Law students from three schools, the University of Minnesota, Hamline University and St. Thomas gathered for a demonstration of justice for Amir Locke and all stolen lives at Peavey Plaza in downtown Minneapolis Friday.
The event featured members of St. Thomas’ Black Law Student Association, Anti-racism Alliance as well as the Executive Director of CAIR-MN, Jaylani Hussein. The demonstration focused on stopping no-knock warrants in Minnesota as well as eliminating systemic racism throughout the country.
“As lawyers in training, we learn everyday in our law classes about the fact that no-knock warrants are problematic,” Victor Sikeley, president of the Black Law Student Association at St. Thomas School of Law, said. “We learn that justice needs to be served and lawyers need to spearhead that campaign.”
Locke was killed seconds after a SWAT team, using a no-knock warrant, entered the apartment where his family said he was staying. Body camera video shows an officer using a key to unlock the door and enter, followed by at least four officers in uniform and protective vests, time-stamped at about 6:48 a.m. As they enter, they repeatedly shout, “Police, search warrant!” They also shout “Hands!” and “Get on the ground!”
The video shows an officer kicking a sectional sofa, and Locke is seen wrapped in a comforter, holding a pistol. Three shots are heard and the video ends.
“The city of Minneapolis promised us they wouldn’t use (no-knock warrants), and they are using it and then it resulted in the death of an innocent Black man,” Sikeley said. “If somebody is in an apartment, there’s no way he’s jumping out that window to go down. You can knock (for) a few seconds.”
The demonstration started with a moment of silence for Locke before moving on to speeches from different law school student leaders and organizational leaders.
“We have to consciously think about these problems not as a moment, but as an opportunity to fundamentally change for the better of ourselves, and for the better of our neighbors and for the better of our generations yet to be born,” Hussein said.
Hussein advocated for demonstrators to come together to fight against racist institutions and not continue being “passive bystanders.”
“Minnesota has been chosen,” Hussein said. “The fact that the worst police brutality in our modern age happens in Minnesota means that we are the ones who carry the burden of George Floyd.”
He then continued to call for college students to enact change throughout the state.
“Can we be the state that shined a light of justice for the rest of America? Can we speak to our neighbors and can we show the country that it is possible for justice to flow all over this country,” Hussein said. ”It’s time for us to actually do something for this country for the first time in a meaningful way.”
Lena Atchan, executive board member of the Anti-Racism Alliance at St. Thomas Law School said it was crucial for St. Thomas students to get support from other schools.
“Our law school is quite small and if we’re the only one screaming at the top of our lungs, it’s still not going to get heard,” Atchan said.
Founding board member of St. Thomas School of Law’s Anti-Racism Alliance Alex Kautza said law students needed to come together to drive change and return equity in the city.
“We want to make sure that as legal professionals, we’re not letting institutions off the hook for the way racism continues to be so alive and well in our community,” Kautza said. “What we want to do is make sure that we’re fighting racism — that we’re not being passive bystanders.”
The law students know that no-knock warrants cannot be where legislation stops.
“My goal is to start a push to get police reform back on the ballot and in the state legislature. No-knock warrants is a start, but we need legitimate systemic reform,” Justice Shannon, president of the Black Law Students Association at the University of Minnesota Law School said.
Kautza hopes that law students can continue to lead the way beyond reform and into real change.
“We want to be a community of folks that are dismantling systemic racism and we’ve known that for too long, we’ve sat by and watched and we want to be a part of the change,” Kautza said.
Scout Mason can be reached at maso7275@stthomas.edu.
Cam Kauffman can be reached at kauf8536@stthomas.edu.