CALLING OUT CHIEF HARTEAU

*UPDATE: According to Fox 9 News, Chief Harteau specifically referenced the Coalition For Critical Change, saying there was a call for "direct action" on its Facebook page. She plays the politics game very well. The "direct action" she referred to was spelled out clearly: red arm bands and signs protesting police brutality, as well as making sure it remained a discussion, and not a one-sided PR session. Which, actually, must be pretty terrifying to the Minneapolis Police Department, now that I think of it.


I try to be fair and level-headed, but sometimes you just have to call a duck a duck. Or, in this case, a chicken.

Tonight at the Sabathani Community Center; A community listening session was scheduled at which Chief Harteau was expected to attend. It is my humble oppinion that Chief Harteau's idea of a community listening session is mostly her talking and the community listening. This of course solves nothing, as police have been talking to the community and not letting the community talk to them for a long time now. At this community listening session people were actually able to speak to the panel, presenting their questions and comments. I think that once she learned that this session may involve actually answering for her department's actions, she backed chickened out.

This behavior from a public servant, whose job is to face the community her department allegedly serves, is despicable. However, it's only the beginning. The reason she gave was she had reason to believe that people attending were planning on disrupting the meeting, and said people would potentially pose a safety threat for her and her officers.

Yes-that's right. She weaseled out of a listening session, where she would have to face the very public her department routinely terrorizes, by slandering said public. Two birds, one stone. It's brilliant, but despicable.

First, let's be clear on something that Chief Harteau as the chief of police, knows very well: This community of activists has a well-established track record of safe and peaceful events. I refuse to believe that Chief Harteau, as the head of an agency we are protesting, is unaware of this.

Second, the reason we are out here doing what we do is because we have a very keen awareness of the fact that police are killing and brutalizing people in increasing numbers. We know that many in the law enforcement community are looking for reasons to brutalize and kill people. Why would we give them a reason. We know how it would end and we don't want that. I refuse to believe that Chief Harteau got her job by being too stupid to use elementary logic.

Third, the nature of what I do has me with my ear to the ground in this community. I hear about things. If something so foolish as aggressive action was actually being planned, I would have heard about it and I would have been heard speaking out against it, because I-like others-am of the firm belief that violence is not the answer to violence.

I do believe that people who are tired of being told to listen to their community servants when their community servants refuse to listen to them were prepared for Chief Harteau to attempt to control the conversation-and as such were prepared to disrupt the proceedings with real questions and a demand for answers. This is not a threat to anyone.

That is, unless it results in the police chief having to face the community on even ground and finally answer our questions. Questions like:

• Why do you allow cops with a clear history of brutality and aggression to remain on the street, when this costs cost the city Hundreds of thousands of dollars in lawsuits?
• Why are victims of police brutality prosecuted more harshly than those who aren't victims of police brutality?
• Why do police have military weapons when they have clearly demonstrated that they lack the restraint and professionalism of the armed forces they inherit said weapons from?
• Why do victims of police brutality have to sue to gain any sort of justice?
• Why are paramilitary raids used to execute search warrants on non-violent offenders?
• Why do patterns of racism show themselves in law enforcement, to the point of drawing criticism from the U.N.? 

Chief Harteau has illustrated one of the major facets of the problem we are addressing: Law enforcement's fear of the same accountability they claim the rest of us should be held to.

Or, as I am just going to come out and say: She's chicken.

Or maybe I have it wrong. As I read through this article again, I'm wondering if maybe she's a weasel.

Yeah...I said it.