Minneapolis's progressive history

The nightmare that is the streets of Minneapolis might get safer in spite of Democrats. That's because Don Samuels, his wife and some of their neighbors filed a lawsuit against the city, then won that lawsuit. Since George Floyd's murder, the turmoil in Minneapolis has hit another gear. In part, that's because the activists on the City Council decided that dismantling the Minneapolis Police Department without a plan on what to replace it with was the right thing to do.

Don Samuels and his wife knew better. "Samuels said he and his wife Sondra were stunned by the council’s move. 'They just thought, 'Get rid of police and the world would be great.' My wife and I look at each other and go like, 'Oh, my God, it’s going to be crazy around here.'"

Things got crazy alright but in a positive way. "Late last year, Samuels and his wife, along with their neighbors, finally took action by filing a lawsuit against the city for failing to provide the minimum number of police officers per citizen in Minneapolis. On July 1, a judge ruled in their favor, ordering the Minneapolis Police Department to hire more officers. The department is now required to staff at least 730 officers by June 30, 2022, or .0017 sworn officers per resident."

Of course, that's after things got much worse:

Last year marked the second deadliest in the city’s history (after only 1995, when it was notoriously dubbed “Murderapolis”). In 2021, from January 1 to July 1, homicides have risen even higher — up 34 percent compared to the same time frame in 2020. Several children have been killed by gunfire in recent weeks, including a 6-year-old girl riding in a car, a 9-year-old girl jumping on a trampoline at a friend’s birthday party, and another 6-year-old girl eating a McDonald’s Happy Meal while returning home in her mom’s car.

Lots of articles have been written about Minneapolis this past year. None of the articles complimented the Minneapolis City Council or Minneapolis's mayor. Samuels didn't pull punches in this KARE11 interview:

Samuels' statement is meant as a refutation to the Council's activists:

"We are thrilled that the voices in the most ignored quadrant prevailed against a national movement of naïveté," he said. "A black life matters when taken by cops and each black life matters when lost to community violence. We deserve community services, affordable housing and a decent relationship with police. And we most certainly deserve to live."

I agree that black lives matter, whether they're lost to police officers or black-on-black crime.