On Tuesday, November 10th, 2015, a Minnesota judge dismissed charges filed against 11 organizers of the December 20th, 2014, Black Lives Matter protest which occurred in the Mall of America. While dismissing organizers of their charges the judge did not overturn the charges filed against 17 other individuals who attended the action that day. Black Lives Matter of Minneapolis is continuing to work with their lawyers to relieve the #MOA17 of their charges.
The Mall of America has been the location of similar actions in the past - specifically starting with the December 31st, 2012, “Round Dance” by Idle No More - which occurred without incident or arrest.
During the planning of a repeat action that was scheduled to be held on December 31st, 2013, Idle No More organizers Patricia Shephard and Reyna Crow were arrested shortly after a press conference outside of the mall which was in response to letters sent from Mall of America management to Idle No More stating that the event wasn’t to be permitted that year under threat of arrest.
Shepard planned to bring traditional gifts of sage, sweet-grass, tobacco, cedar, maple sugar and water to managers of the Mall of America after the press conference. Shephard, followed by Crow, were arrested and charged for their healing gesture exactly one year after their original event. Both organizers were eventually found guilty of their criminal charges and are now working to appeal and dismiss their cases.
Our collective has supported the boycott called by both Black Lives Matter and Idle No More from the beginning, contingent on the dropping of charges filed against the past few years of actions at the mall. We continue to assert that non-violent protesters involved in a simple message about the worth of Black and Native lives should not be silenced by criminal proceedings.
To that end, we insist that until the remaining charges against the #MOA17 and Idle No More organizers are dropped, the #BoycottMOA campaign continue until all non-violent protesters are cleared of charges.
YOU CAN FIND THE COMPLETE 137-PAGE COURT RULING:
[https://cdn.tonywebster.com/files/20151110-Black-Lives-Matter-Mall-of-America-MTD-Order.pdf]