It’s the most wonderful racist ass time of the year.
According to the Star Tribune, two Minneapolis police officers have been placed on administrative leave since they couldn’t drum up enough yuletide cheer with just egg nog and chestnuts roasting on an open fire.
Instead, they decided to decorate their racist ass Christmas tree with racists ass “ornaments” such as a pack of Newports, a can of Steel Reserve, a bag of Takis, police tape, and a cup from Popeyes (Spicy, please).
“It’s a modern-day version of a dog whistle, tainted with racism, specifically against the African-American community,” Longtime civil rights activist Ron Edwards told the Star Tribute.
“We knew what the message was right away. We got it,” added community activist Mel Reeves. “They wanted to send a message to us and we got it right away. In short form, it was to say to all you people that live around here, you all ain’t nothing.”
Also of note, this incident came from the same precinct responsible for the fatal shooting of Jamar Clark in 2015. And in the aftermath of his death, it’s struggled greatly to rebuild its trust with the local community.
In a statement released Friday, an infuriated Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey let loose: “This behavior is racist, despicable, and is well beneath the standards of any person who serves the city of Minneapolis.”
On the same day, Frey also vowed to fire those responsible in order to send a message that he nor Chief Medaria Arradondo “will not tolerate conduct that departs from our values.” However, later in the day, he told reporters that the city has a process it’s required to adhere to prior to the termination of any police officers.
“Racism and intolerance is absolutely unacceptable, and that should especially be the case amongst our city employees,” he said.
In a separate statement, Arradondo announced he’s opened a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding this incident.
“I am ashamed and appalled by the behavior of those who would feel comfortable to act in such a manner that goes against our core department values of trust, accountability and professional service,” Arradondo wrote.
When Santa finds out about this, I would imagine it won’t end well.