Occupants at Camp Nenookaasi in south Minneapolis spent hours Thursday packing up their yurts, tents, and belongings as the city evicted them from land slated for development. And they moved everything about three blocks south to another plot of land where a new homeless encampment quickly sprang up.
Approximately 160 occupants still called Camp Nenookaasi home when the eviction began Thursday. Taking apart the camp just to set up another one a few blocks away is “insane,” said camp organizer Laci Gagliano, 36.
“Exhaustion is the point,” she said.
The new site is about a fifth the size of Camp Nenookaasi. Camp organizers began building yurts Wednesday at the new location at E. 26th Street and 14th Avenue S.
Several volunteers tore down yurts at Camp Nenookaasi on Thursday. Throughout the day, occupants carried their belongings out of the camp in shopping carts, bags, backpacks, and wagons as a U-Haul truck made multiple trips between the two camps moving other items.
About 15 Minneapolis police squad cars arrived at Camp Nenookaasi about 11 a.m. Thursday, sparking negotiations between a camp organizer and police.
Nicole Mason, a camp organizer, was seen speaking with police Chief Brian O’Hara, but negotiated with Lieutenant J. Haugland about the timeframe of the city’s planned eviction. O’Hara listened nearby.
Mason asked Haugland to give camp occupants more time to clear the site; Haugland said police would grant her request as long as the evacuation process remained peaceful. A Minneapolis spokesperson said Thursday evening that work on the camp’s “closure” was expected to continue into Friday.
Police set up a perimeter about 11:30 a.m. around the camp, which is located at 13th Avenue S. and E. 23rd Street, near the Phillips Community Center, and about a dozen officers stood at the front of the camp to monitor the situation.
Camp organizers said there were no plans to resist police or stage a sit-in at Camp Nenookaasi.
Outreach workers arrived at the camp to help occupants throughout Thursday. A few outreach workers from Avivo, a housing organization, transported occupants to their emergency overflow shelter, which had 20 spots open, according to Avivo.
The growth at Camp Nenookaasi is “unprecedented” and “powerful,” said Gagliano, who has worked with encampments for a long time. She was also active at the now-defunct Wall of Forgotten Natives encampment, located along Hiawatha Avenue near Cedar Avenue, before city crews evicted it last year.
Camp occupants, activists, and Minneapolis Council Members Elliott Payne, Jason Chavez and Aisha Chughtai spoke at a midmorning news conference at the campsite.
“We are asking the mayor to stop this eviction and to work with the City Council and our state and our county on establishing a cultural healing center,” Chavez said.
Camp occupant Marissa Gunderson said she felt forgotten and frustrated in her journey to find stable housing. She said other occupants have also struggled to find stable housing. She was supposed to sign a lease on a new apartment Thursday, but was waiting for an outreach worker to take her to the appointment to sign the lease.
“We’ve been asking the mayor to just come walk through our camp—come see it,” Gunderson said. “Because our camp, you can’t understand it through pictures or reading a story. Our camp is a feeling. And everybody who has come through and walked through our camp, even our neighbors, have all become our friends.”
City Council members, camp organizers, and members of the Red Lake Nation said at the news conference that they are partnering to create a cultural healing center to help support and house Natives. They all advocated against the eviction of homeless encampments.
Karen Staples Gonzales, 64, has been homeless since 2015. She moved to Camp Nenookaasi after the Wall of Forgotten Natives was cleared last August. Volunteers helped move her belongings—a blanket, some clothes, a pillow, coffee—into a U-Haul truck.
Staples Gonzalez, a member of the White Earth tribe, said she is the oldest camp resident, and lives at the camp with her nieces and relatives.
“This place makes me feel like I have a family,” she said.
The city has delayed the eviction twice in the past month. Camp organizers, occupants, and many activists pressured the city to stop clearing encampments and accused the city of not providing solutions housing barriers. In the lead up to the eviction, city officials said they intensified efforts to house occupants from Camp Nenookaasi.
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Most of Camp Nenookaasi’s occupants are Native. When the city cleared the Wall of Forgotten Natives in August, many displaced occupants were pushed to a grassy lot that later became Camp Nenookaasi.
City officials have said that ongoing public health and safety issues prompted the eviction; a man was fatally shot at the camp last month. The city also has an agreement with the Indigenous Peoples Task Force allowing the organization to build a new community center on the campsite. Construction on the center is set to break ground this spring.
On Tuesday, camp organizers posted a news release stating that occupants filed a federal lawsuit against Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. Two camp occupants—Cheryl Sagataw and Deanthony Barnes—are listed as the plaintiffs representing themselves and other camp occupants.
The lawsuit asked a judge to order the city to permanently stop its eviction of Camp Nenookaasi.
“Defendant Frey’s prior and impending actions in eviction and destroying Camp Nenookaasi are done recklessly and in conscious disregard of the risks they have previously created and continue to create because of the forceful manner in which his law enforcement officers have ejected and plan to eject Plaintiffs from their shelters, destroying their vital personal property in the process,” the lawsuit said.
A two-hour hearing on the matter was held Wednesday, and U.S. District Judge Eric Tostrud denied the plaintiff’s motion to pause Thursday’s eviction.
Volunteers load tarps from one of the yurts at Camp Nenookaasi into a U-Hail on Thursday, January 4, 2024, as occupants of the south Minneapolis homeless encampment are evicted. Credit: Aaron Nesheim | Sahan Journal 
Supporter Dani Faye Blue holds the Red Lake Nation flag aloft as residents of Camp Nenookaasi in south Minneapolis prepare for eviction on Thursday, January 4, 2024. Credit: Aaron Nesheim | Sahan Journal 
An effigy of Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey was erected on the corner of E. 23rd Street and 13th Avenue S. along the fence line of Camp Nenookaasi on Thursday, January 4, 2024. Credit: Aaron Nesheim | Sahan Journal 
A supporter of Camp Nenookaasi warms their hands over a fire as volunteers and residents gather before dawn to remove shelters and belongings from the encampment on Thursday, January 4, 2024. Credit: Aaron Nesheim | Sahan Journal 
Residents and volunteers disassemble a tipi at Camp Nenookaasi in south Minneapolis in the predawn hours of Thursday, January 4, 2024. Credit: Aaron Nesheim | Sahan Journal 
Nicole Mason (bottom left), an organizer at Camp Nenookaasi, spoke with Minneapolis Police Lieutenant J. Haugland (bottom right) on January 4, 2024, about giving camp occupants more time to evacuate the site as the city evicted them. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara (center) listened to their conversation. Credit: Aaron Nesheim | Sahan Journal
Sahan Journal photographer Aaron Nesheim contributed to this report.
