’s statement reads. what they want, and then seeing if we can deliver it. We have to look at ourselves as one big community. Then we all have to decide together where we’re going, so we’re not waiting for one side or the other to sign-off on something or say that’s a good idea. As a collective, we have to come together and say, this is the direction we want to go, and these are the kind of the rules we want to follow.

Health Improvement Partnership (SHIP). Classes started with mindfulness and meditation practices and closed with healthful snacks.

One protest Saturday night in Southeast Minneapolis was met by a large police response before it could start and was dispersed. On Sunday, around 100 protesters also gathered at the Governor’s Mansion calling for justice for Nichols and for Gov. Tim Walz to end qualified immunity for police in Minnesota, among other demands.

Cole Miska welcomes reader responses to cmiska@spokesmanrecorder.com.

Chris Juhn contributed to this story.

MSR: How will you go about implementing this public safety approach, not only within the department, but throughout the community as well?

AH: It’s one of the things that is in the traditional, transactional leadership, the paramilitary style leadership. The idea, the philosophy or the edict comes from the [top] and moves down through the organization. We want that baked into our officers from day one. In fact, we want it baked into our [police academy] candidates from day one. We need people who understand and believe in community philosophies right from the start.

It’s one of the things I told the mayor in my interview about the difference between transactional and transformational leadership. I am not interested in running a police depression. This was the best thing that has happened to me in a long time.”

“I want to keep my mind open and to keep learning,” said Carol R. from the Sabathani cohort. “During Covid, all I did was sleep, eat and worry. I couldn’t exercise or visit anyone. I liked coming to the project to be around people, learn something new and think about something new.”

Tommie (last name withheld), a participant in the North Market cohort, said, “This experience has been fantastic, just great. I stopped doing artwork, and I have had some community organizations, so we can all talk to one another. What’s going on? What are the challenges?

“How can we conduct research on this together, build research together so that we can find solutions and work with funders to design interventions that are most-suited for our community, in our community. That’s the whole purpose of the conference,” Turner said.

The scheduled panel discussions include women talking about resiliency, current and former NFL players, and how the criminal justice and judicial system are risks for Black men’s brain health.

“It’d be the first conference that is dealing with those specific issues,” said Turner, who can also share his experiences with the disease as a scheduled

“In the last six weeks I have learned new skills, had to develop an idea, practice, produce a piece of art, and meet and work with new people,” said Sue Kolar of the Westminster cohort. “This was a confidence-building and freeing experience, much like presenter. He currently is a caregiver for his father, who is suffering from dementia.

“When my mom recently passed, my dad needed care. So I moved back to my hometown, in the home that I grew up in, to be my dad’s primary caregiver,” the professor explained. “We have some additional resources, but my dad needs 24-hour department by having a bunch of rule followers. I’m interested in having officers who believe in the department and our mission for the city, for our community, and with our community.

MSR: The retention and recruitment of police officers has been a challenge for police departments across the country. What are some of the factors affecting SPPD’s ability to recruit and retain officers and what solutions are you considering to address the shortage?

AH: Obviously, this is a problem that isn’t unique to St. Paul. I think you’ve got a number of things that are happening, not the least of which is the awareness around mental health has gotten better.

We’re seeing people leave [the police department] with PTSD. If people start to leave because of the stress of the job—even if they’re not experiencing PTSD—they’re starting to wonder to themselves, is this a good environment for me to be in?

We need to focus on the health of the organization internally, and that happens in different ways. The good news is that when you do it the right way, it helps recruit people. It certainly helps us

■ See HENRY on page 6 riding a horse.” strategies to reduce cognitive health diseases among Black men, the conference will also seek to identify strategies for increasing Black men’s participation in dementia research and clinical trials. Black Americans currently make up five percent or less of all clinical trial participants, and nearly two-thirds of Blacks (62%) believe that medical research is biased against Blacks and people of color, says the Alzheimer’s Association. they don’t have your medical history,” Turner pointed out. He added that without that personal history, “We don’t want to receive the same type of treatment that is designed for people…who don’t have the same health risks that we do,” he said. care at home. We take him to an adult daycare, but we need professional help to help us manage his everyday care.”

For the second half of the Sharing Our Wisdom program, participants and others who would like to join will meet monthly through May 2023. Each gathering will focus on work from a well-known artist and a small art project.

Registration for upcoming art meetups and other adult enrichment programs can be found at https://bit.ly/AdultEnrichmentMPS. Send inquiries to the Magnet Senior Program at akingsbury@wpc-mpls.org or call 612-540-2928.

Travis Lee welcomes reader responses to tlee@spokesman-recorder.com.

In addition to identifying

“It’s a very complex issue,” stated Turner. “No question medical mistrust, mistrust of the whole healthcare industry, is a prominent factor in Blacks and Black folks’ health behavior. I also think that health literacy is really an important factor.

“If we don’t go to the doctor,

“I think it is very important, very influential in how we reach people, how we speak to people,” he said. “[We need] to bring people together so they can talk to one another, so they can hear one another.” Conference registration is free and is available for both inperson and virtual attendance. The public can register at www.mensbrainhealth.org/ conference.

Charles Hallman welcomes reader responses to challman@ spokesman-recorder.com.