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My dental office in the Linden Hills neighborhood of southwest Minneapolis is boarding up their windows this afternoon. We are a long way from the protests, so let& #39;s be clear about what& #39;s going on here. We don& #39;t have a protest problem. We have a policing problem. A thread: 1/
Minneapolis police do NOT appear to be under the command or control, of our mayor or our excellent police chief. So it seems like a lot of cops have apparently decided to stop doing their jobs until their notorious union chief, Bob Kroll, tells them to go back to work. 2/
Ever since George Floyd was murdered, the police response to peaceful protests has been to:
1) wildly escalate the situation with tear gas and rubber bullets;
2) watch as looters---a very different group than the protesters- move in;
3) Vanish and let the chaos reigns. 3/
1) wildly escalate the situation with tear gas and rubber bullets;
2) watch as looters---a very different group than the protesters- move in;
3) Vanish and let the chaos reigns. 3/
Their strategy seems to be: "Either we get to kill Black men when we feel like it with no criticism from you people........or you don& #39;t get any law enforcement it all. Nice little city you got there, pity if something happens to it? Do you miss us yet?" 4/
For context, the Minneapolis police force is overwhelmingly white and male. Ninety-two percent of them live in the suburbs--often the far suburbs. Their union chief, Bob Kroll, is a huge Trump supporter and open white supremacist. 5/
In short, a big subset of our police department looks (and acts) like they were recruited directly from a Trump rally. They literally seem to hate this progressive city and most of our residents. And they especially hate Black people. 6/
We all live in our own little bubble. The police have been killing unarmed Black men in Minneapolis for years and getting away with it Their first account of George Floyd& #39;s death was to announce that he had a "medical" issue while being arrested and alas, died. 7/
The police didn& #39;t mention the whole knee-on-neck thingy. So they seemed caught off-guard by the cell-phone video and then the public response to it. They were furious that the four officers involved with killing George Floyd were immediately fired because this rarely happens. 8/
The police were furious that they were being directly criticized by the mayor and governor (both Democrats), which rarely happens. They& #39;ve been furious at the protests. So the cops have sort of gone on strike here. 9/
With the police openly refusing to do their jobs, they have basically invited the criminals to break into anything they want. It& #39;s a very cynical move to change the discussion away from police misconduct to the need for cops to come in and break heads and have law and order. 10/
Hence, lots of businesses are putting up plywood. What else are they supposed to do? The Minneapolis police have basically invited criminals to "have at us."
It& #39;s really bad and a little scary. We& #39;re being policed by a force with cold contempt for the city and its people. 11/
It& #39;s really bad and a little scary. We& #39;re being policed by a force with cold contempt for the city and its people. 11/
The arrest of the Derek Chauvin, the cop who kneeled on George Floyd& #39;s neck, is a good first step. But it& #39;s only a baby step. We need to fire a lot of police officers in order to create a policing model that actually works to protect the city residents. 12/
Creating a truly effective and very different police force will be a long, hard slog of a task. Our local politicians are going to need a lot of support and wind at their sails if they attempt it. Let& #39;s begin. End/
