FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 18, 2021

A Multi-Racial Coalition of Women and Mothers Calls for Murder and Manslaughter Charges against Kimberly Potter in the brutal police killing of Daunte Wright.

Brooklyn Center, MN— Please be advised that on Sunday, April 18, 2021 at 3pm, there will be a press conference by Black and white women and mothers regarding the insufficient charges being brought against Kimberly Potter, the white women officer who racially-profiled and killed Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. We will also call for an immediate end to Operation Safety Net, a violent police/military operation that has reigned terror upon Black people and protesters standing in solidarity with them.

The press conference will be held across the street from the Brooklyn Center Police Department at 1500 69th Avenue North, Brooklyn Center.

Today, as our community grieves the loss of Daunte Wright, yet another black man killed by police, a coalition of Black and white women are coming together in solidarity to demand accountability for his death and an end to state-sanctioned violence against the community.

“For over 400 years Black people in America have been killed by state-sanctioned violence. In 1965, civil rights organizer Ella Baker said, “Until the killing of black men, black mothers’ sons, becomes as important to the rest of the country as the killing of a white mother’s sons, we who believe in freedom cannot rest,” said Nekima Levy Armstrong, civil rights attorney and activist.

Black women leaders have called for Kimberly Potter, former Brooklyn Center police officer, to be charged with murder and manslaughter for the killing of Daunte Wright. During the protests following Daunte Wright’s death, we have seen the results of Operation Safety Net unleashed on protesters, the majority of whom are young people of color, and surrounding community residents with devastating effects.

Black leaders have called for the immediate termination of Operation Safety Net and the violence and trauma this violent and abusing police/military regime has inflicted upon the community.

“Operation Safety Net is harming Black youth, those standing in solidarity with them, and children living in the neighborhood of the Brooklyn Center Police Department. We demand an immediate end to this deadly and abusive operation. The killing of any human being should be unacceptable to us all, and we as Black and white women are coming together to demand murder and manslaughter charges be brought against Kimberly Potter to hold her accountable for the murder of Daunte Wright,” said Amelia Hansa, member of the Racial Justice Network.

The Racial Justice Network (RJN) is a multi-racial, grassroots organization, committed to fighting for racial justice and building bridges across racial, social, and economic lines. racialjusticenetwork.com