nationalobserver--2020-06-05--An account of the first week in George Floyd uprising in Minneapolis

One week later , people from Louisville to Atlanta to Los Angeles to Syria to Paris to Japan and in hundreds of more cities across the country and world are mourning and honouring George Floyd , and Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery , and so many more .
Black people lost to police or vigilante violence .
His contributions to the world , his memories , his tragedies and his triumphs didn ’ t matter to Derek Chauvin , the white Minneapolis police officer who killed him by kneeling on Floyd ’ s neck for eight minutes as Floyd pleaded @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Chauvin ’ s co-workers looked on .
George Floyd moved to Minneapolis to seek a better life .
In the last week , we ’ ve come to learn that the 46-year-old Texan was a gentle giant and beloved son , brother and father ; a former star football and basketball player at Jack Yates High School in Houston , and a musician who played a key role in one of the great southern rap traditions .
Protesters marched northeast towards the intersection of Lake and Minehaha to the 3rd Police Precinct @ @ @ @ @ @ @ become the epicentre of the first three days of the uprising .
The first protests began as a memorial to George Floyd at the site of his death that Tuesday night .
The police have responded to demands for basic human rights with such repression that at least in the case of Minneapolis , the entire city has been upended .
We ’ ve been forced to confront the reality that no amount of conversations or incremental reforms , or conversations about incremental reform , will be able to make life free and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or anywhere else .
A Black man in a red and blue soccer jersey yelled at the cops assembled on the stairs of city hall : “ You think this is a protest ?
If you don ’ t charge , you ain ’ t seen a protest .
You ’ re going to get sick of me !
” I began with a group of friends at the Hennepin County Government Center .
A crowd of at least a few hundred stood on the plaza , as socially distanced as possible .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ a popular uprising , that a historic period of mass unemployment and disease undoubtedly helped fuel .
Fires , looting and property destruction began in the strip mall — potentially spurred by the infiltration of provocateurs and right-wing extremists — which houses what became the most infamous Target store in the world , and would spread along Lake Street in both directions : West into the Whittier and Uptown neighbourhoods of Minneapolis and east into the Midway neighbourhoods of St. Paul .
I wasn ’ t present that Tuesday or Wednesday , but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ground showed police antagonizing with a swiftness more intense than since I started attending Black Lives Matter protests , the first of which was in November 2014 , outside the same 3rd Precinct in Minneapolis .
Just down the block from the precinct where Chauvin worked was the club El Nuevo Rodeo .
Chauvin worked there part-time and would sit outside in his squad car off-duty .
Floyd worked inside as security .
They overlapped on their Tuesday night shifts .
The owner , Maya Santamaria , couldn ’ t say if they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s hard to believe they ’ d never met .
We marched northwest down 6th street until we were at Hennepin , one of the busiest thoroughfares of the city .
Waiting in the parking lot behind the 1st Police Precinct , between Augies Cabaret and the Gay 90 ’ s , was a phalanx of cops in riot gear .
One protester walked by in a shirt honouring the memory of Terrance Franklin , a 22-year-old Black man who the MPD killed in 2013 , in the same neighbourhood I lived @ @ @ @ @ @ @ guy in an Elizabeth Warren hat got right up in a cop ’ s face and yelled , “ If I said I can ’ t breathe , would you hear me ?
!
” A giant red , black and green Black Lives Matter flag in the front of the crowd swayed in the breeze .
Signs are more militant than in years past — Abolish The Police , Fuck 12 and ACAB are the dominant protest nomenclature now .
As I was acknowledging a friend — one part of protesting in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t seen since there was snow on the ground — four police SUVs rolled northeast down Hennepin , dropped their windows and sprayed mace on either side of the avenue , dispersing the protest in every direction .
Some protesters stayed and others inched northeast down Hennepin towards the public library .
An officer pulled back to toss a concussion grenade and some took cover behind a dumpster .
Rubber bullets , which I ’ ve learned to call less-lethal rounds , ringed against the dumpster and off the AC Hotels Marriott @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Eamon Whalen , freelance journalist , in Minneapolis on George Floyd protests WATCH : Eamon Whalen on what 's gone down in Minneapolis since the murder of George Floyd Two young Black protesters stepped around the corner of the dumpster and seconds later , were hit in the chest and knee with bright green marking rounds .
I edged closer to the corner near 4th Street and saw a young protester who had been maced asking friends for a tissue .
I crouched , took one from my backpack and turned to hand @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and it looked like a fog of tear gas had rolled in , sending protesters to retreat east down 4th Street .
Tear gas is a chemical weapon .
It hurts as you ’ d imagine a chemical weapon might .
If you find yourself in a protest and are tear gassed , you might lose your sight for a short time .
When you regain it , you should hope you ’ re in the presence of street medics , who mobilize out of thin air and retain a sense of calm @ @ @ @ @ @ @ next hour was spent lurking around downtown , sometimes with and sometimes separated from friends .
We saw more and more cops assemble — some in cars , some on bicycles , some on horseback and others walking in packs dressed in stormtrooper outfits .
“ You can light the ghetto on fire , but watch when you try to bring that shit downtown , ” said a man keeping watch in front of Seven , a fancy restaurant and nightclub where the Minnesota Timberwolves are known to have their post-game meals .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ towards the Target Center blasting YG and Nipsey Hussle ’ s anthem , Fuck Donald Trump .
A man walked out into the middle of the intersection and Crip-walked to the tune while he flipped the bird in the faces of at least 50 riot cops to cheers and “ Hit that shit , boy ” from onlookers .
Shortly after that , we heard that the 3rd Precinct had been breached and the police had retreated out of the area .
Shortly after that , the station was sacked and set on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ urban rebellion that a majority of Americans approved of , according to a recent Monmouth poll .
( Also , the majority of Americans supported calling in the National Guard , which is perhaps another conversation about Americans ’ all-over-the-place political opinions . )
As the University of Minnesota professor Aren Aizura speculated in The New Inquiry , a lot of the protesters probably attended South High School , which is just two blocks from the 3rd Precinct .
It is my alma mater .
The school newspaper is the first publication I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fire was not an option .
I walked through the crowds at the 3rd Precinct , which by 11 p.m. had to have numbered in the thousands .
Some were still going to town on the precinct .
Almost everyone was wearing a mask .
Several buildings in addition to the precinct were engulfed in flames .
Car tires screeched and motorcycle engines revved constantly .
Loud music was blasting out of different cars as they drove by with kids hanging out of the windows and poking out of the sunroofs .
It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but the atmosphere was actually calmer and more celebratory than I expected .
Mostly young , mostly Black and brown kids stood in front of the flames of the precinct flexing and posing .
It reminded me of the way hunters pose with big game .
Only if the hunters felt their prey had been trying to kill them their entire lives .
I met two longtime friends and we stood on the Hiawatha Avenue Bridge overhead watching the fire spread to the Arby ’ s we ’ d sometimes eat lunch at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t mourning .
There ’ s a profound sense of surreality involved with watching your teenage stomping grounds burn to the ground while the entire world watches .
You can either attempt to understand how someone would have to be treated in their life to go to that length , or you can make a facile condemnation .
Only one of those choices presents a route to a solution .
“ All of my formative years have been spent in this , ” said Alicia , a 23-year-old woman from North Minneapolis @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 3rd Precinct and an occupation at Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman ’ s house , where we met on Friday morning .
“ You see it happen in your community again and again and then they just dismiss it .
Then when everything went down with the Black officer that shot the white woman .
That cop is sitting in jail.
” She ’ s referring to the police killings of two Black men in 2015 and 2016 named Jamar Clark and Philando Castile when contrasted with the case of Justine Damond .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ shot while in her bathrobe a half mile from Freeman ’ s house in the well-off Lynnhurst neighbourhood of southwest Minneapolis .
Damond ’ s killer , a Somali man named Mohamed Noor is the only police officer who Freeman has charged in a police killing in his entire career .
The dynamics of the case are an uncanny mirror-image of a story Alicia and her generation have seen too many times before in the other direction .
“ We call it the Jim Crow North , ” said Sam Martinez , referring @ @ @ @ @ @ @ criminal justice system in Minnesota that rank among the widest in the nation .
Martinez is a member of the Twin Cities Coalition For Justice For Jamar , a group that came together during the 17-day occupation of the 4th Police Precinct in 2015 after the killing of a Black man in North Minneapolis named Jamar Clark by two white Minneapolis police officers .
“ We are where we are right now with this uprising ... because the killings haven ’ t stopped , ” he said .
“ You add the pandemic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and these lynchings we see of Black men like Ahmaud Arbery .
This has created a force of people that are just sick and tired of it.
” Friday at Freeman ’ s house was the first time out for Latasha Lee , of Minneapolis , who works at Children ’ s Hospital and felt a particular horror watching the footage of Floyd ’ s death as a medical professional .
“ I thought , check his pulse , do something !
When we hear ‘ I can ’ t breathe ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ help , ” said Lee , who moved to Minneapolis from Illinois a couple years ago .
“ People are outraged , and it ’ s not just Black people … Hmong people , Mexican people , white people .
We need to get something done.
” By Sunday , the public ’ s lack of confidence in Freeman was reflected by Gov .
Tim Walz , who turned the case of George Floyd over to Attorney General Keith Ellison .
A half hour before the first city-mandated curfew on Friday , Cup @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s death , was a sacred space , a mix of community memorial , rally and mutual aid centre .
I spotted almost a dozen places to get free food around the intersection .
The women serving gumbo were the most popular .
About a half dozen places offered free home goods .
Roy Ayers played and a chalkboard was set up asking the thousands of attendees coming to pay their respects to write down what a police-free future would look like .
Kendrick Benson , a youth and young adult minister at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ City , looked on at the new blue and gold mural of George Floyd surrounded by dozens of floral wreaths in every direction .
“ You can ’ t keep bullying somebody and bullying somebody and expect them not to react , ” said Benson , who wore a red bandana covering his face .
“ I can ’ t be mad at looting .
Cops take off their moral compass and they ’ re not held accountable for that .
Black people take off their moral compass , it ’ s like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people ever , you don ’ t know this is wrong ?
’ ” Benson was raised in Minneapolis and had returned during the pandemic to be with his family .
He had been in the streets since the first night and witnessed first hand the escalation by the MPD .
“ We have to be overly beyond reproach .
And we still get maced and tear gassed and sniped off the roof with rubber bullets , ” said Benson .
“ My skin was on fire last night , after multiple showers.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ but to continue protesting past the first curfew , the cause too important and the bond he had built with those in the streets too strong .
“ I didn ’ t have many friends before I got out there , but we were all family quick .
I don ’ t care who you were , everyone was looking out for each other , ” he said .
On Saturday morning at Pimento Jamaican Kitchen and Rum Bar in the Whittier neighborhood , volunteers formed a human assembly line to move boxes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to eventually be distributed throughout the city .
Loaves of bread and canned food lined the walls inside and volunteers sorted through toiletries and first-aid items ready to be sent out to checkpoints around the city where they would then be distributed to needy families across Minneapolis .
The restaurant and music venue had transformed into an ad hoc resource distribution centre overnight .
It began with a conversation between the bar ’ s events manager Scott McDonald and his friend Malcolm Wells , an educator .
“ We thought , what ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these stores are gone ?
I understand the unrest and why we need to burn it all to the ground , ” said McDonald as he directed new volunteers around the front of the restaurant .
“ They ’ re waging a war against us as Black men in America .
But there is always collateral damage in war .
We felt like it was our job to control that damage.
” Another Pimento manager named Clarence had been awake for the last 28 hours when I spoke with him , and kept @ @ @ @ @ @ @ go home and sleep .
“ We ’ re doing donations for people at the protest , but also for people who need food , people who need Pampers , milk , cereal .
It ’ s called a helping hand , ” said Clarence .
“ Since the coronavirus , everyone has had to sit in their house .
So you got people with attitudes now , you got people with anger now , you got people with hatred now , you got people that lost their jobs , you got people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ re going to pay their next bill or eat the next day .
A reason a lot of these stores are getting broken into , it ’ s not just the protesters , it ’ s people that ’ s hurting for money , or are just doing stupid stuff.
” The other reason Clarence had been up all night was that during the day on Friday , Pimento was tipped off to a possible threat from white supremacists .
By nightfall , they had assembled a community defence team of around @ @ @ @ @ @ @ protected not just Pimento , but the entire block on Eat Street , home to many restaurants and small businesses that are immigrant-owned .
“ There were cars full of white males driving around , but it ’ s not our job to put a title on the threat , ” said McDonald .
“ Any small threat is taken as a large threat .
The goods in this room were too important at this time to not take it seriously , ” he said .
“ We understand that looting and destruction @ @ @ @ @ @ @ us taking the initiative to protect our space , we decided to take care of everyone on the block.
” In the early hours of Saturday morning , Gov .
Tim Walz admitted that “ there are more of them than there are of us ” as it became clear that there was no containing the uprising .
A former command sergeant major himself , Walz announced the deployment of at least 10,000 National Guardsmen .
It was the first time in state history they had been activated .
Beyond the disheartening message @ @ @ @ @ @ @ into the city than simply charge all four officers ' responsible for the death of George Floyd , what wasn ’ t clear is who exactly the National Guard was coming to protect the city from .
The weekend was defined by the question of outside agitators .
Who truly was behind the looting and fires ?
How should people in the city properly assess the threat of the Boogaloo boys , the Three Percenters militia , the Klan and other right-wing extremists , agent provocateurs and mysterious groups of white men from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over the city ?
During the press conference , Walz established a narrative that once-righteous protests had been hijacked by far-left and far-right ideologues who were descending on the city by the thousands .
“ Let ’ s be very clear , the situation in Minneapolis is no longer in any way about the murder of George Floyd .
It is about attacking civil society , instilling fear and disrupting our great cities , ” he said .
The outside agitator is a convenient and old trope to downplay the anger and pain @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dismiss the possibility that some might ’ ve felt compelled to go beyond nonviolent tactics .
As protests with similar militancy broke out in hundreds of cities across the country over the week , mayors and governors have trotted out the same line as Walz .
That isn ’ t to dismiss the real threat of right-wing extremist infiltration , or outside vandals roving through the city attempting arson and vandalism , but to pay attention to what mayors and governors chose to emphasize and what they didn ’ t .
As Saturday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by white supremacists hit a fever pitch .
Block by block , neighbourhood by neighbourhood , in parks and front yards , Minneapolis residents came together to figure out plans to protect their communities .
Particularly threatened neighbourhoods like Little Earth , Cedar-Riverside and North — primarily Native American , Somali and Black areas — formed community-led neighbourhood patrols .
There were many reports of protesters and community patrols stopping suspected white supremacists from committing deliberate arson , lots of suspicious cars and threatening notes left at houses with Black Lives Matter signs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( or , very possibly local ) right-wing extremists or vandals should not take the heat off of law enforcement , who used the curfew as a way to further install a police state .
They made little distinction between the supposed agitators and the protesters , medics , journalists and Minneapolis residents who dared to stand on their front porch .
At a Sheraton Hotel on Lake Street that had become a sanctuary for over 100 unsheltered people , their security team was intimidated by suspected white supremacists and later boxed in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ clear in the 2020 protests compared to 2014-16 , is that aside from the public relations-motivated kneeling stunts , the police don ’ t even want to feign giving a shit about violating civil liberties and human rights .
If the Twin Cities is the “ Jim Crow North , ” then Minneapolis police union president Bob Kroll is Bull Connor .
Kroll has called Black Lives Matter a terrorist organization , has compared excessive force complaints to fouls in a basketball game and has documented ties to the white supremacist bike gang @ @ @ @ @ @ @ legislator and once Hennepin County sheriff Rich Stanek instituted a rule that allowed officers who lived outside city limits to work in Minneapolis .
Ninety-four per cent of the force now does so , making them as much of an occupying neocolonial force as in any city in America .
Fifty-eight per cent of use of force cases in Minneapolis happen to Black people , who make up 19 per cent of the city ’ s population .
Police Chief Medaria Arradondo was installed in 2017 on a commitment to reform the department @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he presides over has a lot more in common with their union boss than their chief .
On Sunday , Kroll wrote a letter to his members applauding their bravery and describing a situation in which he tried to subvert the governor with the help of Senate Republicans .
What Kroll may not realize is his men killing George Floyd , and the intense police repression of protests that followed , may be the icing on the cake that sinks his career and potentially lays the blueprint for his department ’ s eventual @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of community solidarity and aid in a vacuum of formal leadership and basic municipal services has a chance to build momentum behind the idea put forth by local police abolition groups Black Visions Collective , Reclaim the Block and MDP-150 over years : Defunding police and funding decarceral alternatives to safety , along with the social provisions that are known to prevent crime .
A Minneapolis organizer and artist who chose to remain anonymous offered me this quote reflecting on her experience over the weekend : “ I want to shout out our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's phone numbers for the first time in decades , let alone names .
Sharing ways to protect each other .
Our communities have changed.
” One of the next steps is to prevent neighbourhood patrols from reproducing the same problems as the police department , something MPR reporter Jon Collins speculated about on Twitter .
As the days and weeks go on , the narrative of the true nature of the uprising will continue to be contested and the severity of the outside agitation will be debated and hopefully sorted out safely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the protests violently , no matter how peaceful or not peaceful the protesters are .
The moments of silence for George Floyd will continue , but for the constant hum of helicopters , sirens , gunshots , unidentifiable booms and police radio static .
There could be more horrifying acts like we saw on Sunday night , when an oil tanker drove through a crowd of protesters .
We ’ re far from stillness in Minneapolis .
But on the front lines , especially past curfew , you ’ ll witness incomprehensible acts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ times , an uncontainable anger at the lack of humanity afforded to Black people in America .
The clarity of purpose , even amidst the utter messiness of the last week in Minneapolis , was best expressed by a young man hanging out of a car window travelling west down Lake Street as the first curfew set in on Friday night .
“ You can get all this back , ” he told reporter Niko Georgiades of the indispensable media collective Unicorn Riot , one of the best protest reporters of his generation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seeing his family again.
” You can ’ t take a census at a protest , but my own firsthand account is that the front lines have been disproportionately Black and brown youth , mostly unaffiliated with an official organization .
That should not go lost on anyone .
On Tuesday night , as I finished writing this dispatch , the Minneapolis School Board voted unanimously to terminate its contract with the Minneapolis Police Department , capping off years of organizing and activism primarily led by the youth criminalized by the school resource @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hallways .
It ’ s a first step .
But as the chant goes , until there is justice , there will be no peace .
The last week proved that we can count on that .
Let ’ s hope the city listens .

The police have responded to demands for basic human rights with such repression that at least in the case of Minneapolis, the entire city has been upended. We’ve been forced to confront the reality that no amount of conversations or incremental reforms, or conversations about incremental reform, will be able to make life free and livable for Black people, in Minnesota or anywhere else.
One week later, people from Louisville to Atlanta to Los Angeles to Syria to Paris to Japan and in hundreds of more cities across the country and world are mourning and honouring George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, and so many more. Black people lost to police or vigilante violence.
His contributions to the world, his memories, his tragedies and his triumphs didn’t matter to Derek Chauvin, the white Minneapolis police officer who killed him by kneeling on Floyd’s neck for eight minutes as Floyd pleaded for his life. And as three of Chauvin’s co-workers looked on.
George Floyd moved to Minneapolis to seek a better life. In the last week, we’ve come to learn that the 46-year-old Texan was a gentle giant and beloved son, brother and father; a former star football and basketball player at Jack Yates High School in Houston, and a musician who played a key role in one of the great southern rap traditions .
Protesters marched northeast towards the intersection of Lake and Minehaha to the 3rd Police Precinct and began a standoff that would eventually become the epicentre of the first three days of the uprising.
The first protests began as a memorial to George Floyd at the site of his death that Tuesday night.
By Wednesday, the protests grew into a popular uprising, that a historic period of mass unemployment and disease undoubtedly helped fuel. Fires, looting and property destruction began in the strip mall — potentially spurred by the infiltration of provocateurs and right-wing extremists — which houses what became the most infamous Target store in the world, and would spread along Lake Street in both directions: West into the Whittier and Uptown neighbourhoods of Minneapolis and east into the Midway neighbourhoods of St. Paul.
I wasn’t present that Tuesday or Wednesday, but social media feeds and reports from the ground showed police antagonizing with a swiftness more intense than since I started attending Black Lives Matter protests, the first of which was in November 2014, outside the same 3rd Precinct in Minneapolis.
Just down the block from the precinct where Chauvin worked was the club El Nuevo Rodeo. Chauvin worked there part-time and would sit outside in his squad car off-duty. Floyd worked inside as security. They overlapped on their Tuesday night shifts. The owner, Maya Santamaria, couldn’t say if they’d actually interacted, but it’s hard to believe they’d never met.
I began with a group of friends at the Hennepin County Government Center. A crowd of at least a few hundred stood on the plaza, as socially distanced as possible.
A Black man in a red and blue soccer jersey yelled at the cops assembled on the stairs of city hall: “You think this is a protest? If you don’t charge, you ain’t seen a protest. You’re going to get sick of me!”
A giant red, black and green Black Lives Matter flag in the front of the crowd swayed in the breeze. Signs are more militant than in years past — Abolish The Police, Fuck 12 and ACAB are the dominant protest nomenclature now.
One protester walked by in a shirt honouring the memory of Terrance Franklin, a 22-year-old Black man who the MPD killed in 2013, in the same neighbourhood I lived in at the time. A white guy in an Elizabeth Warren hat got right up in a cop’s face and yelled, “If I said I can’t breathe, would you hear me?!”
We marched northwest down 6th street until we were at Hennepin, one of the busiest thoroughfares of the city. Waiting in the parking lot behind the 1st Police Precinct, between Augies Cabaret and the Gay 90’s, was a phalanx of cops in riot gear.
As I was acknowledging a friend — one part of protesting in the pandemic is seeing friends you hadn’t seen since there was snow on the ground — four police SUVs rolled northeast down Hennepin, dropped their windows and sprayed mace on either side of the avenue, dispersing the protest in every direction.
Some protesters stayed and others inched northeast down Hennepin towards the public library.
An officer pulled back to toss a concussion grenade and some took cover behind a dumpster. Rubber bullets, which I’ve learned to call less-lethal rounds, ringed against the dumpster and off the AC Hotels Marriott sign above my head.
Video of Eamon Whalen, freelance journalist, in Minneapolis on George Floyd protests
WATCH: Eamon Whalen on what's gone down in Minneapolis since the murder of George Floyd
Two young Black protesters stepped around the corner of the dumpster and seconds later, were hit in the chest and knee with bright green marking rounds. I edged closer to the corner near 4th Street and saw a young protester who had been maced asking friends for a tissue. I crouched, took one from my backpack and turned to hand it to him.
I turned back and it looked like a fog of tear gas had rolled in, sending protesters to retreat east down 4th Street.
Tear gas is a chemical weapon. It hurts as you’d imagine a chemical weapon might. If you find yourself in a protest and are tear gassed, you might lose your sight for a short time. When you regain it, you should hope you’re in the presence of street medics, who mobilize out of thin air and retain a sense of calm and diligence that is heroic.
The next hour was spent lurking around downtown, sometimes with and sometimes separated from friends. We saw more and more cops assemble — some in cars, some on bicycles, some on horseback and others walking in packs dressed in stormtrooper outfits. “You can light the ghetto on fire, but watch when you try to bring that shit downtown,” said a man keeping watch in front of Seven, a fancy restaurant and nightclub where the Minnesota Timberwolves are known to have their post-game meals.
A car passed west down 7th Street towards the Target Center blasting YG and Nipsey Hussle’s anthem, Fuck Donald Trump. A man walked out into the middle of the intersection and Crip-walked to the tune while he flipped the bird in the faces of at least 50 riot cops to cheers and “Hit that shit, boy” from onlookers.
Shortly after that, we heard that the 3rd Precinct had been breached and the police had retreated out of the area. Shortly after that, the station was sacked and set on fire. A historically unprecedented act of urban rebellion that a majority of Americans approved of, according to a recent Monmouth poll. (Also, the majority of Americans supported calling in the National Guard, which is perhaps another conversation about Americans’ all-over-the-place political opinions.)
As the University of Minnesota professor Aren Aizura speculated in The New Inquiry, a lot of the protesters probably attended South High School, which is just two blocks from the 3rd Precinct. It is my alma mater. The school newspaper is the first publication I did journalism. Not going towards the fire was not an option.
I walked through the crowds at the 3rd Precinct, which by 11 p.m. had to have numbered in the thousands. Some were still going to town on the precinct. Almost everyone was wearing a mask.
Several buildings in addition to the precinct were engulfed in flames. Car tires screeched and motorcycle engines revved constantly. Loud music was blasting out of different cars as they drove by with kids hanging out of the windows and poking out of the sunroofs. It felt a bit like Mad Max, but the atmosphere was actually calmer and more celebratory than I expected.
Mostly young, mostly Black and brown kids stood in front of the flames of the precinct flexing and posing. It reminded me of the way hunters pose with big game. Only if the hunters felt their prey had been trying to kill them their entire lives.
I met two longtime friends and we stood on the Hiawatha Avenue Bridge overhead watching the fire spread to the Arby’s we’d sometimes eat lunch at over a decade ago.
We weren’t mourning. There’s a profound sense of surreality involved with watching your teenage stomping grounds burn to the ground while the entire world watches. You can either attempt to understand how someone would have to be treated in their life to go to that length, or you can make a facile condemnation. Only one of those choices presents a route to a solution.
“All of my formative years have been spent in this,” said Alicia, a 23-year-old woman from North Minneapolis who had been splitting time between the 3rd Precinct and an occupation at Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman’s house, where we met on Friday morning. “You see it happen in your community again and again and then they just dismiss it. Then when everything went down with the Black officer that shot the white woman. That cop is sitting in jail.”
She’s referring to the police killings of two Black men in 2015 and 2016 named Jamar Clark and Philando Castile when contrasted with the case of Justine Damond. Damond was an Australian woman who was shot while in her bathrobe a half mile from Freeman’s house in the well-off Lynnhurst neighbourhood of southwest Minneapolis. Damond’s killer, a Somali man named Mohamed Noor is the only police officer who Freeman has charged in a police killing in his entire career.
The dynamics of the case are an uncanny mirror-image of a story Alicia and her generation have seen too many times before in the other direction.
“We call it the Jim Crow North,” said Sam Martinez, referring to the disparities in wealth and the criminal justice system in Minnesota that rank among the widest in the nation.
Martinez is a member of the Twin Cities Coalition For Justice For Jamar, a group that came together during the 17-day occupation of the 4th Police Precinct in 2015 after the killing of a Black man in North Minneapolis named Jamar Clark by two white Minneapolis police officers. “We are where we are right now with this uprising ... because the killings haven’t stopped,” he said. “You add the pandemic, the economic crisis that has caused, and these lynchings we see of Black men like Ahmaud Arbery. This has created a force of people that are just sick and tired of it.”
Friday, May 29
Friday at Freeman’s house was the first time out for Latasha Lee, of Minneapolis, who works at Children’s Hospital and felt a particular horror watching the footage of Floyd’s death as a medical professional. “I thought, check his pulse, do something! When we hear ‘I can’t breathe’ in the hospital, we run and help,” said Lee, who moved to Minneapolis from Illinois a couple years ago. “People are outraged, and it’s not just Black people … Hmong people, Mexican people, white people. We need to get something done.”
By Sunday, the public’s lack of confidence in Freeman was reflected by Gov. Tim Walz, who turned the case of George Floyd over to Attorney General Keith Ellison.
A half hour before the first city-mandated curfew on Friday, Cup Foods, the scene of Floyd’s death, was a sacred space, a mix of community memorial, rally and mutual aid centre.
I spotted almost a dozen places to get free food around the intersection. The women serving gumbo were the most popular. About a half dozen places offered free home goods.
Roy Ayers played and a chalkboard was set up asking the thousands of attendees coming to pay their respects to write down what a police-free future would look like. Kendrick Benson, a youth and young adult minister at the Evergreen Baptist Church in New York City, looked on at the new blue and gold mural of George Floyd surrounded by dozens of floral wreaths in every direction.
“You can’t keep bullying somebody and bullying somebody and expect them not to react,” said Benson, who wore a red bandana covering his face. “I can’t be mad at looting.
Cops take off their moral compass and they’re not held accountable for that. Black people take off their moral compass, it’s like, ‘You are all the worst people ever, you don’t know this is wrong?’” Benson was raised in Minneapolis and had returned during the pandemic to be with his family. He had been in the streets since the first night and witnessed first hand the escalation by the MPD.
“We have to be overly beyond reproach. And we still get maced and tear gassed and sniped off the roof with rubber bullets,” said Benson. “My skin was on fire last night, after multiple showers.”
Benson felt he had no choice but to continue protesting past the first curfew, the cause too important and the bond he had built with those in the streets too strong. “I didn’t have many friends before I got out there, but we were all family quick. I don’t care who you were, everyone was looking out for each other,” he said.
Pimento Jamaican Kitchen in Minneapolis on May 30. Photo by Eamon Whalen
Saturday, May 30
On Saturday morning at Pimento Jamaican Kitchen and Rum Bar in the Whittier neighborhood, volunteers formed a human assembly line to move boxes of bottled water and other supplies outside to eventually be distributed throughout the city.
Loaves of bread and canned food lined the walls inside and volunteers sorted through toiletries and first-aid items ready to be sent out to checkpoints around the city where they would then be distributed to needy families across Minneapolis. The restaurant and music venue had transformed into an ad hoc resource distribution centre overnight.
It began with a conversation between the bar’s events manager Scott McDonald and his friend Malcolm Wells, an educator. “We thought, what’s going to happen when all of these stores are gone? I understand the unrest and why we need to burn it all to the ground,” said McDonald as he directed new volunteers around the front of the restaurant. “They’re waging a war against us as Black men in America. But there is always collateral damage in war. We felt like it was our job to control that damage.”
Another Pimento manager named Clarence had been awake for the last 28 hours when I spoke with him, and kept helping despite his co-workers pressuring him to go home and sleep.
“We’re doing donations for people at the protest, but also for people who need food, people who need Pampers, milk, cereal. It’s called a helping hand,” said Clarence. “Since the coronavirus, everyone has had to sit in their house.
So you got people with attitudes now, you got people with anger now, you got people with hatred now, you got people that lost their jobs, you got people who don’t know how they’re going to pay their next bill or eat the next day. A reason a lot of these stores are getting broken into, it’s not just the protesters, it’s people that’s hurting for money, or are just doing stupid stuff.”
The other reason Clarence had been up all night was that during the day on Friday, Pimento was tipped off to a possible threat from white supremacists.
By nightfall, they had assembled a community defence team of around 60 to 70 people who patrolled and protected not just Pimento, but the entire block on Eat Street, home to many restaurants and small businesses that are immigrant-owned.
“There were cars full of white males driving around, but it’s not our job to put a title on the threat,” said McDonald. “Any small threat is taken as a large threat.
The goods in this room were too important at this time to not take it seriously,” he said. “We understand that looting and destruction is like wildfire. So instead of us taking the initiative to protect our space, we decided to take care of everyone on the block.”
In the early hours of Saturday morning, Gov. Tim Walz admitted that “there are more of them than there are of us” as it became clear that there was no containing the uprising.
A former command sergeant major himself, Walz announced the deployment of at least 10,000 National Guardsmen. It was the first time in state history they had been activated. Beyond the disheartening message that the state would rather send soldiers into the city than simply charge all four officers' responsible for the death of George Floyd, what wasn’t clear is who exactly the National Guard was coming to protect the city from.
The weekend was defined by the question of outside agitators. Who truly was behind the looting and fires? How should people in the city properly assess the threat of the Boogaloo boys, the Three Percenters militia, the Klan and other right-wing extremists, agent provocateurs and mysterious groups of white men from out of town seen causing trouble all over the city?
During the press conference, Walz established a narrative that once-righteous protests had been hijacked by far-left and far-right ideologues who were descending on the city by the thousands. “Let’s be very clear, the situation in Minneapolis is no longer in any way about the murder of George Floyd. It is about attacking civil society, instilling fear and disrupting our great cities,” he said.
The outside agitator is a convenient and old trope to downplay the anger and pain of local Black residents, and to dismiss the possibility that some might’ve felt compelled to go beyond nonviolent tactics. As protests with similar militancy broke out in hundreds of cities across the country over the week, mayors and governors have trotted out the same line as Walz.
That isn’t to dismiss the real threat of right-wing extremist infiltration, or outside vandals roving through the city attempting arson and vandalism, but to pay attention to what mayors and governors chose to emphasize and what they didn’t.
As Saturday progressed, the spectre of an invasion by white supremacists hit a fever pitch. Block by block, neighbourhood by neighbourhood, in parks and front yards, Minneapolis residents came together to figure out plans to protect their communities.
Particularly threatened neighbourhoods like Little Earth, Cedar-Riverside and North — primarily Native American, Somali and Black areas — formed community-led neighbourhood patrols. There were many reports of protesters and community patrols stopping suspected white supremacists from committing deliberate arson, lots of suspicious cars and threatening notes left at houses with Black Lives Matter signs.
But even justified fear of out-of-town (or, very possibly local) right-wing extremists or vandals should not take the heat off of law enforcement, who used the curfew as a way to further install a police state. They made little distinction between the supposed agitators and the protesters, medics, journalists and Minneapolis residents who dared to stand on their front porch.
At a Sheraton Hotel on Lake Street that had become a sanctuary for over 100 unsheltered people, their security team was intimidated by suspected white supremacists and later boxed in by the police. What is most clear in the 2020 protests compared to 2014-16, is that aside from the public relations-motivated kneeling stunts, the police don’t even want to feign giving a shit about violating civil liberties and human rights.
If the Twin Cities is the “Jim Crow North,” then Minneapolis police union president Bob Kroll is Bull Connor. Kroll has called Black Lives Matter a terrorist organization, has compared excessive force complaints to fouls in a basketball game and has documented ties to the white supremacist bike gang City Heat.
In 1999, state legislator and once Hennepin County sheriff Rich Stanek instituted a rule that allowed officers who lived outside city limits to work in Minneapolis. Ninety-four per cent of the force now does so, making them as much of an occupying neocolonial force as in any city in America.
Fifty-eight per cent of use of force cases in Minneapolis happen to Black people, who make up 19 per cent of the city’s population. Police Chief Medaria Arradondo was installed in 2017 on a commitment to reform the department, but right now ,the force he presides over has a lot more in common with their union boss than their chief.
Sunday, May 31
On Sunday, Kroll wrote a letter to his members applauding their bravery and describing a situation in which he tried to subvert the governor with the help of Senate Republicans. What Kroll may not realize is his men killing George Floyd, and the intense police repression of protests that followed, may be the icing on the cake that sinks his career and potentially lays the blueprint for his department’s eventual undoing.
The Twin Cities’ demonstration of community solidarity and aid in a vacuum of formal leadership and basic municipal services has a chance to build momentum behind the idea put forth by local police abolition groups Black Visions Collective, Reclaim the Block and MDP-150 over years: Defunding police and funding decarceral alternatives to safety, along with the social provisions that are known to prevent crime.
A Minneapolis organizer and artist who chose to remain anonymous offered me this quote reflecting on her experience over the weekend: “I want to shout out our neighbourhood unity. Neighbours knowing each other's phone numbers for the first time in decades, let alone names. Sharing ways to protect each other. Our communities have changed.”
One of the next steps is to prevent neighbourhood patrols from reproducing the same problems as the police department, something MPR reporter Jon Collins speculated about on Twitter.
Thursday night standing on Hiawatha bridge, Lake Street and Hiawatha, Minneapolis. Photo by Eamon Whalen
Uprising continues
As the days and weeks go on, the narrative of the true nature of the uprising will continue to be contested and the severity of the outside agitation will be debated and hopefully sorted out safely. The police will continue to suppress the protests violently, no matter how peaceful or not peaceful the protesters are.
The moments of silence for George Floyd will continue, but for the constant hum of helicopters, sirens, gunshots, unidentifiable booms and police radio static. There could be more horrifying acts like we saw on Sunday night, when an oil tanker drove through a crowd of protesters.
We’re far from stillness in Minneapolis. But on the front lines, especially past curfew, you’ll witness incomprehensible acts of solidarity, bravery and, at times, an uncontainable anger at the lack of humanity afforded to Black people in America.
The clarity of purpose, even amidst the utter messiness of the last week in Minneapolis, was best expressed by a young man hanging out of a car window travelling west down Lake Street as the first curfew set in on Friday night. “You can get all this back,” he told reporter Niko Georgiades of the indispensable media collective Unicorn Riot, one of the best protest reporters of his generation. “But that man is never seeing his family again.”
You can’t take a census at a protest, but my own firsthand account is that the front lines have been disproportionately Black and brown youth, mostly unaffiliated with an official organization. That should not go lost on anyone.
Tuesday, June 2
On Tuesday night, as I finished writing this dispatch, the Minneapolis School Board voted unanimously to terminate its contract with the Minneapolis Police Department, capping off years of organizing and activism primarily led by the youth criminalized by the school resource officers who will no longer roam their hallways.
It’s a first step. But as the chant goes, until there is justice, there will be no peace.
The last week proved that we can count on that. Let’s hope the city listens.


nationalobserver--2020-06-04--Maren Costa and Tim Bray will be appearing on Conversations

Online shopping ?
Have you thought about what happens after fill your virtual shopping cart ?
Former Amazon employees Tim @ @ @ @ @ host Linda Solomon Wood to talk big tech , capitalism and their push for environmental @ @ @ @ @ Conversation *today* Thursday June 4th , 4pm PT / 7pm ET .
Register here .
@ @ @ @ @ Amazon Employees for Climate Justice , was fired after circulating a petition about health risks @ @ @ @ @ COVID-19 .
Not long after , Tim Bray resigned from his VP position in dismay @ @ @ @ @ behind `` the best job '' he 's ever had .
The two share their @ @ @ @ @ in our next Conversation .

Online shopping? Have you thought about what happens after fill your virtual shopping cart?
Former Amazon employees Tim Bray and Maren Costa join host Linda Solomon Wood to talk big tech, capitalism and their push for environmental justice in our next online Conversation *today* Thursday June 4th, 4pm PT / 7pm ET. Register here.
Costa, an organizer of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, was fired after circulating a petition about health risks for Amazon warehouse workers during COVID-19. Not long after, Tim Bray resigned from his VP position in dismay at Amazon's firing leaving behind "the best job" he's ever had. The two share their experiences and answer your questions in our next Conversation.
Both were deeply involved in publicizing and advocating for Amazon to become more environmentally sustainable and climate-friendly. This is a big important discussion. 4 p.m. PT / 7 p.m. ET Participants have the opportunity to submit questions during the talk.
Here's a good story about how Amazon treated warehouse employees during the peak of the COVID-19 crisis from The New York Times that provides context for today's conversation.


nationalobserver--2020-06-07--Protesters flood streets as anger, tributes for George Floyd continue

People of all colours , creeds , ages and walks of life flooded the national capital Saturday to vent their anger over the police killing of George Floyd , encountering two very different , larger-than-life symbols along the way — a study in political contrasts along a fractured America 's most active fault line .
`` Black Lives Matter '' — block letters as tall as the roadway is wide , stencilled by city workers in yellow traffic paint — jumps off the asphalt along the two blocks of 16th Street leading to Lafayette Square , ending just before the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ John 's Episcopal Church .
Steps across H Street , at the edge of a strip of pavement rechristened Black Lives Matter Plaza , a two-metre black steel fence , initially erected to keep protesters out of the park , snakes all the way around the entire White House complex and its adjacent buildings , fortified by concrete barriers for good measure .
Dannielle Brown stood at that juncture Saturday , the walled-off seat of presidential power behind her , and mourned .
`` He was a scholar and a baller , '' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , brandishing the framed football jersey of her son , Marquis Jayden Brown , who died in 2018 after an encounter with police — an encounter no one was there to capture on cellphone video .
• It ’ s time to call out denialism — on racism and on climate change • Calls to defund police grow , but Toronto 's mayor not buying in • Canada 's managed forests have turned into super-emitters , and 2018 set a record `` The camera was not rolling , '' Brown wailed .
`` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out here whose story has n't been told , there 's a whole lot of us out here right now in the nation 's capital who lost lives to police brutality .
We want change , and we want it now . ''
Americans are no strangers to that refrain , which in the past has tended to fade with the passage of time .
But a palpable sense that this time is different was evident Saturday , partly because of the fact that black men and women have n't been the only @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one was just the last straw , '' said Zion Raeburn , a 20-year-old black man who attends Suquehanna University in Selinsgrove , Penn .
`` All my life I 've been seeing this ; I was in middle school when Trayvon Martin was shot .
There 's been countless others since , and now I 'm a sophomore in college .
I could have been any of those people , '' he said .
`` A lot more white people are more informed now , and they 're out here .
They @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to be heard .
The American government has been known to ignore black voices . ''
People of all colours , creeds , ages and walks of life flooded the national capital on Saturday , June 6 , 2020 , to vent their anger over the police killing of George Floyd .
Protesters have been clogging city streets for more than a week , moved to action by the death of Floyd at the hands of police officers May 25 on a Minneapolis street .
And while the violence and looting that marred @ @ @ @ @ @ @ diminished , their numbers have not .
Huge crowds turned out in force in cities across the country Saturday , and in most cases the heavy law enforcement and military presence , a prominent feature in previous days , did not .
In Washington , the soldiers and riot squads that spent much of the week in imposing formations in and around Lafayette Square were nowhere to be seen .
By mid-afternoon , D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser 's all-caps roadway tribute had also vanished under the feet of the massive crowds on 16th @ @ @ @ @ @ @ DJs with laptops plugged into portable generators and merchants hawking T-shirts and face masks gave the day a carnival feel .
Separate , heaving masses of people also spent part of the day crowded at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial and marched defiantly along on the streets surrounding Capitol Hill , with police doing little beyond clearing the streets of vehicles to give the protesters room to pass .
`` We 'll be out here for as long as it takes — as long as it takes , '' said Adele McClure @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and executive director of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus .
Even from behind her white cloth face mask , adorned with the words `` Stop Killing Us '' in black marker , McClure 's frustration and determination was clear as she spelled out her reasons for persisting .
`` We 're tired , we 're angry ... Every single time we see a murder , we see our brothers , we see our uncles , we see our fathers — we see everybody in those murders .
So we 're done , '' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over the gospel music blasting from a nearby amplifier .
It 's not just police brutality , McClure added — deep-seated institutional racism has deep roots in the U.S. , and has been holding back African-American communities and other people of colour for centuries .
`` As long as it takes , we 're going to continue to put the pressure on and make sure that we fix and dismantle these systems . ''
Floyd spent the last eight minutes of his life lying on the pavement , the knee of former Minneapolis @ @ @ @ @ @ @ neck , after being arrested for allegedly trying to use a counterfeit $ 20 bill .
Chauvin now faces a charge of second-degree murder and manslaughter , while the other three ex-officers involved — Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng helped restrain Floyd , while Tou Thao stood nearby — are charged with aiding and abetting the murder and manslaughter counts .
Those upgraded charges have done little to quell the public momentum .
`` We heard that today was going to be one of the bigger days , '' said Serena Lecroy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sister Grace from Annapolis , Md.
, to attend Saturday 's event .
`` Our parents were a little bit worried about the safety of being out here in such a large crowd , and obviously the virus as well .
But we figured it 's time , we got to get out here . ''
The sisters , both Caucasian , agreed it falls to them and others to carry forward America 's black anger to make sure that this time , it results in change .
Education and information — with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — are a vital part of that effort , they agreed .
The diminished incidence of violence , vandalism and looting after dark will also make it possible for people to keep up the pressure , Lacroy noted .
`` I think that 's what we 're seeing today too , I think because it 's become less violent , people have decided to start getting out and showing up . ''
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 6 , 2020 .

People of all colours, creeds, ages and walks of life flooded the national capital Saturday to vent their anger over the police killing of George Floyd, encountering two very different, larger-than-life symbols along the way — a study in political contrasts along a fractured America's most active fault line. "Black Lives Matter" — block letters as tall as the roadway is wide, stencilled by city workers in yellow traffic paint — jumps off the asphalt along the two blocks of 16th Street leading to Lafayette Square, ending just before the faded pastel facade of the boarded-up St. John's Episcopal Church. Steps across H Street, at the edge of a strip of pavement rechristened Black Lives Matter Plaza, a two-metre black steel fence, initially erected to keep protesters out of the park, snakes all the way around the entire White House complex and its adjacent buildings, fortified by concrete barriers for good measure. Dannielle Brown stood at that juncture Saturday, the walled-off seat of presidential power behind her, and mourned. "He was a scholar and a baller," she shouted to anyone who would listen, brandishing the framed football jersey of her son, Marquis Jayden Brown, who died in 2018 after an encounter with police — an encounter no one was there to capture on cellphone video.
"The camera was not rolling," Brown wailed. "There's a whole lot of us out here whose story hasn't been told, there's a whole lot of us out here right now in the nation's capital who lost lives to police brutality. We want change, and we want it now." Billion-dollar land deals in Ontario raise corruption suspicions Americans are no strangers to that refrain, which in the past has tended to fade with the passage of time. But a palpable sense that this time is different was evident Saturday, partly because of the fact that black men and women haven't been the only people on the streets.
"This one was just the last straw," said Zion Raeburn, a 20-year-old black man who attends Suquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Penn. People of all colours, creeds, ages and walks of life flooded the national capital on Saturday, June 6, 2020, to vent their anger over the police killing of George Floyd. "All my life I've been seeing this; I was in middle school when Trayvon Martin was shot. There's been countless others since, and now I'm a sophomore in college. I could have been any of those people," he said. "A lot more white people are more informed now, and they're out here. They're the voices that are really going to be heard. The American government has been known to ignore black voices." Protesters have been clogging city streets for more than a week, moved to action by the death of Floyd at the hands of police officers May 25 on a Minneapolis street. And while the violence and looting that marred the earliest days of the protests has diminished, their numbers have not. Huge crowds turned out in force in cities across the country Saturday, and in most cases the heavy law enforcement and military presence, a prominent feature in previous days, did not. In Washington, the soldiers and riot squads that spent much of the week in imposing formations in and around Lafayette Square were nowhere to be seen.
By mid-afternoon, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser's all-caps roadway tribute had also vanished under the feet of the massive crowds on 16th Street, where street performers, roving DJs with laptops plugged into portable generators and merchants hawking T-shirts and face masks gave the day a carnival feel. Separate, heaving masses of people also spent part of the day crowded at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial and marched defiantly along on the streets surrounding Capitol Hill, with police doing little beyond clearing the streets of vehicles to give the protesters room to pass. "We'll be out here for as long as it takes — as long as it takes," said Adele McClure, 31, a lifelong social activist and executive director of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus.


nationalobserver--2020-06-07--Pandemic lawsuits could tie up courts for years

Lawsuits involving seniors homes , airlines , universities and ticket providers affected by COVID-19 could tie up Canadian courts for years , says a litigation lawyer .
Michael Smith , a partner at the Bennett Jones law firm in Toronto , says it has been tracking all proposed class-action claims related to the pandemic .
From the end of March to June 1 , the firm recorded 19 such lawsuits across Canada , including eight against long-term care facilities .
`` We 're going to see more and more claims like that mature as the COVID crisis continues , '' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have such a human element and the issue can be humanized so easily in our minds . ''
Calgary lawyer Clint Docken has filed a lawsuit against Calgary 's McKenzie Towne Long Term Care centre , where 19 residents have so far died from COVID-19 .
He says a class action has been filed against all Ontario homes owned by Revera , the company that also runs McKenzie Towne , but he is focusing on just the Calgary location .
Lawsuits involving seniors homes , airlines , universities and ticket providers affected by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ years , says a litigation lawyer .
`` The reason we 've shied away from that is we 're not sure it was a common experience . ''
Docken is also in the early stages of a lawsuit involving the Cargill meat-packing plant at High River , Alta.
, the site of one of Canada 's worst COVID-19 outbreaks .
More than 900 employees tested positive for the virus and two workers died .
Docken was previously involved in class actions against Maple Leaf for a deadly listeriosis outbreak in 2008 and against @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in 2012 lead to the largest food recall in Canadian history .
`` It 's the conditions in the plants .
In Maple Leaf it was the sanitary condition in the plant and in XL Foods it was the sanitary condition in the plant , '' he said.. `` In a sense , ( Cargill ) is another sanitary condition in a plant lawsuit .
These plants are cesspools . ''
Michael Hughes , a spokesman for the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 401 , which represents workers at Cargill , says @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and outside Alberta about a lawsuit `` to try and make whole our members at Cargill who suffered as a result of the outbreak . ''
Other COVID-19 lawsuits involve airline travellers refused fare refunds , businesses looking for compensation against insurance companies not paying interruption insurance , and university students who want partial tuition refunds due to a shortened school year .
There 's also a class action against Ticketmaster for its refusal to issue refunds for events that have been postponed or rescheduled due to the pandemic .
The health crisis @ @ @ @ @ @ @ industries , said Smith .

Lawsuits involving seniors homes, airlines, universities and ticket providers affected by COVID-19 could tie up Canadian courts for years, says a litigation lawyer. Michael Smith, a partner at the Bennett Jones law firm in Toronto, says it has been tracking all proposed class-action claims related to the pandemic. From the end of March to June 1, the firm recorded 19 such lawsuits across Canada, including eight against long-term care facilities. "What you find with COVID is the breadth of the sectors it touches," Smith said in an interview. "You're seeing many industry sectors affected simultaneously. We will have COVID-related cases in the courts for many years."
"We're going to see more and more claims like that mature as the COVID crisis continues," says Smith. "It really does have such a human element and the issue can be humanized so easily in our minds." Lawsuits involving seniors homes, airlines, universities and ticket providers affected by COVID-19 could tie up Canadian courts for years, says a litigation lawyer. Calgary lawyer Clint Docken has filed a lawsuit against Calgary's McKenzie Towne Long Term Care centre, where 19 residents have so far died from COVID-19. He says a class action has been filed against all Ontario homes owned by Revera, the company that also runs McKenzie Towne, but he is focusing on just the Calgary location. "The reason we've shied away from that is we're not sure it was a common experience." Docken is also in the early stages of a lawsuit involving the Cargill meat-packing plant at High River, Alta., the site of one of Canada's worst COVID-19 outbreaks. More than 900 employees tested positive for the virus and two workers died.
Docken was previously involved in class actions against Maple Leaf for a deadly listeriosis outbreak in 2008 and against XL Foods after an E. coli outbreak in 2012 lead to the largest food recall in Canadian history. "It's the conditions in the plants. In Maple Leaf it was the sanitary condition in the plant and in XL Foods it was the sanitary condition in the plant," he said.. "In a sense, (Cargill) is another sanitary condition in a plant lawsuit. These plants are cesspools."


nationalobserver--2020-06-07--Northern men connect together through Zoom

No longer able to meet face to face amid the ongoing pandemic , a men ’ s support and empowerment group is logging onto the next best thing to continue providing what has proven to be a crucial service .
“ It ’ s helped me realize I ’ m not all alone in all of this , ” Ryan Veteri said of Men of the North .
“ Men are suffering with depression and anxiety and they ’ re not being treated .
They ’ re not seeing counsellors and they ’ re feeling like they have to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time.
” Men of the North has helped La Ronge NAPA manager Ryan Veteri to cope with the loss of a close friend who died by suicide in 2019 .
Photograph courtesy of Ryan Veteri .
Men of the North is founded by Christopher Merasty .
Part of the group ’ s mandate is to help build a healthy community by supporting positive masculinity , support and healing among men .
Veteri has been with the group since its early days .
• It ’ s time to call out denialism — on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to defund police grow , but Toronto 's mayor not buying in • Canada 's managed forests have turned into super-emitters , and 2018 set a record “ We ’ re trying to get rid of the stigma that as a man , you can ’ t cry , you can ’ t talk about stuff — buckle down , because this is what you do when you ’ re a man , ” he said .
Before getting involved , Merasty said , participants didn ’ t realize just how common their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these gentlemen come in with the mindset , ‘ Nobody ’ s going through what I ’ m going through , ’ ” he said .
“ Then they sit down at the table and they start listening to some of the stories that some of these gentlemen have and they go , ‘ Oh wow , that guy ’ s going through what I ’ m going through.
’ ” Men of the North founder Christopher Merasty shifted focus to supporting the community during the pandemic .
Here he is with donations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Merasty also works on the production team at Cameco 's Cigar Lake mine .
Photograph courtesy of Christopher Merasty .
Since the pandemic hit , Men of the North has been focused on helping the community pull through .
They worked with the Lac La Ronge Indian Band ’ s delivery service and then expanded into the surrounding communities as well , distributing COVID-19 relief in the area .
Realizing the pandemic would be a long-term issue , Men of the North moved to an online format through group Zoom meetings .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and they ’ re not being treated .
They ’ re not seeing counsellors and they ’ re feeling like they have to be in this all alone , all the time , ” Ryan Veteri .
Merasty said moving regular meetings online has had its challenges — some people don ’ t have internet access , or a device to connect with .
Those that do might not be as comfortable connecting through a screen .
“ Before COVID , we had 15 strong men that knew each other like the back @ @ @ @ @ @ @ talking to each other and bringing up any struggles or issues , ” he said .
The group is making it work .
And for those who can ’ t get online , the group has developed a network over the phone .
“ Even today , if I phone up one of these guys and say I need somebody to talk to , they ’ ll drop whatever they ’ re doing and they ’ ll pick up the phone .
‘ OK , let ’ s talk , ’ ” Merasty @ @ @ @ @ @ @ North will likely continue to use the online method once the pandemic is over for people who need to connect from a distance , to continue doing the crucial work the group does toward getting men to connect and share information .
“ The key thing to remember about Men of the North is it ’ s a judgment-free zone , ” said Dalton Rogers , who got involved with the group after moving to La Ronge , Sask.
, from Ontario last year .
“ You just have to show up ... @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bad days and that ’ s the key .
If you ’ re having a bad day and you ’ re coping poorly and you ’ re beating yourself up mentally , it ’ s just good to have the group here to support you , ” Rogers said .
He said the mutual-aid focus of the organization helps men feel more comfortable opening up with one another in a non-clinical environment , and feel more comfortable getting help when they do need it .
“ While we do have mental-health professionals who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aim .
It ’ s to provide support and hopefully redirect people who are in quite dire situations to the right resources , ” Rogers said .
Veteri said meeting Merasty and helping develop Men of the North brought him out of a dark place .
“ I ’ ve been struggling with depression since summer of 2019 .
My friend Bryce ( took his own life ) on the highway by vehicle and that ’ s basically what pushed me over the edge , ” Veteri said .
“ By the time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , I was a complete mess .
I couldn ’ t stop crying and I was laying in bed and it was nothing but sadness for Ryan.
” That ’ s when Veteri heard about Merasty ’ s initiative and decided to get involved and move his life forward in a positive way .
“ I struggled with taking my life .
I had to surrender my firearms and stuff like that .
I am on medication and seeing a counsellor as well .
I heard about the group and I ’ m @ @ @ @ @ @ @ then I heard about Men of the North , ” Veteri said .
Men of the North help with the Lac La Ronge Indian Band pandemic response effort .
Photograph courtesy of Ryan Veteri .
Participants discuss issues around a chosen topic .
During the pandemic , they have focused on isolation and feelings of uncertainty around employment or health .
“ There ’ s a lot of people worried about keeping their jobs once we have pulled through this pandemic , and struggling with loneliness , ” Merasty said .
In the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ strong foundation of trust , the hope is to address more difficult topics , such as the residential school system .
“ These are topics that people need to talk about , but they don ’ t because it opens up a lot of wounds .
So once we get the support in place , with addictions counsellors in the meeting and elders attending the meeting again , we ’ ll be able to touch on those areas , ” Merasty said .
`` Men of the North will continue moving forward ... @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we possibly can to support and strengthen the men in our community today for a stronger tomorrow . ''
Men of the North is working on a website .
In the meantime , they can be contacted through email at [ email protected ] or their Facebook page .
If you are or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts , help is available at all hours .
Support can be found at the Canada Suicide Prevention Service website .
If in immediate danger you can call 9-1-1 .

No longer able to meet face to face amid the ongoing pandemic, a men’s support and empowerment group is logging onto the next best thing to continue providing what has proven to be a crucial service. “It’s helped me realize I’m not all alone in all of this,” Ryan Veteri said of Men of the North. “Men are suffering with depression and anxiety and they’re not being treated. They’re not seeing counsellors and they’re feeling like they have to be in this all alone, all the time.” Men of the North has helped La Ronge NAPA manager Ryan Veteri to cope with the loss of a close friend who died by suicide in 2019. Photograph courtesy of Ryan Veteri. Men of the North is founded by Christopher Merasty. Part of the group’s mandate is to help build a healthy community by supporting positive masculinity, support and healing among men. Veteri has been with the group since its early days.
“We’re trying to get rid of the stigma that as a man, you can’t cry, you can’t talk about stuff — buckle down, because this is what you do when you’re a man,” he said. Before getting involved, Merasty said, participants didn’t realize just how common their issues were. Billion-dollar land deals in Ontario raise corruption suspicions “A lot of these gentlemen come in with the mindset, ‘Nobody’s going through what I’m going through,’” he said. “Then they sit down at the table and they start listening to some of the stories that some of these gentlemen have and they go, ‘Oh wow, that guy’s going through what I’m going through.’”
Men of the North founder Christopher Merasty shifted focus to supporting the community during the pandemic. Here he is with donations for children made through relief funding. Merasty also works on the production team at Cameco's Cigar Lake uranium mine. Photograph courtesy of Christopher Merasty. Since the pandemic hit, Men of the North has been focused on helping the community pull through. They worked with the Lac La Ronge Indian Band’s delivery service and then expanded into the surrounding communities as well, distributing COVID-19 relief in the area. “Men are suffering with depression and anxiety and they’re not being treated. They’re not seeing counsellors and they’re feeling like they have to be in this all alone, all the time,” Ryan Veteri. Realizing the pandemic would be a long-term issue, Men of the North moved to an online format through group Zoom meetings. Merasty said moving regular meetings online has had its challenges — some people don’t have internet access, or a device to connect with. Those that do might not be as comfortable connecting through a screen. “Before COVID, we had 15 strong men that knew each other like the back of their hand, that were comfortable talking to each other and bringing up any struggles or issues,” he said.
The group is making it work. And for those who can’t get online, the group has developed a network over the phone. “Even today, if I phone up one of these guys and say I need somebody to talk to, they’ll drop whatever they’re doing and they’ll pick up the phone. ‘OK, let’s talk,’” Merasty said. He said Men of the North will likely continue to use the online method once the pandemic is over for people who need to connect from a distance, to continue doing the crucial work the group does toward getting men to connect and share information.


nationalobserver--2020-06-08--I wonder who will march with Indigenous Peoples?

But , seeing a revered First Nations leader in this condition via the hands of law enforcement was a new and higher level of distressing .
I was already feeling unsteady from the chaos unfolding in our world .
For me that chaos includes the constant adversity faced by Indigenous Peoples that I report on .
When I saw the picture of Athabasca Chipewyan First Nations Chief Allan Adam , his face half swollen , his skin bruised purple , and blood dripping down onto his collar , I was gutted .
A video released by Beresh shows a chaotic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hours of the morning .
Adam , his wife were leaving a Casino in Fort McMurray .
They were in Adam ’ s parked truck waiting for a friend .
Adam ’ s wife was in the driver ’ s seat .
That ’ s when she saw the police car behind their vehicle .
“ It sure sounds to me like the $ 20 bill in Minneapolis .
Over a $ 300 ( expired license ) fine ?
” Adam ’ s lawyer Brian Beresh said at a press conference on Saturday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mail article published Friday he was beaten up and arrested by RCMP in Fort McMurray last March .
This is the kind of violence used on a First Nations leader , because the license plate on his truck had expired .
Then he said someone was pounding on his back ; he felt a knee on top of his body .
“ I dropped to my knees and slowly I could feel like I was going unconscious .
Blood was gushing out of my mouth .
I remembered hearing ‘ don ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unconscious , ” recalled Adam .
Adam said he was “ clothes lined , ” beaten and arrested after trying to protect his wife Freda from what he perceived as a threat from the RCMP when an officer reached into the car to try to turn off the engine .
There are red and blue lights flashing , screaming , and cursing heard on the video of that night .
The police approached their vehicle because of an expired license plate .
On the surface , a simple enough traffic check .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ended .
Adam lived through his own personal abuse from the Colonial system .
He is a residential school survivor .
The evils of that system is something thousands of Indigenous Peoples are still healing from .
Adam and his ancestors have called the area north of Fort McMurray home since the beginning of time .
The K ’ ai Taile Dene meaning “ people of the land of the willow , ” have endured centuries of threats to their traditions and their territory .
Despite the odds , many still practice a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rip from them .
And still , the traditional people , even the Chief , are treated like trespassers in their own territories .
The March incident reflects , both real and symbolic , how Canada is beating up and disrespecting the First Peoples of this land .
It is not a story about one territory .
It is not a story about one community .
At the press conference on Saturday Treaty 8 Grand Chief Arthur Noskey ’ s voice broke when he said he doubted the incident would have happened if @ @ @ @ @ @ @ If it were different , a town mayor or an MLA on a Friday night , they ( police ) would say ‘ OK sir , so we ’ ll renew your registration on Monday ?
” His words are true .
There ’ s an embedded culture of racism within the justice system , especially to Indigenous men and women .
Chief Adam was undoubtedly treated this way because he is First Nations .
The systemic racism here runs deep-it ’ s in every facet of society .
In case you need @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a colonial state , it was designed to conquer and oppress Indigenous Peoples from the get go .
The justice system , educational , institutional , industrial , corporate , healthcare , child welfare , employment systems are so deeply engrained with racism that it ’ s become the norm for mainstream .
Most people don ’ t even know it 's there .
Unless they pay attention .
Prime Minister Trudeau took a knee in Ottawa on Friday at a demonstration in response to the death of George Floyd who was murdered @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Floyd ’ s death sparked unrelenting protests , in the United States and around the world , of people decrying racism and injustice .
When I watched Trudeau take a knee I wondered , could he really be sincere ?
How could he be kneeling in solidarity for racial injustice while Canada continues to oppress Indigenous Peoples ?
Trudeau has said countless times how the relationship between Canada and Indigenous Peoples is his number one priority .
I think his number one priority is buying a multi-billion dollar pipeline then leaving First Nations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ maintain their survival .
Actions prove intentions , not just words of redundant promises .
His government could have used some of those billions of dollars to remedy countless Indigenous inequities .
He could have made significant compensation for and recognition of the land and resources Canada stole from the First Peoples .
The innumerable stolen resources that made this nation rich broke the spirits , but not the resilience of Indigenous Peoples .
And yet Canada now blames Indigenous people for the poverty caused by those stolen riches .
There seems to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of either an Indigenous woman going missing or murdered , Indigenous People killed by law enforcement , death from racism , dead from suicide , discrimination , lack of clean water , children being stolen in mass numbers from their parents and made wards of the government , living in poverty , and struggling with every kind of adversity statistics keep track of .
I see the solidarity of people showing up for the Black Lives Matter movement .
It 's inspiring .
But where are those same people who are swarming in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when it comes to equal rights for Indigenous Peoples ?
Do Canadians understand the severity of the crisis of racism here and how it ’ s killing our people at higher rates than any other ethnicity ?
Is this the moment Canada will finally notice what ’ s happening with the oppression of Indigenous here ?
Our ancestors signed Treaties with the colonial founders of Canada , Treaties that were made in friendship , to care for and share the lands together for as long as the grass grows and the rivers flow @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Treaties long ago .
Now it ’ s beating our Peoples in thanks .
My inboxes are flooded with stories and notes from families and loved ones of Indigenous Peoples killed or abused by law enforcement or racism .
When I read some of their desperate pleas to help them , it feels like I can ’ t breathe .
It ’ s overwhelming .
It ’ s not something one person can do alone .
Chief Adam said he shared his story to be a voice for those who don ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a voice is the norm for Indigenous Peoples .
Chief Adam said “ this stops now ” .
I wonder who will march with Indigenous Peoples ?
I wonder if there will be the solidarity for this injustice that we are seeing for another .
The answers don ’ t all lie within governments and it ’ s institutions .
Much of the power to make change is within the hearts and will of the people in this country .
I hope this is a turning point for Canadians to look within for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they do something about it .
One thing that stays constant-our people are forgiving .
Our people are strong .
Our people are resilient .
Stand with Indigenous or not , we will rise up and above .
We already have .
This is the time to be heard .
This is the time for justice .
“ Be aware that you ’ re being put on notice ( stated Adam to police ) ” But to his fellow Indigenous brothers and sisters he said , “ Stay strong ... Be vigilant , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can ’ t continue going on and it has to stop .
”

Adam revealed through a Globe and Mail article published Friday he was beaten up and arrested by RCMP in Fort McMurray last March.
But, seeing a revered First Nations leader in this condition via the hands of law enforcement was a new and higher level of distressing.
I was already feeling unsteady from the chaos unfolding in our world. For me that chaos includes the constant adversity faced by Indigenous Peoples that I report on.
When I saw the picture of Athabasca Chipewyan First Nations Chief Allan Adam, his face half swollen, his skin bruised purple, and blood dripping down onto his collar, I was gutted.
A video released by Beresh shows a chaotic scene unfolding in the dark, wee hours of the morning. Adam, his wife were leaving a Casino in Fort McMurray. They were in Adam’s parked truck waiting for a friend. Adam’s wife was in the driver’s seat. That’s when she saw the police car behind their vehicle.
“It sure sounds to me like the $20 bill in Minneapolis. Over a $300 (expired license) fine?” Adam’s lawyer Brian Beresh said at a press conference on Saturday.
Adam said he was “clothes lined,” beaten and arrested after trying to protect his wife Freda from what he perceived as a threat from the RCMP when an officer reached into the car to try to turn off the engine.
There are red and blue lights flashing, screaming, and cursing heard on the video of that night.
The police approached their vehicle because of an expired license plate. On the surface, a simple enough traffic check. But that’s where the normal part ended.
“I dropped to my knees and slowly I could feel like I was going unconscious. Blood was gushing out of my mouth. I remembered hearing ‘don’t pass out, don’t go unconscious,” recalled Adam.
Then he said someone was pounding on his back; he felt a knee on top of his body.
This is the kind of violence used on a First Nations leader, because the license plate on his truck had expired.
Adam was charged with resisting arrest and assaulting police in the execution of duty.
Video of Video taken during the arrest of Athabasca Chipewyan First Nations Chief Allan Adam
Video courtesy of Athabasca Tribal Council Office.
(This video contains language that may be offensive to some.)
A case of systemic racism
Adam and his ancestors have called the area north of Fort McMurray home since the beginning of time. The K’ai Taile Dene meaning “people of the land of the willow,” have endured centuries of threats to their traditions and their territory.
Adam lived through his own personal abuse from the Colonial system. He is a residential school survivor. The evils of that system is something thousands of Indigenous Peoples are still healing from.
Despite the odds, many still practice a traditional way of life colonization tried to rip from them. And still, the traditional people, even the Chief, are treated like trespassers in their own territories. The March incident reflects, both real and symbolic, how Canada is beating up and disrespecting the First Peoples of this land.
It is not a story about one territory. It is not a story about one community. At the press conference on Saturday Treaty 8 Grand Chief Arthur Noskey’s voice broke when he said he doubted the incident would have happened if Adam was a white leader. “If it were different, a town mayor or an MLA on a Friday night, they (police) would say ‘OK sir, so we’ll renew your registration on Monday?”
His words are true. There’s an embedded culture of racism within the justice system, especially to Indigenous men and women. Chief Adam was undoubtedly treated this way because he is First Nations.
The systemic racism here runs deep-it’s in every facet of society. In case you need a brief history lesson, Canada is a colonial state, it was designed to conquer and oppress Indigenous Peoples from the get go. The justice system, educational, institutional, industrial, corporate, healthcare, child welfare, employment systems are so deeply engrained with racism that it’s become the norm for mainstream. Most people don’t even know it's there. Unless they pay attention.
Prime Minister Trudeau took a knee in Ottawa on Friday at a demonstration in response to the death of George Floyd who was murdered by police in Minneapolis, MN. Floyd’s death sparked unrelenting protests, in the United States and around the world, of people decrying racism and injustice.
When I watched Trudeau take a knee I wondered, could he really be sincere? How could he be kneeling in solidarity for racial injustice while Canada continues to oppress Indigenous Peoples?
Trudeau has said countless times how the relationship between Canada and Indigenous Peoples is his number one priority.
I think his number one priority is buying a multi-billion dollar pipeline then leaving First Nations, Inuit and Metis with scraps to maintain their survival. Actions prove intentions, not just words of redundant promises.
His government could have used some of those billions of dollars to remedy countless Indigenous inequities. He could have made significant compensation for and recognition of the land and resources Canada stole from the First Peoples. The innumerable stolen resources that made this nation rich broke the spirits, but not the resilience of Indigenous Peoples. And yet Canada now blames Indigenous people for the poverty caused by those stolen riches.
There seems to be a new headline every other day of either an Indigenous woman going missing or murdered, Indigenous People killed by law enforcement, death from racism, dead from suicide, discrimination, lack of clean water, children being stolen in mass numbers from their parents and made wards of the government, living in poverty, and struggling with every kind of adversity statistics keep track of.
I see the solidarity of people showing up for the Black Lives Matter movement. It's inspiring.
But where are those same people who are swarming in the thousands at protests across the country when it comes to equal rights for Indigenous Peoples? Do Canadians understand the severity of the crisis of racism here and how it’s killing our people at higher rates than any other ethnicity?
Is this the moment Canada will finally notice what’s happening with the oppression of Indigenous here?
Athabasca Chipewyan First Nations Chief Allan Adam. Photo from YouTube.
This stops now
Our ancestors signed Treaties with the colonial founders of Canada, Treaties that were made in friendship, to care for and share the lands together for as long as the grass grows and the rivers flow. But Canada broke its part of the Treaties long ago. Now it’s beating our Peoples in thanks.
My inboxes are flooded with stories and notes from families and loved ones of Indigenous Peoples killed or abused by law enforcement or racism. When I read some of their desperate pleas to help them, it feels like I can’t breathe. It’s overwhelming. It’s not something one person can do alone.
Chief Adam said he shared his story to be a voice for those who don’t have a voice. Not having a voice is the norm for Indigenous Peoples.
Chief Adam said “this stops now”. I wonder who will march with Indigenous Peoples? I wonder if there will be the solidarity for this injustice that we are seeing for another.
The answers don’t all lie within governments and it’s institutions. Much of the power to make change is within the hearts and will of the people in this country. I hope this is a turning point for Canadians to look within for ways to change. And I hope they do something about it.
One thing that stays constant-our people are forgiving. Our people are strong. Our people are resilient. Stand with Indigenous or not, we will rise up and above. We already have.
This is the time to be heard. This is the time for justice.
“Be aware that you’re being put on notice (stated Adam to police)”
But to his fellow Indigenous brothers and sisters he said, “Stay strong... Be vigilant, be peaceful, be mindful- but this can’t continue going on and it has to stop.”
Editor's note: This story has been updated to include an embed of the video of the RCMP arresting Chief Allan Adam. The recording has now become a public record that promises to intensify the debate.


nationalobserver--2020-06-08--Minister 'deeply concerned' about brutality claims during Indigenous chief's arrest

Canada 's public safety minister says the government will be paying close attention to the independent inquiry into allegations of racism and police brutality brought forward by a First Nations chief , while another minister called the chief 's account `` deeply troubling . ''
Public Safety Minister Bill Blair , who is a former Toronto police chief , says in a tweet that the government is `` deeply concerned '' by the allegations , which were made Saturday by Athabasca Chipewyan Chief Allan Adam .
Adam told a news conference that he was beaten by RCMP officers and that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ police stopped him for an expired licence plate outside a casino in Fort McMurray .
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team , an independent body which investigates deaths or injuries involving police , said later that day that it will investigate the incident .
Adam is facing charges of resisting arrest and assaulting police , and RCMP say the officers needed to use force during the arrest .
• Calls to defund police grow , but Toronto 's mayor not buying in • Canada 's managed forests have turned into super-emitters , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with a fired whistleblower and former VP : Maren Costa and Tim Bray Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller says in a tweet that he 's spoken twice with Adam this weekend , and that he was disturbed by what the chief told him .
`` His description of the incident in Fort McMurray and the use of force on both his wife and him at the hands of the RCMP is deeply troubling , '' Miller wrote .
News of the allegations and a photo that Adam released of himself with injuries he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ received widespread attention as anti-racism rallies continue to attract large crowds across the country .
`` We are deeply concerned by the incident that took place in Fort McMurray .
People across the country deserve answers , '' Blair tweeted Sunday .
`` There will be an independent investigation , which we will be following closely . ''
Adam said a police vehicle pulled up behind his truck while he was moving a child seat at around 2 a.m. on March 10 .
He said he asked the officer why police were harassing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and he said he told the officer he would raise the matter with his superior .
Public Safety Minister Bill Blair , who is a former Toronto police chief , says in a tweet that the government is `` deeply concerned '' by the allegations , which were made on Saturday , June 6 , 2020 , by Athabasca Chipewyan Chief Allan Adam .
Adam said he made his way back into his truck where his wife was at the wheel , and that he told her that they were n't allowed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ put the truck into drive , and then the officer began knocking on the window .
More officers arrived during an ensuing altercation , and Adam said one of the officers `` just gave me a , what you would call in the wrestling world , a clothesline '' and that he fought to maintain consciousness .
`` Every time our people do wrong ... ( the RCMP ) always seem to use excessive force and that has to stop ...
Enough is enough , '' Adam told reporters Saturday .
Adam and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bystanders of the incident .
Police say they also have video , which has been viewed by Adam 's lawyer , but that the force is n't releasing to the public .
Adam will appear in Wood Buffalo Provincial court on July 2 .
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said the issue of systemic racism in policing is long-standing and needs addressing .

Canada's public safety minister says the government will be paying close attention to the independent inquiry into allegations of racism and police brutality brought forward by a First Nations chief, while another minister called the chief's account "deeply troubling." Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, who is a former Toronto police chief, says in a tweet that the government is "deeply concerned" by the allegations, which were made Saturday by Athabasca Chipewyan Chief Allan Adam. Adam told a news conference that he was beaten by RCMP officers and that his wife was manhandled in March when police stopped him for an expired licence plate outside a casino in Fort McMurray. The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team, an independent body which investigates deaths or injuries involving police, said later that day that it will investigate the incident. Adam is facing charges of resisting arrest and assaulting police, and RCMP say the officers needed to use force during the arrest.
Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller says in a tweet that he's spoken twice with Adam this weekend, and that he was disturbed by what the chief told him. "His description of the incident in Fort McMurray and the use of force on both his wife and him at the hands of the RCMP is deeply troubling," Miller wrote. Billion-dollar land deals in Ontario raise corruption suspicions News of the allegations and a photo that Adam released of himself with injuries he says he sustained during the incident have received widespread attention as anti-racism rallies continue to attract large crowds across the country.
"We are deeply concerned by the incident that took place in Fort McMurray. People across the country deserve answers," Blair tweeted Sunday. Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, who is a former Toronto police chief, says in a tweet that the government is "deeply concerned" by the allegations, which were made on Saturday, June 6, 2020, by Athabasca Chipewyan Chief Allan Adam. "There will be an independent investigation, which we will be following closely." Adam said a police vehicle pulled up behind his truck while he was moving a child seat at around 2 a.m. on March 10. He said he asked the officer why police were harassing him and told him who he was, and he said he told the officer he would raise the matter with his superior. Adam said he made his way back into his truck where his wife was at the wheel, and that he told her that they weren't allowed to go anywhere. He said she put the truck into drive, and then the officer began knocking on the window. More officers arrived during an ensuing altercation, and Adam said one of the officers "just gave me a, what you would call in the wrestling world, a clothesline" and that he fought to maintain consciousness.
"Every time our people do wrong... (the RCMP) always seem to use excessive force and that has to stop ... Enough is enough," Adam told reporters Saturday. Adam and his lawyer released two videos taken by bystanders of the incident. Police say they also have video, which has been viewed by Adam's lawyer, but that the force isn't releasing to the public. Adam will appear in Wood Buffalo Provincial court on July 2.