Minneapolis Social Injustice and Related

[choke]

There are so many layers to this that I'm finding it hard to collect my thoughts. The idea that people would come out of the woodworks in tactical gear loaded up with military-style weapons under the guise of ensuring "safety" is absurd. It's fear mongering and intended to threaten. To send a message that their second amendment right to bear arms trumps someone else's first amendment rights to peaceably assemble.

What's also frustrating is that while there was no actual threat of "antifa" (in quotes because it's being used as a rallying cry and not an accurate representation of anti-fascism), these "peacekeepers" (in quotes because showing up in a public space like the guy below is about fear, not peace) will be emboldened by their perceived success in keeping throngs of rioters from descending upon this small town.

I have to disagree. I don't find it all that odd but then I have spent nearly all of my life in rural/small towns and most of it in the mountain west. People will go out of their way to help and the people in this story thought - wrongly so but they didn't know it at the time - that outsiders were coming in to cause harm to their town and they wanted to prevent that from happening. I could see something similar happening in about 75% of the places that I've lived and with zero intent to threaten or intimidate those who were exercising their 1st Amendment rights.

I think that it's much more of a culture difference, in a big city it would be odd but in the rural west not so much so. To give you an idea of how different things are, about 10 years ago I was having a conversation with a local sheriff's deputy. At one point I asked him about carrying a loaded weapon in a vehicle; while I had read the actual law it's always good to get the LEO view. During that conversation he said that if he ever got into trouble with a suspect during a stop that he hoped that whomever drove by was armed because he expected them to stop and help him. (This is a very large county and the closest deputy might be 45 minutes away.) Think about that....can you imagine a LEO in the city saying that they wanted people armed or that they expected help from civilians?

That goes both ways. Many of the people on VSalon live in big cities and sometimes the things that are said about the goings on in the city just makes my head hurt.....it's so foreign to what I'm used to.

[choke]

Twitter

a little background here- My 12 year old daughter and a couple of her friends from the local Childrens theater organized a small, simple and totally peaceful protest here in our town. I have been at this for 25 years and been to a lot of actions/protest. This was by far the most genuine and peaceful protest i have been to. For fucks sake these are kids. There may have been a couple of 20 year olds but the majority of the 60-70 people there were 12-16 maybe... We had left by this point. Part of me wishes that i would have been there, but i am also glad that i wasn't,

The video is of a very large white supremacist trying to choke a young woman-

That's crazy.

[mnoble485]

and yet this is exactly what is going on here. 2nd amendment counter protests, because guns have it worse than black people i guess?

I kind of glad I don’t know what the weapon he is holding is. Can someone enlighten me please.

Mike

[mjbabcock]

I have to disagree...the people in this story thought - wrongly so but they didn't know it at the time - that outsiders were coming in to cause harm to their town and they wanted to prevent that from happening...I could see something similar happening in about 75% of the places that I've lived and with zero intent to threaten or intimidate those who were exercising their 1st Amendment rights.

I think that it's much more of a culture difference, in a big city it would be odd but in the rural west not so much so.

I'm gonna assume that this is bullshit given the size of the gun that guy is carrying. The mountain west is predominantly white...and it's that way because it is extremely unwelcoming to people of color. Native folks are looked upon with disdain. African Americans are assumed to be criminal. The idea of "outsiders" is one that should be examined a little closer. If a guy in a lifted pickup with a gun rack in the window were to drive through, they are never an "outsider", but if a BMW with an African American comes through town...they "must be a drug dealer from LA" is the working assumption...even if the guy works in real estate 10 miles away.

The mountain west is a bastion of privilege...where old white guys graze cattle, cost free, on my federal lands; where white guys occupy a federal wildlife refuge with an arsenal without repercussion (instead they are lionized)...where the cries or Ruby Ridge live on, while names like Castille (killed for having a CCP) are unknown. The mountain west is also where interests of white monied classes trample the interest of minoritized populations. Look at Bears Ears being pried back from protections because of extraction interests (also to poke a stick in the eye of Obama & native folks). Don't kid yourself, the "culture of the Mountain West" is WAY more racialized than any urban environment.

[caleb]

There are so many layers to this that I'm finding it hard to collect my thoughts. The idea that people would come out of the woodworks in tactical gear loaded up with military-style weapons under the guise of ensuring "safety" is absurd.

I don't think this story is as simple as disinterested whites showing up with guns to effectively agitate. If it were, I'd agree it's insane.

Lots of what's happened in Minneapolis (and is now very fortunately past) has been local, grassroots, and not very white.

Here's clergy on the northside recruiting gang members to guard the community's only grocery store: In north Minneapolis, neighbors patrol 'to make sure our people can eat' - StarTribune.com

Here are Latinos defending mixed-use properties where their families live on the upper floors: Armed neighborhood groups form in the absence of police protection | MPR News

And as for outsiders, the Leech Lake Band (three or four hours north) sent a crew to support the American Indian Movement's security forces: In Minneapolis it’s AIM that serves and protects

I cannot imagine the terror and historical trauma to indigenous communities of having their collective spaces burned: MIGIZI Set on Fire During Minneapolis Protests: ‘Despite Flames, We as a Community Burn Brighter’ - Native Business Magazine.

Our off-the-shelf storylines have become a bad fit.

[Sbti]

Consoler is Chief is saying it's a great day for everyone and that Floyd is looking down on him from heaven and is happy that we're on our way back to the greatest economy in the history of the world.

Ummm.
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[rwsaunders]

I kind of glad I don’t know what the weapon he is holding is. Can someone enlighten me please. Mike

I think that it’s a modified AR-15 with a bipod, 42 round clip and muzzle flash suppressor. He might have an Uzi slung across his back and he has a pistol strapped to his right thigh. Member of the welcoming committee of the neighborhood newcomer’s club.

[vertical_doug]

I think that it’s a modified AR-15 with a bipod, 42 round clip and muzzle flash suppressor. He might have an Uzi slung across his back and he has a pistol strapped to his right thigh. Member of the welcoming committee of the neighborhood newcomer’s club.

The preferred choice of sportsmen everywhere for deer hunting..

[beeatnik]

It is something that I have to keep reminding people that say « well, over half of the 36,000 uniformed NYPD are minorities » which I remind after I point out the over 90% of the guys in the white shirts (lieutenants and above) are white.

To preface the upcoming dialogue on police reform, one major change in the racial or ethnic makeup of the LAPD has been the promotion of minorities into management positions. 50% of captains/commanders and 61% of detectives are people of color. Non-hispanic whites constitute 30% of the population of the City of Los Angeles.

http://assets.lapdonline.org/assets/...1%204-2020.pdf

And racism is an ideology under capitalism, part of the superstructure. But as the profs used to say, that's beyond the scope of this discussion.

[Matthew Strongin]

I don't think this story is as simple as disinterested whites showing up with guns to effectively agitate. If it were, I'd agree it's insane.

I didn't say they were disinterested. I think they're very interested, just not in actually "protecting" anything. My point is that when a group's response to a bullshit claim on social media that antifa is coming to town is to load up on tactical gear and military weapons, they've lost the plot. It was excessive and, as was demonstrated during the course of the peaceful protest, unnecessary. If someone wants to stand in front of their business with a handgun to ensure people know it's protected, I guess that's one way to do it. Personally, I would have gone with boarding up the windows and doors, but I'm non-confrontational. But to preemptively stand around like a militia in a town that is 91% white and less than 0.5% black isn't sending the message that you care about safety. It's sending the message that your BLM protests aren't welcome. I'm not talking about business owners and community leaders stepping in to fill in the void left by police while buildings are set on fire. That's not what happened in Coeur d’Alene.

[theflashunc]

I think that it’s a modified AR-15 with a bipod, 42 round clip and muzzle flash suppressor. He might have an Uzi slung across his back and he has a pistol strapped to his right thigh. Member of the welcoming committee of the neighborhood newcomer’s club.

The preferred choice of sportsmen everywhere for deer hunting..

Not that this is any better (it's not) but it looks like those are two 30-round clips taped together for a quick change. Because that's the thing that's the biggest priority, quickly changing mags after you've sent 30 rounds downrange at a deer. Didn't know the deer shot back these days.

[caleb]

My point is that when a group's response to a bullshit claim on social media that antifa is coming to town is to load up on tactical gear and military weapons, they've lost the plot.

100% agree.

[theflashunc]

I didn't say they were disinterested. I think they're very interested, just not in actually "protecting" anything. My point is that when a group's response to a bullshit claim on social media that antifa is coming to town is to load up on tactical gear and military weapons, they've lost the plot. It was excessive and, as was demonstrated during the course of the peaceful protest, unnecessary. If someone wants to stand in front of their business with a handgun to ensure people know it's protected, I guess that's one way to do it. Personally, I would have gone with boarding up the windows and doors, but I'm non-confrontational. But to preemptively stand around like a militia in a town that is 91% white and less than 0.5% black isn't sending the message that you care about safety. It's sending the message that your BLM protests aren't welcome. I'm not talking about business owners and community leaders stepping in to fill in the void left by police while buildings are set on fire. That's not what happened in Coeur d’Alene.

It's intimidation and an open assertion of white supremacy. No different than when Nathan Bedford Forrest roamed the hills of Tennessee after the Civil War.

[j44ke]

Plus it is stupid. A bunch of guys standing around in broad daylight wearing guns like beauty queen sashes. If there was actually an enemy that merited that ridiculous amount of firepower, those guys wouldn’t have stood a chance.

Plus switch out the white skin in all these recent dioramas and replace it with brown or black skin and forget the 2nd amendment we have a conflagration on our hands boys.

If they only knew how many studies on gender & sexuality are written up as theses in grad schools about men and guns in America ....

[davids]

Plus it is stupid. A bunch of guys standing around in broad daylight wearing guns like beauty queen sashes. If there was actually an enemy that merited that ridiculous amount of firepower, those guys wouldn’t have stood a chance.

Plus switch out the white skin in all these recent dioramas and replace it with brown or black skin and forget the 2nd amendment we have a conflagration on our hands boys.

If they only knew how many studies on gender & sexuality are written up as theses in grad schools about men and guns in America ....

Racism, racism, racism.

[Sbti]

Consoler is Chief is saying it's a great day for everyone and that Floyd is looking down on him from heaven and is happy that we're on our way back to the greatest economy in the history of the world.

Ummm.
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It was a great day for me. Got up, had coffee, went for a ride and wasn't dead!

[theflashunc]

Police can't even keep police brutality away from the police brutality protests.

Twitter

[e-RICHIE]

Police can't even keep police brutality away from the police brutality protests.

Twitter

I'm not afraid to express myself.
Richard Sachs - To the policeman whose foot met Hannah... | Facebook




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[Mabouya]

This brought me to tears. And I am not being dramatic.
If you don't have the stomach to watch (and I should not have), I'll summarize: Police officer pushes old man down for having the temerity to approach and talk to him, old man falls backward, strikes his head and immediately starts bleeding FROM HIS EAR, and the officer - and several others - who all clearly see the blood pouring out of an elderly gentleman's ear walk by him.

Yeah. The guy "tripped and fell."

There is something very, very wrong with our police, and I pray in this incident that this particular monster is charged with assault.

The story gets worse, and certainly helps expose one of the fundamental causes of police violence against unarmed civilians.
Normally I'm a big union supporter, but it's clear (and has been so for years) that police unions are nothing but enablers of totally inappropriate thuggish behavior.

Buffalo police riot squad quit to back officers who shoved man - BBC News

Buffalo police riot squad quit to back officers who shoved man

All 57 officers in the riot squad have now reportedly quit in protest at their two colleagues' suspension.

According to the Buffalo News, the members have quit the Emergency Response Team, but not the police department.

John Evans, president of the local police union, told the newspaper: "Our position is these officers were simply following orders from Deputy Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia to clear the square.

"It doesn't specify clear the square of men, 50 and under or 15 to 40. They were simply doing their job. I don't know how much contact was made. He did slip in my estimation. He fell backwards."

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Friday that the two officers should be fired, and that the incident should be investigated for "possible criminal charges".

In a statement, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said: "We can confirm that contingency plans are in place to maintain police services and ensure public safety within our community."

[Mabouya]

I'm not afraid to express myself.

And of course a typical response to this will be what is essentially blackmail by the police:

They'll say "So, you don't want police to protect you? OK, we won't protect you, and we'll see how you like it."

As if a society's only choices are 1) Total mob rub by the rioters, or 2) Acquiesce to whatever heavy-handed tactics, including murder, the police chose to use.