It's important to be clear that Question 2 -- a critical ballot initiative that would have replaced the Minneapolis Police Department with a Department of Public Safety -- was not the beginning and certainly not the end of our movement.
Noor says that the campaign to change the city charter was ultimately a heavy lift for the community. Mobilizing after the charter commission squashed a vote from taking place last year, the community engaged in what they call an even "more democratic" process. Â
Should Question 2 pass, the mayor and city council would work together to develop the new department’s appropriate ordinances, policies, and staffing framework. Black voters have a chance to secure the resources their community needs rather than rely on the fragmented approach that the city has taken for the last 60 years.Â
Proponents of the proposed public safety charter argue that undoing a fifty-year-old charter amendment would correct the history of systemic racism and brutality from the city's police department.Â
A grassroots campaign to change the way the city administers public safety won a victory last week, successfully adding a question to the ballot for upcoming municipal elections regarding whether to replace the existing police department with a Department of Public Safety.
