Peter T Schmitz wrote:
WM: Actually, I answered this question. Lubinski treats everyone with respect and, as a patrol officer, sergeant, lieutenant, inspector, and now deputy chief, she does the same inside the police department as she does outside the precinct walls. Every day, all day.So far, neither list member [E young, myself] has cited anything that Sharon Lubinski has done to counter racism and violence among her colleagues.
WM: Blowing people off with quips like "local vanguard of identity politics" is certainly a common low to which many stoop. "Police reform opponents" is likewise. I'm certainly not opposed to reform, I've yearned for it for years. I've probably spent a lot more time with patrol cops, sergeants, lieutenants, and inspectors since 1989 than many simply because we seem to have an abundance of recurring crimes in this neck of the woods. Certainly I've spent more time with them than I ever expected to.Never thought I'd live to see the day when police reform opponents would be caught in bed with our local vanguard of identity politics. Only in Minneapolis . . .
This did not come easy for me. My father was a petty criminal; kids in my family learned very early to keep officers of the law at arm's length, further if we could. My father was never arrested, never spent time in the workhouse, jail, or prison. He was on a first name basis with the sheriff of Hamilton county to study the man. For me to make overtures to a police officer was a highly unlikely event.
Then crack hit Mpls. Just to survive here in Central, both me and the cops were going to need a relationship. At first, it was obvious that the Mpls. police department was caught absolutely flat footed by the whole, crazy mess. MN peace officers had probably not seen the like since the 1930s, if then. We were all going to have to learn together how to deal with this change.
This may not have been your experience. Once you've dug a bullet out of your garage, or house, or the tree in your yard, counted five bullet holes in your next door neighbor's brand new Cadillac, watched a crack house neighbor put her children out to prostitution at ages 8 and 11 (one of each gender), or, worst of all, watched a 15-year old boy die in the gutter, it's change or die.
Sadly enough, this police department is no worse than many another, but it is better than many. Sadly, MN racism is carried out in a different way from how it is carried out in other places. It's much more insidious. That may be because, even 30 years ago, there were very few African Americans and American Indians were a small group, Asians were a minuscule group and probably only one or two people had ever seen a Somali.
I had never before been in a place that was so white. Not only were most of the people white, but in far greater percentages than elsewhere, they were blond. There were no segregated ghettos.
One thing I can guarantee about Mr. McManus--he will not have a clue about how to deal with Minnesotans. That's a learned behavior and MN is the only place you can learn it.
WizardMarks, Central
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