TWO PART POST #1 Well, I waited a couple of days to cool down my response to K. Miller. I perceived his remarks to be truly racist, but it did strike me as remotely possible that they were the words of someone playing a role. In addition, I thought that a person in a position to do so "might" exercise the rule on inflammatory rhetoric -- but these parameters appear to be broader than I had imagined.
Mr. K. Miller apparently has a race problem. He believes that only Black people are drug dealers, and that any call for police to do their job is aimed at Black people. Apparently, he is unaware that the FAILURE of police to do their job discriminates against the good Black people (99% of Black people, that is) who live in this community and who are disproportionately victimized by crime in the area. Mr. K Miller seems to believe that Black and non-Black residents wanting equal protection under the law for their community must be racists whose aim is to drive Black people from the community. This degree of prejudice is usually encountered among racist White people, but it does go to show that racism is an equal opportunity evil. Mr. Miller needs to understand that there are drug dealers and there are Black people, and the two are not the same. I happen to know the difference and have gone up against drug dealers of all ethnicities in this community. Drug dealers are able to do business successfully in some poor communities because of racism similar to Mr. Miller's, but ordinarily it comes from White people who believe drug dealers should be concentrated in poor neighborhoods with large minority populations. Those who have any doubt about drug dealing on Franklin should drop in to the Franklin Safety Center and look at the gallery or talk to the local police. You should talk to Lt. Chris Arntson (673-5703) at the 3rd Precinct, or Lt. Rick Thomas (673-5734), head of the 3rd Precinct CRT Team. They are the soldiers fighting the "War". Mr. Miller apparently wants Black families to continue to be victimized by criminals. We in Ventura Village choose to have a safe community for all our residents, whatever their color. We chose to fight to have equal protection under the law for all people with out discrimination. That war has also gone on for a long time. Mr. Miller's fantasies would be more acceptable if he had in fact been on hand when WE were fighting to save Peace House, the Free Store, and the Dollar Store. Jim Graham was there. The Ventura Village Neighborhood was there. Where was Mr. Miller? Nowhere that I know of. It is in fact easy to throw stones, but ask Gail Hayden about Peace House and what person and what Neighborhood has fought to protect it. Ask Penny what Neighborhood Organization voted to support the Free Store where ever they wished to locate in our Neighborhood; ask who it was who advocated for them at another neighborhood. Ask Ali Giarushi, the owner of the Dollar Store, who led the demonstrations and fought to keep the Dollar Store. Ask each of them if they remember a Kejuan Miller being there!! I have bad eyesight, so maybe I didn't see him. I am also getting older and have a lot on my mind, so I may not remember him. Any interested List member should ask the people who headed the organizations that Mr. Miller identifies. I invite any reader to contact the Third precinct (673-5703), or to contact those people and ask who's blowing smoke and who's telling the truth. Contact me off list and I will give you the information for the other people, if you can not find it. Perhaps the person who broke into my basement yesterday when people were home was a fantasy. However, he looked awful "Real" when the alarms went off and he went tearing out of the basement door and jumping fences. My neighbor and friend of twenty years, Robert Cook, participated in the chase to attempt to catch the person. Robert is a Black homeowner in our community. He knows the real root of crime and personally attempts to intervene in crime at its earliest stage. Robert runs a youth program. I m ust admit the police did stop a man on Franklin Avenue with a coat that answered the description of the one worn by the robber, and he turned out to be the wrong person. Of course he also turned out to have outstanding warrants, and received a ride downtown, to clear up the matter. No, I think the fantasies are someone else's. There are "real" crime problems affecting children and families in our neighborhood, and fortunately there are "real" concerned neighbors of All Colors and ethnicities trying their best to cope with them. Jim Graham, Ventura Village Mr. Miller also says, "I should know--I showed up for a meeting of "Ventura Village" and was told I couldn't vote because me and a roomful of people of color hadn't "signed up" to vote 30 days earlier." Answer in the next post _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
