{"id":62069,"date":"2021-04-23T16:42:52","date_gmt":"2021-04-23T16:42:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/04\/23\/minnesota-national-guard-walks-a-fine-line-on-minneapolis-streets\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T11:40:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T11:40:00","slug":"minnesota-national-guard-walks-a-fine-line-on-minneapolis-streets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2021\/04\/23\/minnesota-national-guard-walks-a-fine-line-on-minneapolis-streets\/","title":{"rendered":"Minnesota National Guard walks a fine line on Minneapolis streets"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

MINNEAPOLIS \u2014 Posted up outside a grocery store on a chilly, windswept street in downtown Minneapolis earlier this week, rifle over his shoulder, the sergeant first class knew he and his soldiers shouldn\u2019t be here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI assumed floods, (overseas deployments) and tornado stuff,\u201d the Minnesota National Guardsman told Military Times of his unit\u2019s traditional duties. \u201cI never thought I\u2019d be standing on a street corner.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that\u2019s where 3,000 Guard soldiers and airmen have found themselves in recent weeks, as the world waited to see whether a jury would convict former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin<\/a> for murdering George Floyd<\/a>, the Black man whose death beneath Chauvin\u2019s uniformed knee was captured on video last spring, nearly nine minutes of infamy that unleashed calls for reform and peaceful protest, but also fires, looting and destruction across the Twin Cities last summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guard members like the sergeant, who asked not to be named because he wasn\u2019t authorized to speak to a reporter, were mobilized by city and state leaders under \u201cOperation Safety Net\u201d<\/a> with the hopes of tamping down any destructive intent should Chauvin have been acquitted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Guard\u2019s role was fast-tracked after the April 11 police shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright<\/a> in the suburb of Brooklyn Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officials say former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter<\/a> accidentally shot Wright during a traffic stop when she meant to tase him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The killing of Wright prompted at-times violent protests in Brooklyn Center and the Guard was called in as multi-night curfews went into effect across several area counties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Demonstrators protesting the shooting death of Daunte Wright face off with Minnesota National Guard soldiers and police protecting the Brooklyn Center police station on April 13, 2021 in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. Wright, a Black man whose car was stopped in town on Sunday reportedly for an expired registration, was shot and killed by an officer who police say mistook her service revolver for a Taser. (Photo by Scott Olson\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But the worst fears for this beleaguered region ebbed Tuesday after a jury found Chauvin guilty<\/a> of second- and third-degree murder, as well as second-degree manslaughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of whether they felt the Guard deployment was a prudent measure or an overreach that furthered the trauma here, residents interviewed by Military Times all agreed that uniformed military on the corner was a surreal and discomfiting spectacle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 12-hour shifts for Guard teams stationed across the city have been largely uneventful, the sergeant said Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLotta bullshitting, lotta jokes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But early Sunday, shots were fired<\/a> at several Guardsmen on the city\u2019s north side, with one sustaining minor injuries that required hospitalization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrew Thomas, 28, has been arrested and charged in the 4:20 a.m. shooting, according to the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And while they strived to be a non-threatening presence in the city, the sergeant told Military Times that everyone was ordered to wear their helmets and vests during shifts after the shots were fired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Protecting themselves while not coming off as jackbooted occupiers has been a fine line to walk, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt makes things a little more real,\u201d the sergeant said of the shooting incident. \u201cYou put your head on a swivel and pay attention to your surroundings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Two Minnesota National Guard members sustained minor injuries early Sunday when someone shot at their position on Minneapolis’ north side. A man has been arrested and charged in the shooting. (Minnesota National Guard)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

He also keeps an eye on anyone who yells things at them in passing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI hate to think negatively about people, but you never know,\u201d the sergeant said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roughly 500 of the activated Guard members hail from the Twin Cities metro area, according to Maj. David Adams, a spokesman with the Guard\u2019s 34th Infantry Division, one of the main units providing troops for Operation Safety Net.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adams said Wednesday that the Guard deployment would be ramping down this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mobilizing a week early in response to unrest in the wake of the Wright shooting was difficult, Adams said, but the entire mission was a challenging one in general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor our individual service members out on the streets, they have to put their own feelings and opinions aside while dealing with some of the most challenging situations of many of their careers,\u201d Adams said in an email. \u201cIt\u2019s challenging to process everything they\u2019re dealing with internally while working long, stressful shifts and receiving all range of interactions from the public. They don\u2019t have the benefit of being at home, in their own private space to process everything that\u2019s happening.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aside from the shooting incident, social media posts emerged of Guard vehicles being pelted by debris in Brooklyn Center and residents scrawling \u201cgo home\u201d messages in front of soldiers on local sidewalks, this recent deployment appears to have been largely quiet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as midnight neared on Tuesday, hours after Chauvin\u2019s conviction, downtown was at rest, as if the adrenalized emotion of the past year had receded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several young Guard members sat in the back of their truck, eating pizza. All the time in the world to kill. The epitome of military life. Hurry up and wait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Minnesota National Guard members are posted on a street corner near downtown as the city prepares for reaction to the verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial on April 15, 2021 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer, is standing trial for murder in the death of George Floyd. (Scott Olson\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey think we\u2019re foreign occupiers\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sergeant said most interactions with residents have been congenial, but some locals do yell things at them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Wednesday afternoon, one specialist greeted a passing woman in a hijab with a traditional Islamic greeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After she returned it, the soldier said he felt that \u201cit\u2019s great to be on this side of history, doing your part for your community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another specialist said he tries to schmooze with curious passersby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI invite a lot of people over to take pictures and talk,\u201d the soldier said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A private noted that they were often phone recorded, and he checked his Snapchat map regularly to see if anyone in the area had posted videos of him and his fellow soldiers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not here as an occupier,\u201d the sergeant said. \u201cWe\u2019re here to make people feel safe and not get their businesses wrecked.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guard teams rotate between sites, and the sergeant said that some businesses have been more welcoming than others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some let soldiers use their bathrooms, he said, while others do not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

None of the sergeant\u2019s soldiers had magazines in their rifles Wednesday, and the sergeant said he tells his men and women to try and cover up their magazine pouch if they can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To come off as non-threatening as possible, the sergeant said he also directs his soldiers to keep their magazines upside down in their pouch, so that if it opens accidentally, locals don\u2019t see the bullets at the top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Guard posts were set up largely at the request of local law enforcement, and many of those posts included civilian police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Members of the Minnesota National Guard and other law enforcement officers stand guard outside the Hennepin County Government Center as the verdict is announced in the trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis, Minnesota on April 20, 2021. (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Adams, the Guard spokesman, said the soldiers are there to serve as \u201csensors and support\u201d for civilian law enforcement, and did not make any arrests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sergeant said he was comfortable with the rules of engagement that they were given.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t do anything with that mag until we receive guidance from higher headquarters,\u201d he said. \u201cI could make that call but I better be damn sure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Guard sergeant said civilian cops would handle any potential friction with the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019d have to be pretty lost in the sweet tea to use my mag,\u201d the sergeant said. \u201cI hope it never has to leave my pouch, except to turn it in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Guard was activated last summer as a rapid-response force following Floyd\u2019s murder, as some who took to the streets in protest turned destructive, resulting in millions of dollars\u2019 worth of property damage to more than 1,500 locations in the area, the Star Tribune reported<\/a> in July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One Guard officer said he raced to muster and head to the Twin Cities with an hour\u2019s notice last summer, and soldiers were sleeping in repurposed hockey rinks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the grim contingency that brought soldiers to Minneapolis\u2019 streets this year was long in the planning, said the officer, who requested anonymity because he wasn\u2019t authorized to speak publicly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said he wished he could allay the fears some residents have of the soldiers, and \u201cthe middle thumb up\u201d he and his unit sometimes received from passersby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of people don\u2019t understand what the National Guard is,\u201d the officer said. \u201cA lot aren\u2019t used to seeing us in uniform. They think we\u2019re foreign occupiers. They don\u2019t know we joined to get college.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Chauvin had walked, the officer said he hoped anyone looking to cause harm \u201cwould see us and just move elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Residential reactions<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minneapolis residents interviewed by Military Times differed in how they felt about the military presence in their city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Minnesota National Guard and law enforcement members stand guard outside the Brooklyn Center Police Station after a police officer shot and killed a Black man in Brooklyn Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota on April 12, 2021. (KEREM YUCEL\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Walking from a joyful march celebrating Chauvin\u2019s conviction Tuesday night, Vinicius Taguchi said he thought the Guard\u2019s presence was harming the scarred city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taguchi said he thought the protest movement would be more able to police its own this time around if an acquittal brought people into the streets again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey are not needed,\u201d he said of the soldiers. \u201cThey are creating greater traumas here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ace Williams watched the procession, which organizers corralled into the eastbound lanes of Washington Avenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Williams said he thought the Guardsmen had been a pretty low-key and benign presence in town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can\u2019t say that about the police,\u201d he added. \u201cI\u2019m used to the military being deployed in foreign countries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outside a Cub grocery store on Minneapolis\u2019 predominantly Black North Side, Amakoe D\u2019Almeida said Tuesday night that he felt safer with the soldiers in the back of the parking lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou never knew what was going to happen after the verdict,\u201d said D\u2019Almeida, a native of Togo who has been in the states for 22 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

D\u2019Almeida said troops on the streets was a regular sight back home, but that if the Guard wasn\u2019t in place and destruction started here, \u201cit would be too late.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – APRIL 14: A member of the Minnesota National Guard talks with community members on Hennepin Avenue on April 14, 2021 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Members of the Guard have been stationed around the Twin Cities area as the Derek Chauvin trial goes on and protests continue after the killing of Daunte Wright. (Photo by Stephen Maturen\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Trey Pollard leads the Minneapolis violence prevention group We Push for Peace, and said he has a brother and cousin in the military, so the sight of soldiers wasn\u2019t off-putting for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe love our soldiers,\u201d Pollard told Military Times. \u201cFive hundred of the National Guard troops are from right here in the Twin Cities area.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, Pollard said he wished some of them weren\u2019t so stone-faced and would engage with residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey just seem so unfriendly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether the Guard will be called out again in these unprecedented times of unrest remains to be seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pollard was hopeful. But as such police killings continue \u2014 like Wright, the Brooklyn Center Black man that police fatally shot April 11 after being pulled over \u2014 so will the protests and cries for reform. Along with the potential for further destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnto the next one,\u201d Pollard said resignedly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second Lt. Devon Pendergast lives on the North Side and found himself guarding the North Side Cub foods where he does his grocery shopping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 23-year-old had mixed emotions as the Chauvin verdict loomed and was worried he\u2019d see vital businesses in the neighborhood ransacked again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI live in a duplex,\u201d he told Military Times. \u201cA couple with a baby live above me. That crossed my mind a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cub was looted last year and wasn\u2019t initially rebuilt, Pendergast said, leaving many area residents without a place to buy fresh food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt almost became a food desert,\u201d he said. \u201cBeing there, protecting what I knew was a valuable grocery store, being surrounded by community organizers and the same people that helped us distribute diapers last summer, it was not only reassuring but validating of this mission.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pendergast praised his NCOs and junior soldiers for how they dealt with those who didn\u2019t want them there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe got a lot of questions asking what state you\u2019re from, are you guys Big Army?\u201d he said. \u201cThe answer always ended up being no, we are one of you\u2026this is my neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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