Dear List Members,
I have a question that others may think strange, or
unfeeling, but it is not meant to be so, and I really
want to have an answer. Others may have wanted to ask
the question but may have felt a little uneasy or
unpatriotic. Since the country wants us to all rally
around the flag, I want some answers.
Whenever an officer is killed, hundreds of officers
turn out and line the streets, etc., for the wake,
memorial and funeral. There may be varying amounts of
TV and other media coverage. It is a national tragedy.
Why is there no major coverage, daylong or even
intermittent (with notice to the media), when one of
"our own" ordinary citizens is killed? And if they
happen to report anything, it is most often "skewered"
and roasted until it is done to their liking? (I am
not a big supporter of the Strib because they did some
crappy reporting on me, and when I asked them to
retract some quite erroneous statements, they simply
ignored me like I did not exist).
I have always wondered who then was protecting the
rest of the citizens? It is not still our tax dollars
paying their salaries? What happens when some
innocent citizen gets shot and killed during this time
because not enough back-up was available?
Why when cops shoot and/or kill someone they get a
paid leave of absence? Especially, if they are the
prime suspects under investigation? I say that they
should simply be broke like the rest of the folks who
may suddenly be scorned by the masses and out of a
job. If they are found innocent, then we can give
them back pay. Or, if these same officers are found
guilty, IMHO we should insert a clause in their paid
leave of absence pay that they have to pay it back
(restitution) just like crooks!
And, should there not be a fund set up out of that
same pot of OUR money that we are paying police
officers paid leave with, for citizens who lose time
and money from their jobs for being wrongly arrested
and/or fired, etc., from their jobs for acts relating
to police misconduct?
Now, I can be as sympathetic as the next person, and
deeply resent what the September 11th act of terrorism
did to my country and my fellow citizens, but I will
also be very honest. As a taxpaying citizen, and
quite frankly, as an African-American,in my birthplace
(since my ancestors BUILT this country)I was already
appalled at the lack of insensitivity of this country,
and its subsequent cities, in relation to its own
responsibility to the rights of its citizens.
Now I am nice, but I am not Minnesota Nice!
Minorities AND the mentally ill are still treated like
crap! Yes, America has made some strides forward, but
it also slid backwards in many ways. We have our own
breed of terrorism that is plain ugly. I look at all
this patriotism with one eyebrow raised, and still
sleep with one eye open.
This is land of the free and home of the brave. Just
don't you dare try to cash in your red, white and blue
chips. Liberty and the pursuit of happiness are not
guaranteed to everybody.
If someone has the answer to those questions, or some
plausible reasoning, I would love to hear it. If the
Strib is lurking around this forum, good. They got
the unedited version of my thoughts which never would
happen if they were to be reported by them.
Pamela Taylor
(Formerly of Central Neighborhood, where the peaceful
and well-loved Abuka Sanders was unnecessarily slain
by the MPLS Police, sounding off from Tampa, FL)
--- "Garwood, Robin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
> I agree with Matthew, Wizard, and Jordan on this
> one.
>
> One of the points I took away from Jordan's post was
> that a limited
> investigation of the individual police officers'
> behavior will most likely
> exonerate them, since they were ostensibly following
> police procedures.
> Therefore, an effective investigation must go deeper
> than the officers
> themselves. Someone outside the MPD must examine
> their policies. If these
> officers' behavior was indeed "by the book," we must
> thoroughly and
> dispassionately examine the book itself, with a
> readiness to discard those
> chapters that have proven they do not work.
>
>
> Robin Garwood
> Seward
> _______________________________________
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> Discussion - Mn E-Democracy
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