Violence interrupter who made threatening statements to Minneapolis council could get new contract

A prominent north Minneapolis pastor who made threatening statements to Minneapolis City Council members could get a new, $643,632 one-year city contract to interrupt violence.

The Rev. Jerry McAfee — whose nonprofit has done violence prevention work for years — interrupted a February council committee meeting and went on a five-minute rant after the council considered temporarily moving some violence prevention programs to Hennepin County.

McAfee accused council members of ignoring his phone calls, saying he’s been shot at while doing violence prevention work for the city. He also said he’s been rejected by the city’s Neighborhood Safety Department when he applies for city contracts, suggesting nepotism was at play.

McAfee is pastor of New Salem Missionary Baptist Church, and runs nonprofits that have done violence prevention work for the city of Minneapolis and other entities. Last year, the church won a nearly $306,000 city contract to do a “community trauma and de-escalation initiative" and his nonprofit called 21 Days of Peace received a $3 million direct appropriation from the Legislature in 2023.

Now, his nonprofit called Salem Inc., is on a list of six nonprofits chosen by Neighborhood Safety to get violence interruption contracts under a program called MinneapolUS. The one-year contracts have an option to renew for two more years.

The contracts must first get approval by the City Council, which should make for an interesting debate, given what happened with McAfee last month. During a Feb. 10 council committee meeting, McAfee made threatening and homophobic statements to Council Member Jason Chavez, who is gay, accusing him of acting like a girl.

“The way you lookin’ at me, if you wanna come behind that podium, you do it. I guarantee, I guarantee you will regret it,” McAfee said.

Chavez later accused the pastor of making “alarming threats and homophobic and sexist remarks.”

When council members suggested he was being homophobic, McAfee scoffed and called them “heterophobes.” McAfee has opposed same-sex marriage in the past.

When Chavez asked if he was threatening them, McAfee said, “I don’t make threats, I make promises.”

He challenged the council to “put me out” but said if they tried to arrest him, his “people” would come.

As he left the meeting room, he told the council members, “I’ll see you again; that’s a promise.” After the meeting, he scoffed at the council’s allegation that he threatened them, telling the Minnesota Star Tribune it was “childish foolishness.”

McAfee suggested in subsequent social media posts that he half expected to be arrested, then doubled down in a Facebook Live post in which he said, “Reverend McAfee ain’t hittin' nobody. I ain’t shot nobody. However I will if I have to. I don’t want to.”

Council Member Robin Wonsley has said that amounted to a public death threat, but Minneapolis police determined no crime occurred. However, security was beefed up for a council meeting days later where the council voted against moving the programs to the county.

Wonsley released a statement Friday saying, “The Frey administration has repeatedly assured the Council that conditions within NSD are improving. However, actions like this make it clear that the administration is still struggling to effectively manage these once nationally recognized violence prevention services — programs that are essential to keeping all residents safe."

Council Member Jamal Osman said he was “super disappointed” to learn earlier this week that the city decided not to select the violence interrupters providing culturally appropriate services in the Cedar-Riverside area, Metro Youth Diversion, and instead work with McAfee.

A Neighborhood Safety official told him crime data doesn’t support it, but Osman said that’s the point: The violence interrupters have helped calm the area and make it safer.

He questioned why McAfee would be chosen, calling it a “really, really horrible decision.”

“I’m super surprised about that,” he said, adding later, “This is an individual who should never be close to City Hall.”

In a statement to the Star Tribune, Community Safety Commissioner Toddrick Barnette said that while he couldn’t comment on any individual contract, the venders were selected after receiving the highest scores under the city’s procurement process.

“This is a process that council members have been briefed on in the past and they will receive another, more specific briefing on Monday about this specific RFP [request for proposal] process, as well as a presentation on the violence interrupter model itself,” Barnette said.

“Whether or not an individual associated with a group has made comments about elected or appointed officials does not factor into the rigorous review. If that is the standard we are looking to set, many groups and individuals that have received City funding with overwhelming council support in the past fall well short of that standard.”