Minnesota’s Shivanthi Sathanandan was carjacked Tuesday in front of her children and assaulted at gunpoint in her own driveway, according to her post on Facebook.
Sathanandan serves as the second vice-chair of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), an affiliate of the national party with a different name… and she promised to “dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department” in June 2020.
Now, after her attack, she’s changed course.
According to screenshots in circulation, Sathanandan posted on Facebook in June 2020, “We are going to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department. Say it with me. DISMANTLE The Minneapolis Police Department.”
With the word “dismantle,” she appears to have been quoting a slogan from Councilmember Jeremiah Bey Ellison, and she even mentioned him by name.
Sathanandan’s 2020 post continued —
As allies, what can we do right now? LISTEN and LEARN from our Black siblings. And then AMPLIFY this message right now, in this moment. MPD has systematically failed the Black Community, they have failed ALL OF US. It’s time to build a new infrastructure that works for ALL communities. If you are still disagreeing with that BASIC FACT, I’m not sure what to say to you…
Today the Minneapolis City Council has an emergency hearing to approve a court order outlining immediate changes to MPD and a framework for systematic change. If you live in Minneapolis, call and email your City Council Member to voice your support.
The city council voted that day to ban chokeholds and to give police chiefs the power to refuse nonlethal riot-control weapons, like rubber bullets and tear gas.
After a criminal attacked her, Sathanandan called for a very different kind of justice — holding criminals who are “running wild creating chaos” accountable.
Sathanandan posted Thursday on Facebook —
Look at my face. These criminals will not win. We need to take back out city…
We need to get illegal guns off our streets, catch these young people who are running wild creating chaos across our city and HOLD THEM IN CUSTODY AND PROSECUTE THEM. Look at my face. REMEMBER ME when you are thinking about supporting letting juveniles and young people out of custody to roam our streets instead of HOLDING THEM ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS.
In the post, Sathanandan thanked her precinct’s officers, the police chief, and her “DFL family.”
Local police recovered Sathanandan’s vehicle later, they told KSTP. They found it abandoned by the perpetrators, but have yet to release any details on the suspects.
The DFL chair echoed Sathanandan’s call for bringing the perpetrators to justice.
“It is my sincere hope that the people who assaulted Shivanthi are quickly brought to justice and face punishment commensurate with the severity of their crimes,” DFL Chair Ken Martin said in a press release.
The Horn editorial team