Reaction from the professional sports world to the Department of Justice's findings on the Minneapolis Police Department on Friday.
NFL analyst and former Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Cris Carter telling WCCO's Chad Hartman Minneapolis was widely believed to be a racist city, and that team management would educate players about what cops were capable of if they ran afoul of the law.
"When I saw George Floyd pinned on the ground, I knew exactly where he was and I knew exactly the type of force that they would use on people, and have been doing for years," explained Carter. "So I'm glad they had an investigation. I'm glad the government had to get it right. And I hope a lot of white people around Minneapolis will stop being so damn naïve now, of the way that we have been treated for years. You shouldn't have been shocked by that."
Carter says that it is long past time to talk about race and the differences in how they're treated in the Twin Cities and across the country.
"Race should be part of the conversation in Minneapolis," says Carter. "It's been a very, very racist city for 30 years. We were informed by the people that run the Vikings, we were well educated on the police where they are, what they're looking for, what they do to people, especially people of color and men of color."
Carter played for the Vikings from 1990 until 2001 and was inducted into the pro football Hall of Fame in 2013. You can listen to the entire interview with Carter here.
The federal investigation concerned whether the Minneapolis Police Department engaged in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional or unlawful policing. Such investigations typically look at the use of force by officers, including force used during protests, and whether the department engages in discriminatory practices. The investigation also assessed the way the department handled misconduct allegations and how it held officers accountable.
The findings laid out by Garland were scathing, and called out significant Constitutional issues within the Minneapolis Police Department.
"There is reasonable cause to believe that the Minneapolis Police Department and City of Minneapolis engaged in a patter or practice of conduct that violates the First and Fourth Amendments of the United States Constitution," Garland said. "There is also reasonable cause to believe they engaged in conduct that violates Title Six of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Safe Streets Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act."
Garland said they found many instances of Minneapolis Police using excessive force, unlawfully discriminating against Black and Native American people in enforcement activities, violating the rights of people engaged in protected speech, and discriminated against people with disabilities when responding to them in crisis.