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For the past several days, members of Frank Paro’s family, his friends and members of the community gathered at Pow Wow Grounds — a coffee shop and community gathering place — to mourn and to remember him.  

Community members lit a fire in honor of Paro outside the coffee shop and shared their stories of him, a tradition in many Ojibwe families and communities. 

Robert Lilligren heads the Native American Community Development Institute, a nonprofit in south Minneapolis. Paro was a regular visitor to Pow Wow Grounds, which shares a building with the nonprofit. 

“When I think of Frank Paro, I think of a steadfast presence in a community. He might not be the loudest person in the room or jumping in front of the room to speak, but he was always there, and it was always reassuring,” Lilligren said. 

Four years earlier, as unrest engulfed Minneapolis following the murder of George Floyd, the parking lot outside their shared building had become a makeshift headquarters for providing safety and community for neighborhood residents.  

Lilligren remembered how the community decided not to use plywood sheets to cover up windows throughout the neighborhood. Instead, they formed a community patrol and deployed it across the neighborhood.  

The decision to form a patrol was one that had its roots in the patrols first organized by the American Indian Movement beginning in the late 1960s. 

Paro, alongside other community leaders, helped organize and lead a patrol of several hundred people. Together, those community patrols kept people safe and safeguarded neighborhood organizations, businesses and homes. 

Lilligren recalled that the patrol launched from the parking lot.

“Frank was core to that leadership and bringing people together. People were coming down from the reservation. At the end of the day, it was over 500 volunteer protectors helped protect our community,” said Lilligren. “Franklin Avenue didn’t burn … Frank was right at the hub of all of that.”

Lisa Bellanger, daughter of AIM founder Pat Bellanger, grew up in the American Indian Movement. She and Paro patrolled the neighborhood together during the unrest. Bellanger said Paro was a compassionate leader who led by example. 

“He was hands on with our patrol and security. He didn’t run it from an office or a car, he was right outside. Ready to jump or step in and block… whatever we needed to do,” said Bellanger.  

Paro was a member of AIM for several decades, a part of the generation of leaders and activists that founded the American Indian Movement in Minneapolis in the late 1960s. AIM formed in response to police violence. 

 worked alongside Paro for over four decades leading on social justice issues. He described Paro as a person dedicated to human rights. 

“Frank was at the front. He was so loyal and dedicated to the struggle, to the movement, to Clyde [Bellecourt], to the people,” Moss said. “And he did it for so long. He stood up.” 

Moss said his relationship with Paro and fellow activist 

 went back to a time in the late 1960s when Black and American Indian activists organized community patrols on both the northside and southside of the city.  

“The relationship stood strong. We were running back and forth helping each other,” Moss said.  

Moss, who said he came to Minnesota from the south, recalled marching alongside Paro and Bellecourt at AIM marches during winter months. 

“I did not ever march in the cold. Frank and Clyde made me march in the cold. I had never done that,” Moss recalled with a chuckle. 

Most recently, Moss and Paro worked together on public safety issues. The two had led a community mediation team formed to hold Minneapolis police accountable to Indigenous, Black, immigrant and communities of color.  

“He was a phone call away,” said Moss. “He was a blessing that will surely be missed because ... that humanity in him mattered. The decency in him mattered. The fairness in him mattered,” said Moss. 

Paro died Saturday due to health complications. He was 72. 

A celebration of life for Paro will be held at the Minneapolis American Indian Center from 1-5 p.m. The celebration will be open to the public. 

Melissa Olson

Author

Friends, family and community members gathered this week to mourn the death of Frank Paro, a prominent leader in the American Indian Movement. 

Friends, family, and community gathered all this week to mourn the death of Frank Paro, a prominent leader in the American Indian Movement. 

‘A steadfast presence': Minneapolis community mourns the passing of AIM leader Frank Paro

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