Eva Young: Today's Strib says the minority communities are supportive of
the McManus choice - though most of the supporters were members of the
African American Community - Spike Moss and others. What's interesting
is that it seems that there weren't any prominent members of the GLBT
community supporting this particular choice. The puff pieces on McManus
do suggest that he's been well received by the Black Community in Dayton
Ohio. The Dayton police union didn't like him much. However - the Mayor
of Dayton also seemed a bit frustrated that he only stayed there a year.
Personally, I think it's worth being concerned about someone who only
stayed a year at their last job.
Peter Schmitz: Eva's point is well taken regarding the short duration of
McManus's current job, though I believe he's held the position two years
instead of one. This is certainly is a red flag, especially since
Dayton's mayor was rather surprised that McManus was considering a job
switch. I hope this piece is investigated further by the Star Tribune,
our city council, and Mayor Rybak.
Nevertheless, feedback from racial minorities in regard to a new police
chief is imperative. Being gay myself, I realize that GLBT input is
extremely important. Still, when you consider the harm done by
Minneapolis police to GLBT folks and the harm done by Minneapolis police
to people of color (not to mention people with mental illnesses and those
without homes), we're comparing rope burns to severe lacerations.
Also, Ms. Young and Ms. Marks have yet to inform this forum what Lubinski
and Gerold have done to counter discrimination among their colleagues
against racial minorities. And one wonders how they would respond to
Rosalind Nelson's post this morning in regard to Lubinski's mismanagement
of the ISAG protests. Not only was the ISAG fiasco fiscally unsound, but
it leaves me with the distinct impression that Officer Lubinski has as
little regard for dissent and free speech as she does for citizens with
darker skin.
To be fair, if McManus is a supporter of the Patriot Act and using local
law enforcement resources to uphold it, then I'll rescind my support for
his appointment, regardless of the support he has among racial
minorities.
On the other hand, I'd like to congratulate Ms. Young on her excellent
post regarding Basim Sabri and Mayor Rybak's broken promises regarding
campaign fund raising.
As for Wizard's post yesterday regarding Hard Times Cafe, I must say that
it was filled with serious misrepresentations against the restaurant, its
staff and its owners. (I've been a regular customer there for thirteen
years now, and have never observed any illegal drug dealing on the
premises.) Even Doug Grow wrote a column about the controversy, citing
that the police had to work very long (at least two weeks) and very hard
before they were able to entrap a customer on a drug charge that involved
the sale of a very small amount of marijuana. And I wonder if Wizard's
favorite office holders--past and present--care how much cocaine gets
sold in our more upscale restaurants? Lots of people I know have
speculated that SSB, Cherryhomes and Campbell wanted Hard Times shut
down to make way for a developer. Thank goodness that the folks at Hard
Times were resilient, otherwise we might've been stuck with another Chino
Latino, Olive Gardens or Hard Rock Cafe.
Again, Ms. Marks, I'm willing to reconsider my position on just about any
issue, but it takes more than misrepresentations and several paragraphs
of nonsequiturs to make me change my mind.
Peter Schmitz CARAG
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