Accountability & Transparency,
Activism,
Law Enforcement,
Racism,
Twin Cities
DON'T LET #POINTERGATE POINT YOU THE WRONG WAY
9:36 PM
By Steve Shagwell.
#Pointergate. That's some funny shit, right there.
The Mayor genuinely understands the racial disparities in this town, and goes out door knocking with a local advocacy group, helping people on the North Side register to vote. This offends the police department, who as it turns out, are butthurt over the mayor's response to an open letter signed by 300+ community members demanding police accountability, among other things. Basically, she agreed that things need to happen in this area. So, the police and an idiot reporter slander her by pointing out that she was door knocking with a former felon (who is black, of course), and that she is making a gang sign by pointing at the former felon (who is black, of course) that she is posing with in a picture.
Now don't get me wrong: Betsy Hodges unwittingly pointed out the paranoia and stupidity of local law enforcement in a split second, better than I have been able to with months and months of effort. (See what I did there? Thank you, I'm here all week!) I think it's awesome, and God bless her for that. I'm also tickled pink that the sense of absolute supremacy and unaccountability law enforcement enjoys was shaken, merely by her letter. Also, a light has been shined on police unions. This is huge, because police unions own most of our politicians from the shadows, giving them a big share of the responsibility for the problems we face. It's about time they were looked at. And of course, Minnesota's passive-aggressive racism is pretty much laid on the table for all to see. That's important.
But here's the thing: for all of its good, there is a lot of posturing in all of this, as well.
Let's be clear: this was set off by a response to a letter that Betsy wrote. Not any action she took-just an agreement that there should be action. It was a response she felt pressured to write and so she wrote it, in order to make a show of actually giving a damn and thus securing our votes.
Politicians make promises ALL. THE. TIME. And then they break those promises ALL. THE. TIME. I'm sure she didn't think that the law enforcement establishment possessed such a fragile ego that it would flip out over a simple insincere response to some letter like it did. Hell, even I didn't, and my expectations of law enforcement are low, indeed. She was playing politics, as politicians do, and so the police department and its union played really dirty politics-as those paranoid entities protecting power and hiding horrible secrets about those in its ranks often do. Everyone involved was playing politics.
We all (myself included) share #pointergate memes and revel in this absurd-yet very true-illustration of Law Enforcement's arrogance and racism. And we should, because that is a message that needs to get out there. However, I have seen something very disturbing come out of #pointergate, as well. Some people and organizations are embracing Betsy Hodges as an embattled reformer, fighting for our interests inside the system and under fire for doing so.
So, I will ask you this: where was our "ally" when MPD Police Chief Janee Harteau cancelled a community listening session, citing vague threats of physical violence toward her and her officers that she could not identify? (though she tried, by referencing a Facebook Forum run by the Coalition For Critical Change that didn't even remotely resemble a threat) This was serious business! Forget Harteau making an excuse and backing out when she learned real activists were going to show up and demand real answers to real questions. Had not The Coalition For Critical Change and Communities United Against Police Brutality stepped up and jammed it back down her throat, the ground work would have been laid to violently suppress our voices "in the interest of protecting the public". Seriously-some of us could be dead now because of that.
We didn't hear from Betsy Hodges when Chief Harteau made a move that could have involved a lethal outcome for us in the activist community. Well we did, actually. She backed the chief's play. In fact she lent the chief's shenanigans legitimacy by appearing with her at very tightly controlled and poorly publicized "make-up sessions". Yes. That is where our "ally" was.
A response to a letter does not constitute reform. Not even when old and culturally irrelevant idiots take offense to it. It's usually done as a stalling tactic. Empty talk. Until we see real reform, she is another politician making empty promises while reaping her share of the corrupt system's rewards. Any "reaching out" is an attempt to water someone's message down, divert their energy, and make some smaller concessions than necessary in return for some extra access to the system.
And what about that former felon (black, of course) who she posed with? Do you know his name? Many of you don't. Here comes some really unfair shit. His name to many is "that black felon from #pointergate". Yep. That's how he will be known. Her career got a shot in the arm, but his probably took a shot in the ass, as there are plenty of already racially biased potential employers who will drop his application like a hot potato when they figure out he's "that black felon" from #pointergate. I hope that's not the case, but given America's love affair with racism...well, you know. Anyway, the man is trying to get his life back on track, he put some faith in the system, and this is what he got. He is collateral damage in a political struggle between a useless government official using him to suck up to disenfranchised voters and a blatantly corrupt government enforcement entity that can't even stomach the idea that there are black people putting their lives back together and climbing out of the criminal justice combine-coincidentally, the same combine that pays their mortgage and buys them new awesome cool military toys to play with in people's living rooms. In addition, white America's fear of the black man is falsely validated yet again. (What the hell is up with subtle media portrayals of black men as scary and dangerous anyway? That shit's everywhere!) You see, if you put Hodges and Delmonico aside for a minute, you can look at this thing and see an illustration of racism that bleeds into all areas of society. I really feel that a great opportunity to force some dialogue there is being missed, as focus remains on the public figures involved.
So let's take the ammunition provided by #pointergate, but let's not set ourselves up to be stabbed in the back. The Mayor is part of the system. She has backed law enforcement many times, and I predict she will do so again in the future. She is not our friend. If she wants to make something meaningful happen and prove me wrong (finally), I would actually be very happy about that. Until then, I doubt her.
There's no point in fighting the government if you have faith in its top officials.
Think about it.
FYI, The "black felon" has a name. It's Navell Gordon. He's a father who works for a living and is trying to do positive things for his community. Just thought you should know.
