Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey gave National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) “staff and volunteers” permission to disobey curfew orders amid riots in his city.
Emails acquired by Alpha News as part of a larger public document dump related to the Minneapolis riots show that Frey “granted an exemption to NAACP from the 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. curfew in Minneapolis for the dates of Friday, May 29 and Saturday May 30, 2020.” The document dump which unearthed these emails was prompted by a data practices request filed by Crime Watch Minneapolis.
This message was sent on May 30, a few days after rioters overran the Third Precinct police station.
A second email was then sent on May 31 “extending this exemption for as long as the curfew remains in effect in the City of Minneapolis and State of Minnesota.”
Both messages were sent by Heidi Ritchie, Frey’s policy director, to Leslie Redmond, the president of the Minneapolis NAACP.
Mayor Frey decided to make “this exemption based on the performance and credibility of this well-established national organization and local Minneapolis chapter,” according to the first email.
“The staff and volunteers will be keeping the peace and protecting community property and people in north Minneapolis,” states the email.
Around the same time Frey exempted the NAACP from the riot-related curfews, the group spawned a well-armed, self-described “elite security unit.” This group, known as the “Minnesota Freedom Fighters,” has routinely engaged in armed patrols around the city. The Fighters’ actions have garnered them both local media attention and even a nod from the Washington Post.
It also has been claimed that the NAACP assumed “police powers” and conducted a “vehicle checkpoint” while armed amid the civil unrest in early June.
So, the NAACP has gotten letters signed by Frey granting them special police powers. They were conducting vehicle checkpoint on Broadway last night. They followed a state trooper and he then stopped them and found marijuana, and an AR-15 in plain view in the car.
— Nathan M. Hansen (@nathanmhansen) June 4, 2020
This report comes by way of a local lawyer, Nathan Hansen, who says he learned this information via a trusted contact who wishes to remain anonymous. Alpha News has not been able to independently verify Hansen’s report.
Kyle Hooten
Kyle Hooten is Managing Editor of Alpha News. His coverage of Minneapolis has been featured on television shows like Tucker Carlson Tonight and in print media outlets like the Wall Street Journal.
