Native American groups meet to iron out tensions ahead of this week's homeless camp move
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Community members and tribal leaders called a meeting Sunday to try and iron out tensions surrounding Minneapolis’ homeless encampment transition to the navigation center.
The meeting was held inside the American Indian Center with the expressed goal of hearing from people in the community to address concerns about the transition.
The topics that were to be addressed centered on an overall respect among people within the Native American community, but as people spoke up, tensions rose.
Amidst some heated interactions, the one thing continuously repeated was the fact that the community needed to be united for the transition to occur smoothly.
At one point in the event, Mayor Jacob Frey came into the room and listened for a while before addressing the crowd.
He said, first and foremost, that everyone needs to be united. He explained that all parties involved should avoid a showdown between brothers and sisters preventing the transition from happening.
“And so my ask is for every person in this room, I ask for anybody who is involved in the city, anyone in one tribe, Natives Against Heroin, MUID, my ask is that each and every one of us are committed to making that transition to the navigation center first and then ultimately stable housing which is the third phase,” Frey said.
He expressed his concerns with the safety of the encampment, saying that will be the number one priority when they transition to the navigation center.
There are still many logistics that seem to need ironing out when it comes to the transition, but weekly meetings on the subject continue.
The transition is scheduled to happen this week and Frey did say that, when it happens, the encampment will end.