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Inside this Edition...
THE VOICE OF BLACK MINNESOTA SINCE 1934
October 7–13, 2021
Vol. 88
Read about the “Slow Roll Bike Tour” on page 2.
www.spokesman-recorder.com
No. 10
NORTH MINNEAPOLIS
CAPRI THEATER REOPENS Built in 1927, the Capri is the last of 13 theaters that once graced Minneapolis’ Northside. Improvements include new auditorium seats, more lobby space, an enlarged backstage, the Paradise Community Hall and a Best Buy Teen Tech Center. The theater retained its intimate feel and the original stage floor on which Prince performed his first gig as a solo artist. The gallery of Prince photos by Greg Helgeson is still on display as well as the works of other artists. Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan and others look on as Capri Director James Scott cuts the ceremonial ribbon announcing the Capri’s re-opening. Photo by Pat Carney
17,000 MORE POLICE KILLINGS EXPOSED New study reveals underreported deaths since 1980
By MSR News service
R
esearchers at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) found that in the U.S. between 1980 and 2018, over 17,000 deaths resulting from police violence were either incorrectly classified or unreported. Another way of stating it is that over half of the people killed by police between 1980 and 2019 were not included in official statistics pub-
lished by the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS). The IHME study, published in the British medical journal Lancet last week, underscores the crisis of police violence in the U.S. and reveals that Black people were even more disproportionately impacted than previously thought. The research provided one of the most thorough and comprehensive looks at the issue of police violence. It revealed what some have intrinsically known or at least suspected. The report also revealed that Blacks were three and half times more
likely to be victimized by police violence than Whites. “We have gotten push-back from the far-right groups saying it’s not that bad,” said Minneapolis resident Jim Handrigan. “But come to find out, it’s not just bad, but it’s worse than we first thought.” “This report asks what are we going to do to address this violence,” said Alexes Harris, professor of sociology at the University of Washington. “We can no longer hide behind the fact that we don’t have the numbers.” According to the report, deaths due to police violence of people who
are Black Non-Hispanic Americans were the most likely to go unrecorded in U.S. official statistics compared to other racial and ethnic groups Co-lead author of the study, Fablina Sharara, shared her theory on why police killings were underreported. “The same government responsible for this violence is also responsible for reporting on it,” she said. “Inaccurately reporting or misclassifying these deaths further obscures the larger issue of systemic racism that is embedded in many U.S. institutions, including law enforcement.” The authors, along with fellow
researchers from the University of Washington IHME in an article entitled “Ending Police Violence in America,” wrote that anti-police violence protests of 2020 prompted them to re-evaluate the accuracy of their previous estimates of police violence. “These changes were long overdue,” they wrote. “Since first publishing our findings as part of the Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) in 2012, we continually missed approximately half of all deaths from police violence in the U.S. by relying solely on NVSS data ■See POLICE on page 5
How the ‘KAEPERNICK EFFECT’ inspired a new generation By Charles Hallman Sports columnist
Courtesy of MGN
attention to racism and police brutality, but since then the now-former NFL quarMacalester College alums terback has been virtually Dave Zirin (Class of ’96) and banned from pro ball as a Jessie Hagopian (Class of ’01) result. “I don’t think Colin returned to campus last week Kaepernick at all had some and discussed the politics of master plan to do this,” said athletics and education. Zi- Zirin. A longtime sports editor rin’s latest book, “The Kaepernick Effort: Taking a Knee, of The Nation, Zirin is also Changing the World” (The a columnist for The ProgresNew Press), was released in sive and host of his Edge of Sports podcast. Zirin’s many September. Colin Kaepernick first books include “A People’s took a knee in 2016 to call History of Sports in the Unit-
ed States,” “Game Over” and “Bad Sports”. For anyone, especially athletes, taking a knee is a sign of respect. It isn’t unlawful, but since 2016, kneeling on one knee during the U.S. national anthem at sporting events has become for Black folk a clarion call on this country’s historical and present-day inequalities. However, for most non-Blacks it has been twisted totally into something else. According to Zirin, Kae-
pernick helped spark a new generation of young people clamoring for systemic change. “Colin Kaepernick’s great contributions in the struggle is that he will create a [protest] method to a generation of young athlete activists,” stressed Zirin. “He’s basically showed them that if you take a knee during the national anthem, you’re going to start a lot of conversations, and you’re going to upset all the right people.” ■See ZIRIN on page 5
School bus driver crisis forces quick fixes
Texas White extremist infiltrated George Floyd protests
R.B. King Contributing writer
By Niara Savage Contributing writer
Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) are currently facing a bus driver shortage. The shortage is part of a larger nationwide issue which has only gotten worse with the pandemic, when most schools transitioned to remote learning. Bus services have been forced to lay off many of their drivers, and some of those who were not laid off are now quitting voluntarily. The average age for most bus drivers is 56, and those who have quit have cited health concerns as a key reason, referring to overcrowded conditions and the fact that most children remain unvaccinated.
A Texas man who pleaded guilty on Sept. 30 to a federal riot charge admitted he traveled to Minneapolis last year amid unrest in the city to sow mayhem following the death of George Floyd. Ivan Harrison Hunter, 24, admitted in federal court that he traveled from the San Antonio area and fired 13 rounds from an AK-47-style semi-automatic rifle into the Minneapolis Police Department’s Third Precinct building on the night of May 28, 2020, while looters and rioters were thought to be inside. No one was struck by the gunfire. Footage taken that night shows that Hunter, after firing the shots, high-fived another
Union says MPS not paying drivers enough to keep them
Courtesy of MGN Some states have taken extraordinary steps to address the driver shortage. Massachusetts has deployed National Guardsmen to drive school buses, inspiring Ohio and South Carolina who both plan
to do the same. New York has started a large campaign to recruit drivers and Pennsylvania has implemented a transport reimbursement program to parents. New Jersey is do■See BUS on page 5
Admits to shooting up MPD Third Precinct person and said, “Justice for Floyd!” Following the riot, Hunter bragged about his contributions to the chaos on Face-
Ivan Harrison Hunter File photo book, writing, “I helped the community burn down that police station in Minneapolis.” Hunter is a self-proclaimed member of the “Boogaloo Bois,” a far-right, anti-government extremist group. Members of the
movement appeared at Black Lives Matter protests across the country in 2020 carrying weapons and wearing Hawaiian shirts and tactical gear. Boogaloers believe a second civil war, known as the “boogaloo” is imminent, and will result in the overthrow of what they believe to be a corrupt political system. Chauntyll Allen, founder of Black Lives Matter Twin Cities, said it’s not uncommon for “agents” to appear at racial justice protests and attempt to infiltrate the movement. Allen said about the demonstrations last year, “We knew there was going to be a bunch of agents or Boogaloo Bois, Proud Boys,” who would show up. Federal agents reviewed footage from the night, which showed an individual in a skull ■See EXTREMIST on page 5