[News] Protests Against Police Violence After Death of George Floyd

Discuss police violence, the victims of police violence (including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor), the Black-led protests against said violence, and related topics.

OG_slinger wrote:

Today your job is to eat sh*t and have people explain the various ways you are a monster for five hours.

This should become the norm in every city forever.

The mayor of Kansas City, Missouri has decided to deescalate:
https://twitter.com/QuintonLucasKC/s...

We have reached the point in our city and our country where de-escalation needs to be our guide. As a result, I will not be issuing a curfew order this evening despite that path being seen today in St. Louis, New York, and many other American cities.
I talked today with our police, with several councilmembers, with activists--including several I met yesterday--and more. We cannot solve all wrongs in one action, but I will share this evening some changes that will help accountability and safety for cmty, protesters and police
You also will see, different than before, there are no police officers on the line right now around Mill Creek Park. Current instructions are to respond only when needed.

We support the right of peaceful protest and recognize how adjustments can help people share their message

Lucas is great. I loved Sly James(our previous mayor), but Lucas has really risen to the challenge the last 70 days.

Twitter thread from Minneapolis city council representative Steve Fletcher:
Steve Fletcher - Minneapolis Ward 3
@MplsWard3

Bob Kroll’s letter yesterday to the Minneapolis Police Federation membership showed us what rank-and-file officers voted for in their leadership, and it is yet another sign that the department is irredeemably beyond reform.

I don’t want to focus too much on Bob Kroll because he’s a symptom of a much deeper problem in the Minneapolis Police Department, but it’s worth saying that he’s a malignant presence in our city and should resign.

After watching MPD officers escalate and provoke anger all week, he asserts that if they’d only been allowed to use more violence, they could have put a stop to demonstrations. This is nonsense. MPD officers chose him as their leader.

After we’ve spent the week expressing mourning and outrage at Derek Chauvin’s violence and his fellow ex-officers' apathy, Kroll imagines he could sway our feelings by smearing George Floyd’s reputation. This is despicable. MPD officers chose him as their leader.

I want to be clear: I am about as pro-union as a person can be. The Police Federation should not be thought of as a union. They do not affiliate with the AFL-CIO. They don’t walk picket lines in solidarity. How do I know? Because I do and I’ve never seen them on a line. Not once.

Instead, they distort hard-earned labor laws to defend indefensible behaviors. The City recently lost an arbitration after Chief Arradondo fired a cop for beating someone while in handcuffs. Kroll, on behalf of rank and file MPD, pressed the case and won that officer’s job back.

I am very glad that former city leaders like Chief Harteau and Mayor Rybak spoke up yesterday because it’s important for people to know that this has been going on for a long time.

Why hasn’t it been fixed? Because the crisis we’re in this week has been an implied threat hanging over the city during union negotiations, discipline proceedings, and budget hearings for years.

Politicians who cross the MPD find slowdowns in their wards. After the first time I cut money from the proposed police budget, I had an uptick in calls taking forever to get a response, and MPD officers telling business owners to call their councilman about why it took so long.

We pay dearly for public safety: $195 million a year plus extensive, expensive legal settlements. That should buy us more than a protection racket that’ll take it out on our constituents if we try to create accountability.

Many leaders before us have flinched. Looking at the steep consequences of this crisis, I think that is understandable. The violence and destruction of this week is our worst fears realized.

But now we’re here. And they can’t threaten this any more. It’s happening, and we’re going to get through it. Traumatized, suffering heavy losses, and permanently changed.

The people they used to mobilize to come yell at us about how we needed more cops? They’re either calling for structural change, or they’re staying extremely quiet hoping things will go back to normal. Things aren’t going back to normal.

All of my colleagues got to where they are in different ways. To varying degrees, we’ve all imagined that reform was possible, whether because incremental reform was what we wanted, or because reform was all that seemed politically possible.

I’ve pretty consistently been on the front edge of the fight to give MPD less money and more accountability. To be clear: that front edge hasn’t been especially radical. It's been the most we could find seven votes for at the time.

For example, here’s what I wrote last year, during a summer when the Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Council published a poll showing big support for hiring more cops. Compared to the demands in the streets today, it looks weak.
OPINION EXCHANGE | Editorial counterpoint: Minneapolis residents have mixed views on policing: A desire for adding officers is tempered by concerns over how the Police Department operates.
startribune.com

But that summer (less than a year ago), my advocacy prompted a series of attacks, exemplified by a downtown business owner calling me “More dangerous than the criminals” for opposing increases. I wasn’t even proposing cuts!

That conversation never changes. Here’s a YouTube clip from the 1970s about Hennepin Avenue, in which business owners call for more cops. In my entire lifetime, there's been a mainstream call for more cops downtown.
Minneapolis, MN. Downtown 1978. youtube.com

That is what the people in the streets in Minneapolis have now changed. People got four officers immediately fired. People in the streets got Derek Chauvin charged, and his prosecution transferred to the AG.

It became clear by day two that people were marching for much more than that – the response to George Floyd’s death needed to be much more than any prosecution could offer. What people in the streets have won is a permanent, generational change to the mainstream view of policing.

I don’t know yet, though several of us on the council are working on finding out, what it would take to disband the MPD and start fresh with a community-oriented, non-violent public safety and outreach capacity.

Our city needs a public safety capacity that doesn’t fear our residents. That doesn’t need a gun at a community meeting. That considers itself part of our community. That doesn’t resort quickly to pepper spray when people are understandably angry. That doesn’t murder black men.

We can totally reimagine what public safety means, what skills we’re recruiting for, what tools we do and don’t need. We can invest in cultural competency and mental health training, de-escalation and conflict resolution.

We can send a city response that makes situations better. We can resolve confusion over a $20 grocery transaction without drawing a weapon, or pulling out handcuffs.

The whole world is watching, and we can declare policing as we know it a thing of the past, and create a compassionate, non-violent future. It will be hard. But so is managing a dysfunctional relationship with an unaccountable armed force in our city.

Let’s show the world what Minneapolis is made of.

Gremlin wrote:

The Los Angeles Police Commission is having their public comment session via Zoom, and streamed live on YouTube:

Hundreds of people are calling in and yelling at them.

This is one hell of a watch.

Stealthpizza wrote:
Gremlin wrote:

The Los Angeles Police Commission is having their public comment session via Zoom, and streamed live on YouTube:

Hundreds of people are calling in and yelling at them.

This is one hell of a watch.

Randomly clicked through and listened to 5 or 6 speakers.... What are the chances the police chief actually resigns?

Rolling Stone: Here’s Where You Can Donate to Help Protests Against Police Brutality
Bail funds, legal aid, and other organizations working to help activists seeking justice for George Floyd and other victims of police violence

Protests around the nation have erupted in the wake of the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and many more unarmed black people at the hands of police. Thousands of protesters have been arrested, and the National Guard has been ordered to deploy in several major U.S. cities.

Given the hazards of protesting right now — especially in the middle of the pandemic — it’s understandable if citizens are cautious about taking to the streets, even if they support activists’ demands for justice and are against police racism and brutality.

Luckily, there are many ways people can support protesters and communities impacted by police violence.

I had hoped Minneapolis and then Minnesota would rise to the occasion but instead we saw some of the worst things I thought possible. Constitutional violations and more violence than my brain really knew what to do with. I am horrified and really expect our mostly blue state to crack down on this sh*t. I just hope we stay away from our temperamental red phase this fall. If we make it that far.

OG_slinger wrote:

Today your job is to eat sh*t and have people explain the various ways you are a monster for five hours.

Well eating sh*t comes with the territory in local/state government. However, you don’t have to apologize for being a monster if you know you don’t act like a monster.

jdzappa wrote:
OG_slinger wrote:

Today your job is to eat sh*t and have people explain the various ways you are a monster for five hours.

Well eating sh*t comes with the territory in local/state government. However, you don’t have to apologize for being a monster if you know you don’t act like a monster.

That's why I think these in Zoom form should be standard in all city councils. It's so hard for people who are poor or busy to actually attend city council meetings. There are obviously accessibility problems with this format, but what a thing for politicians to be forced to at least hear publicly from their constituents.

jdzappa wrote:
OG_slinger wrote:

Today your job is to eat sh*t and have people explain the various ways you are a monster for five hours.

Well eating sh*t comes with the territory in local/state government. However, you don’t have to apologize for being a monster if you know you don’t act like a monster.

The Wire:

SallyNasty wrote:

Lucas is great. I loved Sly James(our previous mayor), but Lucas has really risen to the challenge the last 70 days.

Sucks that we have Parsons, though. St. Louis is getting an additional 1000 National Guard troops. But we’ve had several officers shot. It’s just that the more they push, the more citizens here back. Too much history here.

Stealthpizza wrote:
Gremlin wrote:

The Los Angeles Police Commission is having their public comment session via Zoom, and streamed live on YouTube:

Hundreds of people are calling in and yelling at them.

This is one hell of a watch.

IMAGE(https://media.tenor.com/images/55382c6a49ee712bf2a335ab81ce12e6/raw)
I cackled several times. And tossed some of those citizens a follow on twitter because ~chefskiss~.

This is an excellent resource, and one of the first of many we'll be listing on a links page for ~things~ in the next few days. Highly recommended folks check it out.

DEA?

D E A ?!?!?!?!?!?

BadKen wrote:

DEA?

D E A ?!?!?!?!?!?

Yeah. Bill Barr decided this was a good idea. Timothy Shea (Acting Administrator) sent the memo to the DOJ and the Deputy AG approved a "Temporary Designation of Non-Title 21 Authority Pursuant to 21 US Code § 898(a)(5):

U.S. Code wrote:

(a)Any officer or employee of the Drug Enforcement Administration or any State, tribal, or local law enforcement officer designated by the Attorney General may—
(5)perform such other law enforcement duties as the Attorney General may designate.

So we're basically through the looking glass and Bill Barr has his private army to go after "antifa".

I assumed the DEA business was about using federal drug laws to possibly cross reference people in legal cannabis states and crack down on them.

I’m surprised that it’s literally about just changing the entire mission of the organization.

Apparently it's less red tape for the DEA to do it than the FBI, not that it stopped the FBI when it came to Martin Luther King or John Lennon back in the day.

Gremlin wrote:

The Los Angeles Police Commission is having their public comment session via Zoom, and streamed live on YouTube:

Hundreds of people are calling in and yelling at them.

"Have you considered being good at your jobs?" is the most money quote I've heard.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/pUKhgnm.jpg)
IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/AdG3ell.jpg)
IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/uufkDyX.jpg)
IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/ixwMlss.jpg)
IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/sNF0htQ.jpg)

Was out again in NYC.
Once again, the only violence I saw was instigated by the NYPD. I stayed out until around 9:45PM, I regret not staying longer but I don't feel I can risk getting an arrest on my record.

If anyone is going to protest tomorrow in a city with a curfew, twitter will likely have a few accounts monitoring the police radio channels. Stay with the group, and bring supplies.

Consider donating to the National Bail Out.

Not sure if this is the right place, but in discussing supporting the protesters separately, also please take time to support Black owned and operated businesses.

I know that this timeline has me drinking and to that effect -
Here is a little list of Black owned distilleries you should be able to support at your local liquor store.

Here is a list of breweries.

Keep fighting the good fight.

Amazing. I love mixing my love of beers with social justice. May I source this for an upcoming resource list?

Oh sure, it was a quick google. I highly recommend Uncle Nearest TN Whiskey.

Look another person who will be looking for a job soon

Mark Esper says he doesn't support using active duty troops to quell protests, directly contradicting Trump

"The option to use active duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort, and only in the most urgent and dire of situations. We are not in one of those situations now. I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act," he said during a briefing at the Pentagon.

The interesting pathetic think will be seeing how trumpists spin this. They can't love the military and trump it would seem. I bet they stop supporting the military.

farley3k wrote:

Look another person who will be looking for a job soon

Mark Esper says he doesn't support using active duty troops to quell protests, directly contradicting Trump

"The option to use active duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort, and only in the most urgent and dire of situations. We are not in one of those situations now. I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act," he said during a briefing at the Pentagon.

The interesting pathetic think will be seeing how trumpists spin this. They can't love the military and trump it would seem. I bet they stop supporting the military.

It's worth noting that Trump has actually accomplished something I thought was 100% impossible: he's lost majority support in the military. The military has been a republican bastion for as long as I can remember, so the realization that he's slipping there is a sign that the last few months have been REALLY rough on his image.

SallyNasty wrote:

Here is a list of Breweries.

Edit: Updated this quote with the new link, thanks Sally!

The Breweries link doesn't seem to be directing to the correct place :(

trichy wrote:
farley3k wrote:

Look another person who will be looking for a job soon

Mark Esper says he doesn't support using active duty troops to quell protests, directly contradicting Trump

"The option to use active duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort, and only in the most urgent and dire of situations. We are not in one of those situations now. I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act," he said during a briefing at the Pentagon.

The interesting pathetic think will be seeing how trumpists spin this. They can't love the military and trump it would seem. I bet they stop supporting the military.

It's worth noting that Trump has actually accomplished something I thought was 100% impossible: he's lost majority support in the military. The military has been a republican bastion for as long as I can remember, so the realization that he's slipping there is a sign that the last few months have been REALLY rough on his image.

What struck me from the article is how unpopular he is with officers, who historically are very republican.

Trump is far more popular with enlisted service members than with officers. Among the enlisted force, the recent survey showed a 43 percent favorable rating. For officers, however, only one-third responded with a positive view.