Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) declared a state of emergency Monday in the Minneapolis area as the state prepares for the decision in the George Floyd murder trial against former police officer Derek Chauvin.
Walz held a news conference to outline security plans. His efforts include additional police support from Nebraska and Ohio. The state senate also approved $9 million in emergency funds to support public safety against potential unrest.
“We can’t live like this,” Walz said. “We simply can’t. But we can’t have thousands of businesses burned and people put at risk.”
The emergency order covers the seven-county area of Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, and Washington counties. It also includes calling up state National Guard troops for support.
The case is currently awaiting the decision of the jury. Closing arguments ended Monday, with jurors meeting for four hours before concluding for the evening. They plan to meet again Tuesday.
Regardless of the outcome of the trial, Walz is right. Americans can’t live like this. We live in a nation where a person is innocent until proven guilty. If proven guilty, Chauvin will be sentenced like any other person convicted of a crime.
There should be no fear of violence in the streets, but there is. But who are people afraid of? It’s not conservative Trump supporters saying they’ll burn cities. It’s extremist BLM activists.
How does destroying property and hurting people decrease racism? It doesn’t. Instead, it increases anger and animosity among people, causing them to live in fear or to fight rather than to move forward to make progress.
If progressives were truly progressive, they would intervene and call for calm. Instead, Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters has called for more confrontation.
Though House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has not made similar statements, her silence toward Waters screams of her support. Why do Democrats seem to want America to destroy itself?
Any true patriotic American would urge prayers and peaceful protests. Instead, godless violence intends to repeat itself in the nation’s streets. For what? A few moments of mainstream media coverage? An outpouring of anger?
Have we not learned anything as a nation in our 200-plus year history? Progress by any means necessary is not progress. It’s chaos. True progress takes place when those who want to make a difference do so in ways that help others, not that hurt them.
Gov. Walz is right to prepare for the worst. It’s his job as leader of the state to protect his people. But where is President Joe Biden? Where is Vice President Kamala Harris? If diversity is so important to them, where are they when there is an opportunity to speak out and do something to help?
Maybe Biden doesn’t care. Maybe he doesn’t know what’s really happening in our country. Whatever the reason, the results will be concerning unless calm intervenes. If Biden really wants to unite America, now is his chance. If not, it may be his last chance to intervene before the situation grows worse.
