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June, 25, 2015 #26: Did they get it right in Spokane regarding Rachel Dolezal?The questionable and jaundiced role of CNN (part 2)
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A weekly column by Ron Edwards,
featured in the print weekly Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
and online weekly Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder News Online
June 25, 2015
“One ever feels his twoness, — an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.”
— W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk
“I believe that all men, black, brown, and white, are brothers.”
— W.E.B. Du Bois
W.E.B. Du Bois, along with White civil rights activists, founded the Niagra Movement in 1905. Five years later, the Niagra Movement became the NAACP. It has always been led by both Black and White leaders, as it is a unity movement, not a separatist one. Its history in Spokane (1.9 percent Black), of both Black and White NAACP presidents, reflects the Niagra Movement.
This is the background of the controversy leading to the June 15, 2015 resignation of Rachel Dolezal as president of the Spokane NAACP, a White woman raised in a biracial home (four Black step brothers) who says she has had the sense of being Black since she was five. Her Black stepbrother says she is “racially human” but “culturally Black.” Spokane has had no problem with this, but some have called her “deranged,” with “mental problems,” the opposite of the spirit the W.E. Du Bois and the Niagra Movement. Shame.
The NAACP betrays itself when casting itself as a Black organization rather than a civil rights organization. Why was Rachel Dolezal’s self-identity so offensive to her parents and others?
CNN started this with their yellow journalism. Black Sammy Davis, Jr., proclaimed, “I am a Jew.” Former Olympic decathlon Gold Metal winner Bruce Jenner has proclaimed, “I am a woman,” Caitlin Jenner. Are we to be known by our civil rights seeking or blood drop seeking?
Rachel Dolezal is a college professor, an academic expert on African American culture, and is the mayor’s appointed chairwoman of a police oversight committee to keep an eye on fairness in police work. Key documents providing insight into this controversy include her resignation letter of June 15, 2015, as well as the court documents in the emancipation hearings of her Black stepbrother, in 2010, who wanted to live with her and not with their abusive parents. She was later appointed legal guardian of her brother.
Rachel Dolezal’s complex, challenging and comprehensive civil rights story deserves honest and complete reporting, an obligation and requirement CNN and too many print journalists and broadcast commentators have failed to meet.
Her June 15, 2015 letter of resignation provides insight into her commitment to the philosophy and the doctrine of the Niagra Movement and the NAACP. She is a sister committed to our national quest for equality of opportunity for all. Let’s embrace the dream of unity of Martin Luther King, Jr., not separatism.
Clearly, Rachel Dolezal is a person well versed in the history of the African slaves descendants’ experience in America. She has a sense of mission and purpose in life too many neither understand nor support. Shame. She understands studies of anthropologists and historians regarding history’s raids and migrations mixing blood drops across racial lines.
The issue should be keeping our eyes on the prize of civil rights. Rachael Dolezal reflects the rich legacy and history that has evolved from that first gathering in Niagra Falls, NY, 110 years ago. It is our duty to continue the fight for unity of Black inclusion in society, in education, jobs and housing.
Spokane got it right. CNN and Minneapolis got it all wrong. God bless Black America and God bless those who have joined in the struggle for the survival of Black America, irrespective of skin color.
Stay tuned.
For Ron’s hosted radio and TV show’s broadcast times, solutions papers, books and archives, go to www.TheMinneapolisStory.com.
To order his books, go to www.BeaconOnTheHillPress.com.
To date: 47 Solution Papers.
Published MSR Thursday, June 25, 2015,
Posted here Sunday, July 5, 2015, 11:59 p.m.
June, 18, 2015 #25: Did they get it right in Spokane regarding Rachel Dolezal? The questionable and jaundiced role of CNN (part 1)
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A weekly column by Ron Edwards,
featured in the print weekly Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
and online weekly Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder News Online
June 18, 2015
“One ever feels his twoness, — an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.” — W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk
“I believe that all men, black, brown, and white, are brothers.”
— W.E.B. Du Bois
W.E.B. Du Bois, along with White civil rights activists, founded the Niagra Movement in 1905. Five years later, the Niagra Movement became the NAACP. It has always been led by both Black and White leaders, as it is a unity movement, not a separatist one. Its history in Spokane (1.9 percent Black), of both Black and White NAACP presidents, reflects the Niagra Movement.
This is the background of the controversy leading to the June 15, 2015 resignation of Rachel Dolezal as president of the Spokane NAACP, a White woman raised in a biracial home (four Black step brothers) who says she has had the sense of being Black since she was five. Her Black stepbrother says she is “racially human” but “culturally Black.” Spokane has had no problem with this, but some have called her “deranged,” with “mental problems,” the opposite of the spirit the W.E. Du Bois and the Niagra Movement. Shame.
The NAACP betrays itself when casting itself as a Black organization rather than a civil rights organization. Why was Rachel Dolezal’s self-identity so offensive to her parents and others?
CNN started this with their yellow journalism. Black Sammy Davis, Jr., proclaimed, “I am a Jew.” Former Olympic decathlon Gold Metal winner Bruce Jenner has proclaimed, “I am a woman,” Caitlin Jenner. Are we to be known by our civil rights seeking or blood drop seeking?
Rachel Dolezal is a college professor, an academic expert on African American culture, and is the mayor’s appointed chairwoman of a police oversight committee to keep an eye on fairness in police work. Key documents providing insight into this controversy include her resignation letter of June 15, 2015, as well as the court documents in the emancipation hearings of her Black stepbrother, in 2010, who wanted to live with her and not with their abusive parents. She was later appointed legal guardian of her brother.
Rachel Dolezal’s complex, challenging and comprehensive civil rights story deserves honest and complete reporting, an obligation and requirement CNN and too many print journalists and broadcast commentators have failed to meet.
Her June 15, 2015 letter of resignation provides insight into her commitment to the philosophy and the doctrine of the Niagra Movement and the NAACP. She is a sister committed to our national quest for equality of opportunity for all. Let’s embrace the dream of unity of Martin Luther King, Jr., not separatism.
Clearly, Rachel Dolezal is a person well versed in the history of the African slaves descendants’ experience in America. She has a sense of mission and purpose in life too many neither understand nor support. Shame. She understands studies of anthropologists and historians regarding history’s raids and migrations mixing blood drops across racial lines.
The issue should be keeping our eyes on the prize of civil rights. Rachael Dolezal reflects the rich legacy and history that has evolved from that first gathering in Niagra Falls, NY, 110 years ago. It is our duty to continue the fight for unity of Black inclusion in society, in education, jobs and housing.
Spokane got it right. CNN and Minneapolis got it all wrong. God bless Black America and God bless those who have joined in the struggle for the survival of Black America, irrespective of skin color.
Stay tuned.
For Ron’s hosted radio and TV show’s broadcast times, solutions papers, books and archives, go to www.TheMinneapolisStory.com.
To order his books, go to www.BeaconOnTheHillPress.com.
To date: 47 Solution Papers.
Published MSR Thursday, June 25, 2015,
Posted here Thursday, June 25, 11:54 p.m.
The U. S. Commission on Civil Rights’ benign neglect of Black communities continues
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A weekly column by Ron Edwards,
featured in the print weekly Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
and online weekly Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder News Online
June 18, 2015
As a result of the September 15, 2011 meeting in Minneapolis of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, led by Commission Chairman Martin R. Castro, I predicted in my September 21, 2011 column (United States Commission on Civil Rights Was in Town To Examine Racial Disparity in Unemployment in the Twin Cities) that the US COMMISION and its 52 state ADVISORY COMMITTEES would continue their troubling pattern of benign neglect of the racial disparities across America in general, and in the Twin Cities in particular.
The COMMISSION and its 52 ADVISORY COMMITTEES continues to practice benign neglect across the country, as seen in Detroit, Baltimore, Chicago, Harlem, Watts, and other cities at the center of riots in the ’60s and ’70s, despite its to do otherwise.
We thought the Commission’s Minnesota Advisory Committee would assist the public examination of issues confronting African American communities and report. I sat in on the extraordinary six-and-a-half-hour meeting. We were wrong. The information gained from the public — sworn testimony from a variety of experts on various civil rights issues — was kept quiet, as the Commission, City and local Black leaders didn’t want the people to know the awful truth.
The most dramatic and intense testimony that September 21, 2011 came from Mr. Robby Norman, Chief Operating Officer of Thor Construction, who blistered and challenged all companies, governments and agencies involved, the construction industry, the City of Minneapolis, and the Civil Rights Department under Velma Korbel, who also sat as a member of the Minnesota civil rights advisory committee. No wonder they didn’t want the information released. No wonder they didn’t want the community to provide oral or written testimony.
It became common knowledge that the administration of Mayor Rybak, including Velma Korbel and her Civil Rights Department, did not want the Commission information made common knowledge. Understandable. A nationally recognized consulting firm in Austin, Texas, examined the Minneapolis compliance data 11 months earlier, which reported the failure of contract compliance and enforcement of the Minneapolis civil rights ordinance.
Velma Korbel and the chair of the advisory committee made certain that the Rybak administration would not be embarrassed or scrutinized. The audio and video of that six-and-a-half-hour hearing at St. Thomas University Minneapolis campus has “disappeared.” Black lives didn’t matter then to the Commission or Ryback administration. “Doesn’t matter” holds for today as well.
We must stay vigilant to prevent the demise of the African American community and its dreams. Shredding of documents, “disappearing” audio and video tapes, falsifying numbers, are now seen as standard practices. That must stop. It has caused more than just despair and frustration. It has created dangerous anger within the African American community.
The U.S. Civil Rights Commission is accepting applications for the Minnesota advisory committee for replacements for those whose terms end in July 2015.
What we are looking for is a demonstration of Commission concern for such issues as:
• Expulsion & suspension of African American children from grades K-12.
• Poor education.
• Lack of economic opportunities and jobs.
• Limited housing options for African Americans throughout the state of Minnesota.
• Lost representation and voice in the political future of African Americans, especially at city council level.
• Stopping random and purposeful violence.
Too many “leaders” spend their time at DFL dinner parties, cheesing, bucking and winging and giving lip service to concern. If the U.S. Civil Rights Commission and its representatives in Minnesota will not review and take seriously their statutory responsibilities, they should be laid to rest and go the way of the American buffalo — extinction, now and forever.
It is important that we be concerned for the future of civil rights and for the future and safety of our children. This is not the time to play the fool in White Minnesota.
Stay tuned.
For Ron’s hosted radio and TV show’s broadcast times, solutions papers, books and archives, go to www.TheMinneapolisStory.com.
To order his books, go to www.BeaconOnTheHillPress.com.
To date: 47 Solution Papers.
Published MSR Wednesday, June 17, 2015,
Posted here Sunday, June 21, 11:55 p.m.
====================
US COMMISSION on Civil Rights mission includes (with emphasis added): “….. independent, bipartisan, fact-finding federal agency… to inform the development of national civil rights policy and enhance enforcement of federal civil rights laws … by studying alleged discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, or national origin, or in the administration of justice.
Mission of the 52 State Advisory COMMITTEES (emphasis added): …..to inform the development of national civil rights policy and enhance enforcement of federal civil rights laws … by studying alleged ….. discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, or national origin, or in the administration of justice.
FROM 9-21-11 COLUMN, United States Commission on Civil Rights Was in Town. The Commission is obviously attempting to sanitize and protect the reputation of liberals, both Black and white. The statements made before the Commission September 15, 2011, at the University of St. Thomas, do not match in purpose what the Commission says on its own web site: “To investigate complaints alleging … fraudulent practices, … . discrimination or a denial of equal protection of the laws because of race, color” nor “in the administration of justice. Minneapolis has committed all of these fraudulent practices. If the Commission is not here to verify that it con only be here to cover it up.
All of these actions begin to add up to three days of infamy.
If the Commission is serious about Truth, it will read my February 10, 2010 column that answers, with facts and figures, the question, Where did it all go wrong? and it will read my March 31, 2011 Solution paper, Planning For The Positive Future …..of the African American community, which lists the links to the facts and figures in over 5 dozen columns printed in this paper that the Commission should read, if it is serious.
June, 11, 2015 #24: Suspensions by race on the increase in the MPS
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A weekly column by Ron Edwards,
featured in the weekly Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
and Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder News Online
June 11, 2015
Former Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) Superintendent Dr. Bernadeia Johnson and former Green Central Principal Lorraine Cruz were oftentimes misunderstood in regards to their vision for the education of all children, K-12.
Our February 5, 2015 column (“Chaos once again at Green Central”) reported how leadership did not support their vision to find other ways to deal with youngsters other than the easy bureaucratic way of suspensions, especially K-3, even knowing such suspensions have extremely adverse effects on K-12 students, especially K-3.
Four months ago, I raised two questions (still awaiting answers) about Minneapolis’ high comfort level destroying those fighting for equal education: “Who will stop the violating of education opportunities for children of color? Who will see that their parents receive a fair and adequate seat at the school’s decision table?”
Despite the Federal Department of Education’s urging of finding positive ways to decrease disproportionate suspensions, so-called liberal Minneapolis leadership, Black and White, remains tragically silent.
Rather than keep civil rights’ eye on the prize, leadership has attacked Dr. Johnson’s suspension policy decision, leading MPS back to harmful bureaucratic business as usual — not education, but increasing African American suspensions and expulsions, reviving “separate but equal.”
These acts of exclusion by White and Black leaders allows commitments to diversity, fairness and equal opportunity for all students in our schools to be ignored, depriving students of equal protection guaranteed by the 14th amendment. We must not forget the peril of turning our backs on these prophetic words from the 1940s and 1950s:
One of the most successful approaches to obstructing Black education and thwarting a community’s acquisition of a place at the table of equality of opportunity is to cut off their children from education and discourage their learning in order to prevent enhancing their skills and prevent developing an ambition to succeed.
Worldwide those fostering exclusion commit a form of racial genocide, tremendously helped by institutional education homicide made to look like individual education suicide.
Increasing suspensions and accelerating expulsions attacks opportunities of African American children. Shame on Whites, but even more shame on us for allowing our kids’ exclusion. Shame on leadership’s silence and cowardliness in the face of the obstructed education journey for our K-12 students.
We, the sons and daughters of immigrant African slaves, continue our 400 year long attempt to integrate into this exceptional country, to advance beyond new attempts to preserve plantations, cotton fields and Jim Crow. When we repeat devastating patterns of educational segregation, despite our self-description of being a liberal enclave, we in Minneapolis allow the African American child to be an intentional target of racism and nullification in the name of public order and safety.
Black leadership today has slipped away from not only our heritage but our wisdom, as Black leadership joins the problems they used to fight, masquerading as clergy, nonprofits, government agencies, charities, in order to achieve elite status and elite pay for leadership at the cost of betraying our students’ present and their future.
Stay tuned.
For Ron’s hosted radio and TV show’s broadcast times, solutions papers, books and archives, go to www.TheMinneapolisStory.com.
To order his books, go to www.BeaconOnTheHillPress.com.
To date: 47 Solution Papers.
Published MSR Thursday, June 11, 2015, 2015
Posted here Sunnday, June 14, 2015, 3:33 p.m.
June, 04, 2015 #23: A violent Memorial Day in Minneapolis. Gunfire echoes across the city.
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A weekly column by Ron Edwards,
featured in the weekly Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
and Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder News Online
June 4, 2015
The warning signs for the current violence have been present for at least six days. We are not surprised, as we predicted a violent summer months ago and asked what the plan for it would be. We still wait.
The echoes of gunfire in Minneapolis, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of Memorial Day weekend signals how real our concerns are about pending danger lurking on Minneapolis streets. What a sad irony of street casualties on a weekend to honor heroes, not disrespect them or the communities and freedom they fought for.
Memorial Day weekend experienced six shooting scenes.
One was along the 2700 block of 3rd street North. Gunmen opened fire, and when the smoke cleared, three young men had been shot. One was dead at the scene, two others were rushed to hospitals by friends.
According to the Star Tribune story of this shooting (“1 dead in north Minneapolis shooting after neighborhood dispute”), the police said that the shooting was a “neighborhood dispute that erupted in gunfire,” that it “is not considered random,” and that it “did not appear to involve gangs.” I disagree. It was gang related.
The reporter then compared the shooting to a neighborhood dispute a year ago when one neighbor fatally shot another in a feud over feeding deer. Comparing shootings in a gang feud to a feud over feeding deer?
A second shooting occurred an hour later in the vicinity of the 3000 block of 3rd Street North, as gunmen brandished their guns.
A third scene: gunfire along the 3700 block of Lyndale Avenue North. Reinforcements had to be called in.
A fourth shooting occurred around 5:30 pm along 26th Avenue North. In a very short period of time, both sheriff and Minneapolis police were seen moving along 26th Ave North between Penn and Fremont, almost like a convoy.
A fifth shooting, Sunday morning: shots fired and two people wounded in the vicinity of Phyllis Wheatley, along 11th Avenue and Humboldt Avenue.
A sixth: gunfire in South Minneapolis. Casualty specifics at the time of the writing of this column Monday night, May 25, were yet to be verified.
These “incidents” make quite clear that there are serious and dangerous problems. The shootings on Memorial Day in North Minneapolis are said by reliable sources to be in retaliation for the death of a young African American gang member outside the Fourth Street Saloon, at 4th and Broadway two weeks ago.
How long and how often will shots continue to reverberate in both North and South Minneapolis? Most troubling about this Memorial Day weekend violence is the absence of African American leadership on the streets to help bring calm to a community under siege. Our warning two months ago to have a plan to prepare for a long, hot summer has come true, threatening the very fiber of peace and tranquility that citizens have a right to expect.
We are not casting blame; there is plenty to go around. Rather, we are calling attention to how a lack of planning results in reducing the safety of the residents of the African American community.
Some people feel that the Black community has been marginalized to the extent that Black lives are not of value, that Black lives do not matter, and by the silence of those who should be saying that all Black lives matter, a dangerous element in this city exposes that Black lives cannot or will not be protected. Let us pray that that assumption is incorrect and that there are plans for safety for the African American community in Minneapolis.
Stay tuned.
For Ron’s hosted radio and TV show’s broadcast times, solutions papers, books and archives, go to www.TheMinneapolisStory.com.
To order his books, go to www.BeaconOnTheHillPress.com.
To date: 47 Solution Papers.
Published MSR Thursday, June 4, 2015
Posted here Monday, June 1, 2015, 3:33 p.m.
May, 28, 2015 #22: The Lynx have earned world respect! Most successful MN sports franchise in last 10 years!
May 28, 2015
Minnesota’s “culture of winning” team, the WNBA Minnesota Lynx, opened their 2015 training camp May 17 in their new downtown facility. They start their new season June 5.
The Lynx are led by their unselfish “Big Three” “engines of excellence,” who helped lead the USA National Basketball team to the 2014 FIBA world championship gold medal:
The Lynx team is Minnesota’s most successful sports team, pro or collegiate, winning WNBA titles in 2011 and 2013, qualifying for WNBA Playoffs six of their 16 years. Their goal this year: win third league title in five years. No other team in Minnesota comes close. This is the most successful part of Glenn Taylor’s sports empire, well managed and much loved by their fans.
And yet this franchise is not treated with the respect they have earned, having done so game after game, year after year. Shame on the two major newspapers of Minneapolis and St. Paul, who report on the other teams as if they are contenders.
We wonder why Sid Hartman, dean of Minnesota sports writers, continues his attitude expressed years ago that he didn’t see any reason to say anything about women playing basketball. Sid: Fans have a reason. Check out the Lynx and find out why.
The Lynx play great, exciting and entertaining basketball. They demonstrate by their play how much they love the game. Our other teams seem to “win” only at making excuses for why they don’t win.
The Lynx win championships. Their fan base has grown in spite of Twin Cities media. It is a pleasure to watch young ladies from pre-school through retirement age to have such pride and love for their Lynx team.
The Lynx is comprised of great young women athletes with a demonstrated desire to win. They have a tremendous commitment to their fans on and off the court. They have earned the right to be the lead story on nightly sports shows and on page one of sports sections.
We need reporters who acknowledge the success of the winningest franchise on the Minnesota sports scene, whether pro or college. The only reporter who has done right by the Lynx is the MSR’s own Charles Hallman.
The Lynx have earned respect for being the sports royalty they are. Let’s show our appreciation for a franchise that has established a culture of winning, a culture of acquiring championships, and a culture of being loved by their fans. I attend games. I urge all my readers to do so. You will have a joyful time.
It takes more than new stadiums or media propaganda to win, although they play their role, and more than big contracts for players that don’t deliver, as with the Twins. The Lynx win with players who love the game, who know how to win and want to express their appreciation for their fan base by doing so.
Stay tuned.
For Ron’s hosted radio and TV show’s broadcast times, solutions papers, books and archives, go to www.TheMinneapolisStory.com.
To order his books, go to www.BeaconOnTheHillPress.com.
To date: 47 Solution Papers.
Published MSR Thursday, May 28, 2015
Posted here Monday, June 1, 2015, 11:10 p.m.
May, 21, 2015 #21: Keefe case thrown out by 8th Circuit eight years after filed
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A weekly column by Ron Edwards,
featured in the weekly Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
and Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder News Online
May 21, 2015
Eight years is a long time for a federal court to delay a decision (see Minneapolis Star Tribune headline, May 11, 2015: “Eighth circuit tosses out case alleging police corruption”). Why did it take them so long to get it so wrong, using strange claims, such as saying there was no “inhumane abuse of official power?” So what is “humane abuse of power?” Isn’t abuse abuse?
As we have documented for over a decade, there is still unsettled what Keefe calls “a massive case of corruption.” Thus we are stunned that Minneapolis City Attorney Susan Segal still says that her office is “without any evidence” regarding Keefe’s claims.
In 2007, Lt. Michael Keefe was selected to command the Violent Offenders Task Force (VOTF) funded by federal and state funds. Keefe, a White man, discovered corruption in the VOTF Unit (such as overtime abuse ranging from $50-109 thousand of some officers, a statistically improbable arrest rate of 98 percent African Americans, etc.). Keefe was relieved of his VOTF command, despite high-command and high-performance ratings. He was demoted to sergeant.
Evidence: see the Star Tribune stories of February 2, 2008, April 6, 2011, September 2011, and its four-part 2009 series `The Informant' reporting on police department corruption, particularly part three, May 11, 2009, regarding informant Taylor Trump. Check out the April 22, 2009 front page massive headline, “The Police vs. the Police.” That four-part series raised a lot of questions that still await answers.
Evidence: see our columns of August 29, 2007, November 26, 2008, and May 18, 2011. See also our extensive blog entry of December 14, 2007, about the five Black “Mill City 5” officers, who, with information provided by Michael Keefe, led the city to avoid a trial by offering a settlement of $750,000 for the five, which they accepted. All are still members of the MPD (two sergeants, two lieutenants, and one deputy chief).
Evidence: the FBI reported the egregious resistance from White officers to work with Black officers, using the “N” word and other racially charged and derogatory terms about Black police officers, as well as confirming the significant overtime abuse and the 98 percent African American arrest number.
Evidence: the five Black “Mill City” police officers made similar charges, including evidence supplied by Keefe. Rather than risk a trial, the city offered to settle for $750,000 settlement with those five officers.
Evidence: Michael Keefe has put his job, his health, and his life on the line for justice.
And so we again ask: Why was Keefe’s case tossed out? Lt. Michael Keefe was not a man who was lying or making up issues when talking about racism and corruption in the city of Minneapolis and its police dept. Powerful forces can’t stand anyone fighting or exposing racism and corruption.
Some people say we need to move on, leave old problems behind and move on with the new ones. But aren’t these old ones the new ones of today as well, as we see in Ferguson, New York City, Cleveland, Detroit, Baltimore, our own Minneapolis, etc.? Shouldn’t officers like Michael Keefe be encouraged to stay and continue to serve rather than be pushed into retirement?
The May 11, 2015 Star Tribune story (“Eighth circuit tosses out case alleging police corruption”) gives the impression the claims Keefe brought are new, not eight years ago and still waiting answers. Instead his case is tossed aside in a most cavalier manner. We encourage readers to review the four-part series and other statements and documentation referenced. How nervous does it leave you about tomorrow?
Stay tuned.
For Ron’s hosted radio and TV show’s broadcast times, solutions papers, books and archives, go to www.TheMinneapolisStory.com.
To order his books, go to www.BeaconOnTheHillPress.com.
To date: 47 Solution Papers.
Posted here Thursday, May 21, 2015, 1:05 p.m.
See these related, past colums and blogs:
--- November, 05, 2014: Poor timing, dishonest reporting. Demoted MPD Captains in Star Tribune story of October 28, 2014
--- August, 27, 2014: 6% Blacks in MPD. When will we get the numbers right?
--- June, 18, 2014: The Keefe Report has been released into the open. Yet “they” continue to try to bury what can no longer be buried
--- June, 4, 2014: Keefe file now open to the public. Sgt. Michael Keefe waits his day in court
--- April, 24, 2014: The continuing battle of Sgt. Michael Keefe, and the disappearance of Black police officers from the MPD
--- December 14, 2007, 12-14-07, Blog: The Twin Towers of Minneapolis' Nullification and Reversal Begin to Finally Crumble as 5 Black Officers Sue the City for discrimination.
--- September 9, 2007, Blog: Mayor, Police Chief and Democrats out of control (or a stealth plan?)
--- January 17, 2007,: The End Of Diversity In The MPD: Another example of "The Forces of Nullification and Reversal"
May, 14, 2015 #20: Mariln Mosby Does Her Job. Other States's Attorneys across the country need to catch up.
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A weekly column by Ron Edwards,
featured in the weekly Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
and Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder News Online
May 14, 2015
Pull quote: Ms. Mosby restored hope to African Americans all across the United States.
On May 1, 2015, the elected Maryland State’s Attorney for Baltimore City, African American Marilyn Mosby, carried out her responsibility and duties without needless delay. She “announced charges against six Baltimore City police officers for their alleged role in the death of Freddie Gray.” Three Black, three White (five are men; one woman).
What the ultimate verdict will be on the 3-5 counts on each will be determined in court regarding the cause(s) Freddie Gray’s death and the causes of the ensuing riots. Only time will tell. The case has garnered much worldwide attention.
The key: Ms. Mosby began her office’s “independent investigation…upon receiving notice of the incident,” without delay. The young Ms. Mosby (“the youngest chief prosecutor of any major city in America”) is already serving as an example for state’s attorneys, county attorneys and city attorneys across the United States.
It will be more difficult to delay action and announcements for future investigations. It is painful to say that the mayor’s police department and investigators had neither the tenaciousness nor the aggressiveness to move as quickly.
Contrary to liberal critics, this was not a rush to judgment. Ms. Mosby showed that commitment resulting in the pursuit of justice could be achieved without delay, as she demonstrates: April 12, Freddy Grey arrested. April 13: began investigating the circumstances involving the arrest and, when hearing of his death on April 19th, was already deep into her investigation, of which the results and arrest counts were announced on May 1st.
At the time of Gray’s death, Mosby was already six days into that investigation. The coroner’s office ruled Freddie Gray’s death a homicide (human killed by human(s)), raising all the obvious questions: Was the double-broken vertebra an accident? Involuntary? Negligence? Incompetence? Premeditated? Role of shackles? Why no use of seat belt?
Each officer is charged with three-to-six counts. Among the counts, depending on the officer, misconduct in office, second-degree assault, involuntary manslaughter, depraved heart murder.
She kept the investigation quiet and stayed away from leaks, unlike the Baltimore Police Department and Mayor Rawlings Blake.
In moving as quickly as possible, Ms. Mosby restored hope to African Americans all across the United States, as she models what too many Black leaders lack: quickly taking nonviolent action to change the city by showing all lives matter, doing so under the color of law.
She comes from a law enforcement family (grandfather, father and three uncles). She has been recognized by both the voters and her peers (“50 Women to Watch,” “Leading Women,” “Top 40 under 40”).
Mosby is a public official elected by the citizens of Baltimore City, who takes seriously her job to prosecute those who violate the law and take a human being’s life. I would think that all true constitutionalists would be proud of how Ms. Mosby cut through the bureaucratic red tape that strangles justice for those who for far too long have been denied a seat at the table of justice.
In the law schools of the future, Marilyn Mosby will be remembered as a prosecutor who took great pride in her oath of office and her commitment to the residents and voters of Baltimore City. I have a great appreciation and respect for public officials who do their jobs without excuses.
In Fergusson and St. Louis, MO, they did the wrong things in the wrong ways with the wrong results. Officer Darren Wilson of St. Louis should be happy he wasn’t on patrol in Baltimore, MD in the summer of 2014 with Ms. Mosby as chief prosecutor. God bless Ms. Mosby as she moves forward toward the jury results of weighing the charges.
Stay tuned.
For Ron’s hosted radio and TV show’s broadcast times, solutions papers, books and archives, go to www.TheMinneapolisStory.com.
To order his books, go to www.BeaconOnTheHillPress.com.
To date: 47 Solution Papers.
Published in Minneaplis Spokesman-Recorder, May 14, 2015
Posted Thursday, May 21, 2015, 1:05 a.m.
May, 07, 2015 #19: Where is the minority hiring equity audit? Legislative auditor fails to file equity part of Stadium Equity report.
May 7, 2015
Pull quote: Denying young people opportunity in education and jobs can lead to frustration and riots…. What will result from prevented opportunities in Minneapolis? We ask the legislative auditor to determine the authenticity and integrity of the contractor reports on hiring hours by equity category.
On May 14, 2012, the Minnesota House of Representatives passed Vikings Stadium bill, House File 2958. It was touted as a Mona
Lisa, a perfect creation, bringing a windfall of prosperity for Minnesota businesses and workers alike.
Unlike the Twins and Gophers stadiums that had few minority workers, it was promised that this time there would be significant hiring of Twin Cities African Americans and the legislature would audit it, providing an annual review, audit, and certification that the accuracy and authenticity of all matters of business transactions and employment (including equity employment) affiliated with this billion dollar public project would be audited (see Stadium bill Section 11.4, sub-paragraph 7, entitled “Audit”).
Instead, the Legislative auditor is not doing the equity category employment audits, as the newly created Minnesota Sports Facility Authority (MSFA) is having the employers keep track (easier to falsify their own books when doing the equity auditing themselves, as they did with the earlier Twins and Gophers stadiums).
The legislative auditor is only auditing the financial side, leaving the reporting of how many workers by equity categories (minorities, African Americans, women, veterans, etc.), to the contractors. The contractors-foxes are again falsifying the hen house-stadium equity hiring numbers (See 2014 and 2015)
Three years ago we wrote that we trusted the Minnesota Legislative Auditor’s office to fulfill its responsibilities and obligations. We still do. What we didn’t figure is that the audit of hiring categories would be defined away to the contractors, not the Legislative Auditor. That leaves us with questions and concerns.
The latest report, January 15, 2015, entitled “Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority Legislative Report,” does not meet the statute that entrusts the final examination of the accounts, the numbers, the books, the distribution and the certification by the legislative auditor, as equity hiring numbers are not included.
Reports indicate that the minority community hires (Blacks, separate from women and veterans), have absorbed 317,347,000 hours. But has it? In the area of targeted business inclusion, the MBEs (Minority Business Enterprises) have been awarded $2,852,690. Did they? These numbers are from the firm HKS. Mortensen and its companion partner, Thor, have received $69,037,137 in salaries and compensation for minorities. This suggests a tremendous economic surge for the African Americans. But did it?
Stadium Bill, House File 2958, includes a specific provision in Section 17, Line 18.32, regarding employment and those organizations that would be given priority in the area of recruitment, training, and job development (one of the areas, Section 17, line 19.12, at least benefits one of the legislative authors).
The legislation encompasses the opportunity to concentrate heavily in the areas of zip codes centralized in North Minneapolis.
The legislation states: “establish workforce utilization goals equal to at least current city goals, including workers from city zip codes that have high rates of poverty and unemployment.” And yet the document submitted by EAF (Employment Assistance Firm) reports only 129 hours out of those zip code areas, out of a total work force utilization of 317,142 hours. 129 hours. This is very troubling.
What is the explanation? January and February were very productive months for construction on the stadium. Yet submitted documents for 2014 were the same as those submitted for 2013 by the same 12 organizations that were paid $315,000 for recruiting and hiring in a variety of apprenticeship positions. Where are they? Where did the money go?
Denying young people opportunity in education and jobs can lead to frustration and riots, whether in towns that have mostly White officials and police, as in Ferguson, or mostly Black officials (mayor, police chief, council, etc.) and police, as in Baltimore. What will result from prevented opportunities in Minneapolis?
We ask the legislative auditor to determine the authenticity and integrity of the contractor reports on hiring hours by equity category. The legislative auditor has the authority and the power to recommend the appropriate action, as his office will, in the case of the investigation of the Minneapolis Urban League. We expect a fair and equal distribution of required sanctions.
Stay tuned.
For Ron’s hosted radio and TV show’s broadcast times, solutions papers, books and archives, go to www.TheMinneapolisStory.com.
To order his books, go to www.BeaconOnTheHillPress.com.
To date: 47 Solution Papers.
Posted Friday, May 7, 2014, 2:37 a.m.
April, 30, 2015 #18: Terrorism in the Homeland US Attorney says danger is present in the Twin Cities
US Attorney Andrew Lugar sounded a warning on Tuesday, April 21, 2015: that terrorism recruitment had penetrated the liberal comfort of Minnesota and the Twin Cities.
Lugar’s office announced the arrest of six young Somalis, four in the Twin Cities, two in San Diego, aged 19-21, the result of the federal task force that has long been probing activities of terrorist groups operating in the Twin Cities.
It is easy to radicalize young men when all they think they are offered are fear, poverty, humiliation and no positive future. The question is not that it is taking place but why it didn’t happen sooner, given how Minnesota fosters status quo in the Black community, not prosperity through education and jobs.
Black leadership in the Twin City community has rarely talked about the radicalization of our young African Americans. Did not both white and blacks do so in the 60s and 70s with the counter culture and Vietnam war protests, until whites again left them behind? To not talk about this kind of radicalization is to close an already blind eye to the reality of this struggle by young people world-wide.
The danger of recruitment and planning for home grown terrorist activity was seen a year ago, on January 1, 2014, when a building exploded along Cedar Avenue in downtown Minneapolis. There was little discussion about that incident nor about those who died nor about the Federal government intercepting messages from the Twin Cities to terrorist operatives in Nairobi, Kenya and Mogadishu, Somalia.
There have already been deaths in the combat zones of Syria of young men born and raised in Minnesota.
The government’s anti-terrorism task force is quite aware of the associations and the activities of radicalizing young African American men inside and outside the United States. Black leadership in the Twin Cities has shown no appetite to address this threat nor take steps to combat it. One must take note that no elected politicians, including our 5th District Congressman, have provided us with a sense of concern nor recommendations for facing the radicalization of our young African Americans, a clear threat to our state, as its not only young Somalis who feel left out of society and the economy.
We have the responsibility to be vigilant and pro-active before announcements that our own indigenous community are persons of interest to be dealt with in the global conflict with America on the front lines, contrary to what is being said in mainstream media.
We must not fail to take note of the increased tension between the United States and both her allies and Iran, especially in regards to the conflict in Yemen. The continued hostility between Christians and Muslims is one of the greatest threats that the world knows today.
Why are so many surprised? I have fought for young Black youth for over 50 years. Since 2002, I have published over 100 columns, blog entries, and book chapters on the emergency regarding the ongoing war on young Black men, and warning how it could lead to their rebellion, even before this new terrorism wrinkle. The Star Tribune and do-gooder organizations keep their heads in the sand. The Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder has long sounded the alarm about the ongoing betrayals that our young have experienced or heard about (starting in Africa when betrayed to slavers, betrayed after Emancipation to Jim Crow, betrayed after World War II manufacturing job prosperity to jobs taken away, to the most long lasting and continuing betrayal, denial of good education and jobs, especially now when so many new occupations require university training and degrees.
Stay tuned.
For Ron’s hosted radio and TV show’s broadcast times, solutions papers, books and archives, go to www.TheMinneapolisStory.com.
To order his books, go to www.BeaconOnTheHillPress.com.
To date: 47 Solution Papers.
Posted April 18, 2015, 10:55 a.m
April, 23, 2015 #17: The Minneapolis Urban League in Trouble.Where are the Successes of its rich History?
Pull quote: A “State of the Minneapolis Urban League” is 25 years overdue.
Two weeks ago we wrote about the confusion regarding those who say the Minneapolis Urban League (MUL) is now close to death’s door (see our blog entries of April 1 and April 6), just as the St. Paul Urban League died three years ago, and current leadership who say all is well, and will get even better with more government and nonprofit funding. What do we make of the April 13, 2015 Star Tribune headline: “Minneapolis Urban League accused of potential double billing,” and the April 16, 2015 headline: “Legislative auditor to investigate Minneapolis Urban League.” See also April 17, 2015 Star Tribune Actions of state Sens. Hayden, Champion raise conflict-of-interest questions
Even more troubling, is that the concern seems to be the “double billing” (some call it “double dipping,” not the fact that the programs are not working. Had they not been caught doing “double billed” would they have gone on, business as usual, receiving money for programs that didn’t work?
The hard work of the MUL was once identified by Vernon Jordan as one of the most respected affiliate stars in the Urban League movement in meeting the challenges of the 1920s and on through the 80s. The decline began in 1990, right after the last “State of the Minneapolis Urban League in 1989” (see Chapter 14 of The Minneapolis Story, “The Role of Minneapolis BLACK ORGANIZATIONS in the Minneapolis Story ”).
Clearly, a “State of the Minneapolis Urban League” is 25 years overdue.
[Ed note: the full title of the Solutions Paper of August 4, 2009: The Role of Minneapolis BLACK ORGANIZATIONS in the Minneapolis Story: Civil Rights Commission, Urban League, NAACP, Churches/Synagogues/Mosques — Being Part of the Problem Rather than the Solution, as they Move Toward White-Like Black-Elite Rule, for Spoils Not Principles and Sell Out Inner city Black Community Interests: Education, Housing, and Jobs, Dignity and Recognition.]
Great civil rights activist leaders of their time who served on the Urban League board in the 60s-80s, were Nellie Stone Johnson, Cecil Newman (MSR founder), Frank Alsop, Dr. Thomas Johnson, and others.
By 1989, the MUL had grown to 114 employees, was 90 percent Black, owned and controlled four pieces of property, and had a $2.5 million budget, as well as numerous programs, including those in the areas of job training, community economic development, support of education, etc. Since then the MUL has lost over 100 employees, three-fourths of its programs, and is using its revenue to double dip, but not to contribute to the growth and vitality of the African American community, revealing the danger for the future of the African American community. Comments in the Star Tribune about the article reveal the smile of Whites at the MUL demise.
Things changed in 1990, when forces foreign to the MUL and the Civil Rights Movement, in concert with organizations in the progressive White community (their councils of churches, foundations, charitable organizations, government entities, colleges and universities, policy institutes), made it clear that changes would have to be made if funding were to continue. Those changes equaled demise.
The White community that caused it now blames the Black community, as problems are now being begrudgingly admitted and identified, including by the Commission of Education, the Superintendent of Minneapolis Public Schools, and local major foundation heads, now “concerned” with the relevance of the MUL that they helped make irrelevant. We have long reported on how the issues and problems below the tip of the iceberg have been swept under the rug. Will they now be dealt with or again swept under the rug?
As we wrote April 1 and 6 in our blog entries, it is important for the leadership of the MUL (as well as the NAACP), to report what their actual success has been and how it was created and applied, using numbers, not adjectives. MUL used to regularly report on their decisions and success, and then moved on to the next. They made sure that the community knew the things that had been accomplished, the growth of the MUL and, thus, growth in the community as well, as a result of their efforts.
As noted, we have not had a State of Minneapolis Urban League” message since 1989. We need a MUL that again helps to overcome White civil rights blocks and reports real contributions and success in the community.
Stay tuned.
For Ron’s hosted radio and TV show’s broadcast times, solutions papers, books and archives, go to www.TheMinneapolisStory.com.
To order his books, go to www.BeaconOnTheHillPress.com.
To date: 47 Solution Papers.
Posted Monday, May 1, 2015, 1:05 a.m.
April, 16, 2015 #16: Crises in Black leadership Changes in the Minneapolis Urban League and local NAACP
Pull quote: When will clear explanations and exit interviews be provided by these supposedly two powerful civil rights and social service agencies in the Black community?
The rumors circulating that two of the oldest and most prestigious civil rights organizations are going through a crisis of leadership have not yet been explained as of the writing of this column. We lost the St. Paul Urban League three years ago. Now Scott Gray has abruptly left the Minneapolis Urban League (MUL). Why?
The national NAACP announced on April 6 that they had ordered a special election for their Minneapolis branch on May 2, 2015, at the NorthPoint Health Center. Why? Why this fragileness in these long-term civil rights organizations? Irrelevance? Lack of credibility? Secrecy? Focus on Black elites rather than Black communities?
How do we interpret the many rumors that indicate there are investigations by the Council on Black Minnesotans and others regarding shortages of funds? How do we interpret these events while some African American leaders, in a letter to the Star Tribune editorial page, indicated that these are the best of times for the African American community? Why do Black leaders claim all is well while meeting behind closed doors, making decisions for themselves and then pleading ignorance?
Never before, in the history of civil rights organizations and social service organizations, has there been such a sudden change of leadership. Minneapolis Black leaders, who claim to speak with full knowledge and wisdom about what is taking place within the African American community, owe us a more detailed explanation that we then must examine.
What is the signal we are getting from increased violence on our streets as young African Americans fight among themselves in groups as large as 300 combatants? Is this not a signal to both Black and White leadership that there is something different about how these young people are regarding promises about the future? There are promises that won’t be kept.
With so much money poured into the African American community, how is it that we are still faced with poverty, fear and apprehension, causing some to look favorably on joining terrorist groups?
What happened to the $1 million Summit OIC and NorthPoint allegedly received for development and planning? What will the Urban League do with the $1.8 million the legislature is providing them for further educational development and the $3 million the legislature is awarding African American nonprofit agencies for continued job development and employment, as well as money from foundations and charitable giving?
We await the report of the numbers that reflect inclusion of African Americans in constructing the Vikings Stadium. How many Minnesota Blacks have been employed (and not just “minorities”)? How many trained by Summit OIC were actually qualified and hired? We have heard of one African American contract in excess of $25 million. We have also heard that African Americans have been paid in excess of $240 million in wages.
We want to see proof of the hundreds of thousands of hours claimed that have already been worked by African American workers (again, Blacks, not just minorities). If true, these staggering numbers represent an economic harvest for the African American community.
We want MUL and NAACP to explain how they did it, to leave us the formula for future leaders’ success as current leaders depart. When will clear explanations and exit interviews be provided by these supposedly powerful civil rights and social service agencies in the Black community?
We don’t want them to walk away from this prosperity without providing a clear explanation in exit interviews of how they achieved it, so the “how” can be passed on to the next generation for their pursuit and enjoyment of this great economic uplifting.
Stay tuned.
Posted April 18, 2015, 10:55 a.m
April, 09, 2015 #15: Twin City Media Destroys Father’s Reputation
Pull quote: Why is it that as of the writing of this column Minneapolis Black leaders have not spoken up?
Barway Collins, ten years old, went missing in Crystal, MN on March 18, 2015. For 12 days since then, as of the writing of this column on March 30, media reports have gripped our communities with allegations and suspicions towards Barway’s father Pierre Collins, without presenting a reasonable burden of proof for doing so.
The rush to judgment of Barway’s father is not, so far, supported by facts. First, the protocol for dropping off youngsters and waiting for the driver to observe them entering their home before driving on was not done. The bus video shows that Barway walked away as the driver drove on. Secondly, even though the first 24-48 hours are the most crucial, the police department ignored another protocol by still not issuing an Amber Alert.
Third, they waited five days before asking assistance from the FBI, the MN Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and from the Hennepin County Sheriff’s department. Fourth, they did not immediately interview the bus driver. The comparisons to responses when the missing child is White are telling.
Pierre Collins has been tenacious in his interaction with the police department regarding finding his son. He has questioned its lackadaisical attitude, especially in not issuing an Amber Alert. This has caused Pierre Collins to be seen as an “enemy of the state” for the audacity of being “uppity” in raising questions about the department’s lack of action. White parents would instead receive empathy for their distress.
The reporting from some in the White media can only be called jaundiced at best, racist at worst. The cloak of protection thrown around the Crystal Police Department is not surprising. So far, White media won’t report on the department’s seeming lack of concern and enthusiasm. For examples see Star Tribune articles, here, here, here and hear, and KMSP reports here and here. List of KMSP reports by Iris Perez is here.
Even as late as day three, the Crystal Police Department held that the child was in “no danger” and was probably at a friend’s home (which they would not say on day three if the missing child was White), as if Barway was a truant and his parents irresponsible. The department has not met its burden of proof responsibility, and instead, with so many pieces missing, is itself acting irresponsibly.
A Black person, whether born in this country or arrived recently to these shores, understands the master and his system become angry when their sincerity and compassion are questioned. It is obvious that Pierre Collins also became an enemy of the state when members of the Liberian Muslim community stepped forward to advocate for their fellow countryman.
The Crystal Police Department became agitated that foreign-born Muslims would criticize their manner of law enforcement. The police department’s response to a peace gathering that Saturday afternoon in Crystal to express and demonstrate concern for the missing 10-year-old child is disturbing, as they were instructed to interrupt it.
Another question: Why is it that as of the writing of this column Minneapolis Black leaders have not spoken up?
The reporting of Iris Perez of KMSP-TV is illustrative of the yellow journalism in support of suggesting the father is an “enemy of the state.” Prior to her interview of the Collins family, Ms. Perez pretended to be a friend and a person who could be trusted and then proved otherwise in her reporting. Her statement to the crowd gathered Saturday that she had been told by police officers that Mr. Collins had taken out a life insurance policy of $30K on the life of his son was false.
After this column is published 10 days from now, we hope that KMSP will be using only evidence to support any allegations. That is the right thing to do.
Stay tuned.
For Ron’s hosted radio and TV show’s broadcast times, solutions papers, books and archives, go to www.TheMinneapolisStory.com.
To order his books, go to www.BeaconOnTheHillPress.com.
To date: 47 Solution Papers.
Posted April 9, 2015, 9:18 a.m
April, 02, 2015 #14: Dangerous signs of trouble St. Patrick’s Day disturbances create concerns
Pull quote: Almost $2 billion in construction and new development is taking place within downtown Minneapolis, and yet the African American community…is still being left out.
“Banish bias, but keep downtown livable,” blared the Star Tribune editorial of Monday, March 23, 2015, warning about unacceptable public behavior threatening urban revival while avoiding discussing the the frustrations of exclusion felt by African Americans.
Since 2006, I have written over 100 column, blog entries and solution papers about the need for plans to deal with exclusion, which have gone unheeded (they are listed in our “Solution Paper #47). The Star Tribune is belatedly reinforcing what this column and newspaper have reported (see column of January 14, 2015: “Promises, Promises, Promises…with no follow through.” We need to signal young African Americans that the broader community is listening to their expressions of frustration, concern and anger.
The solution is not to continue touting prosperity for one segment of the population while carrying out calculated bias against another segment, hindering their prosperity. Backlash will dramatically drop if paths to prosperity are open through education and jobs to blacks as well as whites.
The St. Patrick Day flash-mob “fun entertainment” disruption (over 300 young people enjoyed fighting with each other for over two-and-a-half hours on the streets of downtown Minneapolis), also caused injuries, including the shooting of two individuals, one in front of Target Field, the other one on West Broadway. This disproportionate application of wealth and opportunity needs to be more balanced through the enforcement of the justice system for all of our different communities, Black, Brown, Yellow and White.
This column has long predicted “a long hot summer.” Authorities handled the flash-mob disruption with good tactical management. Clearly many Whites don’t understand the level of frustration and anger seething in the African American community.
The mayor of Minneapolis seems to think this was an event that “just happened,” a fatal analysis that doesn’t bode well for adequate, serious planning and responses of the frustrations and anger expressed. Plans need information. I alerted the head of the public safety committee that information was being withheld from his committee. As I wrote in August about the data gathered between 2004-2008 by the Police Community Relations Council on which I served: “Unless the MPD’s Comprehensive Diversity Plan of June 2008 [is] followed and vigorously pursued…Minneapolis would slip into dark days.”
On May 29, 2014, I wrote, “Meetings and mission statements not addressing Nellie Stone Johnson’s “Big 3” (education, jobs, housing), won’t enable young people to “become qualified, independent, and active partners with employers, investors, planners, and money dispensers of government and nonprofit programs.”
Unlike the Star Tribune, this column talks of the danger signs regarding the future of African American communities not supported by planning. Almost $2 billion in construction and new development is taking place within downtown Minneapolis, and yet the African American community, irrespective of the city’s false numbers and leadership’s false bravado, is still being left out.
African Americans understand they were not included as an integral part of projects like the Gophers stadium, Twin’s ball park, and now the Vikings stadium and the $2 billion economic infusion from construction in downtown. Young African Americans wish to sit at the table of economic opportunity that leads to prosperous future lives.
Where is the functional plan that includes the African American communities in the future growth of the City of Minneapolis, the city of Hubert Humphrey and Eugene McCarthy, balanced with the voices of Cecil Newman and Nellie Stone Johnson, a foursome standing together in the forefront for justice in education, jobs and housing. This is a dangerous time for a city that says it has a vision for its future that excludes the African American community from that vision.
Stay tuned.
For Ron’s hosted radio and TV show’s broadcast times, solutions papers, books and archives, go to www.TheMinneapolisStory.com.
To order his books, go to www.BeaconOnTheHillPress.com.
To date: 47 Solution Papers.
Posted April 5, 2015 11:59 p.m.
Permission is granted to reproduce The Minneapolis Story columns, blog entires and solution papers. Please cite the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder and www.TheMinneapolisStory.com for the columns. Please cite www.TheMinneapolisStory.com for blog entries and solution papers.
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