Hello Minneapolis Folks, I want to start out by saying WOW! I was somewhat concerned with Mr. Ellison jumping to the forefront of the issue concerning an indiscretion on the part of Mr. Stanek over a decade ago. I would assume Mr. Ellison would be focusing his efforts on job creation, crime control and other issues that would improve the lives of his constituents in HD 58b. To draw a comparison, Mr. Ellison has proposed a bill in the current legislative session allowing convicted felons to regain voting rights upon completion of sentence and parole. Mr. Ellison's pose seems odd considering that Mr. Stanek who has been a dedicated civil servant for decades and who made a verbal mistake over a decade ago is being pillared by Mr. Ellison and other well meaning, yet misguided members of the activist set. Lee R. Eklund Victory
Ken Bradley wrote: Dear Mr. Lee R. Eklund, My twelve-year old son does not participate on the list, so I will respond to your comments. It seems painfully obvious why Representative Ellison would educate his colleagues and the public that police officer Stanek made racist statements over a decade ago, because he was Governor Pawlenty�s choice to be Commissioner of Public Safety. People of color have often been falsely convicted of crimes they have not committed because of the racist mentality of our nation. Let me give you a short history lesson: Around the turn of the last century, many white people in the United States were eager to draw a thick, bold line separating the races. Often they drew the line in blood. The Tuskegee Institute recorded nearly 5,000 lynchings of black people between 1880 and 1930. Historians say there were thousands more. In Duluth Minnesota on June 15, 1920, police arrest several young black men accused of raping a white woman. That evening, three of them � Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson, and Isaac McGhie � are taken from jail by a mob and lynched. Evidence was not found to corroborate these claims. An examination of the victim by the family physician, showed no physical signs of rape or assault. In 1993 in Jasper County Texas Lawrence Russell Brewer (white man) cut James Byrd�s (African American man) throat and then dragged his body down gravel roads, scattering body parts along the road. In 1991 the Los Angeles police department pulled over Rodney King for speeding and proceeded to deliver 56 baton blows and six kicks to King, in a period of two minutes, producing 11 skull fractures, brain damage, and kidney damage. Unaware the incident had been videotaped, the police filed inaccurate reports. Charges were filed against the officers and on April 29, 1992 all white jury acquitted the officers, thousands of people in South Central Los Angeles responded to the verdict with several days of rioting and violence, the total cost of property damage was estimated to be $700 million. All of this could have been avoided if the police would have let the courts hand out the punishment but a racist police culture had been created in Los Angeles that made this behavior expectable. I could give you hundreds of other examples of why it is important that our states top public safety official does not have a history of making racist comments. I actually pray that Mr. Stanek�s views and hart have changed, and believe that we must believe human beings have the capacity to make such changes in their life if we want the world to be a better place to live. I also believe Representative Ellison�s desire to educate others about officer Stanek�s views is appropriate and important considering the position he was being asked to serve by our governor. Respectfully, Ken Bradley Corcoran Neighborhood 612-728-8962 > > 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 __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Photos: High-quality 4x6 digital prints for 25� http://photos.yahoo.com/ph/print_splash 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
