‘Commentary’ Archives
Something I Said: Black Women’s Lives Matter
By DWIGHT HOBBES Dwight Hobbes Black women’s lives matter. Shouldn’t be necessary to say but consider. Rodney King, George Floyd and Tyre Nichols are names no one is likely to ever forget. Not so, the likes of Breonna Taylor, Sandra Bland and scores more who are just as dead at the hand of ruthlessly racist so-called law enforcement. Don’t think so? Consider. St. Paul citizen Nekeya Moody, in 2020, died after Ramsey County deputies responded to a 911 call reporting her as having a panic attack. In a subsequent lawsuit her mother said it was due to excessive force and indifference to her medical needs. The medical examiner cited excited delirium, an excuse Minneapolis police tried with the murder of George Floyd but the American Medical Association debunks as unheard of outside cops trying to get off the hook. That same year, a half-dozen Louisville Metro Police officers forced their way into Breonna Taylor’s home, investigating drug dealing ten miles away, and shot [...]
Library Patrons Union Protests Over Policing at East Lake Library
By EVANN ZUCKERMAN, Library Patrons Union Early afternoon on Saturday, February 18, community members held signs emblazoned with “Care not Cops” and “Libraries Belong to the People” in front of the East Lake Library. The group was made up of members of the Library Patrons Union, a collective focused on organizing for more accessible, equitable, and just public libraries in Hennepin County. One sign, “Sitting Down is not a Crime,” referenced an incident where police were called to the library when a patron who was sitting on the floor did not move onto a bench at the request of staff. Less than 45 minutes later, the patron was arrested from the bench she was sitting on quietly. On Saturday, other patrons who spoke to union members outside of the library were shocked to hear about the arrest. Many recalled times they sat on the floor of the library with their children or observed other patrons doing so. As sitting on the floor is not against the rules outlined library’s [...]
Library Patrons are in Crisis. Frontline Library Workers are in Crisis.
Public Libraries are in Crisis.
By the Executive Board of AFSCME Local 2822, representing 347 frontline Hennepin County Library workers Our hearts hurt for the library patron who was reportedly arrested at East Lake Library in February. According to library workers who were there that day, this was a deeply traumatic incident. Frontline library workers have little to no control over decisions to call the police. Having police involved in library incidents is not the norm, but having a person in crisis at our public libraries HAS become the norm. Many of your local library workers are struggling to support community members in acute crisis every single day. Libraries are one the few remaining open, public spaces. In a perfect world, libraries would be safe spaces glowing with information and democracy and community. In our imperfect world, it often means that libraries are places of last refuge for people who have fallen through the cracks of a broken system. And with all of the ongoing crises, library [...]
