Hundreds of children will be born today. In the next four years, thousands more will start their lives. Still other children will start school. Some will know homelessness, hunger, and an educational system that fails them so thoroughly they turn to crime. The events of yesterday demanded the natural partisanship of an election be set aside. However, it also demanded that candidates and their supporters not hide. As I left work yesterday, I was saddened that people were not outside. I wanted to see people holding up campaign signs, draped to cover the candidates' information, and with the word 'vote' clearly visible. I thought of the message that could have been sent had campaign workers teamed up with the volunteers of other campaigns to urge people to get out and vote, with no mention of any specific candidate. As I entered the polling location, I wanted to vote 'none of the above' for mayor. I saw yesterday as a failure of leadership in Minneapolis' mayoral candidates. The events of yesterday demanded that an election not be forgotten. As soon as I heard the news, I started calling media outlets urging them to remember to remind people of the election throughout their newscasts. The people with whom I spoke replied, in essence, "Yeah, right. We'll be sure to do that. Really, we will." The individuals with whom I spoke were much more conscious of the need to remind people. One person I know said she put a notice about the election on the door of an apartment building, while another tenant added an "I Voted" sticker to it. As well planned as yesterday's attacks were, the fact it occurred on election day was very likely not coincidental. The fact that we could let it disrupt our right to select leadership for the next four years was the real threat America and Minneapolis faced. --Rosa Field Ward 10 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email alerts & NEW webcam video instant messaging with Yahoo! Messenger http://im.yahoo.com _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
