An ugly scene was witnessed outside the house of Minneapolis Police Federation president when a candidate of the Democratic Party for a seat in the Minnesota House of Representatives protested in a vulgar manner. He shouted statements filled with profanities and called the police federation chief nasty names.
John Thompson is an African-American politician who decided to join another one of the Black Lives Matter protests going on in the USA. What made this particular protest go off the rails was the incendiary, violent, and downright offensive language used by the politician.
After the video of this episode became circulated on social media, the aspiring public representative had to tender an apology. However, this issue has again highlighted the sharp divisions in American society and politics over the image of the police.
Violent speech
"I'm a black man being terrorized by this f***in Klansman right here. We are terrorized by the grand wizard. Y'all got the grand wizard living in your godd***ed neighborhood," Thompson thundered while targeting Bob Kroll, the president of the police federation.
Kroll is married to Liz Collin, a news anchor for a local news channel WCCO-TV. Piñata effigies of both persons were thrashed by the protestors. The demonstrators demanded that both Kroll and Collin be fired form their jobs. The channel has clarified that Collin is kept away from reporting on police-related matters due to the possibility of a conflict of interest.
"Don't run now, racist white people. I'm here, oh yeah, we pull up. We pull the f**k up. And we here. Come on over here with your Blue Lives Matter sign, blue lives ain't s**t. And if the people of Hugo don't support black people, f**k Hugo, Minnesota," the politician further ranted.
What made the entire vicious tirade by Thompson completely unjustifiable was the fact that he didn't even spare some minors who were seen in the garage of the house. The candidate also verbally attacked a pro-police demonstrator who was holding a flag showing his support for the law enforcement agency.
Response to speech
As expected, there were voices of condemnation from the other side. The Chairwoman of the Republican Party in the state took to social media and showed her support for Kroll and the police force in general.
The blowback against the foul language of Thompson resulted in him issuing an apology on Facebook. "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."
