Why you should vote NO on the strong mayor amendment in Minneapolis: (A thread)

Because it’s a power grab by affluent white elites, dressed up in the language of good governance—and I say this as an affluent White Boomer from Linden Hills.

Here’s why you should vote no. 1/ Look, I’m an old political activist and nerd. So I’ve been hearing the strong mayor vs. strong council argument ever since I moved to Minneapolis 32 years ago. I’ve been mostly agnostic about it: each model comes with its virtues and problems. 2/

My dental office in the Linden Hills neighborhood of southwest Minneapolis is boarding up their windows this afternoon. We are a long way from the protests, so let's be clear about what's going on here. We don't have a protest problem. We have a policing problem. A thread: 1/ Minneapolis police do NOT appear to be under the command or control, of our mayor or our excellent police chief. So it seems like a lot of cops have apparently decided to stop doing their jobs until their notorious union chief, Bob Kroll, tells them to go back to work. 2/

The Minneapolis police force is overwhelmingly made up of suburban White men. These guys voted for Bob Kroll, a White supremacist and Trump fan to head their union. These are the heavily armed people that the city keeps hiring to “protect” us. 1/ Calling the police for help in Minneapolis has long been a sick game of chance, especially for POC. You might get a decent professional. Or you might get a jacked-up, heavily-armed Deplorable with 12 previous complaints like the guy who killed George Floyd. 2/