Minnesota AFL-CIO condemns charges against Black Lives Matter activists

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.workdayminnesota.org/articles/minnesota-afl-cio-condemns-charges-against-black-lives-matter-activists

By Barb Kucera, Workday Minnesota
March 10, 2015

BLOOMINGTON

The Minnesota AFL-CIO Executive Board is condemning the prosecution of 11 Black Lives Matter activists for peacefully protesting at the Mall of America. The defendants, who faced their first court appearance Tuesday, include the labor federation’s director of organizing.

Minnesota AFL-CIO Organizing/Growth Director Todd Dahlstrom and 10 others pleaded not guilty in Hennepin County Court to misdemeanor criminal charges in connection with the Dec. 20 demonstration, called to protest the killings of unarmed African-American men in Ferguson, Missouri, and elsewhere. About 3,000 people filled the Mall of America’s rotunda and some stores closed as a result.




Some 300 people demonstrated in support of Mall of America protestors who faced their first court appearance Tuesday. Photo courtesy of #blacklivesmatter


“Having recently observed the 50th anniversary of the Selma march, it’s apt that we remember how much the labor movement and the civil rights movement historically have in common,” Dahlstrom said Tuesday.

“It’s often overlooked that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was in Memphis, in solidarity with striking sanitation workers, when he was murdered.

FULL story at link.

[jonno99]

1. The Selam marches occurred on public property.

And while I whole-heartedly support the BLM activists (though I have not yet joined them ), I would rather they merely met at the mall, and then moved onto public property - and then (perhaps) headed for the capitol.

It's one thing to protest injustice, it's another thing to disregard the rights of your fellow citizens.

My two cents...