Nevada posted this on Facebook:
I live within walking distance of Minneapolis Police Precinct.
I have been onsite peacefully protesting everyday this week. I have been shot at with rubber bullets, tear gassed, hit with percussion bombs and watched people hit with “soft” bullets (see below). I’ve seen the police advance on citizens using violence and intimidation.
A man standing in front of me was hit in the neck with a rubber bullet and dropped to the ground. As we surrounded him to protect and move to medical station, we were hit with multiple rounds of tear gas. Mind you, this was during the daylight hours as people-elders to babies-were peacefully protesting.
The police instigated and fueled this fire. This fire is burning down our city.
My neighbors upstairs and next door left the neighborhood yesterday out of fear. They went to friends and family away from here. That is the kind of privilege that I think about. It’s not that I didn’t have multiple friends, family and coworkers call and check on me over the past days—I have safe places to retreat to. I just know that running away from this situation, my home, my neighborhood is a privilege I DON’T have.
It’s not a privilege my black and brown brothers and sisters have. This is my home and I refuse to let the police force me out of my home. To be clear, I do not feel unsafe due to protestors. Every protestor I’ve encountered has been there to protest with focus on justice. Local businesses hit. The neighborhood changed forever. And I fully understand and hold in my body the anger, fear, and outrage that bubbled beneath the surface and erupted this week in Minneapolis.
This place has a long history of violence toward Indigneous, Black and brown people. The worst racial disparities in the country is at home in Minnesota. This isn’t about one incident, the killing of George Floyd was just the last straw in generations of systemic racism and violence.
