Re: [Mpls] Media coverage of bike patrol officer and young boy

[Jhpalmerjp]

Michelle, I've generally been supportive of your positions, but this is one time that youare way off base with this, to the point of being absurd and offensive.  You made a lot of accussations in these last emails and for someone who doesn't know Kinshasha, nor the inner workings of the Mayor's office or her position, you make an awful lot of claims.  Unfounded claims.

Since, you've put these out there, I have some specific questions for you to address.  Otherwise your comments read simply as slander and unwarranted complaints.  How specifically did she: undermine the "potential avenue for change by coopting it with people financial beholden to the City"?  Anyone who lives in the City is technically financially beholden to it, if for no other reason than paying taxes.  What specifically did she do?  How specifically did it impair the process?  What evidence do you have that she did anything for the purpose of "making certain that no change will result"?  What evidence do you have to support any of this, and how many conversations did you have with her regarding this to try and resolve this?  ANd what are the specific DOJ regulations that you're referencing, because I can't find them.  If you can't answer these questions, then you're position is no better than that you claim for Kinshasha.

You see, I've talked with Kinshasha, I've asked about these things, and if you haven't you have no position to stand on.  As the Mayor's aide on Community Outreach, it is actually her job to see that anything involving the "Community" and the City has as many people involved and aware of as possible.  Just because you don't like the people that she may have talked to does not give you the right to ascribe detrimental motives to her actions nor to exclude them or her from the process.  If you're going to claim to represent the community, you have to represent all of the community, not just the people that you like and get along with. The rights we have as US Citizens belong to everyone, not just the ones we think are right.

It's right to be angry that more media coverage has come over Titilayo's son's case than some others, but then you need to blame the media, or you need to talk to the investigating officer.  Not Kinshasha or Titilayo.  I would think if anyone was against blaming the victim, it would be you, but that doesn't seem to be the case here.

I would also hazard a guess that maybe the attention has less to do with Kinshasha than you're ascribing and more to do with the fact that this is Matt Little's grandson who is facing the same horrors his grandfather faced; it's Titilayo who runs We Win Institute that deals with the empowerment and betterment of the lives of youth, especially African Americans, the idea that this person (regardless of who his aunt is) would do anything to deserve this assault is as absurd as the other cases that you mentioned.

I would think most of all, that someone concerned more about solving the problems of police brutality and attempting to bring about systematic change would be more interested in figuring out how the additional attention brought to the problem could better be utilized to further their mission, than finding a way to say a misguided, "I told you so" or see how they could turn this into an attack on someone who, whether you realize it or not, has been working towards making sure your goals do succeed.

Most of all, even if everything you said were true, the smart thing would be to go and say, "Now you understand, how about helping us."  That is, if your goal is to better the rights of people who are brutalized by Police.  Just because someone doesn't agree with you does not make them your enemy or the bad person, and while we all think that we're right, a truly wise person understands that there are different paths to the end goal.  I can say unequivocally that I believe in and have faith in Kinshasha that she is not only nothing of what you describe, but more importantly working towards your stated goal of rights for the community and cessation of police brutality.  I would suggest before making more unwarranted statements having a one-on-one conversation with Kinshasha and getting the truth.  I think you'll find things quite a bit different than you have portrayed them.

Jonathan Palmer
Victory