St. Paul Director of Human Rights Tyron Terrill has sent shock waves through the African American community with his open letter calling gang members terrorist and calling for the to stop their activity by June 1. I have attached a link to Mr. Terrill's letter, Council Member Don Samuels response to Mr. Terrill, and link to my column on the subject. By calling gang members terrorist we will make them subject to the Patriot Act. Should our gang members in Minneapolis be called terrorist? I hope you enjoy reading the columns.
Tyron Terrill's letter http://www.spokesman-recorder.com/News/Article/Article.asp?NewsID=56955&sID=16 Council Member Don Samuels e-mail response to Tyron Terrill's letter >>> "Samuels, Don H" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 5/7/2005 11:42:29 PM >>> Tyrone, I am all for this. You should know that I had a conversation with Spike several months ago in which we discussed personal visits to homes of known gang members and dealers at which to announce such a declaration. I was a little dissuaded by Don Banham who felt we needed specific and actionable repercussions if the activity did not cease. I was a little stumped by that criterion and held back. But if you are at this point and Spike is also, and other leaders who are known advocates for our youth are at this point, then we have critical mass to make a Metro wide declaration which would notice our terrorists that they are on their own as of that date. I propose that we also move quickly to put in place, as many positive alternatives as we can for these guys. These alternatives should be in one packet, easily interpreted and with people standing by to assist the interested. This summer is a good year to start. Today I ran into two "strong" women, one left the city a year after being broken into 4 times. The other is leaving by August for similar reasons. Both are African American model citizens. I hear this every day. We must stop this bleeding. The black papers MUST come on board. KMOJ MUST come on board. The black cable show hosts MUST come on board. We must thoroughly establish the new ethic in every corner of our community's consciousness. Please keep me up to date on the response you receive and I will do my part to spread the word. It is Time!!! Don My Column http://www.spokesman-recorder.com/News/Article/Article.asp?NewsID=56945&sID=16 Booker T Hodges Near North 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
