Human Rights in Minnesota

To Saint Paul Mayor
Christopher B. Coleman

Dear Mayor Coleman,
I was born in Saint Paul where my grandfather was Principal of Harding High School. I have taught at the University of Minnesota. I live in France, and rarely miss an opportunity to boast about my home state of Minnesota, of its liberal traditions and respect for human rights.

I am therefore especially shocked to hear of the arrests of journalists and other citizens who committed no acts of violence on the occasion of the Republican National Convention in Saint Paul. It is very disturbing to hear that several citizens were arrested on the basis of no evidence beyond the testimony of infiltrated agents – the sort of testimony which, as is well known in Europe, is totally unreliable since the agents have their own motives to exaggerate and provoke.

If they are maintained, the charges will be seen as a disgrace to the state of Minnesota and to the United States. No serious person believes that the journalists, or for that matter the activists, were in any possible way aiding "terrorism". This is simple political repression, of the same sort as is so vigorously denounced when it occurs in other countries.

I urge you to dismiss immediately all such charges for the sake of justice, as well as of your own reputation and conscience.

Sincerely,
Diana Johnstone
Journalist
Paris, France