Ongoing U.S Police Brutality and Corruption Discussion Thread

this is a really fucked up situation

he also announced that tonight is 'maga night at the white house' whatever that means

The Minneapolis Police Department's record of racism and police brutality has a long history. In 1945, Minneapolis mayor Hubert Humphrey tried to reform the MPD through "education." Here's a pamphlet sent to the entire MPD in 1946 encouraging police to "discuss" race. (thread) 1/ pic.twitter.com/Gu8hxMPSxC

— Michael Brenes (@mbrenes1) May 30, 2020

pretty terrible choice of a cover illustration there

and title

He deleted it because it had two typos in it. It's been reposted.

― jaymc, Saturday, 30 May 2020 bookmarkflaglink

It was about time the Soros conspiracy theory made it.

St. Paul, MN Mayor Melvin Carter says every person arrested in his city last night was from out of state.

— Jesse Rodriguez (@JesseRodriguez) May 30, 2020

Walgreens on 31st and Lake

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown)

Oh right, I know that one well. Seems like a lot has been going on, on Lake Street. Obviously I don't want any of the businesses to be affected (really sad about Ghandi Mahal), but I do feel extra protective over the record stores just because I know some of these guys pretty well now and we all try to look out for each other. I'm worried about Hymies which isn't far away from that Walgreens for a start. Adam just took over that place last year and already had a break-in not long after. Really nice guy who was made up about getting his dream job when he bought it. My fingers are crossed for him.

Minneapolis woman checking white people for looting and asking them why they are doing it.. wait til the end smh pic.twitter.com/VFpPMgLOIW

— J. Plaza (@Iamjplaza) May 30, 2020

j. I've really appreciated your posts itt, just saying

and all the local folks as well, thank you all

full Bull Connor from the WH

https://dcist.com/story/20/05/30/d-c-protesters-and-law-enforcement-officials-stand-off-late-into-the-night/

haha i am local!!

lol well ok then, double hugz 4 u

We caught these monkey ass white boys from Wisconsin looting on the Southside, had em face down in the grass calling themselves dumb and talking to mommy on the phone. Boy that kid’s mom drove here all the way from Wisconsin and verbally tore into his ass, pic.twitter.com/OFdQuCRwYa

— Tall Paul (@TallPaul612) May 30, 2020

🐦[Minneapolis woman checking white people for looting and asking them why they are doing it.. wait til the end smh pic.twitter.com/VFpPMgLOIW🕸
— J. Plaza (@Iamjplaza) May 30, 2020🕸]🐦

there are always bad actors involved in these things who don't care at all about the concerns of the protests

right, which is why they should get as little attention as possible

m@tt this is destroying my mind and I’m not even there

I was trying so hard to figure out how to get back and ride out the pandemic nearby to my mom

I’m so sorry man

Hearing from my friends this morning it sounds like last night was no slowdown at all

And I know we aren’t supposed to care about property but goddamit why’d Uncle Hugo’s have to be destroyed <3

This whole thread

Remarkable info coming out of this presser: Gov. Tim Walls, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter and now MN attorney general Keith Ellison ALL alleging outside forces, domestic and possibly foreign, have post-Tuesday infiltrated the state, and are

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) May 30, 2020

in organized fashion setting fire to historic businesses in communities of color, and causing mayhem. Ellison cited the widely circulating video of a white man in a gas mask holding an umbrella who was caught by protestors on video breaking windows.

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) May 30, 2020

Mayor Carter said EVERY person arrested last night during the protests was from out of state. The governor said it is at least 80 percent, and that they will begin releasing the names. Dept of Safety Commissioner John Harrington says they are contract-tracing arrestees:

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) May 30, 2020

He adds that white nationalist groups are posting messages promoting going to Minneapolis to “get our loot on” and cause mayhem. He says they will investigate those using the outrage over the murder of George Floyd as a “cover” for illegal activity

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) May 30, 2020

my first assumption was undercover cops but white nationalists who do not happen to be undercover cops would make a lot of sense too

white nationalists who happen to be cops, to round out the hand *touches head knowingly*

they’ve been waiting for race armageddon - no doubt some of them think this is their moment

white nationalists (btw, this construction of 'white supremacists' should be outlawed) who happen to be off-duty out-of-state cops would also make a lot of sense, too

this is their moment

well, they do control the presidency and are more ascendant than they've been in a long time

as soon as Trump tweeted out “This is ANTIFA and the radical left” I knew it had to be an organized right wing effort

MAGreich is possible

Joy Reid by herself is not convincing

“possibly foreign”

OPD loves their flash bangs and tear gas ... i watched about 5 minutes of tv news last night and they mentioned "police injuries" from "projectiles" and it was like ... ugh, yeah right.

RussiaRussiaRussia as a perp phaps

xp

stay safe you all.

Sending love out y'all's way

morbs, reid is just repeating what the local officials have been saying today. if you look at what some (i think reliable) locals have been saying then it's credible that some people starting fires and looting are possibly not local to mpls or stp and possibly have ulterior/hostile motives to the protesters, it remains to be seen how coordinated they could be.

without knowing what they know, the local officials have some credibility that the rioting activities have been hard to control because they involved concerted efforts to cause chaos. the protesting here in recent years has not had that kind of geographical dynamic, but more of a traditional, crowd-based public-locale-or-march structure.

it remains to be seen how coordinated they could be.

if the immediate aim is provocation and generating violent chaos, then coordination is superfluous to their goal at this point.

Mpls is a small city. It is cliquish. People know each other, or know of each other, especially the organizers who coordinate protests and civic engagement. We know which of our neighbors are protesting the state murder of George Floyd, and when a new player has entered the game.

— Tana Hargest (@TanaHargest) May 30, 2020

I think it's worth being suspicious of the "outside agitators" stuff from the governor and mayor, and it's very possible that the police were only bothering to process people with out-of-state IDs. It's much easier to blame the uglier consequences on outsiders trying to sow chaos in the community rather than confront the reality of how bad conditions in your community are. On the other hand, there does seem to be a lot of evidence of locals confronting people setting fires and otherwise causing destruction who didn't seem to be affiliated with the larger protests, and the stuff about the fires in N Minneapolis, where afaik there were no protests, is scary as hell.

ive been hearing about 'outside agitators' since first grade, doubt comes first

kudos for Putin saving Atlanta Waffles tho (saved u a Perrin tweet)

yes, the leadership had a hard couple nights where they did not seem to be in charge, so the possibility that they got together to embrace a narrative is a real one.

part of the problem is that the 'outside agitators' trope is used to delegitimize authentic protest, especially by centrist types who value comfort over justice and political outsiders (national or otherwise) who have their own agendas (like barr today with his 'antifa' nonsense).

but after recent years of protests i think there was no doubt in the air that the immediate local protests were not outside-agitated, were authentic, etc., as authentic as any we've had. and that conditions are quite bad. this seems to make the function of appeals to outside agitator narratives different. i'm not so much hearing them as directed at protesters to dial it back—this could be compared to the freeway protesters after philando castile's death, where rhetorically it seemed very much like a cynical centrist attempt to quiet legitimate grievances—as they are projected as widely as possible out of a bit of desperation to regain control with the help of both protesters and disengaged locals. the call now is, stay home after curfew so that law enforcement can suppress/catch the fire-starter types.

It can be true that self-serving government claims about outside agitation have a sordid history and also true that there is an organized right-wing terrorist network in North America one would expect to get involved in riots and that they’re worth keeping an eye on.

— Tim Marchman (@timmarchman) May 30, 2020

i heard a similar sentiment from John Protestperson

sorry

well, I mocked H. Clinton's vast right-wing conspiracy at the time too.

idk I kinda feel like with all the shelter in place Covid restrictions, there is just a natural human response to go off in situations like this.

on top of the normal frustration with oppression and disenfranchisement that will lead people to say, "fuck it, let it burn, I've got nothing left to lose!"

yeah big parts of our current restrictions are set to dial back on monday, so there's definite antsyness about. past couple major protests it seemed like the organizers had to strain to prompt people to show up. not this week.

i think it's definitely a mix of

1. rage boiling over "organically" from peaceful, organized protests
2. city kids going wild cuz they know there's no consequences
3. white kids from the suburbs and other outside areas
4. organized white supremacists
5. cops

haha yeah and the main cause of heat in 1 is also

1a. cops

well yeah

The most credible reason why outside white supremacists would want to create violent chaos is that no matter who causes the violence, they understand the net effect will be to strengthen police oppression and create a more favorable climate for recruitment to white supremacist groups.

This applies even if they are caught in the very act of arson and looting. Or violent assault. Or murder. They correctly suss that the chaos and their whiteness protects them, that many cops on the street will view them as allies, and that a big draw for attracting new members is the idea that they will get to engage in violent acts with impunity and this demonstrates that such fantasies can be made real.

2. city kids going wild cuz they know there's no consequences

No consequences but also no future, after two successive economic collapses in their short lifetimes. (Is one of my theories, anyway.)