Perhaps they should read the Issues List, or remember some other suggestions about the "Drug Interdiction Institute". To not only make our police force more professional but by offering continuing education for other departments Statewide we would put more cops on the street and more dollars in the coffers. There are definitely ways to police smarter and at lower costs.
That being said, Mark has again missed the boat as many others from more affluent neighborhoods have. It is not the job of those from poor neighborhoods to figure out the budget, organize, and go get the money. It is the job of the elected City "leaders" to find those funds. TO LEAD FOR GOD"S SAKE! The problem that Mark just fails to understand is that enforcement of law and providing "EQUAL PROTECTION UNDER THE LAW" are mandated by that law. A pattern of behavior whether willful or not that is still discrimination. There has been a "Pattern of such discrimination" because those in impacted neighborhoods have not received equal protection under the law. Prima fascia evidence of this is what is what has been allowed to happen along 26th from Penn to Lyndale, along Bloomington Avenue, and once along Franklin. It is not a matter of Minneapolis residents choosing "their" priorities, it is a matter of law. It's (to make it clear one more time) "EQUAL PROTECTION UNDER THE LAW"!
Mark says,
"He was simply making the point that if you choose the approach of paying for more cops by cutting something else, there's always going to be somebody who complains when their thing gets the ax. I don't have children, so it probably wouldn't bother me that much if summer art camp went away. But I can guess an awful lot of parents would be pretty peeved, especially those who do not live in the areas where bullets are flying on a regular basis and so cannot fully appreciate with folks like Jim Graham are living with."<
To begin with parents all over Minneapolis will probably, if not fully understand, at least appreciate the fear and concern other parents have for their children when bullets are flying, or being offered drugs, and certainly the fear of them being stalked by sexual predators. I think if those from "Better" neighborhoods talked to some of those parents and imagined those poor neighborhood children as their own we would have them also screaming for action. I think we have caring people in Minneapolis, the problem is that they do not think about such things because they do not see them.
The day to day fights of decent people in impacted neighborhoods are not fully covered because it just is not a story to the media. But ask Edina resident, and former U.S. Attorney David Lillehaug about the impact it had on him when he witnessed a "Bullet-Drop Drill" for school yard children near Franklin Avenue. I am sure he will tell you that the moral outrage of that vision remains with him today. Ask him about viewing the body of thirteen year old Anthony Whitefeather after a gang banger stuck a pistol under his chin and almost blew his head off. I am sure David would tell you about both moral outrage and "Priorities". It was why he formed such a wonderful relationship with my community. David had the ability to make our people his people! Too bad we do not have more high level politicians who have the moral character to think of even poor people as "Their" people.
By the way, the StarTrib article giving credit for what happened in Phillips was more than a little off. Politicians did not make the difference, it was the residents. Franklin was the worst of all of Phillips and it was largely cleaned up by "empowered" residents and the efforts of one "eager seeker" of a cop who also took things personal and made the neighborhood "his". That empowerment came in no small part because of the personal touch that David Lillehaug brought to the people around Franklin Avenue. We became convinced that even if downtown politicians did not care, that one of the most important law enforcement officials in the country did care and was "one of us". That caring contributed more to cleaning up Franklin Avenue that anything City officials did.
North Minneapolis needs a few people like David Lillehaug and Don Davis. A little caring makes possible what sometimes seem impossible. Just a little ray of light is enough to create the expectation in a community that a bright day is not only possible but is coming.
Jim Graham, Ventura Village, Where once a few people wove the threads of dreams into today's reality
"It is always an utter folly to underestimate the lure and attraction of a great evil. The whitened bones of their victims litter the highways and byways of mankind's history. Stopped only by the few willing to pay the ultimate price and make a stand."
- Toe
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