In a letter to the editor on June 1, the writer took the “liberal” media to task for missing the fact that “Somehow the fact that the governor, attorney general, mayor and chief of police in this travesty are all Democrats, escaped the ‘unbiased’ media.”
Those who know me do know that when I am asked where I am from, my answer is I have two homes — one in Aspen and one in Minneapolis. I am proud to be able to say Aspen but never believe that I am not just as proud to still have a home in Minneapolis — in the city itself and not even in the suburbs. I am very saddened by the death of George Floyd (about a mile from where I live). I am very saddened by the violent protests, rioting, looting, etc. Here in Minneapolis we are not perfect and do have faults. I firmly believe that the violence in fact is making a mockery of Mr. Floyd’s death. Changes will occur. We may not get it right, but we will try.
Of the officials mentioned in the letter, yes ,three are “Democrats” (more on that below). The chief of police is appointed and I do not know his political leanings. Two are black Americans (the attorney general and the chief of police) as is the mayor of St. Paul. The governor is a very typical white person of northern European background. Among other things, Gov. Tim Waltz served 24 years in the National Guard and retired as a sergeant major. He did at least one tour of duty in Iraq. The mayor of Minneapolis is Jewish. This is a very diverse group of people.
In the “by the way” category, here in Minnesota we do not have a “Democratic” party; it is called the DFL (which stands for Democratic Farmer Labor) party. This was formed from several groups in the 1940s from several groups with the effort being spearheaded by Hubert H. Humphery. One of the first things he did was to purge the new party of any communist leaning.
We certainly are not perfect here in Minnesota or Minneapolis, but we really do not need outside advice from those who do not know us or how we do things.
Bill Barnhart
Aspen and very proudly Minneapolis