Blevins Shooting Opens Old Wounds For North Minneapolis
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – The north Minneapolis community is reeling with how to cope with another tragedy in their neighborhood.
WCCO's Reg Chapman has more on the reaction to Thurman Blevins' shooting death.
The shooting of Thurman Blevins has many who call the north side home dealing with the trauma associated with another officer-involved shooting. An entire community is traumatized by yet another shooting involving a police officer and a black man.
"I would call it regurgitated pain," said Sam Simmons.
Sam Simmons is the founder of Healing Brothers.
"We know that trauma affects us physically, trauma affects the way we respond to our environment," said Simmons.
He says a community constantly dealing with violence, both by its own and law enforcement, never truly heals from what hurts.
"The community has these situations or traumas and when they happen again, they restart the grieving process. They never really fully go through the grieving process, they can't believe it, the anger, "Simmons said.
Reminders of that pain live on with memorials placed where trauma was inflicted.
Every anniversary of that trauma forces a community to start all over again, trying to heal.
"And they're just left with this open sore that gets re-opened, and that open sore affects their relationship with their families, affects their relationship with the environment, but the big piece here is the historical trauma," Simmons said.
Simmons also told me the key is to not use trauma as an excuse, but instead, try to find safe spaces where you can talk about your pain.