I was also at the caucus in 8-2 where the women made the offensive and insensitive comment about the white males should step aside. I was infuriated on two points.
The first being I had worked on encouraging Mike to attend the precinct caucus. He had stated that he wouldn't go because as a white male he would not feel welcome. I was the one who said that was silly and he should go. Then of course this women pipes up with her comment. I wish I saw who she was because I wanted to speak with her personally. The crowd was so large I could not see who she was. The second reason I was infuriated was what Andy referred to. There are many groups that are to be represented, many of those groups can not be identified by just looking at the person. The affirmative action statement was written just for this reason to make sure all groups are represented. There is a history of treating certain groups as invisible. The woman last night as she may have thought she was being inclusive was anything but. There was no overt reaction to this woman's comment, it was like the elephant in the living room. The result was that people just volunteered to be alternates instead of delegates. From my vantage point I could not tell what gender or race they were. I would hope that if this situation was to happen again that a breakdown of all the protected classes would take place. Frankly, it may have resulted in having too many white women, a class that would include myself. We will never know. Karen Forbes Central Neighborhood REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact 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 Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
