Asian Reparations Staffer in Minnesota Steps Down After Black Leaders Protest Her Hiring as ‘Total Disrespect’

An Asian-American candidate for the Saint Paul, Minnesota, reparations commission has withdrawn her name after Black community leaders protested her hiring over concerns that she did not understand African Americans’ “lived experience” in the city.

On Tuesday, Black community leaders led a chant outside of Saint Paul’s City Hall condemning the City Council’s decision to hire a non-African American policy aide to staff the reparations commission.

Trahern Crews, a leader of the Saint Paul’s reparation movement, insisted the protest was “not about the person.”

“It’s just that we need somebody who has the lived experience, knowledge of reparations, knowledge of the racial wealth gap and how it impacts the descendants of slavery who reside in St. Paul,” Crews told Star Tribune.

Black Lives Matter Twin Cities leader Chauntyll Allen, who also serves as a Saint Paul school board member, agreed with others at the Tuesday newscast that the City Council needs to take a second look at the applicant pool and consider qualified Black candidates. They also suggested the council repost the job position and recruit African-American candidates.

President of the African American Leadership Council Tyrone Terrill called the decision to hire Jennifer Lor, who currently serves as a policy aide for Council Member Nelsie Yang, “total disrespect for the Black community.

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