Minneapolis, MN – More than 1000 protested March 8 outside the Hennepin County Government Center in downtown Minneapolis as the trial of Derek Chauvin, the disgraced ex-police officer who murdered George Floyd on May 25, 2020, started his trial at 8 a.m.

The Twin Cities Coalition 4 Justice 4 Jamar (TCC4J) spearheaded the day-one demonstration, which was supported by over 30 local activist organizations.

The early morning protest started on the city streets outside of the Government Center plaza, because the ‘public plaza’ was surrounded and intersected with heavy fencing and razor wire, leaving a tiny cage for the general public.

At 5 a.m., it was still unclear if the scheduled jury selection and trial would go forward, due to a Friday appeals court ruling to allow a third degree murder charge in the case. The coalition statement on this legal issue declared, “The monster Derek Chauvin inflicted nine slow minutes of intentional torture, causing death. The world watched a lynching – murder in every degree.”

After the opening rally, the crowd marched through the streets, stopping to hear speeches along the way. Longtime activists gave shoutouts to the many students who skipped school to attend. New activists gave props to folks who were fighting back in the 1960s.

At the trial, Judge Peter Cahill ordered that jury selection would go on, but there were so many motions that jury selection is paused. The organizers’ statement noted, “We will protest on key dates of the trial – including opening arguments, closing arguments and, of course, on verdict day.” They also said they will fight for convictions against the other three former officers who, “held down Mr. Floyd as he died, and stopped others from rescuing him.”

Many of the groups organizing the March 8 rally are also involved in efforts to stop the systems that gave rise to killer cops like Derek Chauvin. In Minneapolis, TCC4J plans to release a charter amendment for community control of the Minneapolis police. At the state capitol, activists are outraged at how state legislators of both parties are “putting their knee on the neck” of bills to stop our family members from being murdered with impunity.

Key demands of the coalition included: “Justice for George Floyd! Convict Derek Chauvin – give him the longest possible sentence. Justice for all stolen lives! Community control of the police – CPAC now! Drop the charges against the MN646+ and all protesters. Convict all killer cops!”

TCC4J and all the following groups plan protests at key points in the upcoming trial. Black Lives Matter MN, Black Lives Mater Twin Cities, CAIR-MN, Communities United Against Police Brutality, Families Supporting Families Against Police Violence, NAACP – Minneapolis, Native Lives Matter, and the Racial Justice Network.. Others include the Anti-War Committee, Bikers Riding Against Police Brutality, Climate Justice Committee, Freedom Road Socialist Organization-Twin Cities, Good Trouble for Justice, MN Immigrant Rights Action Committee, MN Uprising Arrestee Support, MN Workers United, MN Youth for Justice, National Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression, On Site Public Media, Student Movement Activists at South High (SMASH), Students for Democratic Society at UMN, Women Against Military Madness (WAMM).

#MinneapolisMN #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #TwinCitiesCoalitionForJustice4Jamar #DerekChauvin

St. Paul, MN – On November 27, the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice for Jamar Clark organized a rally and car caravan to protest the mass arrests of November 4. The Black Friday protest started in the parking lot of JJ Hill elementary school, where Philando Castile worked before he was killed by police. During a brief rally, participants decorated their cars, then a caravan of 100 vehicles left for the governor’s mansion, by way of the Grand Avenue.

Governor Tim Walz had mobilized hundreds of police from across the state to “teach a lesson” to protesters on November 4 who were part of a national day of protest called by the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. Minneapolis police brutalized supporters, observers and bystanders while state patrol and others spent the six hours arresting at least 646 protesters on Interstate 94.

The car caravan was organized after a week of call-in actions to city and county prosecutors, as well as various politicians, including the governor. The demands for the week included the dropping of charges against all protesters, including Amina McCaskill who was singled out for multiple felony charges for allegedly shining a laser pointer in the direction of police. Organizers also reiterated the demand for community control of police.

The caravan targeted the Grand Avenue shopping district on Black Friday, as well as Summit Avenue, one the highest concentrations of wealthy homes in the city, before arriving at the mansion, getting out of cars for chants, including, “Rain, sleet, snow or shine, protests are not a crime!” and general calls to drop the charges.

Arrestees from multiple organizations spoke, including Chaz Neal, from Red Wing, Minnesota; Kaia Hirt of Minnetonka; Shannon Nordby of Native Lives Matter, Mohamed Ibrahim of CAIR-MN, and Loretta VanPelt, Jae Yates and DJ Hooker of Twin Cities Coalition for Justice for Jamar (TCC4J). The rally ended with a dance party that included some of the same songs that had been playing when people were arrested on November 4.

The fight to drop the charges is ongoing. To support the arrestees, sign this petition at https://bit.ly/3lTlKfV

#SaintPaulMN #Elections #TwinCitiesCoalitionForJustice4Jamar #646Arrestees

Minneapolis, MN – The Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar (TCC4J) was joined by community supporters and Jamar Clark’s family for a press conference demanding community control of the police and a Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC). After working on CPAC for years, organizing has been kicked into high gear by the uprising for George Floyd and empty responses from local politicians. Two months after nine Minneapolis City Council members declared a “commitment to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department,” even their empty promises have stalled out.

One such response was a city charter amendment proposal that hit a hurdle in city hall last week. As TCC4J’s Jae Yates said, “On Wednesday, August 5, the Charter Commission requested more time to consider the city council’s proposed charter amendment, effectively making it ineligible for inclusion on November’s ballot. While some non-profit organizations were in support of the amendment, Twin Cities Coalition for Justice for Jamar maintains that the amendment is toothless, put forth mainly to placate and silence protests in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.”

“The proposed charter amendment was at best a symbolic gesture and at worst lessened police accountability for past and future crimes,” Yates continued. “In opposition to the charter amendment, TCC4J instead demands community control of police, which will meaningfully curtail the as of yet unchecked power of the MPD to terrorize Black, brown and low income communities. The CPAC legislation puts all oversight of police misconduct back into the hands of the communities that are being policed and provides continuous engagement for community members to address grievances. CPAC consists of a directly-elected all-civilian council, and has final authority over discipline, up to and including subpoena power and the convening of grand juries. In short, the CPAC legislation has all of the details that the city council’s proposal lacked.”

Jae Yates mentioned that efforts to defund the police can’t move forward without community control over the defunding process. “CPAC gives us that control. We are demanding that CPAC passes and is put on the ballot so that we can vote on it, so that we can get control over these violent police that are policing our communities. Essentially, what the city council has given us in response to a call for justice for these stolen lives is a rebranding PR attempt.”

In contrast, TCC4J’s Sam Martinez described CPAC, “We’re here today to talk about a people’s charter amendment, and that would be for community control of the police. Over the next year, we will be gathering our forces along with organizing in the community for our coming charter amendment in 2021.”

Longtime TCC4J organizer, Loretta VanPelt, said, “We still have work to do. We have work to do to make sure that we hold these killer cops accountable for what they’ve done to the countless families in the city that have lost loved ones to the police and have gotten no justice whatsoever. That’s the main focus of community control, is to hold the cops accountable. It’s to hold the people in city hall accountable too, cuz they didn’t do their job either. Just telling us that, ‘yeah, we’ll dismantle, we’ll defund,’ that’s just symbolic. You could’ve done that five years ago when Jamar Clark was killed, in 2013 when Terrance Franklin was killed, or in 2006 after Fong Lee, or 1991 with Tycel Nelson.”

VanPelt also addressed a rallying cry of many proponents of the derailed amendment, “I’m for defunding the police. We have a huge homeless problem in this city right now. Several parks have tents in them with people who are living in them because there's no other place to go. I could tell you a better way – that the money that goes to overpolice all the Black and brown and low income communities could get those people homes. We could be funding our schools better. We could be funding all the other infrastructure.”

TCC4J has begun collecting endorsers for CPAC. Speaking for one of those endorsing organizations, the Anti-War Committee’s Meredith Aby-Keirstead said, “We are very concerned about the game that City Hall is playing, where they’re literally trying to put window dressing up. We have not had an outpouring of public outrage of literally tens of thousands of people since the Iraq War. I have seen firsthand how angry people have been and I feel like it’s important to listen to that anger. The people in city hall are more interested in keeping their jobs than they are in actually changing the conditions on the ground that affect people here in Minneapolis.”

Daphne Brown, a TCC4J member who’s been organizing against police murders since Terrance Franklin was killed by MPD in 2013 declared, “Nothing short of CPAC is what we need and demand. We don’t want no Community Safety and Violence Prevention Department! Council members, mayor and government in city hall, we don’t want that piece of shit y’all trying to give us. We do not want it. We want what we demand, which is CPAC. That’s the only thing that’s gonna give us the power back to protect our community, protect our families and protect ourselves.”

Brown was also critical of the backroom dealings that brought forth the proposed charter amendment. “To the council members that came up with this, you went behind our backs! Andrea Jenkins, Jeremiah Ellison, y’all know that’s not gonna help us.” She continued, “We still got killer cops out here y'all. How can we accept anything from these people, knowing we still got killer cops on our streets? The same police department that killed Jamar Clark, two of their officers killed Thurman Blevins. Y’all happy with that? They killed Travis Jordan. Y’all happy with that? We got serial killers in all of our departments out here, riding our streets out here, hunting us down. We not accepting nothing y'all offer. What y'all need to do before you come off of them round tables, you need to be discussing, you need to be having an action, firing these killer cops out here. That’s the first thing y’all should’ve done before you asked us to accept anything. You should’ve been getting these killer cops off the streets.”

Brown also blasted the process for community comments on the proposal, “When you put together this online event, we had teachers that couldn’t even get on! Because y’all railroaded us for this piece of bullshit. It’s crap. Y’all wanted us to accept it and stuff, but we not gonna accept it. I did everything I could to get on that online event, I wrote down every prompt that it was talking about doing, and still couldn’t get through. So that doesn’t work for our communities out here. It does not work for us. Before you come back with another online event, you need to make that…public. You need to make it public, so we can talk face to face, behind your glass window or whatever. But you get all of this offline because it’s not working for us. The way you all got this shit set up, can’t nobody get through. You make that public so people can get out and come to it. We’ll social distance if that’s what you want. Wear our masks if it’s what you want.”

The final speaker was Danielle Burns, “I stand here as Jamar Clark’s sister. Jamar was killed by the 4th Precinct police, November 15, 2015. When Jamar was killed, a lot of people came around us, and we thought they was around us to support us, we thought we trusted. But there was a lot of people that was lying to us. It was wrong, ok? Now it’s these same folks putting forward a fake fix with their city charter amendment. Changing the police department’s name, that’s not justice.” She continued, “It’s the community members like my family that knows what it’ll take to make real changes. We been through it, we’ve been through this. So they should hear us. No changes should be made, but through us. We stand with the people that stood with us. We demand community control of the police. Enough is enough! Why? Why do we have to continue to go through this wickedness? Why? But you know, it’s a fight, and we in for the long haul. We in it for the long haul. My brother had a purpose and his family gonna fight. Justice for Jamar!”

#MinneapolisMN #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #TwinCitiesCoalitionForJustice4Jamar #civilianPoliceAccountabilityCouncilCPAC

St. Paul, MN – On June 19, family members of several people killed by the police in Minnesota, along with their supporters, protested outside the State Capitol building in Saint Paul. The legislature was called into special session last week to deal with issues postponed by COVID-19, but the murder of George Floyd led to protesters to rush to demand meaningful action on police accountability.

The Minnesota house of representatives was working on a bill, House File 93, which, along with other positive reforms, would change the statute of limitations on police crimes. Right now, technicalities exist that allow killer cops to go free. HF93 also has provisions that allow for community control of police.

The republican-controlled state senate refused to negotiate on reforming laws that govern police, denying the justice that tens of thousands of Minnesotans have been demanding. They adjourned at 6 a.m. on June 20, with no plans to reconvene.

The Capitol and the Senate Office buildings were both locked and guarded by law enforcement to prevent anyone from entering. When the family members at the June 19 rally attempted to approach the buildings to talk with their state senators, law enforcement forcefully pushed them out.

#SaintPaulMN #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #TwinCitiesCoalitionForJustice4Jamar

St. Paul, MN – Saint Paul police were soundly condemned on January 14 for a decade of crimes against families and communities. Monique Cullars-Doty, a community activist, chaired a press conference that highlighted some of these crimes and called on the city council to freeze the Saint Paul Police Department budget until there is an end to these disgraceful acts, along with a guarantee of transparency in the future and justice for victims and their families. She then invited others to speak about their loved ones murdered by police.

January 14 marks five years since her nephew, 24-year-old Marcus Golden, was killed by Saint Paul Police Officers Jeremy Doverspike and Dan Peck. He was unarmed when they shot him in the back of the head, through the window of his parked vehicle. Marcus’ murder came in the middle of a decade of disgrace – where Saint Paul distinguished itself as the deadliest department in Minnesota, and one of the deadliest in the country. The rallying cry #Justice4MarcusGolden has fueled Minnesota’s growing movement for accountability in policing and justice for all lives stolen by police violence.

Cullars-Doty spoke about Marcus Golden and presented a slide show titled “The Saint Paul Police Department: A Decade of Disgrace in Review.” The review included:

-- Several K-9 attacks, including one where the dog ripped the throat from a dying man who’d been shot 16 times by SPPD officers. -- Several incidents of women being publicly strip-searched by SPPD officers. -- The case of Sergeant Jeff “Run them over” Rothecker – the disgraced officer who publicly urged violence against protesters who were demanding justice for Marcus Golden and Jamar Clark, instructing people to “run them over” and justify it by claiming they feared for their lives from protesters. -- Officer Michael Soucheray, who claimed self-defense when he punched a handcuffed suicidal 14-year-old girl in the face two times -- Sergeant Heather Weyker, who manufactured false evidence, leading to the imprisonment of 30 Somali people, who filed lawsuits seeking a total of $200 million. In addition to false evidence, Wekyer lied in court. -- Several cases of brutality and wrongful arrest where the city has paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars. -- 38 people killed at the hands of Saint Paul police, including Marcus Golden.

Matilda Smith remembered sitting down her two sons for a talk when Marcus Golden was murdered, having no idea one of their lives would be taken the following year. Jaffort Smith was killed by SPPD in May 2016. She said of that conversation, “My grandmother used to talk to us. They went through slavery and they used to tell us, ‘Stay in, that’s how we how we live to get to be 100 years old.’ It’s not fair that we have to stay in while everybody else can come out!”

Toshira Garraway Allen spoke about her son’s father, Justin Tiegen, who was beaten to death by the Saint Paul police ten years ago; his body was thrown in a dumpster. Allen described her frustrating interaction with the governor’s “Working Group on Police-Involved Deadly Force Encounters,” convened by state Attorney General Keith Ellison and Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington. “Keith Ellison has seen the pictures of my son’s father’s body. He’s done nothing. He said to me, ‘What can I help you with?’” said Allen. “’You’re the attorney general of Minnesota, you tell me what you can do! Prosecute. Go in and find out who the officers were, they don’t need to be out here on the street to hurt more of our people.”

Del Shea Perry spoke about her son Hardel Sherrell, who was killed by racist jailers in Beltrami County Jail. She too brought her story to Attorney General Ellison, who has failed to take any action to protect people in this deadly jail.

Trahern Crews, of Black Lives Matter MN and Green Party United States Reparations Working Group, criticized Black politicians who have failed to act in the interests of the Black community. Rather than spending state funds to help real estate developers build luxury apartments, he called for reparations, including money to families and survivors of police terror.

Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar member Jess Sundin spoke: “In TCC4J, we don’t just want to live in our grief and our anger, we actually want to fight for change. The police shouldn’t make their own rules anymore, they shouldn’t be in charge of investigating themselves anymore, and it’s clear enough prosecutors cannot be expected to hold them accountable. We want to have an all-civilian police accountability council. We want to change the rules. No more dogs as weapons. No more killings – every police officer needs to be held accountable for their wrongdoing. When someone has the power to kill community members, someone else needs to have the power to put them away. In the jail, under the jail, wherever they need to go to get off our streets once and for all.”

#StPaulMN #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #SaintPaulPoliceDepartment #MarcusGolden #TwinCitiesCoalitionForJustice4Jamar

Minneapolis, MN – Keaton James Larson, Travis Jordan, Billy Hughes, Archer Amorosi and Phil Quinn are a few of the many Minnesotans who were dealing with a mental health crisis when killed by those who are paid to “protect and serve,” leading some to ask the question “Were the victims suicidal?”

The question should not be “Was the victim suicidal?” but “Would the victim be alive if the police had handled the situation more appropriately?” In the case of Brian Quinones, killed on September 9 by police in Richfield, the answer is absolutely, “Yes, he should still be alive.”

“Suicide by cop” is never a justification for killings by police.

The phrase “suicide by cop” is exploitative of the struggles people with mental illness face. The phrase originated in the law enforcement community, and has been popularized by police to justify police shootings. People of color are routinely murdered by police when they are in need of a mental health intervention. On the other hand, supposedly mentally ill white mass shooters are more often taken into custody alive.

In Brian Quinones case, only a second passed from when the police shouted, “Drop the knife” until seven or eight shots were fired, killing Brian. There is absolutely no reason that a non-lethal alternative could not have been used or at least attempted. There was absolutely no reason for the police to fire a second wave of bullets after Quinones was shot and on the ground.

Police statements about victims of police killings are not reliable. To this day, many people think Jamar Clark was guilty of a domestic assault, because of the false statements by the police and County Attorney Mike Freeman. Police think they see weapons that were not there. Sometimes they lie. Sometimes they plant weapons. We should not assume the “he had a knife” narrative until evidence is released.

If Quinones did have a knife, that is not justification to pump him full of bullets. Police should be trained and expected to apprehend someone without having to kill them. A firearm should only be pulled as a last resort, in the case of an actual and immediate threat. Confronted with a knife, police should do what any of us would do step back and de-escalate the situation. Instead, officers have become more militarized and more complacent about taking a life in seconds.

Over half of the 1000-plus police killings each year nationwide involve a mental health issue, yet the police and politicians resist efforts for mental health intervention in police encounters.

The killing of people with a mental illness by police with no repercussions amounts to a state-sanctioned attack on those with mental health issues and should be treated as such.

The community must keep fighting and speaking out after these killings, no matter the excuses given by police representatives. If we stop fighting, the killings of those with mental health issues, notably people of color, will only continue to increase.

#MinneapolisMN #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #TwinCitiesCoalitionForJustice4Jamar #BrianQuinones

St. Paul, MN – Nearly 100 community members and activists gathered September 22 in front of the Western District police station here to demand justice for Ronald Davis, who was shot and killed by Saint Paul police officer Steven Mattson on September 17.

31-year-old Ronald Davis was a father, recently married, and had just graduated school. After allegedly bumping his vehicle into the back of a cop car, he stepped out of his vehicle and Mattson gunned him down.

Speakers at the opening rally included people who know Davis, as well as family members whose loved ones were murdered by Twin Cities area cops. Abdul, a friend of Ronald Davis, said, “It’s disgusting that the people who are supposed to protect us are out here killing us. When I heard the news, I was shocked because he was a very respectful, kind person. He would say, ‘Yes, sir; yes, ma’am. He wasn’t an aggressive person, even though he was big.”

Then the group took to the streets, blocking traffic and light rail, chanting loudly all the way, to the location where the cop killed Ronald the week before. Chant leaders included Sumaya Aden, whose brother Isak Aden was murdered in the nearby suburb of Eagan on July 2, as well as Toshira Garraway, whose fiancé was killed by Saint Paul police.

At the murder site, the crowd held a vigil with candles, prayers, speeches, sage burning, a spoken word piece, and a song by relative and activist Daphne Brown. Neighbors and passersby also joined the vigil.

Near the end of the vigil, there was a heartbreaking moment as Ronald Davis’ widow, deeply grieving and choked by tears, thanked the crowd for standing up for her husband and family.

Ronald Davis is the third person killed by Twin Cities metro area police in as many weeks, and the tenth person killed by Minnesota police since July, a fact alluded to by speakers from several groups, including Communities United Against Police Brutality, Justice for Justine, the Racial Justice Network and Justice for Isak Aden.

Monique Cullars Doty, whose nephew Marcus Golden was murdered by Saint Paul police, said of Ronald, “He really was a gentle soul and a wonderful person, not a person who would act in the character as the Saint Paul police have described him. We know the St. Paul police are the deadliest police department in the state.”

Loretta Van Pelt, from Twin Cities Coalition for Justice for Jamar (TCC4J) said, “Enough is enough. When you shoot that gun, when that cop shoots that gun, they shouldn’t have a job anymore. It shouldn’t b