Flowings of Your Everlasting Taffyman

from nova luna

"Hey my loved ones,

I am forwarding this because how tragic and close to home this is. I received
this article from my former 6th grade teacher, who I will be interning with
this summer at the We Win Institute. Titilayo Bediako is one of the most
amazing influences on my life, taught me so much about who I am and who I want
to become. She is an amazing teacher and mother. This is devistating to our
city, our country.

Hope all is well.

mucho amor,

Nova Luna
>===== Original Message From TBediako@aol.com =====
Dear Friends:

I have enclosed a copy of an article that I have written about the beating
that my son took from the Minneapolis police. I would appreciate it if you
could get the article to as many people as possible. If this kind of violence
against our
children and community is going to stop, we must make it stop.

I intentionally left my son's name out of the article for those who would do
him harm.

I put a short bio on myself so the newspaper would know something about me.

Thank you for your support

Sincerly,

Titilayo

______________
Titilayo Bediako

Titilayo Bediako is a teacher extraordinaire.
When she came to the Minneapolis Public Schools in 1991 she brought the African American holiday of Kwanzaa with her. Amongst her credits include runner up for Teacher of the year, Outstanding Black Teacher, awarded by the Minneapolis Black Principals’ Association. She was awarded The Council of the Great City Schools National Urban Education Teacher Recognition Aware by the Council of the Great City Schools; Ms. Bediako was awarded the Martin Luther King award. She also was awarded the Minneapolis Award and she is the 2002 recipient of the National Trensholm Award from the National Education Association (NEA) which is awarded to only two educators in the United States. This fall she recognized by the Minneapolis Public School Board and given a certificate of Excellence for her work with children. Titilayo Bediako is the founder and executive director of WE WIN Institute, Inc.


Every Mother’s Nightmare
By Titilayo Bediako

Every mother who has a Black son, worst nightmare is that her child will have an altercation with the police. This terrifying experience happened for my son on Friday, May 30th on the northside of Minneapolis.

My son is a fourteen year old who takes great pride in the way he dresses. On Friday, he wore white shorts, a blue shirt and blue dew rag, covered by a white visor, and blue tennis shoes. He is graduating from eighth grade and has passed the Minnesota Basic Standards Test and Math and Reading. He does not do drugs and is not in a gang. He has aspirations to be an airline pilot; he loves sports, math and playing chess.

As my son and his friend were leaving the corner store on Penn and Golden Valley Road, they were greeted at the door by a police officer on a bicycle. Two other Black male youth were walking outside the store behind my son and his friend. The officer told all four boys to put their hands up against the wall.

Since my son was ten years old, I have had to unfortunately teach him that he does not have the same rights as other citizens because he is a Black male. I have told him if the police ever stop him, to say as little as possible, do what they tell him to and to never ever talk back to them. There are too many horror stories where Black male youth have come up dead, missing, or extremely hurt by one wrong word to the police.

As the officer tells my son and the other boys to hold up the wall with their hands, the white male police officer comes up to my son and commands him to pull out his wallet. As he reaches for his pocket to find his wallet, the officer punches him in the face, grabs both of his arms with one hand and grabs him by the neck with his other hand and begins to chock my son. Quickly and fiercely, the officer throws him to the ground. Then the officer begins to kick my son in the stomach and legs. He took his fist and punched him in his face several times. The police officer took out his handcuffs and cuffed him so tightly that scars were left on his wrists. The “protector of the community” grabs my son’s wallet out of his pocket and slaps him in the face with it.



The officer proceeds to make a bizarre statement to my son, “Why aren’t you following my instructions?” My son responds, “Sorry sir, I was getting my wallet out like you told me.” “No, I didn’t,” snorted the officer, “It makes me very angry when people don’t follow my instruction.” The police officer began going through my son’s pocket and then he takes off my son’s shoes, looking for drugs. He tells my fourteen year old, “I’ve seen you before, and I know you have drugs.” He phones in my son’s name to the central office to verify the police record that this Black boy must have because this officer “knew” him.

“Why are you here?” the officer demanded to know from my son. My son replied, “My friend and I were buying candy from the store.” “Where do you live?” the officer retorted, “South Minneapolis,” he quickly commented. In another bizarre twist the officer said,” Have you ever been on 38th and Chicago Avenue?” My son said, “Yes sir.” The officer continues to say, “This spot (Penn and Golden Valley Road) is just like being over there. People get in trouble over here all the time, just like over there. When you wear rags on your head it makes you a suspect.”

The officer’s phone begins to ring. He is told that my son does not have a police record. To add insult to injury, the officer says to my son, “Are you ever going to get in trouble like this again?” He says, “No sir.” The other officer standing next to the assaulting police comments, “He’s lying.” They take the handcuffs off my son and tell him he can go. They let my son know that they are doing him a favor by letting him go.

Imagine how terrified I am when my son calls and informs me that he has been beaten by the police. As I pick him up from his friend’s house on 16th and Penn, tears come to my eyes as I see how they have scared and bloodied his face. As we drive down Plymouth Avenue, we pass the police station. I stop and have my son come with me so that the officer in charge can see what their people have done to my son. When I tried to get in, the door was locked. It wasn’t until an elderly African American man came out of the building could we go into the police station. I asked to speak to the officer in charge. As my son explains to Sergeant Young, who was in charge, what happened to him, the sergeant looks at me and says, “Well it wasn’t one of my guys. Those guys on bikes are in another unit downstairs and they are closed for the night. You have three choices, 1) report to the supervisor downstairs tomorrow, 2) call internal affairs, or 3) call CRA.” I say in an upset tone, “I can’t make a report?” In a very nasty tone he said, “No.” Feeling very emotional, I say, “What use are you if I cannot report a crime when it happens?” The lead officer looks at me and says, “Get your ass out of my house!” I look at him and say, “The police station is your house?” He says, “You damn right, get out.”


This experience is reminiscent of slavery days, when the “master” beat and maimed African Americans for no other reason than they “looked” like they might be doing something wrong. So many mothers teach our son’s to be respectful, do their best, and stay out of trouble; my son gets beat up by the police for no other reason than the police have the power to do so. This incident did not happen at night, it happened at 6:00 p.m. The sun was shining and it was a bright day. How have the police come to feel so comfortable to beat up on our children without fear of reprisal?

My son comes from a long line of social activists. You can imagine how appalled his grandfather, Matthew Little was, who has worked for the human and civil rights of African Americans and all citizens for the last sixty years. My son’s grandfather has been in the forefront in creating the NAACP in Minneapolis, he helped organize the March on Washington in 1963, he took the leadership in the desegregation of the schools in Minneapolis, worked with city officials to assure that there was diversity and promotions for people of color in the police and fire departments. Matthew Little has received many accolades and honors for his work to assure that Minneapolis guarantees rights for all of its citizens. Yet through all his years of work and sacrifice, his grandson is profiled and beaten up just because he is an African American male.

Citizens in Minneapolis are bombarded with images on the news of African American youth, stealing, killing, doing drugs, joining gangs and creating havoc. We are given the impression that these youth represent most African American teenagers in our city. It is highlighted to the point that the police department has declared war against our children. What is even scarier is that we as citizens have given them the green light to do so. It is true that some of our youth do bad things, but that is true of all youth, not just African Americans.
The vast majority of African American youth are going to school, looking for summer jobs and activities that will keep them engaged this summer. Our children need our leadership and direction, not whippings from adults. If I were to beat on my son like the police did, I would be arrested and probably given prison time. A police officer can hurt my son, and it is alright because it was a Black boy that he beat.

We as citizens need to understand that what happens to one of our children, no matter what his or her race or culture is, is an assault on all of our children. Until the police learn how to talk to, treat and relate to our children and our community, the kinds of negativity that we abhor will continue and escalate. We need officers that come from our community’s and have genuine relationships with our citizens. Police officers need training on how to work with and talk to our people. We are no longer slaves. African Americans deserve respect just as all citizens do.


When the police station was erected on Plymouth Avenue, it was sold as a tool to better serve the African American community and that it would assist in keeping the northside safe. What happened? The police station is locked down, as if the officers are afraid of the citizens in the community that they are suppose to serve. When citizen are disrespected by the police, how can the police expect citizens to be respectful of them? The police on Plymouth Avenue need to unlock their doors, get out among the citizens, get to know them, and become part of the community, not a separate entity that is in isolation from and does not work with the community. To make north Minneapolis strong and viable the police must work with the community to create common solutions for the northside.

Citizens of Minneapolis must let the police know that beating our children will not be tolerated. An assault on our children is an assault on our entire community. Force must not be permitted by the police unless it is absolutely necessary. It is not the job of the police to determine the punishment of any of its citizens; that is the job of the courts. If the police break the law, they must be prosecuted and treated like any other criminal.

My son’s physical scars will heal. The worst scars that he has are psychological. With each punch to my son’s face, the police officer on the bike taught my son that the police are not his friend. When the officer kicked my son in the stomach he taught my son that the police are part of the “thugs” on the street. And with the officer making assumptions about my son based on his dress, he sent the message that if you are a Black male, that the police are against you and that they will attack. This must change. It will only change when we as citizens demand that it change. If our tax dollars continue to support the police, the police must support and protect all of its citizens.