Extreme Black Lives Matter activists recently blocked Minneapolis City Council vice president Andrea Jenkins in the street and refused to move until she signed a statement saying that charges against alleged rioters would be dropped. She shared that she was held hostage while surrounded in her vehicle with a list of radical-left demands they wanted her to sign.
“On Sunday afternoon, while attending a Pride event in Loring Park, something I’ve done on the last weekend in June for the past 20 plus years, I was verbally attacked, berated, and held ‘hostage’ against my will by a large group of angry protesters,” Jenkins said in a statement.
Jenkins, the first openly transgender Black woman elected to public office, was seen leaving a Taking Back pride 2021 event when community activist D.J Hooker and other protesters are seen standing in front of her car to prevent it from moving. According to the video, the group had been there for about 90 minutes at that point. Protesters accused Jenkins of coming to the event for a “photo op” and “supporting the cops who kill Black people and Black trans women.”
Jenkins talked about how some of the businesses and residents in Minneapolis were killed due to being held “hostage” by protesters. She emphasized that the First Amendment is the right way to express one’s displeasure with the government. She said that people do not need to “traumatize, detail, or humiliate people” for their positions.
“Every citizen of this City has a right to bring forward their concerns, but no citizen has the right to detain and coerce anyone to do anything, that includes elected officials,” Jenkins said.
The confrontation between BLM protesters and Jenkins lasted 23 minutes and included demands for Jenkins to pledge her support for Mayor Jacob Frey’s immediate resignation. After laughing and shaking her head no, protesters started chanting, “Jacob Frey resign.”
They also asked her to leave George Floyd Square alone, in which she replied, “Don’t do my job, is that what you’re asking me to do?” Protesters also wanted information released on the shooting death of Winston Smith, who was killed by U.S Marshals during a failed arrest.
Jenkins said that she has always believed in an open dialogue where people can talk and be respectful of their differences, but that she refuses to be bullied and held hostage to “somehow accomplish that.” She said she would continue to be willing to sit down with activists, advocates, and protesters to understand their policy change demands and recommendations.
Mayor Frey emphasized Jenkin’s remarks and said that demonstrators have no right to hold people hostage and make demands. He called it “completely unacceptable” and “wrong” to hold people for hours against their will until they make a statement under duress.
Between looting local businesses to setting police stations on fire, Minneapolis has been an area of violent unrest. The ‘woke’ mob has gotten so aggressive that they’ve started outright bullying people to try and get their way.
