Minnesota

The Most Explicit Example Of Extrajudicial Murder In Some Time

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I didn’t think we’d see a video more explicit than Eric Garner but here we are. There are some striking differences here. First, there was the extended interaction between the police and the witnesses. It went on and on. In the Garner murder, the cops did not interact with witnesses at all. Second, there was no attempt to save Mr. Floyd’s. The arriving medics knew he was expired, and I think the medics and the cops wanted him to stay that way. Third, that’s urine. We see a man pee his pants and die while under the full weight of a law enforcement officer, funded by the city of Minneapolis. And fourth, there wasn’t one instruction from the officers to Mr. Floyd as to what he had to do to make the torture stop. Usually, cops will be brutal, but they will also bark orders. Those orders help protect them from prosecution and lawsuits. Incredible that didn’t happen here. This was murder. It was like the end of Do The Right Thing. It didn’t seem real until everyone noticed that Mr. Floyd had stopped breathing. As the Asian cop (Officer Tou Thao) put it, they tried to get him into their cruiser for 10 minutes, so they were going to snuff the life out of him for 10. This was murder. And I have no expectations of either of these officers ever losing their freedom or their pensions.

We need to demand radical change. We need to show up in numbers and threaten to burn City Hall down. In every city. We need full civilian control of the police. Here in New York. Over where you are. And in the Twin Cities.

A Better Form Of Corporate Responsibility: Target Experiments With Wellness Clinics


To this blogger, there seem to be four levels of 'corporate responsibility' actions (also called 'social responsibility' or 'corporate citizenship.')

First, there is external communication, be it posters in a store, a tab on a corporate website, or a print advertisement, announcing what the corporation does to be more responsible. A corporation might be taking actions to consume less energy and produce less waste (Subaru). A company might be investing in wind power to off-set it's consumption of coal-based electricity (Brooklyn Brewery and the new Brooklyn Bowl come to mind).

Second, there is philanthropy, which I consider to be all donations to social, cultural and community organizations that are not designed to act as lobbyists nor expected to promote the company in return. So this would include museums, schools (public or private), hospitals, clinics, and all types of private service organizations that are designed to help people who live nearby (think rehab clinics, domestic violence centers, and career counseling and assistance groups (Dressed for Success comes to mind)). Corporations that have an advanced philanthropy structure (like the late Lehman Brothers) eventually set-up a foundation, and invite employees to contribute to it and have a say on which organizations should receive cash gifts.

Third, there is 'community outreach.' This is usually more difficult to organize than the actives above, but it involves having employees volunteer their time to any number of local activities. In New York City, one of the easiest ways to accomplish this is to have employees join a New York Cares project (cleaning parks and public gardens, running clothing drives, consulting non-profits, tutoring students, etc.).

And fourth, there is the kind of community service that might not have been asked of the company directly, but it was in a position to provide a valuable service from its location(s). That's what we're seeing from Minneapolis-based, Target. Since 2006, Target has been experimenting with affordable health clinics in both Minnesota and D.C. I was surprised to find this, and from the looks of it, they are expanding their services to include flu and hepatitis vaccinations.

When going beyond corporate citizenship lip service, a public health clinic can go a long way to prove that Target actually cares about preventive, afforable health care.