About 100 Black Lives Matter protesters went to the Hugo home of Minneapolis police union president Bob Kroll to protest, and verbally abused neighbors who were on their driveway.
The tactic of protesters going to homes is not new, but it has become a signature of BLM. It’s an intimidation tactic, a way of letting the target know that they are unsafe where they sleep.
The protest outside Kroll’s home was led by John Thompson, a candidate for the Minnesota House for the DFL Party (the state version of the Democratic Party). He has been endorsed by Ilhan Omar and Gov. Tim Walz, and he just won the primary.
Thompson led the crowd in taunting neighbors standing in their driveway. The Star Tribune reports:
More than 100 people congregated outside Minneapolis police union president Bob Kroll’s home in Hugo, where he lives with his wife, WCCO reporter Liz Collin. The rally on Saturday came as part of an effort calling for both Kroll and Collin to be fired from their jobs.Two videos circulating on Twitter show John Thompson, a DFL activist who last week won his primary for House District 67A in St. Paul, wearing a shirt reading “Bob KKKroll Must Go!” and shouting into a microphone to the group of protesters, with neighbors and children nearby. One clip shows him saying “You think we give a [expletive] about burning Hugo down?” In another, he says “[Expletive] Hugo.” Activists also smashed piñata effigies of the pair and took a knee before dispersing.
The video went viral, including on Twitter:
After the video spread and attracted national coverage, Thompson posted a weak non-apology apology on his Facebook account:
I became an activist and ran for the legislature to make a difference, to work diligently to fix our broken criminal justice system, dismantle institutional racism, and honor my friend, Philando Castile and become a symbolism of help within our community. I want to make a positive difference, and my comments on Saturday were not helpful. Inflammatory rhetoric is not how I want to address the important issues we’re facing, and I apologize. I’m not apologizing for my passion to fight injustice.
Minnesota DFL officials are not walking away from Thompson, as the Star Tribune article noted:
Minnesota DFL Chairman Ken Martin also issued a statement Sunday saying the party does not condone any rhetoric that is violent, hateful or inflammatory.“I’m grateful for the work John is doing to combat systemic racism, and I’m glad that he recognizes yesterday’s rhetoric was inflammatory, hurtful, and does not help move our state forward in the fight for justice,” Martin wrote.
Yes, of course it was unhelpful to the DFL, Democrats, and even more so to Black Lives Matter.
This is not an isolated instance. It’s not just Hugo, or Minneapolis, or Chicago, or Portland, or Seattle, or St. Louis, or New York City, or dozens of other places around the country week after week. We are way beyond the anectodal stage.
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