Readers Write: Rebuilding, police reform, Sen. Paul Gazelka, defunding the police

As I toured the devastation and burned-out open pits of our Longfellow neighborhood, I wondered why the city and state aren't deploying the same resources to help support the needs of our community that were used to restore order. For example, the National Guard has a stated mission to "protect the weak, save lives and restore neighborhoods" and has been deployed in fires, floods and other local disasters.

Shouldn't our mayor and governor deploy them (preferably without uniforms and weapons) and other public agencies to rebuild our local communities with the same urgency that was used just two weeks previously? Isn't that a step in the right direction helping us to heal?

A number of letter writers who seem to be from my general demographic — white men who describe themselves as sympathetic to racial justice — wrote to the Star Tribune on Tuesday with strongly worded advice for the leaders working to restructure public safety in Minneapolis. The gist seems to be that they are doing it all wrong and will be responsible for re-electing Donald Trump. My people, my people: Let's not be this way.

To be absolutely clear, it's people who look like us that brought this country Donald Trump. To blame organizers, some of whom are black women, for the rise of his hate-filled politics is simply backward. Those who have marched for justice for years (as one writer puts it) should be especially willing to reflect on the murderous inequities that still exist in our city and country. It's time to ask questions about proposals we don't understand and be open to ideas of the people who are both the most directly affected by racism and moving powerfully to address it.

It's not a situation where we have to be silent: Organizers from Black Visions Collective and Reclaim the Block and city leaders have explicitly invited Minnesotans into a public conversation. Let's try to show up ready to listen and learn, not scold and lecture.

Dear Sen. Paul Gazelka: I am a suburban mom and I certainly don't need an apology ("New flash point: Police reform," June 9, front page).

Last weekend, I woke up after a full night's sleep and drank coffee while sitting on my front porch. I played with my kids and worked in my garden. I sat at the dinner table with my family and laughed and ate pizza. I tucked my three little kids into bed and sat on my couch to watch Netflix with my spouse.

So, no, I'm not "scared to death." I am mad as heck. I'm mad that you are more concerned about white, privileged suburban women being uncomfortable than you are about black people being killed by police officers.

Hopefully, criminal justice reform and police brutality will be top priority when the Minnesota Legislature convenes for its special session this week. For those of us in rural Minnesota, however, it is important that the Legislature recognize that the mistreatment of people of color and Native communities by law enforcement authorities and security personnel is not just a metro-area concern. Whether it be in Winona, Montgomery, Windom, or countless other places, this race-based profiling, harassment and targeting needs to stop.

As white, rural Minnesotans, it's easy to overlook our own long history of government-led racism. We can be better than that. We can instead create a state where everyone feels safe and where everyone thrives, regardless of the color of their skin.

Thanks to the Star Tribune for publishing the opinion piece on policing and mental illness ("Separating policing, mental health response isn't easy," June 9). Mindy Greiling depicted the heartfelt emotions of her family's struggles with mental illness and graphically reveals the complexity of when mental illness intersects with policing in any community.

I was fortunate to work on the 2015-16 Roseville-area League of Women Voters police study with Mindy. We examined and probed policing practices in six areas, one of which was intervening in mental health crises. Interviewing law enforcement chiefs and sheriffs and hearing firsthand the incredible challenges police and deputy responders along with family members face when encountering a mental illness crisis provided the impetus for our recommendations. One of these was to have all police responders be well-trained in crisis responses. While we individually acknowledge our implicit biases, the timing is good for all our suburban and Greater Minnesota communities to again examine and re-evaluate policies and methods of training.

The Minneapolis City Council must replace the MPD with a community-focused department, not eliminate the police altogether.

H.L. Mencken, an astute if acerbic surveyor of America's political landscape during the first half of the 20th century, once said that "for every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong."

In 1994, President Bill Clinton signed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. Propelled by public sentiment that crime was out of control, and weaponized as a wedge issue by the political parties, it would soon become known for its "three strikes" provision. In addition to providing federal dollars to the states to hire an additional 100,000 police officers, it encouraged states to adopt sentencing guidelines that mandated that any person convicted of three felonies must serve a life sentence. It was clear, and it was simple — more cops putting more bad guys in jail and throwing away the key.

Ten years later, a remorseful Clinton would admit, "I signed a bill that made the problem worse."

As cities around the country now wrestle with the complex problem of protecting citizens in this new confused reality, wise leadership must avoid the temptation to jump at clear and simple solutions, even if the voices around them insist on it.