In am impassioned video to members of the North Community High School community, principal Mauri Melander Friestleben said she and other educators have had enough of lawlessness in Minneapolis.
“We literally are in a city right now that is completely and entirely out of control,” Friestleben said in a video posted to the school’s official Facebook account.
Friestleben and around 60 other principals lined up along an intersection outside of a convenience store where Andre Conley, a 17-year-old Patrick Henry High School student, was shot and killed earlier this week.
Two other Minneapolis Public Schools students have also died in the past weeks in separate events.
“We know that this feels wrong,” Friestleben said. “We know that the world feels topsy turvy right now, and we're not going to be quiet about it.”
Friestleben said with the type of lawlessness she and other principals in MPS felt it was time to take a stand.
“What I'm seeing in my community is that there's not even patrolling anymore,” Friestleben said. “I can see outright laws getting broken, traffic laws, people driving right through red lights, speeding, going 60, 70 miles an hour. We got kids on skateboards that are getting hit by cars and nothing. No. What is law enforcement? There is no law enforcement.”
Crime is rampant in the Twin Cities following rolling riots that have damaged over 1,000 buildings, over 130 of which were completely destroyed.
The Minneapolis City Council has been undertaking plans to defund the police department.
Friestleben pleaded with politicians and law enforcement to save the community.
Since the riots began, 100 police officers have left Minneapolis Police Department.
A recent city council meeting recounted several instances where police were not patrolling or did not respond to calls.
Friestleben said law enforcement is needed and that she would like to see those supporting defunding the police to realize just how badly the city’s sense of law and order has deteriorated.
“Are you talking about the people that don't have to worry about their children coming to a store like this?” she said. “They live in a different part of the city. Is that what you're talking about? Because the people who I'm around need and want good law enforcement. The people who are in my community need and want good law enforcement and have the maturity to be able to say that we need good law enforcement to need and want us.”
Friestleben also pointed to the contrast in who is held accountable for following regulations.
Minneapolis allowed for unregulated open air camping in city parks following the riots and protests
Friestleben said students are aware the disparity in enforcement of Covid regulations, which is dispiriting.
“We're kicking them out of the school. We're kicking them out of the weight room. They can't practice. They can't work out….all of these things,” Friestleben said. “But just down the street, they see people doing whatever they want. They see tents up. They see hundreds of people just not social distancing. And their law enforcement drives right past it. We're seeing out in the open whole parking lots that are whole blocks that are being taken over.”
Alerts Sign-up