In one of the more humiliating political episodes in recent memory, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey groveled before a crowd of protesters last weekend only to be forced to walk away in shame.

“I’ve been coming to grips with my own brokenness in this situation,” he repented to the massed tribunal, looking up at activists on the stage. “My own failures. My own shortcomings. And I know there needs to be deep-seated structural reform in terms of how the department operates. The systemic racist system needs to be revamped.”