Minneapolis Riots

[StudentMI]

Trying to shut me up? I’ve as much right to post as you do.

No one said you didn’t. I certainly didn’t. But if you post on a forum people have a right to respond.

 

[Limoncello4021]

It is not accurate to generalize. By no means is the entire Minneapolis police force corrupt, nor are those who live outside the city necessarily racist. This is simply untrue. The bad eggs who are on the force certainly need to go. Most importantly the uber-liberal boy mayor Frey, who behaves like a spoiled and clueless child, needs to be tossed out immediately. Mpls is rapidly going downhill due to years and years of terrible governance. I am not by any means a Trump supporter but the failure of the liberal Democrat stronghold in the Twin Cities is strongly indicative of a needed (IMO) shift to the Right. These people have shown they simply do not have the ability to govern effectively.

 

[TC3033]

Oh? Do you know Edina, Hopkins, Minnetonka and all the suburbs I speak of?

Bloomington, Burnsville, Apple Valley, Lakeville, Egan, Eden Prairie, Maple Grove, Prior Lake, etc… If it’s west of 35 (even though a couple of those aren’t), yes…yes I do…especially the “cake eater” ones

I may have lived in and still work in the west 'burbs. We bought a new house last summer. I wanted the one in Minnetonka she wanted the one in the country, so we compromised and bought the house she wanted.

 

[niceatheist]

I’m not trying to frame it per se. I’m trying to understand how a police officer would act when watching another member of the force doing something like this. It’s an unfair question, since how can anyone answer it?

It’s not that I believe that most police are bad. In fact, quite the opposite. But the difference between police and citizens occurs when a police officer ends up themselves in the legal system.

 

[Polak]

The media is slowly changing the narrative. Now they were apparently peaceful protests taken over by Antifa and white nationalists, who made them violent.

 

[Limoncello4021]

The governor reported earlier today that they were “out of town white nationalists” (or so he speculated). So the media and local Facebook sites are now running with that unproven narrative. Most likely it is common thugs, from both MN and out of state, taking advantage of the situation to loot and burn.

 

[esieffe]

Peaceful demonstrations are needed I think after the murder. The riots and destruction are inexcusable.

Even though I voted for him, I think Trump posturing with the US Army, I can’t help but thinking about that old Neil Young song, with a new proper noun of course. Of course we can’t have entire neighborhoods and shopping plaza’s and malls destroyed. Just can’t happen, but the army?

“Tin Soldiers and Trump is coming…”

For those of you who were not alive during Kent State:
Tin soldiers and Nixon coming , We’re finally on our own. This summer I hear the drumming , Four dead in Ohio. Gotta get down to it Soldiers are cutting us down Should have been done long ago. What if you knew her And found her dead on the ground How can you run when you know? Gotta get down to it Soldiers are cutting us down Should have been done long ago.

 

[Welshrabbit]

so we compromised and bought the house she wanted.

You. Are. A. Smart. Man.

 

[Fuerza]

That sounds like how my wife and I usually compromise.

 

[blackforest]

It’s up to all officers to combat abuse, regardless of their religion.

Oh, I agree. I was just wondering if there was a “Catholic take” on this in light of at least one Church bishop speaking out against it. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/the-role-of-catholics-in-fighting-police-aggression-80602

However, my sympathy quickly wanes when I see this kind of reaction.

I agree in the case of the rioters. What the media is NOT covering are the peaceful protesters who preceded them.

 

[Fuerza]

It’s not really a difficult or impossible question. We constantly have to check each other to prevent emotions from flaring up, since people tend to like to antagonize us. Believe it or not, having people yelling at you or throwing things at you while you try to secure a combative suspect is stressful, and often leads to unnecessary difficulties. I speak generally of course, since the Floyd case is obviously different. It’s not difficult to bring another cop back to reality, and it’s part of our job to do so.

 

[niceatheist]

Okay. Good to know. Thank you

 

[pnewton]

As their police station sits empty and smoking.

And the military takes over crowd control. I will take your word for it that your neighborhood likes itself just the way it is, riot-y and on fire. I just never knew of a place where that was considered a selling point.

Watching each other’s backs and forming neighborhood coalitions.

Like the Vice Lords, Latin Kings, Gangster Disciples? Just remember, the alternative to the police will be the military.

 

[EXdrinker]

Oh? Do you know Edina, Hopkins, Minnetonka and all the suburbs I speak of? I can tell you unequivocally they harbor many racists, starting with the Minneapolis and St. Paul police.

I know the metro area and the people in the suburbs are not “more racist”. Falsly attributing racism is an evil in itself.

 

[Poet]

Have you seen police culture in america?

Was this supposed to prove something?

I have a relative who was a cop and I know from his experience that there are bad cops. I also know from his experience that there are good cops. I repeat: YOU do not know what is in any man’s head at any given moment. He may be a bad cop who would do bad things to anyone. This isn’t racism. It’s being a bad human being. And yes he may actually have it in for black people.

YOU do not know. None of us knows. None of us can say he’s racist just as much as none of us can say he’s not racist.

“Have you seen police cultures in America?” is no evidence of anything at all.

 

[Poet]

What needs to be done is a change in police training and protocols. They obviously have some serious problems and whether the victims are black or white, innocent or guilty, they need to stop killing people. The system needs fixing!

I would like to agree with you on this. I can’t, entirely. There ARE bad cops. This will probably never change for the simple reason that there are bad human beings.

Some of these killings happen because cops are living in very tense situations where they don’t always know at a glance who is going to do what. They have to make split second decisions, on which their own lives and that of their partners and maybe the general public depend. Sometimes they get it wrong and a good cop has to live with that the rest of his life and we as the public MUST grasp the situation in which they’re functioning.

Other cops ARE bad, ARE dirty, DO take advantage of their power. They need to be held accountable.

I don’t think it’s as easy as saying cops need to stop killing people because some of these killings do happen under great stress. To say they just need to stop killing people is to assume that training is the problem, rather than human nature, rather than that some cops are bad and all cops are working, often, under great stress and making split second decisions.

Any of us who are not in law enforcement should thank God every day that our own lives are not full of split second decisions that determine life or death and be very careful about judging the doctors and law enforcement who carry this weight on their shoulders.

And yes, there are dirty cops and they need to be gotten rid of. ALL of this is true at the same time.

 

[Pattylt]

Oh, I certainly agree that not all cops are bad…I’m questioning their training protocols. These split second decisions can be trained for. Not every itty bitty detail but the good cops are able to handle tense situations in a way that other (not necessarily bad) cops don’t. We need to study and learn what techniques work and which ones don’t. What type of personalities handle tense situations from those that don’t. I don’t expect no further cop shootings but I do expect none for a bad check or a black man in a white neighborhood! Doctors are trained to make split second decisions when a patient goes south…they aren’t born with the ability. I just think there are some excellent police forces out there that seem to rarely have problems and forces that seem to continually have problems. We need to fix the discrepancy.

 

[Poet]

…which in no way justifies murdering the one doing it.

I don’t think anyone was ‘justifying’ his death. She was merely saying that there WAS a crime from someone of a fake bill and he was the one (possibly unwitting) who ended up with it. Nowhere did anyone say George Floyd deserved to die.

And what happens to the black cop who is trying to enforce the law, and gets a group around him screaming “Uncle Tom” and worse?

Yes, exactly. When black people don’t do what certain other black people want them to do, they get accused of being Uncle Toms. What it comes down to is this: some people will insult ANYONE who doesn’t do and say what they want them to.

The anger seen in these riots is not from this singular incident but numerous incidents in each area over years upon years.

What if these rioters are not actually people upset about George Floyd’s death?

Evidence is beginning to suggest that these may be people from outside Minneapolis or even Minnesota, people organizing with Antifa and other such groups. If this is true, this is NOT anger over years and years of ‘numerous incidents.’ It’s people taking advantage to come in and loot, riot, and use this for personal and political advantage.

These people could not care less about George Floyd or black people or anyone else. They are agitators shipped in from out of state, very likely coordinating with Antifa to create social upheaval.

And btw…years of such numerous incidents? White men and some women, are being killed by cops, too. This is not racism. It’s a combination of bad cops, incompetence, and fallible human beings doing their best in very tense situations where split second decisions mean life or death–possibly for the innocent if they fail to act and possibly for the innocent if they act wrongly.

We should all thank God if our careers don’t involve the possibility of such dire consequences if we make a mistake.

 

[Thom18]

It’s simple. We hate racism and we’re not putting up with it anymore. The police will reform or they will be thrown out with the trash

Personally, I hope that police departments ramp up hiring for new officers. A murder that took place states away has resulted in mass attacks on innocent people, maybe even a death of a truck driver, from what I heard from my father. The National Guard has been forced to occupy several cities due to looters and multiple assaults. All that these riots (because that’s what they are) do is prove just how uncivil our society is, and how desperately we need peace makers.

 

[27lw]

OurLadyofSorrows:

There seems to be a mob mentality atm across at least 30 cities.

Agreed

I mean, I don’t know why this surprises you. Police have a license to kill backed up by years of racism. What are you supposed to do when the courts won’t prosecute?

Yes. Obviously, protests and riots are the most effective way to communicate. See, Rodney King. Ferguson riots, etc. Obviously these riots are extremely effective.