Storms start to move out of Minnesota, continue for western Wisconsin

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

Minnesotans were reliving the 2020 killing of George Floyd as the the trial of the former police officer charged in his death played out in a Minneapolis courtroom. Then, a police officer in Brooklyn Center shot and killed a Black man during a traffic stop. 

Lisa Clemons was one of the first people to the scene of the killing of 20-year-old Daunte Wright.

, an organization of Black parents that supports families impacted by gun violence.

“We get called out on a lot of traumatic incidents that happened in our community,” Clemons said in an interview with MPR News host Angela Davis. “We get called out to be there for the family. … I don't really care who pulls the trigger or who takes the life. I'm really out there for the family” of the victim.

Clemons said she got a call from Hennepin County Sheriff David Hutchinson on Sunday afternoon, asking her to come to the Brooklyn Center location where Wright was shot and killed by 

“So I said, ‘I'm on my way, is the mom there?’ And that was my first and only question to him,” Clemons said. “And when I got there, that's who I cared about, the family, the mom.”

Wright’s family was in shock, and asked for peace, Clemons said.

“The mom said, ‘I don't even want these chants that are happening right now,’” Clemons said. “I think she just wanted everything to focus on her son, who was still laying, you know, out there in the street. … I had to tune out all the other stuff that was rallying up, all the young people out there, I had to try to tune that out. But that was hard for me to watch.”

Protests grow over death of Daunte Wright

Brooklyn Center officer, chief resign; mayor wants AG Ellison to handle Wright case

Alan, a listener from Minneapolis, called in to share how he and his family are feeling in the wake of Wright’s death.

“Me and my family are depressed. I mean, we can't know —  we don't know — how much more of this we can take because every time we hear, this is almost like your nephew or your brother being slain. It's like, the authorities don't care, innocence or guilt, how severe or what crime you're committing,” Alan said. 

“People feed off poor, not just Black folks, poor folks, but especially people of color. You know, we don't stand a chance when everybody's feeding off our bodies, like we are just roadkill … I cry almost every day. I try not to watch it. How much more can I can we take?”

Jamil Stamschror-Lott is CEO and co-founder of Creative Kuponya, a Minneapolis-based organization that provides mental health and wellness services for young people of color. He pointed out that living in Minnesota as a Black man is a drastically different experience than living in Minnesota as a white man. That’s why critiques of Wright’s attempt to get back in his vehicle when he was being arrested hurt to hear, Stamschror-Lott said.

“I cringe when I see these reports that say: ‘The greatest places to live: Plymouth, Minn.’ And it's like, yeah, for white folks,” he said. “But when you break down … the data, and you 

, black folks are struggling greatly. … And so we have this unspoken  culture in Minnesota, and it's killing us.”

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on:

Host

Author

As one former police officer is tried for murder in the killing of George Floyd, a young Black man named Daunte Wright is shot and killed by another officer during a traffic stop. Host Angela Davis talks about the trauma, grief, anger and fear in our communities. 

MPR News with Angela Davis - As one former police officer is tried for murder in the killing of George Floyd, another officer shoots and kills a Black man during a traffic stop. At 11 a.m. Tuesday, host Angela Davis will talk about the trauma, grief, anger and fear in our communities.

How we're processing the killing of another Black man by police in Minnesota

Go Deeper.

Like this?