City council members and the mayor praised nonviolent protests against police brutality and the killing of George Floyd in Springfield in recent days. Several thousand people showed up for the events. After the council’s June 2 meeting, Black Lives Matter Springfield shared an open letter to the mayor and police chief about alleged comments made recently by a Springfield police officer about the city’s two black alderpeople. “It seems like if an officer of the law is willing to take to a public platform to call our elected officials ‘f***ing idiots’ then he does not have the temperament or judgment to be a police officer,” the letter said. Police chief Kenny Winslow condemned the remarks seen in a widely distributed social media screenshot. He apologized on behalf of the department and said there is an internal investigation he won’t comment on further. The BLM letter came hours after the council meeting, where Mayor Jim Langfelder said of Floyd’s death, “That would not have happened to a white person” and that if any Springfield residents thought differently, “they shouldn’t be living in the home of Abraham Lincoln.” Black Lives Matter Springfield is calling for further transparency about SPD processes and training.