DEAR STARTRIBUNE EDITOR: I write to protest your January 10, 2003 editorial on federal mediation in Minneapolis. I always thought that the media prided itself on getting both sides of the story before taking a position. It seems that your paper believes it knows better than the African-American community, what is good for us.
Before your wrote your editorial slamming the Community Negotiating Team (CNT) for not including the traditional black leadership, did you investigate? Did you know that when the public community-wide meeting was held Federal Mediation Now originally proposed having a representative from "traditional black leadership" at the table, and a representative for the clergy? Did you know that it was the community that removed those categories from the list? Not all members of the black community believe that these long time "leaders" speak for them. Far from it. There is great distrust of these "leaders" within the black community, and a fear that when it comes to negotiating with the City, certain individuals and organizations will be more concerned about where their next public dollar is coming from, rather than protecting those who are the victims of police brutality. As one of your column-writers noted, politics in the African-American community are complex. Before you take a position on what your paper believes is right for us, find out the real "pulse" of our community.Don't accept things at face value. Indeed, the fact that Chief Olson and other powers-that-be are publicly demanding that these "leaders" sit at the table reduces their credibility in the black community. Even the federal mediation protocols don't allow the City to have input on who represents the community. We see these demands for what they are -- an attempt by the powers-that-be to control the outcome of mediation by controlling who sits at the table. We don't want that. We want real change. One thing that the CNT has always done well is to let each individual community select its own representatives. The StarTribune needs to respect that perhaps those of us who live in the African-American community every day know best what is good for us. Pauline Thomas Central Community Shawn Lewis, Field Neighborhood -- _______________________________________________ Sign-up for your own FREE Personalized E-mail at Mail.com http://www.mail.com/?sr=signup Meet Singles http://corp.mail.com/lavalife _______________________________________ 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
