PRST STD U.S.POSTAGE PAID TWIN CITIES MN PERMIT NO. 6391
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THE VOICE OF BLACK MINNESOTA SINCE 1934
April 20 - 26, 2023
Vol. 89
No. 38
Phone: 612-827-4021
www.spokesman-recorder.com
What should the community do with the Third Precinct now? Public opinion is mixed on police presence after George Floyd
By H. Jiahong Pan Contributing Writer
cinct was abandoned amid height; and easily accessible unrest resulting from George by the community. Floyd’s murder at the hands The city also wants the site of former Third Precinct to be centrally located, accesesidents and sible by transit, with space to business owners police officer Derek Chauvin. expand, two blocks from resiwho participated The Third Precinct has operdential housing, have fiberin two city-spon- ated out of the City of Lakes optic connectivity, and be on sored meetings building in downtown Minlast week regarding the future neapolis ever since. land the city already owns. This is not the first time of the Minneapolis Police They also want to avoid being Department’s Third Precinct the city has tried to bring the near rail lines and will take into expressed raucous displea- Third Precinct back to the consideration whether or not sure that the city is even con- neighborhood. They considconstruction would involve sidering such an idea. Roughly ered leasing a temporary site demolition and environmental 100 people attended the busi- at 26th and Minnehaha in remediation. ness owners-only meeting 2020. The city withdrew the The criteria ruled out many on April 11, and around 60 plan after protesters demsites, particularly sites along people attended the meeting onstrated not just outside of Hiawatha Avenue. At press on Thursday, April 13, which the potential site, but also at time, the MSR was unable to was open to all city residents. the Lake Minnetonka home obtain the list of sites the city Organizers did not respond of the owner of the site. is considering. The city said they looked A projection outside of the Third Precinct building, a collaboration between Queen Drea and to questions as to why they The city has ultimately didn’t prioritize those who at over 20 sites within the Paul Herwig. arrived at two prospective Photo by H. Jiahong Pan lived in the Third Precinct area. Third Precinct area. They consites—2600 Minnehaha and The discussion comes sidered five criteria, which Third Precinct boundaries; acre parcel to accommodate and exit points; in an area 3000 Minnehaha, where the three years after the pre- included being within the having a minimum of a 1.5 building size and two entry properly zoned for use and ■ See PRECINCT on page 5
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Derek Chauvin’s brutality costs Minneapolis $8.875 million more
By MSR News Service
he City of Minneapolis reached settlements on April 13 in two civil lawsuits filed by victims of police brutality at the hands of former MPD Officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of the murder of George Floyd on April 20, 2021, almost two years to the day of the conviction. The city council approved a settlement of $7.5 million in a civil suit filed by John Pope, and $1.375 million in the Zoya Code case, for incidents that occurred in 2017. This follows the historic $27 million settlement with George Floyd’s family in 2021. According to the complaint, John Pope was hit over the head with a flashlight, grabbed by the throat and shoved against a wall, and rendered unconscious when Chauvin applied a neck restraint, after his mother called police alleging domestic violence. After Pope, who was 14 at the time of the incident, regained consciousness, he was handcuffed and restrained, while Derek Chauvin applied pressure with his knee to Pope’s neck and upper back, as he pleaded with officers saying he could not breathe. In December 2021, Chauvin pleaded guilty to criminal charges in federal court related to the incident. Zoya Code was similarly handcuffed by
a statement, “Today, I humbly apologize to Mr. Pope, his mother, and his sister. I humbly apologize to Mrs. Code and her family. I am sorry for the pain you endured that resulted first from this abuse, and further from this department’s disgraceful inability to intervene and hold him accountable for his actions.” “The Minneapolis Police Department failed not only Mr. Pope and Mrs. Code,” said O’Hara’s statement, “but through this failure, we put everyone who would later come into contact with this former officer at risk. “Going forward,” he added, “we will ensure sufficient processes are in place to identify and intervene early to prevent misconduct and brutality from occurring in the first place. And under our settlement agreement, we will demonstrate that we have done so to an independent evaluator before the court.”
Chauvin conviction upheld by Minnesota Appeals Court On Monday, the Minnesota Court of Derek Chauvin Courtesy of MGN Appeals unanimously upheld the convictions of former Minneapolis police officer Derek officers after her mother called MPD. While his knee, and transported her to the squad car Chauvin for second-degree unintentional handcuffed, Chauvin applied pressure to using a hobble device that tethered her feet murder and second-degree manslaughter in Code’s arm by raising them upwards toward to her waist. the May 25, 2020 murder of George Floyd in In response to the settlement announce- Minnesota. Chauvin’s appeal for a new trial her head. He subsequently slammed her head on the ground, applied force to her neck with ment, MPD Police Chief Brian O’Hara said in ■ See CHAUVIN on page 5
North Minneapolis residents wary of proposed Blue Line extension Lack of transparency and stifling public comment are concerns
By H. Jiahong Pan Contributing Writer racey Pennie used to live along the Blue Line in South Minneapolis but says she had to move because her quality of life declined after it opened. Years later, she finds herself fighting the same battle in North Minneapolis, where she distributed flyers to more than 700 people on the West Broadway corridor about plans to extend the Blue Line through the community. Forty-five of those people, many of whom are Lyn-Park residents, showed up at a monthly healing circle hosted by the local NAACP chapter, where people can discuss and work through the issues they face. All except one were there because they opposed the transit line extension going through North Minneapolis, citing the Metropolitan
Councilmember Jeremiah Ellison talks about his role in deciding the Blue Line extension routing. Photo by H. Jiahong Pan Council’s handling of the Southwest that the Met Council and Hennepin light rail construction, and that the County staff, who were invited by project isn’t designed to serve their Lyn-Park residents, did not show up community. They are also frustrated at the healing circle and are ignoring
their concerns. Calls for transparency stem from a March 6th incident, where project staff did not allow Lyn-Park residents participating at a Met Council and Hennepin County Blue Line extension meeting to ask questions in an open forum. “I’m not gonna do a meeting like that,” said Cynthia Wilson, president of the Minneapolis NAACP chapter who was there and tried to convene an open forum. “I may have the same concerns as somebody else. And I think meetings like this should be open, so that people can share with other people.” The strategy of quelling public comment in an open forum is actually one Met Council and Hennepin County staff are employing to ensure they hear everyone’s thoughts and include those who do not want to voice their ideas publicly, especially in an open forum. It is a tactic employed by other cities, counties
and transit agencies nationwide. “The workshop format of the meetings has been designed to speak individually with as many attendees as possible, answering specific questions and hearing feedback from many voices,” said project spokesperson Trevor Roy. He adds that they plan to host public hearings where community members can voice their grievances in an open forum as part of the federally required environmental review process. Indeed, the situation the Met Council and Hennepin County were looking to avoid played out at the circle, where several attendees tried to heckle an individual who they believed was an informant, sent by the agencies—a bald White guy in a dress shirt—who was the only person in the circle that supported the project going through West Broadway in North Minneapolis. ■ See BLUE LINE on page 5