Minneapolis’s progressive image burns in its streets

[SugarDaddy1]

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- The last time that Minneapolis burned like this was July 1967. For three nights, dozens of buildings and businesses along Plymouth Avenue, a commercial strip on the city’s predominantly African-American North Side, were vandalized, looted and torched. Accounts differ as to what sparked the violence then. But there was no doubt about the source of the tinder. Black residents of Minneapolis had faced decades of discriminatory policing, racist housing policies and difficult employment conditions. Only the arrival of 600 National Guard troops stopped the violence.

Why has allegedly progressive Minneapolis failed to address these and other racial equity issues? Floyd’s death isn’t the first of an American-American to set off protests against police in the city. Yet the city’s police department has failed to adopt reforms recommended by federal officials, such as a ban on lethal choke holds. Equally bad, there are still obvious problems with the department's ability to identify problem behaviors in officers like the ones involved in Floyd's death, who collectively had dozens of complaints against them. Much of the blame can be placed on a police union that openly defies city leadership, and police union leaders who have cultivated recalcitrant public personas that are contrary to their public charge.

But it isn’t as if the political leadership of Minneapolis is powerless. It’s a single-party city, which has — on other issues — the kind of consensus that other progressive cities wish for. But, ultimately, the only sustained political pressure for police reform and racial equity that Minneapolis has faced comes from its black residents. Clearly, that hasn’t been enough to convince the city’s leadership to use it. Neither, for that matter, has it been enough for Minnesota’s legislators: Since 2015, at least a dozen police reform bills have been introduced, none of which have passed.

For decades, Minneapolis has embraced its image as a progressive bastion. This week ripped that away, and left something behind much grimmer. It’s not too late for the city to begin living up to its lofty ideals. The week's events suggest the city’s leadership has a good reason to start.

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[MartinHeidegger]

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Fuck off, miles.

 

[hogjack]

It's Summer so outdoor cookouts are quite common. This one got out of hand quickly.