Editor’s note: Video contains profanity.
A Democratic state House candidate in Minnesota suggested over the weekend that Black Lives Matter protesters should burn down the entire neighborhood where the president of a Minneapolis police union lives.
John Thompson, who won the Democratic primary for the Minnesota House of Representatives District 67A last week after being endorsed by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, joined protesters outside Minneapolis Police Federation President Bob Kroll’s home on Saturday, and encouraged them to act violently.
“Why the f*** is we so peaceful in this brackety-a** neighborhood? F*** yo motherf****** peace, white racist motherf******!” Thompson yelled.
“This whole g****** state burned down for twenty f****** dollars, you think we gonna give a f*** about burning Hugo down?” he continued. “This whole god***n state burned down for $20 goddamn dollars, you think we give a f*** about burning Hugo down?”
At one point, one of Kroll’s neighbors walked outside holding a Blue Lives Matter flag. Thompson turned around and told him to “stick it up his a**.”
“Blue lives don’t mean s*** to black people,” Thompson said. “F*** Hugo, Minnesota!”
Meanwhile, several neighbors, including five teenage girls, were across the street having what appeared to be a cookout near their garage.
They began to head inside and Thompson yelled, “Don’t run now racist white people! I’m here! Oh yeah, we pull up! We pull the f*** up! Come on over here with yo ‘Blue Lives Matter’ self! Blue Lives ain’t s***! Hugo don’t support black people! F*** Hugo, Minnesota!”
Protesters camped outside Kroll’s house for hours, beating piñatas bearing him and his wife’s likeness, according to local reports. They also dumped trash on his property.
“I didn’t come here to be peaceful in Hugo,” Thompson said. “‘Kumbaya My Lord,’ no. F*** Hugo, Minnesota! F*** Bob Kroll! And f*** anybody who supports his racist a**.”
Walz endorsed Thompson earlier this summer, calling him “exactly what’s needed in the state legislature right now.”
“I’ve known John for years,” Walz said in June. “I look forward to working with him as the next state representative for 67A.”
After the videos of Thompson’s profane rant began circulating online, Thompson apologized for his “inflammatory rhetoric” that did not make a “positive difference.”
He refused, however, to apologize for berating Kroll and his neighbors.
