At 02:25 PM 4/25/02 -0500, Eva Young wrote: >Wizard Marks writes about the denizens of Central Neighborhood:
>I've watched white males who >semi-privately refer to their neighbors as "good niggers and bad >niggers, breeders, cunts", take over a neighborhood organization with a >clearly articulated goal of getting control of any money coming into the >neighborhood from whatever public sources to drive out the people of >color and take over the real estate goldmine this neighborhood has >become due to growth of the city. I've seen rude on a grand scale and >I'm still seeing it. > >================================= > ............. She continues in response to my questions: > You've never participated in the neighborhood meeting cycles either before or after the onset of NRP. I have. I've sat in meetings monthly and twice monthly for years on end. Those who claim to speak for the poor are virtually always labeled as being out for themselves. Those who speak for the poor are most often also black and poor themselves. EY: Art Erickson and Ralph Bruins of Urban Ventures claim to speak for the poor often -- and they are not black or poor. WM: But no one mentions, for example, that the whole Healy block routine (which went on for years) was about a very, very few people speaking only for themselves and getting the city, NRP, and whoever else to pay for it. EY: Specifics? WM: There have been other initiatives requiring meeting cycles as well and there, too, the poor and the black, particularly, are labeled and accused of wanting to control all the money and of being in it only for themselves. That was the accusations for the so called Blue Crew. Were they are more larcenous at heart? Nope. Were they any less larcenous? Probably not, but they had seen the most vocal whites get everything they asked for and felt secure in their belief that black people, who have lived in Central for generations, didn't appear to be getting the same deal. ========================================== EY: True, I haven't gone to alot of CNIA meetings. I have gone to block club meetings. However I live in Central and I resent the portrayal of white central residents as people who would say such ugly things. I have to question the source also -- and it bothers me how often the media quote Wizard to speak for the "average Central resident" as often as they do. It reminds me of how the media like to get a comment from Tom Prichard from the Minnesota Family Council whenever they do a story about gays. The Blue Crew did use racial demogogery whenever they could. I missed the May 2000 meeting where they took over. However I went to the Sept 2000 meeting when people came out to try to overturn the board. That meeting was a joke -- and full of racial demogogery. If people anywhere are talking like Wizard describes -- yes this type of language to refer to people should be condemned. I just find it odd -- because I hang out with a number of the people that Wizard is referring to in this post, and I have NOT heard this type of language. WM: > It's not said TO the meeting, but off to the sides AT the meetings. It's off to the sides where you overhear the real agendas of various folks as they rally votes to their point of view. It's also said at the private get-togethers of some neighborhood folks where they feel they are among their own and can, therefore, let down their hair, so to speak. It's not during the heated meetings when these things come out, but between those times and around those venues and off to the sides. WizardMarks, Central I've been to a number of private get togethers with the people you are referring to -- and I've never heard this type of talk. I'd like to urge people on this list to think twice before assuming that caucasion individuals who live in Central are a bunch of racist and sexist pigs with mouths like Wizard Marks describes. Are there people in Central who are tired of racial demogogery used to stifle discussion of the real issues? There certainly are. Is Central full of people who are going to sign up to join the KKK? No, that's rediculous. Eva Eva Young Central Neighborhood Minneapolis _______________________________________ 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
