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](https://www.startribune.com/jerry-mcafee-violence-interrupter-minneapolis-threats/601221591) 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.
Now, his nonprofit called Salem, Inc., is on a list of six nonprofits chosen by the Neighborhood Safety department to get violence interruption contracts, under a program called MinneapolUS. The one-year contracts have an option to renew them 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. “I got 40 years of shit in me from seeing my people die.”
Chavez later accused the pastor of making “alarming threats and homophobic and sexist remarks.”