What happened in federal mediation By: Booker T Hodges Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder Originally posted 12/24/2003
One participant's account Second in a series .....Both of these men expressed their love for their department, but they felt it was vital that the community know what Black officers experience. The community should support these officers in whatever way we can. When Lieutenant�s Banham and Edwards walked into the room, many of the other police officers greeted them as fellow comrades. One officer asked them if they were there to testify for the City. They responded �no� and sat down on the side of the community. During his testimony, Lt. Banham was asked by Ron, �Are Black officers treated differently than White officers within the department?� Lt. Banham answered, �Yes.� Ron then said to Lt. Banham, �Before I go any further, do you feel that you will be retaliated against by other officers for what you are telling us today?� Lt. Banham answered, �Yeah, probably, but there isn�t anything else they can do to me. I am as far as I am going to get in my career. I know because of my outspokenness that I will never be promoted any higher than I am now. The only reason that I am a lieutenant is because I earned it. I passed the test, but other than that, I doubt that they would have promoted me.� UCMT members stared at Lt. Banham with disbelief on their faces. I couldn�t even believe what I was hearing. Ron then asked Lt. Banham, �Does institutional racism exist within the Minneapolis Police Department?� Lt. Banham said, �You bet it does. Black officers are constantly overlooked for promotions and appointments to some of the department�s most desirable positions such as homicide and investigations.� Ron then asked Lt. Banham, �Have you ever been approached about helping recruit minority officers, being that your family has a long tradition of being police officers?� .... http://www.spokesman-recorder.com/news/Article/Article.asp?NewsID=36636&sID=4 Posted by Shawn Lewis, Field Neighborhood -- ___________________________________________________________ Sign-up for Ads Free at Mail.com http://promo.mail.com/adsfreejump.htm 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
