About ten years ago I was locking up my bike outside of Brit's Pub. There seemed to be some tension in the air, I had heard that there was some violence between some African Americans and some Euro-Americans earlier in the day, but I don't know for sure. So anyway I was locking up my bike when I was suddenly surrounded by a dozen young African American men, well, I knew what was happening. "hey what's up" One of them said, "Let me ride your bike!" So, the only thing that came to mind was "Sure man, as long as you bring it back", suddenly I got sucker punched from the side right across the face. I 'm glad I wasn't dragged behind the building and had my head kicked in for my sarcasm but I figured whatever was going to happen was going to happen. So fear no matter who it is is a natural thing and to try and say something is not scary sometimes is not very smart. This instinct tells us we may not be safe. The Mayor or R.T. are not going to solve racial profiling on their own, we may not solve it in our lifetime. It is more than just the police, it is more than culture or ignornace, so many aspects intersect to give us what we have today. We should not put this issue on the back burner, we can address it, we can take meaningful steps to reduce and abolish it. I can tell you what they did in St. Paul, but in Mpls I really don't know?... mostly talk..... For my part, I took that experience as a flook. And as far as Ron Edwards talking about change, yeah I'm working on Shane Price's campaign for Hope and Change. I know I'm more the exception than the rule for a white guy in Nordeast, but then again I'm a green party member. I think if we eventually move from racial tolerance to an understanding of the different races we may move to some real peace. But that's if were willing to move from a place of complaceny to a place of compassion. ie: I understand what your going through. What do you think the African American community thinks when they hear that a white cop was justified in shooting an unarmed black youth?
Robert Yorga new3 _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
