Waking up in the Northeast Twin Cities third ring small town of White Bear Lake, you would not know there is a crisis in Minnesota. I don’t want to overshare my personal life, but this crisis is affecting me deeply through my concern for family and friends in the middle of this. That is why I found this editorial written by Marilyn Mosby, the prosecutor in the Freddy Gray case so helpful as I and my fellow Minnesotans grapple with the ongoing crisis and recovery. I will pull out some excerpts, but I recommend you read the entire op-ed.
www.washingtonpost.com/…
There are differences with the case of George Floyd. For starters, there is clear video of an officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes while he gasps for air and pleads to breathe. Such evidence would have been the “smoking gun" in Gray’s case, which is why I was perplexed to hear Hennepin County, Minn., District Attorney Michael Freeman announce Thursday that he hadn’t yet pressed charges because he didn’t want to repeat the “rush to charge” and "rush to justice” of the Gray case.
It’s a demonstrably false and bizarre statement. My office announced charges 18 days after Gray’s arrest, following an extensive review of the evidence, which included an autopsy report declaring his death a homicide. In addition to my office deciding there was sufficient probable cause to charge the officers, a grand jury also found probable cause and indicted the officers. The case lasted 15 months. In no world is that a “rush.” Ultimately, a judge decided against us — but at least we prioritized Freddie Gray’s humanity and the pursuit of justice for his family over another standard for police officers.
Towards the end of the op-ed she concludes:
... the decision that I made in 2015 to charge six police officers for the death of Freddie Gray led to accountability. That accountability led to exposure. That exposure led to reform.
How the Floyd case proceeds is on Freeman’s office and his conscience.
Baltimore is still suffering because of the turmoil, and I know Minneapolis and St. Paul will too. I am proud that we are looking at property loss and not loss of life.
I moved here when I retired because of its vibrant culture and to be close to family who had relocated here. I have felt welcomed and I became involved in DFL politics in District 38. I am a ward captain now and was a delegate to the now canceled state convention (don’t worry, I voted online). I voted for younger persons and persons of diverse backgrounds to represent me and my community at the national convention. I will work hard to turn out the votes for my state representatives and senators as well as for the President of the United States.
Let me close with the Prayer for Social Justice from the Book of Common Prayer, 1979.
Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart [and especially the hearts of the people of this land], that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
–Book of Common Prayer, p. 823