[Mpls] African Americans on the Council

[Farheen Hakeem]

Thank you Eric and Wizard for your remarks.
 
I usually like to stay lurking, but the timing of this is so poignant.  Last weekend, I went canvassing throughout Ward 6 and Ward 10, where my volunteers ran into to two racist individuals:
 
1. One man (2600 block of Bryant) who looked at my picture and stated: "That looks like a terrorist to me, why would I vote for her?"
 
2. A woman (2500 block of Dupont) who after looking at my picture stated, "Black people are lazy and sit on the couch all day and eat potato chips." She continued to say that she was against immigration because "those people are taking our good jobs" and was supporting Peter McLaughlin.
 
So Jim, I would more than happy to not talk about "color".  But the bottom line is racist people don't really give me a choice.  People don't even want to give me a chance to talk about the issues because they are so obsessed with my "color".  When I state that there is a problem and that we have racism, people starting saying things like: "Why can't we all just be people?"
 
In addition, it is my opponents, who do not identify as people of color, who will probably get their votes.  Interesting, isn't it, that my opponents benefit from other people's hatred toward people of color?  Is that why we don't have many public officials that are people of color?  
 
Well, I guess the moral of the story is that racism is alive and well, and in the city of Minneapolis.  So not talking about it is not going to make it go away.  That means we need to talk about why people are perceived to be people of color (like me, Jeff, and Ralph) and why people are not perceived as people of color (R.T. and Peter).

OK, back to lurking,
Farheen

--- gemgram <gemgram at mn.rr.com> wrote:

> I am sorry, but what color is people of color? 
> People throw around the term 
> as if it only means Black.  Robert Lillegren does
> have Indian heritage.  Who 
> knows what other Council Member might be something
> other than WHITE?  Where 
> is the drive to get a Hispanic person on the
> Council?  An Asian?  Hey, or 
> even a poor white person?  (I consider poor white
> people to have color 
> also). Hey, and what about us generic mutts that are
> several colors rolled 
> into one.
> 
> We need qualified caring people, what ever the color
> of their skin, lets 
> drop this numbers game and concentrate on quality,
> not color.
> 
> Jim Graham,
> Ventura Village




		
---------------------------------
 Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page