when interviewed the head of the Minnesota State Patrol (highway patrol) never mentioned any law being broken that applies to protests on a freeway. He said the usual blather about endangering motorists (um, people are dangerous to cars? No, not so much) and how inconvenient it was for police for protesters to keep the police away from the donut shops... darn shame.
The group of protesters, which calls themselves the Coalition to Wake Your Ass Up, released a statement following the shutdown, saying in part that they condemn the ongoing killing of black lives across the country.
“The coalition…believes this shut down reinforces our belief that comfort and business as usual must be disrupted until substantive changes occur in our city and throughout the country,” the statement said in part. “We support community-led alternatives, solutions, and programs to protect our communities. On this day, we support the workers attempting to make a living but we also know that sacrifices must be made if we hope to live decently together.”
well said.
http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2016/07/13/protesters-i-35-w-shutdown/
Remember recent history. Shutting down a road for protest is a nobel action rewarded by history.
When the protest march for black voting rights took place on March 21st 1965, the governor (Wallace) wouldn't man up and do the right thing, but the president did.
President Johnson sent in the US Army and National Guard under Federal command, as well as FBI and Federal Marshals to protect the marchers, from who? State Troopers and local volunteer officers of the local sheriff's department who blocked the road.
State police and sheriffs departments are not historically kind to civil rights, they want a nice quiet day for donuts and coffee.
The marchers in 1965 walked to the state capitol, and 25,000 people went into the capitol building to show support for voting rights.
That marching route is now memorialized as the "Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights Trail" and is designated a US National Historic Trail. That road is a state highway, US 80.
Seems that our current times of police misconduct, over aggressive behavior, and shooting unarmed innocent people who have committed no crime is a just cause and good reason for citizens to question the lack of government leadership, accountability, and to bring attention to the problem the mayors, governors, congressmen, and president are doing nothing to solve.
While the elected representatives of the people refuse to demand that the police act professional, the protesters are going to refuse to be quiet.
It seems we have a civil rights movement in our age. It's not the Vietnam War protest, it's not the womens suffrage voting rights movement... it's police malfeasance movement.
