pandemonium in Minneapolis

[mellowtigger]

Last night was awful, both at my house and especially downtown.  A few people are dead, others injured.  The flavor of chaos at my house was similar to previous years.  Although daytime was unusually quiet, it finally started near dusk.  Reminder: All explosive fireworks are illegal throughout Minnesota.  I cannot explain why it's legal for grocery stores in Minneapolis to sell them.  Republican leadership, of course, wants to legalize them.

9pm: Continuous fireworks.  As in, no silence available for any duration, just fireworks. 
12am: Rarely, I can count to 10 before fireworks break the silence.
1am: I can count to 20 sometimes.
1:30am: That sounds like gunfire nearby?  Yes, it was gunfire, about 2 blocks away.
2am: I can count to 60, sometimes 90.  The cat comes to bed briefly for petting and reassurance, before running off again.
3am: Almost everyone has gone back inside, except somebody just a few houses away.
4am: Is that silence?  At last?  (Mostly.)  I wonder how bad it was in the rest of the city?  *looks at Twitter*  ARGH!
5am: I see light in the sky.  I wonder if I'll have to wear my sleep mask to get any sleep tonight today?
10am: I wake up.

So what happened in Minneapolis that kept me up an extra hour?  At least 3 people are dead: 1 from self-inflicted fireworks, and 2 from gunfire downtown with others injured.

There was gunfire all over town (example video in my north side), including 100 bullets less than a dozen blocks north of me.  People were shooting fireworks all night downtown, which is kind of expected, but there were multiple scenes of pandemonium (videos 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5).  Those sites included Stone Arch Bridge and Gold Medal Park, both places where I walked during my lunch break at my previous job.  It also included Guthrie Theater, where I sometimes parked (video, edit June 6: and a newly uploaded video from that night), and Boom Island nearby where "Police found .45, 9mm and live rounds all over the place."  There were groups trying to break into buildings.

I'm familiar with life in the #WarzoneInMinneapolis, but this is different.  I don't know what this is.  Is it more futility showing ("Nothing ever changes, so why care about anything?") or is it covid brain?  We know it can make some people rage and poor at reasoning.  That's what this looks like to me, and covid brain isn't limited to big cities.  It's difficult, though, to know how much is biological brain damage and how much is social damage from unemployment and isolation (which is now effectively over except for numbskulls like me).

Still true as of noon today, the last tweet from Mayor Frey was June 1st.

Comments

[oracne]

That is terrifying!

Could some of it be from hate groups? Like, trying to start trouble?

[mellowtigger]

It doesn't seem like it? It's easy to get that sense at some protests, but this was just... mass insanity. Like "red hour" in that Star Trek episode.

[oracne]

That feels almost worse. I guess because the idea is less controllable.

[lilysea]

and isolation (which is now effectively over except for numbskulls like me

I think you were being sarcastic

but in case you weren't

isolation to avoid catching COVID = very wise, and the OPPOSITE of being a numbskull

[mellowtigger]

Yes, you've got it exactly. :) Sorry, I usually try to identify my sarcasm more explicitly. (sleep, ugh) With the White House and CDC both officially downplaying risks, it feels increasingly like gaslighting to some of us trying to stay SARS2-negative, like we're the ones "out of step".

[lilysea]

Yep, the Australian government just cancelled the payment that we've had for 2020/2021/most of 2022 til now that was designed to enable people who tested positive for COVID to stay home from work until they tested negative :(

So now, people will go to work and spread COVID to all their coworkers or customers, because it's that or not being able to afford rent/groceries :(

(I'm talking here about workers without any access to paid sick leave - which tends to be eg retail staff, cafe staff, home care staff with high contact with the public)