Bob Kroll
BY ED FELIEN, EDITOR
We received this correspondence:
“Dear Mr. Felien:
“I write to request that you issue a retraction and apology for the false statements about our client, Bob Kroll, in your June 4, 2024, article titled “Trump and the threat of civil war.” In this article, you made statements that are demonstrably untrue and defamatory. Our client seeks a retraction and apology to avoid further legal action.
“Specifically, your article states the following about Mr. Kroll: ‘He’d been found guilty of racial discrimination by interfering with the promotion of Black officers. He was a leader of City Heat, a motorcycle gang of cops who flew Confederate flags.’”
James V. F. Dickey,
Senior Counsel
Upper Midwest Law Center
_ _ _ _ _
Editor’s Note:
Perhaps I overstated my case. I find Bob Kroll guilty of racial discrimination against Black officers. I think any objective reader would find Bob Kroll guilty of racial discrimination against Black officers, but it is true that no court of law found Kroll guilty of racial discrimination.
Most of my information about this comes from an interview Bob Kroll gave to the late, great reporter, Ruben Rosario of the Pioneer Press published January 10, 2009:
Trump and Kroll
“My late grandmother’s favorite piece of advice to me, one I still try mightily to adhere to: ‘You tell me who you hang out with, and I will tell you who you are.’
“It’s not only guilt or praise by association, but also the perception, she would remind me, that could be right or easily misconstrued by others. And you may pay the consequences, rightly or wrongly.
“So, consider the following: Can local Twin Cities cops, particularly one mentioned but not named as a defendant in a pending racial-discrimination lawsuit filed by five black Minneapolis police officers, be held responsible for the questionable conduct of associates in an off-duty capacity?
“Nearly a dozen Minneapolis and St. Paul cops belong to the Twin Cities chapter of City Heat, a Chicago-based, off-duty law-enforcement motorcycle club. The club Web site’s photo gallery contains, last I looked, pictures of some members wearing recognized symbols of hate and racism on their ‘colors’ vests.
“One unidentified member is wearing a KKK cross emblem with an ‘I’m here for the hanging’ patch right below it. Other members wear ‘No blacks’ patches and an assortment of swastikas, Confederate flags, Iron Crosses and other items that hate-crime watchdog groups say are often displayed by members of neo-Nazi or white-supremacist groups.
“None of the dozen or so Minneapolis and St. Paul cops who belong to the club’s local chapter is seen in the posted pictures wearing any of the items. That includes Minneapolis police Lt. Robert Kroll, a member of City Heat who says he is ‘vaguely familiar’ with the lawsuit.
“But the pictures could become an issue when the lawsuit goes to trial, possibly later this year.
“POLICE LIEUTENANT SINGLED OUT
“’I am disturbed that these Minneapolis police officers associate with other law-enforcement officers who very publicly and proudly display racist symbols of hate next to their police department badge and patch,’ said Minneapolis police Lt. Medaria Arradondo, a 20-year veteran.
“Kroll, however, thinks Arradondo and the law firm representing Arradondo and four other black officers in the lawsuit are on a fishing expedition.
“’If there were any merit to the lawsuit, it would be able to stand on its own without the far-reaching stretch to an off-duty motorcycle club,’ said Kroll, a supervisor in a Northeast Minneapolis police precinct. ‘Ever hear the phrase “throw a lot against a wall and hope something sticks?”’
“The lawsuit — which names the city, its police force and its chief, Timothy Dolan — alleges that the five cops were wrongly disciplined, stripped of or denied promotions or retaliated against as a result of their race or ethnic origin.
“’Over the last approximately 20 years, African-American officers employed by defendant Minneapolis have been subjected to a hostile work environment and have been subjected to disparate treatment and disparate impact on the basis of their race and color,’ the suit claims.
“The suit notes that a letter signed ‘KKK’ that every black city cop received in 1992 through the Police Department’s interoffice mail. The letter threatened ‘each African-American officer’s life.’
“The suit also singles out Kroll, who is vice president of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis, as an alleged example of ‘racially discriminatory’ conduct, and comments made by white officers that are allegedly tolerated by the Police Department.
“The suit accuses Kroll of calling Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., who is black and Muslim, a terrorist.
“’An inspector, a deputy chief of professional standards and a commander of training were present when Kroll made these racist statements, none of whom objected or took any corrective action in response to Kroll’s discriminatory statements,’ the lawsuit alleges.
“As for the rebel flags, ‘if you travel the South, Confederate flags are quite popular,’ Kroll explained.”
So, a court of law never found Bob Kroll guilty of racially discriminatory conduct in the hiring and promotion of Black police officers, although attorneys John Klassen and Andrew Muller, in their lawsuit claiming racist discrimination by the MPD, cite statements by Kroll as part of the racist culture of the MPD.
Six years ago Bob Kroll and I had a very interesting dialog on these pages about the MPD killing of Thurman Blevins and other young Black men. Four years ago, the MPD killed one Black man too many when Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd. That murder was captured on camera, and the whole world judged the MPD as racist murderers. There were demonstrations lasting three days, then chaos and buildings burning. The wholesale destruction began with The Umbrella Man smashing windows at Auto Zone and spray painting: “Free Shit for Everyone Zone.” In 2023 I wrote: “a search warrant issued by Sgt. Christensen identifies the Umbrella Man as Mitchell Wesley Carlson from Ramsey, Minnesota. Carlson was a member of the Aryan Cowboy Brotherhood and also a member of a white nationalist motorcycle club. It’s not too hard to imagine Bob Kroll and Mitch Carlson riding together and imagining themselves as heroic warriors and defenders of white male privilege.”
I’d like to resume my dialog with Bob Kroll and ask him, “Did you know Mitchell Carlson? Did you ever ride together? Did you have communication with Mitchell Carlson during the George Floyd riots?
Space will be made available in our next issue for your reply.
