George Floyd
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Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Haha! Is that Garth Marenghi? Love it.
sufi
lala
but
mvuent
Void Dweller
from personal experience, it’s a very nice place to live if you’re a middle class white person. but even living in that bubble, it’s hard not to notice that the affluent neighborhoods are overwhelmingly white (and liberal), and the less wealthy neighborhoods largely not white. no fancy statistical analysis needed, it’s just obvious. the level of de facto racial segregation is obvious.
so for a few days it was a bit surreal living in my quite frankly NIMBY neighborhood. you could always hear police helicopters, teargas being fired just several miles away, but if you stepped outside you’d see people walking their dogs, sitting on their patios, kids out playing, etc. that’s not to say that no one cared what was happening. but all the police brutality and conflict going on was literally invisible right here if you didn’t actively seek it out.
if you go to uptown right now there are a few buildings burned to the ground, some damaged, and a ton that are boarded up. it’s not like the whole city got burned to the ground, not even close. seems to me like with continued support the affected communities will be mostly ok. (at least, as “ok” as they were before.) there are a ton of murals and spray painted messages about floyd and others all over the boarded windows, which forces you to constantly remember what actually caused all this.
also, if you watched the UR streams you probably heard protesters chanting “go back to oakdale” cause apparently that’s where a lot of mpd cops, including chauvin, live. i’ve been here 18 years and had never even fucking heard of it, which tells you something about how connected a lot of mpd officers are to the community they police. just in case all the footage of them assaulting protestors and shooting people’s eyes out w/ “rubber” bullets wasn’t enough.
outside county attorney mike freeman’s house a few days after floyd was murdered:
(the whole street in front was covered by protesters the day after freeman said there was “other evidence that does not support a criminal charge”)
anyways i’m far from being the go to person on what’s been happening, just wanted to share a few impressions.
padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
sure. that's the case in every American city I've ever lived in or visited. de facto racial segregation and uneven wealth distribution are America.
I wasn't saying MPLS is free of that, but I'm familiar with some of its less affluent areas (most of the punks lived in Phillips etc, still do I think?) + the city in general, and it just doesn't have anything that can compare with the South or West sides of Chicago. or Baltimore, Detroit, LA, etc. which isn't to minimize such problems as do exist.
all I was really saying was that it wouldn't be your first pick as flashpoint, unlike prior flashpoints (Oakland, Baltimore, Chicago).
tho that in itself just speaks to the universality of the problems - systemic racism, militarized police brutality, etc - in America.
Minnesota being by any measure a more liberal place than much of the country
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padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
cops living in their own insular communities outside of the places they police, or at the very edge if laws require them to live in city limits, is a common American thing as well
here in Chicago they're required to live in the city, so they cluster in neighborhoods as close to being out of the city as possible - Portage Park (far NW), Beverly (far south, Irish, cops/firefighters), etc. presumably other cities are the same.
here in Chicago they're required to live in the city, so they cluster in neighborhoods as close to being out of the city as possible - Portage Park (far NW), Beverly (far south, Irish, cops/firefighters), etc. presumably other cities are the same.
mvuent
Void Dweller
yeah wasn't arguing with you, just thought your observation was a nice jumping off point. minneapolis is bad even by US standards, but i totally agree that it wouldn't be one's first pick as a flashpoint.
padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
I didn't know that, but it's not terribly surprising I guess
Leo
Well-known member
yup, tons of NYC cops/firefighters in Staten Island and rockaways. bet hardly any live in Manhattan, aside from way uptown.
sufi
lala
I think that experience of normality in one part of town while another part is rioting is relatable e.g. in London when there are huge demos in the center and calm on the periphery, but the segregation in US is like nothing i've experienced in UK or anywhere else in Yurp. That cuts through all of this, i found it a big shock every time i was in US 
Thanks for your account Mvuent, dissensus special correspondent at ground zero
Thanks for your account Mvuent, dissensus special correspondent at ground zero