Tyrone Terrell should step down from the Human Rights Office. His letter was to the African-American community, while he claims to have targeted all "gang-bangers" in every community. I agree that somethin has to be done about gangs in Minneapolis and St. Paul, however, Tyrone Terrill called open season on the entire family unit. That is where I draw the line.
There is not one family in the United States of American that does not have at least one alcohol, drug addict, gang-member or lying thief. Tyrone Terrill's letter threatens all family members, who associate with these "undesireable." He basically supports the grandmothers door to be kicked in by the police, because her visiting grandchild may be involved in gangs. There is not one kid in Minneapolis, North, South, East or West, that does not have a friend or school mate that is somehow affiliated with a gang. This extends itself beyond race boundaries, because unlike most of us opinionated older folks, kids see less racial differnces that we do. Especially kids who have grown up together. Now I will be the first to say, "get the gangs off the street." However, as parents, we can never stop trying to save them? Granted some of them you can not save, no matter what, but there has been progress. Tyrone sent his letter on Human Rights letter head, which is clearly a conflict of interest.You can read the letter, in its entirety, in the Spokesman-Recorder. As to the part from Dennis Plante regarding CP Samuels email being pubicized, I didn't know about it until he mentioned it, so I found the article and read it. It was glad to know where CP Samuels stood on the matter. What bothered me was his belief that the 4th Precinct Commander, Don Banham, should go with him to knock on "gang-bangers doors." That was the craziest thing I have ever heard. Was Don Samuels going to be Commander Banhams back up if something went wrong? What was Commander Banham going to say, "Well, uh, Tyrone Terrill wants you to stop being a gang-banger or he wants the police department to come after you, your family and any friends you talked to along the way. Commander Banham was correct in questioning what Don Samuels wanted to do. After reading how easily Flowers was labeled a gang-banger and his house a gang-house, putting his entire family at risk, with no proof of it being true, I would question who is being labeled a gang member and who verifies it to be true. As many who follow the news knows, Chief McManus apologized for Mr. Flowers family having to endure that false allegation. Flowers council person even accepted that false allegation without question, and that in itself is scarey. If they mislabeled him, how many others have they mislabeled? Now, using Tyrone Terrill theory: Because the police erroneously labeled Mr. Flowers as a gang member, and his home a gang-house, people associated with Mr. Flowers would have been open targets. That would have included most of the city of Minneapolis, since he is an outspoken activist. Tyrone Terrells' letter is scarey and he should step down as Human Rights Director. People keep making the assumption that gangs mean African-American, but you can go into any community and find out that their gang problem is a different race, because gangs have no race boundaries. Tyrone should be ashamed of himself. He needs to remember that our children our our "from the womb to the grave." There are very few whole family units in the African-American community and I think that has to change. In my grandmothers day parents stayed together for the good of their children. Now days, divorce is so easy to come by. Most parents talk about their own unhappiness and because of that mentality, divorce unfortunate means a divorce from some of the children involved. This is a me, me, me, society. The kids come last. And that is unfortunate. I thank God for the blessings I have had with my children. I only wish the best to all other parents. The struggle can not be won if you aren't willing to fight. Respectfully, Michelle Hill Cleveland 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
