Anti-police demonstrators descended on the home of Minneapolis Police Union President Bob Kroll this weekend, destroying paper-mache effigies of both the union chief and his wife, local reporter Liz Collin.
As it turns out, the Black Lives Matter protesters targeted Collin for no reason other than her marriage to Kroll.
The violent destruction of an effigy of a Minnesota journalist – @lizcollin – by protesters standing in the driveway of her home needs to be immediately denounced by the @mnspj and other journalists. This behavior is dangerous, harassing, and threatening. pic.twitter.com/zcv78syp01
— Michael Brodkorb (@mbrodkorb) August 17, 2020
A cursory review of Collin’s bylined work and her social media presence show nothing incendiary, offensive, or even particularly opinionated. And she has already addressed possible conflicts of interest because of her marriage to Kroll, saying in a 2019 statement, “I’d like to speak to the question some are posing: Is it a conflict of interest for me to be a journalist married to the Minneapolis police union boss? My answer: No.”
She added, “I haven’t reported on stories about the Minneapolis Police or the police union during the last two years.”
The CBS News affiliate that employs Collin also released a statement, saying, “WCCO-TV anchor/reporter Liz Collin is married to Bob Kroll. To avoid any potential conflict of interest, Liz has not reported on Minneapolis Police and Minneapolis Police Union issues for at least two-and-a-half years.”
So, Collin did not write, report, or say anything particularly offensive recently, and she has not even reported on the Minneapolis Police Department since at least 2017. It appears, then, that anti-police demonstrators targeted her because of her marriage, nothing more. That much seems clear from the fact that the Collin effigy had a quote scribbled on its back: “Is it a conflict of interest for me to be a journalist married to the Minneapolis police union boss? My answer: No.”
You no longer even need to do or say anything to fall on the wrong side of the mob. Now, association is apparently enough to land a crowd of demonstrators on your front lawn.
The demonstration this weekend in Hugo, Minnesota, which attracted an estimated 100 anti-police activists, also included obscenities and a vow from one participant to raze the entire town to the ground.
“You think we give a f— about burning Hugo down?” screamed participant and Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party candidate John Thompson.
“F— Hugo!” he added, vowing to come for “everything you motherf—ers took from us.”
As out of control as Thompson may seem, his behavior still pales in comparison to the fact that activists targeted Collin solely because she is married to a union chief. Again, she has not done or said anything to merit the anger directed at her this weekend during the anti-police protest in Hugo. Her only “crime” is her marriage.
Maybe now, because demonstrators have targeted a member of the press who has done nothing wrong, national media will finally take seriously the chronic, gleeful violence associated with these anti-police protests.
Maybe.
