Police walk out on Lynx game In protest

Tonight the Minnesota Lynx played a home game. They took the opportunity to express solidarity with Black Lives Matter and to dramatize allegedly wrongful deaths at the hands of policemen. Off-duty Minneapolis policemen who provided security for the Lynx walked out in protest. The Minneapolis Star Tribune has the story:

Four off-duty Minneapolis police officers working the Minnesota Lynx game at Target Center on Saturday night walked off the job after the players held a news conference denouncing racial profiling, then wore Black Lives Matter pregame warm-up jerseys.

Lt. Bob Kroll, president of the Minneapolis Police Federation, the union that represents rank-and-file officers, praised them for quitting. “I commend them for it,” he said. …

Asked if other officers will fill in for those who quit, Kroll said, “If [the players] are going to keep their stance, all officers may refuse to work there.”

The three-time WNBA champions wore black shirts that read “Change starts with us, justice and accountability” and on the back had Philando Castile’s and Alton Sterling’s names along with “Black Lives Matter.”

JERSEYS

At a pregame news conference, Lynx forward Rebekkah Brunson said the players were “wearing shirts to honor and mourn the loss of precious American citizens and to plead change for all of us.”

“We are highlighting a longtime problem of racial profiling,” said forward Maya Moore, the 2014 WNBA MVP.

For once, police officers stood up for themselves. It is good to see:

Kroll criticized Lynx players for their position, citing the “false narratives” in the past two years in which some allegations of police misconduct in the killing of black people was later refuted. “Rushing to judgment before the facts are in is unwarranted and reckless,” he said.

He is right, of course. But Governor Mark Dayton preceded the basketball players in an unwarranted and reckless rush to judgment. Not just policemen, but those of us who believe in fair play need to stand up against the current tide of uninformed anti-cop hysteria.