(00:00:00) From Minnesota Public Radio. I'm Peru. Fanelli for people are under arrest in last week's shooting at severely injured a child in North Minneapolis Police Chief. Robert. Olson is releasing more information at this hour 20 month old day. Ahsha Hayes Lee was hurt when someone fired a bullet into her home. Her family has asked the hospital not to release information about her condition an audit of Xcel Energy says, it appears outage data was manipulated to ensure it could provide favorable reliability reports to State Regulators. The audit by a company called fraud wise says a small number of employees recording inaccurate information resulted in unreliable outage reporting State Regulators launched the audit last fall following allegations Excel falsified outage reports to stay within State reliability standards Excel has defended its system. But yesterday the company acknowledged instances in which employees did not follow company documentation processes spokesman Paul Adeline read from a (00:00:55) statement. We are in the process of reviewing the final fraud rise report, which Was released late today and we will file a response with the Public Utilities Commission. We are committed to addressing issues in the report and we anticipate discussing them further with fraud wise in the state (00:01:11) Regulators. The statement says most of you deviations from company procedures occurred at one Minneapolis service center and involved a small number of employees a Minnesota company has recalled almost 200,000 pounds of frozen ground beef because of possible contamination with E. Coli bacteria to people in Colorado became ill Pipestone based Howard beef processors, which does businesses Ellison Meat Company large the recall after Health officials reported the illnesses areas of showers and possible thunderstorms across the state today hide from the mid 70s to around 80 right now in the Twin Cities. The skies are Cloudy and the temperature is 70 degrees. I'm peripherally, Minnesota Public Radio. All right. Thank you Perry. It is 6 minutes now past eleven o'clock. And good morning. Welcome to midday on Minnesota Public Radio. I'm Gary eichten glad you could join us Minneapolis Police as you heard on the news Minneapolis Police say they have arrested four people in connection with the wounding of a toddler in North Minneapolis last week. 19 months old D. Ahsha Hayes Lee was critically wounded a week ago when a bullet was fired into her home in response to that incident coupled with several other recent shootings in North Minneapolis Governor. Tim pawlenty is deploying 12 specially trained state troopers to Minneapolis to help Minneapolis Police try to control the violence. Some of those Troopers will begin working tonight. Meanwhile residents in North Minneapolis across the city across the state and indeed Across the Nation are being urged this evening to do what they can to fight crime tonight is National Night Out when people are urged to get out and meet their neighbors organizers say that Community involvement is one of the best ways to fight crime. And today we're going to be joined by a man who has become well-known and widely respected for getting involved Minneapolis city council member Don Samuels Don Samuels who represents the Jordan neighborhood where young disha hazily was shot course had been fighting drug dealers and violence for a long time, but he came to public prominence a year ago. When he led the community response to a riot in the Jordan neighborhood in February. He was elected to the city council since then, he's been holding vigils and fast to Mark violent deaths in the ward and try to get people involved mayor RT Rybak was quoted last winter is saying that when more people get off, Couches and do what's and on Samuels and all his neighbors did we will have a better City and a better country. Well as we said on Samuels is going to be joining us here in just a couple of minutes, but in the meanwhile, we would like to get you on the air and get you involved in this conversation. We're talking this our about Crime Control and specifically whether Community involvement is in fact an adequate, sufficient and efficient response to the problem of crime not only in Minneapolis, but indeed all across the state of Minnesota. Give us a call here. We'd like to get you on the air get you involved in this conversation. Our Twin City area number is 6512276 thousand 6512276 thousand our toll free number is 1-800-218-4243 or 1-800 to 40. (00:04:34) To (00:04:35) 2828 we're talking this our about Crime Control and more specifically the role that Community involvement plays or might be able to play in controlling crime course again, this all tied to the fact that tonight is National Night Out week when people are supposed to go out meet their neighbors and and get involved. And as we said when you have a city council member Don Samuels will be joining us here in just a couple of minutes. He is in Jamaica his native country of Jamaica to attend the funeral of his brother and we hope to get him on the line here momentarily. In fact councilmember down Samuels has joined us now. And again, we'd like to have you join our conversation at 6'5 12276 thousand or 1-800 to for 22828 councilmember Samuels. Thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it. (00:05:33) You're Thank you very much for having me on (00:05:36) let me first of all pass along our condolences on the death of your brother. Thank you very much. As I understand it sir, Minneapolis Police are having a press conference even as we speak to announced the arrests for people involved in the hazily shooting presumably good news for you. And for the community, (00:05:57) right that is indeed the case and they had been in touch with my office this morning to to inform us of that. And so hopefully this will be some connections and this will be killing several birds with one stone (00:06:15) state troopers are scheduled to our least. Some of them are scheduled to begin Patrol. So with a Minneapolis Police tonight, is that going to be it make much of a difference? (00:06:24) I'm sure it will and one of the problems is that the police stretched resources makes it difficult for them to track and stay on top of the guys. This person reconvene. So having more people in more places that allows them to concentrate on a smaller area and therefore control (00:06:45) it seems though. I even had a top strength 12 more additional Troopers, maybe some helicopters doesn't seem like a significant increase in the number of police who are actually going to be able to work on these problems. (00:06:58) Well one thing to remember is that this is for the in the near future Jordan which is you know, not the city nor is it even the Third Ward is one of the ten neighborhoods in the Third Ward and so while the police is prepared in the Troopers and the other resources to Fan out to The Wider area as and if these guys move they are going to concentrate in the world within the confines of Jordan and so 12 more officers plus additional traffic police plus additional Park police some buyback resources to city police. And Etc. It's going to be more than the 12 and it's going to be within the confines of Jordan (00:07:42) are more police the answer to fighting crime (00:07:47) more police his answer to stopping the basically the bleeding so we can have a little long to focus on on the major surgery. If you will. There's a lot of very deep complex reasons for all of this and we are working on them simultaneously, but if this is going to if we're going to cut back on dealing with the crisis present crisis in order to solve the long-term Problems by the time we come up with the solutions residents will have fled the community. So it's important to do this (00:08:24) as many apples have enough do they have enough police officers to the really get a handle on the crime problem in the city (00:08:33) frankly, Minneapolis. Enough police officers to do the job if the long-term Solutions begin to take effect, but if we just concentrate on the symptoms know they'll never be enough police. (00:08:47) There has been as you well know councilmember Samuels a long time Rift if you will between the police and especially black residents in Minneapolis. His age has anything happened there as that gotten better? (00:09:03) Well, this is not minneapolis's fault per se s is kind of America's history. There's your member if you try to step back a little bit and be as broad as we can Martin Luther King was arrested Malcolm X was thrown in jail, a lot of African-American upstanding citizens have been beaten over the history. So if you talking about a historical perspective, there is a kind of a stand offish nestled between the African-American community and the police generally speaking vis-à-vis say other groups, but short in the present crisis, there is an exacerbated negative relationship between the say African-American you Men, who are the profiled group the group that fills the Jail's Etc that makes preconceptions a little more likely and so that group is even more verse 2 police interaction. And then when you throw in again the criminal element within that Community then the relationship with the police is even more exacerbated and so yes, there is a mild ambient distrust and then there's a concentrated distrust with a highly impacted groups. (00:10:19) We're talking this hour with Minneapolis city council member Don Samuels about Crime Control and Community involvement what with this being National Night Out if you would like to join our conversation, give us a call here, six five, one two, two seven six thousand 6512276 thousand or toll free number is 1-800-218-4243 or 1-800 to for You 2828 Alice here. First. Go ahead, please, (00:10:50) you know, you opened your show talking about a call from mayor right back for Greater Community involvement and I just have to call and ask where is the sustained and important involvement from elected officials that goes along with that Don Samuels just spoke to the issue that there's some deep complexity just spoke. He referred to that and his comments and every day the City of Minneapolis the council the County Board and the legislature makes policy and that policy overlooks these communities and so I guess I'm calling to ask what is the balance because all of the involvement in the world will not be enough in order to overcome the Jordan problem. (00:11:38) Councilmember Samuels. Let's see. Where do we start? Number one public policies. Are they supporting the kind of broader effort that you were talking about earlier? (00:11:50) Not not enough. I don't think one of the problems is that this this whole kind of tension with police-community relations is a national problem in every major city. It is a problem is a problem because of historical realities and these historical realities are very challenging and difficult politicians do not like to tackle difficult problems because they do not guarantee quantifiable demonstrable results. In fact, the odds are that they will lead to some kind of failure. And so the you have the paradoxical reality that the problems that are most Grievous and need Solutions the most Most ignored because they do not guarantee results and so politicians tend to pretend that they do not exist and to celebrate the other less significant social problems that they solve. So what we really need is some informed politician and some informed governmental leaders who are willing to learn about the problem the deep-seated nature and complexities of the problem and then to be willing to have what it takes to take the political risk to throw themselves at the problem with the appropriate resources, but they can be (00:13:16) solved. Can you give us a specific example of something that you would like to see the political leadership do that? It's not doing right (00:13:24) now. Well for instance the in the in the Jordan neighborhood say all of the just about 99% of the people young people on the streets selling drugs are African-American. Young man recently some young women have been joining them while for instance less than half of the people buying drugs from the drug dealers are African American young people many of them are young white people or even middle-aged white people from the suburbs coming in to buy drugs. So, you know, you look at that and then you see most of the police are white Probably in Jordan itself, maybe 95% of the police or more are white. So you have this racialization of the various sides of the relationship between police community and and and dealers and so that leads to certain that makes Solutions really racial. If you're going to deal with the drug dealers and you're dealing with black people you're going to deal with the police you're dealing with white people. And and so you know, how do you how can you use the words white black in a sentence to get at the problem without without getting too skittish into scared of using the kind of language as a necessary to deal with the defined to arrive at a solution the African-American young men there. They have limitations in their prospects. They have very few Role Models Within. Agent Jordan Community the black middle class doesn't exist. They're insignificant enough numbers. And so we have to for instance find ways of bringing the black middle class back. We have to address the educational problem. We have to address the dysfunctional legal system which brings the boys in and because the judges feel guilty that we're sending all these African-American men to jail where there is already the greatest disparity in a race in the country between black and others. They are very afraid to do that. So they send them back in out of guilt and I guess you could say some degree of social responsibility into the street in a very dysfunctional kind of repetition and so all of those things and others are contributing to the nature of the problem, but if we cannot even begin to use a language which describes the skin that people wear then we cannot Begin to address the problem and and most politicians I think would like to say well we are all the same, you know, it doesn't matter who you are. And so they can't even begin to put their Mouse form their lips around the words that will introduce us to the discussion discussion and the solution. (00:16:27) Well not to put words into your mouth councilmembers Samuels, but would it be correct to say among other things given what you've just just told us that it would be helpful if there were black police officers arresting the black drug dealers and white police officers arresting the White Drug buyers. (00:16:45) You got it. You got it. That is terrifically important. In fact a black politician addressing. The drug dealers is significantly more effective than a white politician doing that. You see what I mean now to say that for me to say that somebody might say well it shouldn't matter. Well guess what? He's really does when I speak to a young man. He doesn't Father most likely on the street selling drugs. I'm basically one of the few men that looked like him that could possibly be his dad that's making paternal type of an intrusion into is otherwise have a layer approach to the larger society and here is an African-American man telling him you can do better. You must do better. I will not allow you to do this and so we're when we were beginning to be honest about that then we see what yeah, we do need some black cops to basically be Father Figure or / cops and most of the guys on the corner do not identify of white adult male as a potential father and those are significant aspects to how people correct their behaviors and how they perceive (00:17:59) themselves. Ron your question, please (00:18:02) good morning gentlemen, I'm a chemical dependency counselor in the inner city I go home. Renate on at about 10:30 and I see in the corner of Franklin and park 810 drug dealers drive a half a block further. The prostitutes would have light to the neighborhood. I'd like to see some creativity among the church groups other wonderful organizations the Rotary Club Knights of Columbus. I don't you know who you are out there. They we should be out there walking those streets be in their faces. That's all I've got to say. We got to step out and reclaim our city streets. Thank you. Yeah, I fully agree. I agree with the caller. I think that the Civic groups can and should get involved. And for a long time has been again. It's a it's a very racist a very unpleasant subject and and so people tend to shy away from Solutions involving race, but I think that the churches can I think Civic groups can get involved and you know, we just have a very few people actually terrorizing the larger Community very few. In fact, they say that 20% of the guys on the street are highly repetitive offenders. If we could if our court system would deal with that 20% They keep repeatedly coming in front of the judges. In fact, I saw some numbers where some people had been arrested 75 times and never served a day in jail and the judge keeps sending them back out. And now the community is being asked to write impact statements to the judge. That's that would be the equivalent of you going to the hospital with a wound. They sending you back home and then you have to write a letter to the doctor saying this really hurts before he's willing to actually take some some remedial measures (00:20:03) to two things that come to mind when listening to the caller their number one if people did want to help out and get involved is that not dangerous? I mean, these are not pleasant people who are preying on (00:20:16) neighborhoods and not pleasant people, but first of all, you know, we have we have a system in place by the way, the Jordan Area Community Council where we're recruiting 250. Volunteers would go out into groups and clusters of 426 volunteering two hours a month and this could be people from all over the city and they would have walkie-talkies and cell phones and be able to call in if they see something suspicious. They wouldn't be confronting anyone. But you know Gary one of the things that I tell people is I'm 54 years old. I walk the streets of Jordan. I confront drug dealers sometimes benignly, but sometimes quite stridently and I do that repeatedly and I just me and I can tell you that as long as I've been there I've never heard of anybody over 50 any men over 50 getting killed for walking down the street and and as long as I've been there, I don't know of her if I've heard of a white person getting killed. And so the fear is is really greater than reality suggest and these guys are killing each other and every now and then in the process of attempting to kill each other. They kill somebody else who is in the vicinity usually an African-American person who lives in the house next to where the drug dealing is taking place or the and the drive-by took place. But this is an African-American on African American Crime and with an occasional collateral damage that affects it somebody else that was not (00:21:57) intended back to the race question that you raised earlier would folks say in your neighborhood be happy. If a bunch of folks from Edina were to show up white people from Edina and March around your (00:22:12) neighborhoods would be thrilled to death. We would be thrilled to death, you know, it is kind of like the African-American adoption. White adopting African-American kids ideally black people would adopt black kids and then they would not have any conflicts in their self-concept years down the road, but I tell you it's much better to have a white person adopted black kid, then to have them languish in the system all their lives and it's the same thing here. I wish the black middle class would rust itself from Suburban apathy. I guess you could say our our our would kind of jog themselves out of celebrating the success. They have made long enough to come back in from all over the area and I hope they do but if they don't we need those a dino folks white middle-class people who do not understand anything to come into the inner city and help us. We need your help. We just need your presence to be a factor on the street so that the drug Community gets to see that the City of Minneapolis is concerned because one of the All of them is the problems is that there is a sense of community approval the people from Edina are driving in but they're driving into by so we need some to drive in to protest to be a presence on the streets that says we're watching and believe me. I've never heard of anybody from Edina getting killed in Cross the Cross Fire and they do come in. So so you'll be (00:23:49) safe Clinton your question, please. (00:23:53) Don's Quentin Collins jr. How you doing? Hi Clinton. Good to hear your voice. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, I wrote a recent piece about you the rake magazine and I'll pull out of the peace talks about your relationship with Artie. So I'll ask you the same question again two part question. How do you get along with Artie? First of all, and do you think honestly in your art the mayor RT Rybak is doing everything he can to address the issues. You've been discussing. Well I get along great with itm. Let's say he's a great man. And you know, I really I give my white colleagues a lot of Grace when it comes to dealing with this issue because I come down hardest on my African-American fellow African Americans who have succeeded and thrived and having her been raised largely in the inner city or in very depressed situations have done well to overcome the odds and are now enjoying the fruits of their real hard labor. Well, Deserve fruits I'm saying first I speak first to that group and say folks. You understand these kids. You understand what they're dealing with. In fact many of you have relatives who were not as resourceful as you and we're not able to survive the debilitating effects of institutionalized racism Etc. And we need you to come back and help us to patrol the streets to live in the neighborhood to be a presence in one way or another to volunteer for something so that these young people have some not just attention but some actual role models and then I would begin to address the political leaders my my white colleagues and others to say we must begin to educate ourselves about this issue these issues so that we will are not intimidated by them and run away from them. We must begin to embrace the pain of the reality. Otherwise, we will build up downtown build. The Southwest build up the the build up the capacity the positive capacity while not dealing with the negative attractions of our city and it will never be great if that's not done. And so yeah, I think Artie is basically the typical white politician who struggles to put his arms around certain aspects of this problem, but I'm hoping that my relationship with him will help him to become more comfortable in dealing with these things and and hopefully that will be one of the things that I can bring and if Artie is open, I think that he's he can really learn a lot and make a big difference (00:26:32) when you have a city council member Don Samuels has joined us this first hour of our midday program to talk about Crime Control and Community involvement. And this being the National Night Out we thought it would be a good time to talk with a man who has been widely credited with withstanding. To crime in his particular neighborhood. He ended up getting elected to the Minneapolis city council last winter in part because of his activities in his neighborhood. If you'd like to join our conversation, give us a call here at 6512276 Thousand or one eight hundred two, four two two eight two eight gets more of your questions in just a couple of minutes programming is supported by the Iron Range resources and Rehabilitation agency working to create jobs in northeastern Minnesota including 400 jobs for rep Tron in Hibbing. The eye trouble are working for you. Today's programming is also sponsored in part by Pro Staff providing companies with talented people to get their work done for over 20 years the weather forecast for the state of Minnesota calls for partly cloudy Sky though. There is a continuing chance for a shower or thundershower across the state today with highs today mid 70s to around 80 more rain is forecast for tonight, and there's a good chance for some more showers and thundershowers across Minnesota tomorrow as well. The Twin City forecast calls for cloudy sky today, maybe some rain, maybe an isolated thunderstorm for that matter with a high temperature reaching the upper 70s tonight chance for some rain in the Twin Cities and again a chance for a shower maybe a thunder shower in the Twin Cities tomorrow temperatures again tomorrow in the upper 70s right now. It is 70 degrees in the Twin Cities reminder over the noon hour today a new installment of the Justice talking National Public Radio Series. This one will focus on the concept of restorative justice the theory here being that prisons are full to overflowing recidivism rates repeat offender rates, very very high. Maybe there's a better way to deal with the problem of crime and some folks are advocating what's called restorative justice among other folks were going to hear this hour from or over the noon hour rather from Ramsey County attorney. Susan Gartner who has her doubts. She's a skeptic of the issue. So you'll hear hair debate and then we'll get to that over the noon hour this hour we're talking about Community involvement in Crime Control Minneapolis City councilmember down Samuels is our guest lots of callers on the line with questions for the councilman and let's get back to the caller's abani your next. Go ahead, (00:29:09) please. Yes. I just want to say Don. Thank you so much for coming to our community. I it's so nice to see someone who's got the guts to do what it takes to clean up the neighborhoods. I live in Falwell and I love my neighborhood in the only problem that I have are the rental units and I'm just wondering why the city doesn't do more to make absentee landlords more accountable accountable for what goes on in their buildings. I've had problems as my neighbors have and we're constantly calling 9-1-1 about the apartment buildings behind my house. There's a long record of problems with it, and it doesn't seem to get better. Hmm. Was that Nancy? Bonnie? Bonnie Bonnie? I'm sorry Bonnie. Thank you for your call. Bonnie that that is a resonant sound to most people who live in highly impacted communities. The responsible landlords do exist and they might be the minority, but they do have a great impact on communities. And you know, I I my attitude to solving problems is really to the constituency from which the problem exists is the best group to solve the problem. There is a strong landlords Group, which I have challenged over and over again to police their own ranks because within their ranks as they advocate for their group to the city and rightfully so defend the rights of landlords and make sure that the city doesn't unduly burden. They have the ability to police themselves because they understand what a good landlord is and they know the bad apples among themselves and just like I'm calling on the African-American Community as an African-American to step forward. The landlord's need to call on their own group the response of irresponsible members among them and stop letting their their Association be a refuge for people who are disguising themselves as responsible citizens. They are getting a great benefit from the poor. If it weren't for the poor people of the inner city. They would not have an income they'd have to find Alternatives and so they have a great obligation and responsibility to the people of the city to be responsible and the other hand our inspections department needs to be ramped up so that these abuses do not exist for longer than the period it takes to address the issues of the responsibility. And then again the now the neighbors need to step up and make sure that they call and Hound the city and not let things get carrier down the road so far that the problem and trenches is its drug-dealing The Gangs come in and force and by the time you begin to deal with it a couple people have left the neighborhood because they can't take it. So we need to be very (00:32:12) proactive going to say councilmember Samuels. How is it that you can convince people to fight it out? Obviously, some folks don't really have a choice as to where they can live. But a lot of people do and maybe even if they're willing to, you know, get out there and fight for a while at some point you just get wore out and it would seem like it's it's a lot to ask for folks to live with these daily hassles when they could go live somewhere else and be left alone. (00:32:44) That is true. But, you know something this country Great because people didn't just say I'll go back to England and are you know, I'll go back up north and leave the problem down south or we're a country that has thrived on taking up the challenges for the good of the larger community. And I and and when people the most satisfied people in Minneapolis are the people who live in a bad neighborhood or a challenge neighborhood and have dedicated themselves with their neighbors to create change and have succeeded. It is an incredible thing because what you end up with as a legacy from all of that is a highly cohesive community that the suburbs could never produce my neighbors and I are close friends. In fact, the neighbor across the street from me stayed in the tent next to mine, I think four nights because we are part of the same block club we care about each other and we've been watching out for each other on the Block so we watch out for each other. We are is a very unusual thing. That's that's what problems create problems create Community if people get together to solve them (00:33:56) but have you been able to accomplish very much and I say that because again, we have a Spate of shootings in your neighborhood again this year (00:34:05) Hi Well, if you know it there's always going to be a Spate of shootings as long as we don't develop the capacity to be proactive. We usually get in and solve the problem by the end of the summer and and really very very often very effectively. So what we need to do now is to establish a longer lead time so that we can get proactive very early so that these entrenched the repercussions of entrenchment don't come to (00:34:41) play Beth your question, please. (00:34:46) I read in Sunday's paper a challenge from a columnist to come on Tuesday night the National Night Out to the Phillips neighborhood and she'll support come from everywhere and show support and I'd love to do that. I'd like to be the person that does that and I just want to know where do you go, you know, where would other people go where might you meet a group of people who would somehow make this difference? Thank you Beth. That's why I think I think Beth answers. A question and and S1 Gary because she answers the question. How do you say to people tough it out or get involved when the it is so challenging here you have someone who clearly does not live in a challenge neighborhood and it's calling a radio station to find out how can I go put my body somewhere where people are not safe. And so that is an extremely good example of the kind of spirit that exists out there. People are just asking what can I do to get involved to make life for children in impacted neighborhoods better? And so the the article she speaks about I think it was written with reference to the Jordan neighborhood not the Phillips neighborhood and my suggestion would be to go to the Garden at Knox and 26th. And and I have already asked the block Club around there that's having their party to move their party to the garden. That's the community garden. It's a beautiful garden looks like something that horticulturist did and that's where I camped out for five days. And I think that would be a beautiful place for all people from all over Minneapolis and the surrounding areas together to just demonstrate to the community at large that there's a critical mass of people who (00:36:40) care knocks and knocks them 26th North right Mary your question, please (00:36:47) Don, you know, most politicians have This would either being thought-criminal or actually being criminals. At least that's the way it seems now your problem seems to be more the issue of sainthood how how has all of this all the positive pressure of received? All the many people who really love you and say it does this affect your ego. Do you have any problems with this? How do you handle this? Well, you know, I am the product of a lot of hard work a very tough dad which had some negative effects to and a very loving Mom very supportive community and I learned long ago that we're not self-made that I am the result of the love of a lot of people and if I were to ignore that pretend that is not the case or to act outside of that sensibility, then I would quickly lose whatever virtue I have in a heartbeat. And if if people the people a lot of people now are seeing the Fulfillment of their efforts in me doing and saying the things I do and say because they have made a significant difference in my life. And so I I would I would basically be opening myself up to significant criticism from Jamaica from Minnesota from New York from all over of people who have helped me to be what I am. (00:38:23) How long have you lived in the Jordan neighborhood? (00:38:26) How did enjoy neighborhood six years before that? I lived in the Selby Dale area in st. Paul for I guess eight years. (00:38:37) What do you (00:38:38) require? I've always lived in the inner city, (00:38:40) Gary. Why I mean because not not to suggest that you're filthy rich, but you did have an opportunity to live elsewhere. (00:38:48) Right? But I do realize you know, I used to live in the suburbs just after getting my first job out of college. I lived in the suburbs for a while. And I remember there was a kid next door to me white family and I was a toy designer. I had all these Sesame Street records and I'd play them and sing with him and we'd dance and you know, I thought this kid is learning very very early that The Stereotype of black scary person is not true and that he's probably thinking that black people are really great and I thought you know, there are some people who need this lesson even more than he does and that's the kid his age was black who lives in inner-city and doesn't see me and so I thought, you know, I can't do this. I need to go make myself available to the inner city kids who are often without a role model without a father and Since that time I've never looked back so but that's but I understand very well they need to live there. It's especially when you were the first person in the history of your family with an opportunity to do something like that to live in the suburbs and and have your family come visit you and be proud of your basically the fruit of all their labors. So it does take kind of an adjustment to on 222 walk away from that (00:40:12) don't you ever get tired to the point where you just is rather than be a role model or a community leader or whatever just like to sit back and watch a ballgame. (00:40:22) Yeah, but you know, somebody said it's more blessed to give than to receive and and if blessed means happy, that's why the that that is indeed true. I fasted for 5 days. I sat out in the sun at Knox and 26 for for four days and five days and four nights and just the Support that I was able to experience and the gratitude that I received from people is so energizing and so enriching to my life that I don't think you could buy that you couldn't buy it with with millions of dollars people just the Goodwill that is generated when people see that somebody cares and so the yes, it is challenging it is hard but boy, it is enormously satisfying have you ever given to a affect somebody's life positively is nothing can replace (00:41:14) that they've ever been threatened by some of the bad guys who you've (00:41:18) challenged. Oh, yeah, but you know, there's a kind of inner city. I guess you could call it sensitivity where if you show Fear then it increases threat and so my my MO is to show no fear, even when I feel it and usually that is enough to get rid of the threat. (00:41:38) John now your question, (00:41:39) please. Well twofold just two questions out number one. Mr. Samuels. Thank you so much for your almost spiritual presence melies your spiritual presence in this it's soy political and refreshing anyway, two things. I would be happy there. I know there's been calls on the city list and things like that for people to come to your neighborhood in March and Patrol and I would be happy to do that. But I've already just coming home. I live in downtown just coming home. I have already seen a much greater presence of much bigger in flux. It's a Chicago and Franklin aren't these dealers already moving just because of the publicity and you know, aren't they just going to shuffle around and my second question is do you know if groups like The Detroit boys had moved back in or is this still all the Homegrown phenomenon? Thank you. Okay. Well I yes they are they are moving already. In to move and there is an influx of drug dealers from outside from Chicago, especially because drugs here are 5 times more expensive than on the street and drugs in Chicago or Gary and so the drug dealers are moving to where supply and demand is most as a biggest payoff and and they're moving here, but they're also moving here for another reason is it's the high degree of Tolerance that we have Minnesota and nice. I guess we're nice to everybody including drug dealers. And so basically we're trying to ramp up the community disapproval. And as soon as these guys move though, what I'm hoping is that we the people those Among Us who are making this work including the police and other agencies that we will just simply pick up our efforts just like the drug dealers do and move it to wherever they have moved to and to hound And to make the drug trade and Nomadic trade and when you are nomadic, you can't put down Roots. You can't Thrive and grow and eventually you will either be very very small or you will die. And so I'm hoping that the Jordan experience will be a paradigm that the city will be able to use across all impacted neighborhoods. (00:43:59) You were talking earlier councilmember Samuels about the the revolving door terms of people getting picked up off the streets. They go show up in front of the courts right back on the streets. Is there a from what you have been able to gather? Is there any change likely in that area or will that simply (00:44:18) continue? Well, we're hoping to put enough pressure on the courts so that they will begin to feel the pain of the community. Not just the pain of the drug dealers family will be without a head for a year or two and the community is already working with the judge. Meeting with judge Burke and maybe others of his associates on a monthly basis to discuss these issues. So there's really a multi-pronged MM and multi several people involved in the area to in the process of making long-term (00:44:56) Solutions, but won't they charge then be well here the here the cops go again picking on the black people, (00:45:02) right? And we're going to have to be willing to live with that if black people and not and I say that not as a broad swath, but if the guys on the corner are black and they are doing crime then yes, they have to go to jail and we have to be willing to deal with that and to have the temerity to face the criticism that deals with that. Otherwise, we have a dysfunctional system, you know in your house if you tell your kid don't open the fridge. I'm going to punish you and they do it and you don't punish them after about ten times your house will be Ask anybody who has kids know that and it's not just a childhood trait. It's a human trait. We have to change that can't arrest people bring them before the authorities and then let them back out 75 times without a serving a single day in jail. That's just not (00:45:56) tolerable Pablo your question, please. (00:46:00) Yes, my name is Pablo and I live in st. Paul the right I drove around in Minneapolis because I do a lot of community work to through Isaiah, which is faith faith faith based organization, and my question is and also I want to encourage me to familes and also I command them for the work he's doing thank you, but I also want to encourage you to be a little more inclusive about this problem. It's in the police and the in our communities because the Latino Community as well as the Asian community in the African Community also Hurtin on the same way that You folks have been doing for for many centuries about this operation. So my question is, how can we come together since I think we already know what our Common Ground how can we form? This Alliance has that will help us bring this changes that we want so bad to happen. And the other one is very kind of law that will make police officers to live close by or in the areas of their work around, you know, like bringing them in to live in Minneapolis instead of their living in the suburbs. Thank you very much for hello, I agree with you. There is this problem is much much wider than the African-American community and their other impacted communities and I'm again. I'm hoping that this thing in Jordan is a kind of a Jordan Phase of the problem. I'd like to say or to call it in the Jordan Phase of the problem. We have to deal with it Jordan nature of the problem, which is African-American young men on the streets hopeless Role Model S, etc, etc, with getting the affirmation of the community through their purchases the drugs and with the community not being dissuasive enough through this making some kind of disapproval initiative. And and so but again, I'm hoping that we can transfer this Paradigm to other communities which are impacted both for the sake of the young men who are who are involved and the community at large which is Pacted whether it be Latino Hmong whatever and if we can get this to work, I promise that I will do all in my power to transfer the sensibilities and the acquired wisdom and the energies into these other areas now with regard to the police. Yes. I really believe that police should should live in the city or at least there should be some points that they get for living in the city if we don't want to force the issue and and again, I can't say as Gary you spoke of earlier. We need the police to look like the people who are being arrested. Otherwise, they can live for a long time in denial and call it Anna racialized the problem. In fact the guys on the corner call me white one guy. Wanted to open my eyelids to see if my eyes were blue and it said that Martin Luther King died in vain because of people like me and the only reason guys can have This kind of delusion about their behavior is that all the people who are disapproving of them arresting them taking them to jail are white every now and then they see a traitor among them. It's like the occasional black police. And so if we're going to change this and I'll allow them force them to be truly introspective and not going some delusory racial kick. We have to get cops that look like them arresting them and also caring about them because they look like their sons. And so the the the white cops who come in no matter how great and moral upstanding they are or racially sophisticated. None of those guys look like their sons and something happens in the transaction between people when there are some historical connections for (00:50:02) them. Fred no quick question here. (00:50:07) I live in North Minneapolis. I've been up to 26 to help and the Very day that I was up there on the backside of the same block that tent is on the drug dealing was going on so hard that I had to drive around two cars just to continue through an intersection and I guess what I want to say is instead of a bunch of community people walking around scattering these folks around. This is a crime that's happening in the open. I know we have surveillance equipment that can see these things from two or three blocks away see and hear and convict without anybody being within two or three blocks of them. It's happening in broad daylight in the wide open. So why can't we why can't we convict them on tape and Recorders? Thank you Fred. That's a great idea. In fact a gentleman already donated a business already donated. Significant amount of equipment to the community at came to the tent and donated I was somehow distracted at that time. I wasn't there. I think I went to Governor's interview at that time, but donated a bunch of surveillance equipment and we're hoping that we will be able to install it that is in fact a great great tool to use but it should be used combined with people. There's nothing to compare to people walking around and forming Community Making Connections saying hi and letting a building the whole concept of neighborhood and involvement so that people are not isolated in their homes thinking that nobody cares about anybody the cameras can do the technical aspect. But if we're going to build community and build capacity for the community to be resilient to protect itself, then we have to have people on the ground. (00:52:01) Alan your question, (00:52:02) please. Yes. Thank you for taking my call it C. I'm hearing you describe the need for somebody to provide role models and caring and a figure to show these misguided kids another Direction. It seems to me that you're describing a father. My question is where are the parents? Where are the fathers to stand up and participate in this situation? It sounds like we're missing a main component for these people who are challenged. I own property in your flight Franklin in Chicago. I see the same problems continually and to put this on a racism issue or a we don't have issue or we don't have role model issues. I know the father figure is what's lacking in this and I think when we look a little bit deeper into this situation, we may be able to stop the problem the kids. Are out there now. All right, let's get out. Let's maybe the water maybe down the river but the kids who are growing up now. All right, let's fatherless and this situation are the (00:53:09) issues. Okay? Well, thanks Alan. Let's get a comment here before I wrap up a consultation has (00:53:14) a great Point Alan. I think that you hit the nail on the head in many ways. But remember now these kids many of them already have three four five kids and hardly 20 and so they are being the father's for the new generation and demonstrate and demonstrate how how challenges is challenging. This is if the father is Young a teenager and is not does not understand the role of a man in the life of a child. Then he will need some help. We need a fathering project and there are several of them, but they're small. We need a bigger initiative to help you teach these young men how to be responsible father's otherwise teenagers having tea. Jurors, having teenagers and generation after generation. It leads to a kind of Eternal void that gets repeated and needs to be broken with some significant (00:54:13) effort. But I have about 30 seconds left. But we've in a way heard some of this much of it almost all of it before people get all fired up when there's a tragedy and then news programs are done about it. So on so forth and then the issue kind of Fades in the background you sense that there is any kind of long-term ongoing progress being made here. (00:54:37) I think there is, you know, personally I know for myself that I came to the problem long before this problem came to me. I was involved in the problem. I was involved with people who were involved with the problem over the problems on a multilateral way and I think that there is a movement of people who are just looking In for some leadership, I think if the leadership is willing to embrace the people who are motivated rather than becoming ourselves working at verse to them by ignoring the problems because it's too dirty or risky. Then we will be able to have some long lasting Solutions, but people there are people who live with these problems every day and they wanted (00:55:23) soft. Thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you. Gary Minneapolis city council member Don Samuels joining us from Jamaica where he's in Jamaica for the funeral of his brother programming is supported by Ecolab dedicated to improving cleaning and sanitation standards for leading Hospitality Healthcare and food processing customers worldwide on the web at Ecolab.com. (00:55:53) Over the past week the public watch the Episcopal Church try to hold itself together over the election of a gay Bishop. (00:56:01) It's not the first time a religious denomination has (00:56:04) faced the possibility of a split far from it. I'm Neal Conan fault lines among the faithful next Talk of the Nation from NPR news (00:56:12) one o'clock this afternoon here on Minnesota Public (00:56:15) Radio (00:56:17) and you're tuned to 91.1 Kinder wfm Minneapolis. And st. Paul right now. We have a cloudy Sky 72 degrees in the Twin Cities and the Weather Service says it's going to be cloudy all afternoon with continuing chance for a shower maybe a thunderstorm as well High reaching the upper 70s tonight shower and start thundershower possible with an overnight low in the low 60s and then tomorrow kind of a repeat of today shower or thundershower with a high temperature in the upper 70s.