So, Michael, there's a long history of reform, but there's also a long history of the racialization of the police.

Tell me about that.

Yeah.

If we think about racialized policing here in Minneapolis, one of the stories that comes to mind right away in terms of this long, very deep history, very difficult history, is the story about Ophelia Rice in 1899.

[Yohuru Williams] 1899 Absolutely.

That takes place in October.

There is a police officer named Thomas Britt who's on patrol at Lyndale and Lake, and he observes two Black girls, whom he later says were strangers to him.

And so he stops them and asks where they're going.

Mrs.

Rice steps out and she says to Britt, “what are you doing to my daughter?” And Britt responds to her, “go in the house, mind your buisness.” And of course, that's not what happens because in fact, it's an escalation.

And Officer Britt then turns his attention to Ophelia Rice, and he ends up choking her and physically harming her in other, quite severe ways.

[Yohuru] Ophelia Rice was a true Minnesota pioneer.

She is said, to have arrived in the state through the Underground Railroad.

And like other trailblazing Black women of her era, she defied racial barriers to break new ground.

[Michael Lansing] She's deeply involved in community affairs.

The fact that this will be heard in court at all is important to the broader population of the city.

[Yohuru] Certainly resonates with the Black community at that time In fact, the previous June there had been an article that had been published making the case that there was only one Black officer in the force at the time, with a resident population of Black people of 3000.

And you have residents demanding that there be the addition of more officers of color, more Black officers.

Ophelia's case is an early example of Black women defending their children against police abuses.

It drew significant media attention, but I have to wonder how many similar cases went unnoticed and unreported.

And like so many high profile incidents, Did Ophelias case spark interest not just because of who the victims were, but because the abuse was all too common.