![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/08\/Ruth-Richardson-256x300.jpg\")
State Rep. Ruth Richardson ’06 (WMCL)<\/p><\/div>\n
Richardson took that experience this summer to the Minnesota State Capitol, where she\u2019s a state representative. After the killing of George Floyd, Governor Tim Walz called lawmakers into special session to consider a series of proposals to reform policing in Minnesota.<\/p>\n
The compromise deal that passed makes several changes in police use-of-force. It included several of Richardson\u2019s proposals: A ban on warrior training; autism training for law enforcement; and expanded mental illness training for law enforcement. Richardson also authored and passed with bipartisan support a resolution<\/a>\u00a0that declares racism a statewide public health crisis.<\/p>\n The resolution<\/a> was long overdue, she noted. \u201cRacism has been killing our communities for centuries. In many ways, passing this resolution is bittersweet because of how long it\u2019s taken to acknowledge the effect of racism on people\u2019s health.\u201d<\/p>\n While the resolution<\/a> doesn\u2019t create a new law for the state, it does create a House Select Committee that commits the Minnesota House to studying how its proposals might adversely affect communities of color. The chamber will also analyze decisions on how leadership is picked, staff are hired and promoted, and even everyday decisions like how vendors are hired. Her own official state representative photograph, Richardson noted, was \u201can episode in hiring photographers not used to taking photos of Black people.\u201d<\/p>\n Several other states and government bodies \u2013 including city councils and county boards around the Twin Cities metro \u2013 have also declared racism a public health crisis, as have organizations like the American Medical Association<\/a>.<\/p>\n Richardson says she hopes the declaration can help craft policy to right historic wrongs and address disparities. For example, even when accounting for all other factors, Black women are still 3-4 times more likely to die in childbirth than white women \u2013 and 60% of those deaths are preventable. \u201cWhen you see Black women like Serena Williams and Beyonce almost dying during pregnancy, it illuminates the fact that regardless of your education or income, racism is still killing our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n Richardson, 44, first was drawn to addressing racist policies as a law student at William Mitchell College of Law in the mid 2000s, when she worked as a clerk for Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid<\/a>. The organization at the time was working to repeal the state\u2019s vagrancy law<\/a>, which made it a misdemeanor to loiter or beg for money, to be a commercial sex worker, and to be unemployed if you weren\u2019t seeking employment.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was criminalizing being poor,\u201d she noted. \u201cAfter slavery was made illegal \u2013 except for incarcerated people – there were a lot of Reconstruction and Jim Crow-era laws passed that were designed to negatively affect certain populations. We were able to center the stories of homeless veterans as an argument for repeal.\u201d<\/p>\n The law was repealed in 2005, a year before Richardson graduated from William Mitchell. In addition to being an elected official, she is the CEO of Wayside Recovery Center<\/a>, a Twin Cities treatment center for women with substance use disorders and mental health issues.<\/p>\n Richardson also noted the importance of law schools dedicating themselves to self-analysis. She recalls being just one of two Black students in her law school cohort and says law schools show their true intentions on addressing disparities by the kinds of strategic plans they enact and budgets they pass. \u201cFour hundred-plus years of oppression and racial terror won\u2019t be undone with one law or in one budgeting cycle or strategic planning cycle. It\u2019s incumbent upon us to commit to doing this work for the long haul.<\/p>\n \u201cMy son\u2019s a sprinter but this isn\u2019t a sprint. It\u2019s a marathon.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the days after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police in May, Ruth Richardson remembered a conversation she\u2019d had several years ago with her son, Shawn. \u201cHe’s a runner, and all he wants to do is be outside,\u201d Richardson told NPR in June. \u201cAnd I had to tell my little boy that you can’t … <\/p>\n