The video of retired Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn went viral again, here's where it came from

Milwaukee is no stranger to examining its fraught history with racism, inequality and issues between police and the community.

The outrage that has been sparked across the country since George Floyd's death in Minneapolis has renewed a heated debate about those topics and how they are covered by the media.

Across social media this week, a familiar face was thrown back into the fray when a viral video from 2014 of former police chief Ed Flynn began circulating again. Flynn retired in 2018 and was replaced by Alfonso Morales.

It started with a tweet that drew a widespread audience on Monday, garnering well over 30,000 likes, 1,000 comments and 17,000 retweets.

The post gained even more traction Wednesday when Donald Trump Jr., son of President Trump, retweeted it while stating "This is a must watch and RT. This is the difference between the truth and the narrative the media runs with. Why won’t the media cover this side of things?"

The media did cover it ... almost six years ago. As noted at the end of the video, it was filmed by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Ashley Luthern.

Yes, the issues that Flynn spoke animatedly about in the video are still relevant today as evidenced by the daily protests across the country and the dialogue surrounding them.

But context for viral video often gets lost in all the indignation and retweets, so here is some background on the Flynn clip:

• The video was filmed on Nov. 6, 2014, after a tense meeting of the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission, a civilian oversight board.
• Flynn was speaking to the board for the first time since firing officer Christopher Manney in the wake of the fatal shooting of Dontre Hamilton in Red Arrow Park.
• While at the meeting, Flynn received word that 5-year-old Laylah Petersen was killed in a shooting.
• Flynn repeatedly checking his phone for updates exacerbated the already considerable tension in the meeting.
• Flynn gave his impassioned speech after the meeting when asked about looking at his phone.
• Flynn often voiced his frustrations about the public's debate and media coverage of violent crime and police misconduct. 
• Flynn retired in February 2018 after a decade in charge of the Milwaukee Police Department.

After 10 years in Milwaukee and several high-profile incidents like the officer-involved deaths of Hamilton and Sylville Smith, Flynn had become a divisive figure.

"In the chief job, you have to be willing to alienate everybody at some point,” Flynn said right before his retirement.

Contact Ben Steele at (414) 224-2676 or bmsteele@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BenSteeleMJS or Instagram at @bensteele_mjs