Warm to the Touch

A little purple prose in the morning - Fred Markus

While the big picture events are rolling by – the pandemic, economic collapse, and severe weather systems – it is not enough to be deeply concerned about complacency hereabouts.

Now there is the horrific event where a police officer basically committed deliberate murder of a restrained individual in nearby South Minneapolis. The details are widely known, given rapid news reporting grounded in an unforgiving video that left no doubt that this officer had malicious intent and was watched without comment by three other officers witnessing the crime. There were also a number of first-hand civilian witnesses who pled in vain for the wanton cruelty to stop before the victim died of this clearly intentional murder being committed by an officer of the Minneapolis Police Department.

Soon hundreds and then likely thousands of citizens hit the streets, eventually bearing down on the headquarters of the Third Precinct. The four perpetrators of the crime were ensconced in the precinct building. They were soon fired by the Mayor of Minneapolis with the approbation of the Chief of Police. A great many police officers came to the defense of the precinct building and the adjacent police cars that routinely park there, assaulting the crowd with flash bags, tear gas, and rubber bullets fired point-blank into the crowd.

It is not exactly rocket science to note that the assassination of uniformed police officers may emerge from this latest episode of wanton official behavior – if there is no swift justice in this matter, there will be individuals who may well be more deliberate than the kids who shot and killed the officer whose name is remembered by a downtown parking ramp. This is not the first time a victim of police barbarity has been killed with apparent relish but now the blow-back may be less juvenile.

What possesses the both the hierarchy of the police establishment and the police union to brush off these destructive behaviors? Why are ancillary governance and institutional responsibilities not brought to bear in remediation of these actions by incredibly bad apples that jeopardize the entire cadre of uniformed officers?

Pandemic, economic collapse, and harsh weather aside, there are no law enforcement capacities equal to the task of keeping their visible personnel from harm's way short of martial law and a huge military presence. I remember the chaos that erupted in Madison, Wisconsin in the 1960s. I know from the nation's history that there come times when populations rise up and engage in destructive behaviors.

I also know that we now have the most heavily armed urban civilian population anywhere on the planet. This is not Hong Kong, where the Communist regime willingly slaughters protesters via superior force of arms. We are not likely so supine when agents of the government become monsters.

Nor do I believe that our organized military will be quiescent if government devolves into rank hypocrisy, lying propaganda, and greedy abuse of power. That's a description more suited to the national scene these days and hopefully not a disease immobilizing our state and local authorities when armed thugs would have their way with us.

The price of liberty, as has been said, requires eternal vigilance.