Twin Cities Daily Planet (https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/category/public-safety/page/6/)
I’d seen a lot of references to the disappointing 1999 decision of the Minnesota Supreme Court in upholding the legal right of the Mall of America to exclude demonstrators.
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Madison, Minnesota bills itself as the “Lutefisk Capitol of the USA,” complete with a statue of a giant codfish that may be as digestable as the Norwegian Christmas delicacy. Continue Reading
As you must have seen somewhere, a number of marijuana initiatives passed, including legalization for non-medical use in Alaska, Oregon, and Washington, D.C. Continue Reading
I lit a few candles yesterday. Reading the gruesome report of the events in Peshawar had me rattled. Two days prior I was hanging little ornaments on my tree in memory of each person killed in Newtown, MA and now 148 lives were gone at the hands of the Taliban. Children and teachers were shamelessly killed. Continue Reading
A Black Lives Matter protest planned for Dec. 20 at the Mall of America hit a snag this week when Mall of America officials threatened to remove any protesters and potentially have them arrested. The protest is part of a national movement aimed at raising awareness about police violence against people of color.Related stories: [PHOTOS] #BlackLivesMatter momentum continues, protesters march on downtown Minneapolis[PHOTOS] #BlackLivesMatter protesters halt 35W traffic: “We’re ready for change”A letter, signed by Mall of America Management, was sent by courier to the homes of several of the organizers, saying that advocates were allowed to protest on the Alpha Business Center Lot, adjacent to the mall, but that any protesters inside of the mall would be subject to removal, as the Mall of America is private property.Black Lives Matter organizer Michael McDowell said the letter was delivered to his house by courier on Dec. 12, though he didn’t receive it until Dec. 13. Continue Reading
In the wake of the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., filmmaker Mark Wojahn wanted to bring more attention to racial profiling and police brutality on a local level so he teamed up with rapper Muja Messiah to direct a video for Messiah’s song “It Goes Down,” off his new album, “God Kissed It, the Devil Missed It.”
The case of Madison mom Angela Brown, who gave medical cannabis to her brain-injured son in advance to the implementation of Minnesota’s law legalizing its use under tightly regulated circumstances, has received statewide and national attention. Continue Reading
These are interesting times.
For nearly 25 years, I’ve been trying to get people to pay attention to and act on the very serious issue of police brutality, 14 of those years as part of Communities United Against Police Brutality. Mostly it’s been an uphill battle. White folks largely have responded with disbelief and the idea that the victims “must have done something to deserve it.” People of color have been much more aware of the issue but often resigned to the idea that little could be done to effectively take it on.
I was talking to Jose at work the other day about the recent deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner and the lack of indictments on the police officers who killed them. We both are appalled how it went down. While I’ve experience abuse of power at the hands of the police just a few times, Jose has had many negative, unprovoked, experiences in which the prejudice of the officer was the cause for the encounter and the tone of the exchange. As we talked I tried to make the point that while the officers are responsible for their actions the blame also is also on our culture and the police system that trained them. In part, they only did what they were raised to believe and trained to do. Continue Reading