‘Commentary’ Archives
COMMENTARY: The City Says “NO” to our Efforts to Clean Up Air Pollution and to Seek a Better Future for East Phillips
By Carol Pass, Chair, East Phillips Improvement Coalition, EPIC. In spite of their continuing rhetoric about ”˜equity”', the City of Minneapolis is rapidly moving forward with their long-hidden plans to intensify the air pollution and traffic congestion problems of what has become known by area residents as the “Intersection of Death”, 28th St. and Cedar Avenue South, with its dangerous, toxic and foul-smelling air, its numerous massive and unsightly trucks, its impossible traffic congestion and its many nearby families with children and several ethnic daycare centers. The Ways and Means Committee of the City Council voted Monday, June 15th, 4 to 1 with one abstention to approve the intensification of these problems and on Friday, June 19th, in a 10 to 3 decision the City Council followed suit, in spite of the many letters, petitions and loud protests of your neighbors and many area organizations. The Back Story: Last November the East [...]
Frank Reflections
By Frank Erickson 100 years ago White men who lynched Black men went off to fight “wars” to defend themselves and their country against aggression. But these White men should not have been left alive to kill anyonein “war”””since they should have been killed for being terrorists by the people they were terrorizing. Yet those who opposed lynching 100 years ago did not have the violent capacity to have a “War on Terror” against the White racists. So goes the slippery slope of claiming your right to defend yourself using violence””It is your capacity to use violence that rules the day, not your justification. There is a long back and forth history of violence used by members of an exclusive club who commit acts of aggression but then have the capacity to use violence based on their claims of defending themselves””example, U.S. Drone attacks. The U.S. Government will imit air strikes on ISIL if near civilians, but the box [...]
