1. She is a member of the Links which is an organization (Bourgeoisie) that most of the people who unfortunately use the civil rights department could not afford to become a member of and even if they could they wouldn�t be welcomed because of their social status.
2. In my opinion she has a poor track record on fighting civil rights. I know that she is has served in the Minneapolis Civil Rights Department 2 years before I was born. I know she has served in Minnesota Historical Society, North Star Education Finance Corporation, Theatre Communication Group, and African Grove Institute for the Arts, but what do those organizations have to do with fighting civil rights? I checked their mission statements and NONE of them have any mission statement that indicates that they fight for civil rights. I know that she worked with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, but what did she do when she was there? Did she help close the home ownership gap? Did she help minority contractors get fair representation in seeking state and county contracts? Did she help create significant (between 100-500 jobs in communities of color) economic opportunities in communities of color while she served as Chief of Staff for the Department of Trade and Economic Development? Well, my research indicates that the answers to all of those questions in NO.
3. Mrs. Khalifa may be a nice person but in my opinion and those in other communities of color she is too far removed from the people who are in disparate need of the civil rights departments services. We already had one director who was too far out of touch and now is not the time to appoint another. I would like to see a person who has a record of fighting for civil rights lead the department. I have been fighting for civil rights for over 8 years now, I have three college degrees and for all practical purposes I have earned at least one stripe in this struggle, but does that make me qualified to be the director of the civil rights department, No. I talk to minority contractors on a daily basis who have been the victim of what is commonly called the �Squeeze� when bidding on contracts. I have the records of 17 minority contracts who filed complaints with the civil rights department over the past two years and to date they inform me that nothing has been done with there complaints. We already tried a person who was cool with the establishment and it didn�t work for the people who the department was set up to serve. Now is the time to try something else.
I hope that RT and her supporters will come and meet the minority community (members of the African American, Native American, Latino, Somali, and Asian) and try to persuade us that she is the right person for the job. I want to stress that this appointment is way to important to not take a serious look at. I fault myself for not being on top of this issue because of my involvement with the Empowerment Zone stuff and other personal issues. When people want something to get done or someone to make some noise I am the person that often gets called. I turn people down 99 percent of the time but this time wasn�t one of them. I stand by everything that I have said. I just want what�s best for people who couldn�t even tell you who the director of civil rights is much less what they do.
Booker T Hodges North side
_________________________________________________________________
Get rid of annoying pop-up ads with the new MSN Toolbar � FREE! http://toolbar.msn.com/go/onm00200414ave/direct/01/
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
