03-26-12 Common Council Meeting Minutes

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REGULAR MEETING MARCH 26, 2012 th He stated that in 1945 his Church 7 Adventist split over racial issues. He stated that they haven’t come back together to this day. He stated that saying that this could be problematic, it could this, or it could be that, and it has not yet been proven in a court of law is just somebody’s assumption. He stated that is a concern of his. He noted that it was said that this is a Christian Nation, no that’s not what the founding fathers said; we are a nation that accepts all faith. He stated he is a Christian and when his neighborhood down the street who claims to be an atheist calls and says she needs help in the yard, he still has to deal with her. She thanks him and she doesn’t even believe. He stated that we are a nation that allows a group of people to come through and say whether you believe in God or whether you didn’t you are going to be here. Over in the King’s English and you weren’t part of the King’s religion you would die. This nation was raised on the fact that you could have all different faith and so when people say we are a Christian Nation that is false. He stated even with him being a third generation Christian and all that kind of stuff and an ordained Elder, we are a nation of all people, who can pray, use the torah, use everything else and is thankful of that. He stated that he goes to church on Saturday, and does not legislate with his beliefs, because then he would vote against the parks that on Friday night until Saturday night anybody from the Jewish faith would understand that, they would shut down the city on Friday night, they would shut down the parks on Friday night no parks on Friday night. He stated that he is a vegetarian, and takes that to the whole extent. He stated that he voted on a special exception a couple of meetings ago to reopen a bar/night club on Western Avenue and he doesn’t drink. He would get thrown out of his church if he did. He stated that there are things that come up and need to separated, he voted for the special exception as a member of the Council, not as a member of this church. He stated that he believes in the separation of Church and State. He stated that we have to respect everyone, it’s not always easy and that what he has told many people in his church. He stated that we need to make sure that Mr. Douglas and his department will have the training they need and for them to be able to provide the training to businesses. He stated that they are going hosting the National Human Rights Commission conference this year. What better timing of passing this ordinance when the whole nation will be coming here to learn and will be so thankful to be using South Bend as a model. Councilmember Henry Davis stated that he has not been this quite in a Council meeting ever. He thanked everyone for coming out tonight. He stated that he had his hood on earlier and he had it on in solidarity on what’s going on nationally. He stated that he thinks everyone wants to make a discrimination case. However, he doesn’t see it as a discrimination case; he just sees it as a vigilante losing his mind and taking justice into his own hands. He doesn’t necessarily know if the man who shot Treyvon Martin was a racist and as a matter of fact he doesn’t care if he was a racist, but what he does care about is that he is prosecuted to the full extent of the law for the crime that he has committed. That’s what he cares about and that’s why he has his hoodie on. It’s not because its discrimination, it’s because we are really quick to call people and say you are discriminating, you’re discriminating. He stated that he is not going to get into that, because everyone in here has free will to whatever they choose to do, because you are a human being. He stated that he has been reading for the past couple of weeks, actually the last three years, dealing with some organizations within the community that think that we have not been all inclusive of. He stated that he thinks we have had the opportunity to include certain elements into this bill that we continue to overstep because of our own personal agendas, our own personal thoughts or maybe our fears. He stated that he is going to take a few moments to bring everyone up to date on what’s going on in South Bend, Indiana and across the whole world. He has been reading a book called the New Jim Crow and it’s by Michelle Alexander, with forward by Cornel West. He stated that this book talks intently about the prison systems in the United States of America. Over the last few years and what will exist over the next several years, we have a situation where in the area codes of 46619, 46628 and 46613 where we have over 400 ex-offenders come back into town to their homes seeking out employment, housing and all the other things intently about GLBT rights. He stated that he isn’t going speak against GLBT rights; he wants to talk about how exclusive we really are. He stated that we need to amend this bill to include ex-felons and the reason why is that he chose some excerpts from the book, page 4 “once they are released, meaning ex-felons, they are often denied a right to vote, but not in Indiana that was taken care of some years ago. They are excluded 29