To anyone who read my previous post and ended up with the implication that I have experienced members of CUAPB labeling me as a rascist or fascist for questioning their criticism of the police, please note the following correction/clarification.
>> The closer I am to agreeing with the people that >> use it, the more it upsets me. One example is CUAPB >> - they almost always ascribe extreme motivations to >> any decision made, to any action taken? If anything >> happens, they come out with press releases >> ascribing the worst possible interpretation far >> before they could possibly have dug into the >> details. If you're not with them, you're a racist >> and a fascist who wants to see the police keep the >> downtrodden beat down. Or, at best, you're a naive >> fool. > > Begging your pardon, Jason, but could you be so kind > as to send me copies of any press releases or other > communications in which we referred to anyone as a > "racist" and/or "fascist" who " wants to see the > police keep the downtrodden beat down"? These are > harsh accusations and I'd like to see some proof. I apologize for poorly choosing my wording. I have never had anyone who I have known to be associated with CUAPB refer to me as a racist or a fascist for questioning an anti-police statement or allegation. When I used the word "them", I carelessly broadened my definition of "they" to a broader set of people with whom I've debated on police-community issues. These situations have mainly come up in open publishing forums which allow anonymous postings, so their identity is generally unknown. The aspect that I have found frustrating with CUAPB are the quickly released statements which seem to take the worst interpretation of a situation that has happened. Even if these scenarios turn out to be true, the way they are stated lends an aura of a witch hunt rather than an investigation. An example of this would be the early press releases made by CUAPB after the breakout of riot in North Minneapolis last year which included a number of things stated as fact rather than as witness statements which might be refuted. Please note that I have equal trouble (for the same basic reasons) with the seemingly automatic discounting of any witness that might have a less than perfect record. I realize that by referring to accusations of racism and fascism that have been made by pro-community/anti-police posters in other forums in the same paragraph with my complaints about CUAPB, I unintentionally painted CUAPB with that brush. That was not my intention and I do apologize. I usually do better at catching these things when I re-read my posts, but in this case, I screwed up. [SNIP] >> And of course, if you question the extreme >> statements coming from both sides, you get slammed >> by both sides. I've been declared anti-police and >> racist in the same day for digging for facts on a >> story about a party being raided last summer. > > This implies that someone in CUAPB declared you a > racist for asking questions about a party that was > raided last summer. ... Further, if no one > from CUAPB was involved in the exchange noted above, > I would appreciate you clarifying that. Again, the sides I was intending to refer to in this statement were the broader "police are guilty until proven innocent" and "people police conflict with are guilty until proven innocent" crowds. While I do believe that CUAPB tends to present themselves in a "police are guilty until proven innocent" fashion, the accusations were made by people who are not, to my knowledge, members of CUAPB. While I stand by the concerns I have reiterated above, I apologize for accidently applying undue criticisms to the organization. - Jason Goray Sheridan, NE __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls