Absolutely not. The Patriot Act is a terribly written piece of
legislation which fails to adequately define what a terrorist is and
represents one of the most anti-democratic and anti-freedom actions since
the McCarthy era and is no better than the human rights violations caused
by the US when it imprisoned innocent Japanese-Americans during WWII.
Terrorism is "The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a
person or an organized group against people or property with the intention
of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for
ideological or political reasons."
Gangs have existed in America for centuries. They are always violent and
they are always criminal but they never exhibit a political agenda.
If we start labeling gang members as 'terrorists' then we might as well
label all criminals as terrorists. We might as well label every
schoolyard bully and abusive mate as a terrorist. Doing so would
undermine the core of criminal justice system which dictates that the
state must PROVE a person's guilt before depriving them of liberty
("innocent until proven guilty.")
The PATRIOT Act, with its secret courts, secret evidence and other
unconstitutional provisions seeks to reverse this policy and turn us into
another "guilty until proven innocent" state.
This is exactly the problem with the PATRIOT Act, that politicians and
citizens who are ignorant of its contents will try and turn this terrible
weapon inward upon us. That we, the "greatest democracy in the history of
the world" are so quick to sacrifice our freedom for the ILLUSION of
security.
I am deeply disappointed in Mr. Terril and Councilman Samuels. They
should both be ashamed of themselves.
Robert Schmid
Central
> 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
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