The Seven (at least) Lessons of the Myon Burrell Case.
This Article closely examines the Myon Burrell case and how it features many of the most pressing issues in criminal justice.
If you know my story, you know I passed the bar a few months after graduating law school and worked for the MN Attorney General Office. In the midst of studying for the bar, I was holding press conference and getting Black women and men charges dropped who had been brutalized by the police.
A few months after deciding not to become a prosecutor, I was asked to attend a press conference to call in Senator Amy Klobuchar for helping to put 16 years old Myon Fightingformyife Burrell away for life for a murder he didn’t commit. I almost didn’t attend the press conference but I was already working on a similar case and thought I should lend my voice. During this time I was President for the @minneapolisnaacp The press conference went viral. It led to more efforts like eventually shutting down Senator Klobuchar’s campaign rally. She finally took a meeting with us and published a statement with the demands Nekima Levy Armstrong presented–
1. Myon’s case should be reviewed
2. We need Conviction Integrity Units in the state of MN because this isn’t a isolated issue
3. An independent panel should review Myon’s case
To make a long story short and say the MN Pardon Board pardoned Myon in December 2020.
He is home with his family but only partly free. That’s why Shaun King promoted his gofundme because we are still working to prove his actual innocence.
I’ve been working on a case similar to Myon’s for almost two years now and I have faith we are almost to the point of proving his innocence but the question reminds HOW MANY MORE? There are too many wrongful convictions to count. This reminds me of that movie 12 years of slavery, but it’s been way more than that. So when I say @dontcomplainactivate it’s not a caption or talking phrase, it’s a lifestyle.
My heart is heavy on a daily basis thinking about the lives that have been stolen.
The Seven (at least) Lessons of the Myon Burrell Case.
"The Burrell case, closely examined, is a Pandora’s box containing many of the most pressing issues in criminal justice: racial disparities, the troubling treatment of juveniles, mandatory minimums, the power (and, too often, lack) of advocacy, the potential for conviction and sentencing review units, clemency, and the need for multiple avenues of second-look sentencing. The purpose of this essay is to briefly explore each of these in the context of this one remarkable case, and to use this example to make a crucial point about criminal justice reform: To really make change, many fixes must be pursued at once, through a variety of methods. Just as it took many converging issues to create deep injustice in the Burrell case, there must be many converging paths to reform.”
Read the entire article By Leslie E. Redmond & Mark Osler.
I cannot in good conscience remain a member of Minnesota’s first Conviction Review Unit Advisory Board if nothing changes.
In order for this new unit to achieve its charge of addressing wrongful convictions, the concerns listed in my attached open letter must be addressed.
As an attorney, a Black woman, and advocate for racial justice, I cannot in good conscience remain a member of Minnesota’s first Conviction Review Unit Advisory Board if nothing changes. I came to the table in good faith, with an open mind, and an understanding of the different dynamics involved in this process. However, I have identified significant concerns that must be addressed or I fear that we will repeat Minnesota’s tendency to have good intentions but a negative impact upon communities of color and those who are most in need of support.
In order for this new unit to achieve its charge of addressing wrongful convictions, the concerns listed in my attached open letter must be addressed. I urge us to move away from being "Minnesota Nice" so that we can accomplish real change and transformation.
White privilege shines with COVID-19
“If anything is to change, it cannot be done with a traditional approach. COVID-19 has granted us a chance to be bold and courageous. African-Americans cannot depend on the same systems and people in power who created the disparities to fix them.”
STAR TRIBUNE : OPINION EXCHANGE
By LESLIE REDMOND AND CURTISS PAUL DEYOUNG
April 23, 2020 - 5:51 PM
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. warned us about this day. He once said, “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most inhumane and shocking.”
However, we still act surprised when we discover that African-Americans are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. The headlights shine the light on the impact of white supremacy, while incorrectly blaming and shaming African-Americans.
There is an old saying that “when America catches a cold, African-Americans catch the flu.” The question now becomes: “When America catches the flu, what happens to African-Americans?”
In a state like Minnesota, with some of the worst racial disparities in the nation, African-Americans are at even greater risk. With COVID-19, our structural racism and inequality are on full display.
COVID-19 has become the survival of the fittest. The most vulnerable and disenfranchised — African-Americans — are dying at disproportionate rates. Many small businesses are struggling or have been forced to shut down. Families are struggling to buy basic necessities. Artists’ and new entrepreneurs’ dreams and incomes are being silently killed. People returning from or who have been impacted by the criminal justice system find themselves looking for housing, work and food in the middle of a global pandemic.
If anything is to change, it cannot be done with a traditional approach. COVID-19 has granted us a chance to be bold and courageous. African-Americans cannot depend on the same systems and people in power who created the disparities to fix them.
COVID-19 has shown how quickly we can move when lives are at stake. We need to use that same energy to save African-American lives. African-American religious institutions and community organizations are already on the ground providing support. They know the solutions. Unfortunately, the African-American community continues to be underrepresented at decisionmaking tables.
As strange as it sounds, it is primarily white men and women who are tasked to answer the questions as to why African-Americans are disproportionately affected. A decisionmaking structure that itself lacks equity cannot repair a society filled with inequities (in fact such structures perpetuate further equity gaps). With seats at the table, supported by the right platforms and enhanced resources, African-American communities can save themselves.
What actions must be taken? What resources must be put in place? These are a few suggestions:
Immediate support for families. No one should have to worry about their car getting towed or being ticketed. There should be rent forgiveness, just like mortgage payments are being suspended. Filing for unemployment needs to be streamlined for underserved communities.
Government, the private business sector and large foundations need to direct financial resources toward African-American religious institutions and community organizations: Families with incarcerated or disenfranchised loved ones need more support right now. African-American mothers and fathers are now expected to work from home and take care of their children, who often have additional needs. Compensate family members and the virtual tutors they select to teach children.
One of the many reasons African-Americans are being disproportionately affected by COVID-19 is because of a longstanding mistrust toward the public health establishment. Funds toward mental health resources can help the African-American community hire mental health professionals and create their own mini clinics.
Too many young people who support their families are being locked out from the process. The African-American community needs resources to organize and create full-time jobs to serve their own communities. Some funds could be used to pay African-American owned restaurants to provide food to their communities.
Transform the system that creates equity gaps in Minnesota: Crises like COVID-19 offer us great clarity on the racial equity challenges faced in Minnesota. We must not miss this opportunity to change the decisionmaking structures by adding more African-Americans, as well as indigenous and other people of color, to sit at those tables and lead the process.
Leslie Redmond is president of the Minneapolis NAACP. Curtiss Paul DeYoung is CEO of the Minnesota Council of Churches.
Justice for Christmas
What would Christ-inspired justice look like in our own community? Injustice comes in many flavors, but it is race that marks our nation’s deepest wounds. Minnesota is no exception.
By Mark Osler and Leslie Redmond
Dec 23, 2019
What would Christ-inspired justice look like in our own community? Injustice comes in many flavors, but it is race that marks our nation’s deepest wounds. Minnesota is no exception.
Read original publication on Insight News →
Many of us have secret dreams at Christmas. Some want a toy, or computer, a renewing of traditions, or a reunion of loved ones from far away. Part of the holiday for many Christians, though, is a desire for something beyond any of these: a society marked by the fairness, gentleness and justice embodied by the baby in that manger.
As Christians who see Jesus as our motivation and guide, we realize that we share this desire with many people of other faiths and systems of principles. From our own faith, though, the events of Jesus’s life have great significance. We don't think that the roles he played were accidental. Rather, they were meant to show us what is important. He was born into poverty to show us that great things can come from the disadvantaged. He was born to a young unwed mother so that we could see the value of every life and every family. He appeared at the racial crossroad of the world-- the intersection of Africa, Asia and Europe – so that his story would belong to all. And it matters that he was spirited away to Africa soon after his birth, a migrant.
What would Christ-inspired justice look like in our own community? Injustice comes in many flavors, but it is race that marks our nation’s deepest wounds. Minnesota is no exception. One could argue our weather isn’t the coldest aspect of our state. We have some of the worst racial disparities in the nation, and the problem has persisted even as economic conditions overall have improved.
Racism and white supremacy are diseases. Thankfully, this holiday celebrates a God who is a healer. When Jesus walked the Earth, he healed every disease and illness among the people. The Bible tells us that if we simply had faith the size of a mustard seed, we could move mountains. This Christmas, the mountain before us is the gap between white Minnesotans and their black, brown, and native brothers and sisters.
The question becomes what are we currently doing to help those that cannot help themselves? Believers know that what we do the least for our brothers and sisters, we are doing for the Lord. Our beliefs teach that when judgement day comes, the Lord will welcome those who fed the hungry, quenched the thirst of the thirsty, invited strangers in, clothed the naked, looked after the sick, and came to visit those in prison.
Let’s consider what we can do just for the last of these: those in prison and the criminal justice system. Are we urging the Minnesota Sentencing Guideline Commission to approve the five-year probation cap? Are we fighting to restore the vote for the disenfranchised? Are we helping to dismantle the school to prison pipeline? Are we pushing for a more transparent and effective system? Are we making sure the Board of Pardons are granting clemency and the pardon process is operating as an “act of grace” as it was intended? Are we welcoming our brother and sisters back in the community when they have served their time, or are we depriving them of basic human rights?
Our criminal justice system is just one of the many systems that is effectively oppressing the least among us. If Jesus walked the earth today he would be flipping tables. If Nehemiah was in Minnesota he would be helping the poor to rebuild their communities and confront those in power. The more important question is what will each of us to do to make Minnesota a more equitable state that serves all of us.
Some may think that Christmas isn’t the right time to bring up difficult social issues. Those people, though, might look more closely at what is really going on in the manger scenes on their mantles. A baby lies next to cattle because he was born to poor people who were forced to go to that place by a repressive government. The Wise Men standing silently were told by an angel to go home by a different way because they were in mortal danger just for having visited. The manger scene may even include an angel over the creche – the very angel that told Joseph to flee the country with Mary and the baby because the authorities wanted to kill his infant child. From the beginning, the life of Christ raised the most difficult questions.
And yet, that birth also raises hope. As people of faith, who hold this day sacred, it is that hope we see in the infant, in our city, and in the hearts of our neighbors.
Leslie Redmond is president of the NAACP, Minneapolis.
Mark Osler is the Robert and Marion Short Professor of Law at the University of St. Thomas.