11 of our top opinion columns this week: ICYMI

In today's fast-paced news environment, it can be hard to keep up. For your weekend reading, we've started in-case-you-missed-it compilations of some of the week's top Paste BN Opinion pieces. As always, thanks for reading, and for your feedback.

— Paste BN Opinion editors

1. I was a police chief stopped by my own officer. After George Floyd, we need change at all levels.

By Isaiah McKinnon

"In 1957, I was a freshman at Cass Technical High School. As I walked home after speaking with my favorite teacher, four white police officers jumped out of their cruiser, threw me against it and beat me severely. I hadn’t done anything wrong. ...  I was 14, the same age as Emmett Till when he was killed in Mississippi two years earlier. I was scared, angry and confused. Why did they hurt me? That day, I promised myself that I would become a Detroit police officer and change the Detroit police force from the inside."

2. Trump response to Floyd protests is, finally, too much for America's military brass

By Rachel E. VanLandingham and Geoffrey S. Corn

"The president’s instinct and willingness to resort to military force to respond to massive, predominantly peaceful and lawful protests . . .  has been painfully obvious over the past week. His actions drove some of the most respected military veterans in our nation to break their silence and condemn the president’s judgment, indifference to our shared constitutional values, and failure of leadership."

3. Under four presidents, the Feds neglected duty to collect statistics on police killings

By James Bovard

"The brutal killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police has been condemned by former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. However, police violence spiraled out of control in part because each of those presidents failed to obey a law compelling the feds to track police killings around the nation."

4. Biden: We must urgently root out systemic racism, from policing to housing to opportunity 

By Joe Biden

"While I do not believe federal dollars should go to police departments violating people’s rights or turning to violence as the first resort, I do not support defunding police. The better answer is to give police departments the resources they need to implement meaningful reforms, and to condition other federal dollars on completing those reforms."

5. Coronavirus divide: I'm staying home, being cautious and feeling judged by friends

By Melinda Henneberger

"So does it bother me that I'm suddenly seen as a house cat by some of my friends because I'm taking no chances with this coronavirus pandemic? Of course it does. And after someone dear to me recently suggested that I'm choosing fear over love because I'm still not going out right now, I realized that we are definitely not 'all in this together.' On the contrary, we are divided in some new ways by this virus."

6. Congress must impeach Trump's enabler in corruption and oppression, Attorney General Bill Barr

By Noah Bookbinder and Donald K. Sherman

"An attorney general who undermines an independent Department of Justice is dangerous to our democracy, but under the direction of a corrupt president who coddles white supremacists and befriends dictators, Barr’s conduct threatens the lives and safety of American citizens."

7. Democrats have run Minneapolis for generations. Why is there still systemic racism?

By George Korda

"When people talk about the need to deal with systemic racism, if they’re not willing to talk about the systems run — often for generations by the political party or politicians they support — they aren’t interested in an open and honest conversation; instead, they want only to use the issue as a club against people who aren’t them."

8. Lack of humanity makes justice system more dangerous for blacks long before cops interact

By Robert Rooks

"The killing of George Floyd is yet another example of our nation’s disregard for black lives. It also reveals a heavily financed criminal justice system that not only fails to keep black communities safe, it also repeatedly puts us in danger."

9. What Never Trump Republicans deserve: The thanks of a grateful nation, and nothing more

By Jason Sattler

"Key 'Never Trump' Republicans have figured out something obvious that eluded them in 2016: Stopping Donald Trump requires getting behind the one person who can finish the job — the Democratic nominee for president. They should be rewarded for this insight with the defeat of Donald Trump. And that’s it."

10. Small business owner: The looters who broke into my store weren't protesting Floyd death

By Roy Rodman

"Our hearts go out for those who have not had a fair shake or who have been treated poorly. That is what happened to George Floyd in Minneapolis. But the people who broke in and looted my store had a completely different agenda than those who were protesting about violence."

11. Crump: Knee of the entire police department brought George Floyd to his death

By Ben Crump

"The dramatic step announced by Minneapolis city leaders to dismantle the police department and rebuild it from the ground up is precisely what’s required. It’s way overdue. Every aspect that contributes to the culture, patterns and practice of law enforcement departments needs to be reframed — from the mission to the psychological profile of the officers they recruit; from officer training and discipline to policies and procedures."