I did not attend the Gary Schiff/David Bicking forum on Wednesday night, but I know that a woman placed a flyer with the following text on each seat in the meeting room before the forum started. Presumably these were intended as light-hearted suggestions for audience questions.
(begin) Mr Schiff, You were recently quoted in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, regarding the FBI raid of Dean Zimmerman's house that there "must be something to it". Given the FBI's long and ignoble history of targeting other peace and justice activists, for example Reverend Martin Luther King, where the FBI were attempting to blackmail Reverend King and sending him letters to encourage him to commit suicide Fred Hampton of the Black Panther Party, murdered by the FBI Anna May Squash of the American Indian Movement AIM, allegations of the FBI's in her murder at Pine Ridge Indian Reservation Judy Bari of Earth First, allegations that the FBI placed the bomb in her car that almost killed her. Since we can now assume that you will support the FBI when they target other peace and justice activists in the future, my question to you is simple Do you have no shame and has the spirit of Stonewall been crushed in you completely? Councilman Bickings. My question to you is, as a long time peace and justice activist, just how big is your FBI file? (end) (mispellings and punctuation from the original, a jpg of which is viewable at http://img451.imageshack.us/my.php?image=zimmermannq5gz.jpg) The peculiar style and the misspellings indicate that this piece of drivel was likely composed by Dave Tilsen, co-chair of "Zimmerman for Justice," Zimmermann's defense committee. Indeed, one witness believes that it was his spouse, Barb Tilsen, who distributed these flyers at the candidate forum. Regardless of whether it was Ms. Tilsen, the woman who did distribute this was reportedly hanging out with the Bicking/Zimmermann contingent. It is reprehensible that the author of this flyer would use the names of dead activists to further the campaign of two city council candidates, one of whom is still under investigation for corruption. I find it particularly nauseating that the author would butcher to the point of caricature the name of Anna Mae Pictou Aquash, an American Indian Movement activist who was murdered and left in a ravine on Pine Ridge. . A little further on, the memory of Stonewall is used to smear a gay man. If the Bicking and Zimmermann campaigns are stooping this low, I beg them to see that such political stunts hurt the larger anti-war, environmental, and social justice community, destroying credibility and alienating the people we should be motivating. If this flyer was not a product of their campaigns, then I believe Zimmerman and Bicking should publicly condemn this travesty of which they are certainly aware. Russell Raczkowski Bancroft 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
