Looking for Racial Justice : a 1992 Twin Cities Perspective on Protests
This is what Mollie Hoben, founding editor of Minnesota Women’s Press, wrote 28 years ago after the eruption of the public after the police officers who beat Rodney King were found not guilty of using excessive force.
“What does it say that for many Americans our most potent symbols are individuals who have been denied justice? Where are the leaders who will be the positive symbols of inclusive justice that we need and yearn for? Leaders who can understand and honor the experiences and hopes of people in this society who are left out of the justice equation.”
In a world where we could trust in justice, she added, “Anita Hill would not have sat alone under the harsh TV lights, defending herself against the demeaning, uncomprehending, voyeuristic disbelief of 14 white men.”
In the following issue of Minnesota Women’s Press in 1992, letter writer Linda Hopkins wrote: “By endangering, impoverishing, and abusing the wives and mothers of our children, we endanger the basic providers of future generations. The only response to continual abuse is either rage or withdrawal. Blacks and women are acting in both directions.
“The white male power structure appears to be glorying in its control. But it will reap the fruit of violence — chaos, anarchy, and its own isolation in the end.”
#TwinCitesRebuild #MWPTransformation #minnesotagrieves #mwpinequities #minnesotafightsback #georgefloyd #systemicracism
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