"F*** off, c*** f***er!"

As protested were outside the house of prosecutor Pete Orpu in Stillwater, neighbor/corrections officer Paul Gorder confronted the crowd.

"You touch my wife, I'll kick your ass," he said.

"All you f***ing n***ers, get out of here," his wife said.
Sgt. Paul Gorder is a "30-year veteran of Minnesota Correctional Facility – Stillwater. He is well known and highly respected among staff and incarcerated men at the facility" according to the jail he works at, whose team logo he wore during the encounter.
You can see the full context of the interaction here from the 02:05:16 mark of my livestream.

"Shut up!" Sgt. Gorder says to Stillwater Police trying to calm the situation. "She's [wife] trying to help!"

Only ID'ing him because he is in law enforcement.

pscp.tv/FordFischer/1Y…
I ran up as the confrontation was occurring and missed the very beginning of it.

An activist explain that the wife - apparently drunk - tried to get into her neighbor's car.

When asked about driving drunk, she apparently got mad at protesters for blocking neighbors' driveway.
Sgt. Paul Gorder is actually known to the activists.

Only 3 days ago, @bymyelf filmed as he was furious at protesters rallying in the same place, but then recognized and hugged a participant who had been in his jail.

"I know Paul" the activist said.

This is actually not Sgt. Gorder's only experience with activism.

From 2010:

"Corrections Sgt. Paul Gorder became emotional at a rally outside Stillwater prison on Tuesday to protest the cuts over staffing at three Minnesota correctional facilities."

startribune.com/corrections-of…
The man Sgt. Paul Gorder hugged a few days ago who apparently recognized him was Myon Burrell, the man prosecuted by @amyklobuchar and sentenced to life, but whose innocence was proven and freedom restored after 18 years.

Sgt. Paul Gorder has apparently been placed on "investigatory leave" after Minnesota Department of Corrections being confronted with a separate angle of the same incident I documented last night.
“‘I noticed that both of them were slurring their words, having trouble maintaining their balance and that they smelled heavily of an odor consistent with that of a consumed alcoholic beverage,’ a police officer wrote in the report.”

twincities.com/2021/04/26/doc…

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More from @FordFischer

25 Apr
Content warning for thread: Emotional discussions of violence and suicide.

Yesterday I filmed as families of victims of police and other state violence from 1997 to this year gathered in front of the Minnesota governor's mansion to tell their stories and demand justice.
I felt it was important to let every word be heard.

I will post some highlights on Twitter, but this includes uncut footage every family speaking.

Following each Twitter clip is a timecode for where to find the full speech in the YouTube video.

"When you only know the names that are in the media, it's almost like isolating the story," explained an organizer. "That makes the world believe that this is not as severe a problem as it really is."

"You have to say the names of the people that have been swept under the rug."
Read 25 tweets
24 Apr
VIDEO THREAD: Black Lives Matter activists protested for Ma'Khia Bryant this afternoon outside the Minnesota Governor's mansion in St. Paul.

"Say her name! Ma'Khia Bryant! Say her name! Ma'Khia Bryant!"

#makhiabryant
In addition to policing, speakers focused on the foster care system, which they say can be "genocide" for children.

"A Black child is 42% more likely to die in foster care after they have been removed to so called 'safety and protective custody' just as Ma'Khia Bryant was."
Activists compared police shooting of Ma'Khia Bryan to Kyle Rittenhouse, who left Kenosha unharmed before turning himself in.

"I don't wanna hear about 'this girl had a knife.' She was defending herself. Kyle Rittenhouse wasn't defending himself. He wasn't defending anything."
Read 6 tweets
23 Apr
Last night, protesters in front of the Brooklyn Center Police Station set fire to a "Thin Blue Line" flag.

"Smells like bacon! Smells like bacon!" they chanted as police watched from across the two layers of fence surrounding the station.
"This is for them shooting us Black people man. This has got to stop, man!"

After setting fire to the Thin Blue Line flag, next up was an American flag.

"Our first every flag burning ceremony!" one participant exclaimed.

Again, cops stayed out of it.
Inside the Brooklyn Center Police Station, a giant thin blue line flag (similar to the one burned outside) hung in the lobby.

Yesterday was Daunte Wright's funeral; this flag wasn't hanging the night before.

Air fresheners hung on the protester side of the fence.
Read 6 tweets
23 Apr
"My son had a smile that was worth a million dollars."

Video Thread: Today the family of #DaunteWright gathered to lay the young father to rest.

"He always said he couldn't wait to make his son proud," his mother told the audience of hundreds.
Reverend @TheRevAl Sharpton described how police justified the stop of Daunte Wright partially over air fresheners hanging in his car.

"We come today as air fresheners for Minnesota. We're trying to get the stench of police brutality out of the atmosphere."
Congresswoman @IlhanMN presented Duante Wright's mother with the American flag that flew at the Capitol in her son's honor.
Read 5 tweets
22 Apr
PHOTO THREAD: This afternoon I filmed/photoed at the funeral of #DuanteWright.

Hundreds attended as his family celebrated his life, mourned his death, and called for change.
Congresswoman @IlhanMN presented Duante Wright's mother with the American flag that flew at the Capitol in her son's honor.

@GovTimWalz read a resolution honoring Wright and presented her with it as well.

Senator @amyklobuchar discussed national legislation for police reform.
Armed security inside and outside the #DuanteWrightfuneral was provided by community organizations like the the Minnesota Freedom Fighters and Black Panther Party rather than the police.
Read 5 tweets
22 Apr
The trial may be over, but the movement isn't.

#BlackLivesMatter activists continued to protest in Minneapolis this afternoon in an "Our Youth Deserve Justice" march for others killed by police, particularly Daunte Wright.
"We don't need your operation! No more military occupation!"

"The National Guard has got to go!"

One of the primary grievances of the "Our Youth Deserve Justice" march beyond the wider issues they discussed was the continued troop presence in Minneapolis.
Here is my full @N2Sreports raw video from tonight's "Youth Deserve Justice" march in #Minneapolis, which was organized by a coalition including BLM MN, Communities United Against Police Brutality, and CAIR-MN.

As always, all footage available to license

Read 6 tweets

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