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Kalamazoo City Council Pays Reparations to Victims of Racist Police Brutality (posted 4 April 2001)
In welcome news, the Kalamazoo City Council has agreed to pay compensation to Beryl Wilson, Michael Moran, and Ricardo Montalvo—to the tune of $31,500—for stripping them of their clothing and jailing them naked. Beryl Wilson, who was awarded the highest of the three settlements, was left naked in a freezing-cold cell for 8 hours. Five other complainants are choosing to continue their lawsuits against the city.
ERIC D. STILE replied:
Once again the city of Kalamazoo is looking for money to lock up more young people. When will someone in charge of this town at least make an attempt to use common sense. Kalamazoo does not need a larger juvenile home, it needs a state of the art Youth Recreation and Training Center.
If you build a larger detention facility all that happens is that it will be filled. If you build a youth center that offers more than just limited access to community information you will fill young minds.
There are still a few companies left in the city that can offer training programs. I’ll bet some of the employees would not mind sharing their expertise with the children of Kalamazoo.
Could anyone imagine a center for kids that has a real supervised computer lab, a machine shop with models of working units from various companies i.e. Stryker, Summit and any other company that needs a trained workforce. A literacy program for children and adults and the usual recreation activities kids hold dear.
If the community involves itself with it’s youth, the youth will involve themselves in the community. The aspirations for Kalamazoo’s’ children should be positive, so do the right thing..train our kids, don’t detain them.