Thread by @RobinGarwood

We’ve got a real “tale of two cities” situation with Brooklyn Center and Mpls. Both cities’ police departments wrongfully killed a Black man, both faced widespread protest that got national attention. Where Mpls has struggled, BC has made significant strides. Why?

Mayors matter.

https://twitter.com/UdiACLU/status/1393760344502415365

The best way to understand the disparity is as a reflection of the two mayors’ very different responses.

In Brooklyn Center, Mike Elliott has led the fight, alongside his colleagues on the Council, to make transformative change, and to do it quickly.

In Mpls, the progressive Council majority’s work to make the SAME EXACT kinds of transformative change have been fought and hampered by the mayor, in ways subtle and overt. He has aligned himself with reactionaries like Operation Safety Now, against these kinds of changes.

Example 1: Brooklyn Center has created a new Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention. That’s not just the same idea that the Council tried to put on the ballot last year, it’s literally the exact same words.

lims.minneapolismn.gov/file/2020-00668

We WILL have a vote on creating this kind of Department of Public Safety this fall, due to both a push from progressive Council members and a petition drive by the people. I am hopeful that it will pass, despite our mayor’s active opposition.

startribune.com/minneapolis-re…

And the Council in Mpls has started the work to flesh out what the new Department of Public Safety will look like, in advance of the Charter amendment passing this fall.

mspmag.com/arts-and-cultu…

Example 2: Brooklyn Center created a Community Response Department to handle 911 calls involving mental health & behavioral issues. In Mpls, we created a similar division last year, as part of the Council-created Safety for All budget amendment.

aclu-mn.org/en/news/step-t….

In Brooklyn Center, the mayor brought this change forward.

In Minneapolis, the mayor not only didn't bring this change forward, he threatened to veto the budget after the Council amended his budget to create it.

bringmethenews.com/minnesota-news…

Example 3: Brooklyn Center created a Traffic Enforcement Department, outside of the police. department

In Mpls, CM Cunningham started this work in April, with no support at all from the mayor.

lims.minneapolismn.gov/file/2021-00474

Example 4: Brooklyn Center acted to stop the use of "less lethal" weapons against crowds. In Mpls, the Council took the action it could take, and the mayor (and Chief) immediately and publicly rebuked it.

startribune.com/minneapolis-ci…

The people of Mpls, like the people of Brooklyn Center, want to see transformational change in our approach to public safety. I hear it every time I knock on doors.

We are unified in our desire for real, substantive change to the status quo on policing.

Imagine how different Minneapolis's story would have been if Jacob Frey had taken the approach Mike Elliott has taken: to actually forge unity for making big, necessary changes, rather than hiding behind that word in defense of the status quo.

We don't just have to imagine. We have to summon the courage to reject the politics of division and reaction, reelect the Council Members who have been leading this work (Gordon, Fletcher, Cunningham, Ellison, Schroeder), and elect a new mayor who will partner with them.