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I think the first duty of society is justice.\u00a0 Alexander Hamilton<\/p>\n
\u201cNo matter how you cut it, what we saw was a murder.\u00a0 George Floyd\u2019s human rights were violated, and the cost was his life.\u00a0 What happened to him was morally wrong.\u00a0 It\u2019s been that way for so many others for such a long time,\u201d said Angela Rose Myers, outgoing president of the Minneapolis Branch NAACP.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Along with being. immersed in a two-year master graduate studies program in human rights, she will assume the role of co-chair for the political action committee for the branch.\u00a0 She appeals for volunteers to step up and commends the Black Press as the voice of the people and the holder of the rich Black history of the Twin Cities.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a history the Myers family continues to play a vital role in shaping. Her mother is researcher-educator Dr. Sheila D. Ards, and her father is renowned economist and educator, Dr. Samuel Myers. Both have produced significant \u00a0research on impacts of race and racism in education, child-rearing, economics, \u00a0\u00a0wealth creation and more. Dr. Myers leads the Roy Wilkins Center for Human Relations and Social Justice at University of Minnesota.<\/p>\n
Not only does the young activist draw from her own proud lineage, but she marvels at the narrative writings of Frederick Douglass and Ida B. Wells\u2019 fearless public condemnation of \u00a0white mobs who , right after church services, could lynch an innocent Black man in broad daylight.<\/p>\n
\u00a0When the United Nations was formed, the NAACP declared Black America victims of an orchestrated genocide and likened the atrocity to the Lakota war genocide that pretty much made Minnesota a white state.<\/p>\n
Myers said \u201cWe defeated slavery and Jim Crow because it was morally wrong.\u00a0 A new millennium cohort has declared that what is happening in current times to BIPOC citizens is morally unjust and we will change that reality, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
We must\u00a0 answer the call to eliminate racist systems and by \u00a0embracing the reckoning at hand.\u00a0 We are outspoken about disparities that have been normalized.\u00a0 We intend to center our work on the people and not the destructive intentions of proponents of white supremacy, Myers said. \u201cIt\u2019s a unique moment for Black America.\u00a0 We\u2019ve got to seize the day.\u00a0 Carpe Diem. We want to pull on those local and international heartstrings.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0There\u2019s so much work to be done.\u00a0 Let\u2019s start with educating and training our youth.\u00a0 Chauvin\u2019s guilty plea is not the end all, be all for justice.\u00a0 It won\u2019t bring George Floyd back.\u00a0 But it is solidification,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
James Wright, a reporter for the Washington Informer, examines issues around the world in one of the oldest newspaper markets.\u00a0 \u201cI really thought Chauvin was going to fight the charges.\u00a0 Maybe he thought if he pleaded guilty to a federal hate crime charge, he would go to a federal facility where the arrangement might be better than spending the rest of his life in a state facility with some he might have had incarcerated,\u201d Wright said.<\/p>\n
Wright said despite the confession, whether Chauvin really was contrite is questionable. \u201cI also believe Chauvin felt like he was doing his job; that he did nothing wrong. \u00a0All along, the union and the Blue Wall of brotherhood and silence protected him and so many others.\u00a0 That wall must come down,\u201d Wright said.<\/p>\n
He said people around the country see Minnesota as a liberal state and never would have expected an unarmedBlack man to be murdered in the manner in which he was.\u00a0 Myers said though the state might have a liberal reputation with the likes of Mondale, Humphrey, and former Congressman and \u00a0now Attorney General Keith Ellison, \u00a0systemic racism \u00a0clearly exists.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Chauvin just wanted closure and a lot of people of all colors wanted to say the days of police brutality and white supremacy are over,\u201d said Attorney Clinton Collins, a frequent guest on Conversations with Al McFarlane.\u00a0 \u201cFor so long, Ku Klux Klan members were also members of the police force.\u00a0 They made a practice of frightening Blacks and depriving them of their civil rights.\u00a0 The color of law has always been white.\u00a0 Now, we\u2019re holding folks accountable.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Myers said the Minneapolis Department and the state of Minnesota should be held accountable, as well.\u00a0 \u201cHow was Chauvin allowed to get away with 15 or 16 infractions and nothing being done to discipline him or revoke his license?\u201d<\/p>\n
Education and Culture editor for Insight News, Dr. Irma McClaurin said changing the language and the messaging could afford clarity as to the most effective model for public safety. \u201cNot only should we take a good look at the context of academy training, but those taking courses in criminal justice should be introduced to methodology that has been deconstructed, demilitarized, and made relevant with a vision applicable to current times in the age of COVID19 and division.\u00a0 Perhaps we should look at retraining ourselves and helping other people get careers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/3 of the police force has left. Police Chief Medaria Arradondo is stepping down. Mayor Frey has appointed a public safety transition team of which Myers is a participant to look at police reform.\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to Myers, \u201cThere\u2019s a real increase in gun violence and community crime.\u00a0 The momentum must be hyper focused on messaging solutions on the problems BIPOC communities live every day and not totally concentrating on policing.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n