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City Council Regular Meeting Minutes July 14, 2020 Page 9 1 opinion and to respect their opinion and even follow along and agree with their position and want 2 to stand up for that position but there are a lot of people who do not have the same opinion, 3 either for their character of Philando Castile or their concern of Black Lives Matter in the United 4 States today. And the philosophy that may be under herding a lot of what is going on in the 5 society today that is causing a tremendous amount of disunity in the Nation. To his feelings, he 6 did not think the mural is the appropriate way to encourage unity and healing in the community 7 but rather eating meals with each other and enjoying each other's company, sharing common 8 values, work side by side but not opening the idea of having murals, which may be the first of 9 many murals because there are people who have deep feelings about all kinds of different issues 10 and may want that represented by somebody that they see as standing for that particular value 11 that they hope all will agree with. He thought it would be a good idea not to have the mural and 12 to work in other ways of uniting, caring, listening, and developing a sense of respect. 13 14 Ms. Kara Ballot, 3637 Roosevelt Street, indicated she is a Native American and have lived in 15 this community her entire life. She believed art does help heal but this is a public building and 16 we pay our taxes and she did not believe that on the wall of a public building there should be art 17 and those kind of murals because it does open them up for other murals. She asked where does it 18 stop and where does the line get drawn. 19 20 Ms. Jessica Swiontek, 2704 Murray Avenue, stated she has lived in St. Anthony for six months 21 and loves the community. She has discovered that the property she lives on is in possession of a 22 racial covenant. She explained what a racial covenant is. She believed that they have a lot of 23 work to do and she supports the mural that is being attempted to be added to the City. She 24 wanted to know why it is easier for her to select a beer that she would like to find at the St. 25 Anthony Municipal Liquor store near her home than it is to find the records for any of the Police 26 Officers within the City. This is just information that she would like to know, as a citizen, to be 27 more informed. She explained she is thirty-three years old and feels like she has a lot of 28 American history to catch up on. She is from a family that has served in the armed forces with 29 people of many color and she did not know that we, as a Country, have come very far in 30 recognizing the education that is missing from a lot of us. It makes her very sad that so many 31 people were not afforded the same luxuries. She thought that a mural is an incredible step and 32 thought this brings a lot of discomfort. She is nervous because she does have a high level of 33 discomfort in the lack of education she has and that she needs to relearn and catch up on so that 34 she can be a better steward to her kids and others in the community. 35 36 Mr. Brett stated the community does not need to be afraid of the Freedom Riders, they are 37 probably not here protecting us. He would challenge the state about feeling discomfort if a 38 mural went up would be wrong, the discomfort felt for such a mural pale in comparison to the 39 discomfort that people of color and black indigenous people feel when they have to go out at 40 night and worry about being pulled over. He indicated he works with a lot of black men and they 41 have a lot of problems getting pulled over. He was not sure if St. Anthony was getting any better 42 because he has heard some things in the past. That fear of disunity caused by a mural and that 43 discomfort is not the discomfort they have to fear, we have to fear the discomfort that our youth 44 of color are feeling in schools. They do not want them leaving the St. Anthony School system 45 feeling that their concerns were not heard or that we are not recognizing how unsafe they are. 46 We really need to focus it back and think.