Star Tribune
Black Lives Matter activist will use fellowship to explore history, leadership, organic farming
Trahern Crews said he’s long been driven to community action.
First, he was a member of the Green Party. Then he joined the NAACP. But he became frustrated with a lack of community action after the police shooting of Marcus Golden in 2015 and helped found Black Lives Matter-Minnesota. The graduate of St. Paul Central High School has since led numerous protests.
Now, the 49-year-old father of four said, he wants to lead in other ways. One of four 2024 Bush Foundation fellows from St. Paul, Crews is exploring everything from leading reparations efforts to learning and teaching organic farming.
Over the past few years, Eye On St. Paul has focused on Bush fellows from St. Paul and recently sat down with Crews to learn more about his plans. This interview was edited for length and clarity.
Q: Why was it necessary for you to become part of Black Lives Matter?
A: I had joined the NAACP, and [several of us] were getting kind of frustrated with some of the responses to police brutality, and so Rashad Turner suggested a direct action at the church on Summit where they were “Love the Police.” And we were like, “Well, we should love the community instead of the police.” Rashad did the action, but then he wasn’t available for the press conference. I stepped in and did the press conference.
Q: Why do you think Black Lives Matter was needed here?
A: Before 2015 I had never been to a police brutality protest in St. Paul. People were being killed by the police and it was kind of being swept under the rug. Proper attention was not being brought to the issues. Not just police brutality. Basically, racism in St. Paul. Disparities, too. People started talking about education. People started talking about the housing gap. The Black Lives Matter movement addressed police brutality, but then it also addressed the larger issues that were happening in society when it was around race.
Q: You have mentioned other cases where police killed Black men. But it was George Floyd’s murder that prompted the most change. Why?
A: It was the nature of it. And we were all watching it together. So, I think it traumatized Black people and just people in general, collectively. COVID had happened, so everybody was inside the house. Everybody was watching TV. Everybody was paying attention. And to see each Derek Chauvin put his knee on George Floyd’s neck for 10 terrorizing minutes sent shockwaves, not just through the state of Minnesota, but eventually the whole world.
Then there were all these mutual aid things happening. The community came together, after the riots. People were giving away diapers. Giving away food. I think that’s one of the biggest things about it was the brutality of it — but then the response that was filled with love.
Q: Tell me about your fellowship. Is it for two years?
A: Yes. I took two years to make sure I get to everything.
Q: What are you hoping to do?
A: I’ve prided myself on being grassroots and getting things done without a degree. So, I’m going to start working towards a degree and taking certain classes to improve myself. I’ve also been involved in urban farming, urban gardening. I want to take it to the next level. I want to start with visiting some other spots, like Detroit and down South. Learn organic farming techniques, so we can bring that back here. We’re doing a farm project right now at New Hope Baptist Church with growing food for the community.
Q: It seems you’ve moved way beyond protesting.
A: In the [Bush] fellowship, we have learning experiences. My first learning experience is going to be the organic farming and being able to bring those skills back into the community, which I think should have more healthy food options. Then my second learning experience is going to be taking classes in restorative justice. I wanted to go to Bethel [University]. But they’ve eliminated the program. I’m going to work with a person who started the program.
Q: Restorative justice and organic farming seem worlds apart.
A: A little bit. But I think with organic farmers in places like Detroit, they talk about how it reduces gun violence, stops recidivism. I know being able to put my hands in the dirt and being able to watch things grow is taking care of things and trying to make sure that it stays alive. Stopping police brutality, we don’t want to just come after somebody’s dead. We want to prevent it from happening in the first place.
If you can teach these kids over here, you can get them on the farm and reconnect them back to soil. If we can do that, we can be a part of the food supply. Now, we’re dealing with food deserts and health disparities and things like that. It’s all connected.
For the third learning experience, I want to go on a tour of the South and start visiting plantations like the Whitney Plantation, or Monticello. Learn a little bit more about U.S. chattel slavery. A lot of people want to go to Africa, but I really need to go to Mississippi. I need to learn from the people that are there, whose ancestors experienced slavery here in the United States.
Both MSA schools have foundations to support their missions, though the report found that MSA “did not obtain required financial reports from its affiliated foundations, including their annual financial statements or their annual reports about fundraising activities.”
The Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf Foundation was inactive between 2020 and 2023 because the foundation board members had moved out-of-state, according to the report. And the Minnesota State Academy for the Blind Foundation did not file as a nonprofit corporation with the Office of the Secretary of State until the auditor’s office inquired about a filing status in May.
In his letter, Wilding said that, by next month, a school administrator for each school will be assigned to act as a liaison between each school and its foundation. But, he added, “The [Minnesota State Academy for the Blind Foundation] is considering its future and may not continue their operations. If this is the case, we will obtain financial documentation of their fund disbursements for record keeping.”
Over the last several months, Wilding wrote, MSA has updated or implemented new procedures to address several concerns, including how payroll and deposits are monitored and how both petty cash expenses and travel expenditures are approved.
A quarterly review of donation acceptance forms will begin in 2025, he said. MSA’s fiscal services director will also work with the state Department of Education “on the process for returning overreported expenditures” — a process Wilding wrote should be completed by January 2025.
Star Tribune
Sentence topping 8 years for man whose ricochet gunshot struck Minneapolis girl, 11, in face
A 45-year-old man received a prison term Tuesday topping eight years for squeezing off automatic gunfire moments into New Year’s Day in Minneapolis that ricocheted and struck a girl in the face while she was looking out her second-story bedroom window.
James William Turner, of Fridley, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of ammunition in connection with the shooting of Laneria Wilson, 11, on Jan. 1 near 23rd and Bryant avenues N.
With federal sentencing guidelines recommending a sentence of anywhere from 8⅓ to nearly 10½ years in prison, Judge Ann Montgomery opted for the lowest point in that range and added three years of court supervision after his release.
Ahead of sentencing, prosecutors pointed out to Montgomery that “instead of celebrating New Year’s with her friends or family, [Laneria] spent the evening having bullet fragments removed from her face. The victim could easily have been killed. Moreover, the bullet that struck the 11-year-old appears to be one of 24 shots Turner fired that night — 24 bullets that could have injured or killed innocent people.”
Prosecutors also noted that Turner’s criminal history spans his entire adult life and includes convictions for second-degree assault in Anoka County and domestic assault in Ramsey County. Those convictions barred him from possessing guns or ammunition.
Defense attorney F. Clayton Tyler asked that Turner receive a five-year term, arguing that he has abstained from illicit drugs and alcohol since his arrest and has completed mental health therapy.
Also, Tyler added, while Turner admitted to firing the automatic rifle, “he did not do so maliciously or with intent to hurt or frighten anyone. On the contrary, he considered himself close friends with the child’s mother and had previously babysat the child.”
Laneria’s mother, Shenedra Ross, told the Star Tribune in May that since the shooting, she moved her family about two hours west of Minneapolis, where they had lived previously. In the days after being shot, just shy of her 12th birthday, Ross said, Laneria had difficulty coping and was afraid to be near windows.
A 34-year-old Dilworth man who was hit in the head by a stray bullet Saturday while deer hunting is not expected to survive.
According to the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, Jace Srur was shot by someone within his hunting party in rural Moorhead on Nov. 9. Authorities had responded around 8 a.m. and provided first aid before an ambulance arrived and Srur was air lifted to Sanford Hospital.
As of Tuesday, Srur’s injuries were considered “life-threatening and non-survivable,” according to the sheriff’s office. The shooting is still under investigation.
On the same day, a 37-year-old man was injured in a hunting accident in Lee Township, Minn., however, his injuries weren’t life threatening.
Saturday was the start of Minnesota’s firearm deer hunting season.
