Shawn, thank you for posting this article on Minneapolis Issues. I've been rolling on the floor laughing reading it.
The article states: This ironic turn of events prompted a degree of fallout in predominantly black North Minneapolis where the over-riding sentiment was that Cherryhomes had ignored the public good for the sake of elitist, very white, downtown corporate interests, and the perception is that Rev. Randolph Staten and Bill English, lead figures respectively at CBC and AALS, had ties to Cherryhomes� political fate. Before you could say �Animal Farm,� the fur was flying. As quoted in the Star Tribune, English threatened to �bring legal action� if Lee continued to claim his organization endorsed Cherryhomes in violation on its nonprofit status. ============================================== EY: I think a recent City Pages article said more about the connections between Bill English and Jackie Cherryhomes. It's worth reading. Go to www.citypages.com and search on Bill English. This whole thing reminds me of Jackie Cherryhomes husband threatening list member David Strand with litigation to get him to retract statements he made on the list about Cherryhomes and her husband. Randy Staten embarrassed himself and the whole legislature when he was a member be writing bad checks. Now maybe he just should have waited until he got in congress to do that..... Bill English has also been active in the DFL a long time. He is known for his virulently anti-gay views. I remember getting a good laugh years ago when he would pop off every once in a while with rather poignant blather about the evils of those danged homosexuals (he used rather more colorful language as I recall). Then he throws his weight around threatening to sue people for criticizing him and the Council of Black Churches. The article continues: At the Nov. 13 Insight News/KMOJ Public Policy Forum, there was an accusation from the audience that English and Staten were �snakes� who should�ve supported Lee whereupon a hollering ruckus ensued. EY: The real point to this is it seems that the opinions of Rev Statten and Bill English don't seem to matter to many rank and file black voters. Both of these guys might have very good reasons to have supported Cherryhomes. However what was odd about that was that both these guys regularly exploit racial tensions to their advantage. They also like to sell themselves to idiotic non-African American politicians as representatives of the Black community. The article continues: >To be sure, little love is lost in the matter of Lee versus Staten and English. She feels they should have had her back or, at the very least, seriously considered her viability as a candidate. �Not once,� says Lee, �did they sit down and talk to me about my platform.� Staten was not available for comment. Calls to English were not returned. EY: Not surprised. The article continues: >Hardly much ado about nothing, this nonetheless is not proven to be cataclysmic circumstance. Based on available information, the worst that can be said is that these public figures are not on the same page. Northside resident Anthony Porter comments, �It�s news just because corporate media view black people as monolithic. It�s really a racist notion that we�re all the same. That�s why when black people disagree it gets in the paper. They expect all of us to think alike.� ============================ EY: Anthony Porter puts it well... The article continues: >She reached communities at large and the general black community in particular, addressing among other paramount concerns, the incidence of racial profiling by police. Not having been identifiably in step with that community puts a certain amount of egg on the faces of Staten and English: both have vehemently spoken out on behalf of affordable housing and against racial profiling, but neither, apparently, felt Lee was the one to get the job done. They didn�t, as it were, back the right horse. It happens. EY: LOL -- and their political capitol is greatly diluted because of this. Somewhat in the same way Rick Stafford's political capitol as a major power broker able to deliver gay votes was shown to be very weak. I'm wondering when both of these guys decide to switch to the Republican Party. If they went over to the Sullivan campaign, they could probably sell campaign manager and former GOP ED Tony Sutton on how "racist" the DFL is, and how they are the ones who can deliver African American votes to the Republican party. Heck, Lucky Rosenbloom tried that tactic with his ward 9 race. Something missing in the Pulse article: the big role the Property Rights group played in the Johnson Lee - Cherryhomes race. Eva Eva Young Central _______________________________________ 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
