THE RESIDENTS' COMPLAINT
THE RESIDENTS' COMPLAINT
Minneapolis Deserves Better
ABOUT
With consent from Amir Locke’s family, a grassroots coalition of Minneapolis residents including clergy, artists, organizers, and people from all walks of life came together to file #TheResidentsComplaint. We requested an ethics investigation into Mayor Frey for his massive failure to exercise judgement which led to the murder of 22-year-old Amir Locke by the Minneapolis Police Department.
Who
We Are
We are in deep grief because a fellow resident by the name of Amir Locke lost his life at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department. As residents of this City, we extend our deepest condolences to his family. The pain they are navigating is a kind of pain that is preventable, and we are very, very sorry.
All of our efforts to attempt to change a system we knew was disproportionately and unnecessarily killing black lives, did not protect Amir. We are sorry that our solidarity protests and pushes for policy changes in the wake of the deaths of people like Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, and Breonna Taylor did not save Amir. We are sorry that our fights to advocate for our own fallen in the Twin Cities area like Justin Teigen, Jamar Clark, Philando Castile, George Floyd, Dolal Idd , and Daunte Wright did not save Amir. We are sorry, and we will stand up for Amir in the hopes that no other family shares this kind of pain.
We, the residents of Minneapolis, deserve better. We deserve to feel safe in our homes and in our streets. We deserve leadership that is trustworthy, fair, and accountable. Ultimately, Mayor Jacob Frey has the power and responsibility over everything that happens within the government of the City of Minneapolis, and as specifically outlined in the City Charter, the Minneapolis Police Department.
Many of us have reviewed the body camera footage and followed the official statements by the City in the wake of Amir’s death. We continue to be deeply concerned and outraged with the lies, immoral decisions, and actions we have witnessed from our local officials that violate our City’s Code of Ethics.
Four days after Amir Locke was killed, about 25 residents came together as strangers with a simple question: what can we do? We determined that since it is our responsibility to hold our leadership accountable, we as residents are obligated by our commitment to each other as neighbors to submit an ethics complaint against Mayor Jacob Frey. We did not take this lightly. It is a serious decision to launch an ethics complaint against a Mayor.
On Tuesday, March 15, 2022, the Ethics Board met and in a closed session decided to dismiss our ethics code violation complaint.
As residents, we do not agree with their decision and will continue to take action to hold Mayor Jacob Frey accountable for his unethical decisions that caused the death of Amir Locke.
We thank the family of Amir Locke for supporting this action, and our prayers are with them.