This letter is historic. People have asked me why I think this letter is so important. To my knowledge, it is the very first time a prosecutor has publicly asked a judge to correct inaccurate and damaging conclusions about Black trauma and the perception of Black youth. 👇🏻
It is even more significant that the prosecutor wrote this letter not to get something in return, such as a higher sentence, but simply because it is the right thing to do. It is critically important to educate the public about trauma and stereotypes of Black youth.
After working in the criminal system for 31 years, I know that very few people working in the system understand trauma. I can also tell you that most people who interact with the system - witnesses, victims, and the accused - struggle with unaddressed trauma.
To truly reform the system, we need to understand, talk about, and treat trauma. If we did this in the community, we would see far fewer people in the system. We would see far fewer hurt people hurting other people. We would have a healthier community.
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After George Floyd’s murder, city officials promised to reduce racial disparities in police use of force. At first glance, data taken from the city’s web site appears to show that happened.
Before George Floyd, when MPD used force, 60% of the time it 👇🏻kare11.com/mobile/article…
☝🏻 …was used against black people. Since then, it has dropped to about 52%. That’s an improvement – although still a significant disparity in a city that's only about 20% Black. When KARE 11 took a deeper look at the numbers, however, we discovered something unusual.
When police officers fill out required “Use of Force” forms, they are increasingly listing race as “Unknown” – or simply failing to record it.
Tuesday morning's pursuit "fit the criteria," Elder said Tuesday afternoon, but has since been referring further questions about the collision to the State Patrol. "We are limiting what we can chase for, but these were obvious felonies."
Elder talks about the pursuit criteria. What does he leave out?
“police…must terminate a pursuit in progress if it "poses an unreasonable risk to the officers, the public or passengers of the vehicle being pursued who may be unwilling participants."
The police must constantly reassess the circumstances to determine whether it has become an unreasonable risk to the public. So, the initial pursuit criteria are just the first step.
The initial criteria were changed several years ago, which is good, but 👇🏻
Discounting the trauma of the children who testified at trial — in an authoritative judicial opinion, no less — will only exacerbate the trauma they have suffered,” Ellison wrote… washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/07…
What he wrote seems to be an indication that he has a real misunderstanding of what trauma is because it’s so contrary to what experts tell us,” said Mary Moriarty, former Hennepin County chief public defender.
She called Ellison’s letter “powerful” because it wasn’t seeking to extend Chauvin’s sentence but rather force the judicial system to confront and correct inherent biases, especially about Black trauma, which “is not something people in the system understand very well.”
Attorney General Ellison asks Judge Cahill to amend his sentencing order on the presence of children. This is excellent! mncourts.gov/mncourtsgov/me…
“Moreover, as social science research demonstrates, for humans of all ages, giggling or smiling can actually be normal responses to stressful experiences.”
Additionally, and particularly relevant here, research demonstrates that “adults view Black girls as less innocent and more adult-like than their white peers.”
This video of an MPD squad crashing into Leneal Frazier’s Jeep, killing him, is horrifying. This is a residential area, and according to MPD policy, officers “shall” terminate a pursuit in progress if the pursuit poses an unreasonable risk to the public.
So the question is not only whether MPD policy allowed pursuit of the car because of what the driver was suspected of doing, but also whether it was reasonable to do so. If you are able to watch the video, try to imagine how this high speed pursuit on Lyndale was reasonable.
And Leneal Frazier was Darnella Frazier’s uncle. The teenaged girl who videoed Chauvin murdering George Floyd. He was also a father, a son, and a brother.