Ironies abound. The acting U.S. Attorney, Joseph Thompson, announced yesterday that two men were indicted on gun charges who had been employed by a Minneapolis-based violence interruption nonprofit called 21 Days of Peace.
Kashmir McReynolds, age 35, and Alvin Watkins, Jr., 50, were indicted on three felony counts by a grand jury. The incident occurred at a backyard BBQ in north Minneapolis back in March, where the accused fired 43 rounds at an unknown and unseen attacker. They also face charges in state court. The indictment included photos of the weapons involved,
Quoting Thompson,
The people of north Minneapolis deserve peace. McReynolds and Watkins were paid taxpayer money to bring peace to the community. Instead, they brought the very violence they claimed to be interrupting.
Taxpayer money? Thompson explains,
21 Days of Peace is an initiative of Salem Inc., which is a non-profit organization funded by the Minnesota Legislature to engage in “social equity building and community engagement services.”
Who is Salem Inc.? Deena Winter of the Minnesota Star Tribune explains,
The night of the shooting, they were working for a nonprofit called 21 Days of Peace, run by a prominent north Minneapolis pastor, the Rev. Jerry McAfee of New Salem Missionary Baptist Church.
By coincidence, Winter published another article yesterday that mentions Salem Inc. and the church in the context of the Feeding Our Future scandal. She writes,
New Salem Missionary Baptist Church is run by a prominent north Minneapolis pastor, the Rev. Jerry McAfee. State records indicate another food distribution site was operated from the church in 2021 and was reimbursed more than $34,000. A second food distribution site was approved at the church under the name of one of McAfee’s companies, Salem Inc., but did not submit any claims for reimbursements, according to state records.
In 2023, state Democrats voted to give a $3 million taxpayer-funded grant to 21 Days of Peace through the state Dept. of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). The 21 Days grant was to be routed through another nonprofit, Community Action Partnership of Hennepin County.
Confusingly, in Sept. 2021, McAfee had incorporated another nonprofit company called 21 Days of Peace. That nonprofit has remained dormant over the years. Corporate records also indicate that in July 2020, McAfee and Al Flowers co-founded a for-profit company named Minnesota Safe Streets LLC.
Indeed, tax records for Community Action Partnership confirm that money was passed through to Salem Inc.
In turn, Salem Inc.’s tax records confirm that McAfee’s nonprofit received $1.3 million of the DEED grant in 2024, representing the bulk of the company’s revenue that year.
Salem’s 2023 tax return describes the effort (p. 10) as follows,
Now that’s an effort that I could support.