Dennis Plante writes: How empathetic am I to cries of police brutality? Not very.... I live in a zoo, the police are the keepers... As long as we as a society deem it necessary to keep lower-class minorites bottlled-up in neighborhoods like Jordan and Phillips, we'll continue to experience the problems and the resultant out-cries from do-gooders that don't live-in our neighborhoods and don't understand what's going on.
(and later responding to Terrance Asselin) Negative feelings in areas such as I live in AREN"T incubated by police actions. The police are called upon to deal with the residual EFFECTS of the societal problems. When called upon, they only reinforce the feelings that the dis-enfranchised have - that they're being discrimminated against. Take THIS to the bank - the very best the accussed officers (in the Porter case) can hope for is that they and the city won't be sued successfully, regardless of how innocent they are in this particular case. They will NEVER be exonerated. What does THAT say about us as a society?? Tamir says: What does that say about us as a sosciety is a good question. To me, it says that there are a lot of neighborhood residents who (although they don't have the guts to say it out loud and honsetly) support and approve of police bruality for a variety of reasons. Perhaps, they secretly have prejudice leanings, perhaps they believe all of the drug war propaganda. Maybe they are just angry people, or maybe having a heavy handed police force makes them feel safe. The reality of this is that it is actions like the Porter case that spurs these "do gooder that don't live in our neighborhoods" to react, causes justified animosity toward the police and thus threatens all of our safety. I know that I can't change the opinions of those who hold this view any more than they can change my point of view. Those who basically approve of police brutality and those are work hard to stop it are both very passionate in thier view point, and I freely admit that on the issue of police behavior, I am quite stubborn. A large part of the collective American conciousness involves a distrust of government and of authority. Thus that distrust is something that police especially should understand will go with the territory, and thier training should reflect such. Incidently, I've lived in some of the worst neighborhoods in Minneapolis, and my son cueertly goes to school in Jordan. I know darn well that crime and drug addaction are a huge problem. However, no law enforcement plan (not even Amy Klobuchar's drug courts) can solve the problem of drug addiction. The best police can do is brutalise people and throw a bunch of addicted people in small county jails and make the problem worse. It is also simply logical that a brutal repressive police force does not reduce crime. If it did, LA would be a safe paradise. So would Minneapolis. Tamir Nolley Holland __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Exclusive Video Premiere - Britney Spears http://launch.yahoo.com/promos/britneyspears/ REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ 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
