Michael Jordan won’t be reappointed as civil rights director for Minneapolis. Are we suppose to like Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak now?
This video tells the “whole” story!
“The Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights has not been a community player since 1998. The investigators have a high sense of “southern stratification” and frown on serving the poor and misrepresented in Minneapolis.”
From the murder of Fong Lee to the taser death of Quincy Smith by the Minneapolis Police Department, the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights “leadership” and “investigators” barley lifted a finger until R.T. Rybak and Betsy Hodge’s proposed cut of the MDCR Investigative unit. Cases that automatically should have been on the radar of the MDCR went ignored.
“LEADERSHIP.”
On Tuesday, February 2, 2010 as reported by Steve Brandt, Michael Jordan won’t be reappointed as civil rights director for Minneapolis.
Under Michael Jordan’s “leadership,” the department has seen a rise in inner-office relationships; promotions for the least qualified – but most cooperative, and a long series of “oversights” by the departments lack of wanting to assist the community.
“Most of the time I walk in there, they (the investigators) look at me like I’m a germ. They treat me like I’m stupid and have always made it very hard for me to file my case,” says Terry Drakes of Minneapolis.
Mr. Drakes was one of the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights cases that IBNN alleges was mishandled, under handled and for the most part given to someone to work on with no experience – like the Fong Lee case.
Terry, who was an employee at the Rainbow Foods on 26th and Lake Street in Minneapolis who’s job was to push the shopping carts from the parking lot back into the store was injured on the job. During his tenure at Rainbow Foods it became evident to Mr. Drake that the company wanted him out. A long time Rainbow Foods shopper reported to the manager that Terry cut her off in the parking lot with his row of carts. The shopper spit in Mr. Drakes face and called him a Nigger. Terry reported this incident to management and things got worse.
Co-workers accused Drakes of waiting in his car with a gun planning to shoot a co-worker. The fact is – Mr. Drakes hasn’t owned a car or driven for over 20 years.
Rainbow released Mr. Drakes.
Mr. Drakes filed a claim over 4 years ago with the MDCR – he’s been hit with “by the book tactics” and a less than cooperative investigation staff.
58-year-old Terry Drakes is a disabled man. On one visit to the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights, Drakes was escorted by City Hall security to the civil rights office and then escorted out. The next morning, Minneapolis Police arrived at Mr. Drakes house and arrested him for “terroristic threats” against the MDCR investigators.
Mr. Drakes was released from the Hennepin County Jail with no charges. Mr. Drakes was set up by MDCR Investigative employees – remember, Drakes was escorted by security in and out of the building, there was no threats made.
Drakes said, “I asked the guard: did I threaten anyone?” Drakes said the guard told him “no.”
Sources tell IBNN that Michael Jordan made the call to have him arrested to “get rid of him” from bothering the investigators.
Terry says, “It’s been real hard for me. I’ve been trying to get someone to listen to me for more than 4-years. I have been eating oatmeal everyday for the last month and I’m getting ready to lose my apartment. What Michael Jordan and those ladies did to me was wrong. All I wanted to do was work and they made my life a living shit hell.”
This is just one of many examples of the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights Investigative Units intended over-sights under the leadership of Michael Jordan and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak.
For Terry Drakes: His case was found to have “no probable cause.”
Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights Director Michael Jordan, Delayed, Stopped and Re-Buffed with a vote of No Confidence!
On Monday (7/6/09), at Minneapolis City Hall, the Health, Energy and Environment Committee, standing committee of the Minneapolis City Council, met to discuss 6 line items, which included the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights budget and the report back on the Task Force’s analysis.
While Council members Hofstede, Ostrow and Goodman sat uninterested and bland, Council members Lilligren, Benson, Gordon engaged in healthy dialog about the direction of MDCR Task Force and the proposed analysis that was to be presented today.
With the concerns of many community members and true stakeholders the MDCR director Michael Jordan’s “analysis” was put on hold until July 20, 2009, as if to site a vote of “no confidence” for Jordan. The Civil Rights Commission’s Ken Brown, Acting Chairman told IBNN that the report or analysis was one of Mr. Jordan’s own doing and did not represent the community or “true stakeholders,” “It was fussy, incomplete and lacked qualitative and quantitative information that should be a part of any financial or procedural analysis.”
As IBNN reported in an earlier story, director Jordan’s Civil Rights Task Force was comprised of City of Minneapolis employees, and others Jordan had personally invited to be on the task force, like Community Actions Bill Davis, who we allege is one of the players in the fall of the NAACP. Mr. Davis who had a confrontation with Mayoral candidate Al Flowers last year was on the ground in Sabathani Community Center’s parking lot when calling police to report he’d been struck, the dispatcher asked, “Did a car hit you?” (LOL!)
This Task Force was mandated to seek options, but was merely a “smoke screen” created by the suggestion of Minneapolis City Council person Elizabeth Glidden, who “waffled” when informed that Director Jordan had removed several community members from the first meeting by saying, “The is a private meeting.” Glidden did not come down to the meeting after she personally called IBNN and invited us to the meeting.
Council member Lilligren brought up a great point, “Have we investigated other funding options, like contract compliance in the MARQ2 project? Could we find funding by assigning the MDCR to monitor and develop compliance reports on projects like that?
Jordan remained mute…uninterested and stubborn.
Protesters lined the chambers of Minneapolis City Council meetings with signs protesting the Mayors cutting of the Investigative Unit.
Also on hand was Ward 5 City Council candidate Kenya McKnight, who by the way, tore the City Council a “new one” with her comments on the importance of having the MDCR investigators stay put.
Commentary
When will someone come forward and address the systemic failures in our city government? The Minneapolis City Council has failed to take any corrective action in contract compliance; Investigative discrepancies and inter-office “trusts.”
Michael Jordan has failed the minority-ethnic community of Minneapolis through a “tainted” process of checks and balance that have left the community with no accountability from the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights, investigative and contract compliance.
The Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights is contracted to do the compliance report for the new baseball stadium…where is it? (Not done!) What about all the contractors not in compliance as it pertains to the MDCR Ordinances? Where are the fines?
If Michael Jordan and his team of Contract Compliance folks had been on top of their game, we estimate a total of over $300,000+ in fines and a few disbarments of contractors that have repeatedly not been in compliance – but out of compliance contractors continue to receive City of Minneapolis Contracts.
Furthermore, where is the Council on Black Minnesotans? (Silent) Who is doing public policy and addressing these disparities in the MDCR; where is the voice of Ward 5 Council member Don Samuels?; the Mayor’s office?; and (surprise) Minneapolis Television Network (MTN), where over 90% of programming minority ethnic but the Board is a who’s whom of the White community.
I see a heinous “process” all over!
Back to the MDCR….”How can we trust the judgment of Michael Jordan?”
Michael Jordan has not come up with any alternative funding steams to assist in keeping the MDCR investigators in place. As I type this story, I can think of several alternative funding streams that will allow the MDCR keep its investigative unit in Minneapolis and not transfer to the State – but again, I do business.
These funding streams would not interfere with any project, budget or City of Minneapolis planned or current engagement – but would provide Minneapolis the opportunity to keep the MDCR Investigators right downtown where they belong.
One thing that has to be gone from the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights is director Michael Jordan.
The people of Minneapolis deserve a better Civil Right’s director, not R.T.’s “yes man.”
In closing, we should think about moving out Mayor Rybak too!
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