2020 Minneapolis riots

[Roadgeekteen]

Please stay safe if you are in the Twin Cities, it's getting bad.

[texaskdog]

I grew up there. It had always been such a safe place.  Glad to be in Austin Texas now.

[ozarkman417]

Protests have spread elsewhere to places like Louisville and Denver, as well. What did target ever do to anyone?

I have a feeling this thread won't last long...

[NWI_Irish96]

Protests have spread elsewhere to places like Louisville and Denver, as well. What did target ever do to anyone?

I have a feeling this thread won't last long...

The Louisville protests are regarding a separate police killing a couple weeks ago.

[kphoger]

I'm so sick of violence against police officers in completely unrelated departments halfway across the country from where an incident occurred.

I'm also wondering when it becomes socially acceptable to start a riot when a ^[redacted]

[SectorZ]

Protests have spread elsewhere to places like Louisville and Denver, as well. What did target ever do to anyone?

I have a feeling this thread won't last long...

Nor should it. We're not collectively mature enough to let this not get really stupid in a hurry.

[kphoger]

Apparently, there's a 'rally' planned at the Kansas Statehouse for 11am tomorrow.  Let's see if Kansans can be more reasonable than elsewhere.

[jemacedo9]

I'm sick of all violence, period.  The initial violence and the reactionary violence.

[Ketchup99]

I don't really want to get that political but since this thread exists it's impossible not to. If people don't like it when black people protest, perhaps stop electing governments that don't take action when a representative of the government kills a black person for no reason. Not all cops are bad, but when someone gets murdered by an agent of the state people have every right to stand up and holler and try to put a stop to it until we, the people, stop implicitly condoning it at the ballot box. And if your biggest concern is that it's annoying that there are protests - not that people are being losing their lives as a matter of course - perhaps some reflection is in order.

Just saying.

[NWI_Irish96]

I don't really want to get that political but since this thread exists it's impossible not to. If people don't like it when black people protest, perhaps stop electing governments that don't take action when a representative of the government kills a black person for no reason. Not all cops are bad, but when someone gets murdered by an agent of the state people have every right to stand up and holler and try to put a stop to it until we, the people, stop implicitly condoning it at the ballot box. And if your biggest concern is that it's annoying that there are protests - not that people are being losing their lives as a matter of course - perhaps some reflection is in order.

Just saying.

I don't disagree, but Minneapolis is a pretty liberal city in a somewhat liberal state and this still happened. One party pays lip service to the racial inequity in this country, but neither has really done much tangible to fix it.

Crime is higher among minorities because they are more likely to drop out of school and join gangs because they are more likely to be born to a single mother in poverty because the fathers are more likely to be incarcerated because crime is higher among minorities, a circle which all got started through systemic racism.

The cycle has to get broken, and it has to get broken when kids in bad neighborhoods are 5-10 years old. They need better school and neighborhood resources so they can learn that they have other options besides gangs and that there are people who care about them so that they have motivation to choose those other options. I don't have all the answers as to how exactly to accomplish this, but it's what need to be done and I've not heard any politician at any level say it.

Yes, it would be a massive financial investment, but it would get paid back over time, as when those 5-10 year olds become adults, fewer of them are committing crimes and draining the resources of law enforcement and the criminal justice system, and they also become productive members of society and pay money in taxes as opposed to receiving money through entitlements.

If you don't get to kids at a young age to give them a fair chance, there's not a lot you can do once they're adults.

[kphoger]

I don't really want to get that political but since this thread exists it's impossible not to. If people don't like it when black people protest, perhaps stop electing governments that don't take action when a representative of the government kills a black person for no reason. Not all cops are bad, but when someone gets murdered by an agent of the state people have every right to stand up and holler and try to put a stop to it until we, the people, stop implicitly condoning it at the ballot box. And if your biggest concern is that it's annoying that there are protests - not that people are being losing their lives as a matter of course - perhaps some reflection is in order.

Just saying.

Who said they don't like it when black people protest?

What I'm sick of is the rioting.  And that's true whether the rioters are black, white, or periwinkle.  I also wish the police didn't kill people unless absolutely necessary–whether black, white, or periwinkle–but I also understand that unfortunate things happen and sometimes there's just a bad apple in the bunch.  Besides which, the justice system is already turning its wheels pretty quickly in this case, so what further good is supposed to be accomplished by people getting up in arms?

If your biggest concern is the color of the victim's skin, then perhaps some reflection is in order.  If you condone violence and rioting as an acceptable form of protest, then perhaps some reflection is in order.

Just saying.

[Bruce]

Blaming it on gangs is a bit simplistic and does not reflect these cases at all.

These people were murdered by police for the color of their skin, not who they are affiliated with or how they acted. Rooting out the white supremacists from our police forces would be far more effective.

Note the state patrol this morning arrested a CNN crew who were following their instructions and identifying themselves. The reporter, of course, is non-white and thus easy prey for the white supremacists in uniform.

https://streamable.com/k6vaq4

[kphoger]

These people were murdered by police for the color of their skin

Is that why George Floyd was killed?  If so, please cite your sources.

[Bruce]

These people were murdered by police for the color of their skin

Is that why George Floyd was killed?  If so, please cite your sources.

Despite what the cops said about "physically resisting", there is clear surveillance footage from an adjacent store that showed Floyd being placed in handcuffs and being moved by officers around without resistance. He gets moved across the street and falls to the ground, but is pulled back up by a new set of officers.

Then for some reason, Derek Chauvin decided that pinning him to the ground by the neck was necessary. Floyd used the last bits of air in his lungs to plead for his life. He was dead when EMTs arrived.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/29/why-george-floyd-was-arrested-and-what-happened-in-the-minutes-following/

I doubt that most encounters with white people end in this manner.

[MikeTheActuary]

What I'm sick of is the rioting.  And that's true whether the rioters are black, white, or periwinkle.

I might consider attending a riot as a spectator just to see a periwinkle rioter.

[kphoger]

I doubt that most encounters with white people end in this manner.

Most encounters with black people don't end in this manner either.
Also, 3379 white people were killed by police brutality last year alone.
Stop pretending that only one race is affected.

Yes, I know the percentages are not equivalent, but that mean that police brutality against a black person is automatically due to the color of his skin–no matter what you "doubt".

[jemacedo9]

I doubt that most encounters with white people end in this manner.

Most encounters with black people don't end in this manner either.
Also, 3379 white people were killed by police brutality last year alone.
Stop pretending that only one race is affected.

Yes, I know the percentages are not equivalent, but that mean that police brutality against a black person is automatically due to the color of his skin–no matter what you "doubt".

So then, why did it happen in this case?

[kphoger]

So then, why did it happen in this case?

I don't know.  That's my point.  People assume it's because of his race, but that doesn't make it the truth.



Just finished some quick math, for those interested...

[jemacedo9]

So then, why did it happen in this case?

I don't know.  That's my point.  People assume it's because of his race, but that doesn't make it the truth.

Correct. 
But it will never be said...so all that's left is to guess and assume. 

[ozarkman417]

some sites have been saying that the two (Floyd and the offending officer) worked at a nightclub together, but may not have known each other. Perhaps something happened there that led to this.. just a theory.

[kphoger]

So then, why did it happen in this case?

I don't know.  That's my point.  People assume it's because of his race, but that doesn't make it the truth.

Correct. 
But it will never be said...so all that's left is to guess and assume. 

And riot, of course.



I'm actually more interested to know why the other officers didn't step in.

[jemacedo9]

So then, why did it happen in this case?

I don't know.  That's my point.  People assume it's because of his race, but that doesn't make it the truth.

Correct. 
But it will never be said...so all that's left is to guess and assume. 

And riot, of course.



I'm actually more interested to know why the other officers didn't step in.

Yes...and riot. Which is equally wrong.
As I said:  I'm sick of all violence, period.  The initial violence and the reactionary violence.  BOTH.

And that's a good question about the other officers.

[jakeroot]

I'm actually more interested to know why the other officers didn't step in.

Because the "blue lives" spend more time watching out for each other, than watching out for the population they are supposed to protect.

[kphoger]

I'm actually more interested to know why the other officers didn't step in.

Because the "blue lives" spend more time watching out for each other, than watching out for the population they are supposed to protect.

I have a couple of problems with that, though.  First of all, while that may be true of some officers, I find it unlikely that it was true of all three of the other officers present.  The odds are slim that all of them care more about saving face than protecting citizens.  Police work isn't "just a job", after all, and I have to believe that the majority of those who enter the profession do so out of a desire to actually serve and protect.  Secondly, I don't see how doing nothing and letting a man die, in this day and age of recording arrests, can be expected to protect an officer;  if anything, doing so would damn him to exactly the sort of scrutiny that's going on now.

[Brandon]

These people were murdered by police for the color of their skin

Is that why George Floyd was killed?  If so, please cite your sources.

Despite what the cops said about "physically resisting", there is clear surveillance footage from an adjacent store that showed Floyd being placed in handcuffs and being moved by officers around without resistance. He gets moved across the street and falls to the ground, but is pulled back up by a new set of officers.

Then for some reason, Derek Chauvin decided that pinning him to the ground by the neck was necessary. Floyd used the last bits of air in his lungs to plead for his life. He was dead when EMTs arrived.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/29/why-george-floyd-was-arrested-and-what-happened-in-the-minutes-following/

I doubt that most encounters with white people end in this manner.

There may be more to it, and it is, IMHO, worthy of investigation (and makes the cop look even worse, IMHO).
https://kstp.com/news/george-floyd-fired-officer-overlapped-security-shifts-at-south-minneapolis-club-may-28-2020/5743990/

Turns out, the now-fired cop and the victim worked at the same nightclub as security.