Sparks fly at police community relations council meeting

It was not a happy reunion.

At yet another volatile meeting of the Minneapolis Police Community Relations Council Monday, longtime activist Spike Moss shot up out of his chair and faced off with another veteran community leader, Ron Edwards. The group was debating whether Edwards and American Indian activist Clyde Bellecourt should be ousted as co-chairs.

With his voice rising, Moss accused Edwards of withholding information and not supporting the group's platform. Finally, he screamed, "You're not going to stab us in the back and be a chair."

Apparently, not everybody felt the same way. In the election for co-chairs, Edwards and Zachary Metoyer received the most votes. But Edwards relinquished his position to Bellecourt, saying he couldn't do the job effectively "with all the poison" he was hearing in the room.

The council also agreed to return to negotiations with the Minneapolis Police Department this week after a one-month hiatus. Police and community members are assigned to complete a federal mediation agreement to improve relations. The deal expires in December.

At least one community member, Alfred Flowers, said he wasn't comfortable coming back to the table because it wasn't clear how they would complete the remaining key issues in the agreement. Moss and others told him, for the sake of the team, that he needed to support the process and push their agenda forward.

"We went through some painful problems," Moss said. "By going back to the table, we need to go after the things that most benefit citizens and stop police brutality."

'Now we fight for it'

Newly elected chair Metoyer said the community side, also referred to as the Unity Team, should put pressure on the police side to provide specifics on how it will implement an employee diversity strategy.

"Our side has done what we've had to do," he said. "Now we fight for it, or say it ain't going to work."

The group took a temporary leave from negotiations over frustration at the lack of progress on the agreement's 120 action items and a feeling that Edwards wasn't sharing information about a pending lawsuit involving five black police officers. During Monday's meeting, various members accused each other of being unable to represent their specific community issues.

Edwards kept quiet after the vote to remove him as co-chair. After the meeting, he said the group disrespected Bellecourt by making him part of the election when he wasn't a focus of member's complaints.

"In relinquishing my seat as co-chair, I thought I did the right thing in the name of unity," Edwards said.

Bellecourt suggested, with the group's blessing, that Moss give a "state of the community" address at Wednesday's regularly scheduled monthly meeting with the police side of the council. But the Unity Team is still trying to repair some of its own broken fences.

"Ron fighting with us hurt me personally," Moss said. "Don't separate us. Work with us."

David Chanen • 612-673-4465