© UnknownMao's shock troops, Philadelphia 2011
For over two weeks, riots have erupted across America, and it doesn't look like they will stop soon. Protesters and cops have been killed. A black man has just been shot by police in Atlanta, triggering another riot.
Reading about all this turmoil, I think back to my one visit to the Twin Cities, in 2014. Arriving in Saint Paul on a train from Williston, North Dakota, I checked into a motel, and was on the streets by dawn. It was July 4th!
Wandering around haphazardly, I ended up at Langford Park, where there was a large picnic. Old people relaxed on lawn chairs, kids ran around and the Pig's Eye JassBand was swinging to Gershwin's "Strike Up the Band." Having been to many cities in at least 35 states, I had never encountered such a wholesome and tranquilly joyous gathering. It was as if I had stumbled into a vast Norman Rockwell painting, or time traveled to an America of half a century ago.
Comment: Thus does the media continues to stoke the emotions around George Floyd's unfortunate death. Keung seems to have done his best to remain calm while being harassed by a random person who probably has no connection to the case. What does she hope to gain, except to make a bad situation worse? What happened to innocent until proven guilty? Unfortunately, often this is how the justice system works in the US with regard to police, and if she has a problem with that, her beef isn't really with Keung. It's basically the twitter-mob mentality bleeding into the real world. As far as she's concerned, he's already been tried and convicted.
Twitterati have come down on both sides of the issue.