Earlier this week I wrote about the protests at the Mall of America. A significant number of readers missed the nuance and made conclusions that were not close to being true.
"If you want to support the anti-cop crowd, you should come right out and do it," one wrote.
Since when are support of free speech and law enforcement mutually exclusive?
Many readers also missed a main point: The Minnesota Supreme Court decided the mall is private, even though taxpayers have paid hundreds of millions of dollars to build and expand it. The protesters knew they were not welcome but chose an act of civil disobedience and trespassed.
The Bloomington city attorney plans to press charges. I have no problem with that. Criminal charges are the outcome of civil disobedience — often even the goal. Protesters who broke the law should be charged.
I understand the emotional responses I got from the column, however. The deaths of young black men at the hands of police in different situations have created a heated national debate. In New York, police have practically blamed protests for the horrible killing of two officers there, which is ludicrous. Blame goes to the deranged man who did it.
In Minnesota, the heads of the police unions in Minneapolis and St. Paul, John Delmonico and David Titus, issued a more helpful statement in response to the "hostile climate" police face.
"The men and women wearing blue each and every day on the streets of St. Paul and Minneapolis endeavor to serve the public in a professional and ethical manner, and to treat citizens with respect and dignity," they wrote. "Certainly, there have been instances where our officers have fallen short of the line, and we believe that we have been quick to acknowledge these instances. It seems that too often lately we have found ourselves living in a world where feelings count for more than facts."
