[radio chatter]
-Hey, we got two people walking down there.
Down there.
-Hey, what's up? Are they with us or what?
What's up?
[gun shot] -Get back!
[gun shots]
[radio chatter]
-So what you see is
the community protecting the community, right?
We know that our brother, George Floyd,
got murdered by the Minneapolis Police Department
and there's been a lot of unrest.
Since then, we've seen uprising in the community
and there have been professionals in the community
who have been burning buildings.
We know that there are a lot of white supremacists out here.
The goal for being out here is to protect our businesses
and our churches and just make sure that we're okay.
That's literally all we're out here to do
is to protect and serve.
-Because if we're gonna be the emergency team,
I don't want to be way down there
and having to run way back, alright?
If we're going to be the emergency team
and we have to go different places,
we should be in the middle
and be able to disperse that way,
then disperse that way, or disperse that way.
-Alright. -You see what I'm saying?
-If you think about it, we already have some
of the worst racial disparities in the nation, right?
Then you add on COVID-19, a global pandemic,
so now we're in a state of emergency times two.
Then you add on Black men and women across the nation,
including Minnesota, being murdered,
and a lot of it on camera, which is extremely traumatizing.
That's state of emergency times three.
Did anybody with a group of three not get a walkie-talkie?
-I got shot right over here. -Quinn!
-Quinn! -What's up, Quinn?
-Hey, what's up? -It's Jeremiah.
-How y'all doing?
-We're doing alright. Good to see you.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. -Who was shooting at you?
-That was two nights ago? -Yeah, that was two nights ago.
-I think there's a good chance that they --
I think there's a good chance they're entering
from Webber Parkway.
-Webber Parkway? -Yeah.
-Yeah. 42nd, that's what I told them.
-Yeah.
-That's how they're coming, 42nd.
-Yeah, Quinn, we're trying to get to Lyndale.
My name's Jeremiah Ellison,
I'm the city council member for Ward 5,
which is where we are now.
And I'm out helping coordinate
some of the independent community patrols
that have popped up across the Northside,
making sure that folks have supplies that they need,
making sure that they're connected
to other groups of neighbors
that might be out doing the same thing.
And then doing a little bit of patrol myself
and making sure that the neighborhood's safe
and that fires aren't being started,
especially along our business corridors.
Because I thought the shots fired
was the night of the car fire at 44th and Penn.
-Well, I mean, there's shots fired kind of everywhere,
but it's not clear always, is it a neighborhood dispute,
is it somebody just being goofy and letting off shots in the air
'cause they've got a gun and they can do that?
-Yeah.
-You know, or is it white supremacists rolling around?
I think all of those things, rolling around
and either trying to distract people or intimidate people,
all of those things I think are happening or have happened.
But it's not always clear which one is which.
-Hey, pull that out.
Pull those out, let's block it off.
We can't keep telling everybody else
that Black lives matter if it doesn't matter to us.
So right now we're showing everybody around the world
that we can do this together, no matter what walk of life,
no matter what beef, all that's dead right now.
Because we got to protect our kids,
we got to protect our families.
Also that's why I'm out here with an AK-47.
You know, my kids don't like it.
My daughter is very -- she's a daddy's girl,
so, she doesn't want me out here.
But I had to explain to her what's the meaning of me
being a part of this situation.
Alright, so, right now we're gonna be the emergency team.
So anything that happens anywhere, we run to that.
-Before, you know, a black man with his face covered
with a rifle would just be like,
"Oh, my God, who are they coming to rob?"
And now a black man with his face covered with a rifle is,
like, preventing fires
and also preventing the spread of COVID-19.
-I don't want anybody inside of the fire range.
So let's make sure that we stagger
when we walk and when we move.
So if you're walking behind him, stagger yourself.
-Who cares how the rest of the city sees it,
but I think it allows us to see us as helpful.
-You need to get a black shirt, 'cause it's loud right now.
So holding this AK-47 or not holding this AK-47,
I am a threat to society regardless.
And that's why we're here today.
Because I am not a threat, I am a part of the solution.
I am a part of the growth.
And until everybody else stops making those assumptions,
this is where we're gonna be.
This is how we're gonna act.
We're gonna guard our own communities,
we're gonna protect our own communities,
because everybody else won't.
-They pushed her down, they pushed her down.
-A number of people within the NAACP was like,
"Are those assault rifles?"
And I say, "Yes," you know, it's similar to the fact
that they brought assault rifles to the governor's mansion
when they were protesting the stay at home order,
and so if they can have guns to protest,
we can have guns to protect.
-On the left, I've seen the man. -It's necessary because
we have the relationships, right, that we know the youth,
we know the women and children, we know the lay of the land.
It started with us protecting our community from the looting
and the rioting, right,
and the burning of our buildings and our property.
And with the response of our black men
coming in the community, I think the police
have just naturally taken a respectful step back approach
to allowing us this time to protect ourselves.
-If you all saw earlier, I was actually talking
to one of the police officers.
They know my name, they know our face,
they know why we're out here.
Chief Arradondo has stopped by to see us.
Representative Ilhan has stopped by to see us.
Jeremiah Ellison, our city council member,
is out every night with us.
Like, this is not a secret.
Even the National Guard, when they drive
by they wave at us, you know what I mean?
We're very recognizable and they know
that we're not here to start any problems.
We're just here to protect our community.
And I think that's something that everybody can respect.
-There's like a deep sense of agency here.
People feel like they get to be in control
over the safety of the neighborhood.
And that feels pretty unique over here.
-I mean, we have no choice but to survive.
Black people in America have always had to survive.
We've never been given hope.
Superman doesn't apply to us.
He's not coming to save us.
We have to save ourselves.
-Hey, get in the house, man!
-Listen, we ready, baby, for whatever.
You need to be ready.
-Get back in the house. -Go home!
-You ain't ready, go home!