Minneapolis police murdered yet another black man

[mellowtigger]

The USA suffers a severe gun violence problem. What is the central benefit that the Second Amendment proponents suggest for gun ownership?

1. Protecting yourself and your home against intrusion
2. Resisting an oppressive government

Right? I'm not misrepresenting their position, am I? Well, the released video footage (warning: graphic situation) of the killing of Amir Locke clearly shows a violation of both of these principles. I EXPECT those Second Amendment types to be loudly protesting on the streets with the rest of us this time. If they DON'T, then I'll have to conclude their willingness to ignore fatal repercussions of their movement is motivated by some other cause. Because in this case, the murder victim had a license to carry that weapon, which was to protect himself at his job as a DoorDash delivery driver in a metro with a significant carjacking problem. He was doing gun ownership properly, just like Philando Castile, right?

The man clearly did not have time to wake up and figure out what was going on around him. If loud men burst into your bedroom at night and started yelling at you, would you instantly assume they're actually the mythical "good guys with guns" there to protect and serve you, so you acquiesce subserviently? Would you really, or would you move in a way that they could assume made you a threat so they had to kill you immediately?  Like, say, Breonna Taylor who was herself unarmed during the gunfire.

• They initially said that Amir Locke was a suspect. He was not. They lied.
• They went to 2 apartments in that building before entering this one. I still don't know what apartment(s) was named in that warrant.
• The group that asked for the warrant to be delivered did not want a no-knock warrant. Instead, the Minneapolis police made it so. They escalated the danger unnecessarily.

Remember when the strong mayor proponents during the last election said that Frey had "banned no-knock warrants" as a more responsible way to improve public safety under the boot of the police? The city didn't actually ban them. One group promoting that story before the election has removed that reference from their website. (Although, to be fair, they may have removed it after the election, rather than just after this incident. I don't know either way.) 

This break-in and homicide happened a few days after Vogue magazine did a terrible puff piece in favor of poor Mayor Frey.  Twitter pulled no punches about that propaganda.

"Black folks on the Northside you got played by every member of Mayor Frey's phony safety workgroup. They won't deliver you better safety or MPD accountability. The only person who gets something from this farce is the guy with his name on it."
- twitter, "D.A. Bullock", 2022 January 31

After this avoidable execution, even a cat twitter account is asking people to think about what's going on here. Do the people who voted against Proposition 2 a few months ago feel any remorse at all that they were bamboozled to continue supporting these executions by police? When is it supposed to get safer under a strong mayor and highly funded police department?

P.S.  And if you think I've grown impolite and accusatory, you're right.  It's not just me.  Listen to this public dressing down (local archive) of our mayor and police.  (And that's from someone with her own credibility problems here in Minneapolis. And there's a longer clip.)

Comments

[mtbc]

It's frustrating and infuriating. I wish people could instead live in a world that made any sense.

[mellowtigger]

I've avoided humanity and sub-freezing weather for a while now, but thankfully other people braved the dangers to demonstrate yesterday.
https://twitter.com/nickstreiff/status/1490091508011352068

[darkoshi]

As mtbc wrote, these no-knock warrants in general, and then what they did here, is so *infuriating* that I find it hard to even put words to my thoughts on it.

> If loud men burst into your bedroom at night and started yelling at you, would you instantly assume they're actually the mythical "good guys with guns" ... or would you move in a way that they could assume made you a threat so they had to kill you immediately?

Exactly. It induces fight-or-flight mode panic. And when you're not even fully awake. Infuriating.

[mellowtigger]

And during encounters with police, untrained civilians are expected to perform flawlessly or face repercussions. Meanwhile, police are allowed to do just about anything because they're "doing the best they can in a tough situation". That backwards standard of accountability has to change.

[darkoshi]

Yes.