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UNICORN RIOT Profile picture
@UR_Ninja
Feb 15, 2023 • 22 tweets • 11 min read • Read on X
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NEW: Family of AJ Stewart Speak on Patterns of White Supremacy that led to his Killing Over a Parking Spot 🧵

With Brian Kjellberg's murder trial slated for March 27, Stewart's cousin is speaking out about the racial dynamics of the 2021 St. Paul murder: unicornriot.ninja/2023/family-of… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… defense attorney Earl Gray, murder defendant Brian Kjellberg
Unicorn Riot recently sat down with the Poet Laureate of San Francisco & cousin of AJ Stewart, @_Tongogara_ (Tongo Eisen-Martin) for an exclusive interview about the racial politics of Stewart’s murder, Brian Kjellberg’s upcoming trial in MN & more. unicornriot.ninja/2023/family-of…
“I think it begins with this white guy sharpening a metal pipe into a shank, wrapping it with a black tape handle & ideating about murdering someone Black,” @_Tongogara_ said of Brian Kjellberg, a white military veteran who killed his unarmed cousin AJ Stewart in Dec. 2021.
On the evening of Dec. 2, 2021, Brian Kjellberg called the non-emergency number seeking to get a car ticketed & impounded for being parked on his property on the 1700 block of 7th street on Saint Paul’s eastside. ↕️
Brian Kjellberg, a white man, brought a weapon with him to confront the driver and prevent the car from leaving until the tow truck arrived. The driver, AJ Stewart, a Black man, was visiting friends and family who lived on the same block as Kjellberg. ↕️
When Stewart went outside to leave, Kjellberg escalated the situation and physically prevented Stewart from getting in his car. Stewart gave Kjellberg verbal commands to move but Kjellberg refused. This is when Kjellberg alleges that Stewart punched him in the face. Kjellberg… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Stewart’s family disputes Kjellberg’s claim that AJ punched him before he was fatally stabbed. They described the 27 y/o as “goofy” & said “he enjoyed...promoting positivity to teenagers in his free time,” which contradicts the violent behavior alleged by Kjellberg. ↕️
For killing unarmed AJ Stewart, Brian Kjellberg was charged with 2nd degree murder without intent while committing a felony, MN Statute: 609.19.2(1). If he’s found guilty, he faces up to 40 years in prison.

The murder trial for Kjellberg is scheduled to start March 27, 2023. ↕️
Brian Kjellberg is claiming self-defense & has defense attorney Earl Gray who's defended cops in high profile murder cases: Kim Potter who killed #DaunteWright, Jeronimo Yanez who killed #PhilandoCastile, & Thomas Lane who was an accomplice in the killing of #GeorgeFloyd. ↕️
AJ Stewart’s family has taken note of Early Gray defending Brian Kjellberg. Eisen-Martin told UR that: “[He’s] the same lawyer…who represented these killer cops...It’s a plain statement of where he stands and the confidence in the white supremacist nature of the system.” ↕️ Defense Attorney Earl Gray, known for defending several kill
Tongo Eisen-Martin, AJ Stewart's cousin, said he was hoping to have supporters & legal observers show up to the Ramsey County Courthouse on Brian Kjellberg's trial dates, which start on March 27, 2023 & help with court watch to monitor the proceedings to ensure transparency. ↕️
*Earl* Gray
AJ Stewart's cousin Tongo said that the family wasn't presenting a demand on the system, it was rather demanding the people see Stewart's killing as an "alarm" within our "society of social contradiction" and that he's hoping for unity in the end. ↕️

unicornriot.ninja/2023/family-of…
The family of AJ Stewart has created the Facebook page Justice for AJ to communicate with supporters and give updates on the case. ↕️facebook.com/profile.php?id…
Eisen-Martin described his cousin AJ as the rock of his family. He said AJ was his “mother’s strength” and was like a father figure to his little brothers and sisters. ↕️

unicornriot.ninja/2023/family-of… “To lose him is to lose him every five minutes. Any time
Tabitha Lewis, the mother of AJ Stewart, has struggled to keep stable housing and employment since her son’s murder. The family has created a fundraiser on GoFundMe for supporters who would like to contribute. ↕️ gofundme.com/f/please-help-…
AJ Stewart's killing was just one in a string of anti-Black racially-motivated acts of violence perpetrated by white men in the U.S., said @_Tongogara_, who noted the murder came in a time of the mass shooting in Buffalo, the killing of #AhmaudArbery & the deadly Jan. 6 riots.↕️
“Just as much as religion is an opiate, you have the opiate of this white supremacist ideology – high off of that, you have at least 70 million white people that will live under any condition.” Tongo Eisen-Martin, cousin of victim Arnell 'AJ' Stewart ↕️
In December 2021, calling on Ramsey County Attorney John Choi to press hate crimes charges on Brian Kjellberg, family, friends and supporters of AJ Stewart held a press conference at the Indigenous Roots Cultural Center in Saint Paul. ↕️ unicornriot.ninja/2022/family-ca…
Supporters of AJ Stewart called Brian Kjellberg a white racist vigilante & the killing has drawn comparisons to George Zimmerman, who murdered unarmed #TrayvonMartin in 2012 & Greg & Travis McMichael, who murdered unarmed #AhmaudArbery in 2020. ↕️
Watch the full press conference from Dec. 30, 2021, featuring the mother and cousins of AJ Stewart, community organizers, and more. ↕️
Family of AJ Stewart Speak on Patterns of White Supremacy That Led to His Killing Over a Parking Spot

Full article from thread ⬆️ above:
unicornriot.ninja/2023/family-of…

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More from @UR_Ninja

UNICORN RIOT Profile picture
Dec 17
NEW: Groundbreaking for a Minneapolis Youth-Serving Community Staple

For nearly three decades, the educational nonprofit WE WIN Institute has been nomadic, serving youth in Minneapolis out of rented spaces. But that era is coming to a close — on November 19, 2024, WE WIN held a groundbreaking event for their new building in Minneapolis’ Bryn Mawr neighborhood. Unicorn Riot was there to document the historic occasion and interview board members, organization partners and a former student-turned-staff. 🧵
Founded in 1996 by award-winning educator Titilayo Bediako, WE WIN Institute has served thousands of youth in Minneapolis with in-school, after school, summer school, tutoring and more. WE WIN recently broke ground on a new building they can call home. unicornriot.ninja/2024/groundbre…
Known locally for its vivacious Kwanzaa Celebrations, large urban garden, Harvest Fest, and back-to-school and Black-authored book give-away events, WE WIN has also offered parent groups, tutoring, entrepreneurial programming, a litany of arts related programming, as well as cooking, gardening and mentoring.

UR interviewed WE WIN's founder and Ex. Director Titi Bediako during Juneteenth celebrations in North Minneapolis in 2020. WE WIN handed out 500 books by Black authors for free to the community.
Read 12 tweets
UNICORN RIOT Profile picture
Oct 23
🧵: Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Kerkhoff (now Jennifer Kerkhoff Muyskens) oversaw the failed prosecution of over 200 Trump inauguration protesters on felony conspiracy riot charges, with demonstrators and journalists facing ~80yrs for being around when others broke windows.
The #J20 case collapsed when it came to light that Kerkhoff, working with her star witness DC Police Detective Greggory Pemberton (also a police union official), had *altered and deleted exculpatory evidence* and lied about it to the court repeatedly:

unicornriot.ninja/2018/prosecuto…
The hidden evidence was portions of an undercover video taken by an operative of right-wing disinformation group Project Veritas during a planning meeting for Trump inauguration protests, which Kerkhoff said implicated all protesters present that day in a violent conspiracy.
Read 5 tweets
UNICORN RIOT Profile picture
Aug 21
A march of several dozen Palestine protesters is moving near the Morton Salt Shed (@saltshedchicago) which is a heavily secured location where Democratic delegates are partying on night 2 of the #DNC - an entry point to the convention is also nearby
A small group of masked protesters stand in an intersection holding a banner that reads “Israel Bombs Illinois Pays” in red and green text on a white banner - bike cops are seen speeding past behind them. In the background a banner on a post reads “Democrats Deliver”
A small crowd of protesters marches through the street at night holding the aforementioned banner past The Salt Shed - a large building about a block long with an an industrial style roof that reads “MORTON SALT” in big letters
The venue is hosting a large party hosted by the Pritzkers with John Legend reportedly performing tonight per corporate media reports - protesters chant “if we don’t get no justice, you don’t get no peace” as CPD on bikes form up to separate them from #DNC partygoers


About a dozen DNC delegates or attendees with suits and lanyards or other nice dress standing in front of an building
A bunch of cops and/or event security standing around in a street. One female officer shown from behind has a leashed dog and.m a back uniform patch reading “USCG K-9”
A line of bike cops formed up against protesters holding a banner in an intersection
Protesters seen from behind holding up a cloth banner with Chicago cops holding bikes lined up facing them - the Salt Shed’s lit up sign visible across the street
A noise demo outside a DNC event at the Salt Shed where John Legend is performing as part of convention programming tonight - 10 Illinois State Police just turned up


Diverse group of protesters march with megaphones and Covid masks holding a banner reading “War Criminals Not Welcome in Chicago” as bike police in the street get pretty darn close to the group
A group of protesters wearing masks and holding various kinds of drums march in the street past the lit up venue roof sign for the Salt Shed. Bike cops visible at back of shot
A protester wearing a balaclava holds a banner in front of a Chicago cop with a bike helmet and vest on - tent style canopy over DNC entrance and “democrats deliver” sign in background
10 or so Illinois State Troopers with Dudley Do-Right style hats standing in middle of the street in front of the Salt Shed
Read 12 tweets
UNICORN RIOT Profile picture
Jul 12
Nyah Mway, a 13-year-old refugee, was killed by police in Utica, NY the day after he graduated from middle school.

Learn more here: unicornriot.ninja/2024/protests-…
On the evening of June 28, Mway and his friend were stopped by three police officers from the Utica Police Department and two Oneida County Deputy Sheriffs on their walk home from a Bible study class and a graduation party.
Body camera footage was released by UPD, but only from three of the officers who were on the scene. The footage shows a pedestrian stop, otherwise known as a stop-and-frisk — a controversial tactic of interrogating and searching someone based solely on “reasonable suspicion.”
Read 6 tweets
UNICORN RIOT Profile picture
Jun 29
A year ago French police killed Nahel Merzouk, 17, during a traffic stop, leading to a week of mass revolt.

A pattern of deadly traffic stops in France show that police in the U.S. aren’t the only authority figures who regularly kill Black motorists.🧵

unicornriot.ninja/2023/french-po…
The two French police officers who killed Nahel Merzouk on June 27, 2023 initially stated that they were in danger of being run over and fired in self-defense. However, video footage from witnesses shows a different version of the story. Both officers were standing to the side of the car as it started moving again and one of them fired the shots. The car continued to move for about 50 meters and then crashed into a pole. The driver was killed instantly, one of the two other passengers escaped and the third was arrested.

The arrested passenger in the car says one officer urged the other to shoot Nahel at point-blank range. The youth alleged that “the first officer asked Nahel to roll down the window. He told him ‘turn off the engine or I will shoot you’. And he hit him with the gun. Then the second officer arrived and stood in front of the windshield at Nahel’s height. From there, the first officer standing at the level of the window put a gun to his temple and said “don’t move or I’ll put a bullet in your head.”

He went on to report that the second officer told him “shoot him,” and when a frightened Nahel let his foot off the pedal, which was an automatic and not in a parked position, it started moving and the officer in front of the vehicle fired point blank.

Full story from 2023: unicornriot.ninja/2023/french-po…Monument at the traffic pole where Nahel Merzouk’s car crashed after he was fatally shot by French police on June 27, 2023, in La Defense, Paris. A sign reads “How many Nahels have not been filmed?” Photo taken July 2, 2023, contributed by Yegor Halva.
The man who killed Nahel Merzouk is 38-year-old police officer Florian Menesplier. Menesplier previously served in Afghanistan under France’s 35th infantry regiment and was a motorcyclist with the Direction de l’ordre public et de la circulation (DOPC, Directorate of Public Order and Traffic). Before that he belonged to the compagnie de sécurisation et d’intervention 93 (CSI 93, Security and Intervention Unit 93), which was ordered to disband in 2020.

The unit was the subject of 17 judicial investigations for “violence, racist remarks, unlawful arrests, extortion of dealers” and more. He was also a member of the BRAV-M (Motorized Brigades for the Repression of Violent Action), a unit decried for its violence during the Yellow Vests movement, which he joined shortly after its creation on October 1, 2020.

Full story - French Police Kill Teen During Traffic Stop, Leading to Mass Revolt: unicornriot.ninja/2023/french-po…Florian Menesplier poses for a picture while serving in Afghanistan. Menesplier went on to be a French police officer and killed teenager Nahel Merzouk in the summer of 2023.
Read 11 tweets
UNICORN RIOT Profile picture
Jun 14
🔎 New investigation 🔎
Cobwebs Spy Software Locks Onto Protesters:
Israeli Social Media Mining Contract with Homeland Security Revealed
Israeli Firm “Cobwebs” Linked to 2020 Protests, Provides Monitoring Services to Homeland Security for Tracking Dissenters
An Israeli spy software tech firm licenses web surveillance tools to law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The software contract shows new details about this sensitive technology DHS has used to spy on activists during the last several years. Story:
unicornriot.ninja/2024/cobwebs-s…
Last year, Unicorn Riot reported how Cobwebs, a privately owned Israeli spyware firm, helped the Department of Homeland Security monitor the online presences of Americans—including protesters and journalists.
[Aug 2023]unicornriot.ninja/2023/aimed-at-…
Read 21 tweets

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