ACS MSP: How the Court Enforceable Settlement Agreement Will Help Transform the City of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Police Department

Following the murder of George Floyd, demands to end any discriminatory policing practices reverberated across the world. The Minnesota Department of Human Rights heard this message loud and clear. Following a comprehensive investigation, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights announced its findings in April 2022 that the City of Minneapolis and Minneapolis Police Department engage in a pattern or practice of race discrimination in violation of Minnesota’s civil rights law. This led to a court enforceable agreement, also known as a consent decree, that requires the City and MPD to make transformational changes to their organizational culture by recognizing the humanity and civil rights of community members, addressing race-based policing, and strengthening public safety. Please join us for a presentation about this historic agreement and how it will help transform the City of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Police Department.

Join us in person! Lunch will generously be provided by Greene Espel.



Speaker bios:

Commissioner Rebecca Lucero

In January 2019, Governor Tim Walz and Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan appointed Rebecca Lucero to serve as the Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Rights. She was reappointed in November 2022.

Born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Rebecca, a proud Chicana, has spent her life fighting to create a more just and joyful world while working to end systemic inequality and oppression. She strives to lead her life with an intersectional lens, honoring complex identities.

During her tenure, Commissioner Lucero has led a team to transform the Minnesota Department of Human Rights into a strategic civil rights enforcement agency. This includes securing a consent decree with the City of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Police Department to address race-based policing and strengthen public safety; settling discrimination cases that resulted in workplaces, schools, and public places having and enforcing stronger policies to prevent discrimination; and making schools safer and more welcoming for transgender and non-binary students.

Before her appointment as Commissioner, Commissioner Lucero worked in public policy and civil rights law, working to create a more just and joyous world. She worked at the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity, and for U.S. Congressman Keith Ellison to change the law, systems, and structures that cause institutional inequities. As an attorney, she worked as a civil rights lawyer in private practice, as an administrative law judge, and for the Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis.

Commissioner Lucero earned her Bachelor’s degree from Grinnell College, and her law degree from the University of Minnesota Law School with a focus in employment law.

Deputy Commissioner Irina Vaynerman

Irina Vaynerman is the Deputy Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Rights. She was initially appointed by Commissioner Lucero in 2019 and was reappointed in November 2022.

Deputy Commissioner Vaynerman has experience working in a variety of civil rights organizations across the country, focusing on racial justice, LGBTQIA+ rights, and immigrant rights.

Deputy Commissioner Vaynerman is committed to advancing civil rights work across the state. As Deputy Commissioner, she oversees the agency’s legal work, investigation unit, strategic compliance unit, and process improvement team. Deputy Commissioner Vaynerman works closely with staff at MDHR to advance strategic impact litigation; identify needed improvements to policies, trainings, and accountability systems to address and prevent discrimination across the state; and she served as the chief negotiator for the State to reach a consent decree with the City of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Police Department to address race-based policing and strengthen public safety.

Deputy Commissioner Vaynerman has worked with several nonprofits, and was an attorney with a civil rights law firm in Detroit, Michigan, where she litigated statutory and constitutional anti-discrimination claims. Immediately before joining MDHR, she was an attorney at Faegre Baker Daniels, LLP in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is a graduate of Harvard University and Yale Law School. After graduating from law school, Irina served as a federal law clerk for the U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.