Eva Young wrote: >>Folks were giving testimonials about what Urban Ventures had done for them. >>They showed a very slickly produced video. >> >>David Piehl writes: >> >>>From my observations over the past several years, generally the people who >>offer positive comments about how Urban Ventures has "helped" them, now >>work for UV >> >That IS a good point David -- and I believe that you are correct. The >folks who were talking about how Urban Ventures turned their lives around >also worked for the organization. > WM: However, most of us can also say that at least one job we have had over our lifetimes has changed our lives. Simply having a job changes one's life and I know people now connected to Urban Ventures/Central Community Church who did turn their lives around through their connection to the organization. The people who make that claim in the UV film are speaking their hearts. What do I care about what tool persons use to turn themselves away from crack, heroin, and alcohol toward a life he/she can live. If UV can do that, then more power to them.
> I question whether Urban >Ventures is the appropriate outfit to offer this. Central has a large gay >and lesbian population, and Urban Ventures leaders -- especially Art >Erickson, has been quoted making anti-gay statements in the Star Tribune. > >David Piehl writes: > >And don't forget the flyer circulated by Urban Ventures some years ago >about the "sin of homosexuality" calling on all glbt residents to "repent". > > >I don't recall that flyer -- and if anyone on this list has a copy of that >flyer, please email me privately. If this is the type of thing UV does, >then I would like to see the Minneapolis Public Schools and Park Board >immediately quit working with UV. I would like to hear from school board >candidates on this list what you think about partnering with an >organization that puts out anti-gay flyers such as this. Gays and Lesbians >live in the Central Neighborhood, and we don't need taxpayer funded >organizations that regularly insult us and tell us we are sinners who need >to repent. If this flyer is a reality, I feel the same about having any >taxpayer money going to UV as I would about Taxpayer money going to the >KKK. > WM: The "flyer", according to Walt Gutzmer and others who received it, was actually a booklet about the religious convictions of Central Community Church (what denomination I have no idea) which has a Siamese Twin relationship with UV. I never saw this booklet. However, having a Christian Church, the Boy Scouts of America or any other organization proselytize against gender preference shouldn't be much of a surprise to anyone nor is it anything anyone outside the organization can change. What you can do, if you have the persistence and energy, is to work against having the crap rubbed in your face. For example, when some guy who was practicing to be a minister of some church got a loud speaker system, stood across the street from my house, and called hate speech to every passer-by whom he had tagged as a "faggot" (his word), that was something I could do something about and no, it did not involve a punch in the nose to the guy. > My former neighbor, Jane Strauss, sent her children to an Urban Ventures >summer program some years ago that was funded in part by the neighborhood. >Jane's summary of the program was "it was supposed to be recreational >activities for the kids, instead they fed my kids ham and cheese and talked >about Jesus!" Rather inappropriate given the fact that Jane is an >observant Jew, and was raising her children as such. I wonder if Urban >Ventures plans to include the increasing number of Somalian children, most >of whom are muslim, in their program? > Last Sunday, a church in Eden Prairie I think, had a debate on whether Christians should be adamant that the only way to God is through Jesus or should they consider a pluralist notion, that each religion has a set of proscriptions through which they connect to God. Any church that proselytizes takes the position that they have "the answer." As the observant Jew Jane Strauss is, she knows that any food served to her children outside a kosher family will be "traif" by definition, she also knows that she can never depend on non-kosher food preparation to meet those requirements. > > >It would be interesting if they would make the types of bigoted statements >about muslims to these kids as Pat Robertson does on national TV. > >I'm curious whether Colin Powell knows about the anti-gay history of UV. >Somehow, I don't think he would want to be associated with an organization >that puts out bigoted anti-gay flyers. So as I said, I'm looking for a >copy of this flyer. > WM: It's a big leap from a booklet and a comment to the press to anti-gay history for the whole organization. It's also a big leap to assume that Colin Powell is opposed to that rhetoric. > >Wizard Marks, 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 > _______________________________________ 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
