What happened during federal mediation By: Booker T Hodges Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder Originally posted 12/17/2003
One participant�s account of how the community and City reached their agreement First of a two-part story As a member of the Unity Community Mediation Team (UCMT), I thought it would be appropriate to inform the community about my experiences negotiating a Federal Mediation Agreement between the UCMT and the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD). The mediation process took over seven months to complete � months filled with many trails and tribulations. My hope is that this �documentary,� as I will call it, will give members of the community a better understanding of what took place. Events leading up to mediation In the summer of 2002, there was a riot in the Jordan neighborhood in North Minneapolis. This riot was sparked after a child was struck by a bullet fired from the barrel of a police officer�s firearm during a drug raid. Following this riot, Federal Mediator Patricia Campbell Glenn was summoned to Minneapolis to assess the deteriorating relationship between the police department and communities of color. Longtime civil rights activist Ron Edwards and civil rights attorney Jill Clark, along with a host of others, had written the U.S. Justice Department requesting mediation prior to this event, but it just so happened that Glenn was on her way to Minneapolis when the riot took place. Glenn, who has 30 years of mediation experience, was able to assess the situation and make a recommendation to the Minneapolis City Council and Mayor Rybak that the City start the mediation process. City leaders were reluctant, to say the least, about beginning mediation with a Justice Department mediator. Rybak said that he supported mediation but he wanted the mediator to be hired from a privately-owned company. After agreeing to enter into mediation, the members of the first UCMT met at the downtown Marriot with Glenn. Community members Spike Moss, Rev. Randy Staten, Ron Edwards, Rev. Jerry McAfee, Pauline Thomas, Jill Clark, attorney Jill Wade, Omar Jamal, Al Flowers, Clyde Bellecourt, Clarence Hightower and yours truly, to name a few, were present during this �secret� meeting. This meeting was filled with tension because the group couldn�t agree on who was going to represent the community at the negotiation table. There were two factions present in the room. One faction consisted of people who had initiated the mediation process, and the other consisted of people who the City wanted at the table. Ron Edwards made the suggestion that the two factions join and move forward with mediation, but his suggestion was not taken well by those who had originally requested mediation. In the end, the people who had originally requested mediation would no longer be a part of the process. Understandably, those people were angry with Edwards because he still remained with the mediation team, but I always felt that they never fully understood his strategy. Edwards, being the historian that he is, knew that the people who the City insisted participate in mediation would be unable to finish mediation because they lacked the diligence to complete such a painstaking task. In other words, if those people who left the mediation process would have stayed, they more than likely would have had their say in the mediation agreement, because the community members that the City picked would have quit; it would have been too much work for them. The team that ended up going to the mediation table was put together by Minneapolis Urban League President Clarence Hightower and City Council Member Paul Zerby. UCMT members were selected in May, and mediation meetings began the next month. Mediation proceeds Early meetings between the UCMT and the MPD consisted of what some UCMT members called a �dog and pony show.� The UCMT had a list of issues that we wanted to address, which included police use of force, out-of-home placement, mental health issues, hiring of people of color, and treatment of citizens, to name a few. The MPD had speakers come in and make presentations on each of the issues, instead of engaging UCMT members in discussion. The mediation meetings didn�t start to get interesting until the beginning of August. Rev. Randy Staten, who was serving as chairman of the UCMT, attempted to present the MPD with a mediation proposal without letting the rest of the UCMT view it first. Staten�s proposal was intercepted by one of the UCMT members and passed out to the other team members before Staten could present it to the MPD. Members of the UCMT called for an immediate caucus (a meeting where both sides met separately) to discuss Staten�s actions and his proposal. In Staten�s defense, his proposal did contain items UCMT members had discussed previously in past caucuses. During this caucus, several UCMT were livid, to say the least, at Staten�s actions. Staten and one other member of the UCMT got into a heated verbal altercation. Many UCMT members felt that Staten was being too chummy with Chief Olson during mediation sessions. Personally, I felt the same way, because whenever UCMT members would bring up an issue that the City didn�t particularly want to discuss, Olson would motion to Staten, and Staten would tell the team member that we would discuss that issue at a later time. The City also seemed to run and set the pace of the meetings, while we just sat there and listened to what they had to say without asking too many questions. Staten submitted his letter of resignation to the UCMT on August 20. He wrote, �While I am truly interested in doing something significant to affect the real issue of degenerating police/community relations, I will not be a participant in the false issues and counterproductive activities that seem to play such a major part in our proceedings as a team.� Bill Means replaced Staten as chairman of the UCMT, with Rev. Ian Bethel serving as co-chairman. This was the first turning point in the mediation process � from here on out, things would not be the same. In my humble opinion, that was a good thing. Even though I appreciated the work that Staten did, I, along with several other UCMT members, felt that Means was up to the task of moving us forward in the right direction. Next week: Events following Staten�s departure and the nitty gritty of the mediation agreement. To read the federal mediation agreement, visit Memorandum of Agreement http://www.ci.minneapo lis.mn.us/council/2003-meet ings/20031215/docs/01_Media tion_Memorandum_Agreement.pdf. Booker Hodges welcomes reader responses to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Posted by Shawn Lewis, Field Neighborhood -- ___________________________________________________________ Sign-up for Ads Free at Mail.com http://promo.mail.com/adsfreejump.htm REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
