Standing Together: Heal America Tour to Host Community Discussion on Race, Reform in Minneapolis

July 28, 2020 by Reece Nations
Standing Together: Heal America Tour to Host Community Discussion on Race, Reform in Minneapolis

MINNEAPOLIS – A panel of community leaders will lead a discussion on systemic injustices in Minneapolis, Minn., on Wednesday as a part of the “Heal America Tour”, a series of events designed to spark productive dialogues on inequality in America.

The event, hosted by Bishop Omar Jahwar in partnership with Stand Together, will take place just a few miles from the location where George Floyd was killed while in Minneapolis police custody. 

Jahwar is CEO and founder of Urban Specialists, an organization dedicated to curbing the spread of gang-related violence and youth rehabilitation. The tour, organized by Stand Together, is operating in conjunction with Urban Specialists to convene with national and local leaders in an effort to share tangible solutions to difficult issues faced across the country.

Although the group has experienced a recent surge in support from community activists, Stand Together has addressed the rifts between community and law enforcement for years with Urban Specialists. Notably, after a July 2016 shooting that killed five Dallas police officers and injured nine others, the organizations began actively promoting safety and non-violent resolutions at 18 different Dallas Public School District campuses. 

Stand Together and Urban Specialists jointly aim to reinvigorate the trust between members of the community and law enforcement through these events.

“It has always been our mission to go where the pain is,” Jahwar said. “Because that’s where (injustice) isn’t theoretical, it’s truth. And so that’s why you got to go to where the people are in the most pain.” 

Hosting the event with citizens still dealing with the fallout from Floyd’s murder was a significant point of emphasis, he said. This stop on the nationwide “Heal America Tour”, which will be held at Shiloh Temple International Ministries in Minneapolis, is free for the public to attend.

One objective of the series is to foster an understanding of the culture in these communities to see which areas are in need of the most attention, Jahwar said. Everything from the standpoint of community outreach and local development starts with empathy for the people in those areas, which is achieved mainly through one-on-one interactions.

“We don’t want to be the guys who fly in and say ‘This is what we believe,’” he said. “We want to be the guys who start from the bottom up and say ‘There is scalability in your progress if we agree that progress can happen.’”

Evan Feinberg, senior vice president of Stand Together, echoed the sentiment that the tour is based upon non-radical ideas that lead to tangible solutions. As a result, the groups’ advocacy has centered around broad police and criminal justice reform.

Transforming the culture surrounding the law enforcement community to encourage transparency and accountability was a key point Feinberg touched on. Policy amendments within police forces regarding training tactics and union contracts that protect bad actors in cases of misconduct are imperative, he said.

“The way that we heal as a country is first acknowledging that these injustices exist and that we all come together and commit ourselves to the cause of removing whatever barriers are preventing us from realizing our potential,” Feinberg said. “And the beautiful thing about America has been that we were founded on these great principles and that we’ve had the ability to self-correct and apply those principles to drive progress. And so, the goal now is to figure out what solutions will actually drive that progress.”

Further, Feinberg said issues like civil asset forfeiture, qualified immunity and quotas that overemphasize ticketing and arrest numbers are targets of necessary police reform. Measures that eliminate law enforcement’s “unnecessary criminalization” of societal problems is also underscored throughout the tour.

Police should be focused on preventing and solving serious crime, he said. Problems like homelessness, mental illness and substance abuse should be left to specially trained community social workers instead. 

“For us, that’s a robust policy agenda,” Feinberg said. “At the federal level, the state level, and then, of course, at the local community and precinct level, we think it gives a framework for thinking about what productive reform looks like.”

A+
a-
  • Bishop Omar Jahwar
  • George Floyd
  • Heal America Tour
  • In The News

    Health

    Voting

    In The News

    March 28, 2024
    by Dan McCue
    Silicon Valley-Based Firm Launches ‘Radar as a Service’

    BELMONT, Calif. — At first the idea sounds about as un-Silicon Valley as one can get. After all, the basic... Read More

    BELMONT, Calif. — At first the idea sounds about as un-Silicon Valley as one can get. After all, the basic concept underlying radar was proven in 1886, when a German physicist named Heinrich Hertz showed that radio waves could be reflected from solid objects. And the... Read More

    March 28, 2024
    by Dan McCue
    Elections Task Force Prosecutes 2020 ‘Vigilantes,’ Seeks More Civic Dialogue

    PHOENIX, Ariz. — A 46-year-old Ohio man has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for sending death threats to... Read More

    PHOENIX, Ariz. — A 46-year-old Ohio man has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for sending death threats to an Arizona election official. The sentencing of Joshua Russell, of Bucyrus, Ohio, came after he pleaded guilty to one count of making a threatening interstate communication.... Read More

    March 28, 2024
    by Tom Ramstack
    Disney World Settles with Florida After Its Opposition to 'Don’t Say Gay' Law

    ORLANDO — The company that runs Walt Disney World reached a settlement Wednesday with appointees of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis... Read More

    ORLANDO — The company that runs Walt Disney World reached a settlement Wednesday with appointees of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis who were exerting controversial regulatory control over the huge tourism complex. The settlement resolves some of the disputes that arose after Disney officials publicly denounced the... Read More

    US Changes How It Categorizes People by Race and Ethnicity. It's the First Revision in 27 Years

    ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — For the first time in 27 years, the U.S. government is changing how it categorizes people by race and... Read More

    ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — For the first time in 27 years, the U.S. government is changing how it categorizes people by race and ethnicity, an effort that federal officials believe will more accurately count residents who identify as Hispanic and of Middle Eastern and North African heritage. The revisions... Read More

    March 28, 2024
    by Dan McCue
    Vice President Harris Rolls Out First Government-Wide Policy to Mitigate AI Risks

    WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday rolled out the Biden administration’s first government-wide policy intended to mitigate the... Read More

    WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday rolled out the Biden administration’s first government-wide policy intended to mitigate the risks associated with artificial intelligence while still enabling its use to advance the public interest. The new policy, which is being issued through the White House... Read More

    March 27, 2024
    by TWN Staff
    Rep. Cleaver New Co-Chair of House Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus

    WASHINGTON — Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, D-Mo., is the new Democratic co-chair of the House Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency... Read More

    WASHINGTON — Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, D-Mo., is the new Democratic co-chair of the House Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus. He was invited to serve as co-chair by Sens. Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, the co-chairs of the Senate Renewable Energy and Energy... Read More

    News From The Well
    scroll top