Justice for Amir Locke
The COVID pandemic made clear that our collective health relies on all of us having access to stable housing. The murder of Amir Locke — another heartbreaking, reprehensible and utterly unnecessary execution of a Black man by the Minneapolis Police Department — underscores that access to housing is not enough. Justice for Amir Locke demands swift and severe accountability for law enforcement *and also* systemic changes that elevate and protect the rights, dignity and privacy of renters in their own homes.
The Alliance recognizes the interlocking systems of structural racism that have, for generations, excluded people of color from property and home ownership, while excessively policing and over criminalizing our communities in ways that make accessing and maintaining quality rental housing unduly challenging. No-knock warrants are more than a cruel violation of our sense of home, our basic right to live without the threat of a violent, pre-dawn assault on our families. They also lead to our families being twice violated as landlords quickly and summarily evict us, even when the cause for the police invasion is found to be baseless. We know these racist and deadly paradigms are at the root of law enforcement — and housing practices — not just in Minneapolis but across the region and nation. The warrant that led to Amir Locke’s killing was issued by the St. Paul Police Department and reversing these deadly incursions will require action at a regional and state level.
Housing justice and community health and safety are deeply intertwined. The Alliance will continue to work in solidarity with our member and partner organizations to demand changes that allow our communities, not just to live, but to thrive — so that Amir would have slept peacefully through the night *and* had the resources and support to turn his new music business into the venture of his dreams.
Justice for Amir Locke