D.J. Hooker remains at large

Star Tribune reporter Liz Navratil provides a detailed account of the June 27 interaction between Minneapolis City Council member Andrea Jenkins and “protesters” who held her captive until she signed off on demands they presented to her.

Navratil identifies “activist D.J. Hooker” (Donald J. Hooker, Jr.) as the leader of the gang. She linked to the 23-minute video that Hooker posted here on Facebook. The videos below get to the heart of the interaction.

Navratil takes pains to provide a straightforward account, as though she she seeks to memorialize a significant historical event, if not a substantial wrong:

Activist D.J. Hooker, who posted the video to social media, said in an interview that the encounter lasted approximately two hours. He said he approached Jenkins after a Taking Back Pride event decrying police brutality. The event, according to a posting on social media, sought to prioritize the voices of people who are Black, transgender or queer. Jenkins was the first transgender woman of color elected to public office in a major U.S. city.

Hooker said he approached Jenkins to raise concerns about community groups contracted with the city to de-escalate tensions.

Hooker said he grew frustrated when Jenkins told him she didn’t have control over them and she wouldn’t commit to leaving George Floyd Square alone, so he said they would hold a peaceful protest outside her house. Hooker said he and Jenkins argued and someone jumped between them.

Hooker said Jenkins began walking away and he yelled, “Oh, you’re gonna call the cops on me knowing … what the cops have done to George Floyd, what the cops have done to Dolal Idd and Winston Smith and Daunte Wright.”

The video posted to social media begins with Hooker narrating and shows Jenkins sitting in the passenger seat of a white car, as people stand on three sides of it. A white post is behind the car.

Jenkins, who is on the phone, tells someone it might be “three days before I get out of here.”

Jenkins then sits quietly, her hands pressed together as Hooker expresses frustration that city officials haven’t done more to reduce police brutality.

Hooker begins reading off the list of demands, one by one. He asks if she will pledge her support for the creation of an elected, civilian commission to oversee police, for reopening cases in police killings, for dropping charges against protesters and releasing information about Smith’s death. Each time, Jenkins says yes.

Hooker then asks her to pledge her support “for Jacob Frey’s immediate resignation.” Jenkins laughs, shakes her head side to side and, after additional prompting from protesters, eventually says, “Jacob Frey resign.”

Hooker then asks her to “leave George Floyd Square alone. Period.”

Jenkins responds: “Don’t do my job, is that what you’re asking me to do?”

The two begin talking over each other, and Jenkins adds: “I was elected to represent that neighborhood, so what you’re asking me to do is to not do my job.”

Several people in the crowd begin shouting. Jenkins rolls up her window, saying she won’t sign anything, and people in the crowd continue to shout over each other.

A couple minutes later, Jenkins rolls down her window, and Hooker repeats the demand to leave the square alone.

“Fine, I’ll leave George Floyd Square alone,” Jenkins said. “I will not do my job.”

Eventually the person in the driver’s seat says this isn’t a negotiation. Someone in the crowd says they’re not asking, “we’re demanding,” and tells the person to “do your job and drive.” The driver raises their middle finger. Jenkins pushes the driver’s arm down, grabs the piece of paper with the demands and signs it. Protesters then ask her to print her name and date it.

Jenkins said she didn’t run to deal with situations like that.

“I ran to represent people. That’s what I did,” Jenkins says to the crowd. “You stand up and do that one day.”

A short bit later, people moved out of the way, and the car drove away.

Navratil also links to and quotes from Jenkins’s pained statement posted here on Facebook. This is the statement in its entirety:

Black pain, Black trauma, Black anger is real and justified. What is not justified is the inhumane treatment of other humans because they hold elective office. On Sunday afternoon, while attending a Pride event in Loring Park, something I’ve done on the last weekend in June for the past 20 plus years, I was verbally attacked, berated and held “hostage” against my will by a large group of angry protesters.

I ran for office on a platform of Leadership. Access. Equity. I ascended, thanks to the confidence of my colleagues to the Vice President of the Council, I led the efforts that have resulted in the first ever Strategic Racial Equity Action Plan, declaring racism a public health crisis and spearheaded the formation of a Truth and Reconciliation workgroup that will be presenting their recommendations for a full on TRC to the City Council this week. Additionally, I have consistently met with all groups/individuals to discuss what ever ideas, topics or proposals they had in mind.

I am a public servant, I represent 31,000 people that live in Ward 8, in South Minneapolis. A beautiful community that was forever changed by the inhumane murder of George Floyd at the intersection of 38th and Chicago. The perpetrator has now been sentenced to 22.5 years in penitentiary. Thank goodness the Floyd Family can begin their process of healing. There have (been) many other high profile police killings in our community since then, and we need answers related to the deaths of Dolal Idd, (Daunte Wright), and Winston Smith.

I can’t tell people how to express their anger, their fears or their pain, but I do know that when your pain impacts others then that becomes problematic. I have always believed in open dialogue where people can talk and be respectful of their differences. I continue to be willing to sit down with activists, advocates and protesters to understand their policy change demands and recommendations. I refused however to be bullied and held hostage to somehow accomplish that. Every citizen of this City has a right to bring forward their concerns, but no citizen has the right to detain and coerce anyone to do anything, that includes elected officials.

As for mayor (Jacob) Frey, the residents of this City will determine in November who will lead this City, not me or any other councilmember. Additionally, I believe that what has become known as George Floyd Square already is and will continue to be a sacred space and I intend to do all in (my) power to create the type of social justice memorial that reflects that struggle. However, it is time to stop holding of the Black owned businesses, the neighbors and residents of that area hostage. Thanks to the 100’s of people that have reached out to me to offer support. Please know that I intend to continue to serve the residents of my district and this city to the best of my abilities.

Chapter 609 of the Minnesota statutes sets forth the state’s criminal code. Hooker and his colleagues seen on video committed numerous crimes. Indeed, the identification of possible crimes would make a good exam question for students studying criminal law. They might even be asked to evaluate the evidence set forth above regarding each crime so identified.

Speaking in their collective institutional voice, the editors of the Star Tribune took the occasion to offer Hooker their advice on how to win friends and influence people. Published on July 1, the editorial reads like an effort at parody:

When a hostile group detains an elected official in a vehicle and verbally abuses her, it’s unlikely you’ve created an ally or furthered your cause. And that slip of paper Jenkins signed? Only a fool would think that signing something under that duress is a contractual obligation.

Far from advancing their noble goal of police accountability, Hooker and those with him undermined it. In detaining Jenkins and her car’s driver, they crossed a critical line from activist to angry mob, potentially alienating others who might join them in pushing for needed reforms.

The group also senselessly antagonized a sympathetic elected official and placed unrealistic demands on her. Their verbal and written ultimatums, which included “leaving George Floyd Square alone,” seemed to suggest that Jenkins could decree police reform and other policies on her own. That’s not how representative government works.

The Star Tribune sits as arbiter elegantiae passing judgment on its fascist friends: “What occurred in the confrontation caught on video was not respectful dialogue nor a peaceful protest. It was a tantrum, one that reflects poorly on the judgment of all who blocked Jenkins.”

The Star Tribune needs repeated doses of richly deserved ridicule aimed its way by decent people of all stripes. It is a joke. Moreover, the city is in dire straits and it is dragging the state down with it. It presents in its own way as an extreme case of the ills to which urban Democratic strongholds are prey. That “activist” D.J. Hooker remains at large is mind-boggling.

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