Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/06/01/minneapolis-police-have-allege.html
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Troops and humvees in the streets of my beloved Minneapolis.
The video below shows a squad of a dozen or so heavily armed officers shooting a peaceful civilian standing in the doorway of a home on a residential street in South Minneapolis. I assume the projectile is a rubber bullet.
“Get inside! Get inside now! Get the hell the hell down let’s go! Light 'em up. Go inside now! Get in the house!” (actual quotes)
Gunfire, Sharp cry of surprise:
“Oh, God that hurt” – the peaceful civilian who was shot by one of a squad of heavily armed police officers while standing peacefully in the doorway of a private home in a residential neighborhood not experiencing immediate civil disturbance other than police shouting “Get the hell down!” and “Light it up!” as they shoot civilians.
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“non lethal” and “less than lethal” force have always been dangerous, and lead to controlling people more often, and make it more acceptable.
They would just gun resisters and protesters down if they could, but they can’t, so they develop less than lethal means so they can still at least herd and cower us like animals and most folks will not object.
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In dressing like soldiers, driving around in military vehicles, and practising “warrior training”, American cops are basically announcing one reason that they’re part of the problem.
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To be thorough, I have not identified what unit(s) we are looking at here. I rather assume it’s MPD swat types, but could be non-MPD, National Guard. Certainly the Humvee suggests the possibility of Nat Guard.
Perhaps someone here with military-police background can tell us more?
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I’m not sure about the humvee, but the officers following are cops of one sort or another. Actual military troops exercise more discipline and adherence to rules of engagement in Afghanistan than these twitchy roid-ragers are on the streets of Minneapolis.
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If I were a cop, I think I’d avoid restaurant food for the forseeable future. There’s going to be so much saliva sauce in their food.
Chef invites every single employee to spit in the cop’s burger…
ETA: /s, because some people fail to see the implied hyperbolic sarcasm.
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She has my sympathy, as do the hundreds of other injured or killed people we haven’t even heard about yet.
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Per her own request:
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https://twitter.com/venturecommunis/status/1267343378414399488?s=21
And, once again: this is not new.
The modern militarisation of American policing began with Clinton, went into overdrive with Bush, and then Obama kept the pedal pinned to the floor. It’s thoroughly bipartisan.
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Do you listen to the What a Hell of a Way to Die podcast? Or have you read Joe Kassabian’s Hooligans of Kandahar?
The common perception of the US military as highly professional and honorable is a long way from reality. Pretty much everything that US cops do in America, US troops do in Iraq and Afghanistan. The military has been kicking down the doors of civilian houses for decades.
Unpunished war crimes are routine. Soldiers carry local weapons to plant on the corpses of civilians they kill. Etc etc.
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Are you familiar with the term “damning with faint praise”? Or do you really think I’m that ignorant after reading my comments here over the years?
[And no, this isn’t another one of your “educational opportunities” for other readers here – you addressed me directly. You’ll be surprised to discover that some Americans (especially those of us with advanced history degrees and experience as journalists, and especially most regular commenters on this site) aren’t blind to this country’s terrible behaviour at home and abroad]
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I follow Linda on Twitter and was horrified when I saw what was happening with her. She’s been incredibly brave throughout. This madness of American society needs to be resolved, quickly, or the whole mess will explode with violence and misery.
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That would likely get them a visit from the health inspector and a hefty fine and/or a nice unpaid involuntary vacation as the restaurant gets shut down for a little while.
If a restaurant owner wanted to express their displeasure with the police, declining to deliver to the police station and/or declining to do business with people they know or can identify as police officers would be well within their rights (and not run afoul of the health inspector.)
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That was disgusting. I remember that the Herald had pics all over the front page the next day. I graduated BU and was living in Allston at the time, and I stayed away from Fenway because I knew B-town was going to riot one way or the other.
I hate that “non-lethal” measures are used more prolifically since they are “non”. But not always “non”.
And people still wonder why we’re pissed off at #$%%#$% cops?
Edit: Herald, not Globe.
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Based on media coverage, shooting white people standing on their porch in a nicely manicured neighborhood just might have crossed a line.
(Although the headline does that “appears to show” thing when they want plausible deniability.)
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Minneapolis Police shoot peaceful civilians with rubber bullets - VIDEO (see earlier comment)
~ ~ ~ ~Transcript of video ~ ~ ~ ~
Civilian: Well, there’s one.
Civilian: Look at this, they just keep coming.
Police Officer: Go home!
PO: Go inside!
PO: Get inside!
PO: Get inside
PO: Get inside!
PO: Get inside!
PO: Get in your house now! Let’s go!
PO: Light 'em up.
PO: Go inside now!
PO: Go inside your house!
Get in the house!
[Gunfire]
Civilian: Oh!
PO: Nobody [unintelligible]!
Civilian: Ah!
Civilian: Jesus fucking Christ!
Civilian: Get in get in get in get in get in!
Civilian: Get in!
PO: Stay in your house!
Civilian: Oh, God that hurt!
UPDATE: some asshole who is probably right told me that the rounds are paint, not rubber. See reply comment for updated image, and see further comments for “Light em up” image.
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Yep, this is announcing that they see themselves at war and the public is an enemy to be defeated instead of a populace to be protected. Nobody ever wrote a song called “Fuck the Fire Department.”
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If I had to pick a specific date for the start of the militarization of the police I’d choose December 9, 1969. That’s when LAPD’s new SWAT team had their first big deployment fighting the Black Panthers, a raid that included the use of a grenade launcher borrowed from DoD.
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UPDATE - some asshole who is probably right tells me the rounds are paint, not rubber. I would update my earlier post but I have run out of edits. Here is an updated version of my makes-police-look-as-bad-as-possible, yet rigorous honest and accurate and easy-to-share image.
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