A former local NAACP leader criticized the protesters in Minneapolis who became violent as they demonstrated over the death of George Floyd, a black man who died this week in police custody.
“All this shit that’s up here. St. Paul ain’t got shit to do with what happened. … and these people don’t give a damn about George Floyd,” Dianne Binns, former head of the NAACP chapter in St. Paul, Minnesota, said on Thursday. “Leave this shit alone. These mother f—ers need to go home.”
Diane Binns, 70, of St. Paul is angry at the people here. Binns came here to get medication for her daughter. pic.twitter.com/GA1EJpx4XL
— Ricardo Lopez (@rljourno) May 28, 2020
Binns told a reporter she initially went to the “rally” to give her support for the protesters angry about Floyd’s death but soon realized it was going to be a “riot” and left.
“It wasn’t a rally. It was going to be a riot, so I left,” she said. “I know how it was going to end, so I left the rally.”
Diane Binns was president of the NAACP St. Paul from 2016-2018. She was here for the north Minneapolis riots in the 60s pic.twitter.com/AuuHIdAxZx
— Ricardo Lopez (@rljourno) May 28, 2020
Binns continued: “Why are we going to burn down the small-business owners who are there for us?”
Protests in the city of Minneapolis began on Tuesday after footage showed a police officer kneeling on the neck of Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, for approximately eight minutes until he became unresponsive. Floyd was pronounced dead at a hospital.
As some of the protests became more violent, buildings were burned, and businesses were looted. One man was reported dead from a shooting near a south Minneapolis protest.
Minneapolis, Minn. on the morning of 28 May, 2020 following a night of race rioting. Buildings have been burned to the ground and stores looted as an alleged act of protest against the death of George Floyd. #BlackLivesMatter #Antifa pic.twitter.com/kvISMLN0jK
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) May 28, 2020
The four officers involved in the incident, including the white officer who pinned Floyd down on his neck and had more than a dozen internal complaints on his record, have been fired. No charges have been filed, but the federal government is investigating the death.
