A few days ago I went to a panel discussion held by the Industrial Workers of the World’s African People’s Caucus on the 4th Precinct Shutdown. I took notes even. Four black speakers talked about what went down during the 18 day occupation out of front of the 4th Precinct. The conversation made me think about how little I spoke about it, wrote about it, even though I spent all my time there.
After staying through the first few days, I started to arrive between 6-9pm and stayed until 7-9am. I’d sleep in my van, my legs propped up at a weird angle and always, always woke up freezing. (Note: if you’re ever at an occupation, find someone to cuddle with, it doesn’t have to be sexy times or nothing, it’s just waaaaayyyy warmer.) I learned names, stood next to folks as police fired into the crowds with pepper spray and maker rounds. I guess it was great to hear the panels thoughts on the precinct shutdown but wanted to give a few of my own.
So, the day after Jamar Clark was shot. Black Lives Matter called a rally at the memorial site set up by the Neighborhood. I found myself driving to North Minneapolis trying to figure out exactly what happened. I’d also been driven through the area by a former friend a few weeks earlier. He painted the place a violence ridden zone, and told me that the people who lived there just killed each other. (please note former friend) Anyway, I pulled up and parked and prepared to stream whatever was to come. I saw people gathering on the street and a few police officers floating nearby, who melted away once the memorial began at the spot Jamar Clark was shot. There was a lot of anger. A lot of really honest anger. You could hear people from the neighborhood screaming at folks who’d come to support. “Where were you yesterday?” and after the memorial began with prayers,some in the neighborhood reeled back, and they were pissed that people thought this was a time for healing. That after the police grabbed their neighbor, threw him on the ground, handcuffed him, and shot him in the back of the head– the response was to come out and hold hands, silence, pray, and try to heal. Not everyone was into that reaction. Others were willing to lose their lives for justice that day. People screamed that wanted the Malcom crowd to come over to them, they wanted the by any means necessary crowd.
Black Lives Matter[BLM] at those point pulled the people into a quadrant around the block. They turned it into a “No Cop Zone.” There goal was to not allow police into the sector they patrolled. The people held the block for over an hour, chanting and singing, as they made the block safe from the police. The no cop zone was a linking of arms that covered the North and South side of Plymouth Ave, and also blocked the road traffic with their bodies. There were still pockets of people discouraged by everyone’s actions. A lot of neighborhood youth, wondering what the fuck was going on. How can these people take over their block and make it free from cops, at that point I hadn’t seen a cop in over 3 hours. Neighbors seemed dismayed that people were now listening to music and dancing and singing after Jamar had been shot. Eventually BLM marched to the 4th precinct.
Here’s what I really wanted to focus on. From my understanding, a direct action took place at this point. From out of the march a small group of people, I think from the Black Liberation Project, took space in the vestibule of the 4th precinct. They took the space ready to risk arrest. They said they wanted the release of the tapes, the names of the officers, and they weren’t leaving until they got them or were arrested. Basically they had to get dragged out.
While their plan was to be arrested, they weren’t, they weren’t even dragged out, at least not right away. They stayed in the vestibule, and after the march whirled around, had some conversations with the Minneapolis mayor, it started to shed participants into general boredom and disillusionment. What happened next seemed to be people staying, and figuring out how to support the people holding space in the vestibule.
I wanted to ask peoples opinion on this, maybe clarify a little more. If that’s true. It means that the small autonomous direct action out of the bigger march, created new space and held space. It changed the ground a little. Then people seemed to be inspired by those people holding space and they stayed to support. I was there the next few day as the occupation grew. I remember seeing the first fire lit out front of the police station and thinking… holy fuck, we’re going to have fires in the night.(I have other fires in the night stories) People built shelter as rain started to fall, supplies were brought in, it seemed like rules over who went in and out of the vestibule we created, and out front was a sort of honor guard of woman sitting in chairs who you spoke to before moving towards the vestibule. Eventually , tents were set up to try to guard supplies, sleeping spaces were made, gathering spaces made, a kitchen.
The vestibule would eventually be evicted by the police, and the people would gather that night to fight for space. It was beautiful in many ways, and maybe what I’ll write about next. I guess I just wanted to say that the police killing of Jamar Clark brought many people with differing views into the North Minneapolis streets, at one point a small group took an arrestable action and took over the Police stations vestibule, at that point people started to stay to support the small autonomous action. They seemed to be staying to ensure the people in the vestibule were safe. After the vestibule was cleared, the occupation moved away from supporting the direct action to take the entryway, and the occupation became the action itself. I think that’s worthy of a lot of conversation as well. Maybe the next post.
Listening to the panel at the IWW offices, I found a lot of dialog about the police, community defense against the police, but little about what actually happened. So, I wanted to add this perception into the mix. I’m pretty sure if those folks had not done an autonomous direct action into the vestibule, the occupation probably would never have happened. It’s always possible that it just would have developed differently…I hear a lot of people say that the occupation was one of the most inspiring actions they’ve been part of… And it’s interesting because in Minneapolis organizing fields – The idea of autonomy is squashed by top down organizing that tries to ensure everyone marches in line. Maybe it’s time to rethink those strategies.
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Short essay by my friend/comrade Lorenzo on the 4th Precinct Occupation
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