I thought I would respond because I think that the suggestions of
those presenting ideas of non-lethal force have been misrepresented.
Certainly some of the ideas have been a bit utopian. However many of the
ideas that have been suggested have been techniques that the mpls police
have already used. Riot Shields, pepper spray, bean bag guns, gas and
rubber bullets have already been effectively used by the mpls police in
demonstrations. Other police departments have drawn up ways of using
these non-lethat methods quite effectively. I've said it before, we
already spent the money at ISAG for them. There is nothing hypothetical in
these suggestions. Also, there is a significant difference between the
rubber bullets that the U.S. uses which are just that... rubber bullets
and the ones that the Israeli's used which are metal bullets that are
covered with a thin coating of rubber. I'm not saying that the moment of
being hit with said bullets would be pleasant (they would in fact, knock
you down) but it would be better than the results that occurred. The most
effective method I think would have been to create a wall of shields. We
used that technique in response to the police at Mayday 2000 and it was
quite effective... and the police have better shield than us...
Robert Wood
St Paul
"Perhaps this anti-essentialism could approach the everyday world,
mindful of its comprehensive asymmetry, and work to locate a different
framentary beauty amidst the irreducible chaos of racial antagonisms. Its
motto wqould be that understanding the radical contingency of racial
identities does not diminish their power."
--Paul Gilroy
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