Thank you to council members Andrew Johnson and Alondra Cano for these statements of support in response to the MOA and Bloomington Attorneys threats of prosecuting organizers for reparations. Andrew Johnson: People assembled in a de facto public space... paid for in good part with public dollars... where hundreds of assemblies happened before... to peacefully express themselves as others have... though without permission from a private foreign company... who called out the Bloomington Police Department... which overreacted... broke out riot-gear... scared customers... partially shut down the mall... unnecessarily impacted businesses... ... and now the City of Bloomington is using taxpayer dollars... suing organizers for forecasted sales that didnt happen... due to a partial shut down... at the hands of the Bloomington Police Department... which overreacted to a peaceful assembly... in a de facto public space... all in time for Christmas. Yep, that about sums it up. Just because a covered pedestrian mall has been privatized doesnt mean our rights shouldnt extend to such a public space. In fact they do in several states. But until they do in Minnesota, I would expect a proportionate police response and city governments not to spend taxpayer dollars going after civil damages on behalf of private parties. ********** Alondra Cano: Im very concerned about the charges being sought against our communitys #BlackLivesMatter organizers in the latest #MinnesotaNice and #ChargeMeToo news. These charges reflect a philosophical challenge we must work hard to solve. Should taxpayers be forced to give up all of their freedom of speech and freedom of assembly rights at the hands of privately owned yet heavily publicly subsidized business ventures? I believe that it is fundamentally flawed for privately owned business ventures to dip into taxpayer dollars without any community benefits agreements that honor and respect the foundations of our American democracy. This journey is not easy and it will be long, but we absolutely must keep standing up for the peoples ability to exercise their freedom of speech without persecution and personal harm.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Dec 2014 01:44:44 +0000
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