Elizabeth Flores/Star Tribune via AP
Minneapolis police union president Lt. Bob Kroll, seen here in 2018, sent a letter to union members this month in which he criticized state and city leaders for failing to support the Minneapolis Police Department, following the death of George Floyd in police custody.
2020 was an unusual year in almost every possible way, and for me, it meant covering the parties’ quadrennial conventions virtually rather than in the arenas. I filed nightly reports after each convention session, and after having to sit through four nights of the Republicans’ Trumpfest, I felt compelled to write—well, it’s on the following list. I also wrote two considerations about how the labor movement should deal with police unions; a long take, inspired by the Scorsese film The Irishman, on the history of American labor and the Teamsters; and a short take, in this time of reckoning with racism, on how the classic Westerns were really Southerns.
“Unconventional: The Republicans, Day Four”
In their televised convention, Republicans managed to distill all that’s both ridiculous and outrageous about their party, and I sought to distill it further in this piece.
“Bargaining Against the Common Good”
Having closely covered the LAPD in its Rodney King phase during my years at the LA Weekly, I was no stranger to the violent racism of police departments, but George Floyd’s murder threw police unions’ support for such racism under unprecedented scrutiny. After even more years on the labor beat, I sought to unpack the dilemma posed by police unions in this piece.
“Why Mainstream Unions Shouldn’t Represent the Cops”
And in this second piece, I sought to further unpack how other unions should deal with police unions.
“What Did Hoffa Want?”
Martin Scorsese’s film about Jimmy Hoffa’s murder provided me with an opportunity to discuss the rise and fall not just of one enduringly fascinating labor leader, but of the entire labor movement, and perform an autopsy on the evanescent prosperity of much of the postwar working class.
“Gone With ‘Gone With the Wind’”
Before I wrote about politics, I wrote about American film history, and in this year of reckoning with racism, I returned to that subject by noting that all too many classic Westerns were really Southerns.
