Southwest Journal June 11-24

June 11–24, 2020 Vol. 31, No. 12 southwestjournal.com

A vow to ‘end the MPD’ Majority of City Council commits to finding new community safety model

On the streets

By Andrew Hazzard

Protesters demand justice after George Floyd’s killing READ THEIR STORIES STARTING ON PAGE A14

On a sunny Sunday two weeks after George Floyd was killed, a supermajority of the City Council took the stage with community activists and announced their intent to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department.

“Our efforts at incremental reform have failed. Period,” Council President Lisa Bender (Ward 10) told a crowd at Powderhorn Park.

“Our commitment is to do what’s necessary to keep every member of our community safe, and to tell the truth, the Minneapolis police are not doing that. Our commitment is to end our city’s toxic relationship with the Minneapolis Police Department, to end policing as we know it and to recreate systems of public safety that actually keep us safe.”

Nine council members stood with activists from Black Visions Collective and Reclaim the Block in what has been the most concrete sign that Floyd’s death under the knee of officer Derek Chauvin will result in major changes in Minneapolis, even if it is unclear exactly how those changes will take place.

“We are here to rebuild our city on a different foundation,” said Miski Noor of Black Visions Collective, an organization founded in 2017 to SEE POLICE / PAGE A10

Businesses press on Minneapolis could seek over $500 million in aid

By Michelle Bruch

Banadir Pharmacy was looted two nights in a row at Lake & Blaisdell, but Dr. Edris Kosar hasn’t yet tallied the loss. Instead he explained the situation to his suppliers, cleaned and boarded the store and reopened three days later.

“I still have got Monday patients coming to me and they want their medications,” he said.

The pharmacy is delivering 80% of prescriptions, so customers can stay home during the pandemic. Corporate pharmacies that were damaged could be slow to come back, Kosar said.

“That is one of the reasons why I had to act with a sense of urgency,” he said.

“Somehow, someway I have to take the burden for the rest of the community.”

Rongo’s auto shop was destroyed by fire, but Gemechis Merga is still making minor repairs in the parking lot using donated tools.

Some other damaged businesses have quickly reopened their doors, including Valerie’s Carniceria and Sebastian Joe’s. Origami’s patio is open, saying: “Our windows can be replaced,

George Floyd’s life cannot.” Galactic Pizza is turning down donations and instead plans to cover its own insurance deductible and give all June 9 food and beverage proceeds to Black Visions Collective and Lake Street businesses in need.

The City of Minneapolis’ observable building damage is estimated at $100 million to $150 million, based on an initial assessment by 17 teams that fanned throughout the city. At least 11 buildings should be demolished in the interest of public safety, according to city staff.

The heaviest damage covers a five-mile stretch of Lake Street concentrated around the 3rd and 5th precinct headquarters and a one-mile stretch of University Avenue in St. Paul, according to the Star Tribune, impacting many businesses owned by people of color. In Southwest Minneapolis, much of the damage is along Lake Street, stretching a few blocks to the north and south along Hennepin, Lyndale and Nicollet avenues.

SEE BUSINESSES / PAGE A9

Tony Gulyard (left), co-owner of One 21 4 East Barbershop, and Manny Minter, owner of Fit 1st Running, have reopened their Hennepin Avenue storefronts. Photo by Michelle Bruch

BUSINESSES HIT SEE MAP AT SWJOURNAL.COM/CURBSIDE-DIRECTORY Our Curbside Business Directory has been updated to show where stores were damaged, how to support them and how they are supporting others. Many boarded shops have reopened; check with businesses directly for the most up-to-date information.

Police brutality lawsuits

Pimento reinvents itself

Photos of the uprising

Voices from the pandemic

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A2 June 11–24, 2020 / southwestjournal.com

‘Resurgence of the neighborhood watch’ Residents look to protect each other during unrest

By Andrew Hazzard / ahazzard@swjournal.com

On May 29, as small groups of rioters and opportunistic looters brought chaos to the neighborhoods around the 5th Precinct protest, residents on nearby Harriet Avenue noticed a group of people gathering trash cans from homes. Suddenly, the garbage bins went up in flames, people were running everywhere and there was no help in sight.

“The police were not coming,” said resident D’Andre Johnson.

Every night since, as darkness begins to fall, a group of neighbors living on the 3000 block of Harriet Avenue have put up makeshift barriers using old traffic signs at 31st & Lake to deter people from driving up their block. It’s a move they say is necessary when law enforcement is not responding quickly to incidents of violence and destruction that have stemmed off from demonstrations across the city since George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police on May 25.

“You could almost call it the resurgence of the neighborhood watch,” Johnson said.

Across Southwest Minneapolis, residents have taken an active role in defending their neighborhoods from destruction in the unrest that has arisen since Floyd was killed.

Whether standing guard on corners, imposing makeshift barriers or communicating potential threats via text chains or digital servers, residents are trying to keep safe.

A key to safety strategy is communicating, residents say. Speaking with neighbors about any actions or communicating any real or perceived

A group of Harriet Avenue neighbors have been defending their block with makeshift traffic barricades.

Photo by Andrew Hazzard

threats in a clear way is important. On Harriet Avenue, residents had a block meeting and have been communicating via a text thread.

“People need to talk to their neighbors,” said Chris Wylie, a Harriet Avenue resident who has been involved with the barricade efforts.

That’s true for larger, more formal efforts, too. In the Wedge, the Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association (LHENA) set up a communication network via a server on Discord, a communication app commonly used by video game players, that has various channels where neighbors can post about real or perceived threats that can be quickly confirmed or debunked.

“There are people up all night with eyes on the street watching out for each other,” said Alicia Gibson, LHENA’s board president.

Within 48 hours of The Wedge launching its communication server, more than 700 residents had signed up, Gibson said.

To discourage looting or other destruction

in neighborhoods across Minneapolis, residents have taken it upon themselves to provide security.

“If you’re not watching your store, it will get looted,” said Mahad Osman, who works at 36 Lyn Refuel Station in Lyndale.

The popular gas station experienced some looting on May 29, when a group of teenagers stole mostly tobacco products, and since has had a group of about 20 people taking turns watching the store and the entire 36th & Lyndale corner at night, Osman said. The watchers take turns walking around the corner in groups of four and communicate via walkie talkies. Seeing people take advantage of the protests to do damage to local, black-owned businesses has been sad for Osman.

“It’s ridiculous,” he said.

Yin Muangmode, general manager of Amazing Thailand, said she and two others stayed at the restaurant for four straight nights during the worst of the chaos, keeping watch

on the doors and chasing away several wouldbe looters. The scariest incident, she said, was when armed looters tried to break the plywood covering their windows to enter the restaurant.

“We actually pushed out the door and asked them, ‘Please don’t’ many times until they [were gone],” she said.

Three rocks that were thrown into the restaurant window now sit at the front counter.

At Pimento Jamaican Kitchen in Whittier, the popular restaurant and rum bar has converted itself into a donation drop-off and distribution site. The restaurant posted on social media that it had received reports it would be a target for people looking to wreak havoc in the area but has had volunteers staying at the restaurant at night to deter any potential attacks.

“Pimento is safe, and the community won’t let it be any other way,” said Scott McDonald, a Pimento worker who has been helping lead relief efforts.

Fires and fear

In the week of unrest, there have been reports of caches of fire accelerants and heavy objects like bricks, stones and wood throughout Southwest Minneapolis. The city sent out a message asking people to check for such stashes, though Minneapolis Police spokesperson John Elder said he did not have a number of such instances to share.

Jared Drahonovsky lives in an apartment between James and Irving on Lagoon Avenue.

SEE NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH / PAGE A11

southwestjournal.com / June 11–24, 2020 A3

Anti-brutality protests met with brutality, lawsuits claim

By Andrew Hazzard / ahazzard@swjournal.com

Protests in response to the police killing of George Floyd were met with brutality and excessive force against participants and the journalists covering the fray, according to lawsuits filed in June.

The two lawsuits filed in federal court seek class action status. One represents all peaceful protesters injured by law enforcement using force to disperse crowds, while the other represents media members similarly targeted or arrested while reporting.

A lawsuit filed on behalf of St. Paul resident Annette Williams against the City of Minneapolis alleges she was on a downtown sidewalk on May 28 when a Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) squad car drove past and an officer sprayed a chemical irritant at her.

The suit alleges the officer was not attempting to clear a path but instead was randomly spraying. Multiple videos of law enforcement engaging in drive-by spraying have been shared on social media, including one video taken by a Star Tribune columnist.

Williams has since suffered from labored breathing and chest pain. The lawsuit says the tactic has a chilling effect and is meant to deter people from expressing their First Amendment rights. The document also accuses the MPD of using a “corral and combat” strategy where officers would box protesters into an area then shoot in tear gas and rubber bullets.

On the ground, witnesses reported seeing a heavy-handed, antagonistic approach from law enforcement.

Jake Armato, a trained EMT who lives in Northeast, went out to the most intense nights of protesting near the 3rd and 5th precinct headquarters to offer emergency medical care.

He was expecting a scene of chaos with crimes of passion and fighting, but he said what he saw “was shocking.” Armato said he treated about 110 people in total and that “all their injuries were from the police.”

He treated people for chemical burns, cuts, the effects of tear gas and welts and concussions from rubber bullets. His most common treatments were washing out the eyes of people who’d been tear gassed, Armato said. In addition to physical injuries, he helped people process “a lot of psychological trauma.” Many people he treated were teenagers or young adults who were coughing from gas and overwhelmed by constant explosions and disorientation.

“Tear gas can be very scary if you’ve never been gassed before,” he said.

A protester is treated for tear gas exposure with milk on May 28 after police sprayed a crowd near the Pourhouse in Downtown Minneapolis. Photo by Isaiah Rustad

Armato, who used to work with a university police department, said he thought officers were pushed to a breaking point and snapped.

He said it was clear the police were in a militant mode. He said he noticed a “good number of officers provoking and shooting people at point blank range with rubber bullets.”

“There was no sense of de-escalation,” Armato said.

One widely shared video shows MPD and National Guard soldiers yelling “light ’em up” before firing paintball rounds at residents on a Whittier porch at the start of the stateimposed curfew on May 30. The video has been viewed more than 28 million times.

“We are reviewing the allegations in the lawsuits and take them seriously,” the City of Minneapolis wrote in a statement to the Southwest Journal. “We continue to support the First Amendment rights of everyone in Minneapolis.”

Media targeted

Reporters, like many protesters, were struck with rubber bullets and exposed to chemical irritants used by law enforcement, according to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota on behalf of Minneapolis-based freelancer Jared Goyette and other media members.

Goyette was struck in the face by a projectile by the MPD without warning, despite clearly being a member of the press, states the lawsuit, which was denied class-action status by the U.S. District Court on June 8.

The lawsuit also documents several arrests of journalists, who were exempt from the curfew, by state troopers and the MPD, including WCCO’s Tom Aviles and CNN’s Oscar Jimenez, who was notably handcuffed on live television.

Several other local, national and international members of the press were detained and handcuffed while covering the event, according to the lawsuit. Freelance journalist Linda Tirado was struck in the face by a projectile fired by law enforcement and has permanently lost vision in her left eye, according to the suit.

Maggie Koerth, a journalist with FiveThirtyEight who lives in the Wedge, went out reporting with Goyette the week of the protests.

She was interviewing a man near the LynLake Popeyes on May 30 when law enforcement began marching west down Lake Street. Police began firing rubber bullets, she said, and struck the man she was interviewing. Officers also fired at her and Goyette and the two put their hands up and shouted that they were press but were told by officers to “shut up,” she said.

When the group of officers walked back around 11 p.m., the two again identified themselves as reporters, and one officer told her, “I really want to f---ing peg you,” Koerth said.

Video compiled by Mother Jones magazine documented law enforcement slashing the tires of cars parked at the Lake & Nicollet Kmart on May 30. The Star Tribune identified state troopers and Anoka County sheriff ’s deputies as the agencies involved in the incident. A Department of Public Safety spokesperson told the newspaper that law enforcement was “strategically deflating tires” to preemptively prevent people using vehicles from driving at high speeds near protesters and officers.

Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith (DFL) responded harshly to that claim in a post on social media.

“Please,” Smith tweeted. “Call it what you want, this is slashing the tires of cars belonging to members of the press and other innocent people.”

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A4 June 11–24, 2020 / southwestjournal.com

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On the morning of June 2, a group of 10 artists gathered to paint the wooden boards covering the windows at Salons by JC on Hennepin Avenue. It was one of dozens of Southwest Minneapolis businesses damaged in the civil unrest that’s followed George Floyd’s killing by a Minneapolis police officer.

Heather Renaux painted a heart with flowers shooting out of it and wrote the phrase “We see you.” To her right, Shane Anderson and Greta Sandquist painted a portrait of Floyd.

In between them, Sandquist’s children and one of their friends painted a large flower, and another group painted a cityscape on a different board.

Renaux said cleanup and beautification efforts show the “true spirit” of people in Minneapolis. It’s important to keep the attention on social injustice, she said, and having more people volunteer to clean helps maintain that focus.

Renaux and her group aren’t alone in their efforts. Countless volunteers have spent time cleaning streets, clearing debris, sweeping up broken glass from shattered windows, painting murals and more.

Those who have participated in the cleanups say they are driven by a desire to improve their communities and support damaged businesses. Many said they want to see justice for Floyd and changes to

policing, and all said they’ve been heartened by the widespread volunteerism.

“It makes me have faith in humanity that people can come together and take [time] out of their day to help out,” said Ross Delebo, who lives near Bde Maka Ska and walked the city with a broom on May 30.

‘Change is necessary’

During the nights of mass protest following Floyd’s death, police told some business owners they would only receive aid if they were being physically threatened. Dozens of businesses on Lake Street and Nicollet Avenue were destroyed or damaged, with several burning down.

The mornings were a time for repair.

On May 29, LynLake resident Sam Malone swept glass from the sidewalk in front of Darbar India Grill & Bar, where a window had been shattered. He said he was cleaning because he thought the city probably had other things to do.

“I don’t want this to be representative of Uptown,” he said.

Kingfield resident Alix Gasek spent some time May 30 at the ransacked Wells Fargo at 31st & Nicollet, where water was streaming out from the sprinklers into the street. She joined dozens of her neighbors in an attempt to divert the water with mulch and brooms into the sewer system to prevent it flooding a nearby apartment complex.

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southwestjournal.com / June 11–24, 2020 A5

Adam Turman painted this mural inspired by the Spike Lee movie "Do the Right Thing" on the plywood covering the entrance to the Uptown Theatre. Photo by Isaiah Rustad

Afterward, Gasek walked over to her gutted post office a block to the east, which was still smoking from the roof. Volunteers were pulling letters blackened by smoke out of the building’s wreckage, which they planned to deliver personally. Gasek said she wasn’t sure if the smoldering building was safe but that people would be looking out for each other.

“This week has been devastating and hard to see,” said Gasek, who has attended a few protests. “But I understand that change is necessary, and as a white person, I can’t continue to stand idly by and watch.”

Delebo also cleaned up near the Wells Fargo and at sites in Uptown and 38th & Chicago. He said he understands that people are angry about Floyd’s death and that although he personally wouldn’t loot, he understands that that’s how some people have shown their frustration at an unjust system.

He said police behavior needs to change.

“You see [police brutality] all the freaking time,” he said. “If it takes one video here to get this to happen, then guess what, it should happen.”

‘The little bit we can do’

Back in Uptown, murals began popping up on boarded-over windows the week of June 1. On the 3000 block of Hennepin, one mural said “Justice 4 George” and had a picture of Floyd’s face. Another said “We Hear You,” with a drawing of fists raised in the air. A third featured the face of a black woman with the phrase “Stop Killing Us!” painted over her eyes.

Jill Osiecki of the Uptown Association, who coordinated one plywood-painting effort, appeared pleased with the murals.

She said she hoped more would be painted on boarded windows along Lake Street

and that she’d eventually like to auction the pieces off to raise money for the community.

Late in the afternoon on June 3, muralist and illustrator Adam Turman worked to finalize a piece inspired by the 1989 Spike Lee movie “Do the Right Thing.” The film is about a black man who is killed by police and the social unrest that ensues.

Turman said that he’s been questioning his role “as a white guy who’s relatively privileged” in the wake of Floyd’s death. He’s been doing self-reflection but also trying to make things that make people happy.

At Amazing Thailand, where two murals were being painted, general manager Yin Muangmode said she’s heartened to see the community support. She and her staff provided free meals to many of the artists on June 3.

Eddie B. and a few friends spray-painted the plywood outside Lake & Irving, Bishops barber shop and Kiku Bistro with phrases like “Say his name” and “Stand with Big Floyd.”

“Everything boarded up makes it look like Hurricane Katrina or something,” he said, declining to give his last name because “I don’t get a lot of legal walls.” “This is a great opportunity to show the public what we do. I think it’s a long time coming that the city sees police brutality as a whole.”

Osiecki said Uptown businesses are still evaluating the extent to which they were damaged and filling out police reports.

While cleanup efforts could last a while, she and Muangmode said they feel hopeful.

“We’ve all been traumatized, some of us more than others,” Osiecki said. “We just want to show that we’re in this together, too.

It’s just the little bit that we can do in a really frustrating situation for so many people.”

Zac Farber contributed reporting to this story.

Minneapolis artists (left to right) Brook Thompson, Amit Michael and Jesse Quam painted a new mural on the 36Lyn Refuel Station on June 1. “With all that's going on right now, it's good to give the area some beauty,” Quam says. Photo

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A6 June 11–24, 2020 / southwestjournal.com

Resource officer program was fraught topic before George Floyd

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program, student representative Noah Branch of Patrick Henry High School said officers can “bring an aspect of violence” to schools.

He said he knew of “multiple accounts” of officers macing students and that in his experience, SROs at Henry were used as a “scare tactic [to] keep kids in place.”

Former board member Carla Bates questioned whether the police department as a whole was doing a good job dealing with Minneapolis students, though she said some individual SROs were a positive influence on students.

Police from either the Park Board or city have worked in Minneapolis schools for decades. One officer is assigned to each of the seven traditional high schools, with seven others rotating through the rest of the district’s schools. They are tasked with mediating conflicts, building relationships with students and responding to emergencies. Some also help with extracurricular activities, including Officer Charles Adams, a North High School alumnus who coaches the North football team and was recently given a coach of the year award.

Officers aren’t supposed to be involved in routine school discipline.

The use of SROs has become controversial across the country in recent years, after fatal police shootings and a video of a South Carolina officer slamming a student to the ground after she wouldn’t give up her cell phone.

Activists have frequently asked the Minneapolis School Board to stop using them, though one 2017 survey showed that over 70% of SEE POLICE OUT OF SCHOOLS / PAGE A12

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The School Board’s vote to discontinue the school resource officer (SRO) program — made eight days after George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer — has abruptly ended discussion of one of the most contentious issues the district has faced in recent years.

On June 2, the board voted against renewing a contract with the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) once the three-year deal expires in August.

Board member Josh Pauly wrote on Twitter before the vote that the district can’t “align itself with MPD and claim to fight institutional racism.” He said the district shouldn’t partner with “organizations that do not see the humanity in our students.”

The vote means that schools will no longer have officers specifically trained to interact with youth. The district said it has yet to be determined which law enforcement agencies will respond to 911 calls.

Hundreds of people, including U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, rallied outside of district headquarters before the vote in support of the resolution. The district teachers union applauded the decision in a Facebook post.

“This is just the first step in dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline and the racism our students of color face every day,” union president-elect Greta Callahan said in a statement.

While district principals have consistently advocated for SROs, some students and board members have raised questions about the program since at least 2014.

In a June 2015 board discussion about the

10/7/19 3:09 PM

Southwest Minneapolis voters will have multiple candidates in two of the three open School Board seats covering the area in November.

A fourth open seat that covers North Minneapolis will also have multiple candidates.

Five candidates have filed for election for the open citywide School Board seat. They are William Awe, Lynne Crockett, Michael Duenes, incumbent Kim Ellison and Doug Mann.

Three candidates — Adriana Cerrillo, Christa Mims and Ken Shain — have filed for the seat covering the ECCO neighborhood, downtown and the seven Southwest Minneapolis neighborhoods north of Lake Street. Incumbent Bob Walser is not running for reelection.

Incumbent Ira Jourdain was the only candidate to file for the open seat that covers the Southwest Minneapolis neighborhoods south

of Lake Street, minus ECCO. Two candidates — Sharon El-Amin and incumbent KerryJo Felder — filed for the North Minneapolis seat.

The nine-member School Board has six seats that are decided by voters in specific districts of Minneapolis and three decided by voters across the city. Board members are elected to four-year terms. Races are nonpartisan, though the DFL endorses candidates.

Only two candidates are allowed to appear on the general-election ballot for each open seat.

Future boards will have to grapple with an educational landscape that could be altered by the COVID-19 pandemic, and they will lead implementation of the Comprehensive District Design restructuring plan that passed last month. They’ll also have to decide whether to SEE ELECTION / PAGE A12

STUDENTS PROTEST

Graduating Southwest High School students from Bryn Mawr protested George Floyd’s death during a May 30 celebration. Submitted photo

southwestjournal.com / June 11–24, 2020 A7

Faith groups respond to George Floyd’s death

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Led by African American clergy, including Stacey Smith of African Methodist Episcopal Church in St. Paul, hundreds of people, from a variety of faith congregations in Southwest and the metro area, walked silently to the site of George Floyd’s death on June 2.

Many donned traditional sashes and religious garb and held signs with messages like “Black Lives Matter” and “The Bible is Not a Prop.” They gathered quietly before taking a collective knee and praying together outside of Cup Foods.

Some religious congregations in Southwest have taken a stand since Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on May 25. Many have organized medic stations, facilitated food and supply donation drives or participated in a number of protests and demonstrations around the cities. Others have turned inward and sought to re-examine their own values and biases.

Rebecca Voelkel, a pastor at Lyndale United Church of Christ, said she has helped mobilize congregations of different faiths in the wake of Floyd’s death, following the lead of organizations like Reclaim the Block and Black Visions Collective. Voelkel said various other congregations within the SpringHouse Ministry Center have participated in protests, run medic tents and organized donation drives.

Some of the initiatives she’s working on call for reallocating resources from the Minneapolis police budget to other community services.

“I have asthma and this whole time of COVID-19 I’ve just been so focused on being able to breathe,” she said. “The video of watching someone literally be asphyxiated … I saw a sign the other day that said, ‘Jesus was killed by police too.’ And I’m not saying that George is Jesus, but the same system that crucified Jesus crucified George. And his words were the same as Eric Garner’s: ‘I can’t breathe.’ I just had a physical reaction to that.”

Travis Norvell, a pastor at Judson Memorial Baptist Church in Kingfield, also attended the Clergy March last week. He said it has been necessary to move past responses some white liberal Christians have taken in the past. Although study groups and book readings are still important, he said, there needs to be a more active change from the community, especially since racism is ingrained not only within the policing system, but in housing, education and employment.

“You just feel like your heart was ripped out, just this total lack of humanity,” he said. “Just thinking about what we have allowed to happen

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and the systems that we have been perpetuating … It was just a deep sense of anger, but also this personal responsibility and culpability.”

Jen Crow, a minister at First Universalist Church in Lyndale, said her congregation has been focused on listening to black leaders in the community and offering support in the ways they are asked to.

Often white supremacy culture shows up in behavior as a sense of urgency, or the desire to do something immediately to relieve one’s own sense of racial discomfort, she said. Listening and educating yourself on the history of racism and white supremacy in America is essential groundwork for making change, Crow said.

On May 27 the congregation held two virtual services — one for black, indigenous and people of color and one for white members of the congregation in order to meet the needs of each community. On Sunday, May 31, she said the whole congregation came together with one service, along with other Unitarian leaders across the country and the world.

“We’re doing less telling people exactly what to do and instead giving them some principles and values that we all share,” Crow said. “[We’re] asking them to do this listening and then do what’s in their heart.”

While participating in the Clergy March in St. Paul, Crow said the group was surrounded by National Guard and police officers. Overhead, a Black Hawk helicopter hovered low to the ground, making it nearly impossible to hear black clergy members leading the communal prayer.

“Looking around at who I was with, I felt safe because of the other people that were there marching. I did not feel safe because the police and the National Guard were there,” she said. “That was such a clear moment for me.

Here we have literally the police state trying to drown out the voice of the black clergy.”

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A8 June 11–24, 2020 / southwestjournal.com

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Pimento reinvents itself as relief organization

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By Zac Farber and Nate Gotlieb

On May 28, after the first night of widespread looting in the chaos following George Floyd’s killing, Scott McDonald, booking manager for the Eat Street restaurant Pimento Jamaican Kitchen, started talking with his friend Malcolm Wells about what they could do to help.

“We woke up and understood what it meant for the North Side and other places for stores to be gone and looted,” McDonald said. “There are already food deserts created by gentrification and white flight, so we wanted to address that.”

McDonald and Wells decided to turn Pimento into a makeshift relief organization — accepting drop-offs of water, milk, gloves, masks and medical supplies. McDonald said thousands of bags of groceries have been distributed, handed out to long lines of people outside the Whittier storefront and taken to drop-off points elsewhere in the metro. Food and first aid supplies have also been brought to protesters.

“We’re here to take care of the community,” McDonald said. “We know that whenever there’s a war — like the war that’s being conducted against black men in America — there are going to be hazards.”

Businesses across Southwest Minneapolis have joined efforts to help damaged communities. Some have donated portions of their sales to nonprofits supporting cleanup and rebuilding efforts and social justice organizations, and others have hosted events or supply drives for people in need.

In South Uptown, the coffee shop and toast bar Canteen held a food and supplies drive on June 2 and allowed people in need to pick up supplies the next day. Staff reported being “surprised and amazed” by the outpouring of donations and said they donated supplies to organizations across the Twin Cities.

Common Roots Cafe at 26th & Lyndale pledged to donate 50% of sales on June 10 to the #restorenorth effort by the West Broadway Business & Area Coalition in North Minneapolis. The Lynhall near 27th & Lyndale has been cooking meals for the nonprofit Pillsbury United Communities. The creative agency Zeus Jones on Nicollet Avenue has been hosting free legal clinics for people in need.

Pimento has undergone the fullest transformation from restaurant to relief organization. At first, the food counter stayed open, with customers navigating waist-high stacks of peanut butter, paper towels and produce to place their orders.

But as of May 31, Pimento had suspended food service, telling customers: “No jerk chicken or rum punch today, but come home to Pimento to get your diapers and milk!”

The weekend after Floyd’s death, dozens of volunteers — most wearing masks — came to Pimento to sort through a gigantic clutter of supplies, often poking blindly into bags in search of the items that are supposed to go into each “family kit”: a loaf of bread, a package of tortillas, a bag of rice, two cans of beans, a small bag of apples, two cans of soup, a bag of carrots, a box of cereal, some toilet paper, some soap. A few hand-lettered signs taped to the bar helped point the way.

Will Cassidy, a freshman at Highland Park High School, hands out bags of granola bars and water as part of a day volunteering with Pimento Jamaican Kitchen. Pimento has turned itself into a makeshift relief organization. Photo by Zac Farber

“It’s a wonderful confusion and chaos but in the best sort of way,” said Tomme Beevas, Pimento’s owner. “A lot of the world is showing images of Minneapolis burning. What they’re not seeing is Minneapolis building a new city, a new concept for all of us.”

On May 30, two nurses came to Pimento to pick up medical supplies for Broadway Family Medicine, which had been mostly destroyed, as well as supplies for medics planning to volunteer at the protest that evening. On May 31, the football team from Highland Park High School came to Pimento to volunteer.

“We have a rotating crew of people,” McDonald said. “We’re not tied to any organization. This is just us, two young black men who knew we had the opportunity to help.”

Tea Rozman Clark, co-founder of the Whittier nonprofit Green Card Voices, has been directing volunteers to Pimento.

“I’m experiencing a lot of sadness because this is an area with a lot of immigrant businesses, and I know how hard immigrants work,” she said in an interview posted to Pimento’s Facebook page. “At the same time I know this is a very important time for us to come together. Buildings and things can be rebuilt, so we need to do everything we can to show up, share what’s important and fight for justice.”

Pimento is one of the few stores on Eat Street that hasn’t been boarded up with plywood, and McDonald said that friends of the store needed to keep 24/7 surveillance in the days following Floyd's death.

On May 29, McDonald reported on Instagram, men in two white vans and a white pickup truck circled the store throughout the night. “They parked up the block, turned their lights off, looked like they were kind of scoping the scene,” he said. There was no confrontation.

The next day, Pimento posted a photo on Instagram of McDonald and six others standing outside Pimento in the dark, armed with golf clubs.

The photo was captioned: “We will not be moved.”

In an interview, McDonald declined to comment on the dangers Pimento has faced beyond the statement: “Our store is safe and our community won’t let our store be anything but safe.”

“We’ll be here as long as the need is here for us to provide any food or services,” he said. “Families who need services should reach out to us directly through our social media.”

CORRECTION The story “Retailers’ futures uncertain despite partial reopening” on page A5 of the May 28 issue misstated the neighborhood where the Schatzlein Saddle Shop is located. It’s in Lyndale.

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southwestjournal.com / June 11–24, 2020 A9 FROM BUSINESSES / PAGE A1

The damage will likely increase the wealth gap and intensify displacement pressure for the BIPOC [black, indigenous and people of color] community, said David Frank, director of Community Planning and Economic Development. Still to come are estimates of business financial losses, as well as the loss of community economic wealth, which includes harder-toquantify impacts like the cost of living, property values and farther travel for goods and services.

Frank recommended the city seek aid of more than $500 million.

The Community Legal Collective is providing free services every Saturday through at least June 20 at Zeus Jones, a marketing firm that offered its empty Eat Street building while employees are working from home. Originally conceived as legal help for protesters and businesses, the effort has expanded to include areas like bankruptcy, immigration, LGBT rights and family law.

One participant is attorney Margo Brownell from Maslon LLP, a firm that has offered to represent businesses pro bono.

Given the pandemic, estimating profit losses could become complicated, she said. She recommends that shops seek counsel. One insurance adjuster recently asked a business owner for a credit check, which Brownell had never seen in 20-plus years of practice.

The Lake Street Council is hearing from some business owners who are being told they don’t have the proper insurance coverage. To help fill the gap, the council has raised nearly $6 million from more than 61,000 people worldwide (welovelakestreet.com), with proceeds dedicated to helping businesses and nonprofits rebuild and reopen.

“We do know the money needs to get out soon,” said Theresa Swaney, the Lake Street Council’s senior creative operations manager.

She hopes shoppers support grocery stores that are open, particularly while construc-

tion hinders access and free food donations are plentiful. Open stores include Longfellow Market, Loteria Market, Supermercado Morelia, La Mexicana and La Parcela Produce (previously El Chinelo).

“With COVID happening and now this, they’re going to need all the help they can get,” she said.

Council Member Alondra Cano (Ward 9) said she wants swift council action so that communities of color aren’t bought out and displaced at a vulnerable moment.

“If you have a relationship with the brown folks on our commercial corridors, you understand that this is more than just buildings. You know that this is how people feed their kids, how people are planning to send their kids to college,” she said, explaining her support for National Guard protection. “It’s not just about the physical buildings on Lake Street and trying to protect them, but it was trying to protect the history [and] presence of a community here that is now under threat of being completely erased.”

Following the 1992 Los Angeles riots, most of the impacted neighborhoods saw unemployment and poverty worsen and per capita retail sales fall, according to a 2017 UCLA study.

Business owners reflect

Byron Gulyard has spent a lot of time sitting outside his barber shop on Hennepin Avenue in recent weeks. He sat outside until 4:30 a.m. on two nights to make sure there were no problems at his business. Now he’s sitting outside so regulars can see that despite the boards on the windows, One 21 4 East Barbershop is open for business.

“This is how we feed our families,” he said, describing the pandemic and protests as a “double whammy” for the business.

Reflecting on the police killing of George Floyd, Gulyard, who is African American, said he’s been harassed by police since he reached driving age more than 30 years ago.

“It could have happened to myself, it could have happened to my kids, it could have happened to anyone,” he said. “They turn it into a black or white situation, but it’s a right and wrong situation.”

“We’ve been through this so many times in our lives,” said Louis Hunter, owner of Trio Plantbased. “Pray for America. This fight is not over.”

During the protests, a Unicorn Riot reporter was interviewing Hunter outside Trio’s door when state troopers walked by and pushed them both inside. For Hunter, it brought back painful memories of protesting Philando Castile’s killing.

“Unfortunately, me being black, in a community that I own a restaurant in, white police officers found it hard to believe that I’m the owner,” he said.

Trio’s co-founders suggested shutting down when they ran into financial trouble, but Hunter said he wanted to keep going. He became the sole owner in 2019.

“Looking back wasn’t an option. I can’t do that — it would have led me right back to the streets, and I didn’t want to do that,” he said.

Ever since he put up a takeout sign and opened the restaurant window to let some air in, he’s been selling 200 to 300 meatless Beyond burgers each day. A GoFundMe to benefit Trio has raised over $160,000. Now Hunter plans to meet with other black-owned restaurants and help other entrepreneurs who don’t have kitchens yet.

“I’ve never seen this in my life. Every day I wake up and it’s like, is this real? I’ve got to pinch myself. I’m just overwhelmed by supporters,” he said.

While waiting for her business to fully reopen, Ja’Lisa Calaway, owner of Ja’Lisa’s Gorgeous Extensions, said she had a couple of panic attacks, a couple of breakdowns and applied for a couple of grants. An unhappy customer recently threatened to damage her business. But the Kingfield neighborhood has been very supportive, she said.

“People I don’t even know are texting my phone like, ‘Hey, I walked past your shop today, everything’s all good,’” she said. “People genuinely actually care.”

She’s skeptical of businesses that have never hired a black person and now display Black Lives Matter boards on their windows. She plans to keep her own store boarded until at least July.

“I’m kind of nervous about reopening.

I kind of just want to wait and to see if they actually convict the police officers,” she said.

“I know the truth that if they don’t, it’s going to go bad really fast.”

Sunny’s Hair & Wigs has operated at 2938 Lyndale Ave. S. for 28 years. Owner Lisa Memberr would like to continue to maintain the store’s presence in Minneapolis, and she’s working to secure insurance payment for items that were destroyed.

“I just feel that the country has just reached a point where something drastic had to be done to hear the voices of those who felt voiceless,” she said.

She worries about her grandsons.

“I don’t want to have to be concerned that there’s a possibility that their lives can just be threatened just because they’re black,” she said.

“It’s a true, honest fear that I have, especially for my 16-year-old grandson.”

Memberr’s father was a police officer in New York City, and she grew up with respect for police. It only takes a few people to put a community in dire straits, she said. The same is true for violence —protesters are earnest and committed to the cause, she said. Only a few people go out and cause harm.

“We all become complicit; we all have some responsibility. We either have not voiced our opinions loud enough, or we have not done the work that we need to do to bring about justice and change, especially in the police department,” she said. “Not only do we want the world’s attention, but we want, as a result, change to take place. Human decency. We’re not asking for anything more than human decency.”

A10 June 11–24, 2020 / southwestjournal.com FROM POLICE / PAGE A1

advocate for increased investment in the state’s black communities and to create a community-led public safety alternative to traditional policing.

Bender was joined by Alondra Cano (Ward 9), Phillipe Cunningham (Ward 4), Jeremiah Ellison (Ward 5), Steve Fletcher (Ward 3), Cam Gordon (Ward 2), Andrea Jenkins (Ward 8), Andrew Johnson (Ward 12) and Jeremy Schroeder (Ward 11) in taking a pledge to “begin the process of ending the MPD.” The group was inundated with praise and cheers from rally attendees — a stark contrast to the way Mayor Jacob Frey was received the day before, when he told protesters he favored major reforms but would not commit to abolishing the MPD and was sent away with chants of “shame.”

There are hints of a long process to come. The pledge contained a section stating council members would take the next year to hear from residents about what they think public safety should look like in the future. The council members also committed to “taking intermediate steps towards ending the MPD through the budget process and other policy and budget decisions over the coming weeks and months.”

“We need everybody’s manpower to reshape what public safety looks like in our community,” Jenkins said.

The pledge “was clearly a long-term commitment,” Bender told CNN during a June 8 interview in which she called fully eliminating the need for police an “aspirational” goal.

After the City of Minneapolis updated its use-of-force policy to emphasize de-escalation in 2016, incidents involving use of force declined nearly 11% in 2017, dropped an additional 8% in 2018 and held steady in 2019, according to MPD data. Since January 2017, bodily force has been the

most common type of force used, consisting, most often, of body weight pins, followed by “takedowns” and chemical irritants.

According to the data, 60% of use-of-force incidents have involved a black individual since the beginning of 2017, a statistic largely unchanged over the past decade.

For some council members, Floyd’s death is a clear signal that those measures haven’t worked and more significant changes are needed.

“I am no longer a reformist,” Cano told the crowd.

Defunding police

Calls for defunding the police in Minneapolis are not new.

Community groups like Reclaim the Block and related policy organization MPD150 have been advocating for and publishing literature related to police defunding and abolition since 2017. The high-profile police shootings that killed Jamar Clark and Justine Damond have spurred department reforms and conversations over serious changes to policing in recent years.

But Floyd’s death has launched a movement that has expanded across the nation and the globe. Activists think it has the potential to be a spark for change.

“This moment definitely feels different than other moments have,” said Jae Hyun Shim of Reclaim the Block.

The current system of law enforcement doesn’t result in safety, especially for black residents and other people of color, Shim said, and anything different has “an opportunity to be safer.” Conversations about what public safety should look like in the future should try to center the people who have felt victimized by traditional policing, Shim said.

But Reclaim the Block and MPD150 know that if the MPD goes away, crime won’t.

“If the City Council disbands the Minneapolis Police Department, it won’t be a period absent of violence, and it’s naive to

pretend that it will be,” Shim said.

The group believes funding that supports the MPD — for 2020, the department received $193 million, 11% of the city’s total budget — should be redirected into housing, recovery programs and resources for residents to meet basic needs, and that by doing so, the city will become safer. The council passed an $8.3 million budget increase for police for 2020, with some MPD funds redirected into violence prevention projects.

“Police abolition work is not about snapping our fingers and magically defunding every department in the world instantly,” MPD150 states on its website. “Rather, we’re talking about a gradual process of strategically reallocating resources, funding and responsibility away from police and toward community-based models of safety, support and prevention.”

In 2017, MPD150 released a 36-page report (tinyurl.com/mpd-150-report) detailing a history of policing in Minneapolis and outlining the group's vision for a police-free future. The report calls for a “resilience-based” city with more resources for people to see trained, unarmed professionals for mental health, domestic violence crises, investment in violence prevention programs and restorative justice models for property crimes.

Reclaim the Block has a four-point petition it wants City Council members to sign that promises to: 1) never again vote to increase police funding or the police department budget; 2) vote to cut $45 million from the MPD's budget in response to the city’s projected COVID-19-related funding shortfall; 3) expand current investments in community-led health and safety strategies; and 4) do everything in their power to compel the MPD and other law enforcement to stop using violence on residents.

So far, no council members have actually signed that petition, but the group believes the pledge council members took committed them

to go further than the petition’s demands.

While Shim said seeing more commitment to defunding from elected officials has felt “surreal,” groups like Reclaim the Block know there is a long road ahead of debate and problem-solving that won’t be perfect.

“I feel really hopeful and really afraid at this moment, because for us to move away from a system that’s so entrenched in our society will be really different,” Shim said.

Debate ahead

It’s not clear what actions the City Council will take next or if the nine members who took the public pledge have the same vision for the future.

There are structural and legal barriers to dismantling the department, even if a supermajority of the council is in favor of such action. The city charter requires a police force of at least 0.0017 employees per resident (about 720 officers based on recent population estimates) and changing the charter requires a unanimous council vote with mayoral approval. There are currently 892 officers on the force.

The nine council members who took the stage acknowledge they don’t know exactly how public safety should look in the future, but they wanted to show their intent to significantly change the current system.

“We’re serious,” Schroeder told the Southwest Journal.

Residents are open to the idea of dismantling the police department, Schroeder said, but they still want to know they have someone to call in an emergency or if they are victims of crimes. Figuring that out, he said, is when things get scary for people.

“We know the system wasn’t working,” Schroeder said. “We know we can do better.”

There are two areas where Schroeder believes the council can immediately change policing in the city: the 2021 budget and the pending police union contract SEE POLICE / PAGE A11

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southwestjournal.com / June 11–24, 2020 A11 FROM NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH / PAGE A2

Racist graffiti found in Armatage Park On May 26, graffiti that included a racial slur was found in the Armatage Park skatepark.

The graffiti was quickly painted over, said Joel Federer, chair of the Armatage Neighborhood Association. The neighborhood group condemned the vandalism as a “despicable act.”

“It is our hope that the perpetrators of this reprehensible act will have the courage to take a long, hard look at themselves and find the will to change,” the group said in a statement.

Park Board spokesperson Robin Smothers

said there was a lot of graffiti throughout the parks system after George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer on May 25, including “white supremacy graphics” and offensive language toward people of color.

She said there aren’t statistics on how many parks were hit but that parks staff remove tags as soon as possible.

She encouraged people who see graffiti to call 311 or the Park Board’s customer service line at 612-230-6400.

FROM POLICE / PAGE A10

believe everyone in the city deserves to feel safe and that it’s clear that many city residents do not. Palmisano, who chairs the council’s budget committee, said she is open to reinvesting in communityled safety practices but feels the council should embrace the state’s human rights lawsuit against the department as a tool for transformative change.

“I could not sign that pledge,” she said.

“I need to be clear in my commitment to people and to our city. I think that reforms are the tools we use to achieve transformation of the department.”

Frey and Council Member Lisa Goodman (Ward 7) did not respond to requests for comment as of press time.

(MPD’s last contract expired in 2019 and a new deal still needs to be negotiated).

Reducing MPD funding to invest in other social programs and writing a new contract that is flexible to community needs are new things he believes the city must try.

Many advocates and council members pointed to the way neighborhoods had formed their own security in the unrest that swept over Minneapolis after Floyd was killed as a rough model for communities keeping themselves safe.

Council Member Linea Palmisano (Ward 13) did not join her colleagues in their pledge but did attend the June 7 rally. She said she wanted to attend the meeting because residents in Southwest

— Nate Gotlieb

Michelle Bruch contributed reporting to this story.

A little after 11 p.m. on Sunday, May 31, he said, a neighbor knocked on his door and told him that she’d just watched three men moving jugs from a truck into dumpsters in the alley behind their building. She didn’t get a good look at the men, she told him, but they were wearing hoodies and at least two were white.

Drahonovsky went outside and found about seven or eight gas cans, oil cans, and other jugs — partially full of liquid — spread out between two dumpsters and three recycling bins. He and his neighbors helped spray down the dumpsters with water and took the jugs indoors for the night. He said two of his neighbors called the police, but no officers were dispatched.

“I stayed up to 3:30 or 4 in the morning, sort of standing watch to make sure they didn’t come back,” Drahonovsky said.

In the Lyndale neighborhood, Johnson and Wylie said they found plastic water bottles filled with petroleum behind their alley on Harriet Avenue the weekend of May 30.

Gibson said she knows of no confirmed cases of such flammable liquid stashes in The Wedge, but a neighbor did find random blocks of wood in bushes.

“People have found strange things,” she said.

About 100 business fires have been reported in Minneapolis since the unrest began, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Other fires have been reported, including a June 2 car fire at the Lyndale Community School parking lot at 34th & Pillsbury and an attempted fire at a residential building that hosts Boiler Room Coffee at 18th & 3rd on June 1, both of which are being investigated as arsons, according to Minneapolis Fire assistant chief Bryan Tyner. With the department responding to so many fires in the past week, Tyner said MFD does not have a definitive number of suspected arsons the department has responded to at this point.

“It’s a pretty heavy lift right now,” Tyner said.

Separating fact from fiction

The Wedge has someone monitoring the server at all times to sift through any disinformation and distinguish fact from rumor, Gibson said.

The group has instructed participants not to racially profile people and to take care to only post issues they see firsthand. The server has several channels, including lines for fire and medical relief and a designated area for people to post unverified reports of suspicious actions or vehicles that others can work to confirm or debunk. In one channel, dubbed “Don’t Panic,” residents can tell the group if they are going out in the street and give a self-description.

In the days of unrest following Floyd’s death, the community has been put on edge by credible reports of cars speeding up and down residential streets with their lights off and license plates being removed. As a result, residents have been examining cars with outof-state license plates with suspicion. But in high renter neighborhoods like the Wedge, where people are constantly moving in from other states, that fear can be misplaced, Gibson said. A member of the group chat who moved from Virginia a few months back posted to let people know it was their vehicle parked in the Liquor Lyle’s lot; some new neighbors from Canada told people not to be alarmed by their Ontario plates on Bryant Avenue. On June 1, a rumor that Molotov cocktails were being thrown was quickly debunked, Gibson said.

“We’re going to be dropping out anybody who is fearmongering or spreading false information,” Gibson said.

LHENA is also using the mutual aid infrastructure it established in response to the coronavirus pandemic to funnel help and resources to people in need during the crisis.

The neighborhood group is looking to form a new committee that will create a sort of neighborhood watch focused on community-based safety alternatives to policing, she said.

Zac Farber and Nate Gotlieb contributed reporting to this story.

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A12 June 11–24, 2020 / southwestjournal.com

By Nate Gotlieb / ngotlieb@swjournal.com

Rep. Long’s $15 million solar proposal approved A $15 million appropriation to an Xcel Energy solar-incentive program that was approved June 5, during the final days of the 2020 Legislative session, came from Southwest Minneapolis state Rep. Jamie Long (DFL-61B).

Long proposed increasing funding for the Solar Rewards program, which reim-

burses Xcel customers for energy produced by their solar systems.

The money will come from Xcel’s renewable-energy-development account, which the utility pays into in exchange for storing nuclear waste at two nuclear power plants. The Legislature decides how to spend the funds.

David Shaffer, executive director of the Minnesota Solar Energy Industries Association, said funding Solar Rewards is a “great win” for solar in the state and could help Xcel meet renewable-energy targets.

He said rebates typically amount to about 25% of the cost of the solar array and added

that it was a “delight” working with Long on the proposal.

Long, who was first elected to the state House in 2018, is an assistant minority leader and vice chair of the chamber’s Energy and Climate Finance and Policy committee.

FROM POLICE OUT OF SCHOOLS / PAGE A6

Eban was part of a group that led an unsuccessful push in 2017 to get the School Board to cut ties with the police department. That effort culminated in a five-and-a-half-hourlong August 2017 meeting in which the shouts of activists forced the board to finish its business in a different room.

He and a group of students asked the board in January 2019 to reopen the contract with the police department, but the call went unheeded.

Board chair Kim Ellison said that while the SRO program has been working, she supported the decision to end it because of the actions of the police department as a whole. Vice Chair Jenny Arneson said the district can’t have

contracts with entities that “don’t support the human rights” of the city’s black citizens.

All nine board members ultimately voted in favor of cutting ties with the Police Department, but several were hesitant about a complete break. Board member KerryJo Felder asked the board to consider keeping SROs at North and Henry “if needed,” due to “activity and community want.” Her amendment was rejected on a 5-3 vote with one abstention.

Another amendment, which would have offered Superintendent Ed Graff guidelines for replacing the SROs, was also rejected.

While the vote has been celebrated, not all are happy about it. North students said before

the vote that officers wouldn’t be able to respond as quickly to an emergency at school as Adams would and that an officer like the one who choked Floyd could respond.

Police Deputy Chief Erick Fors said in a statement that the department appreciated the opportunity to serve the school district and that relationships built through the SRO program were impactful for students, staff and officers.

“We will continue to work in cooperation with the Minneapolis Public Schools regarding safety and security issues,” he said.

Graff said in a statement that his leadership team is committed to preparing a student safety plan by Aug. 18.

seats. In District 61A, Republican Kurtis Fechtmeyer will face nine-term incumbent DFLer Frank Hornstein. In districts 61B, 62A and 62B, DFL incumbents Jamie Long, Hodan Hassan and Aisha Gomez — each elected for the first time in 2018 — will face GOP challengers Lisa Pohlman, Arjun Kataria and Ross Tenneson, respectively.

In Senate District 61, five-term senator Scott Dibble (DFL) will face Republican Jennifer Zielinski. In District 62, threeterm incumbent Jeff Hayden will face Omar Fateh in a primary to determine who will represent the DFL on the general-election ballot. The winner will face Republican Bruce Lundeen.

DFLers will be overwhelmingly favored in those state House and Senate races.

The state primary election will be Aug. 11, and the general election will be Nov. 3. The early-voting period for the primary opens June 26.

offer Superintendent Ed Graff another contract extension when his three-year deal expires in 2022 and will be judged on whether their work addresses disparities in educational outcomes.

Also on the ballot this fall in Southwest Minneapolis will be state House and Senate

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Kenneth Eban of the education nonprofit Our Turn (formerly Students for Education Reform), which has organized against SROs since Philando Castile was killed by police in 2016, said he recognizes that SROs like Adams are beloved in their schools. But he also said SRO programs lead to the “criminalization of students” and many students are uncomfortable with police being in schools.

“There are so many students that do not relate seeing a police officer … to safety,” he said.

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southwestjournal.com / June 11–24, 2020 A13

By Andrew Hazzard / ahazzard@swjournal.com

Park Board votes to reduce ties with MPD Shortly after the first Minneapolis police officers arrived at 38th & Chicago on May 25 and began the interaction that would result in the killing of George Floyd, a Park Police vehicle came to the scene to offer support.

The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board voted to eliminate such instances and reduce its ties with the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD). The Park Board voted unanimously June 3 on three measures: 1) To place a moratorium on Park Police providing backup assistance to the MPD for nonviolent calls, 2) To cease using the MPD to provide additional security for events in parks and find alternative security staffing

by August, and 3) To have their officers wear distinctive green uniforms.

“This is a starting place,” Park Board President Jono Cowgill (District 4) said of the newly passed reforms, which add the MPRB to the list of public and private entities breaking ties with the MPD in the wake of Floyd’s death.

The resolution also calls for staff to bring forth an alternative safety plan to the board

by June 17. Vice President LaTrisha Vetaw (At Large) said many parents in the city had reached out to ask her how the board would ensure safety in the parks if ties with the

MPD were cut. “I think it’s only fair to give them a plan,” she said.

The Park Police is a different entity and department from the MPD, but it can be hard to distinguish between the two. Park Police officers have different vehicles, but their uniforms are the same light blue, with a slightly different patch. An approved resolution calls for the department to change its uniforms to a mostly green design that will differentiate the department from the MPD. A proposed amendment to refer to Park Police as “rangers” failed to pass.

“We are long overdue for better distinguishing our officers from the Minneapolis Police Department,” an emotional MPRB Superintendent Al Bangoura said.

Bangoura, the first black man to serve as superintendent, said he felt the pain and sadness of the African American community.

“I stand in solidarity with those seeking justice,” he said.

A proposed amendment from Commissioner AK Hassan (District 3) called for disarming Park Police officers, but that proposal failed to garner support from other commissioners.

Commissioner Brad Bourn (District 6) suggested the board re-evaluate whether

the park system needs police officers going forward, but others suggested the board use its authority to fix the department.

“This is our department. Let’s reform it and let’s do it right,” Commissioner Kale Severson (District 2) said.

There are 33 sworn officers in the Park Police department, charged with responding to incidents in more than 6,800 acres of parkland across Minneapolis. At any given time, there are about five officers on patrol, according to Chief Jason Ohotto. The Park Police do not work overnight and are not patrolling between 1 a.m. and 7 a.m. Severson asked Ohotto if the department could adequately serve the parks without backup from the MPD. “It is very easy for our resources to be overwhelmed if we have large situations in multiple locations in our parks, which we frequently do in the summer,” Ohotto said.

Park Police are members of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis, the same group that represents the MPD, which has come under fire from local activists and politicians as an obstacle to reform. Parks officers also receive some training from the MPD, mostly on technical systems.

The Park Police officer who answered a

call for backup in the incident that resulted in Floyd’s killing was not involved with the arrest and has not been charged in the death.

The officer was about 120 feet from the group of MPD officers arresting Floyd, watching over the two people in the car Floyd had been in when stopped by police, and did not have a direct view of the incident, Ohotto said. The department has released that officer’s body camera footage of the incident.

After Park Police officers pointed guns at and arrested four Somali teenagers at Minnehaha Park in the summer of 2018, in an incident later found to be sparked by a false 911 call, the Park Board voted to form a Park Police Advisory Committee. That committee was officially appointed last spring and began meeting in June 2019. Since then there have been eight meetings, two of which failed to reach a quorum, according to official minutes.

The Park Board’s intergovernmental committee also voted to lobby the Minnesota Legislature to repeal the Stanek Law. The law, named after former Hennepin County Sheriff and state representative Rich Stanek, was passed in 1999 and bans Minneapolis and St. Paul from using residency requirements for police officers.

Harmful algae blooms subside on Cedar Lake, Lake of the Isles Harmful algae blooms that have made Cedar Lake and Lake of the Isles toxic to people and animals and turned the water murky and brown have begun to clear with warming weather, parks officials believe.

The blue-green algae bloom, first reported on Cedar Lake in mid-May and later found on Lake of the Isles and Lake Nokomis, is subsiding. The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board’s water quality staff have observed a fading of brown spots and improvements in water clarity based on measurements taken at Cedar Lake and Lake of the Isles, according to a press release.

The MPRB has removed signs from around the lakes warning people to avoid the water.

The harmful algae bloom produces cyanotoxins that can cause illness in humans and animals. The Minnesota Department of Health is investigating the death of a large-breed dog that drank from Cedar Lake on May 12.

The MPRB believes the blue-green blooms in city lakes were related to a rapid ice-out this spring. Plankton samples collected last winter showed the algae blooms at the three lakes started under the ice. When a rapid ice-out was followed by a cooler spring,

The Park Board’s water quality staff have observed a fading of brown spots and improvements in water clarity.

File photo

conditions allowed for algae to persist, the Park Board said. Typically, the naturally

occurring phenomenon is more common in late summer with higher temperatures.

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A14 June 11–24, 2020 / southwestjournal.com FROM ON THE STREETS / PAGE A1

The indelible image of George Floyd’s May 25 death under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer has sparked a global uprising against a system in which racial disparities are rampant and black Americans are disproportionately brutalized by law enforcement.

In Southwest Minneapolis, many thousands of people have flooded the streets in loosely organized protests — marching along Lake Street, surrounding the headquarters of the 5th Precinct, plastering Uptown with photos and murals of Floyd’s face, and occupying the residential street in front of Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman’s Lynnhurst home.

Though small groups have engaged in looting, most protesters have been peaceful — holding signs, chanting slogans, gathering signatures and listening to speeches about social justice.

At sites across the 5th Precinct, the Southwest Journal asked local residents and protesters to share why they’ve taken to the streets. The following interviews were conducted by Zac Farber and have been edited for length and clarity.

can.” But a lot of black kids and kids of color have followed suit because they’re angry.

As a person from South Minneapolis, I was so proud to see black folks organize so quickly and so swiftly — to be in Oakdale, to be in Robbinsdale, to see them at the precinct, to see them at 38th & Chicago.

Most protests are peaceful. I watched a video yesterday of them sitting around in a circle on 38th and actually playing Michael Jackson’s “We Are the World.” You’re not going to see that on the news.

They have to convict him. If they don’t, well, a lot of the younger generation — black, white, whatever — they keep saying, “[We] don’t got nothing to live for.”

To see Bob Kroll [the head of the Minneapolis police union] at that rally, high-fiving Donald Trump — how are you supposed to feel safe?

pumping his breaks. He honks his horn, shouts an obscenity out his window and then continues through the intersection.]

I’m hoping these people who are driving through — it’s impossible to convey the black experience to people who are not willing to listen. I have never in my life seen this. In my perspective, I would have imagined everyone in this community would support me as a black female and would support other black residents. These little things right here make me shake. It’s so under the surface, which is concerning to me. People truly have these emotions and feelings, and they walk around with them and don’t share them. And you don’t really know who people are.

A lot of people don’t understand that the community in the 3rd Precinct is one of the worst for COVID cases, and that’s something we need to keep in mind. These protests where people are keeping their distance are productive. People need to stay safe but also participate in the dialogue happening in their communities.

I want people to open their eyes and open their ears and acknowledge that this is reality, this is what’s going on. Understand you’re part of the problem if you’re not participating in the dialogue.

everyone who came in needing some type of first aid was from being fired at by police as opposed to violence in between people.

I keep seeing people talk about violent protests and demonstrations, but I haven’t seen any violence. It’s really just a range of state violence.

I’ve always really cared about health care, and when I saw the video it was apparent to me that George Floyd was lynched in broad daylight during a plague. An American citizen was lynched by a public official in broad daylight during a f---ing plague. That’s unacceptable, it’s state violence and it’s been happening for years.

This is all property. It can be replaced.

But black bodies — you can’t bring them back to life. People have been fighting this for generations — their grandparents have been fighting this. It’s something hard to imagine as a white dude.

This isn’t just about someone who died.

It’s about the fact that [a lot] of the aid that the government has given out to families hasn’t been received. People are hungry; people have lost their jobs. And a lot of this is disproportionately affecting the African American community.

Kaja Bingham

At a protest blocking the intersection of 50th & Penn, shortly before curfew, Friday, May 29

Precious Wallace

On the steps of Buzza Lofts in Uptown, Thursday, May 28 It has been a very hard few days being black in Minneapolis. Minnesota was not prepared for what it now has brought on itself.

A cop casually had his knee on his neck.

I don’t think this is any different from the L.A. riots back in the ’90s. Minnesota is one of the most segregated places, still, in the United States. People shouldn’t be that surprised that we’re seeing today a real uprising. If they don’t convict those officers, it’s just going to be worse.

I haven’t been protesting. It’s too much for me because that’s the neighborhood I grew up in. When this is all done, no one is going to be issuing black people a therapist for their trauma.

I live here. They tore up CVS. They are going to be OK, because they’re corporations that can get their windows fixed the next day. They tore up Studiiyo23, which is owned by a man of color, for no apparent reason. There are all these people who are just angry and you can’t stop anger.

A lot of the world won’t get to see the video of white kids throwing bricks, bringing out bats. A lot of the black elders have told the young black kids, “Don’t follow suit; you can’t just get out of jail like they

I live in Linden Hills and have been out protesting the past three days. I think the past few days have been extremely painful to my community, and because I am ablebodied and healthy, I feel it’s my responsibility as a citizen of Minneapolis — and as someone who lives in this neighborhood especially — to use my voice to speak up.

Silence is one of the worst things you can do.

Devastation is one of the main emotions I’ve been feeling. It’s everything with Floyd, the D.A. [Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman] and the police. And I’ve been starting to realize that people in my community who I thought were allies are not. People have come out and been frustrated with either the protesting or rioting and not understanding the purpose, and that’s been hard to deal with.

This isn’t new to our neighborhood; this isn’t new to America. The only thing that’s new is that it’s being recorded and posted to the internet for people to see. It’s been especially frustrating for people to be like, “This isn’t my city; my city isn’t like this normally.” No, it is like this. Minnesota is one of the worst areas of segregation. We just don’t acknowledge that.

As someone who plans to have kids, this is terrifying. I’m scared to bring humans into a world like this. I come out for the future generations and for us.

[A white man in a black truck loudly accelerates toward protesters before

Jessica and Jeff Turner Jake Armato

At a protest outside the 5th Precinct, Friday, May 29 If there’s going to be an escalation tonight, it’s probably going to be here. People are trying to break into an ATM, it looks like, right now. There are a few police on the roof of the 5th Precinct.

I’m a volunteer medic practicing as a first responder tonight. I’ve been out the last three nights, from about 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. doing first aid and protesting and observing. It’s not what I expected. The atmosphere has been very jovial, very celebratory. There’s lots of cathartic rage toward police, but it’s almost very much like a party. At the 3rd Precinct itself, you had lots of young protesters in the front — no one was armed — peacefully protesting.

And then you’d have a handful of people throwing glass. And the police would fire down tear gas canisters and rubber bullets.

I’ve seen about 100 people over the past three days. Most people have had bruising from rubber bullets or gas canisters, concussions, a lot of panic attacks, people struggling to breathe and needing eye wash. I did not expect this, but almost

Near the 5th Precinct, across the street from a small group lighting the Wells Fargo on fire, Friday, May 29 Jessica Turner: We live in the suburbs, in Champlin. I’m out here supporting. I’m with my people, whatever they want to do, however they want to do it. [The sound of something detonating.] I’ve got to keep my eye on that! Has any building exploded down here yet?

Honestly, what I want is accountability.

We’ve all seen what happened. I’ve been feeling sadness and frustration. I want police to stop antagonizing peaceful protesters.

[Flames leap from the Wells Fargo as cars honk their horns.] If they tried to stop the looting from even this block alone, I think it would be terrible with all the traffic. A lot of people would get run over, a lot of people would really get hurt, no lie. I think they should think about that.

I get that it’s the building, the looting and all of that. But none of these material things amount to a person’s life. As much as we can tear this down, we’ll build it back up. We’re the ones who built it any goddamn way.

You think it’s the corporations and the big bosses that sit up there building this? No. It’s people like us who build it, who put in

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southwestjournal.com / June 11–24, 2020 A15

the work. We are going to come together as a community and we will rebuild our city — faster than you think. And Cub Foods, if they don’t want to come back, we’ll just start a new chain. There’s nothing we can’t do. If we have this same energy and same support building it back up, we’ll be all right.

Jeff Turner: It’s all of us, regardless of how they look at it. We paid for it. You’ve got to call it for what it is.

I grew up in this neighborhood. I lived at 3130 Pillsbury. I grew up around here as a teenager. I went to Lyndale Elementary, not even half a mile away. I grew up around the gangs that were in this neighborhood, and the 3rd Precinct has always been what it is. They had it coming. Period. Because of the corruptness.

One day I was sitting here as a kid at the beginning of a weekend in fall. There was a bus stop in front of the White Castle on Blaisdell. A cop pulls up, and I remember we made eye contact and I laughed. I had saliva in my mouth, and it came out when I spit.

I literally just spit on the ground. He went through the drive-through parking of the White Castle, came back around and made us all stand up — asking what I was laughing at. He put our hands on the hood of his car.

It’s September, October, so it’s kind of cold outside. Imagine what was going through our heads. He made us stand there.

There was an older kid from this neighborhood and they had it out from him. He’s doing years right now.

I used to be a night manager at the Uptown Rainbow Foods, and I recognized the face of that particular police officer, Derek Chauvin. We had a few people we had to call the law on for trespassing. I remember his face. He was one of the weird, kind of ready-to-go ones.

Jessica Turner: When consumers would come in, suspected of stealing, he wanted to take them to jail, but he didn’t have to, he could have just written this person up for trespassing. He’d be like, “You want me to take him in?”

Jeff Turner: You know what comes into my heart? Even with a minor charge, it was like “I’m going to f--- up a person’s life forever.”

Lux Thunberg

During a march near Lake & Blaisdell, Saturday, May 30 There have been so many emotions this week — devastation, determination, motivation to get some answers from Mike Freeman, who finally spoke.

I was all for burning this down [except] the black-owned business. This is being televised!

But the systematic racism is not what it once was when we rioted in ‘65. We’ve got a younger generation who do care about their black friends. You see the majority of the people out here are melanin-recessive individuals. They do give a f---. Now we can go to Congress, now we can go to the governor, now we can talk to the mayor.

This past week has shown me what this city is about — uniting. I don’t live here, I live in the suburbs, and I was all for burning this motherf---er down. But you see all these bikers and hippies. They’re about free love and really coming together and they support LGBT. They do like their black people. I’m not going to clean any of this shit up, but I appreciate the movement. Let’s leave [the wreckage] for a long while as a reminder of what it took to try to get some change.

This past week has shown me what this city is about — uniting.

I’m so sad that this man lost his life. One life gone and his life changed the trajectory of history forever.

During quarantine, you know, people are not wound tight mentally. I’ve experienced some joy in all of this madness, in all of this chaos. It’s on a national level. My message is “Not Again, Jim Crow.” I see Jim Crow happening on a more professional level. It’s just not as in your face as it used to be.

I have been beat up by the police on a couple different occasions. When I had my long hair and girl clothes, they didn’t bother me too much. As soon as I got a fade, the Minneapolis police beat me up. I was born a female and when you look the part of a brown female, they don’t really bother us as much. But as soon as I wore boy clothes, oh my God. I have experienced what it is to be a brown man in America.

I got tased down by the onramp to I-35 [in Kingfield]. I got pulled over for some noise ordinance — I had subwoofers in the back. I got out, I had some marijuana on me, so I ran. They tased me, and when they came to me, they put their foot in my back and pulled my arms back. That’s the interaction with police that stands out the most.

Until we understand the systematic level, nothing’s ever going to happen. I could tell you too much, but I’m going to die for what I know. I was extremely pleased when they put Trump in office just to show what this country’s been about the whole time. When they put Obama in office, I said, “Oh lord, illusion of inclusion.”

I don’t promote violence. I do promote change. I do promote growth. I support everything happening right now. But with these fires, my brown people ain’t no goddamn arsonists. The fires on a professional level that are burning down a building, that ain’t us. We don’t do that. We don’t know how to get to a pipeline.

I hope that we don’t have to lose too many lives. That’s what I hope. Do I think that’s going to be the case? I’m not sure.

Ivy Scott (top left)

At a protest near 31st & Nicollet with her five cousins, Saturday, May 30 We came out today because there’s a lot of crime going on, and it’s only right for the little ones to come out and see what’s happening around the world. A lot of stuff is repeating. The black community — and not just the black community — is tired of the nonsense that’s been going on. This is a time for everybody to get justice for anyone who’s been killed by the cops and is dying with our skin color.

It’s been like this for years. We’re taking a stand to say if you’re not going to do us right, we’re going to go crazy. We’ve been in quarantine for a long time, which makes it worse.

It’s been a crazy, emotional week. We’re still doing school and our house is three blocks south [in Lyndale]. The fire’s been going on. They all spent the night in my house. We’ve been coming out every day to show support for our community.

One time we were at the downtown Target and as soon as we walked in, we got accused of stealing. As soon as we walked in, they started following us. Not every black person steals, and I feel like never in a million years did I think I’d get accused of something like that.

I just hope everyone sees our side and does better in helping the community.

Olivia Randgaard

Painting the side of Calhoun Square with the faces of black people killed by police, Wednesday, June 3 I’m in eight grade at Field, but I’m going to PiM [a Hopkins arts high school] next year.

I’ve been thinking about ways to elevate

the voices of people of color, because as a white person I feel like I need to let them speak. But I also want to do my part.

I think there’s mixed messaging with Minnesota Nice, that we’re so liberal. But our police systems don’t show that. We’re just as corrupt as many other states. It’s not working anymore — it never worked.

I want to see police work for all people.

I know some people are saying, “Get rid of the police.” I understand that and think we should get rid of the current police. But I think we need to reform and change so systems can work for everyone and not just white people.

Today we’re painting murals in Uptown.

We were painting Black Lives Matter on the Victoria’s Secret building, but someone told us to paint happy messages so we left. They didn’t want any Black Lives Matter or social justice. We want to have our actual voices and say things that actually matter.

Of course we need to uplift people, but we need to show George Floyd’s face. A lot of people around me, like my white neighbors, they don’t have to look because it doesn’t affect them. We need to let them see. It’s just to pay respect as well.

We need to show George Floyd’s face. A lot of people around me, like my white neighbors, they don’t have to look because it doesn’t affect them. We need to let them see.

I’ve been protesting, though I haven’t gone to one with pepper spray. I think the importance is that we need white people there. We can protect black voices. It’s not about us; it’s about protecting those voices.

I’ve also done some protest cleanup with my mom, and I have been dropping food in a neighborhood by Lake Street that’s kind of a food desert right now.

Some people only started talking about these things when neighborhoods got destroyed — of course that’s horrible; we helped clean it up — but the violence started before this man was unjustly killed.

The violence didn’t just start; it’s been going on for hundreds of years.

There’s tons of stuff white people can do. Donate, sign petitions. Talk to your friends of color — don’t make them educate you, educate yourself. We have the resources to read and learn ourselves, so we need to do that.

My school is pretty white. There’s a lot of segregation, the way the schools are set up.

I follow a lot of people online, like Rachel Cargle and Black Visions Collective, who I think are the right voices. Rachel Cargle talks about dealing with white supremacy and white nationalism and also about black feminism. I also try to follow a lot of smaller activists, mostly on Instagram. I’m not allowed on Twitter.

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Southwest Journal June 11–24, 2020

Portrait

of an

uprising

Clockwise from top left: Jose Dominguez paints a storefront in the Wedge; Lewis Jallahcole gives an impromptu sermon at 38th & Chicago, where George Floyd was choked to death by a Minneapolis police officer on May 25; Antione Jenkins and Josh Browne paint a tanker truck barreling into a crowd of protesters four days after they ran from the truck on I-35W; a close-up of Browne painting the side of the Hennepin Avenue Spyhouse; protesters on the median of I-35W watch the truck’s approach on May 31; a mural painted by students from Hopkins’ PiM Arts High School outside Calhoun Square; protesters on 38th Street the day after Floyd was killed. Photos by Isaiah Rustad

B2 June 11–24, 2020 / southwestjournal.com

Funding the fight for racial justice

By Sheila Regan

UNITED RENTERS FOR JUSTICE Top-down philanthropy only goes so far. While large, established charitable organizations are able to successfully raise many more funds than smaller, more grassroots organizations, they can be less effective at challenging the power structures already at work in society.

United Renters for Justice, or Inquilinxs Unidxs por Justicia (IX) aims to build power among immigrant groups. IX has waged successful campaigns against bad landlords, uniting tenants to speak out against unfair rental practices. Supporting this group means helping folks wield their own force.

Where to donate: tinyurl.com/ix-donate

The killing of George Floyd in broad daylight under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer was a horrific indictment of our city. We are a city that continues to grapple with racial discrimination, anti-blackness and white supremacy, not just in the criminal justice system but in almost every facet of the city’s way of life — education, housing, jobs, health and more. Now is the time to invest in groups that are working on the ground to overturn these racist systems.

AFRICAN CAREER, EDUCATION, AND RESOURCE

PILLSBURY UNITED COMMUNITIES

African Career, Education, and Resource (ACER) works with the African diaspora community in Minnesota as it works to build wealth and opportunities for black immigrant communities and to amplify black immigrant voices. ACER also does work in advocacy, creating access to education, jobs, health and housing, all of which have barriers to wealth for black immigrant communities because of deep-seated racism within the state of Minnesota.

Where to donate: acerinc.org/donation

After the killing of George Floyd, Pillsbury United Communities came out with a strong statement of solidarity with those who demanded justice for George Floyd, both through charges and ongoing policy changes.

PUC does the work of racial equity through its group of nonprofit programs around the Twin Cities. At Pillsbury House + Theatre, located a few blocks from where George Floyd was killed, Pillsbury House works at the intersection of art and community, using theater and artistic practices to open up dialogues around social justice. Meanwhile Pillsbury’s radio station, KRSM, and North Side newspaper, North News, both amplify voices of color.

Where to donate: pillsburyunited.org/donate

ASIAN AMERICAN ORGANIZING PROJECT Photo by Nancy Musinguzi

IMMIGRANT LAW CENTER OF MINNESOTA ILCM was founded in 1976, first as part of Minnesota Regional Legal Services, and later as its own nonprofit. Its service and advocacy, as well as its research, are essential pieces of creating systemic change in the Twin Cities.

For the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, the work to create a more equitable world goes in two directions. On the one hand, caring and highly qualified legal staff provide immigration assistance to low-income immigrants and refugees in Minnesota. On the other, ILCM acts as a fierce advocate in immigration issues, through its education programs as well as its advocacy work with lawmakers around human rights and immigration policy.

Where to donate: ilcm.org/get-involved/donate

The Asian American Organizing Project (AAOP) got started in 2014, but its roots go back a lot farther than that. It’s built on 20 years of grassroots activism within the Asian American community in Minnesota, working to build political sway. The organization works in partnership with other groups locally and nationally on a host of issues, including immigration reform, voting rights, language access, racial justice and civic engagement.

Among their programs are leadership fellowships for youth and adults providing experiences in engagement and organizing within the Asian American community.

Where to donate: tinyurl.com/aaopmn-donate

CAIR-MN CAIR-MN is part of a national organization fighting for civil liberties and advocating for the Muslim community.

Where to donate: cairmn.com/donate

southwestjournal.com / June 11–24, 2020 B3

APPETITE FOR CHANGE Appetite for Change brings together food, fellowship and systemic change. Among its programs are an urban agriculture program with seven farm plots in North Minneapolis tended to by youth from the neighborhood, a community cooks program mixing social justice and cooking, training opportunities and community organizing work. At a time when the coronavirus has laid bare the vast racial disparities in access to healthy living in Minnesota, Appetite for Change is doing the important work to bridge the gaps to healthy food and lifestyle.

Where to donate: appetiteforchangemn.org/donate

WEST BROADWAY BUSINESS AND AREA COALITION An anchor of North Minneapolis vitality, the West Broadway Business and Area Coalition works to support businesses and entrepreneurship along Broadway Avenue, through arts and culture events, street beautification initiatives, public art and more. The organization hosts the annual FLOW art crawl in addition to facilitating facade improvement grants, hosting farmers markets, showcasing North Side businesses elsewhere in the city and working in collaboration with partners on events like the Freedom Square series and Open Streets West. The organization has been a powerhouse in supporting many blackand minority-owned businesses in North Minneapolis. In the wake of COVID-19 and the destruction of businesses during the civil unrest following George Floyd’s killing, the coalition has been a unifying force for rebuilding and re-envisioning the future of the neighborhood. Check their Facebook page to find out ways you can volunteer.

Where to donate: westbroadway.org

JUXTAPOSITION ARTS ISUROON Isuroon, which means “a woman who cares for herself,” is pushing toward systemic change from the ground up by training Somali women and girls through a host of programs aimed at improving their lives and giving them tools to address problems in their communities.

Isuroon’s programs include training in the voting process, political advocacy and system literacy. Isuroon also trains health care providers and policymakers on cultural competency.

Where to donate: isuroon.org/donate-to-isuroon

This long-time North Side arts organization has worked tirelessly for its community, creating paid artist opportunities for North Side youth. They’ve seen some damage during the unrest and are committed to creating transformative change for North Minneapolis.

Where to donate: juxtapositionarts.org/donate

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southwestjournal.com / June 11–24, 2020 B5

Voices from the pandemic

Stories of coronavirus in Minneapolis How do you tell the story of what it’s like to live through a pandemic?

Throughout this crisis, the Southwest Journal is keeping in touch with a selection of local residents including an infection preventionist at a senior home, a pair of small-business owners, a nurse working in an intensive care unit, a religious leader and a schoolteacher.

All interviews are edited for length and clarity. Reporting for this project is by Zac Farber, Nate Gotlieb and Andrew Hazzard.

Barb Joyce, infection preventionist, Jones-Harrison senior living

“The time is now for us to stand up.”

FRIDAY, JUNE 5 I am in a good place. We have no new cases of residents in our skilled or assisted living. We did a conservative celebratory dance yesterday.

We still have a week left of incubation, but it means that the testing is working. Since it can be spread through people who don’t even know they’re sick, it’s impossible to control without testing.

The tide was turned last week, on May 26.

The National Guard came out and we tested all of our residents. In the beginning they weren’t going to test our assisted living, but it’s under the same roof as us, in the same airspace, and we pushed for it.

On May 27, we found nine residents in skilled who had absolutely no symptoms but tested positive. We were able to isolate them in our 22-bed COVID-only unit.

It is not easy to physically move somebody to a whole new unit. You have to have their physician’s orders and their medications and their care plan. The new unit has to understand what

the old unit was doing and, on top of that, how the illness is changing the patient. Everybody was literally on razor’s edge. We kept saying, “This is the right thing to do, this is the right thing to do, we’ve got to keep going.”

It was the right thing to do because this week no further transmission occurred. Out of the nine, four or five of them became symptomatic and the others were fine — they would have continued to transmit it. We also identified four asymptomatic employees, who were like, “Wow, we did not know.”

It often feels like the elder care sector is being painted as incompetent, and yet the lack of resources, equipment and testing — and the lack of pay to get enough quality employees — makes us a ripe setting for COVID to explode.

With this virus in this environment, no matter what scientific data and guidelines we had from the Minnesota Department of Health, without testing we would have been in the very same shoes we’ve been in for the past eight weeks.

Isolation has taken its toll on our residents with the number of people who have passed from our realm — from COVID and otherwise. Our last census was at 103 residents and we’re a 157-bed facility. I understand the feelings people are going through not being able to see, advocate for or effectively console their moms and dads.

It has been very traumatic. It’s been very exhaustive and very unhealthy. The caregivers are in a status of unhealth. Some cope better than others, but fear has a huge impact on our health. I’m OK in a sense that I don’t have at-risk people in my household, though nobody knows how this virus will affect each individual.

My goal was for it not to come into our facility, but it did.

For a time we were successful in containing the disease on the third floor, where residents have some cognitive impairment but can follow directions and have some sort of understanding about the isolative procedures we’ve implemented. They’re able to say, “I don’t feel good.”

Once it came to our second floor, the slope got slipperier. It’s a 79-bed moderate-to-severe dementia unit, and they are the most vulnerable because their understanding of communication has been greatly diminished and their needs are more. On the third floor, it was one or two cases at a time. On the second floor, it was like a runaway train.

Our staff are in the airspace of the residents.

When they wash a resident’s face, they have to be right there doing every stroke to their body.

The residents have to be fed, they have to be bathed, they have to be clothed, they have to

have their teeth brushed. Every aspect of their care is involved with another human being, who may be an asymptomatic carrier.

We don’t have enough trained staff to feed residents on the second floor in their rooms one-on-one. We still have to take some individuals into the common area, sharing airspace with others. We don’t have enough skilled workers, though we’re training nonhealth care workers to be feeding assistants.

Some residents are in shared rooms, which is risky. If one identifies as having symptoms, we break them apart and take the ill resident to a private room while they’re being tested.

We have empty rooms we can play musical beds with now. In the beginning we didn’t have that luxury.

Our nursing home has received personal protective equipment that has helped us tremendously. But the equipment, I believe, is still insufficient. I believe everyone in longterm care should be in an FDA-regulated, fit-tested filter mask. But I only have enough FDA-regulated masks for my COVID floor.

I’m still having to ration out other masks on non-COVID floors. There are a lot of counterfeit KN95s that have infiltrated our stockpiles.

We get a lot of masks without any identifying markers — they’re not even coming in a box — and we have to figure out if we can use them.

I did a supervised compassionate visit between a tenant in our assisted living facility and her husband, who was dying of COVID. I observed her from the doorway, through plastic sheeting. I stayed for two reasons.

She’s an elderly, vulnerable person and I was worried about her stamina being emotional with her husband. I also wanted to make sure her personal protective equipment was staying in place and she didn’t expose her community.

She wore a surgical mask and a full plastic facial shield. During her visit, the shield came off three different times because she wanted to kiss her husband and forgot she had it on. She wanted to hug her husband and forgot she had it on. She was crying, so she needed to blow her nose, and forgot she had it on.

I went back into the room each time, got her set back up, changed her gloves and then left the room again. These compassionate visits they want us to do — it’s the right thing to do and I totally believe it, but they have no clue in the guidance as to what is actually needed. We don’t have enough caregivers. Our staff are sick and we’re having to move our staff all around the facility because we’re at our last resort.

According to the guidance, the woman doesn’t have to quarantine after this visit, but according to me, the answer is yes. Our facility is attempting to balance tenants’ rights in an independent assisted living community

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with infection control protocols. And it’s not always easy to do the right thing. People want to visit their loved ones, so we need to think of creative ways to do it safely.

I went to the protest [over George Floyd’s killing] last Sunday and the truck almost hit two of my daughters on I-35W. I have a horrific picture of my kids running out of the way of the trucks.

As a health care worker, I made the decision to go — as a person, as a human, as a humanitarian. I am appalled that we’re living with this systemic racism in this day and age.

I am flabbergasted that this is being allowed to continue. So I am standing with my brothers and sisters in standing against systemic racism.

But on my way to the protest, I put my health care brain on and said, “I shouldn’t, I can’t.”

I stayed on the periphery. We participated in the kneeling and moment of silence on the bridge. It was one of the most amazing sights I’ve ever seen. There had to have been at least 3,000 to 5,000 people packed in on that bridge.

Because I’m a health care worker, I looked and noticed that at least 50% to 75% had on masks, which made me feel good.

There is a march for health care professionals this Sunday at the Capitol that I’ve signed up to attend. We will be socially distancing, and I will have my mask on. In the midst of the COVID pandemic and at the risk of ongoing transmission, my heart is telling me that the time for this social justice movement is now. The time is now for us to stand up, to speak up, to show up so our state and our country and our world can be transformed.

Right now the rights of all people are not being acknowledged and that must stop. Not just for me, who, by the way, is brown-skinned, but for my children and their children to live in a better world. My faith says this is the right thing to do.

It’s been difficult to see the crowds. Everybody has their own lens they look at the world from. The first push to open the state up made me very sad and very angry, and I was very tired. I didn’t fully understand the crowds that were demonstrating. I judged those crowds with my health care worker heart. I thought, “You don’t care about us. You don’t care about the people who are dying being isolated from their family members. You don’t care that you’re putting a set of people at risk for hospitalization and death. You don’t see us. You don’t care. You don’t care.”

I was really, really distraught. The stress of this has taken a toll on all of our health. The cortisone levels we get when we’re stressed is playing havoc on the inside of our organs.

Stress prematurely ages and kills us.

SEE VOICES / PAGE B6

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B6 June 11–24, 2020 / southwestjournal.com FROM VOICES / PAGE B5

But I did not see the devastation [the stayat-home order] was doing to my brothers and sisters whose incomes had been lost and whose businesses had gone away. From that standpoint I understand that people need to have their voices heard. We have to listen to every peaceful demonstration.

Yet the hardest things to hear were, “I need to get a tattoo” and “I need to get my hair done.” That was the hardest pill to swallow.

Non-essential stuff that we can give up for another month, we should give up.

I didn’t like how the first group marching through Michigan with AK-47 rifles was allowed, and yet these peaceful marches in Minneapolis were getting tear gas and rubber bullets. I think there’s an inequality there.

I don’t think the intent of the protests is to spread COVID. It’s just that the time is now. They have an opportunity to make change, and they’re not going to let it pass them by. They’re not screaming for their rights over the rights of others.

Through my lens, it’s the haves and the have nots. I see the first group fighting for quality of life. I’m more willing to work the long hours for the second group, because they’re fighting for survival.

Jen and Marcus Wilson, co-owners, True Grit Society gym

“[They] were robbers.

They weren’t looters or protesters; they had guns and masks.”

FRIDAY, JUNE 5 Jen: I’m married to a big black guy, so it doesn’t escape me that Marcus could have been George Floyd. It can happen anywhere.

As a Japanese American, I am not as affected. There are levels of minorities that people perceive as more aggressive. Being Asian, and I’m stereotyping here because this has been my experience, but I haven’t been deemed as aggressive as say an African American person. I’ve been seen as friend instead of foe. I’ve dealt with racism but on a very different level. It’s been hidden and more passive-aggressive — I’d get called Connie

Chung or Kristi Yamaguchi in high school.

Me and Marcus’s understanding of racism is very different. For me, what I did early on was just not pay attention, because I felt that giving people that response kept them going.

Marcus grew up in LA, having to deal with racism and discrimination on a different level, a level that could result in his death, which is very different. Over the years, he would tell me to look at a video or watch people getting beat up and I wouldn’t want to watch it. It hurts my soul. When this happened, he said, “Jen, I need you to watch this video.” It devastated me. It makes me want to cry. You’re literally watching this man die; how are you not affected by this?

That was really a turning point for me. My first reaction was I really just wanted to chain Marcus to the inside of the house. I would be fearful of him walking across the street to the gym and taking Sachi with him. It crossed my mind that our daughter could see it, if something happened to him. Do we need to talk to her about what she needs to do? Immediately I got fearful. I was talking to our mental health coach, and in these cases of trauma, people either fight, flight or freeze. I was frozen.

I was never fearful that I would lose Marcus before. We were in Oakland for the Oscar Grant riots [in 2010] and marched in the streets. I remember being very upset, but I was never fearful of losing Marcus. But now I have been just consumed with fear. I think, “Oh my god, this is the feeling he has had his whole life.” I don’t want that for me for the rest of my life, and I can’t believe I’ve been OK with him having this fear as long as he’s been alive. I don’t want him to feel that.

I was a little depressed with the gym and trying to figure out outdoor classes. We sent out a survey and only about 10% of our gym was interested in outdoor classes, which was a little surprising. But we had our first outdoor class scheduled for [May 30]. Then we were seeing all the craziness on the news, but I didn’t think anyone would break into the gym.

We got a call from the owner of the building at 7:30 a.m. saying the building has been broken into. I ran over and started hyperventilating. At our building they had put boards over the doors, but someone tore down the board, shot the door and got into the autobody shop and came upstairs and kicked every single one of our doors out of the frame. They robbed and mugged John, the photographer here, and pistol-whipped him and took his gear. They just kicked in our doors — they could have done so many things.

I keep trying to figure out what happened.

They held our entire future in their hands for a split second. The fact that was up for grabs scares me. It took them one half second to

decide if they were going to wreck our future.

I know this is nothing, because this did happen to a lot of people who’ve lost everything. We know that our guys were robbers.

They weren’t looters or protesters; they had guns and masks. They were people here taking advantage of the chaos in the streets.

Now, I’m sort of numb. I’m still a little frozen.

To continue to see all the police brutality, it’s hard to stay positive and find the good in some of the horrific images I keep seeing while not seeing people be held accountable. Marcus, I honestly have never been more proud of who he is than I have been in the past week. The things he’s said and the people he’s connected with and his ability to articulately describe things — he has stepped up and been a voice, and I am super proud of him for doing that.

I can’t put two words together because I’m just shaken to my core. I will say I think the city has been amazing — just the level of support we’ve seen has been phenomenal. But I keep thinking, why did it take someone to die to see this? It’s one of those things where I knew it was going on. I just never saw it on this level, maybe, but it’s been surprising to me. People keep asking me, “How is Marcus?” But frankly, he’s used to this. He’s really not been fazed.

Jennifer Vongroven, bedside nurse, Hennepin County Medical Center

“It’s out of the frying pan into the fire.”

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3 I’m an in-patient float nurse, which means I usually work all over the hospital, but since March I’ve been working in the ICU. They’re training in ICU nurses as fast as they can.

This last week we had to shut down [a recently created makeshift ICU on the first floor] because we don’t have enough staff.

Patients who were stable were flown to other ICUs in the state.

What’s it like as a nurse in the ICU? Before you go into the room of any COVID patient, you have to wear the proper personal protective equipment. Every time we go into that room we have to gown up, cap up, goggles, visors, gloves. Then when we come out, we’ve got to wipe down the goggles, wipe down the visors, toss the gown. You’re going in and out of that room multiple times per hour. I’ll dress

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and undress close to 50 times in a shift.

We get fit-tested for N95s once a year. They put a hood on us and spray this awful chemical, and if you can taste the chemical, it means the mask does not fit your face and you have to wear a PAPR hood.

I’m now wearing round, hard, green N95 masks. They provide a seal, but they irritate your skin because you have to wear them for hours at a time. By the end of the day, your N95 is completely wet just from breathing and sweating into it. I hadn’t had pimples on my face since high school, but the seal of the mask and the constant oils and moistures mean none of us are looking great right now.

Whenever you do oral care of a patient, you’re creating airborne particles of coronavirus, so you’ve got to be really cautious. I have to be extra careful because I have asthma. I had a bronchial infection in February, and even going up and down the stairs in my own house during these exacerbations is a trial. So if I get COVID, this is going to be bad.

Caring for COVID patients is hard work.

You are constantly moving, constantly going in and out of rooms. There’s just no rest. We try to get at least one break in a 12-hour shift.

We’re pretty good about chasing other nurses out: “Have you had a break? Have you had a break? At least go eat something.”

People on ventilators need oral care every two hours to prevent additional bacteria from going directly into their mouths. So we clean their mouths and suction their mouths and lungs to clear out some of the gunk. Sometimes we get a lot of secretions. We constantly adjust the titrations on their sedation drips because if you’re even kind of somewhat awake, having that tube down your throat makes you want to gag and cough and pull it out. Sometimes we have to paralyze the patients. They can’t even blink. This prevents them from fighting against the ventilator so the ventilator can breathe for them.

When things get really bad, we have to prone the patient, to turn them onto their stomachs. It’s harder on their faces, but it helps them live. We do position changes every two hours. Plus we go into the room on top of that — when their ventilator is honking, when their blood pressure drops, when their heart rate rises, when their oxygen saturation drops.

The COVID patients have coarse lung sounds and are in and out of fever. The very sick ones tend to be our older patients, but it’s an indiscriminate disease. We have people in their 30s, we have people in their 80s. We have men, women of every color and background. There are also smaller numbers of pediatric COVID patients, though I haven’t worked with them.

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southwestjournal.com / June 11–24, 2020 B7

Unless the patient is imminently dying — like within four to six hours — family members are not allowed in the hospital.

That has been heartbreaking for families not to see their loved ones. We’ve procured iPads and are doing FaceTiming so they can at least see their loved ones. I try to pop my head into the screen so they can see my eyes — that’s all they can see of me — to show that there’s a real live person caring for their loved one.

I ask, “What are things your dad likes to listen to?” and pull up things on YouTube. I tell them, “I rubbed your dad’s back today” or “I braided your mom’s hair” — these little personal things that aren’t just sterile medical information. It’s so important to bring that human touch, so the families can know they’re not just being medically cared for but cared about.

Patients are sedated and can’t respond, but at least families can see that they’re there, that they’re alive. That brings some measure of comfort — or it makes things worse for some people because seeing them like that and not being able to touch them is a form of torture.

One family is allowed to call twice a day approximately, though it’s not a hard and fast rule. It’s hard on the families, and sometimes they take it out on the staff.

I don’t blame them because they have emotion and they need to place it somewhere. And we’re the ones telling them they can’t call more, that they can’t see their family member. Every day, we have to have the conversation, “If I’m talking to you, I’m not with your loved one.” And that creates a lot of strife within ourselves.

I couldn’t visit my own mom when she was in the hospital having emergency surgery for gallstones in Wisconsin two weeks ago. She was in horrific pain for days, and I could do nothing. I had to censor myself a little when I was on the phone with my mom’s nurse. I wanted to

keep that nurse on the phone forever and talk to him because I wanted to hear how she was doing from a professional’s eyes, but I knew he didn’t have a lot of time.

In the last few weeks, we haven’t had any decrease in the amount of COVID. I have a concern about a surge of COVID after what’s transpired in the past week. I was worried just with stores opening. We have beds, but we don’t have the staff to care for the patients. With the protests, we’ve had to airlift non-COVID patients out of the hospital to prepare for the influx of new traumas and COVID patients coming in. With basically a war going on, you have to plan for that.

George Floyd was killed three blocks from my house. I’ve been to that Cup Foods on quite a few occasions. I bike past there all the time. This is my neighborhood, these are my neighbors.

The day after he was killed, I went down to that corner, brought flowers from my garden, laid them on the corner where he was killed and I cried. I cried for the humanity. I cried for fear of retaliation.

I come from a family of law enforcement.

My dad was a cop. My brother-in-law is a cop. My sister is a dispatcher. I am in it. But I also see what happens in the community and the issues we have with race and discrimination in general. I have a unique perspective in that I’m completely torn in half by this entire thing. Not all cops are bad, but even a few bad apples will make the entire bushel rotten.

I’ve watched the video numerous times, and you’re watching a man die. I’ve watched people die before — it’s part of my job — but I’ve never seen somebody get killed before. I knew immediately that [MPD officer Derek] Chauvin was not appropriately restraining George Floyd. I watched him call for his mom and that tore me apart. When I think of the blatant stare of this man as he was squeezing the life out of George Floyd, I see a reflection of what some of our top leaders have been telling us — to use dominance or

you’re going to look like a jerk.

I fear for all cops, good and bad, for getting retaliated against. I fear for our community that has to rebuild in an already tough economic time. I fear for the surge of additional COVID. I fear for a greater divide in our community and our nation. This didn’t start with Chauvin. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Last Tuesday, the day after George Floyd died, when people were coming together, was the first gathering. I listened and watched and walked down the block and back up. I saw people giving away masks and water and thought that was beautiful.

Wednesday and Thursday I worked two 12-hour shifts back-to-back at the hospital.

Then I came home and slept maybe three hours because of the flash-bangs and the screaming and the helicopters constantly swirling. It permeates all of the senses. The only way I could feel like I had some control of what’s going on was to go out there and see it for myself and live it and at least help someone.

On Friday, I volunteered as a street medic with North Star Health Collective. They usually have a 20-hour training session, but it was 20 minutes over the phone because they just needed people out there.

I was down at the 3rd Precinct on Friday for most of the day and into the night. I did break curfew. I wore my scrubs, though there were [rumors] the National Guard was targeting medics. I wanted the community to know I was there to help them.

I was washing tear gas out of people’s eyes.

I was wrapping up bandages where they were hit with flash bombs and bleeding into their shoes. I carried bicarbonate water for the tear gas and also burn cream, bandages, you name it. I tasted tear gas and it is awful.

Once the tear gas came out, I wore an N95, a bike helmet and a full visor. N95s work wonderfully against tear gas, I discovered.

I stayed back from the front lines after curfew. I can’t help people if I am hurt. If

I am arrested or I am hurt, I’m not only putting the patients at risk at the hospital, but I am also putting burden on other nurses and health workers.

Every time the crowd would surge forward, we’d go with them, keeping an eye for our exits. There were a few times when the crowd turned and basically stampeded at us because the National Guard switched out their march in a unified movement, everybody freaked and we almost got trampled.

This is the reality I’m living in. I’m in the hot zone right now. I had to close all my windows because the acrid smoke was covering everything, and of course that wasn’t great for my asthma. That’s my Target that was trashed. That’s my precinct I bring donuts to. That’s my AutoZone. The helicopters going all night. When I get up in the morning, there are chunks of burned refuse on my porch. It’s out of the frying pan into the fire. There’s no rest.

We have a neighborhood watch that runs 24 hours. We have chased white supremacists out of the neighborhood. We have found people trying to steal license plates off cars. There was a guy with a pickaxe.

We’ve barricaded our street at night.

We use WhatsApp. You sit on your porch — unless the cops come, and then you have to run inside. You say, “OK, there’s a red truck driving west on 35th, it doesn’t have license plates. I saw a nationalist sticker in a back window.” Then that gets transferred to the next neighbor down the block. We aren’t trained to do this. We’re just regular people with regular jobs doing what we can to try to protect each other.

I was actually looking forward to going to work this week to get a break from what was going on at home. Normally I look forward to my days off so I can rest, but I was actually looking forward to going to work to have “normalcy.” But there is no normalcy anymore.

SEE VOICES / PAGE B8

CROSSWORD PUZZLE ACROSS 1 Evidence of fire 6 Phone call enders 10 Recedes to the sea 14 Piglike rhino relative 15 Move like The Blob

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45 Tropical “constrictor”

68 Agile

46 15-season CBS drama about the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit

69 Colorful marble

22 Spoils, as a grandchild

DOWN

26 Clog or loafer

50 Become frantic 51 Meadowland 52 Uses a shovel 55 Looks after, as suggested by the last word of 20-, 29- and 46-Across 59 “The Thin Man” dog

1 Employee group 2 Curie with two Nobels 3 Speak candidly 4 Regal realms

21 Earns lots of, as dough

27 Fork-tailed shorebird 28 Army NCO 30 Narrow opening in a cliff 31 Take the title

41 Toting clubs for a golfer

47 Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, with “The” 49 “Burnt” crayon color 53 “__ it, Rover!”: “Fetch!”

54 Keep a mate awake, perhaps 56 Grandson of Adam 57 One in handcuffs, for short

32 High-spirited horse

6 __-woogie

58 Kazan with an honorary Oscar

36 Sputnik letters

59 Actress Gardner

7 Dannon products

37 “__ Croft: Tomb Raider”

60 Sun, in Sonora

62 Lacrosse targets 63 Specialized vocab

9 Tea leaves reader

Crossword Puzzle SWJ 061120 4.indd 1

38 Top Norse god 39 Flight safety org.

The virtual Summit will take place between July 23rd and August 1st.

48 Pitifully small

5 Art Deco master

8 Pound who was a friend of T.S. Eliot

In response to the pandemic, this summer’s summit was changed from the in-person program to a virtual one.

44 MLB’s Hank Aaron, e.g., in 21 seasons

Please congratulate Josephine when you have a chance to see her.

61 Bit of advice Crossword answers on page B8

6/9/20 10:18 AM

Southwest High SWJ 061120 4.indd 1

6/1/20 11:23 AM

B8 June 11–24, 2020 / southwestjournal.com FROM VOICES / PAGE B7

Marcia Zimmerman, rabbi, Temple Israel

“We are all responsible, so what are we responsible to do?”

SUNDAY, JUNE 7 We’re at the epicenter of chaos and a lot of pain. It has changed the world. When you’re right at the epicenter of it, you have a lot of people in trauma and a lot of very strong emotions, and little ability to step back for a moment, so it’s hard.

We’ve been talking and working at this for a while, but it feels like movements need to happen much faster. When there’s an event such as the death of George Floyd, emotions and wanting it to happen yesterday feels more important. It’s knowing we’re doing the right thing and continuing to do that work and accelerating that work as best we can.

How do you deal with your own implicit bias and racism? Someone smart said “just slow it down.” We react to things based on our assumptions, and those assumptions are given to us by the society we live in, so we have to slow things down and question those assumptions.

Abraham Joshua Heschel said this about the Holocaust, and I say it about today: “Some are guilty but all are responsible.” Some are guilty of putting their knee on a man’s neck and taking the life out of him, but we are all responsible, so what are we responsible to do?

Normally, I’d be down there with clergy I know who are protesting, but I’ve been doing a lot of funerals lately, largely driven

by COVID. Yet the temple has been

involved; our clergy have been there.

The temple was not hit by any of the damage on Hennepin Avenue. The neighborhood watch looked after the temple and it was really lovely. We got to know our neighbors better, and that’s exactly the type of security that’s so important. Having neighbors know each other and watch for each other and be a first level of security is so important.

We need to talk about public safety but also emergency response. We’ve been doing the work, but there’s so much more work to do. It’s not anyone else’s problem — it’s not one call to an emergency. Who is the best to approach a mental health situation, a domestic violence situation, a suicide situation? Let’s develop a more community-based response to emergency and security.

COVID isn’t disconnected from what happened in our city with George Floyd.

For me, deciding when to open up the temple is a question of: Has anything changed in terms of increase of exposures, hospitalizations, ICU use. I’ve been watching those numbers daily, and I don’t really see a change. I see numbers of infection and exposure continue to go up.

What does that mean as far as putting people at risk and what do we need to do to take care of communal health? These are real questions. Do we not want anyone to be exposed to COVID-19 and do we do everything in our power to not let that happen? Do we open up because it seems like the medical world is prepared to handle it? What is our responsibility as religious leaders? There might be a variety of reasons why there is opening up that don’t really speak to the questions of what our responsibility is to the community.

I want to be back together as soon as we can, but I don’t see anything changing in the increase in infection rate. I see a change in human desire and human want. We can’t ever promise that nobody is going to get sick at temple. You come to temple, you might pick up something. The problem is COVID-19 has unpredictable impacts on people. No one

understands this virus — that’s what makes it different from a typical cold or someone coming in with a cough or fever. Perfectly healthy people have died of COVID-19. I’ve done 22 funerals since mid-March to today, and at least half of them are COVID positive.

We are doing a survey of our congregants to ask if people would come back before a vaccine or a treatment; let’s survey and see where our congregants stand.

Tracey Schultz, science teacher, Clara Barton Open School

“I tried to give space for them to talk and say what they needed to say.”

FRIDAY, JUNE 5 Traditionally today is Lake Day at Barton. The whole school would be down at Lake Harriet right now. There would be a program at the bandshell, with older kids sitting with their younger buddies. Then we would bring the seventh- and eighth-graders back to school and we’d have the eighth-grade graduation program for the last hour of the day.

This year that program is in the form of a video. We are encouraging folks to have this synchronous viewing of it from wherever they are. Then after that, the teachers will jump on Google Meet for a final meet and greet.

Staff have been at school Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week returning materials to families. Eighth-graders have this portfolio of their work going back to kindergarten in some cases, so we’re returning that to them. That’s been fun to be standing out curbside and have kids come out.

The last week of school is always kind of a scramble. You’re trying to finish things up and help kids that are behind. It’s really hard to help kids catch up virtually. That’s one of my take-home messages. You have to get them with you as fast as you can.

Even if everything else had been “normal,” George Floyd’s murder would have affected how kids did school. Last week, when kids were still more present in classes online, I tried to give space for them to talk and say what they needed to say. Students spoke about being upset that they were watching small businesses burn down, that it wasn’t right and wasn’t what this was supposed to be about. A lot of kids were really active in going to protests and watching a lot on TV. But I also feel really disconnected to what they were thinking because I just talked to a small segment of them. When you can’t be with them live in person, you don’t have a good handle of where they’re at.

I’m saying goodbye to Barton this week. I have accepted a position to be a sixth-grade science teacher at Justice Page Middle School next year. There was a time I thought I would retire from Barton. There’s been a long history in education where that’s kind of how things work, but that’s not the reality of what’s going on in our district right now. Returning to Page, where I taught previously, is a great opportunity for me, but I have such mixed emotions.

It’s really hard to leave a community that I love and am really invested in.

I don’t know how I feel about having a summer break. Usually on the last day of school you’re just, like, desperate. You haven’t slept, you’re doing these incredibly long days and you’re doing these trips with kids. You get to the end and you’re just exhausted. This year I don’t feel that at all, and yet there is this fatigue. But if you said, “You can go into the classroom with kids tomorrow,” I’d say yes. In the one sense, I do really need a break and I need to walk away, and on the other hand, I would be back tomorrow if we could go back to school as it was.

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southwestjournal.com / June 11–24, 2020 B9

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW

By Stewart Huntington

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3/25/20 2:07 PM

B10 June 11–24, 2020 / southwestjournal.com

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southwestjournal.com / June 11–24, 2020 B11

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