“Not Again”: Residents Stunned by Daunte Wright’s Police Murder

Humboldt Avenue in daylight bears no resemblance to the chaotic battlefield it becomes after nightfall.

Cars and trucks travel on the wide suburban highway of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. There are apartments, a church and an institute. And a police station.

The police station, which is now separated from the avenue by a chain link fence, has been the focus of the protests for five nights and counting, after an officer killed a black man last Sunday, just 13 miles north of where another former officer is on trial for killing a black man.

The death of 20-year-old Daunte Wright comes as Minneapolis is already preparing for a verdict in the United States judgments by Derek Chauvin accused of murdering George Floyd last May. Floyd’s death sparked protests for racial justice around the world.

“When I saw it and heard it, I said,‘ Not again, ’” said Annette Combs, who works near Humboldt, of her reaction when she learned of Wright’s death.

When it gets dark, the avenue is lit by floodlights. Jeeps and armored vehicles of the National Guard seal the access from the south. There is a cacophony of straps, tear gas and rubber bullets from law enforcement and fireworks from protesters. Police have arrested dozens for violating a curfew imposed by the city.

Pastor Simeon Momanyi has been in the center, his home located between his church, the Seventh-day Adventist of the Kenyan community and the police station. The last few days have been tough, for him and his flock.

“When George Floyd was murdered, it was traumatic for a lot of people,” he said. “It’s been a year and people have almost started to get over it. There were many demonstrations. [You think] the police, when you interact with black people, people of color, will be careful. And suddenly, again. The same city, the same place. Something has happened again. “

Brooklyn Center, north of Minneapolis, is a middle-class, racially diverse suburb with a population of 31,000 and a large immigrant population. African grocery stores and restaurants sprinkle commercial strips. The median household income is $ 60,000 and many residents work in manufacturing.

At 63rd Avenue and Kathrene Drive, one block from where Wright was shot, the modest one-story houses are lined with siding. The bad guys have built him a sanctuary: a huge fist to the sky that echoes that of George Floyd Square in Minneapolis. It is surrounded by banks of roses, lilies, daffodils and Gerbera daisies. Electric tea lights indicate “DAUNTE”.

“That’s crazy, man,” one man said Thursday afternoon. “Just a young king growing up.”

Max Madyun and Daniel Retic, Brooklyn Center high school students, are a few years younger than Wright. They protested Thursday with their classmates at the school’s athletics fields, in front of the police station. As young blacks, they have both learned to alter their behavior around the police, moving slowly and answering all questions.

“It sucks, but we want to live our lives,” Retic said.

“It’s like nature: I see a police officer, I have to do it,” Madyun added. “But then you see things like this that make you think,‘ I shouldn’t. This is not normal. “

In recent days, “normal” in Humboldt has been set with the sun. Five yellow ServiceMaster vans to clean up the fire and water damage were parked outside a dollar tree that caught fire Monday night.

Alhagie Njie runs her family’s grocery store, Value Foods African Market, just outside the mall. He was worried that the fire would spread to his building.

Hakeem Miller lives in an apartment next to the mall and across the street from the police station. He said he pushed the furniture out the windows to protect his four children.

“It’s been chaos,” he said. “My kids, they ask me if we’re going to die.”

Tuesday night, the temperature was below freezing and police had batons. The Minnesota state patrol had begun sweeping north toward Humboldt, declaring in a loudspeaker that protesters were violating the curfew and that they should disperse or be arrested.

Breanna Eaglefather has lost close friends due to police violence. But the reason he went out to protest as soon as he heard the news, and then went out the next night and the next, was his ten-year-old biracial son. He wants to protect you.

“I have a personal responsibility,” he said.