The execution of George Floyd is beyond outrageous.
It is a wanton and unprovoked murder by the cops.
The fact the Mayor cried in front of the cameras to express his feelings says it all. The murder is an act which has aroused worldwide condemnation and aroused the mainstream media to provide surprisingly unvarnished coverage of this shameful, cruel and mind numbing event.
Coming close on the heels of the murder of black jogger Ahmuad Arbery in Georgia by two white men the Clear and Present Danger of racism has been displayed in brutally raw fashion.
Excerpted from Minneapolis Star Tribune 5.27.2020
Hours after Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called for a police officer’s arrest and charges in the death of George Floyd, violent protests erupted anew, causing widespread damage and looting at south Minneapolis storefronts.
“We watched for five whole excruciating minutes as a white officer firmly pressed his knee into the neck of an unarmed handcuffed black man. I saw no threat. I saw nothing that would signal that this kind of force was necessary,” Frey said.
Earlier, Frey called for the arrest and charging of now-fired police officer Derek Chauvin, who knelt on Floyd’s neck as he pleaded to breathe.
“I’ve wrestled with, more than anything else over the last 36 hours, one fundamental question: Why is the man who killed George Floyd not in jail?” Frey said. “If you had done it, or I had done it, we would be behind bars right now. And I cannot come up with a good answer to that.”
A fatal shooting in the protest area was over looting at a pawn shop, the shots fired by the store’s owner, Minneapolis police said early Thursday at a news conference. The wounded man was taken to HCMC, where he died. One person is in custody, a police spokesman said.
A Target and Cub Foods anchoring the corner of E. Lake Street and Hiawatha Avenue were looted, along with other small businesses, including Minnehaha Lake Wine & Spirits. Flames and smoke shot into the air when a nearby AutoZone auto parts store was set ablaze. As some protesters tried to put out the fire, others danced gleefully in front of it, snapping selfies.
The violence followed a daylong protest outside the Third Precinct police headquarters, where officers sought to disperse crowds with flash-bang grenades, tear gas and projectiles through the day and night.
Minneapolis Police Federation President Lt. Bob Kroll did not respond to messages requesting comment and declined to take questions from a reporter at his office. However, he said in a statement provided to Forum News Service before Tuesday’s firings that, “Now is not the time to rush to judgment and immediately condemn our officers. We ask that the community remain calm and the investigation be completed in full.”
‘Shocked and horrified’
Gov. Tim Walz said Wednesday that he was “shocked and horrified” by the video of Floyd’s death.
Frey said he made the decision to call for charges after watching the video. He said he has not spoken to the officers involved or seen the footage captured by their body cameras. Frey said the restraint technique used against Floyd is not authorized by the MPD, is not something officers were trained in and “should not be used, period.”
Lee's Perspective 