After four white supremacists shot up a group of Black Lives Matter protesters who were protesting near a local police precinct in Minneapolis demanding justice for wrongfully executed 24 year-old Jamar Clark, the police did not respond by going out in full force to bring the perpetrators of this heinous act to justice. On the contrary, they once again demonstrated that there is little daylight between themselves and self-proclaimed white supremacists when it comes to the similar disdain they hold for Black people. Shortly after masked gunmen opened fire on the crowd and injured five demonstrators, friends of the wounded begged police officers to get them some assistance but were instead told to “call 911.” When it was pointed out to them that they were in fact 911, the police officers reportedly replied, “This is what you guys wanted.” When a number of cops finally did arrive after 15-20 minutes of doing nothing, they didn’t even bother calling for an ambulance. Instead they treated those who’d been shot and those attempting to tend to their wounds with hostility, approaching them in full riot-gear with weapons drawn. The cops then went on to mace them all in their faces!
According to Rachel Bean who was present at the scene and had tried earlier to get help after the protesters were attacked, she said to the officers, “I called the EMS, you don’t have to mace everyone!” Then came the callous response, “Shut the fuck up!”
Not surprisingly, this echoes the very same reaction Minneapolis police had at the scene of the November 15 killing of Jamar Clark in the first place. After Clark was brutally executed while his hands were cuffed behind his back, eyewitnesses who were at the scene had guns pulled on them before they were sprayed with mace. Though police officers would like to claim that it was in the interest of the protesters to be shot by white supremacists, the truth is that the obvious motive such an attack against Black demonstrators demanding justice is to instill them with a sense of fear, to keep them from coming out to protest against the injustice of the police. Police had been bitterly complaining about protests in front of the police precinct for days, with Minneapolis police union president Lieutenant Bob Kroll going so far as to refer to the very presence of protesters there as “a local version of Benghazi“.
United States Hypocrisy 
I know I’m reading and commenting long after this was posted, but one of the last sentences is sticking with me. The one where the connection is made that the macing of the protesters is to make them fearful and not want to protest the injustices. It’s damn true.
I was at the 4th precinct a few nights, lucky me and my friend weren’t there the night of the shooting, but the edges of the protest were on guard/high alert because of the police presence and chance of them raiding. It was scary, and my friends and I knew if a raid happened we’d do our best to scatter and try to get back home, despite being 20 miles from home.
We also were told to carry milk, and makeshift gas masks to protect ourselves from tear gas. It’s messed up when we have to protect/fear the people who swore to protect us.
Sorry for taking so long to approve your comment! I’m just now getting to my comments from February and I apologize. It’s a shame that they want people like you to live in fear, but you exhibited bravery just by showing up at the 4th precinct considering all that’s been happening.
Happy holidays to you and yours!
US police need to be disarmed, the sooner the better. New Zealand police don’t carry guns – if they have to deal with an armed perpetrator, they call out a specially trained SWAT team called The Armed Defenders Squad.
The US needs to be disarmed period, beginning with its nuclear arsenal and the police.
Masked gunman=men too cowardly to reveal their faces when committing a crime. Police reaction doesn’t surprise me…many are freemasons. Do you notice that we are going backwards in time towards the struggles and injustices of the Civil Rights era? Next thing you know, they will make us 100% slaves. But first, they will come for our guns.
Unfortunately the guns people do have are not being used to protect those who speak truth to power, such as Black Lives Matter, from the brutal oppressive authorities and their allies. Instead the guns are being used to police black bodies, and those with the most power are counting on that to continue to keep them in power. They aren’t so concerned with “taking everyone’s guns away” despite what the NRA claims because they know that those guns aren’t a threat to their power as long as they continue to have a national scapegoat.
Reblogged this on The Militant Negro™.
You didn’t like my previous answer, so what is your solution? Africans should keep being killed or should they fight? Has writing about the injustices and marching prevented lives from being gunned down since the last post?
Actually in truth I have just now been going through the posts comments I’ve received during the past two months, replying to them and approving them to appear. It’s not usual for me to take so long but I have been extraordinarily busy as of late and I do apologize for taking so long to get back to you.
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, if the cops don’t kill you the ‘supremacists’ must.
Our federal government turns the blind eye to injustice.
Caleb
Never stop these sharings.
Yours is a sane, compassionate voice in a sea of lies and injustices.
Ever
john
Thank you John. I will certainly never cower away from saying what needs to be said or sharing what needs to be shared based on whether others want to hear it or not. As you and I both know, the truth is often an inconvenience for those whose privilege relies on the dispossession of another.
Absolutely!
Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
When will it ever end?!