Read a tale of two Underground Railroad communities on page 7.
THE VOICE OF BLACK MINNESOTA SINCE 1934
September 28 - October 4, 2023
PRST STD U.S.POSTAGE PAID TWIN CITIES MN PERMIT NO. 6391
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Vol. 90
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The debate over whether police officers should be in schools the previous state legislative session, known as Minnesota Statute 121A.58 Corporal Punishment; Prone Restraint; MGN and Certain Physical Holds, By Vickie Evans-Nash tracts with their prospective which was later amended. Because the language in Contributing Writer police departments, and police the law limits the use of force, officers no longer fulfilled the many law enforcement agenn the summer of 2020, after role of school resource officers cies requested clarification on the killing of George Floyd, (SRO) in many districts. how they could restrain stuThis school year, the decision longstanding tensions bedents. Attorney General Keith tween the Black community about whether to use school reEllison issued a general opinand law enforcement collided. source officers was determined ion in response to the request. Those tensions included con- by each school district. But for In a virtual meeting with cern over police officers who many Minnesota school discommunity members on Sephad been providing support tricts, the decision came down tember 7, Ellison explained, “Esand security in public schools. to what can and cannot be done sentially the law says if the stuBy the beginning of the to protect a student from use of dent is not presenting a threat 2020-2021 school year, the excessive force. of deadly force, the officer Minneapolis and St. Paul pubThe debate centered around cannot use a threat of deadly lic school boards severed con- a bill introduced and passed in
Hennepin County attorney to handle investigation into Cobb killing By H. Jiahong Pan Contributing Writer nvestigators at the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) have turned over the investigation into the Ricky Cobb II killing by a Minnesota state trooper to the Hennepin County attorney for a charging decision. The case, which was turned over to the county attorney’s office last Tuesday, won’t result in a fast and easy charging decision. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said several state troopers, who were not involved in the killing but may have information related to the case, refused to cooperate. “We are disappointed by this lack of cooperation as the family, the community, and the troopers involved in this incident all deserve answers,” said Moriarty in a statement. The BCA declined to comment on the issue, citing an ongoing investigation. Cobb II was killed on the morning of July 31 by state trooper Ryan Londregan during a traffic stop on I-94 at Dowl-
force,” he said. “But if a student is [presenting a threat], then the officer certainly can.” Ellison assumed the clarification was sufficient. But shortly after it was issued, he heard from school districts wanting to continue their SRO programs, even though many law enforcement agencies would not be returning to their schools. State legislators requested that Governor Walz call a special session to amend the language, though some school districts—including Bloomington and Edina—found ways to continue their SRO programs in accordance with the way the law is currently written. What has made school resource officers such a hotbutton issue is that community members are divided on the use of SROs, regardless of the
Former SRO Mike Kirchen who started Bike Cops for Kids Photo courtesy of Facebook change in language. In the virtual In the meeting with the meeting on September 7, those attorney general, Michelle who opposed SROs greatly out- Higgins, executive director of numbered those who support Rebuilding the Village, was having them in schools. ■ See SROs on page 5
City Council reneges on Third Precinct proposal Three years later, the fate of the precinct site is still in limbo By H. Jiahong Pan Contributing Writer
n September 19, the Minneapolis City Council voted 11 to one to postpone discussions on what to do with the Third Precinct after council members balked at the idea of co-locating the Third Precinct with the First Precinct in downtown Minneapolis. Since the Third Precinct was torched and evacuated days Attorneys for Ricky Cobb II’s family at August press conference after George Floyd was murPhoto by H. Jiahong Pan dered by former precinct officer Derek Chauvin, the city has ing Avenue. Initially pulled over back seat, and at no point was struggled to find a suitable site. for not having his vehicles’ tail- Cobb II shown to be handling a The city scuttled an idea for a lights on, trooper Brett Seide gun on body-camera video. temporary site at 26th and Despite the lack of coop- Minnehaha in 2020 after resiwanted Cobb II to step out of the vehicle to discuss a prob- eration from Londregan’s col- dents protested and some vanable cause hold from Ramsey leagues, Moriarty pledged to dalized the building. Two other County for violation of an or- use “all resources available” to proposals presented earlier der-for-protection. Wondering them to review the case, going this year were both sidelined, why he needed to step out of as far to say that they identi- with council members voting the vehicle, Cobb II was even- fied a use-of-force expert to never again locate the Third tually placed under arrest by even before they received the Precinct at its original site at Seide. Londregan shot him as investigation from the BCA. Lake and Minnehaha. “We selected this expert Seide attempted to wrestle him Councilmember Andrea out of the vehicle and Cobb II even before we received the Jenkins floated a third idea, to completed investigation so locate the precinct with the tried to drive off. Although Cobb II had a gun in that we could move forward under-construction First Pre■ See COBB on page 5 cinct at the former Miller Vothe vehicle, it was located in the
Charred remains of the old Third Precinct building Photo by H. Jiahong Pan “Three floors, 200 parking cational High School, across the street from the Minneapo- spaces, ten years, $30 million. lis Convention Center. Coun- It’s not something I’m gonna cilmembers voted to study vote for,” said outgoing Counthe idea and are now balking cil President Lisa Goodman. at the proposal because of the “We’re holding up an owner of cost and the time the Third a building from making deciPrecinct would be co-located sions about his plans moving ■ See 3RD PRECINCT on page 5 at the site–10 years.
Health department concerned about Stillwater water supply, but says it is safe to drink By H. Jiahong Pan Contributing Writer he Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) released a report on Thursday revealing test results over concerns Stillwater prisoners have about the facility’s water quality. The report found that, while the water does have elements that have concerned prisoners and their loved ones in the past several weeks, the water is safe to drink. However, the state health department is
concerned about degrading quality of the water and called on the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC), to do something about it. In early September, amid a record-breaking heat wave, prisoners complained about the lack of air conditioning inside the prison walls, as well as water that tastes like metal. Some prisoners and those formerly incarcerated alleged drinking the water resulted in them developing stomach conditions, which include inflamed stomach lining and an
array of cancers as well as con- do anything to address issues ditions affecting their hair and in the secondary standards. scalps. However, the Environmental The MDH tested the water Protection Agency developed on September 11, collecting the standards to get governsamples from 81 sites through- ment entities to clean up their out the prison. They trans- water, because it was worried ported the water to their lab in that people may stop drinking downtown St. Paul. Lab results the water, even though it is acconfirmed that the water did tually safe to drink. have metals in it, particularly The report also found Stilllevels of iron and manganese water’s water supply had levthat did not exceed secondary els of lead, copper, chlorine standards set in the federal and organic compounds that Safe Drinking Water Act. did not exceed federal water Federal law does not re- standards. The report also quire government entities to ■ See STILLWATER on page 5
Protests at Stillwater over prison conditions in early September Photo by Chris Juhn