Nick Coleman - Bigot of Low Expectations
Forget the criminals. It's you - the lowly Twin Citian, especially in the inner city and the first ring 'burbs who doesn't "know stuff", who is merely trying to raise good kids in a culture where half of their influences glorify violence, and the other half poo-pooh the common-sense measures that would protect us against violence - who is the problem. Did you know that?
Nick Coleman does.
Today's column? discusses the double-shooting last week in Minneapolis. You may recall the shooting (and then again in Minneapolis, you may not); two young men were shot under fishy circumstances. Both were dropped off at supermarkets. One of the men, 20-year-old Tremaine Finley, died of his wounds.
Coleman says:
Tremaine was 20 when he died, shot during some kind of botched carjacking, it turns out. At first, news reports said it was a drug deal gone bad, which is a coded way people have of dismissing the deaths of young men of color in this country: "Don't worry about it; it's no skin off our nose."
"When one of these guys gets killed, I don't consider it a drug deal gone bad," one reader graciously took the time to write me the other day. "I consider it a drug deal gone good."
Bigots love bloodshed that confirms their prejudice.
And bigger bigots manipulate facts, and people's beliefs, to fit theirs. Bigots like Nick Coleman.
Coleman is no stranger to jiggering facts and manipulating emotions - as two weeks ago when he mis-reported the facts and context behind Alabama's rejection of a constitutional amendment that would have removed segregationist language from its state constitution (unreported by Coleman; the rejection was because of an unrelated rider to the bill that would have increased taxes), the better to depict a Republican state as a nest of Jim Crow-era bigots sprung to life in the present.
This column is worse.
If you live in one of the inner-city neighborhoods that have been under siege by the drug gangs - for the past twenty years in some cases - hearing gunfire and screaming at night, sirens blasting past in the wee hours, carefully scanning cars that are parked too long in front of your house, patching the occasional bullet hole or fixing the odd shot-out window (my house: Two bullet holes, one window in 11 years - and I live in a good neighborhood), one might be forgiven for occasionally, in a fit of pique or fatigue, even depression at the realization you've invested much money and years of your life building a life and a family where you're at and being unable to move, and thinking it'd be nice if the vermin - skin color irrelevant - would do the moving, the worrying, the dying for a while.
And when the whole story comes out - as it did in the Finley shooting - most of us catch a breath. One of the good guys died. Again. The f*cking vermin won another one, damn them to hell:
Despite a learning disability that made writing a challenge, he made the B honor roll at Roosevelt High School. And though he stood only 5 feet 6, he became the school's most valuable football player and went on to the University of Minnesota for 18 months.
Yet despite those successes and his efforts as part of community groups seeking to steer young people away from violence, Finley, of Minneapolis, died last week at the hands of a carjacker who tried to steal his mother's car in the Longfellow neighborhood.
I used to live in Longfellow; it was a neighborhood, as they say, "in transition"; a neighborhood of little bungalows built by blue-collar Germans and Scandinavians in the twenties and thirties, with old people and young families and immigrants who've moved up and out of Phillips tend their lawns and pick up toys off the lawn, and occasionally watch those suspicious neighbors with all the traffic.
And as South Minneapolis - the good people, anyway - mourn the death of one of the good kids they raise and send into the world with their hopes and prayers, and go home after the services and see the worthless vermin patrolling their streets, they pick up their Star Tribune and read Nick Coleman attacking...who? The worthless piece of humanesque filth who shot two men for a car?
No. He's attacking the mourners. And you, and I, the ones who live with and around this crap, the ones who fight it daily.
And we see the way the game is played among the elite, in their cozy homes in Crocus Hill; we who want our tax dollars spent to stamp out the vermin rather than subsidize them are heartless; we who want the ability to defend ourselves against the vermin are Neanderthals; we who have been worn down by the destruction of our neighborhoods by these vermin are racists.
Nick Coleman - who hasn't the balls to live in the neighborhoods he writes about, nor the integrity to face his critics - is lecturing you, the mother and father in South Minneapolis and Frogtown; you, in his special little world, are the problem; if you merely weren't so ignorant, so racist, things would improve.
Come on out, Nick Coleman! Sell your home in Crocus or Mac-Groveland or whatever upper-middle-class enclave you're holed up in, and buy a place - invest your future - in Powderhorn or Camden or Swede Hollow or in the Midway south of Thomas! Learn whereof you speak!
And while you're at it, come to Saturday's Northern Alliance show and talk with your critics. You might learn some "stuff".
You know where to reach me.
Posted by Mitch at
November 24, 2004 07:01 AM
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Mitch -- As a homeowner one block north of Thomas in the Midway, I couldn't agree with you more. Well said.
Posted by: Kris at November 24, 2004 03:06 PMAs a child of South Minneapolis, a University student, and also a close friend of Tremaine Finley's I find Mitch's response repulsive. You make it sound as if Minneapolis is the seen of apocalyptic, war-zone like violence. Believe me this is not the case, and I have a lot more experience with the Minneapolis streets than you do.
Posted by: A true mourner at November 28, 2004 03:13 PMWho are these "vermin" you speak of patrolling the streets? The police? The police much better fit that description than any of the young blacks which you are so deathly afraid of. You say you feel for Tremaine Finley. I say you are a liar. If you were to see him walking down the street, long braids and all, you would label him as part of the problem. You would want to "stamp him out" as you say. But you feel for him now because he is dead, and now in his death you decide he was one of the good blacks.
You are who Nick Coleman was writing about. You are the same person who would've said Tremaine deserved to die if the paper had wrongly reported it as a drug deal gone bad. He would've been vermin to you, but since you finally heard his story (only once he died I might add) you label him as "one of the good guys." Why don't you just say "one of the good blacks?"
You are not a mourner, as you would like to believe. You are just a confused, mis-guided, racist individual, who is as much of the problem as any cop looking for victims, or young man selling drugs (who are only trying to survive, I might add, in the post-slavery society into which they were born). And don't say they could have an honest job as a teenager, McDonalds??? Believe me I've worked there, McDonalds isn't putting food on anyones plate, believe me. It is working for pennies. And yes we can go to college, I am. But some people have families to support NOW. Many teenagers are left with young siblings to raise, not to mention themselves. They need to eat now, they live in MN, they need heat now. What other options are there for young black men, that cannot afford to wait to graduate from college? They are not vermin, they are just human beings scrapping for a piece of the pie.
And you "Mitch" are a part of the problem, not the solution. And you are spitting on Tremaine's grave for using him to support your mis-guided ideas.
True,
"As a child of South Minneapolis, a University student, and also a close friend of Tremaine Finley's I find Mitch's response repulsive. You make it sound as if Minneapolis is the seen of apocalyptic, war-zone like violence. Believe me this is not the case, and I have a lot more experience with the Minneapolis streets than you do. "
First: No, you do not have more experience with the Minneapolis streets than I do.
Second: Minneapolis is not a *scene* of war-zone violence, but parts of Minneapolis have been rendered incredibly awful by the predations of the parties to the Drug War.
"Who are these "vermin" you speak of patrolling the streets? The police? The police much better fit that description than any of the young blacks which you are so deathly afraid of."
The vermin are the people who think that someone's life - anyone's - is worth less than the car they want, or the drug-sales turf they're defending.
I'm as critical of the Minnapolis police as anyone - too many of them are embarassments to the badge - but most of us rarely mix them up with the punks that shoot people in the street over their cars, their shoes, their colors...
" You say you feel for Tremaine Finley. I say you are a liar. If you were to see him walking down the street, long braids and all, you would label him as part of the problem."
Hey, True? Take your phony piety and go pound sand up your ass. I've lived in the inner city, I'm going to bet, longer than you; certainly more of my adult life. You have no idea what I'd do.
"You would want to "stamp him out" as you say."
You are clearly addled by...what? Hatred?
"But you feel for him now because he is dead, and now in his death you decide he was one of the good blacks."
You're a bigot. You're incapable of seeing beyond your own addled, hate-drenched preconceptions.
"You are who Nick Coleman was writing about.":
I know. And Coleman is a bigger moron than you seem to be.
" You are the same person who would've said Tremaine deserved to die if the paper had wrongly reported it as a drug deal gone bad."
No, I'd have waited for the facts. As I always do. I had NOT followed the story of this shooting; I have my own stories to follow. I didn't assume that the victims were drug dealers, because a) I believe everyone's innocent until proven guilty, and b) Until Coleman opened his worthless yap, the story was just another Minneapolis shooting, a constant background thrumming on the daily news.
" He would've been vermin to you, but since you finally heard his story (only once he died I might add) you label him as "one of the good guys." Why don't you just say "one of the good blacks?"
Because unlike you, I'm not a racist.
I've fought drug dealers in my own neighborhood, along with my neighbors - black, white and everything in between. I've dug bullets out of my walls, and found the little bastards who did the shooting. I know that verminism, and virtue, are both color blind.
"You are not a mourner, as you would like to believe. You are just a confused, mis-guided, racist individual, who is as much of the problem as any cop looking for victims, or young man selling drugs (who are only trying to survive, I might add, in the post-slavery society into which they were born)."
Bullshit. I am the status quo. I am the person who's trying to live *in* the city, raise my kids, pay my taxes, make the city habitable by actual people.
You, however, are the problem; you strain to find equivalence between criminals, people who don't believe a human life is as important as their turf, and everyone else.
Unlike you, I believe that everyone's innocent until proven guilty.
"And don't say they could have an honest job as a teenager, McDonalds??? Believe me I've worked there, McDonalds isn't putting food on anyones plate, believe me. It is working for pennies. And yes we can go to college, I am. But some people have families to support NOW."
Right. We have a culture - including an urban subculture - that glamourizes sex, yet underreports that sex leads to "families to support NOW". A culture that sneers at education, but doesn't tell kids what a lack of education will get you. A culture that glamorizes crime, AND its consquences. If someone doesn't learn not to *choose* screwing like a bunny, dropping out of school and joining a gang, I suppose they're misguided enough to think that "It's McDonald's or a life of Crime!" is a rational statement.
"What other options are there for young black men, that cannot afford to wait to graduate from college? They are not vermin, they are just human beings scrapping for a piece of the pie."
Scrapping for a piece of the pie? I'm happy to help. I'm on your side - because I *guarantee* you, I've done a lot more scrapping for my piece than you ever will.
Point a gun at me, or any other law-abiding citizen, color irrelevant, for ANY reason? Vermin. Period. No further discussion needed. The math is pretty simple.
"And you "Mitch" are a part of the problem, not the solution. And you are spitting on Tremaine's grave for using him to support your mis-guided ideas. "
Again, with all due respect, go fuck yourself, you racist dickweed.
Posted by: mitch at November 28, 2004 03:43 PMWhen I read your post I wondered what in the world could have made you so angry. I read Nick Coleman's article and must admit my confusion grew. To me it seemed to be a well written article attempting to mourn the passing of one of what America needs more of, people committed to their communities. Its something I read in your posts quite a bit. You are rightfully proud of your decision to stay in whe city proper and help it to stay a thriving community. When I read True's response and your reply to it things cleared a little but I still find myself puzzled. First, your angry response to the article in the first place. The shot fired in your direction was a brief two paragraphs. It gave context to the article. I think Coleman found a powerful way of reminding his readers that a person's passing is important. I think he wanted to remind people that we shouldn't judge so quickly. We might have lost an ally rather than an enemy. By your reaction it seemed that the article hit its mark. I don't think that makes you evil, just human. For me the sad part of your reaction to the article is that you took it as an insult rather than a challenge from Coleman. Saying what you said in the original post was quite reasonable. Living in areas where drugs and crime are rampant can make people angry. People get frustrated when their families are in danger. Sometimes we react in ways that are less than admirable. I wondered why you didn't simply post the link and say, " Look 99% of the time Coleman is an idiot but he's right this time. This is a guy who is worth remembering". From my perspective the important thing is to continue to reach out for the allies we have left "Black, white and everyting inbetween". That's the second part that puzzles me, why two people who have so much to gain from cooperation can end up so angry at one another. I can understand True being angry, he just lost a friend. Sometimes when peopele are grieving it is easy to lash out and try to hurt someone when you can't find the person responsible for your loss. I think that might be the greatest tragedy in this situation. Someone who fought to keep drugs and crime off the street dies and those left behind bicker over who mourns him best. I didn't know Tremaine but I think he would much rather that his friends, loved ones, and fellow citizens continue the fight he fought rather than fighting each other.
Posted by: Phil at November 29, 2004 01:03 AMPhil:
"When I read your post I wondered what in the world could have made you so angry."
Being called a racist will do that.
" I read Nick Coleman's article and must admit my confusion grew. To me it seemed to be a well written article attempting to mourn the passing of one of what America needs more of, people committed to their communities."
Sure - and on the way, slandering those of us who are *also* committed to our communities.
" Its something I read in your posts quite a bit. You are rightfully proud of your decision to stay in whe city proper and help it to stay a thriving community. When I read True's response and your reply to it things cleared a little but I still find myself puzzled. First, your angry response to the article in the first place. The shot fired in your direction was a brief two paragraphs. It gave context to the article. I think Coleman found a powerful way of reminding his readers that a person's passing is important."
Right. His reminder was "all you whiteys out there who thought this was just another banger that got shot - YOU are the villains here". Your perceptions may vary of course, but that's what I got from Coleman.
" I think he wanted to remind people that we shouldn't judge so quickly. We might have lost an ally rather than an enemy."
Right, but he's the one that's "Judging quickly" - assuming that those of us who DO live in the city and might, from built-up fatigue, not shed a tear at the demise of one of the gang-banging pieces of filth that make life in the city, are the benighted deviants.
" By your reaction it seemed that the article hit its mark."
The only "mark" it hit was that of a guy, who happens to be Republican, who is sick to death of sanctionious talking heads like Nick Coleman, snug in their upper-middle-class enclaves in Mac-Groveland, passing snap judgement on the people who have to share their neighborhoods with the drug-dealing, conscience-free crotch lice that shoot our children, turn our streets into random free fire zones, riddle our homes and life savings with bullet holes just for the fun of it...
" I don't think that makes you evil, just human. For me the sad part of your reaction to the article is that you took it as an insult rather than a challenge from Coleman."
That is plausible, although I don't cut Coleman a lot of rhetorical slack; he rarely passes on a chance to slander those with whom he differs.
" I wondered why you didn't simply post the link and say, " Look 99% of the time Coleman is an idiot but he's right this time. This is a guy who is worth remembering". "
"I can understand True being angry, he just lost a friend. Sometimes when peopele are grieving it is easy to lash out and try to hurt someone when you can't find the person responsible for your loss."
I can understand that.
It was about five years ago that a couple of pieces of semi-human roadkill reached over the top of the fence of a gas-station parking lot, and fired blindly into a car. They thought they were killing a competitor. Instead they shot a four year old girl, Daneisha Gillum (sp). It happened a few blocks from my house. I had to explain to my kids - then eight and six - why that could happen to a little girl their age, in our neighborhood. Not long after that, another worthless little piece of dung fired eight shots at a punk from down the block who owed them money who happened to be walking in front of my house - then reloaded and fired eight more. They missed the punk, but hit my house three times - one bullet passing close to where my son was sleeping. That took some explaining, too.
My point? Nick Coleman wasn't asking for compassion, he was demanding clairvoyance. I can't say I gave the Finley shooting much thought before Coleman's column, but I remember thinking "Damn. I hope it's not some poor, law-abiding schmuck".
" I think that might be the greatest tragedy in this situation. Someone who fought to keep drugs and crime off the street dies and those left behind bicker over who mourns him best."
I'm not bickering. His friends and family suffered the biggest loss. I am sorry for True's loss, even though I rather abruptly reject his claims that I'm a racist. That doesn't sit well with me.
" I didn't know Tremaine but I think he would much rather that his friends, loved ones, and fellow citizens continue the fight he fought rather than fighting each other. "
No argument.
Posted by: mitch at November 29, 2004 05:04 PMI hope you continue your battle against our cities scum. it's valiant work you're doing. And while you're at it I hope somebody shoots you in the face. Respond to that Bitch...oops I mean Mitch.
Posted by: True Mourner Back For More at November 29, 2004 07:30 PMWow, True. That took guts.
And I will respond to it.
Posted by: mitch at November 29, 2004 08:18 PMYou tried to ban me but you know that didn't work.
Posted by: HAHA at December 2, 2004 08:59 AMI just wanted to ask if you've been fighting any "vermin" lately, and where? Why don't you go out on Chicago and Lake, or Portland or Park? But be sure to bring your guns, cause the "vermin" might bite your ass, "bitch."
Oops I really meant to say Mitch, sorry.
Posted by: YourBuddy at December 2, 2004 09:02 AMEr, don't flatter yourself. I've never banned anyone from my comments. Read the rest of the blog; my comment section was broken so far this week (hence no comments from monday through yesterday).
Try posting from your U of M address again (yep, I found out that much - so far. I could dig further, but it's not worth it).
As to the rest of your post - you're a curiously obsessive little fella. And I suspect that you grew up in Woodbury, since someone from Minneapolis would know that it'd be hard to hang out at "portland and park", what with them being parallel streets and all. Right?
But I gotta hand it to you. Takes a lot of balls to make anonymous (for now - hey, I used to investigate things for a living!) posts on a stranger's blog. I guess I wouldn't want people to know who I was if I were you, either.
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you all say how u feel for him but u don't know what it is like he was not your cousin you did not have to feel the hurt of not having him wit you. so for anyone that says they feel the pain the don't!!!
Posted by: the lil cuz at October 4, 2006 06:01 PMWell from his cousins point of view its been two years and nothing has come up. Thinking that the person sitting next to me on the bus could be him the person that is waiting at the corner for the light is that him. To think that people nowendays dont have any compassion. Me and tremaine were very close and it hurts to know that i cant call him to cry or just plan vent about the daily B.S. He has a child that will never know his father and be able to touch him he will only have pictures and memorys from other people. I wish that we could find the person or persons involved in this crime that way my cousin could rest in peace. I just want people to know that my cousin wasnt perfect but he couldnt hurt a fly so I REALLY DONT UNDERSTAND WHY HE IS DEAD. For those who dont know the family but you are tryin to help THANK YOU VER MUCH!!!! For those who are talking bull keep that to your self i really dont care and my family sdoesnt care about the mean and harmful things that come out of your mouth.
Posted by: Tameisha his lil cousin at October 10, 2006 04:15 PMLove you Tremaine your cousin MEISHA
well i hope that the people that said that we will never catch the killers are happy but you know what the end of the world isnt here yet so we still have time. I hope that the day that we catch the we can laugh in there faces because for them to think that they would never get caught is funny as hell.
I love my cousin to death me and him were close as hell and somebody took that away so they must pay and i want the police to catch them and i want the judge to make them pay for the rest of there natural giving life with pain and torture.
Posted by: meisha at October 10, 2006 04:27 PMTremaine i love you cousin Meisha
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