Tim and my fellow list members,
I feel a bit of anger aimed and me and my statements and I wanted to
respond to that.
Tim, I believe you feel very strongly about your opinion (and respect
that), but I wish that you could step outside of yourself to see how you
may look and sound to others.
I'm asking you to think about this from another perspective just as you
are demanding of the rest of us with your heated posting. The world,
and Minneapolis for that matter, are not as black and white as you would
make them out to be. Nor are they as militaristic, doomsdayish or
jackbooted as you paint them to be. Yes we have problems with our
police department and yes we can do a lot better. And it's good that
you are out there helping people to see that dark side of Minneapolis.
But not every cop is like what you portray them to be.
The Minneapolis Police Department is just like any other slice of the
human pie. There are lots of good people and a few bad people, and
unfortunately the bad ones nearly always overshadow the good. We need
to work on those bad ones and keep educating the others and ourselves so
that we don't go down the wrong road. I think in this we are in agreement.
I will repeat that there are different realities and experiences. I
expressed one of the Minneapolis officers who were involved in Abuka's
case and another about how Abuka had been let down by us, the community,
given is mental health issues and lack of proper assistance. You
offered another about a bi-polar ride in the back seat of a squad and
"facing jack booted, sadistic hospital attendants".
These are both valid views and realities. Mine is not better, nor
worse, than yours, just different. What is important for this list and
its members is that we express our various opinions so that people can
see these different sides and come up with a broader understanding than
when they began. But we run the risk of alienating people when we
become so heated and one-sided on an issue. I speak from experience in
my own life given the mistakes I have made and also that I am currently
living it as a member of Central Neighborhood.
We are obviously not going to win each other over in this discussion,
but I hope that others on the list have been able to see some of the
different issues, concerns and differences that exist on this point. I
hope that it would lead to good, healthy discussions on how we can
better our police force and our mental health system, how we can come at
a tough issue from different sides but still find common ground and how
to have a healthy debate about issues that affect us here in Minneapolis.
So please let this be the beginning of a new discussion on the positive
aspects of the work we are doing to make Minneapolis a more tolerant,
understanding and livable city.
Respectfully,
Matthew Dufresne
Central
timothy connolly wrote:
>
> I've been accused of being overly simplistic by
> someone on this list who took issue with my
> characterization of the murder of Abuka Sanders. I
> suppose that will be the case here as well.
>
> Too simplistic. Perhaps. Did Abuka Sanders do all the
> things a list member says the police say he did?
> Perhaps. But without better documentation it's all
> hearsay to me. What I stated was truth, pure and
> simple; police reigned down 34 rounds of ammunition on
> a bi-polar individual who was probably more confused
> and terrified than he could ever be dangerous. Here's
> some more info: Abuka Sanders had a lengthy police
> recored; 54 offenses, all of them misdemeanors or
> petty misdemeanors and almost all from traffic and
> parking vilations.
>
> Abuka was a big man. He was not violent and there is
> no record to suggest that to be the case.
>
> To read the apologia for the police from one list
> member you would think there was no need to convene a
> grand jury. For all the good it will do anyway! The
> idea that the Hennepin County Sheriff and the Hennepin
> County Prosecutor will ever take a critical look at
> the MPD is nigh impossible. There is an inherent
> conflict of interest in the proposition.
>
> Our police are poorly trained, poorly disciplined and
> poorly led. They are not soldiers in a war, they are
> peace officers. And people who condone any violation
> of due process and civil liberties, be they civilian
> or police, under the guise of whatever they believe
> justifies them, act antithetically to the spirit of
> our Constitution however that may differ from reality,
> both present and past.
>
> Tim Connolly
> Ward 7
> As to walking a mile in a person's shoes, and
> experiencing the fear, the adrenaline these officers
> felt, let them come along for a bi-polar ride, let
> them be cuffed tight and thrown in the back of a cop
> car with no ventilation and extreme claustrophobia;
> let them be thrown into a steel room with a single
> steel table the only furniture, a camera in the
> ceiling, a 4"square window in the door; let them
> experience jack booted sadistic hospital attendants
> putting them in four point restraints, pulling down
> their pants and having two needles jammed in their ass
> and for the eight seconds before they go under
> experiencing the certainty of their own death.
>
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