1/ As I learned researching my new history of Minneapolis, there are two important times a gov called the National Guard to Mpls. Knowing these stories help show why this week’s events are not new, but part of the systemic racism built into cities across the country. (cont)

2/ 1934: A Teamsters strike brings truck traffic to a halt in Mpls. Two strikers were killed on "Bloody Friday" (July 20) Gov. Floyd Olson called in the Guard & declared martial law. He also later ordered an investigation that found the police were *not* impartial actors. (cont)

3/ During the “long, hot summer” of 1967, there was civil unrest across the country, including Minneapolis. Gov. Harold LeVander sent 600 National Guardsmen to north Minneapolis. Why? To be a calmer force than police, who wanted to take a harder line against protesters. (cont)

4/ In his own autobiography, Harry Davis noted Mayor Art Naftalin “knew that too much direct contact between cops and black kids was not a good idea just then.” Thus, the National Guard. (cont)

5/ Post Script: Two yrs later, the bombastic head of the Minneapolis police union, Charles Stenvig, became mayor after winning a “law & order” campaign that promised to “take the handcuffs off the police.” Stenvig won re-election four years later – against Harry Davis. (cont)

6/ Post Script: MLK visited the Univ. of Minnesota a few months before the 1967 unrest & made prescient observations, including his well-known line: “Riots are the language of the unheard. Our summers of riots are caused by our winters of delay.” https://www.minnpost.com/politics-policy/2012/01/martin-luther-kings-63-and-67-minnesota-visits-are-study-contrasts/

7/ Excerpts from forthcoming “Minneapolis: An Urban Biography” from @MNHSPress (END)