Wow, that's inspiring to see how the community revamped that area. I really like the fists in the intersection too.
Dom didn't mention it, but not only did the cops blind Linda Tirado but they handed her a death sentence, the damage from that 'non lethal' bullet has been slowly killing her. So fucking heartbreaking. 💔
"Police "hunted" civilians and the press, including one of my best friends and colleagues, Linda Tirado, leaving her blind in one eye. Police slashed tires, kettled protesters, and indiscriminately used guerrilla warfare tactics with so-called “less than lethal” weaponry to deliberately severely injure and maim." Sounds damn familiar. Portland had our own violent cops PLUS a Federal Goon Squad that left hundreds with lasting issues from gas, at least a dozen folks with TBIs, and lots of PTSD. And one of the first things the authoritarians on SCOTUS did was make it impossible to sue law enforcement for anything. I wish the article had pointed out how the right wingers in Congress and SCOTUS have blocked EVERY attempt by the Biden administration to bring some accountability to policing,
Not going to kid you that in my neighborhood a little more than a mile from George Floyd Square our main concerns were free firing cops and exurban recreational vandals.
I saw Dominick at a Chicago protest in 2020; it was fairly small, a couple thousand people south of the river. When I said hello, he told me that he saw signs that the police were going to start kettling the protesters, and that because they'd been blocking public trans out of the Loop, I should probably leave unless I was okay with being arrested. So I left. (They did end up taking those actions, stranding not just protesters, but also the people who still had to go to work in the Loop.) Anyway, thanks Dom.
Why are you leaving out the fact that almost everything people demanded the Administration is trying to do, and is suing/getting sued to implement at the Federal level? And Biden did this *after* the literally named "George Floyd Justice in Policing Act" was killed in the Senate. Maybe you and Ernst Thälmann, err I mean Mr Roberts, got one additional person to feel betrayed and not to vote.
You know who is not an ally? A "photojournalist" who rejects, minimizes, and ignores policy progress but only loves protests.
This was inadequate "reporting" or "blogging" or whatever you think you are doing besides supporting Donald Trump's fascist takeover for America fails to provide basic information but only pushes vibes.
Biden's executive order dramatically increased the requirements for Federal policing. Your did not even link to it. Biden can not use an Executive Order to implement standards for local police departments. Only Congress can do that.
The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020 was killed in the Senate. Weird you could not find that link on the Internet.
"requires federal law enforcement agencies to: ban chokeholds; restrict no-knock warrants; mandate the use of body-worn cameras; implement stronger use of force policies, including with the duty to intervene and duty to render medical aid; provide de-escalation training; submit officer misconduct records into a new national database; and restrict the transfer of military equipment to local law enforcement agencies, among other things. While the President cannot mandate changes at the state and local level, the order incentivizes state and local reforms through grantmaking, new accreditation standards, and training and technical assistance. "
Thank you for this. And it's not just journos who only are interested in conflict and drop the ball on everything else that are lousy allies. There is a whole group of "anarchists" who show up to fight and smash stuff -claiming to be allies while taking NO DIRECTION from those in the movement. Then the press and the pols blame the anti-police violence/ anti-racist movements for the violence and property damage. Those same folks are the ones you see all over the socials saying how "both parties are the same" and encouraging people not to vote.
"The whole mass movement against police violence collapsed the moment Biden was elected,” Roberts says. “The people that actually gave a shit kept on fighting, but most of the ‘allies’ just wanted to get out in the streets because they were sick of COVID, and sick of Trump. Nobody actually gave a fuck about police violence. It had no long term effect. Even Occupy had more of an effect. But that's America, nobody gives a shit."
I wouldn't blame COVID. I'd blame police shooting someone every other minute, plus the 24 hour news cycle. It's kind of hard to get angry at a specific something when so much is happening ALL the time, plus you have to parse in your head "Did you hear about the shooting the other day?" "Which one?"
As far as the movement against police violence drying up when Biden got elected, I think a lot of middle-class white people are naive enough to believe that Biden's election somehow magically fixed the problem, just like a lit of them seemed to believe that Obama's election magically ended racism.
not magically fixed, but "hoped it would magically be fixed going forward". I think that's a much more accurate assessment.
It's human nature that once a galvinizing event has been confronted, in this case by an election where the good side won, that many people return their focus to the personal as opposed to the societal scale.
That is why we have a whole host of names for people who buck that trend and can and do stay focused on the societal scale issues. If everyone did it, they'd just be "people".
That is certainly how the Minneapolis political class wishes this would play out.
It's not playing out that way, though. And the local political class is not happy about that. That's OK. They can point fingers at the DSA types we've elected to the City Council. The DSA types are used to that.
I wish I'd known Dom was coming to my neighborhood. I drove through George Floyd Square, and that 31st and Nicollet area, just this morning on my to work at the Minneapolis Convention Center.
The three nearest Post Offices to my house all got torched. Getting the mail was really sporadic until recently, no thanks to that or to DeJoy. It's mostly back to normal now.
We do need to get bus service back to that 38th and Chicago area, now known as George Floyd Square. A lot of people really depend on that bus being right there; and now have to go several blocks one direction or the other. It's fine for me, but I'm fully able-bodied. There are several group homes and living facilities for those who are not fully able-bodied, situated where they are because of bus service right there every ten minutes. Which we now haven't had since all that happened. And buses can't get past the big fist sculpture in the middle of that intersection.
Again; that doesn't affect me; but I'm more fortunate than many of my neighbors.
My mother-in-law lived two blocks from that torched Post Office at 31st and Nicollet at that time. She had the 34th Infantry sitting in her yard. She put on her Grandma face and brought them a huge cooler of ice water, a stack of cups, and rather pointedly; a large trash can. The 18 year-old farm boys took the hint, "Sorry, Ma'am," and scurried around picking up their candy wrappers and threw them in the trash can.
That rioting was at least 40 years in the making. What set it apart from every other protest against police violence here was that it was all on that video made by the little girl, Darnella Frazier. That enraged the good white people of Minneapolis. We'd spent decades ignoring all the Black people protesting. We were easily persuaded by the argument that "We weren't there, we didn't see what happened, the cops say one thing and the "activists" say another thing."
We couldn't hide behind that fig leaf with that video. And our political class, including the police, very clearly had no idea how to operate without that fig leaf.
So things got bad.
And now the same political class is dragging their feet and squealing and whining and crying about not having that fig leaf anymore.
Thanks for stopping by, Dom! I hope you got a nice dinner. Plenty of good local food available on the path you seem to have taken through the area.
The Occupy Wall Street movement was meaningless. Then, years later, many people involved with that helped get meds to Old Folks after a hurricane hurt New York.
Linda Tirado's eye was just the start - she's dying now because of it and the fucking pigs won't lose a minute of sleep.
Ta, Dom. Great photos as always. I still miss Linda Tirado (KillerMartinis) writing here.
Wow, that's inspiring to see how the community revamped that area. I really like the fists in the intersection too.
Dom didn't mention it, but not only did the cops blind Linda Tirado but they handed her a death sentence, the damage from that 'non lethal' bullet has been slowly killing her. So fucking heartbreaking. 💔
"Police "hunted" civilians and the press, including one of my best friends and colleagues, Linda Tirado, leaving her blind in one eye. Police slashed tires, kettled protesters, and indiscriminately used guerrilla warfare tactics with so-called “less than lethal” weaponry to deliberately severely injure and maim." Sounds damn familiar. Portland had our own violent cops PLUS a Federal Goon Squad that left hundreds with lasting issues from gas, at least a dozen folks with TBIs, and lots of PTSD. And one of the first things the authoritarians on SCOTUS did was make it impossible to sue law enforcement for anything. I wish the article had pointed out how the right wingers in Congress and SCOTUS have blocked EVERY attempt by the Biden administration to bring some accountability to policing,
Not going to kid you that in my neighborhood a little more than a mile from George Floyd Square our main concerns were free firing cops and exurban recreational vandals.
Same here, 5 blocks to the south/west of there.
I don't like the police state, thank you. Can try a different one?
#ACAB
I saw Dominick at a Chicago protest in 2020; it was fairly small, a couple thousand people south of the river. When I said hello, he told me that he saw signs that the police were going to start kettling the protesters, and that because they'd been blocking public trans out of the Loop, I should probably leave unless I was okay with being arrested. So I left. (They did end up taking those actions, stranding not just protesters, but also the people who still had to go to work in the Loop.) Anyway, thanks Dom.
Happy to be of service. And I'm glad you made it out OK.
There is *nothing*, I repeat, NOTHING, I would put past the Chicago Police Department.
If they don't outright kill you or drag to a black site to be tortured, they're showing restraint.
Why are you leaving out the fact that almost everything people demanded the Administration is trying to do, and is suing/getting sued to implement at the Federal level? And Biden did this *after* the literally named "George Floyd Justice in Policing Act" was killed in the Senate. Maybe you and Ernst Thälmann, err I mean Mr Roberts, got one additional person to feel betrayed and not to vote.
You know who is not an ally? A "photojournalist" who rejects, minimizes, and ignores policy progress but only loves protests.
This was inadequate "reporting" or "blogging" or whatever you think you are doing besides supporting Donald Trump's fascist takeover for America fails to provide basic information but only pushes vibes.
Biden's executive order dramatically increased the requirements for Federal policing. Your did not even link to it. Biden can not use an Executive Order to implement standards for local police departments. Only Congress can do that.
The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020 was killed in the Senate. Weird you could not find that link on the Internet.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/02/07/fact-sheet-the-biden-harris-administrations-work-to-make-our-communities-safer-and-advance-effective-accountable-policing/
"requires federal law enforcement agencies to: ban chokeholds; restrict no-knock warrants; mandate the use of body-worn cameras; implement stronger use of force policies, including with the duty to intervene and duty to render medical aid; provide de-escalation training; submit officer misconduct records into a new national database; and restrict the transfer of military equipment to local law enforcement agencies, among other things. While the President cannot mandate changes at the state and local level, the order incentivizes state and local reforms through grantmaking, new accreditation standards, and training and technical assistance. "
Thank you for this. And it's not just journos who only are interested in conflict and drop the ball on everything else that are lousy allies. There is a whole group of "anarchists" who show up to fight and smash stuff -claiming to be allies while taking NO DIRECTION from those in the movement. Then the press and the pols blame the anti-police violence/ anti-racist movements for the violence and property damage. Those same folks are the ones you see all over the socials saying how "both parties are the same" and encouraging people not to vote.
"The whole mass movement against police violence collapsed the moment Biden was elected,” Roberts says. “The people that actually gave a shit kept on fighting, but most of the ‘allies’ just wanted to get out in the streets because they were sick of COVID, and sick of Trump. Nobody actually gave a fuck about police violence. It had no long term effect. Even Occupy had more of an effect. But that's America, nobody gives a shit."
I wouldn't blame COVID. I'd blame police shooting someone every other minute, plus the 24 hour news cycle. It's kind of hard to get angry at a specific something when so much is happening ALL the time, plus you have to parse in your head "Did you hear about the shooting the other day?" "Which one?"
OT:
It would sure be great if we could be done with all the bedwetting and handwringing about How Old Is Joe Biden Even.
I thought that argument was decided 8 months ago. I thought it was decided again 4 months ago. It's kind late to pick that one over again now.
And it's become tiresome. Can we be done?
No, apparently not.
As far as the movement against police violence drying up when Biden got elected, I think a lot of middle-class white people are naive enough to believe that Biden's election somehow magically fixed the problem, just like a lit of them seemed to believe that Obama's election magically ended racism.
There are lawsuits about an executive order and literally a law passed the House but was killed in the Senate.
That none of this was in this bullshit article is why you feel a bit angry and betrayed.
Which is why this article was some Trump-licking bullshit.
not magically fixed, but "hoped it would magically be fixed going forward". I think that's a much more accurate assessment.
It's human nature that once a galvinizing event has been confronted, in this case by an election where the good side won, that many people return their focus to the personal as opposed to the societal scale.
That is why we have a whole host of names for people who buck that trend and can and do stay focused on the societal scale issues. If everyone did it, they'd just be "people".
That is certainly how the Minneapolis political class wishes this would play out.
It's not playing out that way, though. And the local political class is not happy about that. That's OK. They can point fingers at the DSA types we've elected to the City Council. The DSA types are used to that.
I wish I'd known Dom was coming to my neighborhood. I drove through George Floyd Square, and that 31st and Nicollet area, just this morning on my to work at the Minneapolis Convention Center.
The three nearest Post Offices to my house all got torched. Getting the mail was really sporadic until recently, no thanks to that or to DeJoy. It's mostly back to normal now.
We do need to get bus service back to that 38th and Chicago area, now known as George Floyd Square. A lot of people really depend on that bus being right there; and now have to go several blocks one direction or the other. It's fine for me, but I'm fully able-bodied. There are several group homes and living facilities for those who are not fully able-bodied, situated where they are because of bus service right there every ten minutes. Which we now haven't had since all that happened. And buses can't get past the big fist sculpture in the middle of that intersection.
Again; that doesn't affect me; but I'm more fortunate than many of my neighbors.
My mother-in-law lived two blocks from that torched Post Office at 31st and Nicollet at that time. She had the 34th Infantry sitting in her yard. She put on her Grandma face and brought them a huge cooler of ice water, a stack of cups, and rather pointedly; a large trash can. The 18 year-old farm boys took the hint, "Sorry, Ma'am," and scurried around picking up their candy wrappers and threw them in the trash can.
That rioting was at least 40 years in the making. What set it apart from every other protest against police violence here was that it was all on that video made by the little girl, Darnella Frazier. That enraged the good white people of Minneapolis. We'd spent decades ignoring all the Black people protesting. We were easily persuaded by the argument that "We weren't there, we didn't see what happened, the cops say one thing and the "activists" say another thing."
We couldn't hide behind that fig leaf with that video. And our political class, including the police, very clearly had no idea how to operate without that fig leaf.
So things got bad.
And now the same political class is dragging their feet and squealing and whining and crying about not having that fig leaf anymore.
Thanks for stopping by, Dom! I hope you got a nice dinner. Plenty of good local food available on the path you seem to have taken through the area.
Thank you, Dominic. I did not know about this. Unfortunately, such spaces are relegated to "local interest" spots because of strategic amnesia.
"Remember that time Donald Trump wanted police to shoot protesters?"
Do-You-Have-Any-Idea-How-Little-That-Narrows-It-Down? meme.
"He lights a stick match and touches it to a half smoked Black & Mild."
My man.
Yeah, you can't smoke one of those in one sitting. God knows what's even in that shit, but I keep going back to it.
This was an important time and movement, I don’t like to think it was meaningless.
The Occupy Wall Street movement was meaningless. Then, years later, many people involved with that helped get meds to Old Folks after a hurricane hurt New York.
No movement is meaningless, ultimately.
It was not meaningless. It's still playing out. Lots of resistance, but the outcome is not in doubt; only the timeline.