MOORHEAD (AP) — Johnathan Judd does not shy away from tough conversations.

Growing up in Raleigh, North Carolina he learned to speak his mind, own what he said and work through disagreements.

He’s lived in Moorhead, where he was elected the city’s first Black mayor in 2018, since high school. And he’s found the primary communication style he’s encountered in Minnesota — restrained, passive — challenging from the start.

But since George Floyd, a handcuffed Black man, died after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck for nearly eight minutes in May, Judd has been vocal about the need to talk about racism — and he’s engaging his community in that conversation.

“I think when it comes to race, people are afraid to have the conversation because they’re afraid of saying the wrong thing, or they’re afraid of saying ‘I don’t have the answers,'” he told Minnesota Public Radio News.

“We need to embrace the fact that we don’t like having tough conversations that might cause us to think internally about how we view things, because we’re not about expressing our vulnerability.”

For the past month and a half, a protest movement calling for police reform has been active in Fargo, North Dakota. But across the Red River — and the state line — in Moorhead, protest has been largely nonexistent.

Judd joined other local leaders at a press conference after one of Fargo’s first marches after Floyd was killed. The march, on May 30, had been large and mostly peaceful during the day, but ended in tear gas and broken glass when a smaller group of protesters clashed with police.

The next morning, Judd spoke directly to protesters and the community — about the challenge of having candid conversations about race in a mostly white area.

“When you don’t see yourself represented in the institutions that work for you, to care for you, to support you, you’re going to have a feeling of distrust. It completely makes sense. I have lived that reality,” he said. “The dilemma I have is that now I am a part of the institution.”

Judd earned a law degree at the University of North Dakota and worked as both a county prosecutor and a public defender. He’s now director of equity and inclusion at Minnesota State Community and Technical College in Moorhead.