Talib Kweli Calls Out Police for Hypocrisy in Handling Protests in Minnesota and Oregon

Photo by Angela Jimenez for Minnesota Public Radio

Talib Kweli has been using social media as an outlet to speak his mind on the troubling race issues in the U.S. for quite some time, specifically when it comes to Black Lives Matter protests. On Monday (Jan. 4), the Brooklyn MC turned to Instagram to voice his frustration on what he perceives as hypocrisy going on in the way protests are being handled by police in Minneapolis, Minn. and at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon.

In his Instagram post, Kweli points out the different way the situations are being handled is due to the race of the people involved in the respective protests. The rapper wonders why news reporters aren't calling the protestors in Oregon "terrorists" and why an unarmed protest by black people calls for a militaristic response while an armed protest by white people barely moves the needle for the authorities.

"It's not about guns or states rights or cattle. It's about white men realizing their era of privilege is ending. And the government is giving them a pass just like they daddy got a pass after pointing guns at police two years ago. Do they have a right to protest? Sure. But so do unarmed black people. See the hypocris," he writes on Instagram.

In Minneapolis, there have been peaceful protests by the Black Lives Matter group at the Mall of America, the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and throughout the city. The protests stem from a November police shooting in North Minneapolis that left Jamar ONeal Clark, 24, dead. Witnesses say that Clark was handcuffed when he was shot during a scuffle but the video of the incident and the names of the police officers have not been made public. The ensuing protests have been met with police force, arrest and violence.

In Oregon, a group of white, armed protesters, who call themselves the Citizens for Constitutional Freedom, have taken over a federal building and are calling for the government to give up the amount of land they own. The building has been under siege since Saturday, Jan 2 but no authorities have showed up to confront the protesters or try to get them out of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

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