Ongoing U.S Police Brutality and Corruption Discussion Thread

Today I was cleaning up on Lake and I decided to go inside the Target, and some kid was in there in a target uniform doing a bit asking ppl if “they found everything okay” lmao

— tommy bayer (@TommmyBear) May 28, 2020

idk why that MLK quote "Riots are the language of the unheard" eluded me previously, but it is such a good quote

i found this interesting

Minneapolis is one of the most pleasant and livable cities in the country and approximately none of its cops live in it pic.twitter.com/xU19uFUDZS

— 'Weird Alex' Pareene (@pareene) May 27, 2020

New angle and wider shot of crowd gathering at overrun MPD 3rd Precinct and fire at the corner of Lake and Minnehaha. pic.twitter.com/MaB0U9OukL

— Seth Kaplan (@Seth_Kaplan) May 29, 2020

The fire at the MPD’s 3rd Precinct was only at one corner 5 minutes ago. It’s now spread across the entire building. With no firefighters on scene... that building will likely be destroyed tonight. pic.twitter.com/t6p3Yv1KYV

— Seth Kaplan (@Seth_Kaplan) May 29, 2020

there's a livestream on FB on a page for "Unicorn Riot Media".

a friend points out that

* the mpd union contract precludes their members' being jailed before charged in cases like these (which people think could otherwise have quieted some anger)

* the leadership are not saying this and denouncing it, despite it tying their hands in this situation

its burn down pic.twitter.com/2XoKEmFCwU

— canyon boy (@mitsubishipunk) May 29, 2020

Burn down every precinct from sea to shining sea tbh

fuck the police

xps while i don't know that this is not true, it seems more complicated than that—i think the contract itself has nothing to say about this but the way it coordinates with the state enactment of some 'law enforcement officer's bill of rights' statutes (which were adopted in many states in the 70s) means that the city can't jail prior to criminal charges without running afoul of bargaining provisions that require some kind of favorable complicated-ass meditation with the union for non-criminal discipline.

Turning into a shootout between protesters and white guys with assault rifles. This is getting real bad very quickly.

Minneapolis Fire Chief John Fruetel appeared unaware that the 3rd Precinct was on fire or rioters had gained entry to it until CNN's Don Lemon told him live on the air just now.

"That's very possible. I apologize for that," Fruetel said. He said he just came from another fire.

— Theo Keith (@TheoKeith) May 29, 2020

WHAT A PHOTO. pic.twitter.com/LhDTnXHa5B

— Spicy Pisce$ (@_kailssss) May 29, 2020

Moodles where are you getting that re shootout

xp thanks - credited in the thread:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CAuQhsplytj/?igshid=zlsu9wlnrjhq

only report I heard of shots fired was in the Kentucky protest

Don't know how reliable this is

Holy fuck. #Minneapolis police radio just announced 5 white dudes with AR-15's and Texas plates heading to the protests.

Be careful out there. The right wing nut jobs are there to help the cops kill people.

— Fetus Kebabs: Forza 7 Pro Racer (@FetusKebabs) May 29, 2020

BREAKING NOW: Protesters have broken into the Ohio Statehouse. Crowds gathered Thursday night to protest police brutality after the death of George Floyd, who died in Minneapolis police custody. Peaceful protests in Columbus escalated around 9:45 p.m.https://t.co/4BBObYsoS5

— NBC4 Columbus (@nbc4i) May 29, 2020

i found another tweet saying the MPD were looking to apprehend these 5, but i wouldn't exactly trust them to do that

the multi-state approach to these protests is huge. law enforcement must be shook

I'm seeing bits and pieces of details pop up on my feed, so please take with a grain of salt. It's hard to tell exactly what's going on.

law enforcement must be shook

I wouldn't take this as foregone. They are well-armed and body-armored, and the system backs them in depth. They are used to projecting force on a daily basis and are better trained at violence than the protestors are.

Jesus

BREAKING: Louisville police confirm at least seven people shot tonight during protests over Breonna Taylor's death.https://t.co/ZVIYvm6Mqz

— Tessa Duvall (@TessaDuvall) May 29, 2020

xp both protesters and law enforcement seem to be approaching things quite strategically/tactically. i'm watching these in about the same way i watched the philando castile protests, and just the degree of deliberate back-line support for protesters—setting up nearby locations for provisions and medical assistance in churches and such—seems conspicuously higher. and everyone seems to have the game down, of staging confrontations around the police authority to project force and compel people to disperse, with back-and-forths that last a while before police deplete the crowds or they're called away to some more urgent site. i imagine the police are getting exactly what they'd always dreamed of, a little warfare in the city.

Trump tweeted the T word. didn't take him long.

Wtf?!?

Andrea Jenkins, vice president of Minneapolis City Council, says George Floyd and Officer Chauvin worked at restaurant near Third Precinct.

"They were coworkers for a very long time." pic.twitter.com/Xv90wfLtDu

— Evan Rosenfeld (@Evan_Rosenfeld) May 29, 2020

yeah, but she was quoted elsewhere saying she didn't know that they actually knew each other, as they had different jobs, and one primarily worked outside, and one inside. less "interesting" a detail in that context.

Seems like a pretty big coincidence, but I guess it could be nothing

Then they crashed the second truck into it. pic.twitter.com/Z6ov1chhMm

— Nick Woltman (@nickwoltman) May 29, 2020

: o

(a postal service truck)

CNN arrested live on air

https://edition.cnn.com/videos/us/2020/05/29/minneapolis-protests-omar-jimenez-arrested-newday-vpx.cnn

What the hell?

Is it overly cynical of me to think that they only arrested the white crew after a pause b/c they figured it might make them look less racist?

nope, sounds right to me

Amazing that these cops can see all that has unfolded and do the thing that plays into the narrative on live TV

Trump tweeted the T word. didn't take him long.

― I am a free. I am not man. A number. (Neanderthal), Friday, May 29, 2020 1:31 AM (seven hours ago)

This particular part of the dog whistle eluded me: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/where-does-phrase-when-looting-starts-shooting-starts-come-n1217676

The phrase was used by Miami's police chief, Walter Headley, in 1967, when he addressed his department's "crackdown on ... slum hoodlums,"

Headley, who was chief of police in Miami for 20 years, said that law enforcement was going after “young hoodlums, from 15 to 21, who have taken advantage of the civil rights campaign. ... We don't mind being accused of police brutality."

Miami hadn't faced "racial disturbances and looting," Headley added, because he let word filter down that "when the looting starts, the shooting starts."

trump's tweet is beyond disturbing

the american president advocating the massacre of american civilians

Good people on both sides.

He doesn't consider looters people.

Or anybody people.

Least of all minorities.

Scum

i'm really glad twitter put a content warning on that tweet. at the same time, there is something really bleak about seeing the white house in the same category as infowars or whatever. also, it feels like we are fucked when we are looking to a massive tech company to protect us from our own government's information warfare.

just dark, dark shit

Is Donald Trump a fascist?

he's a plague

watching a police station burn is a moment of perfect truth and clarity

— michael (@Sisyphusa) May 29, 2020

so the rumor is that Derek Chauvin (murder cop) fled to Windermere, FL. 20-30 mins from me.

It seems that it's been confirmed that he owns the place but I'm a bit unnerved at people already scheduling protests there (as they're already doing on Reddit), when it's not clear if the person residing there is actually Chauvin and not a random renter.

What an idiot, he's just making it worse

When the protesters are white vs when the protesters are black pic.twitter.com/sZ0NLiaq0S

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 29, 2020

It took 145 years but it looks like the Confederacy finally won the Civil War

— DJP (@djperry1973) May 29, 2020