Riots in Minneapolis

[TomPaine]

Remember when MLK jr said, "To further the cause of social justice go down the street and rob and loot your neighbors." Me neither, because it didn't happen.

I fully sympathize with the situation in Minneapolis and the death of George Floyd. I believe in due process, but after seeing the video I was sickened by the police officer's actions. He did not need to have his knee of the neck of a man who was handcuffed and held down by two other officers. His excessive force caused the death of Floyd. He was fired and he will be arrested and charged. There will be a court case and evidence will be presented and a verdict delivered.

That's how our system works. It does not work by robbing your neighbors and destroying their livelihoods. There is no cause that is furthered by the looter's actions. There is no traction gained. Their actions haven't changed policy and ensured that justice was done. It was simply a group of people who took the opportunity to steal and destroy for personal gain. The looters are selfish because they took some of the spotlight away from George Floyd and now the nation sees another example people run amok without furthering their agenda or making any positive strides.

If the looters actually cared about Floyd or the social cause they speak of they would take civil action. It worked in the past and it would work again. The Montgomery bus boycott changed policy. But it wasn't easy, it was certainly harder than breaking glass and stealing a tv. And therein lies the problem. It's easy to riot, it's easy to steal and claim "XYZ caused me to loot." It's hard to organize like-minded people and bring about change. It takes time, grit and determination. Think how much better things would be if the thousands of people who looted and rioted got together and voted for change. They could elect someone who could enact policies to prevent something like this from happening again. That's how our system works, not by destroying your own neighborhood.

[toomuchbaloney]

If only police had shown up with tear gas and rubber bullets when armed protesters crowded into capital buildings...

Nope.

But when police openly murder a man on the street, in broad daylight, lie about it, write a false report, and get called out on the racist violence by the public with emotional BUT UNARMED protest one can count on the police showing up in full riot gear... ready to do battle to defend their right to abuse citizens. Police can kneel on a black man till he dies but a black man can't kneel during the national anthem in Trumplandia.

You are under some delusion that the system you are talking about works for all the people.

[Kitiger, RN]

Yes, the police officer was fired. But that was just the beginning. The mayor immediately called for the officer to be arrested.

Why would people riot and destroy property, businesses, livelihoods . . . when it truly does appear that justice will be served?

And why hurt innocent people because you feel angry, abused, downtrodden? Did those business owners cause Mr. Floyd's death?

[toomuchbaloney]

Because, clearly, the actual abuse and death of black people only gets a a bunch of white people spinning back that ALL LIVES MATTER, when black fools just talk about it. Besides...when peaceful protest is met immediately by riot geared police who demand that they stop their protest and then escalate the emotions with their retaliatory violence and weapons, that's what we should expect. Especially when we can so closely compare it to emotionally charged and ARMED protesters, in other states, coddled and tolerated by police without riot gear.

I don't condone violent protest but I certainly understand the emotional frustration. It's not going to go away until we admit that we have a problem and then seek to do something to correct the problem.

[herring_RN, ASN, BSN]

The video of Floyd's death has now caused outrage in the city of Minneapolis and all over the country. Residents of the city have protested his death since Tuesday.

Though they have been mostly peaceful, on Wednesday, officials said "a core group of people" not from Minneapolis caused destruction. City leaders have called for the community to voice their outrage in a lawful...

https://abcnews.go.com/us/dangerous-protests-erupt-overnight-george-floyds-death-minneapolis/story?id=70924047

[herring_RN, ASN, BSN]

George Floyd case: Two Minneapolis cops caught on tape have history of conduct complaints

Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer caught on camera kneeling on the neck of George Floyd as he gasped for air, has been the subject of a 10 conduct complaints and three police shootings that led to no disciplinary action during his 19 years on the job.

Tou Thao, the second officer seen in the video, also has a checkered past that includes allegations of police brutality and a lawsuit...

https://www.foxnews.com/us/george-floyd-case-two-minneapolis-cops-caught-on-tape-have-history-of-conduct-complaints

[herring_RN, ASN, BSN]

5 minutes ago, herring_RN said:

Minneapolis police at center of George Floyd’s death had a history of complaints

When Kristofer Bergh saw the footage of George Floyd’s death, he started to wonder what might have happened if his skin weren’t white.

He thought back to when he was 17 when two Minneapolis police officers held him at gunpoint over a Nerf gun.

What he didn’t realize until USA TODAY contacted him was that one of those officers was Derek Chauvin, the officer fired for kneeling on Floyd’s neck...

... Since December 2012, the officers drew a combined 13 complaints. Minneapolis settled at least one lawsuit against Thao. Since 2006, Chauvin has been reviewed for three shootings.

They were repeatedly accused of treating victims of crimes with callousness or indifference, failing to file a report when a crime was alleged and, in at least one case, using an unnecessary amount of force in making an arrest...

... Bergh’s encounter with Chauvin happened in May 2013 as he and some friends participated in an annual end-of-school-year ritual called “Assassins.” It’s a game that involves teams shooting each other with toy Nerf guns.

As his teammates dropped him off at his home, one of them shot a Nerf dart – made of brightly colored foam – out the window of the car.

“They hadn’t used their siren at all, so none of us realized that they were even behind us,” Bergh said in an email Thursday. The officers shouted commands, including obscenities, Bergh said. “I immediately dropped my backpack and trumpet on the ground and complied with their orders,” he said.

The officers confiscated all the Nerf guns and took the boy who had shot the dart to the squad car. He told his friends later that he was verbally berated, Bergh said. When Bergh’s mother came out of the house to question the officers about their aggressive tactics, they told her the teens had been “trying to elude” them.

“How could we be trying to elude them if we didn’t know they were following us, since they didn’t use their siren?” Bergh said.

He filed a complaint online with the city because he said the officers had been unprofessional. They knew the dart was a toy, he said, because they were carrying it when they approached the vehicle. “I was upset that they drew guns on us and verbally berated us all when they knew we were not a threat,” he said.

“I am white, as was everybody in the vehicle,” Bergh, 24, said. “I had been thinking about this incident in relation to George Floyd’s death before even realizing that it was the same officer. My initial conclusion was that our white privilege likely saved our lives that day.”

“If I were black, I would probably be dead,”

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2020/05/28/george-floyd-video-sparks-outrage-police-records-detail-even-more/5275079002/

[toomuchbaloney]

Very fine people...Trump encouraged them to rough people up a couple years ago...remember?

[toomuchbaloney]

It is apparent that our police departments are too influenced, on a long term basis, by fellows like these 4 killers. Many complaints and investigations over 19 years intro the killer's behavior are the evidence that the police are not very good at vetting officers or investigating their conduct after hire. In fact we often see that police will lie to protect one another. The president isn't concerned that police are murdering people in broad daylight, he sees a political propaganda opportunity.

[Brian S.]

The latest round of apparent mis-steps by police in Minneapolis – this time by the Minnesota State Highway Patrol – was the arrest of a CNN crew. As they broadcasted early this morning from outside the Minneapolis 3rd Police Precinct, officers arrested the reporter and crew. The reporter identified himself, was calm, and asked where to move. The reporter and crew were released but this certainly doesn't reflect well on the police handling the riots in Minneapolis. One last detail is that the reporter was a black man. All of this was broadcast live on national TV.

[toomuchbaloney]

Land of the free...

[TomPaine]

Toomuchbaloney, you seem to be missing my point and conflating several issues. Everyone with a working brain is appalled by what happened to George Floyd and people want to see the cop arrested and charged. I believe that will happen very soon. That's how our system works. And it's going to work in this case.

Imagine if every time something happened we didn't like politically we burned down our neighborhood and looted from businesses. It would be anarchy. There is no excuse for the looting. The riot police were only brought in when the looting and destruction began. The armed protestors at the capitol is a separate issue. I don't recall seeing the armed capitol protestors looting, destroying cop cars or businesses. If you have some video or anything showing that please share.

What do you want to happen in Minneapolis? Should the police let looters continue to steal and burn down businesses? Are you really advocating for more chaos? Or are you just upset that peaceful protestors at a capitol in another state weren't met with riot police as well?