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OKP News: Brother Ali Arrested In Occupy Homes Protest

Lenny Kravitz, Grace Jones, Lauryn Hill, Lion Babe, Thundercat, SZA & More Rock The Afropunk Festival 2015 in Brooklyn, NY.brotheraliarrest1-cop

Photo provided by Nick Espinosa/Occupy Homes MN

Ali Douglas Newman, better known as prolific and outspoken rapper Brother Ali was arrested with 13 others in South Minneapolis yesterday in an act of civil disobedience in support the Occupy Homes movement. The arrest (captured on video below) took place at a rally of some 125 people who showed up to occupy a foreclosed home as a protest of the "corporate injustices that are happening to people, to our real neighbors"--specifically the Cruz family, who have been fighting to keep their residence at 4044 Cedar Ave. Ali had the distinction of being the first protestor to step across police lines and be arrested for trespassing on the foreclosed property and after being processed (mugshot after the jump) was released from jail after posting bail at about 1:30 a.m. this morning.

Although Ali remained silent during the arrest (other Occupy protestors made a formal statement about why they were engaging in this act of civil disobedience) he has spoken about the issues at length in other settings, saying:

"When the Occupy movement sparked off, I think a lot of people -- myself included -- had lost a whole lot of faith in the electoral process and electoral politics. And I started realizing that it’s going to take something more on behalf of the people, there’s going to have to be a movement to actually disrupt things, to actually disrupt some of these corporate injustices that are happening to people, to our real neighbors."

Seaking about the Occupy movement, he described it as:

"Something that’s really near to my heart and it’s really turned me on a lot. Because I see people of all ages, all colors, all backgrounds. There are 50-year-old white doctors from Minnetonka, down to my son who is 11, all together working on these issues and caring about each other and actually standing up to these corporations and to the banks in ways that really matter."

Lenny Kravitz, Grace Jones, Lauryn Hill, Lion Babe, Thundercat, SZA & More Rock The Afropunk Festival 2015 in Brooklyn, NY.Brother_Ali-mugshot

spotted at Current