St. Paul, MN – Following a contentious Minnesota House of Representatives debate on the Omnibus Public Safety Bill (SF 803/HF 896), the People of Color & Indigenous (POCI) Caucus released the following joint statement:
“Instead of taking time to listen to the legitimate racial justice concerns of Minnesotans, Republicans instead chose to silence our voices. Criminalizing free speech is fundamentally un-American, and this anti-protest bill shamefully punishes any Minnesotan who dares to speak truth to power about the reality of racial inequality in our state.
“Peaceful protest and the freedom of speech serve as the foundation of American democracy. Today the POCI Caucus stood up for the First Amendment by voting as a bloc against this spiteful and discriminatory legislation. We call upon the conference committee to strip this language from the public safety bill.”
The People of Color & Indigenous (POCI) Caucus is a new caucus first formed in 2017 and includes Reps. Mary Kunesh-Podein (41B), Jamie Becker-Finn (42B), Peggy Flanagan (46A), Erin Maye Quade (57A), Fue Lee (59A), Ilhan Omar (60B), Susan Allen (62B), Rena Moran (65A), and Carlos Mariani (65B).
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