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Friday, August 07, 2020

The adults have arrived in Minneapolis

If the Mayor was impotent to stop his city council from abolishing the Minneapolis, Minnesota Police Department, another arm of city government Minneapolis Charter Commission made their move. Minor fact that I didn't really know about Minneapolis, a police department is part of their city charter.

Via Minneapolis' Star Tribune:
In a 10-5 vote, the Minneapolis Charter Commission decided Wednesday to block a controversial policing proposal from the November ballot by invoking its right to take more time to review it.

“We have an obligation to make sure that what is going on the ballot gives the voters an informed choice, that they can make a decision in a thoughtful way,” said Charter Commissioner Andrew Kozak, adding that he didn’t think the proposal accomplished that.

It could still come before voters next year. But the commission’s action to keep it off this year’s ballot dealt a major setback to activists and City Council members who have worked to transform Minneapolis’ public safety system following the police killing of George Floyd.

“People in Minneapolis have been in the streets for months demanding change, only to hear from the Charter Commission that there haven’t been enough studies and consultants,” Sophia Benrud, an organizer with the Black Visions Collective, said in a statement. “When white supremacy is the law of the land, it is a luxury to say we need ‘more time’ before we can make change. Every single voter should have had the chance to vote on this amendment in 2020.”

In recent weeks, the commissioners, all volunteers appointed by a judge, found themselves the focus of intense pressure from people lobbying on all sides of the fight over whether to end the Minneapolis Police Department.

At the center of that debate is the city’s charter, which serves as its constitution, and requires Minneapolis to keep a police department with a minimum force based on its population. A plan, written by five City Council members, would have ended that requirement and replaced the police department with a Department of Community Safety & Violence Prevention that would prioritize “a holistic, public health-oriented approach.”

As part of a last-ditch effort to send the proposal over the hurdle, a group of City Council members sent the commissioners a letter Wednesday assuring them that they “expect the transformed system to include law enforcement as part of a multifaceted approach to public safety.”

“The Minneapolis City Council is not asking you to put police abolition on the ballot, nor does the amendment propose this,” they wrote. “We are asking you to let Minneapolis vote on a new framework for public safety that aligns with the State of Minnesota’s Department of Public Safety.”
You see that virtue signaling there. White supremacy is the law of the land. I think if you replaced white supremacy with systemic racism she's basically saying the same thing.

Why is this tinged with racial supremacy or systemic racism? We're talking about public safety a supposed peace shrine to the late George Floyd is a warzone at night and you're playing games with public safety?

Before the unrest the last week of May, I had a different view of Minneapolis. Progressive liberals dominate there it's supposed to be this great place to live and although there were several shootings of civilians by police that got national attention did anyone see the mayhem coming? I can't say I did.

Good on the Charter Commission to demand more study on the plan for a Dept. of Community Safety & Violence Prevention. Perhaps Minneapolis will still have their police department. Perhaps the police can stop saying Minneapolis citizens need to comply with the criminal [Snopes link]....

For those who want to abolish their local police department, especially in a city like Minneapolis or even in Seattle (which is a proposal for now, but that city is also another dominated by progressive liberals) I always imagine a very toothless and impotent public safety security force. It probably won't perpetuate violence, but as far as keeping the peace in a city it won't foot the bill at all!

h/t Instapundit

With this tag "THE GROWN-UPS STRIKE BACK" provided a link to this article from Daily Wire. I click through further to find this article from FOX News which quotes the President of the Minneapolis City Council:
"I mean, I hear that loud and clear from a lot of my neighbors," [Minneapolis City Council President Lisa] Bender said. "And I know -- and myself, too, and I know that that comes from a place of privilege. Because for those of us for whom the system is working, I think we need to step back and imagine what it would feel like to already live in that reality where calling the police may mean more harm is done."
I wonder what the Black residents of Minneapolis think. I'm willing to bet they're nervous about abolishing their police just like their white neighbors.

At least Bender knows she comes from a place of privilege too bad the solution is a lot more troublesome.

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