I was told this morning by a person who has been working closely with this initiative that they are not planning on flying the helicopters over our houses this time. I was also told that in addition to the state police, they have added the services of the state gang strike force. This is an important element because Minneapolis is clearly dealing with gang issues on both the north and south side of town. I suspect gang members are most likely the ones doing all the shooting.
I was also told by police that many of the gang members that were arrested in the early 90's have been released from jail and looking to re-establish their territory. As activists on crime, we need to change who we are sending the messages to. The next vigil or hot dog roast should be in the judges chambers and at the state legislative crime committee meetings. That's where we need to send a message. The message we send on the street each time we let a criminal go is "go ahead and do the crime cuz you're never going to do the time". Maybe we should gather up all the criminal rap sheets the neighborhood folks have and put them in a notebook and send them to the legislators and and ask why these people have never spent a day in prison? Maybe it would outrage them enough to do something. The neighborhood activists working on this stuff have been outraged for a long time. Barb Lickness Whittier ===== "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." -- Margaret Mead __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
