If real police reform is a priority for you, it might be worthwhile to consider the hard question of how much random late-night arson a city can endure before your cause starts to lose political support.

For the thousandth time, this isn’t a defense of the police. It’s asking people to acknowledge that widespread chaos and disorder will result in stronger support for the police, and act accordingly

A few days ago Minneapolis was almost universally in support of protesters and outraged at MPD. Tonight all anyone wants to know is when the national guard will show up. Fear and panic isn’t helping the good guys

There is a meaningful distinction between protests that disrupt the city, by blocking traffic or shutting down buildings, and what is happening now, where people are scared and in self-protective mode. They engender different political responses, one more helpful than the other

I totally agree that a lot of the chaos may be coming from a few bad actors, maybe even people with insidious aims. The key is, that’s not a reason to ignore or downplay it. It’s a reason to try to control it https://twitter.com/nhojelttil/status/1266597087719768065?s=21

The thing I would like to see come out of all this is the police defunded and disarmed. But right now, all I see in Minneapolis is people desperate to know if they can get a battalion of armored dudes in their neighborhood. That’s the opposite of what we want!

And to be clear, it’s possible to understand that the antecedents of the current chaos are police brutality and endemic discrimination, and also understand that, if we can’t reel it back somehow, the chaos will ultimately undermine political efforts to make things better.