Michael Moore calls for demolition of Minneapolis Police headquarters as 'contrition to black America'
Even as Minneapolis rioted over the death of 46-year-old George Floyd, popular documentary filmmaker Michael Moore suggested that the headquarters of the Minneapolis Police Department should be demolished as a "contrition to black America." The city had erupted in protests earlier this week over the disturbing Memorial Day death of Floyd, who was captured on video pleading with a now-former officer Derek Chauvin to stop kneeling on his neck because he couldn't breathe.
Chauvin had ignored Floyd's pleas, as well as of passers-by who asked him to go easy, and continued to keep his knee on the 46-year-old until he became unconscious and then unresponsive. Floyd was rushed to the Hennepin County Medical Center by ambulance but was declared dead soon after. Many celebrities, including the likes of Cardi B, Diddy, Ciara, Viola Davis and Demi Lovato, weighed in on the situation, with Moore the latest to speak out about Floyd's death.
"Good citizens burning down the evil police precinct in MN after all police were out & safe," he tweeted. "All police should go home. No violence please. Police HQ must be demolished by the city tomorrow as a show of contrition to black America. Rebuild PD with decent kind ppl aka ppl of color." Moore, an Oscar, and Palme d'Or winner, is well-known for his activism and has used cinema to criticize the likes of globalization, large corporations, assault weapon ownership, the Iraq War, the American healthcare system and capitalism in general.
The filmmaker's tweets came in the aftermath of reports that protestors in Minneapolis had broken into Minneapolis' 3rd Precinct station, in the southern part of the city where Floyd died, after the department had abandoned it, and had set it ablaze on Thursday, May 28. The precinct had been evacuated earlier in the day by the order of Mayor Jacob Frey, who said he was unwilling to endanger the lives of police officers to protect the building.
"I understand the importance of a precinct," he said. "[But] the symbolism of a building cannot outweigh the importance of life, of our officers, or the public. We could not risk serious injury to anyone and we will continue to patrol the third precinct entirely." President Donald Trump, who had until then strayed from making incendiary comments about the situation, criticized Frey's for a lack of leadership before promising to send in the National Guard to "get the job done right" and threatening to shoot protestors.
"I can’t stand back & watch this happen to a great American City, Minneapolis," he wrote. "A total lack of leadership. Either the very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the City under control, or I will send in the National Guard & get the job done right....." HE continued, "These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts."
Moore's latest tweet reacted with a photo of Colin Kaepernick's post condemning the death and stated, "Nonviolence. Harm no one, not even dirty murdering white cops. They kill. Over & over again. We stand by & we just watch. So we must rise up. We revolt. We remove Trump in a few months. White ppl - here’s your chance to take a stand against 401 yrs of this."