HUGO, Minn. — A Minnesota legislative candidate screamed profanities at a group of for our five teenaged girls standing on a residential driveway during a protest against the chief of the Minneapolis police officers’ union. The girls had been with a friend wearing a Blue Lives Matter shirt, but he had gone back inside as the protest heated up. Looking at the girls, legislative candidate John Thompson shouted into his microphone: “Y’all got the grand wizard living in your fucking neighborhood.” It was a refence to police union leader Bob Knoll, an outspoken white police advocate and a President Trump ally whose house was the target of the protest. To a man holding a Blue Lives Matter sign, Thompson said: “Take that sign and stick it in Knoll’s ass.” Thompson, who black, was on a roll: “I’m a black man being terrorized by this fucking Klansman right here.” With reference to the police slaying of George Floyd over a $20 counterfeit bill, Thompson shouted:”We sick of yo’ white assholes. We coming for everything that you motherfuckers took from us. This whole fucking state burned down for 20 fucking dollars.” Noting that the protest was at Knoll’s house in leafy suburban Hugo, 20 miles northwest of Minneapolis, Thompson said: “You think we give a fuck about burning Hugo down?” He didn’t stop: “Don’t run now, racist white people. I’m here. Oh yeah, we pull up. We pulled the fuck up.” He continued: “Blue lives ain’t shit and if people here don’t support black people. Fuck Hugo, Minnesota.” About 100 people had gathered to protest Knoll. So did Knoll supporters. The event was taped, including every vulgarity.
Thompson: Winner of August 11 Minnesota House District 67A primary
District 67a is mostly south and east of Phalen Lake in St. Paul and suburban Maplewood. In the primary Thompson won 1,537 votes to Hoag Murphy’s 1,036. John Stromanger was unopposed in the Republican primary. The incumbent, Tim Mahoney, a Democrat, was first elected in 1998, is retiring.