I got that in my email this morning. Pete is still having a rough time, though.

And I still support him!

time'? Thanks in advance.

That is the main thing to remember. Mayor Pete is trying to take responsibility and make changes. But long-standing racial problems in his city are hard to remedy. People are taking it out on him, and he is standing up and taking it.

It looks like he is losing what little black support he had.

difficulties they are going through in South Bend.

It was a scary and difficult time in STLMO / Ferguson too, and many of us spent several nights worrying about
the rioting and protests going on (protests were popping up everywhere in the city). The national guard was even called in and parked outside the Home Depot on South Kingshighway in south STLMO and police walking wall to wall on Grand to clear protesters off the streets in South Grand.

Being that South Grand was in the middle of appropriately 40,000 homes/households, there was a lot of fear then. I don't want to go through situations such as this but this is the 3rd or so time that we've had such in these neighborhoods (spanning in my case 40 years in the city itself).

But perhaps we're on the road to better times being that some of those very same protesters now are in city government in Ferguson and some have even went on to other elected offices. Some cities even changed their policies to help the AA community but there is a lot to do still, and this is a major work in progress.

Like I said, I think every large city in America has something similar to STLMO and maybe STLMO was the wake up call...

He's given hints about this in town hall meetings, interviews, etc. – I was already excited about his earlier mention of making climate change a "national project"– but it's even more exciting the scope of the proposed initiative, and the particular topics to be emphasized.
Unifying, forward-looking,just what we need.

I too am thrilled to see it fleshed out and comprehensive.

It sure is just what we need.