Black Lives Matter in Minneapolis

[mellowtigger]

I attended the Black Lives Matter protest in Minneapolis yesterday.  It was the most convenient political activity that I've ever joined.  My employer's building closed early that day since the protest was happening across the street from the front door at the Gold Medal Park.  All I had to do was walk outside and join the event.  It couldn't be any easier.

Here are photos and brief video clips that I took. The crowd grew to about 1,000.  I can vouch for that many, at least, although I saw one news report that guessed as high as 1,500. What did not appear in any of the news accounts, though, is the observation that it was a very pale crowd. I think it was about 85% caucasian. The minority clearly has the support of the majority here, which should be encouraging for all of us who expect improvements to be made.  Unfortunately, I didn't know the schedule and had another event to attend, so I left apparently just minutes before they started marching.  I missed the main event.  Oops.



Here is a series of shots that show how the crowd grew over time.



I don't pretend to be good at video either, but here are two pans of the crowd that I took.
crowd chanting at 5:48pm (avi, 111 MB)  "No justice, no peace, prosecute the police"
crowd at 6:09pm (avi, 37MB)

I was featured in cameo for several seconds during the 6pm CBS news from local tv station WCCO. You can watch the video here.
http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/video/11442633-blacklivesmatter-protesters-rally-at-gold-medal-park/

I'll write soon about the issues at hand. I land solidly in the "we can do better" camp, but I have a lot of evidence to offer and thoughts to consider. I need more time to organize my thinking. I'll try to be concise. :)

#BlackLivesMatter