Minnesota's hot mess

"How will the Chauvin trial and the adjudication of the killing of Daunte Wright play out? No clue. All I can do is hope that nothing else bad happens on top of those two things. We just can't take much more national publicity." 

When I worked at a former company, our customer, our teammate, and our marketing staff were all from the East Coast. Quite often, they would make fun of us Minnesotans. I can remember this state being called "flyover land", "Mini-no-place", "Mini-hopeless", or just plain "North". No respect. Just a frozen Omaha. Nothing ever happened here - just nine months of winter, followed by three months of mosquitos and ticks.

Then came the George Floyd incident, followed by four days of total mayhem, violence, arson and theft in Minneapolis. When it was all said and done, the city looked like it had been hit by a MOAB. Could we heal from that please, and then get out of the national spotlight? Nope. Our trial of the century, was in the offing. Former officer Chauvin was charged with murder and manslaughter. He was to be tried first. Then later in the year, the other three former officers are to be tried together. 

Just when it appeared that things could not get more convoluted and confusing in our state, an incident this past weekend in Brooklyn Center, led to the death of a 20 year old black man named Daunte Wright. He was shot (maybe accidently) by a white 20 year veteran police officer. Then all hell broke loose (again). Not to the extent that happened in Minneapolis after the George Floyd incident, but still enough to be highlighted on the national news. It was bad enough and put half of the metro on curfew the next evening. 

All of a sudden, our once sleepy little state, who never made the national news, can't stay out of the news. Minneapolis, Portland, and Seattle, are all the current epicenters for social unrest in the nation. Ironically (or not), all three cities have recently voted to underfund, or defund their city police departments. How bad is it? There is no grace left anywhere. The city of Minneapolis is like a powder keg right now, and bad actors from parts unknown are ready to come here and raise hell (again). The city of Mary Tyler Moore, is now looking more like a scene from Dante's Inferno.

Can Minnesota ever once again go back to being a Sleepy Hollow? Fly over land? The land of boredom and long winter naps? Or is this our new muse? The lawlessness in Minneapolis is like most of us have never seen. Carjackings, have become more common than uncommon. It is so bad, that people who were suppose to go downtown to the convention center to get a Covid shot - decided it was too risky. They turned down that opportunity, to wait until they could get a shot someplace other than Minneapolis. 

How will the Chauvin trial and the adjudication of the killing of Daunte Wright play out? No clue. All I can do is hope that nothing else bad happens on top of those two things. We just can't take much more national publicity.