In a tragic and bizarre story not yet being covered much, a man shot himself to death on Nicollet Mall in Downtown Minneapolis last night in the middle of an initially small protest, but before truth could get on its feet, the rumor had spread it was another cop killing. Within no time the protest had swollen in size and the looting began.
www.startribune.com/...
For those who don't live here, the Nicollet Mall is the center of downtown, lined with merchants and restaurants. Several businesses were effected, but I fear the worst damage is being done to those who most deserve a different, more fair country.
And it is all starting to play right into the hands of the culture war the republicans are using a million matches to light up.
wccoradio.radio.com/…
Please read the link, as it is representative of many stories here today, and it is frightening. People afraid to come downtown, people talking about moving out of downtown, employees who have lost their jobs.
While there are looting opportunists---and we don’t need that kind of “cure” for anything---still, It’s hard not to see a very possible pattern of right wing outside agitation. During the George Floyd protests there was the case of “The Umbrella Man” and many other suspect tales. “The Umbrella Man” was a guy dressed all in black, wearing a gas mask and carrying an umbrella, who was video taped calmly walking down a wall of retail windows hitting them all with a bat. All by his lonesome. Not a protestor guy. Not a looter.
In the Star Tribune article linked above I found something that just seems to reek of right wing agitation.
Buildings were spray-painted with “Everybody hates the police,” “No justice, no peace” and “loot more.”
This is just not in the spirit of the great majority of BLM protestors. “Loot more.” No, I don’t think that’s the work of protestors interested in furthering justice. I think it’s clumsy right wing language that again, plays right into people’s fears and into the republicans messaging right now. And we can begin to see the effects of this on people who are on our side or on the fence.
Do I have evidence this graffiti was sprayed by a right wing agitator? No I don’t. But I also think we can no longer afford to think of this sort of thing as just another “conspiracy” theory. We know that a right wing young man came to town with a major gun and shot two people in Kenosha.
Again, there is opportunistic looting going on here with no partisan core. And I don’t make excuses for that. But It’s been a long, hot, violent, sick, summer and the fuse out there is very, very short---the consequence of deep seeded wounds this administration has not only not addressed, but rather poured gasoline on.
I wish I had the confidence that the police and the media would do their due diligence and investigate the many paths for agitators to fade into the scene and impersonate a “protestor” message that builds fear and sows division. But I don’t
“Everyone hates the police.”
Sure sounds like what the republicans have been saying the Democratic party believes in, and they’ve been saying it for 4 nights now. Actually, quite literally, shouting it to the rooftops.
I am extremely concerned about how fast things could blow up in our faces if the protests continue to turn into riots. Whether incited by looting opportunists, or deliberate bad actors.
