Speaker 0 00:00 Yup. It's KVI community radio, 90.3, FM and HD and Minneapolis. St. Paul also is online within an hour
[email protected]. It's about a minute after 1:00 PM central standard time. You just heard democracy now, which broadcast Monday through Friday, high noon. It's one o'clock on a weekday afternoon. That means it's locally produced. Public affairs is Friday. That means it's time for catalyst driven control politics and culture. And we're finding out what people are doing in a post George Floyd protest, Minneapolis and beyond. You're listening to catalyst driven, cultural politics and culture. I'm your host, Lydia Howell with,
Speaker 1 00:43 With Rico Miralis that's right. I'm the cohost as well. Thank you very much, everyone for listening.
Speaker 0 00:49 And we have on the line, Michelle Gross, who's been spending decades like about 31 years, working on police accountability. She's president of communities United against police brutality, which started in 1999. Welcome to KVI again, Michelle,
Speaker 2 01:07 Thanks for having me today.
Speaker 0 01:11 First off, I guess, because there's no way we're going to get to all of them. I want to let people know a couple of times that they can see all the recommendation and data that you've collected in a report called what will it take to end police violence, which is on the website for communities United against police brutality, which
[email protected]. And I'll say that again, at least a couple of times in the course of this show, um, after things blew up with, uh, the torture murder of George Floyd, um, the Minneapolis city council, their first thing was they had a vote and said, we'll dismantle the police. And then two or three days later, they said, um, we're just kinda gonna go for defunding, but we're going to defund and, and put some money elsewhere. And then now their latest thing that I heard city council, president Lisa Bender, say, we're going to have a conversation for the next year about what we might do about the police. So I was hoping that maybe because people are freaking out about this whole defund, the police thing, keeping it kind of local, I'm sure there are differences elsewhere, but keeping it to Minneapolis and Minnesota, um, give people a reality check, um, on how this, how the change can be made. It seems like there's different powers or lack thereof at the city level, the state level, there's always the police Federation. I will not call them a union, give people kind of a starting point on this.
Speaker 2 02:52 Well, sure. Okay. First of all, um, one of the things that, uh, you know, I'd like to point out here is, uh, the role of the city council, just in an, in a formal way. They see receive, they have the power of the purse, but they actually don't oversee the police that are power to oversee. The police is actually given to the mayor in our city charter and in our, under our city chart, we're required to have police. Um, that's how hardwired in the charter. And we're required to have a floor of how much we fund the police. And it's a weird formula. It's 0.0017 times the population, and that's how many police were required to pay for. And so, um, that actually means that we're required to pay for 723 officers given our current population or thereabouts. Okay. Um, so, and again, those are hardwired into the, um, Incivek charter to change that would re require a charter change.
Speaker 2 03:50 In the meantime, though, sort of on a, just an informal basis, you know, we have been going to the city council and, you know, some of them have covered from previous councils and whatnot. We've been going to these folks for decades for years and years and years with things they needed to do these, they should've been doing to address policing in this community and they were not interested. So for example, um, we have been talking to them seven, seven and a half, almost eight years now ago, they created this office of police conduct review that gutted a civilian review created this other office because they needed a accountability mechanism that was acceptable to the cops. Well, any mechanism that's acceptable to the cops, that's going to esteem, oversee their accountability. Isn't gonna oversee their accountability. Okay. So we were pretty upset with that. I'm saying, are you kidding us? Um, so
Speaker 0 04:46 Basically, and this was after we did have a sub, we did have a civilian review board that had been voted into existence by we, the people and, and then created this office that the police department wanted.
Speaker 2 05:03 Yeah. So then they created this office of police conduct review. That's controlled on every level by city staff and police. So there's no levels of real actual civilian oversight of the police anymore. And this office has an abysmal record. They have a 0.4, 6% sustain rate, or just one rate of their complaints. They'd taken him, you know, probably almost 3000 complaints at this point. And they have stayed and disciplined 12 of them in seven and a half, almost eight years. So, you know, it's pretty abysmal record at this point. And we've been telling the city council, you need to pay attention to this. A guy like Derek Sharvin would not have continued to work for the Minneapolis police department. If his, all the multiple complaints against him had been addressed properly, I am absolutely convinced of that.
Speaker 0 05:53 Can you, can you help me understand, help listeners understand? I think, um, everyday people who are not, you know, it's constant this issue for years and years, like you have been like, I've been, don't get, why is an officer allowed to continue on the job with 18 complaints, three shootings before he tortured murdered George Floyd? We've been told forever. It's just a few bad apples, but they never do anything about the bad apples. Why?
Speaker 2 06:25 Right. And that's because it's a bad system. Okay. And its system is a self protected system. So the city of Minneapolis is self-insured for police complaints and, um, you know, and lawsuits and settlements and judgements it's self-insured. So if they ever sustained complaints on the officers, it's going to make it look like those are bad officers, and that's going to enhance the value of lawsuits. So instead of sustaining complaints, all the other thing it does is when they sustain complaints, those complaints, and more of the detail, those complaints becomes public data, including like what the allegations were and what kind of discipline they got. And things like that, all of that becomes public data. If you sustain a discipline, a complaint and it gets past the grief period. So this is, you know, big incentive for them to, to never sustain these complaints cause they want to hide them. And also because they don't want to make them look like they have any merit, because if they have merit, then lawsuits will become more valuable. And so this is all about tamping everything down as opposed to actually addressing police conduct. And so, you know, the system is very self protective and, um, this has been the way this has been done for years and years, years.
Speaker 0 07:35 Can you take on the, the Federation, the police Federation? Because I get the sense that somehow they've managed. I don't know if it's in the contract. I don't know if it's as a lobbying outfit to the state legislature, they seem to have treated situation where it's impact another layer, other layers and twists and turns that make it impossible to hold police accountable.
Speaker 2 08:01 You know what? I'm going to disagree with you on that and believe it or not. Um, I, um, I think it will, Bob Cole is like a clown, basically. He's like a cartoon character. He's racist and he's a creep. Um, and the Federation, you know, the dirty cop, no matter what. So there's no questions, not what will the Federation, no, nothing like that. But it was you, if you spend the time to look their contract, like we have, you know, we've spent, we spent months and months and months going through every part of that contract, we came up with 14 recommendations for changes to the contract. But the reality is there, um, disciplinary process and arbitration is pretty standard compared to other, um, you know, it's a Federation because it involves, um, both line staff and management, but it's essentially a union, you know, but it's a Federation, but the bottom line is that the discipline for this police Federation is not out of line with other union contracts, all the issue.
Speaker 2 08:56 And the city does not want to admit this is that police leadership fails to address police misconduct. So why, you know, so widely that when they finally do get ready to, they can't just put the officer because of past practices, the issue is like this, okay, you get a guy, they do some good, bad, you fire them. Now it goes to arbitration. And when it goes to arbitration, the operator says, Oh, there would be seven people did the same comp contract. You never disciplined them, or you never fired them. You know, you just gave him a slap on the wrist. So why are you firing this guy that's unfair and they're not wrong. The problem is that we don't address the conduct with everybody in a consistent manner with, um, you know, appropriate documentation and all of that kind of stuff. So we've been talking for a long time about a thing called this one, every reset mechanism that puts a stake in the ground that says, from this point forward, the discipline is going to be consistent. It's going to be, um, you know, appropriate. It's, we've got an outline of what the discipline's going to be. So, you know, in advance, and if you engage in this conduct, you're going to get this discipline. Arbitrators would uphold something like that. But all problem is that we have wildly different disciplines for different people. It's political. It's not, you know, they shoot themselves in the foot with the stuff they do. It's actually not the arbitrators. And it's not even the union contracts.
Speaker 3 10:27 It's so it's it's leadership, leadership, poor leadership. Is it poor leadership?
Speaker 2 10:35 Yes, it is. It's poor leadership. That's not handled well
Speaker 3 10:38 That we voted on that we voted for leaders that are not really necessarily doing what we were hoping for them to do.
Speaker 2 10:47 Okay.
Speaker 3 10:47 Well, I know we're talking to the police
Speaker 2 10:50 Leadership. We don't actually vote for it's their people. And so, um, you know, it starts with the chief and it goes all the way down the line. And you have had, it's just like anything you can't, if you're a supervisor of any group of employees and you've got a person that's coming in late every day and they get to their eighth or 10th day that they came in late or whatever, and that's a problem. You don't just go, okay, now you're fired. I documenting the weight for tardiness. So they get to sit down and say, now look, you know, um, you're tardy every day and you have to, you know, come in on time and here's the consequences of this continues, blah, blah, blah. And you have to do, you know, they kind of, um, stepwise discipline, you know, you have to have, you know, you can't just wait until they 27 and they're late. And you know, you're fired, you know, especially when he's at a union, you have to document those things and you have to walk through the process. When we fail to do that, then the arbitrator's not going to uphold that kind of discipline. And they shouldn't.
Speaker 3 11:51 So the product, a failure
Speaker 0 11:54 Of police, leadership, chiefs and supervisors, because they have been so inconsistent, so reluctant to discipline that, you know, somebody has to be so over the top and public outcry has to be so loud. Okay, okay, we'll get rid of this one guy, but then they can't even do that. I mean, it also seems like even when civil courts affirm a lawsuit saying an officer, uh, was brutal, um, or, you know, used excessive force, even a lawsuit cannot get somebody fired, which kind of ticks me off. Cause I just always think if I'd ever cost my employer tens of thousands of dollars or a million dollars or $3 million, something tells me I wouldn't have a job, you know?
Speaker 2 12:46 Yeah, no kidding. I mean, that's how it works for the world, but the rest of us. Um, now I want to give you a kind of an example about this, um, in st Paul, on your second day on the job, she's actually attempted to fire, uh, officer, they bred pocket, which I blood taco, which is the guy who basically kicked the living daylights out of Frank Baker. This was a man that was just the wrong guy. He just happened to come through the area and was attacked by a police dog when they were looking for somebody else. If they had back leg eaten off by the dog. Um, and, and Frank Thomas runs up and starts kicking him in his arms and he collapsed his lungs on both eyes and this man nearly dark, but for very good parent paramedic care and hospital care, he would have died.
Speaker 2 13:34 And so, um, as tell him there was no basis for it, you know, I hadn't submitted any clock. It was just, and it was excessive for us all down the line. So as still on the second day of a job fires pocket, which, but the arbitrator reinstated him and what he did, he said, you know, here's the problem. There's the six, seven incidents that we can name where these officers did not get disciplined at all, or had minimal discipline as now you're firing the sky. And when they named all of those incidents, four out of the six were pocket, which
Speaker 0 14:06 So I don't get it. I don't get it. He's saying what, because when it was the chief second day on the job, he didn't name all these other previous incidents that Papa would say
Speaker 2 14:17 It's by the department. It's not by the chief. In other words, all of that time, the department had never disciplined. Now this new chief truck comes in and tries to discipline and he was hamstrung by past practices. So we talked to him about the disciplinary reset and he glommed onto it. He loved it, he's applied it. And his arbitrations are actually sticking. You know, he is actually being able to have his discipline stick. And this is an important concept because when disciplines don't stick, it disempowers the chief. So they need their disciplines to stick
Speaker 0 14:51 Well. And it seems like
Speaker 2 14:52 Culture will not change without some top down, um, leadership, as far as I can tell. I mean, that's exactly it. They have to do a great job of documenting the conduct. You know, they have to try to, you know, coach and counsel people out of that conduct. If it's not super serious, they need to address problems early. There's a hundred things they need to be doing right now. And that's, you know, I want to get to the talking about like this whole business of, you know, uh, um, whatever department versus the funding versus whatever the heck it is now. Um, I want to get to talking about that because, um, the problem that we have with our city council is they want to go straight to disbanding the police when they know they don't actually have the power to do it.
Speaker 0 15:42 So what's nonsense. It's a, B it's BS for the public, hoping as memories, fade from the George Floyd towards her murder and in the aftermath will incept. Um, do they have the, at least the power to say, there's some things police shouldn't be doing. So when, when you have a mental health crisis, we're not, and you call nine one, one, we're going to send a mental health team, not the cops. And
Speaker 2 16:11 There's some,
Speaker 0 16:12 For example,
Speaker 2 16:12 True. Yeah, there are some things I'd have to do in particularly they'd have to work with the County on that because, um, nine one, one function for the Minneapolis police is, is, is within the Minneapolis police department. But what we really need is to have dispatch triage at the County level because the mobile mental health crisis changed all at the County level. And so when we needed to make sure that in every and every County in the state has one of these teams, which is very good, the infrastructure is already there. What we need is to move the decision about whether or not to dispatch those teams up a higher level, to have this thing called dispatch triage.
Speaker 0 16:49 I mean, if we took, if we took more things out of the hands of police, and I don't know if the city council has that power, but if we decided homeless being homeless, isn't a crime. You don't need a cop. You need a place to live. You know, if we said, I mean, fewer interactions with police means less brutality, you know, fewer opportunities, you know, to be bashed or choked out or shot and police aren't the people to be addressing this stuff. And I know that's what defund the police really means is can we, you know, not use the police for every social problem we have. I mean, is that possible,
Speaker 2 17:31 Right? And that's what we've been pushing for for years now, you know, we've been trying to get that to happen. They don't act, there are some things that they have to put into place to make that happen, and they have to work with the County because again, one of the problems that happens is when things come through nine 11 dispatch at the Minneapolis level, they're going to the police and the police are deciding who the appropriate responders and the police like to keep a lot of things for themselves. So we actually need to try to move up that decision to a higher level so that instead of see it as everything threading through the police that we've got like, okay, here's fire, here's police, here's mental health crisis team. Here's the homeless response team or whatever they would be called, or, you know, and here's, you know, um, the overdose, you know, we're going to send those to EMS that will deal with it, you know, instead of it being single threads to the cops, and then they decide who, who they, who else they want to call in.
Speaker 2 18:25 And that's just too many steps far down. We need to be bringing that decision up higher. So that's something that would have to happen, um, in conjunction with the County. So there's, you know, but they do have some power to do that. Yes. Um, and they have the power to make sure that there's adequate funding for these alternate responders. So they do have that power, but they don't have the power is to lower the four of how many police we have, um, below the level that's required under the charter. And they don't have the power to just disband the police department. Because again, it's hardwired in the charter, they would have to get a charter change. And at this point there wouldn't be one until 2021 to even get on the ballot. It didn't, it's too late in the year to get it on the ballot for 29, you know, for 2020. Um, and, um, you know, they just don't have,
Speaker 0 19:15 They were just blowing smoke. We're having a conversation with Michelle Gross president of communities United against police brutality, an organization that's been working since 1999 in Minneapolis, Saint Paul, uh, looking for police accountability and pushing every pressure point on the body politic. Um, I want to encourage people to go to communities United against police brutality is website, which is C U a P b.org and click on this report. What will it take to in police violence? Because while we can have great slogans, they didn't go get it. There's so many, there's been a great deal of work done around the country and a great deal of research. And I know that Michelle Gross and other members of CFPB have put together a heck of a report. I've read it myself. I'm Michelle, we're closing out now. Uh, your final comments, um, uh, is CYPP still having its weekly meetings in the midst of the pandemic
Speaker 2 20:21 We do, but we do them by, um, a conference call. And that's a, you know, we want everybody to feel safe. I personally can't wait until we get back to doing them in person cause it's easier, but you know, we're managing and we're getting a lot of books on and we are pushing for the kinds of changes that need to happen now, not in 2021. So we're that we were at the legislature this morning trying to push for some bills better than what they've decided that they're going to let, um, come to the fore. You know, we need rubbers that actually will, um, create an agency to, to directly investigate and prosecute police, get it outside of the BCA and the County attorneys and all that. So we're pushing for a lot of changes, a lot of things that we need to have happen right now,
Speaker 0 21:05 Primarily at the state legislature, is that on the CU APB website where people can see and weigh in, like call their state rep or state Senator.
Speaker 2 21:17 Yeah, we're getting there. They just released the bills and haven't even finalized the text of some of them. So we are that, you know, the legislature opened at noon today for their special session. Um, we will be putting stuff up very shortly with our analysis of bills. Most of the bills are so, so there's a couple of good ones and there's a few really bad ones. So we're going to be putting our analysis up shortly of things that we need to, we want the legislature to do. And we'll also be sending that out in our newsletter. So I encourage people to sign up,
Speaker 0 21:46 Right, get the newsletter,
Speaker 2 21:47 My mailing list
Speaker 0 21:48 That if you get the newsletter y'all don't, I can attest to don't send out boatloads of stuff. But when you do it's real information and there's always an action. Thank you. Michelle grows communities United against police brutality. If, um, you have been hurt by the police, you can call the hotline 24 seven (612) 874-7867 that's (612) 874-7867. It's also on the website, C U a P b.org. Thank you so much, Michelle. Uh, and uh, again, there was, you know, there's been people working on this for a long time and, um, there is much to be done. I think that it's a momentous moment. Um, but we have some good news. Rico's going to bring you the organizers of this year's Juneteenth. Um, it is happening, uh, which I'm so glad
Speaker 1 22:49 And I am Rico. Marella good afternoon, everyone. It is 1:31 PM on a beautiful day. Hey, this is catalyst every Friday from one until 2:00 PM on cafe, fresh air community radio. I have some great announcements, Juneteenth celebration, unite and rebuild MSP Minneapolis st. Paul is happening Friday, June 19th, 3:00 PM to 8:00 PM. And it's at the Minnehaha center, open lot near Lake street in target 28, 72, 26th Avenue. It's going to be hosted by several different organizers and groups and communities. It's a family friendly Juneteenth celebration, and more than ever. Now, we are needing to rebuild this, this, these cities and this neighborhood Juneteenth is also known as freedom day jubilation Jubal EDA as a frack, as an American holiday celebrated on June 19th since 1865 to celebrate and announce the end of slavery. Also, I have Monique Shenir on the interview as well as Misha Bartlett. And we interviewed together here is that audio
Speaker 3 24:08 And hello everyone. My name is Rico Miralis. We are recording from KFH fresh air community
[email protected]. I am speaking with Monique Shenir. Is that how you pronounce your name?
Speaker 4 24:21 Yeah, that's exactly correct.
Speaker 3 24:23 And could you, uh, introduce yourselves, please? The, what is your role in the community? Meaning money?
Speaker 4 24:30 Yeah, so I am Monique Shamir. I'm helping to lead an effort to help unite and rebuild MSP. Um, and so I've had the fortunate of meeting as a variety of community, nonprofit and faith leaders over the last several weeks and just, uh, igniting the passion that we have in helping to rebuild our city
Speaker 3 24:52 And Misha Bartlett. Can you introduce yourself please?
Speaker 4 24:55 Absolutely. I am Neesha Bartlett.
Speaker 3 24:58 Great. Thank you very much, Monique. Can you tell me if I have the right LinkedIn information and you're the senior HR manager at target, is that correct?
Speaker 4 25:09 Yeah, that's correct. I'm I'm one of many,
Speaker 3 25:13 Yeah. Yeah. You're not the only one responsible for everything, right?
Speaker 4 25:17 Oh, no. There's 400,000 employees at target, so it takes a lot of amazing people, but yes, I'm, I'm one of many senior HR managers for target card, uh, actually located here in Minneapolis.
Speaker 3 25:31 Do you live in Minneapolis or st. Paul? I mean roughly what neighborhood?
Speaker 4 25:36 Yeah, I live in Plymouth. Um, but I did grow up here in the new hope area. Um, I've lived in, in several other places, but I've born and raised in Minnesota. And so, uh, although I leave, I always come back cause my family is here and I, I believe in, in this community.
Speaker 3 25:54 And, uh, do you believe in this community? And so what were your feelings or thoughts or perceptions or opinions about, um, the recent events with the Minneapolis police department and the local communities that are suffering and have always been suffering for a while? Can you tell us, um, a little bit what, what you're doing recently, this coming week for this an event that's happening in? Could you tell us the name of it?
Speaker 4 26:20 Yeah, definitely. And so that they, the event is unite and rebuild MSP. And so it's planned for June 19th in celebration of Juneteenth, um, at the mini haha center, uh, open lot, which is actually near the target, um, Lake street store. And so we've been fortunate to have city officials and community leaders that are embracing the efforts we need to rebuild and provide the empowerment and, and just help and hope to community. And so we embrace that place and bring a celebration with, uh, community leaders, um, musical artists, food trucks, swish, you know, gotta have food, which has a bigger appeal for people. Um, and so it will be view 19 from 3:00 PM to 8:00 PM, uh, at many how has centers. So for me personally, um, unfortunately the, the murder George Boyd and that systemic racism, the injustice that is not new, um, that is something that I've been keenly aware of as a black woman and particularly a black woman, the pronouns and the Minnesota.
Speaker 4 27:29 Um, I've been blessed to have a very educated family who, uh, from my great grandparents, grandparents to parents, um, have really taught me at have to believe in myself. And I have to try hard because the, the system is not necessarily rooting for me. And so I I've taken a hold of that. And so with everything happening with George Floyd and murder, honestly, every time it has situations like that happened in the news, I asked myself and tell myself, I'm wanting to do something and never sure what to do. And I think that's a question, a lot of people have asked themselves and are asking themselves even today. Um, but with George Floyd, this happened 20 minutes from where I live. And so I knew I couldn't sit still and needed to do something, even though I didn't know what that was, but I thought there's a need, people need food, they need diaper, they need donations.
Speaker 4 28:27 So let me start there. And so I went into the community, I always bring something with me. I don't believe in ledgers show, I've take pictures and leave. Like let's contribute, let's show up for our neighbors. Um, and through that started having conversations of this area, particularly in Lake street needs healing, um, amongst a lot of other communities. And so honestly, those conversations manifested into who do we know, how do we empower people, Pat it particularly because I think developers very quickly will want to get into that neighborhood. And I think the better answer is how do we equip people and empower people that are there to have their central basic needs right now, but build on to that. So this community can honestly rise out of the ashes. And so through that, all those conversations have led to planning this Juneteenth event, um, and putting the energy and passion and talent of still many people into bringing our community together.
Speaker 3 29:29 So I'm going to ask a little bit more of a pushback question here, a little softly. Um, what, how do people like myself or others who are just learning about this information, learning about this event I'm just recently been, been told or had been helpful with this event? How do I get, I'm not just a spider or a Cantor or what can I do to add, maybe I have a suggestion for a band or a speaker or, or, or is everything just already set in stone by the powers that be
Speaker 4 30:01 Such a great question. Thank you for asking. Um, everybody that's working on this as a volunteer myself, just jumping in, I'm passionate, uh, trying to align my talent and then asking other talented people. I, so the big things we need right now are, um, people willingness. And so we'll need volunteers. We will need individuals who are, are, we'll bring as donations with them, such as food, uh, diapers, baby formula. There's such a huge need because a lot of the grocery stores and stores that people would access in the community are no longer there, unfortunately. Um, and then of course, money and we are wanting to make this a safe and sanitized environment until, um, with anything that is nonprofit, we are working with little to no budget. And so even just accepting donations as, so we can make sure we have things like Nash and hand sanitizer to make it a safe environment for people. Um, and so we do have a Facebook event page it's under, she change as celebration. Um, and so that's how people can access it.
Speaker 3 31:09 So this is a drop off site as well, where people can drop off and pick up supplies or groceries or free stuff.
Speaker 4 31:16 That's correct. We're working with a nonprofit called our mother's love. And so we'll have a food pantry set up where people can donate and bring supplies and much needed equipment. And then also those in the community can pick it up as well.
Speaker 3 31:30 Thank you. I'll have a Michelle Bartlett ask some questions. Michelle, do you have some questions or some, some, some more thoughts.
Speaker 4 31:37 I do. Do you want to talk to us a little bit about what's going on with the lineup and who might be celebrating? I know music has been such an incredible thing. I've been entrenched. This is my neighborhood. This is my community. I grew up here. I still live in it. I drive those streets every day where these horrible things happened over the last few weeks. And, um, I've stood there among the ashes, inhaling the smoke, just really broken about what's going on. And as we progressed through the anger and moved towards Memorial, I have found that music is sailing the streets and we see it happening all over the world right now. And it's such a beautiful thing. It really is the most universal language. And so just tell us a little bit about what what's the lineup in the day is going to look like and what people can expect that, yeah, that's a good question.
Speaker 4 32:27 Um, and I agree with you, and that's a big reason where I was like, I'll need healing and music, uh, bringing people to gather it is I think that it's a beautiful global language, but then also for those of us from the block community, like, can you think of your family reunions and things you do? Music is such a core component of that. Um, so we've been really fortunate to be able to have, um, partners at first as a, be willing to step in and help with sound engineering production. And so just feel blessed to have them in the partnership. And so they have a number of different artists that cover from, um, jazz musicians to Prince cover bands, which we all, if it's the medicine, blood friends. And so I take down if this is a work in progress. Um, and so we, we will release that names of artists at early next week, but it's a lot of people who have played in the twin cities beloved and loved twin cities, um, had been active in the community and then even have performed at first out that were lining up. That's great. I think it's so important that we keep that local right now in central to what's going on in this city in Minneapolis. That's I guess why Prince never could leave because it's such a wealth of amazing talent and community. And to be honest with you, pretty much everybody that is here and still playing here, I mean, one way or another has sort of been born of those waters of Prince. So that's very exciting. Very exciting to hear.
Speaker 3 33:54 So Monique, thank you. This has recalled again. Um, what will you be at the, uh, the volunteers and the organizers meeting tomorrow morning?
Speaker 4 34:05 I will be. Yeah. So we'll be meeting at the open space, um, from 10 to noon tomorrow. So I definitely will be there cause it has we've, we've had a lot of work yet to do. Um, and so doing everything I can to make this successful and doing it because I believe in bringing healing to the community, what do you think Rico, should we share a little song that was done here locally by some really great luminaries that was created for another project that we did for hurricane relief a couple of years back after all of that disaster and it's such a beautiful representation and a messaging. I think that really applies right now, um, and can give us some hope and, and lift. And so we'd love to share with you never give up. It's a song that was again done by Julius Collins, T Michael Rambo, cat Perkins, Jesse Larson, and Jimmy.
Speaker 5 35:02 <inaudible> all. We've got to think that no good comes from that to hear people saying is a beautiful thing and good will comes when we come to hand in hand. It's true. <inaudible> <inaudible> <inaudible>
Speaker 3 38:02 And that was never give up. And once again, Hey, thank you very much. Commissioner Butler. She's the one who introduced that song and to me personally, and it's just a global worldwide, um, it's, it's a phenomenal song for a phenomenal moment. Any last final comments or suggestions or, or questions?
Speaker 4 38:23 Well, one, it was a beautiful song that I think captures a lot of what we need our community and well to do today. Um, to get more information about the efforts we are trying to do in Minneapolis, you can, uh, visit our web page, which is as will be up and running and have all the amazing details, which is unite and rebuild msp.com. And as starting today, you'll be able to see a lot of great information. That's where people can get details. If they want to be a vendor participate as a food truck, if they want to volunteer, if they want to donate all that great information will be available there again, not unite and rebuild msp.com
Speaker 3 39:04 And Misha.
Speaker 4 39:06 That's great. So we're very much then looking forward to the Juneteenth celebration on June 19th at the Minnehaha center, open lots. Um, yeah, it really is a time for us to come together unite and never give up in our efforts to reclaim our beautiful city. And, um, we're just happy to have you with us today, Monique, thank you for all of your efforts. And we look forward to all this collaboration this week,
Speaker 1 39:32 And that was the interview with the organizers, Monique Shenir from target and Misha Bartlett. Also one of the volunteers for the Juneteenth celebration happening next week, more information will be posted, um, momentarily. I am Rica Miralis. I also have another interview here with Marty, John Marty representatives, state Senator John Marty from district 66 in Roseville. And here it is that audio
Speaker 6 40:04 John Mardi States similar from district 66 Roseville and suburban communities and part of st. Paul and a member of the Senate for many years now.
Speaker 3 40:16 And how long have you been, uh, when was your first year? How long have you been representative?
Speaker 6 40:21 Okay. Mean, you've been in the Senate for over 30 years since 1987. So very, very long term. It doesn't seem that long, but yes.
Speaker 3 40:32 So what's happening this next week? You said that, uh, possibly or definitely the Minnesota state Congress is opening or is starting again. Yes,
Speaker 6 40:42 Yes. The state Senate it's opening up or the state house and Senate, the legislature has been called into special session by governor walls is beginning today on Friday. And, um, we'll be going for an undetermined amount of time. Usually when we have a special session, um, is pre-agreed upon agenda. This was called because if the governor wants to extend the emergency authority and the legislature's not in session, so our requires him to call the legislature back. So the legislature can have some chance to question it or whatever they want with it. So we are coming back in for that purpose, but obviously there's a whole range of other issues related to COVID related to the policing crisis in Minneapolis, um, in and around the state, um, a whole lot of other issues that are likely to come up, but it was called not to address a specific issue, but because, or requires the governor to do so in order to keep the Covidien emergency and effect.
Speaker 3 41:41 I see. And what have you heard or do you sense what possibly, do you see any, any the governor is leaning towards one way or the other? I mean, I'm not trying to let the cat out of the bag or
Speaker 6 41:53 No, I think it's fair to say that the governor would like this to have a strong, long agenda this time. And I agree, I think it's, I think the George Floyd murder, um, and the following understandable uproar from it suggests the public is eager for us to start addressing some of these inherent racism issues in policing, in other, in housing, in the whole economy. And yes, especially a session isn't going to fix all the problems that some of us have been pushing to address for years. But it's a chance right now you, you try and take advantage of the fact that there's public attention to it and use that political pressure to make something happen. So I think the governor is on board with that and I'm on board with it. I think a lot of us want to make sure we don't just say, Oh, well, we can deal with it in the future. Um, it's, it's easy to say if you're not the victim of police is not the victim of the policing. Um, it's easy to say it's not a crisis if you're not affected by it, but, um, every person of color and indigenous person in the state, as most of them have experienced the problems and they've been the victims of this and, and the fact that that people are saying no more it's time for change. Let's act on that. Let's use that political clout let's use that pressure and that, and try and make change. Now,
Speaker 3 43:25 What did you think, or how did you feel personally being at the site of 37 59 Chicago Avenue? Um, the other day where I met you again,
Speaker 6 43:37 Right? It was good to see you there. It was a, it's a powerful say Memorial because I mean the whole world last night, they were talking about people and not just New York city, but people in England and South Africa and other places who are talking about George Floyd and people may never have heard of Minneapolis or talking about Minnesota. Now I'm going to Minneapolis. And, um, and when you're at that site, um, the first thing that comes to your mind is a decent human being who is being crushed by a totally insensitive person who, um, basically just slowly tortured him to death. And, um, and I think we have to, um, have to acknowledge it. Anybody who goes there is moved by that. And, um, so yeah, I'm glad that was the first time I had been at that site since the, since the death and, um, the attributes, the beautiful tributes. I talked to one woman who was picking up the posters because rain was expected later in the day, picking up the posters because they had so many powerful statements on it. We want to save these. This is part of our history now. And, um, no, it was a very moving experience.
Speaker 3 44:52 Thank you. Thank you. I, uh, I am an employee of cup foods at 37 59 in Chicago. So it's been, um, it's been a lot, it's been quite a bit, but I do appreciate your help and support. And as a personal friend and member of our same similar communities, what, um, what, what, what do you see hopeful coming up this session, this special session? Do you have, um, do you have your, do you have a couple of projects or issues or proposals in hand or
Speaker 6 45:22 A couple of things? I have some of my own on this, um, and mean, I think some of the most urgent ones are to make sure that we ban the police use of certain, uh, certain dangerous things that are killing people. Um, when we're giving the police the ability to legally use certain tactics that ended up killing people, um, people are gonna die. And in this case, I mean, I think he was intentional. I think he was, he was trying to crush me, the officer. That's what I think is driven. The whole is waking up a whole lot of the population, especially the white population who have never been white and I've never experienced discrimination because of my race. Um, but, but he's woke up a whole lot of people who are seeing how callous and how uncaring and how my hands are in my pockets, but I'm scared of this guy.
Speaker 6 46:19 So I've got a crush, his neck, you know, you're, you're not sitting there, not as hotly staring off into space and your hands in your pockets, if you're scared to death, somebody's gonna hurt you. Um, Alison, this is, I think it woke up a lot of people who didn't believe this happens and we know it's been happening year after year, day after day. And so I think that wake up has been very helpful, but so I want to make sure the first thing we do is we ban those dangerous, um, policing techniques, no knock warrant, where they're breaking down a door without telling people that are coming in. Um, those are the situations that ended up killing people. I have a couple of bills of my own that I want to add to the mix. Cause they're not in the Minnesota legislature, posse caucuses are gone POC, people of color and indigenous, um, caucuses.
Speaker 6 47:14 You sort of taking the lead on this, which is very appropriate. And they've got a long list of agenda items. I'm adding a couple that I'd like to see happen as well. One of which is to band, uh, Minnesota law enforcement agencies from taking these military from the military because there's a federal program that basically gives them to local law enforcement. And you know, what, what in the world is a law enforcement agency in Minnesota needed grenade. Watch it for, um, so my bill would ban things like that. Um, that's one of the bills and other one I have is it relates to all the discussion, which means different things to different people about defunding or just standing the police. But one of the things I got to make the case for is that, um, law enforcement officials have very specific training for very specific things. They are not experts in suicide prevention. They are not experts in mental health. They're not experts in addressing drug overdoses. They're not experts in a whole range of other things. And so what we, what I'm proposing to do is, is have a state grant program to encourage encourage local governments that would take money out of their police department and transfer it into an alternative emergency responder program, um, which might have social workers, mental health workers, and others involved.
Speaker 0 48:36 And that was a Minnesota state Senator. John Marty represents suburbs around Minneapolis, including Roseville interviewed by Rico. Miralis. Um, again, let me encourage you to go to communities United against police brutality.org, look at their report. What will it take to end police violence? A lot of politicians are saying a lot of stuff right now, and it's important not to be bamboozled. Also want to make sure that, you know, again, next Friday, June 19th is June teenth unite and rebuild Minneapolis st. Paul Friday, June 19th, 3:00 PM to 8:00 PM mini hot East Lake street at the, in the parking lot of the target store. That's there in South Minneapolis, a site of some of the protests. We don't want you to miss out. And, um, uh, Rico, what is the, um, website for Juneteenth do United rebuild MSP
Speaker 6 49:43 Unite and rebuild msp.com.
Speaker 0 49:46 Okay. Um, so, um, we're gonna end with a couple of public service announcements and then it's time for Corazon Latino, beautiful music from across Latin America brought to you by Carla and Eve. Um, cause boy, we need the music to get through. I know I do peace out.
