Blacklash in Minneapolis

There is a blacklash going on in Minneapolis, the place where the George Floyd incident on May 25 sparked protests, riots, looting, and even murder. I wondered how long this would take.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/absurd-crazy-ridiculous-black-leaders-slam-minneapolis-city-councils-plan-to-defund-the-police/

In response to protests and riots that left sections of the city in flames, the progressive leadership of Minneapolis has taken steps to defund the police department and replace it with a “transformative new model for cultivating safety” in the city. But some influential voices from the black community in the city are pushing back hard on how the city council is driving forward with their “absurd” and “egregious” dismantlement plan.

On June 12, the Minneapolis City Council voted unanimously to pass a resolution to replace the Minneapolis Police Department with a “community-led public safety system” that will involve “healers, elders, youth, artists, and organizers,” who will “lead deep community engagement on race and public safety” and will offer “transformative justice in partnerships informed by the needs of every block in our city….”

But, as reported by the Star Tribune, several leaders in the black community are incensed by how the Democrat-controlled city council has proceeded with its “defund the police” plan (h/t Ed Morrissey).

“Egregious, grotesque, absurd, crazy, ridiculous. These are a handful of the words that some local African American leaders are using to rebuke the Minneapolis City Council’s moves toward dismantling the Police Department, even as they demand an overhaul of law enforcement,” the Tribune reported Thursday. “While the movement to defund the police has been driven by Black activists, others say that city politicians rushed the process and failed to include a police chief who has the backing of many Black residents.”

One of the black leaders, the former president of the NAACP Minneapolis, accused the city council of showing “a complete disregard for the voices and perspectives of many members of the African American community.”

“We have not been consulted as the city makes its decisions, even though our community is the one most heavily impacted by both police violence and community violence,” said former NAACP leader Nekima Levy Armstrong, as reported by the Tribune. Armstrong went on to accuse the council of “seizing upon the national spotlight to look as if they’re making a difference.”

Pastor Brian Herron leveled a similar accusation, saying the council was simply “pandering,” according to the Tribune.