Grassroots movements and advocacy groups have been instrumental in facilitating necessary social change in American history. Recently, Black Lives Matter, various labor movements, and cultural activists have successfully pressured federal and state lawmakers to enact reform legislation and make public commitments to address longstanding issues; but there has been a trend in the other direction as well, including state laws to restrict the nature and extent of public protest. These issues came to the fore in the Twin Cities during events following the murder of George Floyd, and the U.S. Department of Justice recently issued a report sharply critical of how the Minneapolis Police handled the situation. Challenges persist. Can public safety be reliably protected without compromising the First Amendment’s sacred rights to assemble peaceably and give voice to grievances?
Featured:
Deepinder Mayell, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota (ACLU-MN), has two decades of legal and advocacy experience developing innovative strategies to protect the rights and dignity of marginalized communities. Previously, he served as executive director of the James H. Binger Center for New Americans at the University of Minnesota Law School, where he helped design new programs, including working with the ACLU-MN to create legal immigration clinics in rural areas.
Trahern Pollard is the founder and CEO of We Push For Peace, an organization he built from the ground up with one central purpose: to make a difference in the lives of youth and community. He and his organization partner with Hennepin County and Probation and Diversion Services to mentor and support teenagers and young adults to heal from past trauma. He is also part of President Joe Biden’s Community Violence Intervention Collaborative.
Jane Prince, a St. Paul City Councilmember representing Ward 7, is a 30-year East Side resident and lives in the Mounds Park neighborhood, where she and her husband, David Murphy, purchased their home in 1984 and raised their son Sam, a 2003 Harding High School graduate. With her previous work as an attorney, a community volunteer, and a council legislative aide, Prince came to elective office with an extensive record of innovative problem-solving and consensus-building.
Jane Turner, a former FBI special agent, led the bureau’s highly successful program combating child sex crimes and crimes against women on Indian Reservations in North Dakota. After discovering and exposing the FBI’s failures with the program in 1998-1999, Turner was removed from her senior position. She challenged this retaliation in federal court for nearly nine years. In 2007, a jury awarded her the maximum compensatory damages permitted under the law, more than $1.5 million.
Jai Winston (moderator), director of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in Saint Paul, Minnesota, joined the Knight Foundation in 2016. Previously, he was an associate of strategy and corporate development in the Office of the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Ariel Investments, a minority-owned money management firm in Chicago. At Ariel Investments, he focused on working with senior members of the firm and on other firm-wide strategic initiatives.
Recorded Sept. 19, 2023.
