[Bash:] Nearly three years ago, Melvin Carter III broke a big racial barrier becoming the first black mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota. Now with the Twin Cities erupting in anguish over the death of George Floyd, Carter's responsibilities as mayor are as complex as ever, especially given his own family's history in his beloved city four generations of discrimination and pain. I talked to Mayor Carter this week.
[Mayor Melvin Carter Iii , Saint Paul, Minnesota:] My father spent almost 30 years as a police officer right here in Saint Paul.
[Bash:] Melvin Carter III, the first black mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota, grew up with the complexities of race and police.
[Carter:] He became a police officer in the early 70s after a lawsuit required the desegregation of the Saint Paul Police Department. And so he was a part of a class of African-American officers who came in. And they have stories that weren't always complimentary. My father tells me about the officers when he was first coming on the police department who would tell him that no matter what happened, I just won't back you up. And but then again
[Bash:] Because he was black?
[Carter:] Yes, that's right. I would also see all growing up the way he would use that badge and I saw it as sort of like a superhero outfit, right? We would be in the house at midnight on a Friday and someone would call and say, my son is holed up in this house and won't, you know, surrender himself to anyone except Sergeant Carter.
[Bash:] Still he says he's lost count of how many times he was stopped by police because he's black.
[Carter:] Even as a city council member I would you know, there were times when I would get pulled over and people would say, like why didn't you tell them who you were? And my response is if I have to be a city council member, if I have to be a mayor, if I have to be the son of a police officer to just be treated with basic human dignity and to not be stopped when I'm obeying all laws, maybe that's the problem in the first place. My young daughter told me today, she said that she didn't think anybody should be surprised by what has happened over the past.
[Bash:] And how old is she?
[Carter:] 12 years old.
[Bash:] Did that break your heart?
[Carter:] It does. It does. Like, how could it not? And, you know, but and I asked her, you know, why would you say that? And she said, because if we see ourselves being killed over and over and over again in these videos, and it seems each one gets worse, she said, people have to do something.
[Bash:] The pain runs deep. His grandparents lost their property in the city's largely black Rondo community so the government could build a highway.
[Carter:] Our community was literally uprooted. Our community, you know, our community members were given pennies on the dollar for their properties. They were kicked out of those properties. Those properties were bulldozed. My father can remember their family being moved off of old Rondo and can remember the fire department burning down his mother's home as a training exercise.
[Bash:] His grandfather, the first Melvin Carter, was a porter on the railroad.
[Carter:] As a pullman porter, his name was Melvin Sr I'm III and as pullman porter it didn't really matter what your name was or how much experience you had or what your rank was. Everyone was named George. And the reason I say this is because I was reflecting today on, you know, the fact that the killing, the murder of George Floyd, I think is so painful for us, so personal because for every black man in America, whether you're a lawyer or an architect or an accountant or a mayor, we know that there is no amount of credentials, there's no amount of accomplishments, there's no amount of money that can change the fact that we literally all are George.
[Bash:] And thank you to Mayor Carter for sharing his family's story. That's it for INSIDE POLITICS. Up next "STATE OF THE UNION WITH JAKE TAPPER". Jake's guests include former secretary of state Colin Powell, Housing Secretary Ben Carson, and Congresswoman Karen Bass. Thanks again for sharing your Sunday morning.