In a message dated 11/23/00 9:50:21 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
<< Can we please have a discussion on this list about
proper police conduct and how we can hold police
accountable for deviations from proper conduct?
>>
This is a sore subject - no pun intended - considering I was mugged in my own
kitchen at 6 a.m. this morning by an individual looking to collect some extra
holiday cash. But violence is violence, regardless of who is dispensing it,
so let's just say at the moment I'm feeling sympathetic with anybody who is
on the receiving end.
I know way too many people who were murdered - my sister, my best friend,
co-workers, acquaintances. I've learned that when you're dead, you're dead;
there is no healing, no forgiveness, no chance to say oops, I messed up...
the families, friends and neighbors of people who have been killed by
Minneapolis police (an ignominous way to go, by the way - would you like to
have to tell people for the rest of your life that your father was gunned
down by cops?) are hurting, grieving. They need more from Chief Olson than a
cold assertion that the police were acting appropriately. How can we
acknowledge their pain and loss?
Institutional violence puts blood on all our hands. I want to feel confident
that it's there for a darn good reason. Are we as a community going to make a
commitment to nonviolence?
What would this mean? Responsibility and reparations, for a start - even if
it means opening the door to litigation. Accountability - breaking up the
one-party lock on our city government, maybe having an elected police chief.
Retraining our police force in non-lethal intervention techniques.
Acknowledging and abolishing racial profiling and over-policing of poor
neighborhoods, which promote power abuse. And reconnecting our police force
with the community, through incentives for residency.
I want to be part of a community that is outraged when people are killed,
regardless of the circumstances. The alternative is a kind of slow death of
the spirit.
-- Holle Brian
Bancroft
(612) 822-6593
