Oh for the love of Bruce Vento and Joe Karth. I do bemoan much about the former
mayors of St. Paul as I did when I accused both Colemans of focusing too much
money and time on the Downtown while ignoring problems on the North End, and I
did so publicly - very publicly in front of Amy Brendmoen and David Glass along
with editors and reporters and a slew of community members at Washington Tech
Magnet School in 2015. I'll be straight with you. I only voted for Coleman
because he was better than Randy Kelly and Eva Ng. But I'll also say that I
preferred Mayor Carter over most of the alternative candidates, and I still do.
I'll also say that if he does challenge the status quo, I'll not regret that
vote.
To be accused, however, as a racist when I hunted down and helped put U.S. Army
personnel in prison for racist and anti-government efforts during the Clinton
Administration resulting in the arrest of several malcontents and outright
Nazis is more than I can bear. They are an anathema. I may be white, but my
latino neighbors helped raise me and my siblings. They were my surrogate
parents for many years while my blind father went to school and my mother
worked long hours in the Viking Tool factory. I still remember the look on
Trinidad Garcia's face when he told me he wasn't allowed to fight in the war -
relegated to guard Nazi scum in Texas and how he felt about it.
I remember when my African brother-in-arms Captain Hodari from Rwanda taught me
about war where Hutu were slaughtering Tutsi. I'd have volunteered to go there
with him if they'd let me to stop the madness. Of all the people I ever
admired, looked up to, or would have taken a bullet for, most of them didn't
look like me. But we were from the same country, wore the same uniform, fought
for the same ideals. Some of them never came back, and I wish I had appreciated
them more while they were still here. Of all the things I have heard and seen
on racism, I have witnessed many myself in my own city. I could go on and on.
How, I've seen overt racism in Arkansas and covert racism in our own community.
Oh and I bemoaned the closure of our beloved streets no doubt at great expense
for such a short event. There's plenty not to like about the Colemans and Kelly
and Scheibel and Latimer. I assure you I have probably cursed their names more
times than many, most likely when I was filling sandbags at Holman Field for
weeks at a time. I only cursed our mayor once, and I should not have. It was
when the city sidewalk wasn't shoveled and I had to crawl over a pile of snow -
with my rollator/walker - Downtown last spring.
That being said, I've met most of our mayors and city councilmembers and
sheriffs at one time they do things that upset me and also have done kind
things. Like when I blew through every light from Como Park to St. Josephs the
night my daughter was borne to be greeted by Sheriff Fletcher. I thought I was
in some serious trouble. He kindly took my keys and parked my car for me. I
still voted for the other guy.
Amy Brendmoen and David Glass were both very nice to me too, but I still ran
against them in an election. There were plenty of unkind things I could have
said about them as well, but I won't. You want me to say something kind. I
should do it sincerely then.
I really do like the majority of people that Mayor Carter surrounded himself
with. He knows he's got good people. Cervantes is a hard worker and
authentically thoughtful and wise. Carter's deputy Tincher would make a better
mayor he does, but so did Chris Coleman's deputy. Stark actually is making
headway in his job much better than his Minneapolis counterpart did, and Kathy
Lantry may not be an engineer, but she's really got her department running more
efficiently than in previous years. Yeah we can criticize them all and we can
praise them all. We can also hold them all accountable for their works which
must always be above reproach.