Minneapolis council member under fire for using ‘say their names’ for police horses

Family members of people hurt and killed by police have called on Minneapolis Council Member LaTrisha Vetaw to apologize for using a phrase often used to remember Black victims of police violence — “say their names” — to mourn the defunding of the police department’s mounted patrol.

Shortly before 11 p.m. on Tuesday, in the final hours of a three-day city budget marathon, Vetaw said she couldn’t vote for a budget change that would cut funding for the police department’s mounted patrol, and then ticked off a list of names in a moment that has spawned a flurry of horse jokes on social media.

“I can’t vote against Haven, Maximillian, Buster, Blue, Trooper, Teak, Goliath, Rooster and Cabo. Those are the horses.”

Some of her colleagues on the council began laughing, but Vetaw didn’t crack a smile.

“I’m gonna repeat that one more time,” she said. “Haven, Maximillian, Buster, Blue, Trooper, Teak, Goliath, Rooster and Cabo are the name of some of our horses. I don’t know if that’s all of them, but that is their name, and I cannot vote against them. I’ve met a lot of them personally. Just like we look at other pets as therapy animals, these animals are therapy animals for our community, so I just wanted to say their names.”

When Vetaw uttered the phrase “I just wanted to say their names,” the council member to her right, Robin Wonsley, reared back in her seat in dismay, and left the dais briefly. Both are Black women, but Wonsley is more progressive than Vetaw, and they often clash politically, including over policing.

Two days later, on Thursday, a group called Families Supporting Families Against Police Violence called on Vetaw to apologize for using the “say their names” phrase, which in the past decade has become a rallying cry to call attention to systemic racism and victims of police brutality.

Family members of victims of police violence in Minnesota held a news conference Thursday to call on Vetaw to apologize, at the very least.

Among them was Valerie Castile, the mother of Philando Castile, a 32-year-old Black St. Paul man who was killed by a St. Anthony police officer during a 2016 traffic stop. Valerie Castile said she was “very disheartened” by Vetaw’s comment, saying the phrase is meant for people who have been hurt, killed and “disappeared.”

“I just think it was simple-minded of her,” she said. " I don’t know if she recognized what she was saying or she thought it was just a clever thing to say.”

Ricky Cobb Sr., the father of Ricky Cobb II, who was killed by a state trooper during a traffic stop last year, said, “As the father of a lost son, I’m appalled by it.”

The group also included Toshira Garraway, fiancé of Justin Teigen, who says he was beaten by St. Paul police after being pulled over in 2009 and was found dead in a recycling facility. She said the phrase is sacred to families of victims and Vetaw seemed to be mocking it and valuing horses over humans.

“I’m trying to believe in my heart that that wasn’t intentional. All of our families are trying to believe that you would not use a slogan that is so dear to the people who have lost their children, the fathers to their children, their husbands, their brothers and sisters,” Garraway said. “I want to believe that you would not use that slogan, those words, something so comforting to us, to mock us, to say the names of the police horses.”

Multiple other family members of people killed by police — including the mother of Amir Locke, mother of Daunte Wright, sister of Winston Smith and aunt of George Floyd — signed a statement calling on Vetaw to apologize for what they called “insensitive, hurtful” remarks.

When reached for comment, Vetaw released a statement saying, “Questioning my commitment to racial justice based on my support of the mounted patrol horses is unfounded and unserious. In a meeting where my colleagues haphazardly cut services without regard, I repeatedly tried to make them understand the real impact of those cuts. On the amendment to cut mounted patrol, I wanted to say the horses’ names before my colleagues defunded them and did so.”