My Ride into South Minneapolis This Morning

[Mr. Pink]

Originally Posted by benb

I'd have been shaking my feet out of the clipless pedals on this ride, but maybe I wouldn't if it was my hometown and I was familiar with the area.

This whole thing is crazy. What blows my mind is how small the transgressions are that lead to these police actions combined with the way they think they have total immunity even when there is a crowd of people shooting videos of the interactions. We've had pervasive smartphones with video capabilities 10 years now and yet there still seem to be people who are oblivious to the fact that any bad act they take part in on a city street is going to get recorded.

The main officer involved had more on his record.. 18 complaints but also involvement in 3 other shootings, one of which was fatal. The fatal one there were a whole bunch of officers shooting and the suspect was shooting back so that's a different story, but he'd done things like respond to a domestic disturbance and shoot one of the partners before.

And, on top of that, all four officers had working bodycams recording POVs. Amazing.

But, patience. Prosecution awaits, hopefully.

[PQJ]

There are no words to adequately describe the sad and sorry state of our country today. It is gut wrenching. Heartrending. Alas, it is nothing new. It has been going on since the beginning. Even before then. Perhaps we have reached the reckoning (again).

"These strategies intensified whenever black people asserted their independence or achieved any measure of success. During Reconstruction, the emergence of black elected officials and entrepreneurs was countered by convict leasing, a scheme in which white policymakers invented offenses used to target black people: vagrancy, loitering, being a group of black people out after dark, seeking employment without a note from a former enslaver....

It’s not just that this history fostered a view of black people as presumptively criminal. It also cultivated a tolerance for employing any level of brutality in response. In 1904, in Mississippi, a black man was accused of shooting a white landowner who had attacked him. A white mob captured him and the woman with him, cut off their ears and fingers, drilled corkscrews into their flesh and then burned them alive — while hundreds of white spectators enjoyed deviled eggs and lemonade. The landowner’s brother, Woods Eastland, presided over the violence; he was later elected district attorney of Scott County, Miss., a position that allowed his son James Eastland, an avowed white supremacist, to serve six terms as a United States senator, becoming president pro tempore from 1972 to 1978....

This appetite for harsh punishment has echoed across the decades. Late in the 20th century, amid protests over civil rights and inequality, a new politics of fear and anger would emerge. Nixon’s war on drugs, mandatory minimum sentences, three-strikes laws, children tried as adults, “broken windows” policing — these policies were not as expressly racialized as the Black Codes, but their implementation has been essentially the same. It is black and brown people who are disproportionately targeted, stopped, suspected, incarcerated and shot by the police....

Hundreds of years after the arrival of enslaved Africans, a presumption of danger and criminality still follows black people everywhere. New language has emerged for the noncrimes that have replaced the Black Codes: driving while black, sleeping while black, sitting in a coffee shop while black. All reflect incidents in which African-Americans were mistreated, assaulted or arrested for conduct that would be ignored if they were white....

The smog created by our history of racial injustice is suffocating and toxic. We are too practiced in ignoring the victimization of any black people tagged as criminal; like Woods Eastland’s crowd, too many Americans are willing spectators to horrifying acts, as long as we’re assured they’re in the interest of maintaining order...."

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...tType=REGIWALL

[jkbrwn]

As a foreigner living here, it's quite astounding to see the police act this way. Of course, I heard about stuff like this when I still lived in England but it was never really front and center. I am heartbroken for the people suffering the consequences of police brutality, truly.

I'm sure most people have see this, but a CNN news team was arrested this morning in MPLS reporting on a police barricade, in a place that the police had told them to stand. No rhyme nor reason. They have since been released.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2020/0...newday-vpx.cnn

[onekgguy]

Originally Posted by jkbrwn

As a foreigner living here, it's quite astounding to see the police act this way. Of course, I heard about stuff like this when I still lived in England but it was never really front and center. I am heartbroken for the people suffering the consequences of police brutality, truly.

I'm sure most people have see this, but a CNN news team was arrested this morning in MPLS reporting on a police barricade, in a place that the police had told them to stand. No rhyme nor reason. They have since been released.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2020/0...newday-vpx.cnn

I'd heard about the incident with CNN but this was the first time I've seen the video. I no longer recognize my country—a country I was once proud of. That stopped for me a while ago.

Kevin g

[smellymcfatfats]

Originally Posted by PQJ

There are no words to adequately describe the sad and sorry state of our country today. It is gut wrenching. Heartrending. Alas, it is nothing new. It has been going on since the beginning. Even before then. Perhaps we have reached the reckoning (again).

"These strategies intensified whenever black people asserted their independence or achieved any measure of success. During Reconstruction, the emergence of black elected officials and entrepreneurs was countered by convict leasing, a scheme in which white policymakers invented offenses used to target black people: vagrancy, loitering, being a group of black people out after dark, seeking employment without a note from a former enslaver....

It’s not just that this history fostered a view of black people as presumptively criminal. It also cultivated a tolerance for employing any level of brutality in response. In 1904, in Mississippi, a black man was accused of shooting a white landowner who had attacked him. A white mob captured him and the woman with him, cut off their ears and fingers, drilled corkscrews into their flesh and then burned them alive — while hundreds of white spectators enjoyed deviled eggs and lemonade. The landowner’s brother, Woods Eastland, presided over the violence; he was later elected district attorney of Scott County, Miss., a position that allowed his son James Eastland, an avowed white supremacist, to serve six terms as a United States senator, becoming president pro tempore from 1972 to 1978....

This appetite for harsh punishment has echoed across the decades. Late in the 20th century, amid protests over civil rights and inequality, a new politics of fear and anger would emerge. Nixon’s war on drugs, mandatory minimum sentences, three-strikes laws, children tried as adults, “broken windows” policing — these policies were not as expressly racialized as the Black Codes, but their implementation has been essentially the same. It is black and brown people who are disproportionately targeted, stopped, suspected, incarcerated and shot by the police....

Hundreds of years after the arrival of enslaved Africans, a presumption of danger and criminality still follows black people everywhere. New language has emerged for the noncrimes that have replaced the Black Codes: driving while black, sleeping while black, sitting in a coffee shop while black. All reflect incidents in which African-Americans were mistreated, assaulted or arrested for conduct that would be ignored if they were white....

The smog created by our history of racial injustice is suffocating and toxic. We are too practiced in ignoring the victimization of any black people tagged as criminal; like Woods Eastland’s crowd, too many Americans are willing spectators to horrifying acts, as long as we’re assured they’re in the interest of maintaining order...."

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...tType=REGIWALL

Real talk, great post.

[mcteague]

Originally Posted by mistermo

They did. Yesterday.

Much smaller group and they stayed outside. And they remained very calm. Back when Reagan was gov of CA a black protest group made a similar display and people freaked out. Soon after, the Republican gov signed much more restrictive gun laws. How times have changed.

Tim

[theboucher]

Thank you for posting this. I'm just so sad, today especially, about all of this. Again and again people are dying with no recourse, no justice, no nothing.

It is incumbent upon all of us to speak out against injustice, otherwise we are complicit.

[onekgguy]

Originally Posted by PQJ

There are no words to adequately describe the sad and sorry state of our country today. It is gut wrenching. Heartrending. Alas, it is nothing new. It has been going on since the beginning. Even before then. Perhaps we have reached the reckoning (again).

"These strategies intensified whenever black people asserted their independence or achieved any measure of success. During Reconstruction, the emergence of black elected officials and entrepreneurs was countered by convict leasing, a scheme in which white policymakers invented offenses used to target black people: vagrancy, loitering, being a group of black people out after dark, seeking employment without a note from a former enslaver....

It’s not just that this history fostered a view of black people as presumptively criminal. It also cultivated a tolerance for employing any level of brutality in response. In 1904, in Mississippi, a black man was accused of shooting a white landowner who had attacked him. A white mob captured him and the woman with him, cut off their ears and fingers, drilled corkscrews into their flesh and then burned them alive — while hundreds of white spectators enjoyed deviled eggs and lemonade. The landowner’s brother, Woods Eastland, presided over the violence; he was later elected district attorney of Scott County, Miss., a position that allowed his son James Eastland, an avowed white supremacist, to serve six terms as a United States senator, becoming president pro tempore from 1972 to 1978....

This appetite for harsh punishment has echoed across the decades. Late in the 20th century, amid protests over civil rights and inequality, a new politics of fear and anger would emerge. Nixon’s war on drugs, mandatory minimum sentences, three-strikes laws, children tried as adults, “broken windows” policing — these policies were not as expressly racialized as the Black Codes, but their implementation has been essentially the same. It is black and brown people who are disproportionately targeted, stopped, suspected, incarcerated and shot by the police....

Hundreds of years after the arrival of enslaved Africans, a presumption of danger and criminality still follows black people everywhere. New language has emerged for the noncrimes that have replaced the Black Codes: driving while black, sleeping while black, sitting in a coffee shop while black. All reflect incidents in which African-Americans were mistreated, assaulted or arrested for conduct that would be ignored if they were white....

The smog created by our history of racial injustice is suffocating and toxic. We are too practiced in ignoring the victimization of any black people tagged as criminal; like Woods Eastland’s crowd, too many Americans are willing spectators to horrifying acts, as long as we’re assured they’re in the interest of maintaining order...."

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...tType=REGIWALL

I have to share this. Thank you.

Kevin g

[Spdntrxi]

1619 project is a farce and distortion and I dont accept the premise.

[FlashUNC]

Originally Posted by Spdntrxi

1619 project is a farce and distortion and I dont accept the premise.

Bryan Stevenson is the Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative. Whether you like the 1619 Project from the Times or not, his perspective on this issue is critical at a time like this.

[onekgguy]

I just want to say a thank you to all of you who expressed their appreciation of the video I posted here. It's much appreciated.

Kevin g

[gomango]

Originally Posted by onekgguy

I just want to say a thank you to all of you who expressed their appreciation of the video I posted here. It's much appreciated.

Kevin g

Thanks Kevin. I have a friend that owns a shop within a half mile of the burned 3rd Precinct. She has put years of her life into this business.

I hope it is still there tomorrow morning.

BTW I live in St. Paul. I have been up since 1:30am with the constant sound of sirens and helicopters. We have had over 170 incidents of looting/robbery/arson in STP in two days. The air has been filled with smoke off and on including the gas station that was torched last night two blocks from our house.

I am hopeful for a better night tonight.

[kingpin75s]

Originally Posted by onekgguy

I just want to say a thank you to all of you who expressed their appreciation of the video I posted here. It's much appreciated.

Kevin g

Thanks for sharing Kevin.

I am in the Uptown area so the looting portion of all this has been on my doorstep nightly. Most every business in this area has been trashed in the last 48 hours.

There really seems to be three groups out there:
- Concerned protestors and families (located mostly near CUP foods where incident occurred)
- The young, angry and anarchistic (focused around the 3rd precinct area)
- Opportunistic Looters (Roaming Lake St. East to West and looting in well coordinated waves)

My area is seeing mostly the latter. Fortunately they have focused on businesses and I have seen no spill over to the residents. The dozen cars that rolled onto my block 2 nights ago to tear up the commercial corner did not bother any of my neighbors out to ensure our street stayed safe. They came and went freely for hours knowing when to get out and when to come back based on police presence that they clearly had eyes on.

That said, some really dumb 20something white kids tried to loot a business last evening well before dark and got chased by my neighbors. They jumped in their stolen car and whipped around my corner flying down the street until they hit both my neighbors cars and rolled their car on its side right in front of my house. We ran out to see if they were ok as had no backstory yet and they all escaped through the rear passenger window and ran through my yard to escape.

The whole thing is just sad in every way and hopefully charges brought today will stop our city from burning. The weekend is almost here and we will see what it brings.

[benb]

Well the officer has been arrested and charged now so hopefully the city calms down.

[BobbyJones]

Originally Posted by mistermo

They did. Yesterday.

It does go a little deeper than just "showing up" armed. I found Sarah Anthony's feelings about intimidation a little more thoughtful than just a 2nd amendment issue.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...htwing-protest