Dear Editorial Staff : Your January 10, 2003 editorial �Mediation There�s much to learn from St. Paul� is very troubling. First, a claim is made that it was a �Big mistake� not to have Minneapolis NAACP and Minneapolis Urban League involved. Some members on Community Negotiating Team (CNT) are members of the Minneapolis NAACP. If you did your research you will find that to be true. Most important, one Vice President from the Minneapolis NAACP Branch Office who is often quoted in your paper was fully aware of the selection process but simply decided not to �participate.� Clearly, the primary organizers of the selection process cannot be held accountable for the lack of effort of officers of the Minneapolis NAACP branch. Would you want officers of an organization to represent �you� in serious and tough negotiations with the Minneapolis Police department who failed to participate in the selection process in the first place? I don�t think so! In the case of the Minneapolis Urban League, your editorial staff will need to do more research. First, read the story of former Minneapolis Police officer Sergeant Alisa Clemons in the Minnesota Spokesman. After reading the series of articles about her experience, you will learn that the Minneapolis Urban League was not every helpful and a few things about our former Mayor and former City Council President. Secondly, Ms. Clemons breaks the story about a deputy police chief from the Minneapolis Police department on the Board of Directors of the Minneapolis Urban League (http://www.mul.org/leadership.cfm). Now, would you want on the �community side� of federal mediation an organization that has a policymaker from Minneapolis Police Department? Again, I don�t think so!
Next, Mr. Harry �Spike� Moss. Again, this will require more research. Within you own newspaper, statements and quotes are as followed: At least one community leader, though, said he did not think such actions would work. Community activist Spike Moss said Saturday that he hadn't met with Glenn ``and I probably wouldn't,'' judging by previous experiences with the Justice Department. ``They just come in, ask questions, make a recommendation, get on a plane and leave,'' he said. ``They waste your time.'' The above mention is published August 25, 2002. I did not create the above paragraph, your publication did. Now, don�t you feel a little embarrassed? Finally, some on the CNT have received threats on their life. Isn�t that a very good reason to keep their identities anonymous? I hope in the future your editorial staff can do a much better job covering federal mediation. Shawn Lewis Shawn Lewis, Field Neigbhorhood -- _______________________________________________ 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
