Help Me Help My Son

Last November my son’s life changed. My son changed. We need your help.

He spent the summer of 2020 protesting the brutality of the Minneapolis Police Dept following the murder of George Floyd. Some Minneapolis police officers were focused on making protestors suffer for their ideals. And like many other people who stood up against the MPD’s power-abusing, my son is still trying to dig his way back out of the hole they dug around him. Please help our family help my son.

I was so proud of my son for taking to the streets to demand justice and an end to the brutality reining down on black and brown bodies. “And the youth shall lead us,” was playing out in front of me. I hope we forever remember the people power and the messages from the streets of 2020. But on the night of Nov 4th, the day after the election, my son became a target. The police wanted to silence the protestors – teach them a lesson. They wanted to silence my son. They wanted to break his spirit. They wanted to “put him in his place.”

I am here to say that my son was raised to know his place. His place is in the face of injustice to scream the truth to power!

He was living in the Seward neighborhood just blocks from the highway and on Nov 4th he watched on as 700 protesters were kettled on I-94 by massive troops of law enforcement. The temper of Minneapolis police that night was especially dark and hostile. He knew what was happening to those protestors was dangerous. He was not quiet about what he was seeing.

He has been followed. He has been surveilled. He was even ambushed by undercovers with guns drawn long months later. He is being brought up on bogus charges of “rioting” and “assault on police.” The vengeance of the MPD was all encompassing.

He was evicted after MPD served no-knock warrants. The warrants said they were searching for “bombs, guns, Black Panther and other terrorist group material.” If you know my son, you already know they found nothing! They still won’t release his car or his belonging. They refused to release his phone, Veteran ID, passport, driver’s license, school-loaned computer, his bike, even school library books. They are trying to keep all his savings he squirreled away. When my son should have been taking finals for his last semester at the U of M, he was instead dealing with the dehumanizing experience of sitting in the Hennepin County jail. He lost his scholarships. His diploma is being withheld until we can cover the college fees. They released him with conditions that forced his silence.

All of that might just sound like heavy-handed law enforcement. But they didn’t just stop there. MPD officers released his picture to the media and claimed he was a car-jacker arrested during a sting!

We need to hire a lawyer who actually cares about keeping a young Black man’s record clean. He’s been pressured to just plead out for felony probation – NO WAY! What’s part of the plea? MPD has asked that the plea include a letter of apology!

I have been so afraid that speaking out will make his situation worse but he needs help – we need help protecting my son.

Please, help us fight back and triumph this bogus justice system.