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City Council Regular Meeting Minutes July 14, 2020 Page 11 Division often exposes those on the wrong side of justice. Speaking of justice, there are different 1 kinds of justice, there is compensatory justice, and there are other kinds of justice. There is 2 something called restorative justice, and a mural could function in that way. We should not 3 narrow our attention to one type of justice. There are other forms of justice that need to be 4 pursued and not limited to a check to a family member. 5 6 Councilmember Walker explained a mural is not disrespectful to the Police Department. When 7 the idea came to his attention, he thought it was a great idea. He thought he had a healthy 8 relationship with the Police Department, and he can actually and honestly say to the Police 9 Officers that this is not disrespecting the department because he did not see them being charged 10 with anything here. A mural is simply honoring a person and does not say anything about how a 11 person was killed, it could and he did not know what the mural may look like but to have a 12 presumption that a mural is by definition going to be anti-police. Maybe it could be an image of 13 remembering Philando Castile for his life, what people value of him as a person. People coming 14 to the City, not knowing the history of Philando Castile, and seeing the mural, given what he just 15 said, would not know what happened to this man. They would see the positive things stated 16 about him, like we see at a funeral. 17 18 Councilmember Walker personally believed that the Police Department is doing great things and 19 making some reforms. He applauded the Police Department and was not in opposition to it, 20 while at the same time he thought a mural actually is not in opposition to the Police Department. 21 He stated there is no slippery slope here with this mural. The death of Philando Castile was a 22 unique experience for this community and cannot be compared to any other situation and should 23 not be treated in the same category of other individuals that someone may want to honor with a 24 mural. 25 26 Councilmember Jenson thanked the residents for being at the meeting. He explained he attended 27 a rally for Philando Castile on June 6th. He wanted to broaden his perspective and see how he 28 could take additional steps towards reconciling and repairing the relationships in the community. 29 He believes listening to each other with respect and being willing to change in our relationships 30 regardless of skin color will lead us towards greater justice and peace. All towards the goals to 31 eliminate systemic racism. Early on, he heard many speeches focused on racism within our 32 society and why change and honest, open dialogue is imperative. Something they need to 33 continue to address, follow up and act upon. He also heard speeches telling how terrible the City 34 and School District is. He stated at 5:45 p.m., during the rally he saw six men arrive as a group 35 on the corner of 33rd and Silver Lake Road, each one was carrying automatic assault riffles and 36 he felt quite unnerved to see them and walked away. In Tuesday’s StarTribune paper, two of the 37 men were pictured flanking some of the leaders of the event. The tone of the rally changed as 38 they marched to 37th Avenue back to Nativity Lutheran Church. Their chant was “F... the 39 Police”. The men with the assault riffles intimidated people along the march and fortunately no 40 shots were fired. 41 42 Councilmember Jenson shared some significant 2020 statistics with the audience. He stated the 43 City took immediate action following Philando Castile’s death. He explained how City Staff and 44 the Police Department held themselves accountable by making operational changes to prevent 45 this type of tragedy from reoccurring. This was accomplished by reaching out to President 46 11