About 200 people rallied Wednesday evening in south Minneapolis to demand that the city stop its plans to clear Camp Nenookaasi, an encampment for the unhoused.
The crowd gathered at the Wall of Forgotten Natives along Hiawatha Avenue; one attendee held up a red heart-shaped sign that said “housing heals.” A few people shared their stories of homelessness and of the community at Camp Nenookaasi, which is located at 13th Avenue S. and E. 23th Street near the Phillips Community Center.
“We’re gonna march from here to there, and we’re gonna show all of our relatives that they are not forgotten here,” Nicole Mason, a longtime activist and camp organizer, said as the crowd chanted and clapped in response.
Camp organizers and residents and their supporters marched the same path that many traveled when the city cleared at the Wall of Forgotten Natives encampment in August, pushing them to a grassy lot that later became Camp Nenookaasi.
*The city shared a written statement with Sahan Journal on Friday, December 15, announcing that it is postponing its plans to clear the camp. The city did not provide a new date for the eviction, which had been scheduled for December 19.
The city has recently partnered with Helix Health and Housing Services, which is an organization that provides housing, substance use treatment and mental health services, to connect occupants to resources. Helix has helped 45 people who lived at the camp find housing, and another 46 people are scheduled to move into housing in the near future, according to the statement.
The city is also looking to partner with Hennepin County, the state of Minnesota, and other social service providers to support camp occupants.
“Once we have a plan in place with those partners, the closure will happen because we need to address the ongoing public health and safety issues at the encampment, including a fatal shooting in the encampment this week,” the statement said.
The camp, which formed in August, houses over 180 occupants. It features 15 yurts with wood-burning stoves to keep occupants warm, and two large tents that serve as a kitchen and “healing” space. Outreach workers from different organizations show up at the camp every day to connect occupants to housing and other resources.
Eighty-nine percent of the camp’s occupants are Native and 7 percent are Black, according to the camp’s Instagram account.
Myron* Gibbs, who is Native, has stayed at Camp Nenookaasi for about five days. Prior to that, the 45-year-old said, he was alone and homeless for more than a year.
“The programs that are being offered for addiction, I’m gonna be taking that,” Gibbs said as he marched. “I didn’t know that was available here. Being secluded and alone, I didn’t even think about that.”
Mason, one of the organizers who helped form Camp Nenookaasi, brought her granddaughter on stage as she addressed the crowd. Camp resident Lea Chosa, 19, sang a song to the group from a wooden stage attached to the back of a truck.
The crowd began walking about 6:20 p.m. down E. 22nd Street towards Bloomington Avenue. A few neighbors left their homes to watch the procession.
“Who’s land?!” activists yelled from the back of a pick-up truck leading the group.
“Native land!” the crowd shouted back as it traveled down the roadway blocking traffic.
Tara Houska, 29, and her 18-month-old daughter traveled five hours from International Falls, Minnesota, on the Canadian border to attend the march.
“It’s important for folks to see that we are not violent people,” said Houska, who is Native. “We are people who have children and people who are family members. I think, to me, it means not being dehumanized. That they see us, and that we’re sharing music and food, and bringing our children.”
The kitchen tent at Camp Nenookaasi is from the organization, Giniw Collective, that Houska founded in 2018. The collective is committed to environmental protection and decolonization.
The crowd eventually made it to Camp Nenookaasi around 7 p.m. Volunteers from the Southside Food Share brought hot soup and tea for attendees as tribal music played.
The event concluded without trouble despite several days of heated back-and-forths between the city and camp organizers and occupants. The group encountered no resistance from the public, and no police were spotted along the march’s route.
The city initially planned to clear the camp on December 14, but moved that to December 19. The decision was made so outreach workers could get the remaining camp occupants into housing, according to a city spokesperson.
Camp Nenookaasi organizers posted on social media Tuesday afternoon that the delay was due to “increasing public pressure.” The delay is not enough time to find housing for all camp occupants, read the organizers’ statement.
“This is further indication of the City of Minneapolis’ disjointed, uncoordinated, incomprehensible, insufficient, and frankly cruel and absurd response to encampments,” read the statement posted on the camp’s Instagram account.
A 45-year-old man was fatally shot at the camp on the same day the city postponed clearing it. Minneapolis police responded to the scene about 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, and later arrested two suspects who were booked into the Hennepin County jail on suspicion of murder, according to a press release from Minneapolis police.
A police report about the shooting did not name the victim, and the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office had not released his identity as of late Wednesday.
Christin Crabtree, a camp organizer, said the shooting victim was “beloved” in the community. He was Native and from the Minneapolis area, she added. Crabtree did not want to name the victim out of respect for his family members.
Camp occupants stayed inside a Metro Transit bus to keep warm while police investigators processed the scene Tuesday evening, and were allowed back into the encampment after a few hours.
A city spokesperson told Sahan Journal Wednesday that the city plans to move forward with clearing the camp on December 19.
Sahan Journal intern Gustav DeMars contributed to this reporting.
*UPDATE: This story has been updated with information provided by the city on Friday, December 15.
*CORRECTION: The spelling of Myron Gibbs’ name has been corrected.
