Anti-cop vow is step backward
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The New York Times has a story that’s entertaining reading for conservatives. It concerns a mostly white, solidly leftist neighborhood so inspired by the death of George Floyd at the hands of a rogue policeman, they decided to volunteer to become victims, too.
Rapidly the residents of Minneapolis’ Powderhorn Park began living in Powderkeg Park.
Almost en masse, the “progressive neighbors have vowed to avoid calling law enforcement into their community. Doing so … would add to the pain that black residents of Minneapolis were feeling and could put them in danger.”
The headline was “A Minneapolis Neighborhood Vowed to Check Its Privilege.”
It was a bold step into the past.
When one of the first don’t-ring-the-cops ringleaders moved into Powderhorn, it was plagued by prostitutes, johns and gangbangers. She told the Times she spent most of her time shooing off “working girls” and calling the cops.
This new experiment in Hobbesian living is characterized by the philosophical thread linking all leftist experiments in utopia. The project is judged by the intent of the effort and not the results.
Possibly the neighborhood is nostalgic for grit or maybe there is such condition as criminal naivete. Either way, I want to give credit where credit is due. Normally the procedure for elite leftists is to make other people live up to their high ideals.
Not this time. These leftists are living the nightmare themselves.
Before you could say “police brutality” vagrants erected a tent city in the park the neighborhood was named after. “The multiracial group of roughly 300 new residents seems to grow larger and more entrenched every day. They do laundry, listen to music and strategize about how to find permanent housing. Some are hampered by mental illness, addiction or both.
“Their presence has drawn heavy car traffic … some from drug dealers. At least two residents have overdosed in the encampment and had to be taken away in ambulances.”
Powderkeg Park is no longer a sea of tranquility. One of the pledge-takers lives in fear. She dreams of using a bat to defend herself from home invaders.
This has not caused commitment to lag. “The women agreed to let any property damage, including to their own homes, go ignored.” And if they saw anyone in real danger they decided to call the vigilantes at the American Indian Movement.
Mitchell Erickson could have used an AIM war party. He was confronted by the new arrivals. “Two black teenagers who looked to be 15 … cornered him outside his home a block away from the park.” One pointed a gun at Erickson and demanded his car keys. Understandably rattled, he gave the thugs his house keys instead, so they went down the street and stole another social experimenter’s auto.
Erickson forgot his commitment to social justice and backslid. He called the police. He atoned for his lapse by pledging “not (to) cooperate with prosecutors in a case against the boys.”
Days later he was still riven by regret. “I regret calling the police. It was my instinct but I wish it hadn’t been. I put those boys in danger of death by calling the cops.”
And there you have the leftist mindset. A rare combination of condescension, noblesse oblige and racial stereotyping.
No one is responsible. Everyone’s a victim of circumstances beyond their control. Drugs too cheap. Work too early. School too boring. Otherguy did it.
Michael Shannon is the author of “A Conservative Christian’s Guidebook for Living in Secular Times.” Contact him at:
