Bayport, MN – After 18 long years, Myon Burrell walked out the doors of Stillwater prison, to a cheering crowd of family and 100-plus community supporters. First embraced by his sister Ianna Burrell from the front, and his son Myon Burrell, Jr. from the back, he slowly made his way to the outside stairs to chants of, “Welcome home!” and “Myon’s free!”

Burrell made his way through the crowd, and then said, “I thank everybody who came out and supported me. I can’t even explain my gratitude. All my supporters, I love y’all. Y’all take care. And y’all keep on pushing, man, we fighting for justice. There’s too much injustice going on.” Then he threw his fist into the air and got into a car to leave the prison behind, leaving the crowd chanting, “Myon’s free!”

Burrell’s son said this was the best day of his life, “It ain’t ‘Free Myon’ no more. Myon’s free!”

These emotional events came after a decision earlier that day, when the Minnesota Pardon Board considered Burrell’s case. He had asked for a pardon and commutation. A pardon was denied, but a commutation was approved on the grounds that Burrell was just 16 years old when went on trial for the murder of 11-year-old Tyesha Edwards, who was killed by a bullet that came through the wall of her home while she was at a table doing homework. A national panel of legal experts had reviewed the case and issued a 59-page report that concluded that Burrell should be freed, both because of the dubious grounds for his conviction and because his sentence was extreme for a juvenile, compared to today’s standards.

Burrell’s case has been in the spotlight since former prosecutor and Minnesota’s U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar campaigned for president last year. She cited the case as an example of her work on behalf of the Black community. Her last public event before she dropped out of the campaign was shut down and taken over by hundreds rallying to “Free Myon.” Many of the organizers of that protest were on hand to welcome Myon Burrell home. Several spoke to the media, including Elizer Darris, ACLU; Nekima Levy Armstrong, Racial Justice Network; Jaylani Hussein, CAIR-Minnesota; Rosemary Nevils Williams; Jess Sundin, Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar (TCC4J); and Toshira Garraway Allen, Families Supporting Families Against Police Violence.

Addressing the media after Burrell had departed, the activists called for continuing the fight for justice for Myon Burrell, including exoneration. He was released from prison, but he will remain under supervised release for two more years, and going forward, a convicted felon. They denounced the police and prosecutorial misconduct that led to Burrell’s wrongful conviction and that of many others, and which also shields police from accountability for murders of community members.

#BayportMN #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #PoliticalPrisoners #Antiracism #TwinCitiesCoalition4JusticeForJamarTCC4J #MyonBurrell

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar (TCC4J).

Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar (TCC4J), is committed to protecting our most vulnerable community members during this pandemic; at the same time, we continue the fight against police abuses. Problems of police violence and economic and health inequalities are rising to the surface of day-to-day life under quarantine. Unlike billionaires, corporations, and politicians, TCC4J is staying on the front lines to defend our communities.

Minnesota’s Stay At Home Order aims to reduce the spread of the deadly coronavirus. That makes sense for the public health, but we worry about the role of police as enforcers. It can’t be a blank check to raise the levels of policing in our communities or destroy our democratic rights. The Stay At Home Order doesn’t mean you lose the right to leave your house until May 4, it means you should not gather in public. We do not trust police to respect our rights.

City and state officials said police would “educate community members” violating the order, before resorting to other means; but some police have charged people going about their business, in no way violating the order. Police are not educators, and we don’t see them setting aside their force-first routine, especially with Black, brown and Native people. Without community control of the police, racist and violent policing will continue. If you see or experience police abuses, please reach out!

In New York, Detroit, Chicago and St. Paul, cops have tested positive for COVID-19. Police can spread the virus in our communities. In most of Minneapolis, arrests and traffic stops are down; in North Minneapolis, police activity is up. We see cops in our neighborhoods taking no efforts to avoid exposing community members. This needs to change. The enforcement of petty violations is not worth risking lives.

Before the coronavirus outbreak, we were in the fight to free Myon Burrell. His wrongful conviction got a lot of attention when Amy Klobuchar used his case in her (failed) campaign for president. Now Myon, and thousands of others are at risk in jails, prisons and immigrant detention centers, with no protection from the virus and no access to adequate health care.

TCC4J is still working to free Myon Burrell and has joined with others to demand that more people be released from jails, prisons and ICE detention centers. The fight to end racist police violence in our communities, means we need to win community control of the police. Supporters are encouraged to get involved.

#Minnesota #MN #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #PoliticalPrisoners #Antiracism #PoliticalRepression #civilianPoliceAccountabilityCouncilCPAC #TwinCitiesCoalitionForJusticeForJamarTCC4J #MyonBurrell

St. Louis Park, MN – Amy Klobuchar supporters couldn’t fill the gymnasium, March 1, at Saint Louis Park High School, even with the help of some 250 protesters demanding freedom for Myon Burrell, an innocent Black teen she sent to prison for life when she was the county district attorney. Myon Burrell’s family, the Racial Justice Network, Minneapolis NAACP, Black Lives Matter Twin Cities, Twin Cities Coalition for Justice for Jamar, Communities United Against Police Brutality, and Black Lives Matter Minnesota called for community members to mobilize to protest at the Klobuchar rally, two days before the primary vote. For more than a month, they’ve been calling on Klobuchar to drop out of the race. Hours after the protest, she announced she’s doing just that.

After rallying outside briefly, protesters marched into the campaign rally, easily overcoming the resistance of a few campaign staffers. The marched to the front of the space, and soon took over the stage and much of the area directly in front of the stage. Doors opened at 7 p.m., and protesters were running the program. The campaign turned up the rally music to full blast, including tracks by the Indigo Girls, Bob Dylan and, shamelessly, Prince. As the music got louder, so did protesters’ chants, “Free Myon!” “Black lives matter!” and “Hey hey, ho ho, Klobuchar has got to go.” As Klobuchar was supposed to take the stage at 8 p.m., the campaign scrambled, asking organizers to meet with Klobuchar off-stage, and to let her rally proceed.

The campaign has since spun that story, claiming that organizers refused to meet. In fact, it was Klobuchar who backed out when organizers said they would speak to her with Myon’s family, but Klobuchar refused. Protesters were going strong for more than an hour and a half, facing off with upset Klobuchar supporters, almost all white, including some large men who attempted to physically intimidate women and children. Nothing stopped the protesters, and Klobuchar was unwilling to answer for her role in Burrell’s unjust imprisonment in front of her own supporters. Shortly after that, at 8:43 p.m., a voice came booming over the loudspeaker, “We’re sorry to say that the night’s event has been canceled.”

Protesters cheered, and Klobuchar’s supporters fled, like their leader. The rally closed with a performance by the TKO Drumline and Knockout Danceteam.

Myon Burrell was just 16 years old when he was wrongfully convicted of a crime he didn’t commit. Amy Klobuchar’s office prosecuted Burrell on the basis of paid jailhouse informants, coerced eye witness testimony, questionable interrogation tactics, with no DNA, fingerprints, ballistics, or other tangible evidence linking him to the crime. Myon Burrell has spent nearly 18 years in prison and is now 33 years old. He has continued to maintain his innocence since day one.

Facing little support nationally, and losing support every day in her home state, the final nail in the coffin of Amy Klobuchar’s presidential bid was the fight to free Myon Burrell.

#StLouisParkMN #OppressedNationalities #US #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #Antiracism #Elections #TwinCitiesCoalitionForJusticeForJamarTCC4J #AmyKlobuchar #MyonBurrell

TCC4J demands freedom for Myon Burrell, despite Mike Freeman’s politically motivated endorsement of Klobuchar’s prosecution.

On Monday, February 24, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman released a statement defending Amy Klobuchar for the wrongful conviction of Myon Burrell. Freeman claims the attacks on Klobuchar for her highly questionable handling of the case are ‘politically motivated.’ They are not. Activists and community members want Burrell’s unfair conviction reviewed and overturned, and we want Freeman and Klobuchar to be held accountable for railroading an innocent Black teenager to gain political points for being “tough on crime.”

In truth, Freeman’s response is as politically motivated as Klobuchar’s choice to hold up this case as an example of her work on behalf of the African American community. Freeman’s statements are a combination of platitudes and attacks on Myon Burrell designed to do damage control for Klobuchar’s campaign heading into the Super Tuesday primaries.

This situation provided both Freeman and Klobuchar the opportunity to do the right thing and join the community and say that Burrell’s conviction should be overturned. Instead both chose political expediency over justice.

Freeman’s statements gloss over well-known facts about Myon’s case. It is known that the MPD [Minneapolis Police Department] illegally held Myon despite requests for his mother and legal representation. It is well known that Klobuchar chose to use an unreliable jailhouse informant to convict Myon, ignoring statements of two other suspects that Myon was not present.

After the Minnesota Supreme Court overturned Myon’s conviction based upon flawed, missing and false evidence, Klobuchar chose to try Myon again, because she was unwilling to lose a “victory” in her fight on crime. After Klobuchar became a senator, it was Mike Freeman who oversaw Myon’s second case, which found a conviction based upon Freeman knowingly using the same flawed evidence and a biased judge.

The situation is political. It is about the politics of Klobuchar and Freeman doing harm to yet another Black man for their own political gain. Community members demand politics get out of the way of justice. It’s time for Klobuchar and Freeman to stop talking, and get to work to free Myon Burrell.

#MinneapolisMN #OppressedNationalities #US #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #Antiracism #Elections #TwinCitiesCoalitionForJusticeForJamarTCC4J #AmyKlobuchar #MyonBurrell