Don Samuels got more Minneapolis cops—and almost beat Ilhan Omar for Congress

Nearly every day, Don Samuels hears a crime happening in his neighborhood.

“This morning, there was a cop in my backyard, and when we ran out to the front there were a dozen cops. They’d just caught some guys with stolen cars,” said Samuels, who immigrated to Minneapolis 53 years ago from Jamaica. “I call the police several times a week at night. There’s a hot spot about less than a mile from here that is responsible for probably half the gunshots we hear. You can hear those shots.”

“That’s just a day in the life,” he said.

After more than 300 officers left the Minneapolis force following the death of George Floyd in police custody, crime has exploded in this city, especially in Samuels’ Northside neighborhood. Rather than just shrug and accept it, the former mayoral candidate has fought tooth and nail to bring safety back to his hometown.

Last year, Samuels, his wife, Sondra, and six other Northside residents sued the city for violating a charter that promises to employ at least 731 officers — the minimum number required, based on the city’s population. Last June, after a long and arduous legal battle, the Minnesota Supreme Court ordered the city’s police department to hire at least 120 more officers in the next several months.

“My team of eight celebrated the mayor’s budget, which includes significant resources for recruiting and training police, and for expediting and incentivizing hiring,” Samuels said. “We considered it a victory.”

Meanwhile, gang violence continues to rage across the city, with many youths killed in the crossfire. Just this summer, Minneapolis saw the deaths of a 3-year-old playing outside, a 17-year-old standing at a light-rail station, and a 19-year-old whose lifeless body was discovered behind a home.

While Samuels, 73, was suing the city, he decided to take his crusade for law and order one step further. In March, he announced his run against Rep. Ilhan Omar in the Democratic primary for Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District.

“I was consistently concerned about Ilhan’s performance . . . on public safety, but also her departure from the center . . . on so many issues,” said Samuels, who served as a member of the Minneapolis City Council from 2003 to 2014 and ran for mayor in 2013. 

Omar’s “defund the police” position is what disturbed him the most. “She said it wasn’t a catchphrase, it was a policy position, and so she dug in deep.”

Throughout his campaign, Samuels regularly posted reports of gunshots on Facebook, sparking accusations from activists that he was fabricating his outrageous claims.

“People were saying, ‘I don’t trust Don Samuels. How does he know what automatic gunfire sounds like? It doesn’t sound real. It doesn’t sound true to me. It must be fireworks. There can’t be that much automatic gunfire going on.’”

But, in his community, Samuels knew that parents were hesitant to even send their children outside. “People don’t let their kids out much anymore. A six-year-old was just shot riding a bike with her parents. Shot on the bike.”

Right after the shooting, he visited the grim scene. “It always is a difficult experience, especially because most of these bodies are black. Very, very graphically, you see what race means. As a black person and a neighbor, you think about your other neighbors and your own life, and the expendability of it.”

Last year, Samuels was shocked by the case of Trinity, a 9-year-old girl killed by a stray bullet in his neighborhood while jumping on a trampoline at a friend’s birthday party.

In the end, Samuels gave Omar a run for her money, narrowly losing the primary to her by just 2 points. He sees the result as a major win.

“It was a rebuke to Ilhan and her position on things. It sends a strong message to her she’s getting out of touch, and that she needs to grow some new brain cells around compromise, change, transformation, reconciliation and being compatible with the sentiments of the center of her district.”

Samuels said Omar’s anti-police radicalism comes from ignorance.

“I think that Ilhan’s apathy [for crime] must have something to do with at least a lack of experiencing anything like this. Because this is real, this is visceral, it is traumatic. The only thing we have between us and the next homicide is the police. It’s the only thing we have.”

Rav Arora specializes in topics of race, music, literature and culture. Twitter: @Ravarora1