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Alondra Cano: Minneapolis City Council Member Accused Of Doxing Black Lives Matter Protest Critics

By Nathan Francis
Published on: 11:04 PST, Dec 26, 2015

Alondra Cano is in hot water after the Minneapolis city council member published the phone numbers and home addresses of constituents who criticized the Black Lives Matter movement’s protests in the Minnesota city.

Cano was responding to local residents who used the city’s website to criticize her participation in the group’s protest this week that went from the Mall of America to the MSP airport. But when Cano received the messages she posted them in full on Twitter, including the supposedly anonymous information of the people who had sent them to her.

Laurie Grady, one of the people who had reached out to Cano, said her email address ended up being shown to the council member’s 2,000 Twitter followers. Cano posted Grady’s message along with her own comment, “I hope one day you can understand why black lives matter.”

Grady told Fox 9 that the response left her with “a chilling feeling,” and said she believes that Cano should resign.

The protests in the Minneapolis area had caused controversy this week, with demonstrators showing up briefly at the Mall of America but leaving when police responded with arrests. The group had been warned not to protest at the mall, and officials who run the private building had already taken out restraining orders against the leaders.

From there the group moved to the airport, clogging traffic on what is one of the busiest travel days of the year.

Protesters are aiming to bring attention to police mistreatment of the black community, including the killing of Jamar Clark, who died last year after being shot by police. Authorities claim that Clark had assaulted his girlfriend and attacked first responders, then assaulted officers and may have tried to reach for an officer’s gun.

But some witnesses say that Clark was handcuffed and not a threat to police when he was shot in the back.

Black Lives Matter protesters have called for justice for Clark and for police to abandon what the group sees as heavy-handed tactics.

Cano’s act is drawing criticism even among Black Lives Matter supporters, MPR News reported. Minneapolis resident Stephen Dent, who said he believes in the movement, was one of those who sent a critical message to Cano. Dent said he did not approve of protesting on private property at the Mall of America and said she is “unfit to be a Minneapolis City Council member.”

“I just felt that was really wrong that an elected official would incite other people to break the law,” Dent told MPR News on Thursday. “I just thought it was really unethical behavior.”

Dent said he received a number of phone calls after Cano had posted his information, though many were positive.

Alondra Cano later deleted her tweets, and it is unclear if she will face any discipline for the matter. Barb Johnson, a fellow city council member, said Cano likely didn’t break the law and that residents were warned that their comments are subject to the state’s data practices act.

But Johnson was among those speaking out against Cano.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate to put people’s emails out to the world if they have a reasonable expectation that it won’t happen,” Johnson said. “I’ve been through some difficult time where I’ve been criticized for what I’ve done, but I’ve never put anyone’s name out to say that I disagreed with their opinion.”

It is not clear if Alondra Cano will face discipline for exposing the information of Black Lives Matter protest critics.

[Picture by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images]

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