Blue Blood

STAGING

What do you know about Minneapolis, Minnesota?

Well maybe that it gets so cold in the Winter, that buildings were built with indoor passageways so that once inside you can almost tour the entire business district without going outside again.

Or that it had a politically liberal past with the influential Farmer-Labor Party which introduced Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale to the nation – two Vice Presidents who never became President.

Or that like New York it has a river running through it that separates Minneapolis from its sister-city. St. Paul.

But that river is unlike anything in New York.

It is the Mighty Mississippi River and Minneapolis is its northern end.

The mighty Mississippi, the racially blood-stained symbol running down through the middle of America, through St. Louis, New Orleans and into the ocean. These Southern cities all along its banks, with black ghettoes, the haves and the have-nots clearly separated then, now and always.

But how would we know because unlike these cities, Minneapolis is so North, seems calm, decent, a nice place to live especially if you like Winter.

And then on July 25, 2020, America and the World saw the real Minneapolis as it watched the death of George Floyd in a black ghetto neighborhood…saw it on television, saw it openly, agonizingly as a policeman’s knee seemed to press the life out of him.

And the country and the World erupted into marches and riots and confrontations with Police.

And now that policeman, Derek Chauvin, is on trial for murder.

TODAY

We have included a videotape of the activities that day composed by experts in law enforcement.

It will be difficult to watch as it was then but it is very complete and something that has not been seen before.

At the conclusion of the video, there is an expert Police analysis of what happened and the revelation that a coroner’s autopsy report, held in secret by the prosecution and never released nation-wide, officially states that Mr. Floyd died as the result of a drug induced overdose and not because of the police action that day.

In a similar case in Stated Island in July, 2014, Eric Garner died as the result of a choke-hold applied by Daniel Pantaleo. The coroner said that Mr. Garner’s obesity and other co-morbidities were the cause of his death. Mr. Pantaleo was not convicted of his murder, though he was fired by the NYPD.

Will that be the result of Mr. Chauvin’s murder trial. And the other three Policemen as well?

You may not wish to view the entire videotape, but the Police analysis is very revealing. It expresses very clearly and completely the view of the Police when dealing with situations…all situations…like these cases.

It does not begin to take into consideration the essential elements of racism that may deeply underlie the accepted and enforced actions taken by Police.

We recognize that at least one policeman dies in the line of duty every day in this country. We know that little is made of this reality unless that death comes in a situation like the recent mass murder in Boulder, Colorado.

We believe that police are poorly paid and incompletely trained.

We look at the current status of support for the NYPD with alarm. The people of New York know they need the best police force in the World; those in NYCHA and other sections of New York like it, need that most of all and want it.

New York’s incompetent Mayor, his inadequate Police Commissioner and the City Council are taking actions which will make matters worse.

The New York State Legislature’s attempt to fix the problems at Riker’s Island by changing the bail regulations are actions taken by a badly informed group of politicians without an ounce of common sense, much less an incisive understanding of what has to be done.

There is a clear misconnection between the public and the Police.

We think what you are about to see makes that case very clearly.