SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Protestors on stage during a rally for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) on March 1, 2020 in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. The protesters, critical of Klobuchar's history as a prosecutor in Hennepin County, successfully shut down the event. (Photo: Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
Civil Rights Advocates Shut Down Klobuchar Rally, Demanding Justice for Teen She Helped Sentence to Life in Prison
"There is an entire community that suffered under her leadership, and she has refused to accept accountability for the harm that she caused."
Mar 01, 2020
Civil rights organizations shut down a planned rally for Sen. Amy Klobuchar's presidential campaign outside Minneapolis on Sunday night after occupying the stage for more than an hour, demanding the Minnesota senator address their concerns over her record as a former prosecutor.
Dozens of demonstrators, led by the NAACP and Black Lives Matter, entered the gymnasium at St. Louis Park High School where Klobuchar was set to speak to supporters. The protesters expressed support for Myon Burrell, a young black man who was sentenced to life in prison for a murder he maintains he didn't commit when Klobuchar was the attorney for Hennepin County, Minnesota.
The protesters called for the senator to drop out of the 2020 Democratic primary, chanting, "Klobuchar has got to go!" and "Free Myon!"
Dozens of demonstrators climbed onstage to display signs reading, "Shame" and "What's the sentence for being innocent?" as they called on Klobuchar to meet with Burrell's family and discuss the case publicly at the rally.
Burrell was first convicted of first-degree murder in 2003 in the case of Tyesha Edwards, who was shot by a stray bullet. He was 16 at the time of the murder. Two other men who Burrell hadn't previously known were also convicted and sentenced for the crime. The Associated Press reported last month about flaws in Klobuchar's case against Burrell, including her office's failure to pursue alibis and its heavy reliance on the account of a "teen rival" of Burrell instead of multiple eyewitnesses, DNA, or fingerprints.
Burrell's sentence was overturned by the Minnesota Supreme Court but he was convicted again in 2008 for the same crime, after Klobuchar had become a senator.
Black Lives Matter and other supporters of Burrell say Klobuchar should do more than simply call for the case to be reviewed, as she has during the 2020 primary election. Activists have also criticized the senator for boasting about her record of being "tough on crime" while also declining to bring charges in more than two dozen cases of excessive force used by police officers. When running for her Senate seat in 2006, Klobuchar told NBC, "I'm someone who puts people in jail for a living."
"There is an entire community that suffered under her leadership, and she has refused to accept accountability for the harm that she caused," Nekima Levy Armstrong, a civil rights lawyer who helped lead Sunday's protest, told the New York Times last week.
Journalist Adam Johnson applauded the demonstration and remarked on the shift, driven by Black Lives Matter and other civil rights groups, toward widespread public criticism of candidates who attempt to run on their prosecution histories.
"For too long, 'Tough On Crime DA' has been a stepping stone for careerists of both parties and a major reason our system is so mindlessly cruel," tweeted Johnson. "That it's a potential liability now is HUGE."
Critics say Klobuchar should use her influence as a senator to pressure Hennepin County prosecutors to reopen Burrell's case.
" Amy Klobuchar has the power and the influence--if she wanted to actually help us to free him she could, and she doesn't want to," Leslie Redmond, president of the Minneapolis NAACP, told USA Today on Sunday.
After the Klobuchar campaign informed the audience that Sunday night's rally would be canceled due to the protest, her campaign manager told the press that the senator had been willing to meet with the demonstrators and that they had backed out--an account Levy Armstrong disputed.
Klobuchar had not agreed to the group's request that she speak publicly with Burrell's family at the rally, Levy Armstrong said.
For the record, Protestors at Amy Klobuchar's Rally on Sunday night did not back out of a deal to meet with the Senator. We agreed for Amy to meet with Myon Burrell's family, .@LeslieERedmond @NAACPmpls Prez and me. We also asked that Amy directly address Myon's case on stage.
-- Nekima Levy Armstrong (formerly Levy-Pounds) (@nvlevy) March 2, 2020
"We thought that Amy Klobuchar speaking about Myon's case with Myon's family on stage was a reasonable request and a good way to let attendees know why we were there," she said. "Instead of responding to this request, Amy's team decided to cancel the event."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Civil rights organizations shut down a planned rally for Sen. Amy Klobuchar's presidential campaign outside Minneapolis on Sunday night after occupying the stage for more than an hour, demanding the Minnesota senator address their concerns over her record as a former prosecutor.
Dozens of demonstrators, led by the NAACP and Black Lives Matter, entered the gymnasium at St. Louis Park High School where Klobuchar was set to speak to supporters. The protesters expressed support for Myon Burrell, a young black man who was sentenced to life in prison for a murder he maintains he didn't commit when Klobuchar was the attorney for Hennepin County, Minnesota.
The protesters called for the senator to drop out of the 2020 Democratic primary, chanting, "Klobuchar has got to go!" and "Free Myon!"
Dozens of demonstrators climbed onstage to display signs reading, "Shame" and "What's the sentence for being innocent?" as they called on Klobuchar to meet with Burrell's family and discuss the case publicly at the rally.
Burrell was first convicted of first-degree murder in 2003 in the case of Tyesha Edwards, who was shot by a stray bullet. He was 16 at the time of the murder. Two other men who Burrell hadn't previously known were also convicted and sentenced for the crime. The Associated Press reported last month about flaws in Klobuchar's case against Burrell, including her office's failure to pursue alibis and its heavy reliance on the account of a "teen rival" of Burrell instead of multiple eyewitnesses, DNA, or fingerprints.
Burrell's sentence was overturned by the Minnesota Supreme Court but he was convicted again in 2008 for the same crime, after Klobuchar had become a senator.
Black Lives Matter and other supporters of Burrell say Klobuchar should do more than simply call for the case to be reviewed, as she has during the 2020 primary election. Activists have also criticized the senator for boasting about her record of being "tough on crime" while also declining to bring charges in more than two dozen cases of excessive force used by police officers. When running for her Senate seat in 2006, Klobuchar told NBC, "I'm someone who puts people in jail for a living."
"There is an entire community that suffered under her leadership, and she has refused to accept accountability for the harm that she caused," Nekima Levy Armstrong, a civil rights lawyer who helped lead Sunday's protest, told the New York Times last week.
Journalist Adam Johnson applauded the demonstration and remarked on the shift, driven by Black Lives Matter and other civil rights groups, toward widespread public criticism of candidates who attempt to run on their prosecution histories.
"For too long, 'Tough On Crime DA' has been a stepping stone for careerists of both parties and a major reason our system is so mindlessly cruel," tweeted Johnson. "That it's a potential liability now is HUGE."
Critics say Klobuchar should use her influence as a senator to pressure Hennepin County prosecutors to reopen Burrell's case.
" Amy Klobuchar has the power and the influence--if she wanted to actually help us to free him she could, and she doesn't want to," Leslie Redmond, president of the Minneapolis NAACP, told USA Today on Sunday.
After the Klobuchar campaign informed the audience that Sunday night's rally would be canceled due to the protest, her campaign manager told the press that the senator had been willing to meet with the demonstrators and that they had backed out--an account Levy Armstrong disputed.
Klobuchar had not agreed to the group's request that she speak publicly with Burrell's family at the rally, Levy Armstrong said.
For the record, Protestors at Amy Klobuchar's Rally on Sunday night did not back out of a deal to meet with the Senator. We agreed for Amy to meet with Myon Burrell's family, .@LeslieERedmond @NAACPmpls Prez and me. We also asked that Amy directly address Myon's case on stage.
-- Nekima Levy Armstrong (formerly Levy-Pounds) (@nvlevy) March 2, 2020
"We thought that Amy Klobuchar speaking about Myon's case with Myon's family on stage was a reasonable request and a good way to let attendees know why we were there," she said. "Instead of responding to this request, Amy's team decided to cancel the event."
Civil rights organizations shut down a planned rally for Sen. Amy Klobuchar's presidential campaign outside Minneapolis on Sunday night after occupying the stage for more than an hour, demanding the Minnesota senator address their concerns over her record as a former prosecutor.
Dozens of demonstrators, led by the NAACP and Black Lives Matter, entered the gymnasium at St. Louis Park High School where Klobuchar was set to speak to supporters. The protesters expressed support for Myon Burrell, a young black man who was sentenced to life in prison for a murder he maintains he didn't commit when Klobuchar was the attorney for Hennepin County, Minnesota.
The protesters called for the senator to drop out of the 2020 Democratic primary, chanting, "Klobuchar has got to go!" and "Free Myon!"
Dozens of demonstrators climbed onstage to display signs reading, "Shame" and "What's the sentence for being innocent?" as they called on Klobuchar to meet with Burrell's family and discuss the case publicly at the rally.
Burrell was first convicted of first-degree murder in 2003 in the case of Tyesha Edwards, who was shot by a stray bullet. He was 16 at the time of the murder. Two other men who Burrell hadn't previously known were also convicted and sentenced for the crime. The Associated Press reported last month about flaws in Klobuchar's case against Burrell, including her office's failure to pursue alibis and its heavy reliance on the account of a "teen rival" of Burrell instead of multiple eyewitnesses, DNA, or fingerprints.
Burrell's sentence was overturned by the Minnesota Supreme Court but he was convicted again in 2008 for the same crime, after Klobuchar had become a senator.
Black Lives Matter and other supporters of Burrell say Klobuchar should do more than simply call for the case to be reviewed, as she has during the 2020 primary election. Activists have also criticized the senator for boasting about her record of being "tough on crime" while also declining to bring charges in more than two dozen cases of excessive force used by police officers. When running for her Senate seat in 2006, Klobuchar told NBC, "I'm someone who puts people in jail for a living."
"There is an entire community that suffered under her leadership, and she has refused to accept accountability for the harm that she caused," Nekima Levy Armstrong, a civil rights lawyer who helped lead Sunday's protest, told the New York Times last week.
Journalist Adam Johnson applauded the demonstration and remarked on the shift, driven by Black Lives Matter and other civil rights groups, toward widespread public criticism of candidates who attempt to run on their prosecution histories.
"For too long, 'Tough On Crime DA' has been a stepping stone for careerists of both parties and a major reason our system is so mindlessly cruel," tweeted Johnson. "That it's a potential liability now is HUGE."
Critics say Klobuchar should use her influence as a senator to pressure Hennepin County prosecutors to reopen Burrell's case.
" Amy Klobuchar has the power and the influence--if she wanted to actually help us to free him she could, and she doesn't want to," Leslie Redmond, president of the Minneapolis NAACP, told USA Today on Sunday.
After the Klobuchar campaign informed the audience that Sunday night's rally would be canceled due to the protest, her campaign manager told the press that the senator had been willing to meet with the demonstrators and that they had backed out--an account Levy Armstrong disputed.
Klobuchar had not agreed to the group's request that she speak publicly with Burrell's family at the rally, Levy Armstrong said.
For the record, Protestors at Amy Klobuchar's Rally on Sunday night did not back out of a deal to meet with the Senator. We agreed for Amy to meet with Myon Burrell's family, .@LeslieERedmond @NAACPmpls Prez and me. We also asked that Amy directly address Myon's case on stage.
-- Nekima Levy Armstrong (formerly Levy-Pounds) (@nvlevy) March 2, 2020
"We thought that Amy Klobuchar speaking about Myon's case with Myon's family on stage was a reasonable request and a good way to let attendees know why we were there," she said. "Instead of responding to this request, Amy's team decided to cancel the event."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.