Activists from the group Black Lives Matter Minneapolis have obtained a series of emails, through open records requests, between
Bloomington, Minnesota City Attorney Sandra Johnson and reps for the Mall of America:
Excerpts from the emails:
Kathleen Allen Corporate Counsel for the Mall of America: “The bigger issue for me is pushing them [MOA owners the Triple Five Group] to consider civil action. I’m concerned that if these other charges don’t carry greater penalties than a trespass charge, we’ll be in the same position as last year.”
Sandra Johnson: “I agree that you need to have consequences, but MOA may wish to await the criminal charges. It’s the prosecution’s job to be the enforcer and MOA needs to continue to put on a positive, safe face. The City’s prosecution team is taking this very seriously. I do not usually posture in the media, but I want to deter future criminal activity. I will follow WCCO’s comments on the future prosecution.”
Kathleen Allen: “Agree -- we would defer any civil action depending on how the criminal charges play out. I think there’s just a concern that this is our third year in a row and our efforts this year were ineffective in shutting it down.”
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Sandra Johnson also encouraged Mall officials to continue surveillance of activists through social media. “Please document all the social media and video feeds on social media concerning the event. The groups are very likely to take these sites down when they hear that we intend to prosecute them. That’s likely to air tonight. My office cannot do that -- it would require us to be witnesses in our own prosecutions.”
Other emails discussed potential charges against Lush employees at the Mall of America who walked out of their store in support of the demonstration.
“The Mall of America is a foreign owned private entity that has no business influencing our judicial system or how the City of Bloomington spends public resources. This political prosecution at the behest of the largest mall in the U.S. is a clear attempt to silence peaceful activists asserting the value of Black lives, which sets a dangerous precedent for democracy and free speech everywhere,” said MN Attorney of the Year, law professor, and defendant Nekima Levy-Pounds.
The 11 activists facing charges appeared
in court this morning, with a couple hundred supporters outside the courtroom:
Inside, the 11 people identified by Bloomington officials as organizers and “ringleaders” of the demonstration each pleaded “not guilty” to eight separate criminal misdemeanor charges, including trespass, disorderly conduct, aiding and abetting disorderly conduct, and aiding and abetting a public nuisance.
“They’re really stretching it to say that people concerned with a matter of life and death are abetting a public nuisance,” said Minneapolis attorney Larry Leventhal, one of a team of lawyers representing the defendants.
Many Minnesotans have been asking the city to
drop the charges:
A petition asking the Mall of America to call for the charges to be dropped has garnered over 40,000 signatures. Last week over 100 clergy leaders, and 100 professors in Minnesota signed on to open letters asking that these charges be dropped.
“The Mall of America has a choice to make. It's time for the owners to stand on the right side of history and request that these outrageous charges be dropped now,” said Levy-Pounds.
Sandra Johnson
responded to the email discussion:
The idea that there’s some kind of back-channel communication between the city and the mall is ridiculous, Johnson said, noting that she regularly deals with mall attorneys on a wide range of issues, including licenses, permits, leases, contracts, security and other routine matters.
“Certainly, they’re a taxpayer and they’re one of the biggest draws in town,” Johnson said. “But they’re not the only draw in town.”
Video of the protest can be seen here: