Mark Anderson and Eva Young are wrong to suggest that police brutality,
or thumperism, has gone down during Olson's tenure. REPORTS of brutality
have certainly gone down, but that's only because with a gutted Citizen
Review Authority that's only recently been resuscitated, a civilian
abused by the Minneapolis police, for all practical purposes, had no
recourse for all practical purposes. (Thanks to public pressure coming
from Citizens United Against Police Brutality , along with several
African American constituents who gave Rybak heck last fall, the CRA is
up and running again.)
Many of McManus's opponents are upset that Sharon Lubinski didn't get
chosen. As good of a cop as she may be, she hasn't, at least to my
knowledge, done anything in her position to curb police brutality. In
fact, she showed her true colors in the summer of 2000 during the ISAG
fiasco.
As for the rank and file cops in Dayton who haven't been too terribly
pleased with McManus, well, that's another feather in his cap as far as
I'm concerned. Reigning in rogue cops will often make a Police Chief
unpopular. Again, what I've heard about Lubinski has been mostly
positive, but given her history, I doubt she's willing or able to
effectively address police brutality.
Finally, as a gay citizen, I implore Council members Scott Benson, Gary
Schiff and Robert Lilligren to move beyond their pernicious identity
politics and follow the example of several leaders from the local black
community. Although many of them were not happy with Mayor Rybak's
selection process (refer to highlights from the Minneapolis Observer,
published in yesterday's <Pulse>) they've come to support McManus's
nomination after a dispassionate, even-handed and mature review of his
record. They put many of our gay and lesbian citizens (pouting because
one of their own didn't make the final cut) to shame. I hope that in the
end, Benson, Schiff and Lilligren will show more maturity, though at this
point I'm not very hopeful.
Peter Schmitz
CARAG
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