One year ago yesterday was the fire at Cedar’s Public Housing in Cedar-Riverside Neighborhood. It was a fire that killed five residents, most of whom were Somali seniors. This fire was entirely preventable and occurred only because MPHA leadership- made up of mostly white and upper-middle-class people, did not feel the need for decades to install water sprinklers in the public housing high-rises throughout the city. Highrises that house primarily Black American and Black Immigrant elders, and people with disabilities. The staff responsible for this fire are still working at MPHA making decisions on how to privatize public housing high-rises. MPHA has yet to confirm water sprinklers have been installed in the 42 high rises. Instead, in their letter to the community, MPHA thanks Mayor Jacob Frey Abdi Warsame Kari Dziedzic Ilhan Omar, U.S. Senator Tina Smith, Mohamud Noor, Mohamud Noor for House 60B and Amy Klobuchar for being “engaged with the essential conversation about the city’s public housing”. MPHA is giving shout out to all of these DFL elected officials for helping them push the privatization of Minneapolis public housing instead of these elected officials making sure that MPHA is accountable for the deaths of the five Somali and disabled seniors. Has anything changed in Minneapolis? No. If these residents were white and wealthy, this would not happen. We pay our respect for the innocent elders that died in this fire. May the five people who died that day be forever present in our minds, hearts, and memories, may we never stop fighting on their behalves, and may they rest in peace.
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