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I have to admit that I have a horrible feeling
about the summer to come. I'm involved at various levels with folks just
off the street, in all sorts of crazy housing, and in various levels of
crisis and/or guarded progress. There is incredible stress in our
low-income (and predominantly people of color) communities, and I am pessimistic
about what is to come this summer as that stress plays out in various
ways--where at one level folks disengage even further and at a more basic level
people simply get shot and killed.
My only message to the Mayor and the Council is to
be true leaders, act quickly, and work incredibly hard to bridge any mistrust
that exists between the police and our communities. The longer anyone
toils with what I see as a symbolic fight about police leadership, the worse we
will be this summer.
I pray that in five months someone digs this post
out and says, "hey, what a bunch of hooey with that guy's predictions." In
that way, I hope I'm dead wrong.
Gregory Luce
Project 504/Minneapolis (North
Phillips)
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