MINNEAPOLIS — After Mayor Jacob Frey announced he did not support defunding and abolishing the police, the Minneapolis protestors he was addressing on Saturday, June 6 responded with a synchronized boo as the Mayor walked away.
The confrontation between protestors and the Mayor came after protestors marched for hours with the message of defunding the police. Once near the Mayor’s residence, Mayor Frey came out to speak with the protestors.
Once the Mayor joins the protest, he approaches the center and is asked point-blank if he “will commit to defunding the Minneapolis Police Department” by a protest leader, as shown by a Twitter video by WWCO reporter David Schuman. The protest leader clarifies her question saying, “We don’t want no more police.” The protest leader states that Mayor Frey’s re-election will depend on his answer.
Whoa. @MayorFrey is asked “Will you commit to defunding police, yes or no?” Speaker says his re-election hinges on the answer. Couldn’t hear answer but the crowd erupts in boos, chanting “GO HOME JACOB.”
Full video: pic.twitter.com/zODcbYGdeS
— David Schuman (@david_schuman) June 6, 2020
The microphone Mayor Frey was intended to speak in did not pick up his response, but immediately the crowd begins booing and the Mayor leaves the area. Another Twitter video shows the crowd repeatedly yelling, “shame, shame, shame” as the Mayor walks away.
WCCO spoke with Mayor Frey immediately after and he clarified his stance saying:
“If you’re asking whether I’m for massive structural reform to revise a structurally racist system the answer is ‘yes’. If you’re asking whether I will do everything possible to push back on the inherent inequities that are literally built into the architecture the answer is ‘yes’. If you’re asking whether I’m willing to do everything I possibly can throughout the rest of my term to make sure that the police union, the police contract, the arbitration system, and some of these policies that have resulted in problems for specifically Black and Brown people and murder over series of generations, I’m all for that. I’m not for abolishing the entire police department, I will be honest about that.”
On Sunday, June 7, one day after the Mayor’s confrontation, a nine-member veto-poof majority of the Minneapolis City Council announced their intention to dismantle the MPD through a slow defunding of their budget. “The idea of having no police department is certainly not in the short term,” Council President Lisa Bender told CNN. Bender also told CNN the council’s intention is to shift towards community-based policing and that analysis showed most constituent 911 calls are for EMT, fire, mental health, and health services.
According to ballotpedia.org, one of the issues Mayor Frey ran on was police reform. He proposed initiatives such as community policing, holding officers accountable for illegal use of force, and reforming implicit-bias and de-escalation training.
On Tuesday, June 2, the Minneapolis School Board stated the ending of their contract with the Minneapolis Police Department; the announcement came shortly after the University of Minnesota announced a significant reduction of ties with MPD.
On Friday, June 5, in Minnesota chokeholds became illegal and officers are now required to intervene when they see unauthorized use of force.
Protests, riots, and looting began May 26, in Minneapolis after the murder of George Floyd. All four officers at the scene of the murder have been arrested and charged.
