I respect all people's right to remove drugs and violence in a neighborhood and I'm not one who tolerates it either. Please respect my right to be free of the violence and harrassment of a police crackdown, which won't include you in the dragnet--it includes me. I've been knocked down, choked, cuffed, pulled over, spat at, called every name you know by the police and "activists" in Minneapolis. When does the welcome mat wear out and I move out? It sure won't be those hyping it up and calling for the crackdown moving out because they don't feel welcome. Those folks are the hardy souls, the so-called "courageous fighters."

The stories you tell are what you call "war" stories--things that may have happened every so often in the past but don't mean it happens everyday here in Minneapolis. This isn't Chicago, New York, LA, or Dallas for that matter, and I've lived in all of those places.

People want to tell the war stories because you want sympathy and you want our "black" neighborhoods to sound like a war zone full of drugs, pimps and prostitutes--that way, you are the heroes who deserve the praise of cleaning up the neighborhoods and getting people like me to move on, just someone trying to get on. We'll see in five years who's left, what's taken the place of the Free Store, Peace House, Walgreen's, the Dollar store, etc., and who can afford what's been "cleaned up." It's easy to crack down--but where does it move to and who gets swept up and out in the calls while they are just trying to make it down the street?

Kejuan Miller
Phillips


I also can state quite confidently that I am not
looking for all the black people to move out of my
neighborhood. If that were the case, I would have to
move also. My son is black.

I know quite a few black people,

It's not a matter of color, it's a matter of behavior..

Mr. Miller, you have nothing to worry about with me. I
will not call the cops on you when you are waiting for
a bus, and I don't want you to move away from Franklin
or wherever you live.

Likewise, I would hope you might respect my right to
work hard so that my child can live in a neighborhood
that is safe and free from the violence associated
with drugs, gangs, and prostitution.

Barb Lickness
Whittier






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