Hectic times are the norm for a council member- are you sure you're ready for this job?In response to Tamir, Let me apologise for any negligence on my part for not responding to your call. I have no recollection of your call or of receiving any message regarding your call. But, please understand, these are hectic times for me, and there seems to have been an oversight.
Again, I wish you'd been more specific previously instead of waiting so late in the campaign.I have spoken repeatedly about the issues of police/community relationships and my views are very clear to those who have heard me speak on the issue.
You make it sound like a conspiracy- where is this "evidence" you speak of?I believe there is evidence of racial prejudice and abuse of authority by elements within the Minneapolis police.
If what you allege is true it is indeed unacceptable. But do you realize that under state data privacy laws the personnel data of innocent public employees is largely confidential, and should remain so?I believe this is unacceptable and should be addressed at every level and that citizens complaints should be handled in an open and timely manner with results of investigations made available to the public.
Don, you present no solutions to these problems. We have a shortage of police officers of all races in Minneapolis because they tend to take the better paying jobs in the suburbs. And this isn't just a black and white problem- several ethnic groups, women, and GLBT folks are underrepresented on our police force.I also believe that the police force is too uniformly white. It is not healthy for any community to have any single group represent law enforcement in great disproportion. It is not good for the community that I only see white men patting down black men, spread-eagled against cars along neighborhood streets. It is not good for the community that I only see white men tackling black men to the ground, even when the action is justifiable.
Don, again you view all problems as black versus white. This is a rather simplistic and unrealistic view of our cities demographics. In reality many neighborhoods such as our own have no majority race or ethnic group. Before the multiracial Minneapolis Police shutdown the drug house in my neighborhood it was patronized by people of all races. Again, this isn't a black versus white issue, it's us citizens versus the criminals.This racial disparity breeds perceptions that law enforcement is a white prerogative and crime is a black phenomenon. This is the visually degrading imagery that the young people in my neighborhood see. It is damaging to the psyche of young people of any colors, but especially black young men.
You have submitted no plan, so I will propose one for you. First we need to have a tax base that will support filling all the empty positions in our Police Department. Your platform encourages low wage jobs, and those workers won't be able to buy homes. Your platform will thusly destroy our tax base and we may never be able to hire officers. So instead we'll use DFL endorsed candidate Olin Moore's plan. He will advocate for living wage jobs by supporting labo'rs right to organize and earn the wages they need to buy homes. Those homes will build our assessed value and allow us to hire new police officers. Then we can do some serious affirmative action to recruit a police department that looks like Minneapolis.The only solution is a radical change in recruitment practices to force the police department to look like the community it serves. This must be done quickly, with a workable plan, a firm schedule and a specific deadline.
Don, again this is not a simple black and white issue. Your also fail to note the role women sadly play in the drug market. And do you seriously want police to put aside responding to calls like "domestic assualt with a gun" to "remove him immediately" for merely selling a suspected controlled substance?At the same time, I see the street crime at close range all around me. I see that virtually all the sellers are young black men. I know their prospects are bleak and their alternatives pitiful. But I insist that drugs and gang violence must be removed from our streets by any civilized and just means necessary. That means, when a young man sells drugs down the street from my house, the police must remove him immediately and he should pay the prescribed penalty for his crime.
I've been threatened by gangbangers too, but I see no point in demonizing either black males or white cops for that.These young men tend to belong to gangs. In their struggle for territory and sometimes in their initiation rituals, they fire guns and kill people, both innocent and guilty. One day they might kill my wife or my daughter. Heaven knows, I have already been threatened for calling the cops on these guys. So the odds of my family actually being hurt are very real.
Don, I am again impressed by your oratory as previously featured in numerous sound bites after last August's riot. But the job of council member requires more than oratory. We need a council member who can write effective legislation and build coalitions to pass it, and you seem wanting in that regard.And so we have this strange paradox that I have the possibility of being harassed by some ignorant policeman for being black and at the same time the real danger of being killed by some ignorant young black man for simply living in my community. I will not tolerate either. I will be strident, vocal, unyielding and an insufferable thorn in the behind of both if they think they can hold me hostage in my community in this land of the free. And I challenge either group to try to manipulate me to be silent about its own violations so that we can address the violations of the other. I will not do it!
Again, crime is not just a black and white issue. Worse yet, it seems to be your only issue.In Minneapolis last year, at one point, 20 homicides had been committed. 19 of the victims were African American. 17 of the suspects were African Americans. I don't care who you are, white cop or black gang member. If you are hurting or killing young black men, you should be punished by the full extent of the law. And it matters not whether the fellow you killed or abused was a criminal or a saint.
How about the asian, latino, somali, and other kids? And don't we need strong, law abiding women loving their lovers too? And health care for all, regardless of sexual orientation?Let me close by saying, young black people in the inner city need to live among African Americans who care about them. They need to live among African American people whose lives are working. They need to live among the full range of people who look like them. They need to see gainfully employed and middle class African Americans. They need to see strong, law abiding black men taking care of their families, loving their wives, playing with their children and ultimately reaching out a hand of friendship and an offer of structure to them.
Don, where are these "young ignorant white cops" of whom you speak? How many are there? I've met plenty of intelligent and aware cops of all ages, where these just the rare exception?Young ignorant white cops also need to see this. They need to have their misconceptions checked by encounters with a wide range of African Americans who can articulate outrage in a reasoned and effective manner. Tamir sounds like such a voice. I hope you stick around long enough to help us continue to demand justice and equality for all, from all. God knows we are hopeless without it.
Again, I am saddened that you seem only to perceive the world as black versus white. We citizens of Minneapolis come in many colors, and we can think in all the colors of the rainbow. Perhaps that explains why Stonewall DFL has endorsed your opponent, Olin Moore.
furthering the debate,
Dyna Sluyter in Hawthorne
Don SamuelsTEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. ________________________________ 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
-- TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. ________________________________ 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
