A new chance for Terrell
Donation protected
Terrell showed up on 10th Avenue on May 29th prepared to die.
A few days earlier, on May 25th, four Minneapolis police officers murdered a black man two short blocks away at 38th and Chicago. There have been thousands of unarmed black Americans killed by police officers in this country that have gone unpunished. This killing struck a new chord and it hit Terrell hard.
After spending a few months taking care of his mom in Las Vegas, Terrell had recently returned to Minnesota. He was between housing after separating from the mother of his daughters and was most recently staying with his sister.
When Terrell showed up on 10th Avenue, neighbors were out keeping watch on our community. It was the third night after the fires raged across the city and residents decided to take community watch into our own hands. Earlier in the evening, Terrell's cousin dropped him off near the city boundary between Minneapolis and St. Louis Park. He walked the rest of the way convinced he would die that night in a battle with police.
Fortunately, that didn't happen.
Instead, he came upon our block after leaving 38th & Chicago when the police were nowhere to be found. A small contingent of our neighbors were out talking to people who were making their way toward the intersection. A few threw out racial slurs, made threats, chucked a bottle at a cyclist. Terrell stepped in and had our backs.
As the night wore on, traffic slowed and the city became calm. On the stoop of one of our neighbor's houses, we listened to Terrell tell the story of how he came to live in Akeley, Minnesota - a very white, very northern Minnesota town. He is a passionate, charismatic, and hilarious storyteller.
As it approached 5:00 in the morning, we decided to call it a night. We asked Terrell where he was headed - he had nowhere to go. My partner, Julia, and I had a spare room that was ready already set up. We looked at each other and offered it to him. With a gesture of trust, Terrell handed me everything that was important to him - his ID, social security card, and bank cards. I handed it back and we brought him home.
Terrell has stayed with us two weeks now and we've become a funny brand of Three's Company. During the day, he is busting his ass working at the food shelf at Sabathani. At night, he's out getting meat to the overnight crew who feed the crowds at the memorial site.
We see our privilege in a new light and have a better understanding of cultural complexities. There's a Venn diagram of cross-cultural interactions. The most common relational interactions for middle class white people with black people and people of color is within the middle class. While nobody is immune to systemic and individual racism, Terrell has given us deeper insight into what it means to be poor and black in America and we have taught him how to compost and be a good feminist.
We want to help Terrell get back on his feet. This fundraising effort has a goal to get him 6-12 months rent paid for and to have better means to support his young daughters. He is in immediate need of financial sustainability and we hope, with your help, to provide him a solid foundation from which to start.
We honestly don't know where this opportunity will take him and what he'll do with it. We do know that he has a new found purpose and is motivated to work toward positive change in this world. We can only give him a pen and paper, he will need to write his own story.
Thank you for taking a moment to read, any help is appreciated.
-Abby & Julia
A few days earlier, on May 25th, four Minneapolis police officers murdered a black man two short blocks away at 38th and Chicago. There have been thousands of unarmed black Americans killed by police officers in this country that have gone unpunished. This killing struck a new chord and it hit Terrell hard.
After spending a few months taking care of his mom in Las Vegas, Terrell had recently returned to Minnesota. He was between housing after separating from the mother of his daughters and was most recently staying with his sister.
When Terrell showed up on 10th Avenue, neighbors were out keeping watch on our community. It was the third night after the fires raged across the city and residents decided to take community watch into our own hands. Earlier in the evening, Terrell's cousin dropped him off near the city boundary between Minneapolis and St. Louis Park. He walked the rest of the way convinced he would die that night in a battle with police.
Fortunately, that didn't happen.
Instead, he came upon our block after leaving 38th & Chicago when the police were nowhere to be found. A small contingent of our neighbors were out talking to people who were making their way toward the intersection. A few threw out racial slurs, made threats, chucked a bottle at a cyclist. Terrell stepped in and had our backs.
As the night wore on, traffic slowed and the city became calm. On the stoop of one of our neighbor's houses, we listened to Terrell tell the story of how he came to live in Akeley, Minnesota - a very white, very northern Minnesota town. He is a passionate, charismatic, and hilarious storyteller.
As it approached 5:00 in the morning, we decided to call it a night. We asked Terrell where he was headed - he had nowhere to go. My partner, Julia, and I had a spare room that was ready already set up. We looked at each other and offered it to him. With a gesture of trust, Terrell handed me everything that was important to him - his ID, social security card, and bank cards. I handed it back and we brought him home.
Terrell has stayed with us two weeks now and we've become a funny brand of Three's Company. During the day, he is busting his ass working at the food shelf at Sabathani. At night, he's out getting meat to the overnight crew who feed the crowds at the memorial site.
We see our privilege in a new light and have a better understanding of cultural complexities. There's a Venn diagram of cross-cultural interactions. The most common relational interactions for middle class white people with black people and people of color is within the middle class. While nobody is immune to systemic and individual racism, Terrell has given us deeper insight into what it means to be poor and black in America and we have taught him how to compost and be a good feminist.
We want to help Terrell get back on his feet. This fundraising effort has a goal to get him 6-12 months rent paid for and to have better means to support his young daughters. He is in immediate need of financial sustainability and we hope, with your help, to provide him a solid foundation from which to start.
We honestly don't know where this opportunity will take him and what he'll do with it. We do know that he has a new found purpose and is motivated to work toward positive change in this world. We can only give him a pen and paper, he will need to write his own story.
Thank you for taking a moment to read, any help is appreciated.
-Abby & Julia
Fundraising team (2)
Abby Finis
Organizer
Minneapolis, MN
Terrell Bryant
Beneficiary
Julia Eagles
Team member
