Some of us have written for years on this list about the disconnect between
the police culture and the society it patrols.
What better example of that terrible truth than this letter by the police
federation. When one segment of the community values the life of its own as
without peer, dismissing the value of life outside it, we have some serious
issues to address.
But when its the law enforcement establishment essentially thumbing its nose
at the value of life in other sectors of that society, refusing to
acknowledge the facts and fears mentally ill individuals face every day, the
ugly result is wanton murder by those in uniform and deputized to protect,
not persecute.
RT and the City Council should not be viewing this letter from the
Federation as an understandable angry response for the felling of one of
their own. This is yet another signal that civilians are losing control of
the military forces in their own community.
Andy Driscoll
Saint Paul
------
"These things will destroy the human race:
politics without principle; progress without compassion;
wealth without work; learning without silence;
religion without fearlessness and worship without awareness."
-- Anthony de Mello
> From: WizardMarks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Date: Wed, 14 Aug 2002 12:36:38 -0500
> To: mpls issues <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: Re: [Mpls] Police Union Letter
>
>>
>>
>> Jim Graham writes:
>>
>>> The naked attempts to mix race into this issue by some such as Staten is far
>>> more troubling.
>>>
> WM: I'm always astonished with the notion that anyone has to "attempt to
> mix race into" any issue that involves police officers and people of
> color. The history of this country and the history of this city is an
> endless catalog of the fact that policing and race are invariably found
> together, whether it is to exonerate, ignore, tolerate major and minor
> white criminality or to enact vengence on people of color whether the
> crime is tiny or huge. It is possible, theoretically, to have law,
> order, and fairness, but it's real work to achieve it, even momentarily.
>
>>>
>>>
>> EY: I'm curious about how many rank and file African Americans Staten
>> really represents.
>>
> WM: If he "represents" even himself and one other person of color that
> should be enough for every one to be alert to the idea that something
> could be rotten in the polis.
>
>>
>>
>> I can remember no time or
>>
>>> situation when the white population attacked Sales-Belton for any comment or
>>> action against a white person because she was Black and they were White. >
>>> "Staten and others also criticized Rybak for his overall handling of the
>>> shooting and fallout for not defending Johnson Lee's comments. The forum
>>> crowd cheered Staten's statements and echoed his call for Delmonico's
>>> resignation.
>>>
> WM: Oh, please. The dominant culture certainly attacked Sales-Belton for
> envisioning her work as mayor differently than they did and her vision
> clearly came out of her membership in and understanding of the
> sub-culture. For eight years and longer whites, as a group, have
> blithely attacked SSB and it still goes on in homes all over the city
> today. That some whites failed to join in the attacks does not negate
> the fact that they happened.
>
> WizardMarks, Central
>
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