Positively 4th Street, University of MN style

[Valin]

Power Line

Scott Johnson

June 22 2021

George Floyd died in the custody of the Minneapolis police on May 25, 2020. Two days later University of Minnesota President Joan Gabel announced to great fanfare that she was restricting the university’s ties with the Minneapolis police.

In an email message to the university community Gabel said she was telling her staff no longer to contract with Minneapolis police “for additional law enforcement support needed for large events, such as football games, concerts, and ceremonies.” In addition, she told the University’s Police Department no longer to use the Minneapolis police for specialized services like K-9 explosive detection units.

(Snip)

This past Friday night, just before midnight, five people were shot and wounded Friday in the Dinkytown neighborhood that abuts the university’s Minneapolis campus. Dinkytown is a mixed use commercial/residential university oriented neighborhood. Here is a good description.

The shooting took place near the corner of SE 14th Avenue and 4th Street in Dinkytown, one block off the university campus proper. The map below situates the intersection.

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Yesterday Gabel sent out another email message to the university community, this one responding to the Friday midnight shooting (her message includes the links below):

Office of the President

Dear students, faculty, and staff,

(Snip)

Ignore the blah blah blah element of Gabel’s current message. Note Gabel’s silence about her message of May 27, 2020.

From the point of view of the Minneapolis police, this series of events must recall something of the rage that fills Bob Dylan’s “Positively 4th Street,” who lived in Dinkytown during his brief time as a University of Minnesota student. I am quite sure the officers would like to let Gabel know: “I wish that for just one time / You could stand inside my shoes / And just for that one moment / I could be you / Yes, I wish that for just one time / You could stand inside my shoes / You’d know what a drag it is / To see you.”

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C Synch

1 year ago (edited)

"Dylanizing is the art of telling people to go to hell in such a way that they ask for directions."