MPR’s Chris Roberts reports on local Black Teens for Advancement (BTA) protest in the St. Paul skyways. Roberts speaks with numerous young protestors, who share stories of discrimination when using skyways.
MPR’s Chris Roberts reports on local Black Teens for Advancement (BTA) protest in the St. Paul skyways. Roberts speaks with numerous young protestors, who share stories of discrimination when using skyways.
SPEAKER 1: Black Teens for Advancement say their group was formed in Atlanta two years ago to confront issues plaguing black youth like gangs, drugs, racism, and Black-on-Black violence. A BTA chapter was started in St. Paul last fall.
[CHATTER]
BTA members describe the march, which started at the St. Paul City Center and ended at Town Square as a march of peace, not protest. 14-year-old Kenneth Saffold said the march was designed to show pedestrians, shopkeepers, security guards, and police that a group of Black kids walking down a Skyway doesn't necessarily mean trouble.
SPEAKER 2: So we're here to show that if you see a group of Black teens, your antennas shouldn't go up or not maybe your antenna. You shouldn't hold your purse tightly. You shouldn't walk the other way and hold your kids. We're saying that we're just like everybody else. And that's mainly-- we want to stop that stereotype.
SPEAKER 1: Some BTA members complained about harassment they've received from security guards and police in the skyway? System. 17-year-old Charles Lindsay says he's experienced that kind of treatment more than once.
SPEAKER 3: Yes, there's plenty of instances because I can walk through down here, and they kicked me out for just walking through down here. And I was one of the positive people that tried to stop the negative things down here, and they still throw you out, saying you're not supposed to be in here.
You can have bags of clothes, and they'd throw you out. They say you've been kicked out before, but it's not true.
SPEAKER 1: At town square, BTA members and others came before city officials, including Council President Bill Wilson and Human Rights Department director Joseph Brown to testify in a more formal setting.
Gia Starr is involved with SIS or Sisters in Struggle, a companion group of Black Teens for Advancement. Starr described two incidents where she or her friends were humiliated by security guards and police for no apparent reason. Starr said legal rights are being violated.
SPEAKER 4: This ties into this big issue that concerns African-Americans downtown in the Skyway. I'll admit that there are some teenagers who are thieves and shoplifters.
But if the community wants for us to be off of the streets, then what is the point of taking away what privileges we do have, like shopping freely, sitting freely, and speaking freely?
SPEAKER 1: City officials promised that the testimony would be reviewed and that some of it might lead to formal complaints being processed. BTA members say they will march again if the environment in the Skyway system doesn't change.
This is Chris Roberts reporting.
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