Minneapolis Paying the Price for Today’s Political Turmoil | Eastern North Carolina Now

Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the John Locke Foundation. The author of this post is Mitch Kokai.

    John Daniel Davidson of the Federalist takes a closer look at Minneapolis.

  • The intersection in south Minneapolis where George Floyd died in police custody on May 25 has become a quasi-religious shrine. It is a shrine not just to Floyd, who is honored here as if he were a saint or a martyr, but to the political power of the Black Lives Matter movement and the ascendency of the radical left in this city.
  • The intersection and the neighborhood around it have been "occupied" for months now. To get to the memorial — or "George Square," as it's now called — you must approach on foot. For a block in every direction, the streets are closed to traffic, barricaded by concrete roadblocks and makeshift chevaux de frise. Behind the roadblocks, plywood shields are stacked up next to a tent and an outhouse.
  • A young man in a pink sweater and green hair greets me as I approach. He informs me that it is Indigenous Peoples Day (formerly Columbus Day), and that there is a healing circle for indigenous peoples underway at the intersection next to the memorial. I am not allowed to take pictures of them, he says. By what authority he orders me not to take pictures, he doesn't say. So I take pictures. ...
  • ... The whole intersection has an apocalyptic feel. Firewood is stacked up around the gas pumps for use, I'm told, by the steady stream of "people experiencing homelessness" who often "occupy" the intersection at night. Every smashable window is boarded up, and every board bears some spray-painted curse directed at the police or Trump — and if not a curse, a call for justice in the name of Floyd.
  • The scene recalls nothing so much as the shrines one sees in Mexico and Central America to Catholic saints or the Blessed Mother or the honored dead, with the crucial difference that here the shrine is marked not by reverence but by simmering rage.

Go Back


Leave a Guest Comment

Your Name or Alias
Your Email Address ( your email address will not be published)
Enter Your Comment ( no code or urls allowed, text only please )




An Electoral Shift Among Cuban-Americans? John Locke Foundation Guest Editorial, Editorials, Op-Ed & Politics Did You Know? Grad School Can Affect Whether Students Take a Class Pass/Fail


HbAD0

Latest Op-Ed & Politics

Singer-songwriter Jewel struck a sour note with some people while delighting others with her performance of the national anthem at the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday.
Why on earth would anyone choose either? When will we ever learn
North Carolina Republicans voted to override Democratic Governor Roy Cooper’s veto of a 12-week abortion ban, using their supermajority to put the pro-life measure into law.
An inexplicably-unforeseen outcome has begun to take form since Hollywood writers began their writer's strike to demand more writerly benefits for writers.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) defended the tentative agreement on the debt ceiling he made with President Joe Biden during a press conference Sunday after criticism from some Republicans on the concessions, saying the deal is “worthy of the American people.”
A federal judge is allowing a Cleveland County Emergency Medical Services worker to proceed with a potential class-action lawsuit dealing with overtime pay.
Do you think the Russians care one iota about respecting U.S. law?
caught spending 82 million euros in Europe to oppose fracking

HbAD1

“The world needs more fossil fuels,” according to Alex Epstein, founder of the Center for Industrial Progress. Epstein argues that the benefits of energy sources such as oil, coal, and natural gas far outweigh the costs.
A windowless van was seen lurking outside New York City elementary schools Monday. Witnesses claim the driver handed out obscene pornographic material to minors and lectured them on LGBTQ representation in literature.
Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) slammed the Biden administration’s new EPA rules around electric vehicles and tailpipe emissions.
Two recent news stories about educational institutions in our state illustrate the truth of that statement.
The world can see China is not a “great power” as the U.S. Congress unites in demanding freedom for Mark Swidan, an American who has been “unjustly detained” for more than a decade, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) declared on Tuesday.
As lawmakers in the General Assembly are poised to consider a bill that would streamline the process of approving new charter schools, a statewide charter advocacy organization reports that more than 77,000 students remain on waitlists to join charter schools.

HbAD2

Even a supposed federal government watchdog has gone radically woke, prompting harsh criticism from conservatives.
Studio executives at Disney have been left dumbfounded by the enormous success of Universal's The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which has inexplicably made over $1 billion dollars worldwide despite not featuring any trans goombas anywhere in the film.
Because of my father, my family spends part of every Memorial Day at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced on Tuesday that he is sending more than 1,100 assets to Texas to assist Governor Greg Abbott in combatting the illegal immigration crisis that President Joe Biden caused on the southern border with his policies.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador accused the Pentagon of spying on Mexico’s government, vowing to safeguard classified military information to protect its national security after a spate of documents leaked in U.S. media.
Despite his success in interpreting previous dreams regarding an upcoming famine in the land, sources say Joseph is unsure about what to tell Pharaoh about his dream where he's standing in front of everyone in his underwear and they're laughing at him.
America is in freefall. Cities are crumbling, with open drug abuse and homeless everywhere, overdose deaths are soaring, there’s a mental health epidemic, and then there are the crises, oh the crises: the border, the federal debt, lack of affordable housing, flat-out unaffordable health care.
On Tuesday, the House Health Committee will consider several bills that critics say are likely to raise insurance costs for consumers.

HbAD3

 
Back to Top