Under gray skies on the afternoon of Oct. 30, relatives of two women, one Black, one Indigenous, gathered outside the Hennepin County Government Center accusing Minneapolis police and city officials of failing to protect women of color from domestic violence.
The families came seeking justice for Mariah Samuels, a 30-year-old African American mother who was shot 10 times by her ex-partner, and Allison Lussier, an Indigenous woman found beaten to death in her home after repeatedly calling police for help.
Both women, relatives said, “did everything right.” They filed police reports, obtained protection orders, and reached out for help. Yet both were killed by men they had warned police about. Their deaths, they argue, reveal a deeper truth: that Black and Native women are treated as less worthy of protection than their White counterparts…