29 May 2020 – Following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, peaceful protests as well as riots have broken out. Trump subsequently tweeted he wants to shoot looters. So much for upholding the constitution as his oath binds him to do.
Police knelt on Mr Floyd’s neck, asphyxiating him. The white officers at the scene gave him no help and did nothing stop their colleague’s fatal, illegal assault. They lost their jobs – but no arrests were made and no charges brought. Understandably this has caused outrage and protest.
Peaceful protests turned ugly – with vandalism, arson and allegedly looting. In some video footage purporting to be from the scene, heavily-disguised white men are seen breaking windows and assembling materials that may have been used in arson. There does not seem to be any record of police looking for, or arresting them. It certainly looks at the moment as if they sought to discredit the peaceful protest and further inflame racial tensions: they need to be found, identified, charged.
Police have today shockingly arrested CNN personnel who were legally, safely covering the scene. In a video CNN’s crew repeatedly ask the police where they should stand. Police say nothing to the reporters until for no discernible, legal reason they start arresting the team. This was wholly illegal and is all embarrassingly for them caught on camera.
Our action concerns the president of the country calling for looters to be shot.
As much as Trump might like the country to become a rights-free dictatorship, we will not allow this to happen.
His hate speech has been proven to have inflamed racial tensions and led to violence since even before he took office.
We are drawing a line.
ACTION
Either add your name and home city to the Facebook post about this action alert and your details will be added to the message One Pulse sends to Trump and Governor Walz – or send your own message:
Please contact Donald Trump, cc Governor Walz through one of the channels below and give them the following message, personalized to your liking:
The police in Minneapolis are out of control, witness the death of George Floyd. We at One Pulse for America demand the arrest, charging and trial of all involved in this killing, and a comprehensive, independent investigation of what certainly looks like institutionalized racism in the force. We expect to see resignations of those at the top too.
We understand why people are furious; we are too. We have watched peaceful protests – and have seen proof that these have been hijacked by a tiny number of people who turned them violent: people who are caught on video, some of whom are white males. We demand that police find, arrest and charge these suspects.
We believe that Trump’s tweet ‘when the looting starts the shooting starts’ violates his oath to uphold the constitution and is an attack on all our rights. The shooting threat is designed to cow those who want to exercise their right to peaceful protest. If white men can take automatic rifles into state capitals to protest life-saving measures, then those who want to protest peacefully against injustice must see their rights upheld too. By tweeting that it is OK to shoot looting suspects Trump is also by implication giving his permission for police to shoot/kill other crime suspects. Of all the disgraceful things Trump has done or said in office, this is among the worst.
One Pulse for America campaigns on any and all gun-related issues. As such, we are outraged that a sitting president of our country should take to Twitter to say ‘when the looting starts the shooting starts’. This is still a democracy, despite the best efforts of Trump to inflame via hate speech, which has resulted in violence. We will not tolerate any threat of ex-judicial execution just as we will not tolerate the ex-judicial execution of George Floyd. We will not tolerate the continuing epidemic of police executions across the country. We will not tolerate the arrest of journalists who have a constitutionally-protected right to report.
No feeble excuses on any of these issues that have been offered will be entertained. There is no excuse whatsoever for Mr Floyd’s death, for the president threatening to shoot any citizens whether breaking law or not, or for arresting news crews.
We expect to hear from Governor with news that arrests are being made on the killing of Mr Floyd, confirmation the journalists have been released without charge, an independent investigation into the entire force is launched, and the police who arrested them to be charged with false arrest. An apology from Trump is the least he should do, but we expect very little from him.
AND/OR Suggested tweet:
@GovTimWalz @realDonaldTrump Walz I demand arrest of those involved in #GeorgeFloydMurder : death demands action. Trump how dare u threaten to shoot any1 – your threats will not intimidate legal, just protests but they show you violated your oath to uphold constitution. Resign.
President Donald Trump
Phone: 202-456-1111
Email: (form) https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/POTUS/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump
Governor Tim Walz
Phone: 651-201-3400
Email: HSEM.PPP@state.mn.us
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GovTimWalz/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GovTimWalz
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