Black Visions & Reclaim the Block press conference:
June 3, 2020
We’re already doing it: defund and dismantle MPD for a safe Minneapolis
Speakers:
- Kandace Montgomery, Executive Director of Black Visions
- Junauda Petrus-Nasah, co-founder of Free Black Dirt and author of The Stars and the Blackness Between Them
- Felicia Philibert, co-founder and Education & Advocacy Director of Women for Political Change
- Dr. Rose M Brewer, Professor of African American & African Studies, University of Minnesota Twin Cities.
00:00 - Kandace Montgomery, Black Visions - Opening statement, laying context of Minneapolis
00:43 - Junauda Petrus-Nasah, Free Black Dirt and author of The Stars and the Blackness Between Them - Grounding, reading of her poem, “Could We Please Give the Police Departments to the Grandmothers?”
05:43 - Kandace Montgomery, Black Visions - Introduction of Felicia Philibert
06:25 - Felicia Philibert, Women for Political Change - Overview of the practice of mutual aid, and description of how mutual aid is being facilitated by Women for Political Change and practiced by Black community in Minneapolis as a tool for liberation and solidarity.
09:34 - 11:47 - Technical difficulties
11:47 - Kandace Montgomery, Black Visions - Introduction of Dr. Rose M Brewer
13:00 - Dr. Rose M Brewer, Professor of African American & African Studies, University of Minnesota Twin Cities - Provides history and structural context of police violence and militarism in Minnesota
14:58 - 15:41 - Technical difficulties
15:42 - Kandace Montgomery, Black Visions - Perspective from Black Visions, lifting up the movement that Black people are leading to transform Minneapolis, which can only be achieved by defunding and dismantling the police. Description of the ways that Minneapolis residents are already creating safety in the absence of police, what is needed in this moment, and pathways for the future.
21:35 - 24:16 - Technical difficulties, waiting for questions to come in.
Q & A
Q - 24:16 - What do you ask specifically from the city council when it comes to its budgets renegotiations re: MPD?
Q - 25:18 - In thinking about how we are doing alternative safety now in Minneapolis, are there ways that we can expand both the government and the peoples broader understanding of these issues? Resources to point journalists to?
Q - 30:15 - City leaders have talked a lot about police reform in the past - Chief Rondo, our mayor, council members. What do you believe are the chances of it actually happening, following the actions of last week?
Q - 32:20 - If the police were from the same community they are stationed, would that make policing safer?
Q - 37:13 - How have these demands shifted and what is possible in Minneapolis and globally?
Q - 39:26 - I saw online saying that Black Liberation is good for everyone, not just Black people. What does that mean to you?
Q - 45:10 - Do you have any reactions to the latest on the charges towards the officers involved in the killing of George Floyd - Chauvin will be charged with second degree murder now, the other three with aiding and abetting second degree murder?