According to my older sister in Minneapolis, a longtime activist now involved in protests demanding justice for George Floyd, there is some documentation that the first act of vandalism in Minneapolis was a middle-aged white guy all suited up with a gas mask who torched an auto parts store. When I was arrested, after being tear gassed, along with 90 others by the Minneapolis police in 2000 for peaceful protesting, I was put in a holding cell for several hours with about fifteen other arrestees. Their antipathy toward me was aggressive & I assumed that as an older protester they might suspect me of being an undercover cop. Later in all the legal proceedings, I learned that almost half of those arrested were undercover cops & in fact one of the witnesses at my trial was an undercover cop who testified that I engaged in illegal activity. All of them were in their twenties to fit in with the protesters. The antipathy toward me was analogous to being the only human at the vampire’s ball.
It’s not conspiratorial to suggest that the looting & vandalism going on is not just misdirected expression of political anger nor actions of a small criminal element but fomented by carefully placed undercover operatives. Most of the Black community are hard-working, law-abiding citizens, not vandals. It’s that cui bono thing. Who benefits from making the Black community look like lawless vandals rather than having justified outrage at the murder of George Floyd? The middle-aged white guy could just be a nut case or the police department could have chosen their personnel for this operation unwisely. But if I were a gambling woman, I would lay odds that undercover operatives are chockablock at the events today not just to impugn the protests but to keep peaceful protesters like my sister & her family away.
May 28, 2020