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I just rode around my neighborhood and my heart is breaking for what& #39;s happening to my city.
By all reports, at least one more human being is dead. Another precious, irreplaceable life.
190 new affordable homes that were under construction are ablaze. As are 7 existing homes near Lake and 29th.
These are just a few of the countless buildings I saw that had been damaged, looted, and possibly destroyed. All the way down from Minnehaha to the end of the block just east of mine, 40th Ave S, where my local liquor store was looted.
On 31st St near Minnehaha, I watched a young woman struggle to breathe, so much so that I wondered if I was watching her die. Her people flagged down strangers in cars to ask them to transport her to a hospital. The first said no, and I started running.
But where to run to? I left my bike at the Trinity Highrise and - mock me as much as you like - ran to the line of cops protecting the firefighters trying to put out the fire on Lake. Put my hands up. Told them a young woman was suffering serious respiratory distress a block away
The officer seemed aggressively disinterested. Said he& #39;d pass it along in a tone that said he wouldn& #39;t. I ran back. The young woman was gone, hopefully to a hospital, hopefully breathing.
The guy who& #39;d ended up with her bike said she& #39;d been maced directly in the face by MPD.
The guy who& #39;d ended up with her bike said she& #39;d been maced directly in the face by MPD.
My neighborhood sparkles with firelight and flashing lights on broken glass. My neighbors are suffering real pain, real loss: in their bodies, their homes, their businesses.
This is terrible. This is a tragedy. I can& #39;t find the words to describe it.
This is terrible. This is a tragedy. I can& #39;t find the words to describe it.
And this may not be popular to say right now, but this is not okay. None of it. The behavior of MPD has not been okay, but the looting and destruction is also not okay.
We have all failed. All of us. Police, protesters, electeds, me, you, all of us.
We have all failed. All of us. Police, protesters, electeds, me, you, all of us.
This will have serious repercussions. I& #39;m struggling to think of any that will be good.
I fear that the protests and destruction will obscure and eclipse the memory of George Floyd, the importance of his life and humanity and death, not raise it up. I hope I& #39;m wrong.
I fear that the protests and destruction will obscure and eclipse the memory of George Floyd, the importance of his life and humanity and death, not raise it up. I hope I& #39;m wrong.
I fear that the political right will cynically exploit my neighborhood& #39;s trauma tonight for all kinds of revanchism - locally, in the state, and at the federal level. I can just see Gazelka and Daudt and Trump using this to justify all kinds of racist shit.
And all day today I& #39;ve been thinking about how to build momentum for a nonviolent alternative to policing, something that will protect us all better and serve us all better.
That idea has been dealt a blow tonight, and we need to be clear-eyed enough to see that.
That idea has been dealt a blow tonight, and we need to be clear-eyed enough to see that.
I am human enough to admit it: I am demoralized. I feel despair. I am despondent. I am in pain.
I hope that tomorrow I will wake with some hope in my heart that I do not feel tonight, and renew the fight for a more peaceful and just city.
I hope that you will too.
I hope that tomorrow I will wake with some hope in my heart that I do not feel tonight, and renew the fight for a more peaceful and just city.
I hope that you will too.
