The fanatic who unleashed a hurricane of foul-mouthed invective in Hugo, Minnesota, outside the home of the Minneapolis police union leader, apologized for his deranged rant on Facebook yesterday.
John Thompson (shown on right), Democratic candidate for the Minnesota House of Representatives from District 67A, wants his Facebook followers and constituents to know he wants to be a “positive” force for good, despite suggesting that the protesters who cheered on his rant should torch the almost all-white town.
Thompson’s unhinged conniption can be seen in video posted to YouTube and Twitter.
The Rant
Winner of the primary in his district last week, the black Democrat was part of a mob of 100 that protested in the town about 25 miles northeast of Minneapolis. The target was Lieutenant Bob Kroll of the city police department, which has been under siege since George Floyd died in the custody of one of its officers on May 25.
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Kroll is chief of the Police Officers Federation and is named in the lawsuit that Floyd’s family filed against the city.
Wearing a “Bob KKKroll must go” T-shirt, Thompson assured the assemblage, “I didn’t come here to be peaceful.”
“Why the f*** is we so peaceful.” he continued. “F*** your motherf***ing peace, white racist motherf***ers!”
After he told a neighbor holding a Blue Lives Matters flag to stick it where the sun don’t shine, he offered this calming commentary for the Hugo’s 94.2 percent white population: “This whole god***n state burned down for $20 god***n dollars, you think we give a f*** about burning Hugo down? Blue lives don’t mean s*** to black people. F*** Hugo, Minnesota!”
Even worse, he accused Kroll of a leadership role in the Ku Klux Klan: “I’m a black man being terrorized by this f***ing Klansman right here. We are terrorized by the Grand Wizard. You all got the Grand Wizard living in your god***n neighborhood.”
A day later, Thompson apparently had time to think about the performance and apologized on Facebook:
I became an activist and ran for the legislature to make a difference, to work diligently to fix our broken criminal justice system, dismantle institutional racism, and honor my friend, Philando Castile and become a symbolism of hope within our community. I want to make a positive difference, and my comments on Saturday were not helpful. Inflammatory rhetoric is not how I want to address the important issues we’re facing, and I apologize.
Maybe, but not everyone buys it.
“Threatening to burn down a town to innocent children,” one wrote. “These kids are afraid they are going to be hurt by the ‘bad people.’ You need to be arrested and you need professional help. With behavior like that you have serious mental health issues. Absolutely not fit for any office, especially where children are involved!”
• “These actions are wrong no matter, color, religion or age. True colors were shown. You can apologize for your actions but you cannot take it back. We know what kind of person you are.”
• “You knew what you were going to do and say before you ever entered that neighborhood. Governor [Tim] Walz praised your passion, but your stunt showed how divisive, destructive, and dangerous you are. Withdraw from the race. This kind of hate and violence cannot be tolerated.”
• “A load of bull. Who wrote this apology for you? These aren’t your words Because your words were yesterday and now that you went viral, you’re embarrassed and don’t want to destroy your chance of being in office.”
The state GOP courageously denounced Thompson’s street theater as “reprehensible.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz endorsed Thompson in July.
Kroll in Lawsuit
The Floyd family’s lawsuit against the city, which says the police department trains its officers in “killology,” accuses Kroll of telling cops “to behave aggressively,” and officers who don’t inspire complaints are “low-level slugs.”
Kroll told officers that “policing should be viewed like ‘a basketball game, in that if you’re not getting any fouls, you aren’t playing hard enough,’” the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit also attacks Kroll for correctly calling Black Lives Matter a terrorist organization, and alleges that he wore a jacket with a “white power symbol.” The lawsuit does not describe the white power symbol.
