June 18, 2020 - MN Spokesman-Recorder

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June 18–24, 2020 Vol. 86 No. 46

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This time, fighting police violence How real change happens has a new face An interview with Sen. Tina Smith

Whites are showing solidarity in much greater numbers student Alex Chapman, who came from Rapid City, South Dakota to join in the protests for two weeks. He said that although he Minneapolis has become the had a blessed childhood, “There rising tide in a movement that is is a part of my childhood that bringing thousands of new faces makes me understand the pain to the movement opposing po- of looking different and being in lice violence. Many of those faces a system that sometimes doesn’t reward that, and oftentimes punare White.

Over the weekend there were ishes that.”

“Black people have been pushpassionate marches through downtown Minneapolis, with ing that movement forward for powerful speakers rallying the as long as we’ve been in this crowds. The predominantly country,” Chapman said, “beWhite crowd begged the ques- cause we’re the ones who have tion, “Why are so many White to live it and know that pain. The people joining this movement?” outrage is what you see with

By Analies Pruni Contributing writer

U.S. Senator Tina Smith tours local businesses June 5, 2020. your ideas for change?

Senator Smith: If we want the criminal justice system and policing to work, I think we need different national standards and a new national standard for use of force. Right now all officers have to do is say they think the use of force was reasonable. I don’t think that is nearly high enough of a standard. At the least it should be necessary.

Police officers right now have a series of protections that essentially put them above the law.

Criminal liability and civil liabilMSR: What would you do if ity would be useful tools. I think we need to look at and challenge you could make changes?

Senator Smith: If we really in- the qualified immunity doctrine tend to honor George Floyd, we which is in case law, but it stops have to be willing to change the cops from being held accountsystem that allowed this murder able for their behavior.

And, I think we should creto happen. To me it’s a fundamental value. People should feel ate a national registry of police

U.S. Senator Tina Smith has served as the junior senator from Minnesota since 2018. A member of the DFL, she served as the 48th lieutenant governor of Minnesota from 2015 to 2018, when she was appointed by Governor Mark Dayton to fill the Senate seat vacated by Al Franken. She won the 2018 special election to fill the remainder of Franken's term and is running for a second term this November. Senator Smith spoke with the MSR on June 5 when she was in Minneapolis touring the damage inflicted on the South Side.

“People have to raise their voices.” safe in their homes and in their communities and in their country. That is a fundamental right, and it’s not the case for Black and Brown people in this country.

So the question is, what do we do? And the truth is, we have lots of ideas when it comes to reforming police and the criminal justice system. We are not working from a blank slate. Obama introduced a plan for 21st century policing, and Keith Ellison has introduced some ideas.

We have got to keep this abuse of justice from happening again.

MSR: We agree, so what are

misconduct, so officers that have disciplinary issues in one department can’t just move to another department and start all over again.

We need accountability measures that I believe would change the culture in police departments.

We should tie federal funding to states and local governments adopting those practices.

Obviously we should be banning chokeholds and banning racial profiling. We saw this terrible murder of George Floyd, and the restraint used to kill George was not allowed, but they did it anyway. And I feel ■See Smith on page 5

“I think people are seeing past race, and anytime anyone dies in this brutal of a fashion I think it resonates with everybody.”

“I think the astounding number of White people out here is because on a human level, rather than a race level, they realize that this is absolutely outrageous and terrible and horrific and something needs to change,” said 22-year-old Black college

these thousands of people in the streets of Minneapolis and millions of people around America.”

Chapman attributes a large part of the uprising to social media. “I think regardless if you’re White, Black, Asian, Native American, whatever you may

Charli Donchetz with her dog Indie be, that [the video of Floyd’s killing] is going to make you upset,” he said. “When he called for his own mother, every single mother in America felt that, every single mother in the world felt that.”

Boni Njenga, who is running for District 5 Hennepin County Commissioner, attended Thursday’s rally. A Kenyan American who has been in Minneapolis for 17 years, he wanted to stand with

his community.

“This could happen to anybody, and as a person of color I have to give support because it could’ve been me,” Njenga said.

He also attributed the surge of White people joining the movement to emotional responses to the video.

“The eight-minute video showed a guy 46 years old calling for his mom, and you have ■See New Face on page 5

Mpls awaits fulfillment of promised police reform News Analysis

By Mel Reeves Community editor The smoke has cleared after two weeks of protest in Minneapolis. Some of the shine has been rubbed off the “mini-apple” as the world has glimpsed of the brutality and lawlessness of the Minneapolis Police Department.

And now anxiety is growing around the question, “Will real change actually occur?”

“Time has expired on talk not backed up by action,” wrote community members calling themselves Minneapolis for a Photo by Chris Juhn Better Police Contract in an open letter. ‘Transformation does not you are true to your word about bers and including them as equal start tomorrow, it starts now. If listening to the community mem- partners, then immediate action

congruent with those statements must follow.”

The group is responding to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey’s and Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo’s extension of an olive branch to the community with promises to include it as advisors in helping to develop structural reform and transparency in the police department.

Despite the department’s spotlight exposure during the first week of justice protests for George Floyd, in many instances it behaved unprofessionally as police shot out the eye of a foreign correspondent and targeted with projectiles a woman standing on her own porch. They were caught on camera at two different protests spraying clouds of mace ■See Promises on page 5

Athletes join protests ‘to move the ball forward’

By Charles Hallman Contributing writer

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Protests and demonstrations have erupted locally, nationally, and around the world demanding justice for George Floyd and insisting that Black lives do indeed matter. Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police on Memorial Day, May 25, 2020. Among the multitudes demanding change are sev-

eral former local athletes.

The size of the protests, the number of protesters and their longevity have convinced many that the call for police accountability and other criminal justice reforms is more than a moment, but a movement for genuine change. “Honestly, I want to say that it won’t die down and people keep going, but I don’t know,” said local financial advisor Paul “P.J.” Hill on moving forward.

A Minneapolis native, Hill played high school basketball at Minneapolis South and Minneapolis North. He played college ball at Ohio State University and later spent some time in the professional ranks. “I live in South Minneapolis, and I grew up in South Minneapolis,” he said.

“I am a member of that community. I feel the hurt and more.”

He is understandably cautious—there have been many past protests and demonstrations over the years against police-related shootings and Black casualties. Will everything die down when the attention goes away?

“We’ve seen it time and time again, but have things

lay helpless and watch other people around him [not help].

That anger turned into questioning authority, questioning so many things in society that are really wrong. It is like ripping a bandage off a wound that won’t heal.

“Then you go through sadness. You grieve for [Floyd].

nal justice. Not only for minorities, but for all people. All we wanted to do was spread the message—we as humanity need to move the ball forward.”

“We organized a group of 40 athletes, a bunch of players who are from around here,” Hill continued. “We

“If people continue to stand in solidarity with African Americans and the Black community, anything can happen.” really changed?” Hill asked.

Mapping Police Violence. com reports that over a sixyear period (2013-19), the national rate of police killings per population was 3.4 per million (3.0 in Minneapolis).

The group reported that police killed 1,098 people in the U.S. in 2019. There were only 27 days last year in which police did not kill someone somewhere in the country.

“When I first saw [the Floyd video],” Hill said, “it was anger to see somebody

His daughter won’t have her dad. I grieve for all our young Black men who have to go through this in the future,” said Hill.

He was among the thousands who on June 1 marched from the Minnesota Vikings’ downtown stadium onto Interstate 35W. “Royce White [former NBA player, now activist] is the catalyst, and he reached out to me,” said Hill.

“We wanted to speak out and let our voices be heard in a peaceful manner on crimi-

were walking very peaceful.

We were on the bridge. Then I saw my life flash before my eyes.

“I was in the very front” as a tanker truck approached the marchers at high speed, Hill recalled. Bogdan Vechirko, who drove his tanker into the protesters, was arrested at the scene but later released without charges. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said the case has been deferred and remains under investigation.

Hill said that he is not pleased that the driver was not charged. “In my heart of hearts it was not a mistake. I saw his face, and it was angry.

He knew what he was doing.

By the grace of God he didn’t kill anybody.”

There also was escalated violence as stores on Lake Street and other locations mostly on the city’s South Side were looted and several buildings were burned, including the Third Precinct station. A few businesses were torched and others damaged on West Broadway Avenue in North Minneapolis as well.

A recent MarketWatch.com report estimated that the uprising resulted in at least $25 million worth of property damage.

“The media makes it look at times that we are all one, the people who are peacefully protesting and people who are looting. I don’t like that the media—not all media—at times loop us together. It is ■See Athletes on page 5

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June 18-24, 2020

America is fighting a racial as well as a viral pandemic Leadership Forum panelists foresee much hard work ahead

By Charles Hallman Contributing writer The COVID pandemic has disproportionally impacted Blacks more severely than any other segment of the U.S. population.

According to latest APM Research Lab data, one death in 1,625 Blacks (or 61.6 deaths per 100,000) has been recorded—higher than Whites (26.2 deaths), Asians (26.3 deaths), Latinos (28.2 deaths) and Native Americans (36.0 deaths).

Also, the death rate among Blacks is higher by three times or more in six U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) reports that 20 percent of COVID cases are among persons age 30 to 39 and 19 percent for persons 20 to 29. This largely disputes earlier information that only older persons get infected, although the highest death rate of state virus-related deaths is among persons age 80 to 89 (34 percent), and 26 percent of persons age 90 to 99.

Of over 1,300 COVID deaths in Minnesota, under 10 percent of the total, are Blacks.

Despite the pandemic, many people are more concerned about long-existing systemic racism than their personal health, judging from over three weeks of protests

Courtesy MGN and demonstrations since George Floyd’s May 25 death in police custody. At least 20 states have seen increases in COVID-19 confirmed cases, according to recent reports.

“We expect these numbers to increase in leaps and bounds,” said Children’s Minnesota Infectious Prevention Nurse Adriene Thornton.

She was part of a June 10 African American Leadership Forum four-person video panel discussion on the coronavirus impact on the Black commu-

nity.

Thornton is concerned that the protesters for the most part aren’t practicing social

cover your mouth and your nose, and maintain a six-foot distance,” she stressed, adding that protesters should

“There is a lot of work to be done in the state of Minnesota.

It’s bad here.” distancing, which health officials strongly advise to help prevent spreading the virus.

“We are still in the process of a pandemic,” said Thornton. “You need something to

always have hand sanitizers and alcohol wipes with them.

“You have to keep your hands clean.”

The Floyd death “has affected us all,” said Minne-

sota Community Care CEO Reuben Moore. “This is very painful to me.”

Valerie Castile, Philando Castile’s mother, added, “What happened to Mr. Floyd was unacceptable.” Her son was killed in 2016 at age 32 during a traffic stop; the policeman later was charged but acquitted in a jury trial.

“You need to go to jail if you murder someone,” she stated, adding the four former Minneapolis police officers treated Floyd “like a prized trophy.”

It is important to help children understand what is happening as well as how to stay healthy, Hennepin County Therapist Zadok Nampala advised. “Our kids have a lot of questions in their mind,” he said, urging parents to stay “on standby mode” for their children. “You have to have age-appropriate discussions with your child,” said Nampala, reassuring them that they are safe and protected.

America is in “a racial pandemic” as well as a viral one, said Dr. Joi Lewis, who owns a local wellness business.

“Our humanity is on the line, and they are killing us. This is not a movie. This is real life.”

“I’m hopeful as a Black woman and a single mother,” said Thornton. “I don’t know what to do to keep my kids safe. I am concerned [about

COVID].”

“We have to do better as a civilization,” said Castile, who since Philando’s death has started a nonprofit foundation in her son’s name. “My son was big on community and families,” she said. “I have been working tirelessly” in meeting with families with slain family members. “It is a lot of work we have to do. It’s all about giving back to the community.”

The panelists all agreed that change is needed to address pre-COVID racial inequities.

“There is a lot of work to be done in the state of Minnesota,” said Castile. “It’s bad here.”

“We have to work on system change,” Moore said on corporations and other organizations. “You have to take a bold stand. We need to adopt anti-racism policies.”

He also decried “liberal racism,” calling it “very unique, so disguised and intelligent.

You have to create a dialogue to have change.”

“I’m excited about our young people,” Thornton said.

“I love the passion. Hopefully things will get better.”

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

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June 18-24, 2020

This is an uprising to save our lives

By Dr. Dionne Hart Guest Contributor Monday, May 25, 2020, 9:25 pm: Do you remember where you were at that moment? I recall retiring early in preparation for a hectic week. As I slept, I had no idea I would wake up to a changed world.

On Tuesday, May 26, 2020, I watched in shock and horror a viral video documenting the murder of Mr. George Floyd. I recall quickly sending a text to my three children warning them not to watch a video that was circulating.

They responded, “It is too late, Mom.” The four of us were among the millions of people who collectively witnessed Mr. Floyd’s last moments. We were now forever bonded as witnesses to a traumatic event. Per Wikipedia, “Collective trauma is a traumatic psychological effect shared

by a group of people of any sizing, up to and including an entire society.”

As people of color, we have experienced similar losses over 400 years. Through social media, we have repeatedly collectively grieved for so many people of color, those familiar to us and those unknown to us personally.

As a psychiatrist, I listen each day to people share their stories, often involving trauma. My training prepared me to function and to offer appropriate treatment to these patients. But as a mother, I was never prepared to worry about my child’s life being threatened or their life lost by performing mundane acts like driving to work, playing in the park, having a broken tail light, birdwatching or exercising.

My fears are shared by every mother and father of color and each individual of color. We worry that we or someone we love be will the next person memorialized in a hashtag.

I remember the first time I heard the name Trayvon Martin. When I learned more details about his murder, I worried about my own sons, particularly my eldest son who has a habit of wearing a hoodie low, obstructing his eyes.

When there was no justice for Trayvon, I blamed the Florida justice system. I told myself the outcome would have been different in a dif-

ferent region of the country, but that was a lie I told myself so I protect my perception of American life.

I have cried myself to sleep countless nights after learning about another Black life lost. Someone once asked me why I cry over strangers and why my posts on social media are often dark. I never met George Floyd, but when I saw that disturbing video, he wasn’t a stranger—he was my son, my nephew, my friend and my brother.

I saw every Black man I loved lying on the ground dying for simply being Black.

While watching that video, I experienced a surge of so many complicated emotions flooding my body at once.

How could I intelligently express to a therapist what I am feeling? How would I explain to my primary care provider why my blood pressure does not improve?

I want justice for my community.

Emotional stress has been associated with the development and progression of several chronic medical and mental conditions including coronary heart disease, obesity, headaches, clinical depression, anxiety disorders, and dementia. As people of color, racism affects our daily lives, our health outcomes, and our life expectancy. It is most defi-

Image Courtesy MGN nitely a public health crisis.

I am no longer able to cry and move on until the next hashtag appears in my social media feed. I want justice for my community. As a nation, are we really so collectively naive that we don’t see a connection between the dehumanizing of young Black men and the number of young men lost to suicide and homicide?

Do we really believe that an early campaign to devalue young Black men is not playing a role in the deaths of so many Black youth? How would it be possible that lacking access to good education and work opportunities and even basic needs does not erode away your sense of self-worth?

How many young Black men grow up feeling their early death or incarceration

is inevitable? As a nation, we should all be outraged because this public health crisis has been killing Black men, women, and children for decades, yet we have examined each case separately. But no more.

The current uprising is our community’s effort to save our lives, our families, and yes, our community. I long for a single day without experiencing a micro-aggression or having to justify my experience of being a Black woman.

I want elected public officials to stand up for all Americans and denounce the ongoing mistreatment and public executions of Black and Brown people. I want major change in how the media responds to these deaths. I want to be able to sleep without reliving another trauma.

And most importantly, I

want my children and granddaughter to be free to live their lives while engaging in the most mundane tasks, to celebrate major events without the fear of becoming the next person immortalized by a hashtag.

We all have dreams about changing the world, but Mr. George Perry Floyd did.

Because of George Floyd, people all over the world are rising up and demanding sustainable changes in law enforcement policy, public health, and leadership.

Thank you, Mr. Floyd.

You changed the world.

My name is Dr. Dionne Hart.

I’m a proud mother, nana, and aunt. I’m a female physician, and above all I am a human being. #SayMyName #GeorgeFloyd #EndRacism #RacismIsAPublicHealthCrisis Dr. Dionne Hart is a graduate of the Mayo Clinic College of Graduate Medicine. She is board certified in psychiatry and addiction medicine. She practices community and public psychiatry at multiple sites. She’s held multiple leadership positions in national, state, and local medical organizations including serving as the first chair of the American Medical Association’s Minority Affairs Section. She currently serves as the vice president and president of the Minnesota Association of African American Physicians, a future statewide chapter of the National Medical Association.

Dismantling structural racism in health care U of M health professionals speak out on needed system reforms

that are twice as high as those of their White peers.

What we need to protect the health of Black Americans, write the authors, is for the nation to address the “social, economic, political, legal, educational, and healthcare systems that maintain structural racism.”

Focusing on healthcare systems, they offer five practices that these systems can enact to dismantle structural racism and improve the health and well-being of Courtesy MGN Black Americans. They are: • Divest from racial On June 10, the New Eng- Eduardo Medina, Park Nicol- well-being of Black Ameriland Journal of Medicine let primary care physician cans, including being con- health inequities. For exampublished “Stolen Breaths,” and University of Minnesota signed through redlining to a commentary on the state of Medical School adjunct assis- toxic residential environBlack American health from tant professor; and pediatri- ments, a 15% greater risk of dying from COVID-19 than Rachel Hardeman, University cian Rhea Boyd.

The commentary lays bare White people, and Black maof Minnesota School of Public Health associate professor; the threats to the health and ternal and infant death rates

ple, the U.S. health insurance market enables a sometimes racially segregated healthcare delivery structure that provides different quality of care to different populations.

• Make “mastering the health effects of structural racism” a professional medical competency.

• Desegregate the healthcare workforce.

• Mandate and measure equitable outcomes.

• Protect and serve. “Police violence and structural racism are public health crises that are making individuals and communities sick,”

says Hardeman. “Healthcare systems must play a critical role in protecting, serving, and advocating for their patient populations.”

As the authors write, “The choice before the healthcare system now is to show, not tell, that Black Lives Matter.”

—Information provided by the University of Minnesota

“Police violence and structural racism are public health crises that are making individuals and communities sick.”

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June 18-24, 2020

The Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder (MSR) welcomes and values commentary and feedback from the community. The articles found here are edited for clarity and/or space, but the opinions are the author’s own and do not reflect the views of the MSR.

Letter to the Editor It is time for us to listen and repent

By Rabbi Avi S. Olitzky

The police are the real outside agitators MELLANEOUS

By Mel Reeves The blatant irony of people protesting peacefully against police violence being met by violence (police violence) should not escape anyone. The violence is winked at by the system, though concessions are being made and police are being suspended and fired and even charged because of the pressure of the protests.

But much of the violence comes from the fact that the police as a group are hostile to what most of us want, a society free of racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia. In fact, they are adamantly opposed to justice and equal opportunity for all. They are the original “haters!”

While the mainstream press has sought to distract from the protests by claiming it’s being orchestrated by outside agitators, they fail to reveal that much of the mayhem that came with the overwhelmingly peaceful protests was created by the police operating as undercover operatives.

Consequently, that media is

lation that “umbrella man,” the guy in the viral video dressed in all black holding an umbrella in his left hand while breaking the windows of Auto Zone with a hammer, is a St. Paul cop. Much of the damage and fires set in South Minneapolis has been attributed by many in the community to undercover outside agitators (cops) and White supremacists for whom the police provided cover.

The police are outsiders in every sense of the word. In most urban areas the cops do their dirt in the city and sleep comfortably in the suburbs, on the salary drawn from the people they abuse, harass and racially profile.

And while the mainstream press continues to refer to the cops’ organization as a union, they are in fact anti-union. They come from the working class, they come from us, but make no mistake they are no longer us.

They have chosen a side and it is not yours.

A union is an organization of workers seeking better working conditions and decent pay from their bosses. The police serve those bosses. The police have historically served as union bust-

No such thing as good and bad strike breakers! only partly right except the real outside agitators, the real provocateurs, the real troublemakers are the system’s armed bodies of men and women: the police.

The term “outside agitator” harks back to slavery and more recently the Civil Rights Movement. During that time the overseers of Jim Crow segregation would tell the world that folks taking to the street to oppose it and demand equal rights and equal treatment were outsiders, outside agitators. According to their logic, anyone with a problem with conditions as they exist had to be from the outside because “our Negroes are happy” they claimed. As if Black folks didn’t have sense enough to know they were oppressed.

Incidentally, the cops’ outside agitation provokes us to action.

As the shock troops of the political/economic/ social system under which we live, they are a kind of double-edged sword for the rulers. Because while the cops perform well their task of intimidation, humiliation, harassment, brutalization, and even murder of working people especially Black folks, their violence also serves to raise the consciousness of the oppressed and working class, exposing their system. Because ultimately those who push back are eventually going to have to ask the question, “Why does the system need an armed body of thugs?’

And as the smoke clears from the fires of the uprising, the youth and the community in South Minneapolis has strong evidence those who initiated and provoked the crowd to riot were cops. In fact, there is much specu-

ers and have been called on to attack, brutalize and sometimes kill striking workers. Most don’t know this because it is not taught in schools and few are motivated to learn the true history of their country.

No such thing as good and bad strike breakers!

Furthermore, close examination of the cops reveals that one of their primary roles is to reinforce all the negative stereotypes and prejudices of society, which is why White supremacists and self-hating, self-loathing People of Color (POC) are welcomed with open arms. This why they beat, assault, harass and sometimes kill Black, Brown and Native people, immigrants, Muslims and members of the LGBTQ community.

Consequently, most police departments recruit those who come fully equipped with the requisite and fully internalized racism, misogyny, xenophobia and homophobia and all the prejudices and biases needed to carry out their job. While some may not hold these biases, they reinforce and support the system that does, by enforcing a legal double standard upon Black and POC communities, which is why people from those communities are imprisoned more often than Whites.

And cops are exceptional because they are drawn from outside the social norm; many are criminals, sociopaths and psychopaths. If this appears to be hyperbole then how do we explain two cops pushing to the ground a peacefully protesting 74-year-old man, nearly killing him? How else to explain that when one of

As a Jew, I have feared for my safety. I have grimaced through hate, discrimination, and antisemitism. But in many of those settings, I simply needed to don a ballcap in place of my yarmulke—and then I was just another White man. I have done that time and again. I am a minority with White skin privilege.

Just before George Floyd tragically died, I was lamenting that disproportionately Black counties had accounted for over half of coronavirus cases in the U.S. and nearly 60% of deaths.

How was it possible that, in 2020, such systemic racism had led to the early deaths—in so many ways—of my African American brothers and sisters?

And then my heart sank. A rabbi who believes in civil rights, the fight for equality and equity, the inclusion of all—became acutely aware that I had not been doing enough to fight injustice. I have not heeded the call of so many teachers before me.

Fifty-seven years ago, one of my spiritual mentors, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, preached at the National Conference on Religion and Race, held at Chicago’s Edgewater Beach Hotel: “It is time for the White man to repent. We have failed to use the avenues open to us to educate the hearts and minds of men, to identify ourselves with

those who are underprivileged.

But repentance is more than contrition and remorse for sins, for harms done. Repentance means a new insight, a new spirit. It also means a course of action.”

There Rabbi Heschel met Dr. Martin Luther King, cementing a friendship that led to their marching together in Selma in 1965.

Fifty-seven years later I am but another White man—a rabbi—finally repenting, I hope.

I have White skin. I am privileged. My faith’s narrative speaks of empathy for suffering, for we were slaves in Egypt so we should know the suffering of the stranger. And yet, I cannot even begin to understand the centuries of oppression my Black brothers and sisters have experienced. My heart breaks and aches knowing that we seem not any closer to the proverbial mountaintop.

And from that mountaintop we were charged: “Thou shalt not hate your brother in your heart” (Leviticus 19:17).

This is not a command simply condemning hateful rhetoric or actions. This is a charge to uproot hate from our own heart and the hearts of humanity in general, for the verse continues “reason with your neighbor, and not allow sin on his account.”

I confess that I have allowed sin in. I have not done enough reasoning. I have not helped my brothers and sisters to stop even the unconscious hate in their

them attempted to check on the old man he was forced to move along by a colleague?

How does one explain the calm murder of George Floyd

by Derek Chauvin? Chauvin is a psychopath and the institution that recruited him knew it. And the other cops who held Floyd down are nearly as sick as Chauvin.

Theirs was the behavior of criminals, sociopaths.

Moreover, the police also serve to reinforce the rulers’ definition of crime, but no system is more criminal than U.S. capitalism, the social/political/economic institution they serve.

How else to explain the hundreds of attacks by police on young people merely standing around peacefully? How else to explain cops shooting rubber bullets at the faces of protesters injuring dozens, even putting out a few young people’s eyes By Margaret Kimberly knowledged that changes are far and sending many others to the reaching and events are occurhospital. In every case the person Black rebellion brings insecu- ring which no one would have attacked was merely peacefully rity to those in power, as editors, predicted just a few months ago. protesting. mayors and even long-dead Kente cloth charlatans are not the I have heard several young criminals are being called to ac- only ones being exposed. When people screaming, “What did I count.

New York City Mayor Bill deBlado?” or “We weren’t doing anyEverything has changed since sio’s daughter was arrested at a thing to you!” But they have it the world witnessed George protest the police union revealed wrong; the cops understand their Floyd’s murder at the hands of her name to the press in an efjob. By protesting you are indeed Minneapolis police. Suddenly, fort to embarrass him. In return, doing something wrong in the workers are publicly criticiz- deBlasio defended cops who eyes of the system—you are chal- ing their bosses. Politicians are drove vehicles into a crowd, beat lenging the status quo and from back pedaling and newspa- protesters and bystanders alike, their perspective that is a crime. pers face revolts when they are and even arrested legal observIt is why the hired hoodlums of caught spreading propaganda. ers from the National Lawyers White supremacy and capitalism In Europe and the United States, Guild. are breaking bones and hitting monuments to genocidaires are Corporate media propaganda people with their sticks. It is to re- defaced and pulled down. has also taken a hit. James Bennet mind folks who is boss. They hit But no one should think that you with their sticks to remind the Black misleaders have given you of your place in this society. up allegiance to their overlords Fortunately, in this moment, among the Democratic Party doit’s not having the desired effect, nor class. The scoundrels are givbut rather revealing that the cops ing lip service to change but are are the real thugs. committed to business as usual, Oddly, the rulers talk to work- and they co-opt the language and ers and Black folks quite a bit imagery of the movement to do it. about “law and order,” but the In addition, the movement outside agitators operate outside itself is sometimes a source of was the editor of the New York of the law with regularity. The confusion. While well-meaning, Times opinion page but is now law, in fact, covers for and pro- proposals such as defunding the without a job after a similar emtects their lawlessness, which is police are highly problematic. ployee revolt. Staff were rightly why they continue to harass and They do nothing to address the angry when the Times printed brutalize. None other than the foundational nature of state vio- an op-ed from Arkansas Senator highest court in the land, the U.S. lence and allow budgetary sleight Tom Cotton who advised sendSupreme Court, has enforced of hand to create new methods of ing the military to quell nationrulings giving the governments law enforcement. The demands wide protests. When Times emhired armed bullies carte blanche. for community control and abo- ployees spoke up it was revealed As a result, the police operate lition must remain at the top of that the newspaper pitched the outside of the law with impunity, the list. idea to Cotton, and not the other which exposes the hypocrisy of While people of goodwill sin- way around. Bennet also had to this supposed democracy. cerely debate, the Black political admit that he didn’t even read They also operate outside the class does everything in its power the fascistic screed. natural laws and rules of plain to make sure that nothing much The “paper of record” has old human decency. is accomplished at all. The Con- long been a purveyor of war The protests are right. If we gressional Black Caucus pulled propaganda and the utterances are to survive, we have to get rid out their kente cloth prop and of conservatives like Cotton. But of these thugs, these killers, these added taking a knee with Nancy standard operating procedure brutes, these outside agitators Pelosi and Charles Schumer in isn’t good enough now and once and for all. one of the worst photo opportu- someone considered secure a few Ultimately, we will have to nities of all time. weeks ago can now be the scapeget rid of the system that requires They are proposing reforms goat, who gets pushed under a the use of this human scourge, which will never be approved by bus. this band of human refuse, this the Republican controlled Senate In Europe, thousands have armed body of sell outs, socio- or Donald Trump. They are also turned out to protest for Floyd paths, xenophobes, homophobes, keeping their police-empower- and against the United States. In misogynists, and racists. ing “Protect and Serve Act” in Athens the U.S. embassy was the place. Protect and Serve makes target of demonstrators. Europe Justice, then peace. assaulting a police officer a fed- has its own history of racism, and condemnation of this country eral offense.

Mel Reeves welcomes reader reThe chicanery must be has inspired people to be brave sponses to mellaneous19@yahoo.com. pointed out, yet it must be ac- about their own nations’ crimi-

heart.

And so now is the time to do better. And that starts with listening.

I have regularly invoked the great rabbi Hillel’s 2,000 year old teaching, summarizing the full corpus of Jewish learning: “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow: this is the whole Torah; the rest is the commentary; go and learn.”

But now I realize this is all wrong. It does not matter what is hateful to me. I need to listen and learn and understand what is hateful to my fellow human being. I have to assimilate their hurt.

I have to shift myself out of the center of my world and begin to recognize that there is imbalance, there is inequity, and I unintentionally have been complicit and an accessory to that disparity.

I know that I am not going to change or repair the world alone.

But if my opened eyes and ears can help inspire another to wake up and listen and look—and do—then maybe we can begin to rebuild and repair the world together. Otherwise, as Dr. King warned us: “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it.” And we will bear our guilt to our dying days.

Rabbi Avi S. Olitzky is a senior rabbi at Beth El Synagogue in St. Louis Park.

Rebellion calls scoundrels, criminal systems into account nality.

Parisians marched but not just for George Floyd. Adam Traore was killed by French police in 2016 and the anger about his death never disappeared. That is why a crowd of thousands gathered to say both of their names.

Long-dead criminals are also being taken to task. Belgium’s infamous King Leopold presided over one of the world’s worst genocides in history in the Congo where up to 10 million people were killed in an effort to maximize rubber production.

In recent days monuments to Leopold have been defaced with graffiti and red paint represent-

Parisians marched but not just for George Floyd. Adam Traore was killed by French police in 2016 and the anger about his death never disappeared. ing the blood he spilled. In Britain, the statue of Edward Colston was pulled down and dumped into a river in the city of Bristol.

Colston made a fortune selling 100,000 Africans to colonies in the Caribbean. His hometown had honored him in recognition of the philanthropy that came from selling people and working them to death.

No one is safe. People have lost their fear because they are desperate and angry. It is harder to convince them that all is well when their suffering was deliberately created and their pleas for redress were ignored.

There is the possibility of advancement but also of reaction.

The system knows how to defend itself and how to appeal to the public. This moment requires great vigilance. The people in movement can bring about great changes. But the kente clothwearing rascals will not disappear anytime soon.

Margaret Kimberley lives in New York City and is a regular contributor to BlackAgendaReport.com.

June 18–24, 2020

New Face Continued from page 1 got to be someone who doesn’t have a heart to not have those feelings. Most times people don’t get to see it, they get to hear about it. Now seeing it happen…

“It’s a new era, of the web. We get to expose what happens.”

Locals Kentrell Gaulden and Isaac Furey came to march in solidarity. “After a couple weeks

side, at least most of them,” Gaulden said. “Not every White person is the same. A lot of people want what we do, just fighting for what’s right.

proud of all of the White community and Latino and Native Americans, all of those that are standing up for the Black community because it is important.”

“The world wants to be unified deep down, but we have some things to change before we get there.”

it’s a reflection of them. We don’t want our children to think that everybody in the White community perceives us that way, so we don’t look at them and treat them like the elites of this country.”

Charli Donchetz and her dog Indie came from Savage, Minnesota to join the fight, learn more about the movement, and help to bring that awareness to the suburbs.

“I think that White people are disgusted by the reality of the injustice in Minneapolis,” Donchetz said. “We’re so quick to think that Minneapolis and Minnesota in general is such a liberal and progressive state despite being in the Midwest, and I think that this has really proven that that’s not the case.”

“There’s tons of injustice that needs to be fought,” she added.

“We need to do better.”

Eric Prizzia, who traveled here

“I think it’s probably because this isn’t as much of a race issue.

It’s more about a community versus injustice, and so everybody’s included in that community no matter what ethnicity you are.

If you want to stand up against injustice, this is how you do it,” explained Furey.

Tony Seals and Kirstin Davids drove from south of Minneapolis with their three children to join the rally. They came to teach their kids about the importance of protesting for George Floyd.

Davis said they brought the kids to “include them in part of their history, let them know at a young age to stand up for what they believe in and to not be afraid.” She also attributed the rise in support to social media.

“I think that with technology and cell phone use right now, a lot of people can’t deny what’s going on anymore. I am very

Seals said that Floyd’s killing being in Minneapolis, so close to home, has sparked a broad community response. “I believe this time is just different. Seeing the raw footage of what happened, I think enough is enough and the world wants to be unified deep down, but we have some things to change before we get there.”

Delena Walker, who is American Indian, said that the “obvious” thing brought her out to protest—

the color of her skin. “Our community has suffered greatly and enough is enough.

“I think it’s that they [White people] are to the point where they’re tired. We have to understand when [racism] is going on

from Oregon, reflected on young people’s role in the movement. “I don’t know why it’s taken White people so long to get out and be more vocal,” he said.

“I’d like to think that’s just where the times are progressing

Yet several Black residents led by Pastor Brian Herron of Zion Baptist Church called a Continued from page 1 press conference last week to at peaceful protesters while driv- show support for embattled ing by them in cars. They were Chief Arradondo. The press concaught on camera firing rubber ference came on the heels of the bullets and what appeared to chief reporting that the departbe paint balls at reporters and ment had suspended negotiayoung people who were protest- tions with the Police Federation.

“There is nothing more debiliing peacefully.

Minneapolis Police Lieuten- tating to a chief from an employant Bob Kroll, president of the ment matter perspective than Police Federation, seemed intent when you have grounds to teron sabotaging the mayor and the police chief’s efforts to make concessions to the community.

He wrote a letter calling the protesters terrorists and revealed that he was talking to other police departments encouraging them to keep a hard line. In an interview with the Intercept he admitted minate an officer for misconduct that shooting people didn’t both- and you're dealing with a thirder him. He has shot people on a party mechanism that allows for that employee not only to be few occasions.

Even the Minnesota Highway back in your department, but to patrol got into the act. They were be patrolling your communities," caught on camera puncturing all Arradondo said.

However, according to lafour tires of dozens of cars in a large parking lot downtown, cars bor law attorney Gregg Corwin, which they presumed were be- “The City can’t unilaterally refuse to bargain or pull out of negotiaing driven by protestors.

No rational explanation tions. Either they are choosing to for this property destruction ignore the statute or they don’t was given by the troopers’ understand it, but they’re concommand. The protest had re- strained by state law.”

Recently, local and national mained peaceful, so there was no apparent reason except for headlines have announced that plain meanness to flatten the the Minneapolis City Council has tires of cars that, as it turned agreed to disband the police, but out, belonged to people living they have not made it clear how they plan to do it. Experts have and working nearby.

estimated that this will be a long and drawn-out process, saying they would have to amend the city charter that deems police as an essential part of City services.

Skeptics have said it cannot be done. Other proposals have been made, and the Minneapolis police have agreed that chokeholds would no longer be permissible.

“So the police are banning chokeholds?” one speaker asked the crowd rhetorically at a rally at 38th Street and Chicago. “Why

advantage of the chaos.

While there has been consternation about what will happen if there is no police presence in North Minneapolis, which was quite a distance removed from the South Minneapolis uprising, there was no police protection as neighbors reported gangs of marauding White Supremacists riding around. On one occasion a member of the North Side team that armed itself to protect businesses along the Broadway Av-

Eric Prizzia since the riots, I think the White people that came out today truly showed that they were on our

Promises

“Once equality happens for Black people, it happens for everybody everywhere.”

“People like me who want to abolish prisons and police have a vision of a different society, built on cooperation instead of individualism, on mutual aid instead of self-preservation.”

smith

would they think it was okay to choke people in the first place?”

The majority of the marches and rallies have been called by a coalition of Communities United Against Police Brutality, St. Paul Black Lives Matter (a group independent of the national organization), Racial Justice Network, CAIR Minnesota, Twin Cities Coalition for Justice for Jamar Clarke, and several individual activists. It was this coalition that organized the first march and rally through downtown on the day after the burning and looting of stores This destruction was apparently carried out not by local disaffected youth, but rather by organized provocateurs. These youth apparently simply took

people want [as described in the Justice in Policing Act of 2020— see below].

Continued from page 1 People have to raise their voices because I can say this is it is because they feel they will the right thing to do, and when never be held accountable.

I have talked to people in the I believe that the Minneapolis community they have ideas, but Police Federation led by Lt. Kroll, just me saying that on the floor of who has not only had disciplinthe United States Senate does not ary issues himself but has been make Donald Trump sign it into reported to have association with law or make Republicans vote it White Supremacists, we have to into law. be able to change that. We have And that’s where the power of to figure out a way to reform the the people has to come in. federation contract that through People living in a democbinding arbitration makes it very, racy can express their desire for very difficult to hold police acchange in a bunch of different countable. ways. They can express their deMSR: Everyone wants sire for change by taking to the MSR: Is it possible to toss change, but how do we make streets and protesting peacefully those rules out? and demanding change. I think Senator Smith: We entrust po- real change?

Senator Smith: In this mo- we have seen that starting here lice officers with the power to use deadly force, and in exchange for ment we are talking about a in Minneapolis and spreading that we need accountability so bunch of good ideas, but we have across the whole country and the they don’t use that deadly force done that in the past and not had whole world.

And that has been powerful. in out-of-control ways. And we the political will to change it.

I am going to be honest: I do Some people in power are undo have the power to change that.

There are many, many layers not believe that Donald Trump comfortable, but that is the point of case law that have been built will ever sign into law a bill like of demonstrations—to demand up, that have provided police the one I have just described. the change you want to see.

And of course the only thing officers with immunity from ac- This is why the election matters. countability, and we can wipe This is the kind of policing that people have to do is voice their that clean by establishing a new people want. This is the kind of displeasure at the ballot box. national standard. And essen- community-based policing that Hopefully there will be an optially start over.

We have to be real with ourselves. We have not addressed the underlying racism and bias in the system of policing, and that system provokes violence and unnecessary use of force. And we have to change that.

Yes, we have to have more accountability for the individual incidents, but we also have to work on the underlying systemic problems. We need to look at training.

We need to look at psychological testing to make sure that individuals who are entrusted with the ability to use force are worthy of that trust.

enue corridor was actually shot at.

Few stories in the mainstream press have reported it, but neighbors North and South have told the MSR that they encountered White Supremacists in their neighborhoods after the curfew.

Curfew was imposed the weekend of June 1 and extended for several days, and finally ending after it was pushed back to 10 pm.

KSTP Channel 5 interviewed a private security firm that had been on hand to protect several businesses, and it reported that a well-organized mix of anarchists and White Supremacists had caused most of the damage. The results of their handiwork have deprived some neighborhoods of most of their stores and shops.

with all the young people coming up who are in tune with the issues. I think that the White crowd will continue to get bigger. Also, I think people are seeing past race,

5

in handcuffs and all that,” Ernest said.

“If you’re a White woman, you’re going to see it affect you. If I don’t get equality in the streets

Alex Chapman and anytime anyone dies in this brutal of a fashion I think it resonates with everybody.”

Ernest “M” lives in the Minneapolis area and believes inequalities in the Black community mean inequalities in every community.

Asked what sparked such widespread outrage, he said, “I think it was the clarity of the way that it [Floyd’s killing] happened.

“It was inexcusable. I work security, and there’s no way I would sit on anybody for eight minutes, especially if I had them

as a Black man, you’re not going to get it in the workplace. It’s an understanding that once equality happens for us, it happens for everybody everywhere.”

Analies Pruni welcomes reader responses to apruni@spokesman-recorder.com.

While the motives of the White Supremacists appeared to be the destruction of Black property and to cause the police to shoot at Black people, the motives of the anarchists are unclear, since they consider themselves a revolutionary group. Their strategy harkens back to the days of Vietnam when U.S. government policy was to destroy Vietnamese villages to save them.

While slogans like “defund the police” and “abolish the police” have been bandied about, there has been consternation in the White community and Black community alike over the possibility of not having police. Defund the police activists explain that they don’t want to get rid of police so much as stop police abuse and put to better use some of the money used to fund police.

They say the idea is for the community to find more creative ways to police itself and have pointed out a few areas in which police should not be involved.

Some activists have suggested that the community create a crisis team that can respond to people having mental-health crises.

Many people have been injured or killed by police responding to such calls.

Having crisis counselors available who can intervene in disputes before they turn into domestic violence has also been proposed. They suggest that police not be involved with people with alcohol and drug problems, but

rather have these treated as the health and social problems they are rather than as criminal issues.

Defund the police proponents say the call to defund means putting money into badly needed housing programs or improving public education. Under the best circumstances, the money removed from the budget would be put into the community’s hands to make improvements in the aforementioned areas. Yet another potential use for the funds would be community-run treatment centers.

And then there has been the ultimate call to simply abolish the police.

“People like me who want to abolish prisons and police have a vision of a different society, built on cooperation instead of individualism, on mutual aid instead of self-preservation,” wrote police abolitionist activist Miriame Kaba in the New York Times.

“This change in society wouldn’t happen immediately, but the protests show that many people are ready to embrace a different vision of safety and justice.

“When the streets calm and people suggest once again that we hire more Black police officers or create more civilian review boards, I hope that we remember all the times those efforts have failed.”

athletes

across the country [is] fighting,” she said. “I think that’s what’s most important.

“It can’t just be the Black community that’s standing by themselves. It has to be the White community as well.

They got to stand with us, because if they don’t change, nothing is going to change.

“I think this last week or so have been some of the craziest things that we’ve seen in our lifetime,” Ruffin-Platt continued, “but we’re being heard and that's what's most important. If this continues and people continue to voice their opinion and continue to stand in solidarity with African Americans and the Black community, anything can happen.”

“Whatever you think about what Minnesota is, we are all a part of it,” said Brauer.

“This is a racist system.”

portunity to vote by mail in November, and your vote will be counted. Fundamentally, that’s Continued from page 1 how things change. not the same thing,” said Hill.

MSR: Joe Biden made a flip“I did watch a little bit of pant comment indicating that the WCCO’s coverage because Black community has no choice everybody was talking about but to vote for him in November. it,” observed former media How does the Democratic Party critic David Brauer. “It feels overcome the idea that it takes like some of the anchors are Black voters for granted? well intentioned, but they are Senator Smith: He shouldn’t so very far away from the have said that. The problem is, it scene.” played into the suspicions many WNBA veteran guard TierBlack and Brown people have, ra Ruffin-Platt’s cousin was and that is that they are taken for killed by an off-duty police granted by the Democratic Party. officer over seven years ago.

It is not a good time to be flippant. “He was shot two houses The reason that I am doing my down from my house that best to be specific and clear and I grew up in. All the same focused is because that is what memories are coming back people should expect of me, not up, so it’s been an emotional just platitude and good words, week for me and my family,” but that I back my words with she told the MSR last week actions. I have done everything I during a media video confercan to be that kind of leader. ence call.

The Floyd killing appears To view the Justice in Policing to have become a historic Act of 2020, visit www.booker.sen- touchpoint for real change, ate.gov/imo/media/doc/Justice_ but Ruffin-Platt stressed that in_Policing_Act.pdf patience and persistence also are needed in addressing systemic racism and instituting police reforms. “Everybody

Mel Reeves welcomes reader responses to mreeves@spokesmanrecorder.com.

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

For more on Black athletes and protest, see this week’s “Sports Odds and Ends” on page 8.

6

June 18-24, 2020

Watch ‘Just Mercy,’ ‘13th’ and more for free

H

ome viewing of movies new and old have hit an all-time high due to the pandemic and subsequent movie theater shutdowns. When the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S., many people sought out movies like "Contagion” and "Pandemic" that explored and dramatized a public health crisis.

Now the same is true in the wake of the recent killings of unarmed Black people like Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and most recently, George Floyd. According to Variety, people have been seeking out films that explore the topics of racial injustice and criminal justice reform.

Responding to the times and demand, streaming platforms like Netflix, GooglePlay and Amazon have curated “Black Lives Matter” collections of movies, TV shows and documentaries, with select free offerings.

We’ve highlighted a few below.

In an effort to educate viewers about the topic of systemic racism, "Just Mercy" and "Selma" and the documentary “13th” are being offered for free.

"Just Mercy" (2019) stars Jamie Foxx and Michael B. Jordan and dramatizes the real-life story of a wrongly accused death row inmate and a civil rights attorney.

“Our film ‘Just Mercy,’ based on the life work of civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson, is one resource we can

nay, is currently free to watch on Netflix for non-subscribers. The Academy Awardnominated film explores the historical and present-day ills of the U.S. prison system through historians, elected officials, academics and personal accounts. Watch “13th” for free on Netflix.

“Selma” (2015), DuVernay’s Martin Luther King biopic on the civil rights icon and the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches, is also available to stream Courtesy of Warner Bros./Paramount Pictures for free. DuVernay tweeted, “Happy to share: Paramount Pictures is offering SELMA humbly offer to those who GooglePlay, and YouTube.

“13th” (2016), the powerful for free rental on all US digiare interested in learning more about the systemic rac- documentary by Ava DuVer- tal platforms for June, startism that plagues our society,” stated a Warner Bros. representative on Twitter. “To actively be part of the change our country is so desperately seeking, we encourage you to learn more about our past and the countless injustices that have led us to where we are today.”

Watch “Just Mercy” for free for the month of June on Amazon, AppleTV, Redbox,

ing today. We’ve gotta understand where we’ve been to strategize where we’re going. History helps us create the blueprint.”

Watch “Selma” for free during the month of June on YouTube, Apple and Amazon Prime.

Check the streaming platform of your choice, as well as premium cable platforms like Showtime and HBO for more free offerings centered on social justice.

Courtesy of Netflix

‘Just Mercy,’ a story about justice and redemption

By Dwight Brown A young Harvard-educated lawyer, Bryan Stevenson (Michael B. Jordan), could have his pick of law firms.

Instead, he heads to rural Alabama to set up a small practice. In the deep South, with all its confines, he seeks to reverse death row sentences for wrongfully convicted prisoners. Stevenson partners with local advocate Eva Ansley (Brie Larson).

Many on death row are in need. Walter McMillian (Jamie Foxx), who was convicted of killing an 18-yearold White woman, becomes a prime client. McMillian says, “I didn’t do it.”

There’s enough evidence to question his arrest, trial, conviction and sentence. But where he lives, in 1988, no one has enough power or know-how to fight the judicial system. He needs a crusader. Stevenson is up for the fight: “Your life is still meaningful, and I’m going to do everything I can to keep

them from taking it.”

To get a feel for Michael B. Jordan’s interpretation of the role, close your eyes and imagine a young Sidney Poitier. That’s the way Jordan plays the character. Not like a fiery, agitated Denzel Washington or a gritty, emotionally raw Jeffrey Wright.

Jordan’s Stevenson has a slow, steady and academic manner. It’s a refreshing change from the heroes and martyrs he often plays.

Foxx gives his best performance since “Ray.” Every action, facial expression and ounce of dialogue is channeled through him with a conviction that he rarely shows. Brie Larson finds the core of her character too. Rob Morgan, Tim Blake Nelson, Rafe Spall, O’Shea Jackson Jr. and Karan Kendrick as Walter’s wife form the rest of the very able ensemble cast.

Director Destin Daniel Cretton’s approach to the crime/courtroom/drama genre is near formulaic.

Nothing on view—from

(l-r) Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx star in “Just Mercy.” style, to production elements, to substance—seems particularly new or unique. But his guidance gets the job done.

Cretton and co-writer Andrew Lanham use the real lawyer Stevenson’s awardwinning non-fiction book “Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption” as source

material. The script they’ve created is clear, has distinctive characters, evolves competently and heads to an ending that is bigger than its building blocks. Yet, something is missing. Something big. Something that would make this an extraordinary tale about injustice.

(Brett Pawlak) that are solid.

Adult and urban viewers should find the film’s depiction of poor Black men being railroaded into death sentences—well into the late ’80s—alarming and enlightening. Whether viewed in a theater or on a streaming service, the story’s details on history, racism and activism should be quite affecting.

On a far more personal level, watching a very northern and stiff African American lawyer awkwardly adapt to a friendly rural southern Black community is compelling. It’s a fascinating juxtaposition, a contrast in cultures that elevates a true Courtesy of Warner Bros story.

As the story unfolds, images of the South, prison environs and rural Black neighborhoods are created and visualized by production design (Sharon Seymour), editing (Nat Sanders), costume design (Francine JamisonTanchuck), music (Joel P. West) and cinematography

Dwight Brown is an NNPA News Wire film critic. Find more of his work at DwightBrownInk.com and BlackPressUSA.com. ”Just Mercy” is currently being offered for free on many streaming platforms (see story above.)

June 18-24, 2020

Legals

7

Employment

STATE OF MINNESOTA COUNTY OF HENNEPIN

From Clas Departme Spokesma PHONE: 6 FOR BILL INQUIRIE & TEARS From ClaC PLEASE Departm ACCOUN Spokesm PHONE: EMPLOY FOR BILL SIZE: 2 CO SIZE: 3 COL X 10.5 INQUIRI RATE $38 MARRIAGE DISSOLUTION RATE: $200 & TEARS SUB TOTA Total: $200.00 PLEASE C for 3 weeks Please pro ACCOUN Please proof, respond with email confirmation to mation to com. display@spokesman-recorder.com EMPLOY SIZE: 2 C RATE $38 SUB TOT

ATTORNEY – SENIOR LAW PROJECT From Classified Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid. Department/MN More info at Spokesman-Recorder PHONE: 612-827-4021 www.mylegalaid.org/employment FOR BILLING INQUIRIES & TEARSHEETS PLEASE CONTACT Legal Support Specialist ACCOUNTING DEPT Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid. For details go to www.mylegalaid.org/employment.

LEGAL NOTICES

DISTRICT COURT FOURTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT FAMILY COURT DIVISION Case Type: Dissolution with Children

_________________________________ In Re the Marriage of: Con respecto al matrimonio de: Antonio Alejandro Paxtor Lopez, Petitioner, Peticionario,

Court File No.: SUMMONS CITACIÓN

v.

Maria Pascuala Vicente Hernandez, Respondent.

Respondiente, _________________________________ THE STATE OF MINNESOTA TO THE ABOVE–NAMED RESPONDENT: EL ESTADO DE MINNESOTA A LA RESPONDIENTE NOMBRADA ANTERIORMENTE: YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED AND REQUIRED to serve upon Petitioner's attorney a response to the Petition which is herewith served upon you within thirty (30) days after service of this Summons upon you, exclusive of the day of service. If you fail to do so, judgment by default will be taken against you for the relief demanded in the Petition.

SE LE ORDENA SERVIR a la abogada de el peticionario una respuesta a la petición, por lo cual tiene un plazo de treinta (30) días después de recibir esta citación, el día de entregada. Si no responde a esta citación judicial, se expone a una rebeldía de sentencia aceptando el alivio del demandante.

This proceeding does not involve, direct, or bring into question any real property.

Este procedimiento no está involucrado con, dirige o toca el tema de propiedad real.

Please pr mation to com.

NOTICE OF TEMPORARY RESTRAINING AND ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROVISIONS Under Minnesota law, service of this Summons makes the following requirements apply to both parties in this action, unless they are modified by the Court or the proceeding is dismissed: (1) Neither party may dispose of any assets except (i) for the necessities of life or for the necessary generation of income or preservation of assets, (ii) by an agreement in writing, or (iii) for retaining counsel to carry on or to contest this proceeding; (2) Neither party may harass the other party; and (3) All currently available insurance coverage must be maintained and continued without change in coverage or beneficiary designation.

ANUNCIO DE CONTENCIÓN TEMPORAL Y PROVISIONES DE RESOLUCIÓN ALTERNATIVA DE DISPUTAS Bajo la ley de Minnesota, entregada de esta citación hace que lo siguiente aplique a las dos partes en esta acción, a menos que cambien por parte de la corte o el procedimiento se despide.

(1) Ninguna de las partes puede disponer de cualquier activo de capital excepto (1) por las necesidades de vivir o para la generación necesaria de ingresos o la preservación de los activos de capital, (ii) por un acuerdo escrito, o (iii) por contratar un abogado para seguir o refutar este procedimiento.

(2) Ninguna de las partes puede acosar a la otra; y (3) Todo el seguro actual y disponible debe ser mantenido y continuado sin cambio en cobertura o designación del beneficiario.

IF YOU VIOLATE ANY OF THESE PROVISIONS, YOU WILL BE SUBJECT TO SANCTIONS BY THE COURT. (4) Parties to a marriage dissolution proceeding are encouraged to attempt alternative dispute resolution pursuant to Minnesota law. Alternative dispute resolution includes mediation, arbitration, and other processes as set forth in the District Court Rules.

You may contact the Court Administrator about resources in your area. If you cannot pay for mediation or alternative dispute resolution, in some counties, assistance may be available to your through a non-profit provider or a court program. If you are a victim of domestic abuse or threats of domestic abuse as defined in Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 518B, you are not required to try mediation, and you will not be penalized by the Court in later proceedings.

SI USTED VIOLA CUALQUIERA DE ESTAS PROVISIONES, SE LE SUJETA A LAS SANCIONES DE LA CORTE. (4) Se recomienda a las partes del procedimiento de la disolución del matrimonio de tratar una resolución alternativa a la disputa según la ley de Minnesota. Una resolución alternativa a la disputa incluye mediación, arbitraje, y los otros procesos establecidos en las reglas del tribunal de distrito. Puede llamar al administrador de la corte sobre los recursos en su área.

Si no puede pagar para mediación o una resolución alternativa a la disputa, en algunos condados, asistencia puede ser disponible a Usted a través de una organización no pagada o un programa de la corte. Si es usted una víctima de abuso doméstico o amenazas de abuso domestico como se define en los estatutos de Minnesota, Capitulo 51B, no se requiere que usted trate la mediación, y no se van a sancionar por la corte en los procedimientos siguientes. _/s/ Kathleen Korniyenko_____ Kathleen Korniyenko, Esq. Attorney for Petitioner Abogada de el Peticionario Lic. No. 0396563 Wilson Law Group 3019 Minnehaha Ave. Suite 200 Minneapolis, Minnesota 55406 Direct: 612.436.8180 Main: 612.436.7100 Fax: 612.436.7101 Email: kkorniyenko@wilsonlg.com

_05/19/2020___ Date/Fecha:

CERTIFICATE OF TRANSLATION I, Carlos Arencibia Fernandez, certify that I am fluent in English and Spanish and I have translated the attached Document to the best of my ability. _/s/ Carlos Arencibia Fernandez__ Signature

_05/19/2020___________ Date

Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder June 18 & 25, and July 2, 2020

View Continued from page 8 how single-minded society happens to be. It was not all male fans—females were coming in at it, too.

“We don’t ever take the time to digest something for what it says, but [rather go] the way we are taught and conditioned to think,” said Jackson. He says he used his latest book to “do a deeper dive from a research standpoint on how toxic it really is. How the sports world is really shaped by the male mentality,

and how we associate faster and stronger with greater and better.”

This misguidedness also applies to such words as “dominant.” It’s rarely used when discussing women athletes.

“There’s nothing you can physically do to equal the physicality of how a man is built,” said Jackson. “But that doesn’t necessarily mean that men are greater [than women].

The WNBA is a classic example. “They don’t dunk.”

“They’re only women.” “They play in the summer”—these are the usual responses from those who don’t follow America’s lon-

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gest women’s pro league. Never mind the fact that the vast majority of the players virtually play all year round, something their NBA counterparts doesn’t do.

But after over two decades, they still don’t get the love from men sports lovers.

“If after all these years this is the only way to judge [athletes] is by physicality, then we are stupid, especially in this day and age,” Jackson concluded.

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

Fitz Continued from page 8

Opal

and remind Black Americans of the pain delivered by the preservation of slavery.

Mixologist Powerful wealthy Whites, powerless poor Blacks, two 612-850-9239 different views and life expehishands52@gmail.com rience. Universities are dropping lots of sports programs.

Facebook @innerpeacefragrance Why? Football and basketball programs drive university revenues. Schools can't an academic scandal that broke make money with student the night before a 1999 NCAA athletes playing in empty staContinued from page 8 tournament game against Gonza- diums with no fans. ga, and the team was eventually America has a birth defect. stripped of its wins in the 1994, Our culture is everywhere. that?

Haskins immediately present- 1995 and 1997 (Final Four) NCAA It's being packaged.

Sports returning and started me with a couple of Gopher t- Tournaments, as well as its NIT ing up games is not easy for shirts and life went on. My father, wins in 1996 and 1998.

Despite those developments, owners because the coronahowever, never let me forget that my memory of that moment nev- virus was not in the contract. moment.

Haskins left Western Ken- er diminished. I got to meet one Owners and players finally tucky after McNeal’s first year of the best basketball coaches the really see each other. For the to coach the Gophers from 1986- University of Minnesota ever had. players starting up again, I got to meet Clem Haskins. patience is a virtue in team 1999 and experienced success that sports. In individual sports included NCCA tournament apDr. Mitchell Palmer McDon- like golf and tennis the playpearances in the Sweet 16 (1989) and Elite Eight (1990) and a NIT ald welcomes reader responses to ers are independent contractors—here's the money, come mcdeezy05@gmail.com.

Championship (1993). and get it.

He was forced to resign due to

PreP

Institutionalized racism is a culture in this country, in politics and media. It's the way they do business. Four hundred years of racism is coming out on the streets, and people are saying, “I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore.”

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has a message for White people: "White people need to make change in their lives. This is not one man's story. This is almost every Black man's story, which is why the problem is ours."

Larry Fitzgerald is a longstanding contributing columnist at the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder. He can be heard weekday mornings on KMOJ Radio 89.9 FM at 8:25 am, on WDGY-AM 740 Monday and Friday at 9:10 am, and at www.

Gamedaygold.com. He also commentates on sports 7-8 pm on “Almanac” (TPT channel 2).

Follow him on Twitter at FitzBeatSr. Larry welcomes reader responses to info@larry-fitzgerald.com, or visit www.LarryFitzgerald.com.

8

June 18-24, 2020

America is finally coming to grips!

Fitz Beat Larry FitzgeraLd

H

onestly, 2020 has been like a long dream. Coronavirus pandemic, 115,000 Americans dead since March 1. No games played since March 12— NBA, NHL, NCAA, MLS and MLB never even started. Then George Floyd is murdered in full view by four Minneapolis police on the streets at 38th and Chicago.

America's social shift or social reality awakening happened when Americans had no games to watch or go to, no movies to attend, no arts, no concerts, no clubs or bars. We were forced to stay at home in COVID-19 isolation.

Protest marches, violence every day since Memorial Day. Fifty percent of the protesters are White. Things appear to be changing in real time with an admission that America is racist and has discriminated against Black people for 400 years. The NFL, the most popular game on earth, is leading the way.

The NFL admits they were wrong three years ago and should have supported the players’ fight for racial equality, justice and Black Lives Matter, committing $250 million for so-

More Black athletes join the fight for justice

cial justice causes. June 19, better known as Juneteenth, is now a holiday for players.

The Vikings and Wilf Family ownership is donating $5 millack athletes and activlion to social justice. The Vikings ism have been histori(social justice committee) also cally linked. But for a unveiled a social justice plan that couple of decades, beginning in includes a $125,000 gift estab- the 1990s and until recent years, lishing the George Floyd Legacy it was rare for Black athletes to Scholarship. speak out on social issues for fear The Twins story is tied to Cal- of aliening fans, sponsors, manvin Griffith. The Pohlad own- agement, or their own personal ership, the richest in MLB, has brand. That is rapidly changing. committed $25 million. "We conBlacks deaths at the hands of demn racism in all its forms and police in recent years have finally we are committed to helping to convinced some Black athletes to enact meaningful change." One speak out against them and othNBA owner committed $100 er racial injustices as well. Social million for social justice causes— media became their bully pulpits the only Black owner in sports, as well.

Michael Jordan.

Some asked is it important for The Arizona Cardinals will them to do so; others say it’s way support its players’ protest including kneeling during the anthem. Houston Texans Head Coach Bill O'Brian has said he will take a knee during the national anthem next season with his players to protest racial inequality and police brutality.

Three years ago, no Vikings players took a knee in support of Colin Kaepernick.

NASCAR's three national series supports the only Black driver, Bubba Wallace, who asked that the Confederate flag Tierra Ruffin-Platt be banned. Two days later they Photos courtesy of Twitter banned the Confederate flag at NASCAR events.

That's a start, but 1700 Con- about time. federate symbols still remain WNBA players in 2016, led in the U.S. That flag is the most by the Minnesota Lynx, wore racist symbol on earth. Do you protest t-shirts in the wake of know how many Black men and Philando Castile’s death during women have died at the hands a traffic stop in suburban St. Paul. of KKK and flag-waving racists? “It was not just the Black athConfederate symbols have been letes, but there were White allies used to consciously intimidate there, too,” recalled University of Oregon Assistant Professor Dr. ■ See Fitz on page 7 Courtney Cox. “They were rep-

B

resenting all that was happening that summer.”

Tierra Ruffin-Platt and her then-Washington Mystics teammates later imposed a media blackout, answering only social justice questions.

It’s been over three weeks since George Floyd’s death in police custody in South Minneapolis sparked day-and-night protests and demonstrations locally, nationally and worldwide. Not only Black athletes have spoken out; coaches, teams, leagues and corporations have released public statements in support of and joining protesters of all races for needed change amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are at the epicenter here in Minneapolis… The world is [looking] at us on how we are going to handle the situation,” Minnesota Timberwolves President Gersson Rosas told reporters last week, including the MSR, during a video conference call.

“That could have been Lawrence” rather than Floyd, added Wolves Coach Ryan Saunders, referring to former Minnesota Gopher teammate Lawrence McKenzie who he’d recently talked with about the incident.

“A lot of people who don’t look like me have educated me.”

Ruffin-Platt, whose cousin was killed by police near her home several years ago, said on the Floyd protests, “We’re fighting racism in America. We’re fighting the justice system. We’re fighting a lot of things right now.

Blacks, Whites, doesn’t matter what race, ethnicity, orientation you are—it has to be a constant and continued conversation

Sexism in sports as prevalent as ever writers in their absence to compile “best of” and “remember when” pieces. Sports networks are running “classic” games, and sports radio hosts are having “who’s better, bigger, best” debates. All of this continues with barely any women’s sports classics, talk, or anything else as women’s sports remain a far distant second to men’s.

Sports and their Joe RockCourtesy of Haymarket Book head media types refuse to see On coronavirus hiatus since March, the lack of sporting women athletes in particular through non-judgmental, nonevents has forced male sports- and women’s sports in general sexist eyes. Robert Scoop Jackson devoted the second chapter of his book “The Game Is Not a Game” to sexism.

Writing the chapter “really gave me insight on how toxic this male conditioning is when it comes to sports and the sports mentality,” explains Jackson, remembering a 2011 column he wrote for ESPN that opened a can full of criticism afterwards. “I

“The backlash I got from that was so male-sensitive, so maleprotective, and so male-toxic that it led me to look into how single-minded society happens to be.”

Protesting Lynx players (l-r) Lindsay Whalen, Maya Moore, Rebekkah Brunson, Seimone Augustus that’s happening between everybody in this country.

“It’s a constant and continued cycle that’s happening in America where a Black person is killed.” Ruffin-Platt continued.

“Whether it’s by a White person or cop, it doesn’t really matter.”

She pointed out that her cousin was shot and killed by an offduty Black policeman.

“Racism and anti-Blackness haven’t been addressed institu-

“It has to be a constant and continued conversation that’s happening between everybody in this country.” tionally [and] individually in a way that’s meaningful for folk,” noted University of South Florida Counselor Dr. Reuben Faloughi, who played football at Georgia (2009-13). Later, while working on his doctorate, he worked with University of Missouri students on improving campus culture

pandemic. Racism affects people in the U.S. and abroad.”

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

The day I met Clem Haskins

never said women were better. I said Serena [Williams] was more dominant than Michael Jordan in what she basically did in the short amount of time she had to do it in.”

Williams, eight times the number-one tennis player in It was June 1987. I had just the world, won 23 Grand Slam graduated from college and my singles, winning over 85% of her father, Kwame McDonald, was matches in her illustrious career. about to introduce University of Minnesota’s men’s basketball coach, Clem Haskins.

This was going to be a big moment for me because Haskins, who had just finished his first year as the U of M’s coach after six years at Western Kentucky University, was a Black man who had taken over a program rocked with scandal in 1986.

Another connection was that Haskins recruited Minneapolis Robert Scoop Jackson North player Brett McNeal to Western Kentucky after McNeal She reached her 10th Wimble- led the Polars to a runner-up findon final in 2018 less than a year ish in the Class 2A state tournaafter she gave birth to her first ment and won Mr. Basketball in child.

1985.

“She wasn’t greater than The connection that sealed it Michael Jordan,” says Jackson, for me was the fact that Haskins “but let Mike go have a baby and chose my father to lead the Pillscome back.” bury Summer Basketball League He also lauded Laila Ali’s in the summer of 1987. At the boxing career. Muhammad time it was the premiere basketAli’s youngest child won titles ball league in the state for high in five boxing-sanctioned organizations, successfully defended her titles 13 times (2004-2007), and retired undefeated with 24 wins in as many tries, with 21 knockouts as a super middleweight and light heavyweight.

“You look at her record and she was beating people’s a-,” Jackson says. “Laila Ali was more dominant than her father.

I thought it was accurate in the context I used it. I had the facts to back it up.”

However, the veteran writer got roasted: “The backlash I got from that was so male-sensitive, so male-protective, and so maletoxic that it led me to look into ■ See View on page 7

for Black students.

“I’ve been on fire since Michael Brown [who was killed by police in 2014], working to address institutional and individual racism and other forms of oppression,” Faloughi said, adding that he is not surprised that Black male and female pro and college athletes literally are in the streets.

“I don’t know how this thing is going to unfold,” he admitted.

“White supremacy is a global

PreP Scene Dr. Mitchell PalMer McDonalD

school, college and professional players.

So here I was, a recent graduate of HBCU Central State University (Ohio), riding with my dad to a store in Dinkytown on the U of M campus to meet a man I admired. I was very excited when we arrived, but the intro didn’t pan out the way I thought it would.

There we were: myself, my father and Coach Haskins standing in the middle of the store. “Hi Coach Haskins,” I said smiling.

“Very nice to meet you.”

“Very nice to meet you,” he replied with a smile as well.

Before I could continue our conversation, his smile suddenly disappeared and he said, “So you’re a Georgetown man, huh?”

I looked down and realized I was wearing a Georgetown Hoyas t-shirt. How crazy was

Clem Haskins and his wife Yevette

■ See Prep on page 7

MSR file photo