Writer: Siena Iwasaki Milbauer
It can be hard to feel connected to community when opportunities to physically be in community are limited. However, organizations are stepping up to provide opportunities to connect virtually. To celebrate the wealth of online events out there, and to make content from these events accessible to folks who may not be able to virtually attend, AAOP is regularly recapping local, community-rooted online opportunities. You can see our past and future recaps at http://aaopmn.org/tag/virtual-event-recap/
On January 27th, the East Side Freedom Library hosted a virtual conversation focusing on changing attitudes towards policing in the Twin Cities and innovative, community-generated solutions to safety being pioneered locally. The discussion particularly focused on where the Twin Cities goes in our search for community-based safety following the non-passage of the charter amendment in Minneapolis.
Reflecting on the charter amendment, University of Minnesota Professor Michelle Phelps said “Even though question 2 didn’t pass, it still got 44% of the vote and that is stunning and powerful. We tend to think of these things as binary outcomes, does it pass or does it fail. But [what happened this fall] pushes us to think about why the amendment got close to passing in the first place and where this momentum can carry us. I think there is reason to be cautiously optimistic, but of course it will take more organizing and pushing to get us there.”
While researching her book “Breaking the Pendulum: The Long Struggle Over Criminal Justice,” Professor Phelps learned first hand that the work for public safety evolution can be long and tough. While researching abolition organizing in Minneapolis, Professor Phelps was able to see how decades of foundation-laying were necessary to lay the groundwork for the Summer 2020 uprising and Minneapolis charter amendment, even if George Floyd’s murder was the catalyzing event for the worldwide outcry for justice.
Phelps pointed to the period of 2015-2018 as a crucial one, as organizations like MPD150, Reclaim the Block, and Black Visions emerged as the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) claimed to be aggressively reforming, but only succeeded in murdering Jamar Clarke in 2015 and Justine Damond in 2017. The seeds of revolution planted in 2015-2018 bloomed in 2020, and likewise Professor Phelps noted:
“[What] happened in 2020, we shouldn’t expect to evaluate that in even one year or two, but instead we have to wait for the seeds that were planted [then] to bloom [in the future].”
The event’s two other speakers are leading work on the ground in our local communities to make sure those seeds do bloom. Bol Benjamin of SEIU Local 26 shared about the work the union is doing to implement a pilot training program for community-led safety. Benjamin pointed out that there have actually been community-based safety groups in the Twin Cities for decades, and during the summer 2020 uprisings, these groups were one of the few resources that showed up for neighborhoods. Seeing this, the largely POC and immigrant base of SEIU was moved to draw on their professional expertise to support these community-based safety initiatives.
SEIU’s Black security stewards led the thought process at the union, which eventually came up with a 220 hour curriculum to train community-safety advocates in a state-certified apprenticeship. The curriculum is currently being tested in a pilot program in North Minneapolis with hopes to expand to East St. Paul soon. Apprentices can receive college credit and/or training certificates, as well as becoming union members earning a $23 an hour minimum wage, meaning that community members are both empowered to lead safety measures in their neighborhoods and compensated fairly for their contributions.
“All of the expertise and skills are in the neighborhoods [that we need] to keep us safe.” Benjamin said.
He also elaborated “A lot of folks don’t like the police but because they are in situations where they are seeing violence around all the time, it’s easy to go with what you’re comfortable with if there’s no alternative laid out for you. So in the next few years, we’re hoping to see different alternatives, many different alternatives, so the people of Minneapolis can see a tangible different path [forward].”
The evening’s final speaker was Hamline University Professor Jason Sole, co-founder of REP (Relationships Evolving Possibilities). REP is an abolitionist initiative to create a network of community-based care and safety solutions. Because of his life experiences, especially growing up in the South Side of Chicago, Professor Sole said that abolition is an intuitive concept because “We never had police as a resource, so for me it is easy to see a world without police. We had to figure it out [as a community].”
Professor Sole expressed his frustration with how long it has taken certain people and communities to wake up to police brutality when Black advocates and communities have been sounding the alarm for generations. “We’ve been telling you this, but nobody was listening.” However, Professor Sole said that ultimately “I’m grateful that the conversation went to a place where everybody can say abolish the police.” If there was one overall takeaway from the evening’s discussion it is likely that:
As frustrating as the seemingly constant setbacks in our journey towards public safety justice are, there is no denying that the conversation has shifted in powerful ways.
All our communities are no longer content with accepting the status quo. Together, we have the opportunity to turn our determination into action, and seed by seed, to lay the path for true community safety.
Photo Credit: East Side Freedom Library
Special thanks to the East Side Freedom Library for allowing AAOP to attend and recap this event!
Learn more about the East Side Freedom Library, future ESFL events and follow them on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Learn more about SEIU Local 26 and follow them on Facebook and Twitter.
Learn more about Professor Michelle Phelps
Learn more about Professor Jason Sole and REP