The following is from an interview with CP Don Samuels: PIM:Switching gears. Your reelection campaign. The only two blacks on the Minneapolis City Council facing off. This is some race. As I understand the political intelligence, Johnson Lee is the "black establishment" candidate, and you are the renegade. That you have somehow "sold out." Your response?
Samuels: The black establishment doesn't want change. Natalie doesn't want change. She's a product of the reality that exists. But regular people here in this neighborhood? They desperately want change. Not only are the gangs and the crime life-threatening, they are also unbelievably inconvenient to people trying to conduct the daily business of life. To the idea that I have sold out, I say you cannot try to lead the people if you don't love them. There's a deep fear of betrayal in the black community. That's part of the problem. A deep- rooted stereotype that somehow, if you adapt to or manage your way in the larger, whiter world, you've sold out. That's toxic. Michelle Hills Response: Am I misreading this or not? How is CP Johnson-Lee the "black establishment" candidate and CP Samuels the "renegade?" From everything I have heard, read and seen, their roles are the reverse. CP Samuels has always given me the impression that he was a part of the "establishment" and if you want the call that "selling out" then so be it. I would suspect that CP Johnson-Lee is the renegade, since she clearly is not conforming to what the council wants her to be, verses what she needs to be to affect change. I admire CP Samuels for his vigils, but clearly they have changed nothing. I am not clear on the direction of this interview, since it appeared so scattered and was clearly targeted at CP Johnson-Lee and not the victims of "Katrina." An interviewer should be unbiased, and that was not the case here. To say that CP Johnson-Lee is a "product of the reality that exists," is to say that CP Samuels is a product of his life as the descendant of a "house slave." To say that CP Johnson-Lee does not want change is to imply that CP Samuels does. When the community asked for Empowerment Zone money to create jobs and opportunities CP Samuels vetoed them, after giving them letters of support. CP SAMUELS SAID: To the idea that I have sold out, I say you cannot try to lead the people if you don't love them. MICHELLE HILL RESPONDS: I thought "you cannot try to lead the people if you don't love them," was CP Johnson campaign slogan and not CP Samuels. Perhaps CP Samuels should stop trying to put his shoes on someone else's feet and wear them himself. 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
