Name: Minneapolis Police Department
Age: 153
Occupation: thugs
Last Seen: Minneapolis, MN
Bee-otched For: making us hate cops even more
Age: 153
Occupation: thugs
Last Seen: Minneapolis, MN
Bee-otched For: making us hate cops even more
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For months, I and so many others wondered if there would ever be another top news story on the evening news that has nothing to do with the coronavirus.
Well, for two nights straight, COVID-19 has been moved to 2nd place on the NBC Nightly News because of a problem that America has had for centuries. The problem of course is the relationship between the police and people of color.
We've seen the heartbreaking images for days of a 46-year-old black man, George Floyd being choked to death by a Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin. Floyd's uttering of "I can't breathe" sent us a ghastly repeat of Eric Garner, another black male who was also choked to death by white police officers in New York six years ago.
Floyd was a father who worked as a rapper and most-recently a security guard at a restaurant. However, because of COVID-19 and Minnesota's stay-at-home order, he lost his job. On Memorial Day, he went to a neighborhood convenience store, Cup Foods to buy a pack of cigarettes. The cashier at the store thought that the $20 bill Floyd used was counterfeit, so they called the police. However, we all knew what was next.
Chauvin, a 19-year-vet for the MPD had 18 complaints on his record including two letters of reprimand. He and three other officers were all fired for the incident, which was recorded by several bystanders and posted on various social media sites.
Now, many in the community and the world are showing support for George Floyd, even Mahmoud Abumayaleh, who owns Cup Foods and has offered to help Floyd's family with funeral expenses. However, some are doing it the wrong way by burning down buildings and looting businesses. Even Floyd's girlfriend has called for people to stop the rioting and to honor him with peace.
What's sad is that the fight between the police and people of color is nothing new. Let's remember that when Martin Luther King, Jr. and other warriors of racial justice were murdered in the 1960s, peaceful protests turned into rioting in cities like Detroit. It reminded me of a scene in one of the Barbershop movies where one of the characters proclaimed that King would not have wanted this himself. We can never forget the battle between the Los Angeles Police and Rodney King. Now with many Americans with an HD camcorder in their pockets thanks to smartphones, we've been given a closer look of the ongoing battles between the police and those getting beaten simply because of their skin color.
Last weekend on Southpaws, host Darren Gibson recounted his days working at a bank in Benton Harbor, a once-thriving middle class town about 40 miles north of South Bend, IN. Benton Harbor has a twin city, St. Joseph that's very upper class. Several times, Darren's bank's black employees would come in late. Why? Because they had to drive through St. Joseph to get to work. Of course, the SJPD didn't want no coloreds in their town, so they were constantly pulling them over. The bank even called the SJPD complaining that their people would never commit a crime and to let them go. Darren once proclaimed St. Joe as the most-racist city he's ever lived in.
Now, imagine if Floyd was white. If he came into that c-store with fake cash and the cops were called, he'd still be arrested, but he wouldn't be choked to death. If a white man drives through a small, mostly-white town going five over the speed limit, the cop watching the road would not care. But if the man was black, he'd be seeing red and blue lights behind him in no time.
Folks, this is why we have athletes like Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the National Anthem. Of course, we have all the jackoffs in their MAGA hats telling them to stand up for the flag or move out of the country. To me, it's racist bullshit. Hell, there's many religious groups that don't stand for the flag, and it's their right! The fact that most of the major sports leagues forced their athletes to stand for the National Anthem is an insult to the players, especially since most sports teams are owned by big, mean white billionaires. But ya know what? One positive regarding the coronavirus is that all sports leagues - save for Repuke-friendly NASCAR and wrestling - are shuttered. Maybe all the lost revenue for the leagues and their owners is pure karma for how they've treated Kaepernick and others.
I totally agree that we need to purge this nation of all the cops out there who think they're above the law. True, we should praise them for their hard work during the pandemic. But, there's a lot of bad weeds in the world of protecting us. In Minneapolis' case, there's the unanswered question as to why Chauvin was still on the force after all these years and citations. Same thing with other officers. Personally, if I were Minneapolis' mayor Jacob Frey, I'd overhaul the PD and activate tougher standards for the police.
As I'm typing this, many buildings in Minneapolis, including a police precinct in St. Paul. People are looting, fighting and raising all sorts of hell over what happened to George Floyd. I'm sending good thoughts and vibes for everybody in MSP in hopes that this will come to an end.
Instead of a bad cop taking a knee to end a man's life, we should take a knee to them.
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Bee-otch of the Day Archives can be seen on http://beeotchoftheday.blogspot.com
Bee-otch of the Day is a production of Chuck69.com, Grand Rapids' site for Stern, politics and more!
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