# Minneapolis is Burning...? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 28, 2020, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589 "2020-05-28T07:45:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/21 "2020-05-28T16:00:12Z")
> [@pool](#): > > It seems the city would save themselves a lot of damage, money, and grief by arresting the officer that was caught murdering someone on film, I mean what’s the hold up? > [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > The only way that asshole should be chilling at home is if he has been arrested for murder and posted $1M bond. > > ETA: somewhat ninja’d by **pool**. I concur. It looks like murder to me. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/22 "2020-05-28T16:01:57Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > ^ This. > > Welcome back to the civil unrest of the 1960’s. > > If the authorities can murder minorities at will don’t be surprised when those minorities react with violence, as they no longer have anything to lose. It’s amazing how many people don’t get that. Once you oppress people enough, violence becomes the only option. It’s the same revolution people keep saying they’re surprised hasn’t happened. Chastising them for doing so may make you feel better, but it’s not ever going to stop this sort of thing. They clearly think their response is justified, and a lecture about violence being wrong won’t change that. While we love to think that Civil Rights are won by people finally learning from impassioned debate debate that they are the right thing to do, reality is that the fear of retaliation if they don’t is always part of it. And if all responses are peaceful, that goes away. People praise King but forget about Malcolm X. Both were necessary when the powerless fight the powerful. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/23 "2020-05-28T16:06:07Z")
> [@pool](#): > > It seems the city would save themselves a lot of damage, money, and grief by arresting the officer that was caught murdering someone on film, I mean what’s the hold up? They don’t want to give the police the false impression that they will be held accountable, and they\* definitely \*don’t want black people to get the idea that their lives are worth anything in the eyes of the law. So they’ll fire him at most - which means little since he’ll just be hired by another department elsewhere as is standard practice in such cases. And if there’s a trial it’ll be a railroaded one where the victim is demonized and they’ll make a nice public show of him getting off on all charges, since the courts never pass up a chance to rub it as publicly as possible in the faces of black people that the courts don’t consider them human. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/24 "2020-05-28T16:08:44Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Yes - because said fired cop has not had his day in court yet AND if there is punishment to be meted out I, for one, would prefer it not be at the hands of an angry mob. Because that will be very, very ugly. Not that the situation isn’t already ugly, but why throw gasoline on a fire? That is not why they are there…unless you can show me another example where a _non ex-cop_ murderer gets off with being fired then is protected by an insanely large number of cops. They are protecting their own, and have publicly shown where they stand. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/25 "2020-05-28T16:12:39Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > It’s amazing how many people don’t get that. Once you oppress people enough, violence becomes the only option. It’s the same revolution people keep saying they’re surprised hasn’t happened. > > Chastising them for doing so may make you feel better, but it’s not ever going to stop this sort of thing. They clearly think their response is justified, and a lecture about violence being wrong won’t change that. > > While we love to think that Civil Rights are won by people finally learning from impassioned debate debate that they are the right thing to do, reality is that the fear of retaliation if they don’t is always part of it. And if all responses are peaceful, that goes away. > > People praise King but forget about Malcolm X. Both were necessary when the powerless fight the powerful. So, burning McDonald’s and looting Target is how revolutions are fought and won? ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/26 "2020-05-28T16:20:28Z")
No just dumping tea I guess. ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/27 "2020-05-28T16:29:41Z")
It’s horrible. In 1967, the Northside burned from racial tensions. Plymouth Avenue was forever changed, as was the Northside as a whole. Police state enacted. Businesses left. Families left. It has never been able to come back. When Jamar Clark was murdered, also on Plymouth Avenue, there were protests. The Fourth Precinct station was shut down. Didn’t quite come to rioting. That part of the city was basically closed for weeks. And what happened to the officers who killed Jamar? Nothing. Not a damn thing. Then we had Philando in St Paul. Protests all over. Cop acquitted. Officer Noor who killed a white woman? Of course HE went to prison. And here we are again. Peaceful protests led to tear gas, rubber bullets, paintballs, police violence. This city is not the boring flyover city. There’s always been a LOT of racial tension. Years of redlining, years of overt racism, years of educational and economic disparities are coming to a head again. In my opinion, the police officers need to be arrested. Now. Bob Kroll, the racist dickweed head of the Union needs to go. Supposedly after Jamar the PD was going to clean house. Hiring of Arradondo has helped, but the stupid blue line bullshit, along with Kroll, have managed to maintain the racist violent status quo we’ve had here for years. I am not ACAB. I fully support protests. I despise the mom and pop community owned businesses being looted and destroyed. The apartment building on fire? Low cost housing. I despise some fucknuts decided to loot and cause damage to stores 20 miles away just because they could. I despise the business owners getting attacked for protecting their stores. I despise that another man was killed during the rioting last night. However, I understand it. Change needs to come in this city. Peaceful to quasi-peaceful protests have done nothing. Anger has been brewing for decades. The murder, of Floyd George is (I hope) the straw that breaks the damn camel’s back. ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/28 "2020-05-28T16:31:23Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > So they’ll fire him at most - which means little since he’ll just be hired by another department elsewhere as is standard practice in such cases. And if there’s a trial it’ll be a railroaded one where the victim is demonized and they’ll make a nice public show of him getting off on all charges, since the courts never pass up a chance to rub it as publicly as possible in the faces of black people that the courts don’t consider them human. All four cops involved have already been fired. As we’ve already seen here by another Minnesotan poster, some have already tried to vilify Floyd George. It’s utter bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/29 "2020-05-28T16:33:07Z")
So what would you have the cops do? Walk away and allow vigilante justice prevail? ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/30 "2020-05-28T16:33:20Z")
Is _everyone_ who is protesting the murder an arsonist and a looter? Disciples of the Orange Genius have raped and killed American Muslims. Are _all_ Republicans rapists and murderers? > [@Oredigger77](#): > > … That being said rioting, looting, and burning are always a bad idea. Its not like they are burning the businesses of the cops who did the murder or even the elites in lower they believe to be complicit… Good for the goose is good for the gander, no? So do you think that all Republicans are rapists and murderers? > [@eenerms](#): > > Yeah, looting and burning down businesses is always the answer… You too, hunh? ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/31 "2020-05-28T16:35:40Z")
> [@Chingon](#): > > No just dumping tea I guess. Tea was chosen for what reason? Burning McDonald’s and looting is just random. If you want to hit The Man then hit The Man. Ronald McDonald is not The Man. He is among Grimace and crew. But not in larger society. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/32 "2020-05-28T16:39:50Z")
> [@MikeF](#): > > So what would you have the cops do? Walk away and allow vigilante justice prevail? They could do the same thing they did when that cop was killing Mr. Floyd. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/33 "2020-05-28T16:40:09Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > So, burning McDonald’s and looting Target is how revolutions are fought and won? Problem of using that dig is that at the same time there was little to no police protection for those businesses the houses of the fired policemen were massively protected. Remember also that there were a lot of reports of minorities being arrested while protesting for the killing of while recently many of the anti lockdown and armed protesters were not bothered at all. The point here is that while that is not a revolution, the reasons for revolting are many right now, but as many would point out, at the ballot box by voting out the ones that allowed those reasons to fester. ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/34 "2020-05-28T16:43:06Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > Tea was chosen for what reason? Burning McDonald’s and looting is just random. > > If you want to hit The Man then hit The Man. Ronald McDonald is not The Man. He is among Grimace and crew. But not in larger society. Lol what would be hitting The Man (via property damage), but still acceptable to you? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/35 "2020-05-28T16:44:16Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > So, burning McDonald’s and looting Target is how revolutions are fought and won? They are protesting the “Property \> Lives” mentality. BTW, your better idea is…? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/36 "2020-05-28T16:48:27Z")
If it’s one thing I’d have thought we all could agree on, it would be that mistreating innocent protesters, condoning armed insurrectionists, and looting and destroying innocent peoples’ property are all wrong, but apparently I was mistaken. ---
**Author:** ![xenophon41](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xenophon41/32/253_2.png) [@xenophon41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenophon41)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/37 "2020-05-28T16:50:57Z")
> [@MikeF](#): > > So what would you have the cops do? Walk away and allow vigilante justice prevail? It would take a lot less manpower to protect the asshole if he had a jail cell around him. Just a thought. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/38 "2020-05-28T16:59:41Z")
75 armored and shielded cops in front of an ex cop murderer’s house isn’t “protection”. It is an open statement that they think he is worth more than the person he murdered _just because he used to wear the uniform_. It is an open statement to civilians, and it is an open threat to any official that would dare bring charges against this ex-cop murderer. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/39 "2020-05-28T17:00:55Z")
We have to remember that at any protest, no matter how righteous the cause, there is always going to be an element that wants to use it as an excuse to cause destruction and general mayhem. Most of the protestors, however, are simply frustrated people who are screaming to be heard. You don’t feel “heard” when the blatant murder of your people goes on and on and on. You don’t feel “heard” when your people are mocked for a movement that tries to communicate that their lives matter. You don’t feel “heard” when a decent, productive member of your race has his career destroyed for silently kneeling in protest, but the people who are supposed to “serve and protect” you kneel on your throats and kill you. I could go on, but I think I’ve made my point. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589/40 "2020-05-28T17:22:29Z")
“Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe. “ — Frederick Douglass “A riot is the language of the unheard” - Martin Luther King, Jr. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minneapolis-is-burning/854589.md?page=3)