The Minneapolis Story Home Page

The Experience of Ron Edwards

A Renaissance Black Man in a White Man's World

A Beacon for Freedom in the City

2016 Columns
Quarter 3: July thru September ~ Columns #27 - #39

Home | 2016 Columns » | All Columns » | 2016 Blogs »
« Previous Quarter | Next Quarter »


September, 28, 2016 #39: Somali community under scrutiny. Can St. Cloud and the Twin Cities heal? Who will take the initiative?

September 29, 2016

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 August

Hostility and uneasiness between Muslims and the Christian population of St. Cloud, Minnesota, are well known and documented. In fact, Ethiopian students at St. Cloud State University were the first to bring attention to the problems of religion and race in St. Cloud. As its Somali community grew, tensions increased dangerously, leading to a young Somali citizen committing a terrorist attack at a mall in St. Cloud, September 17, 2016.

Security experts should have seen this coming given the pitched battles on September 11, 2016, at an outdoor concert at 5th and Cedar, and given the violent confrontations between Somali youth and Security Forces at the Mall of America on Septeember 12, 20126. Clearly these were practice runs. The violence on September 17th should have been anticipated.

As the Somali stabbed ten people he shouted “Allahu Akbar” ("God is greatest”), until he was shot and killed by an off duty police officer, raising questions: Was this Somali youth a radicalized Muslim? Was he among those demanding judgment by Sharia law, not American common law?

Law enforcement officials are asking if these terror incidents in these three states of New Jersey, New York and Minnesotas on the same day of September17, 2016, were connected.

Does this portend more such incidents? We have written before of plans to have “round-ups” of young blacks. Will this plan now be applied to young Somalis?

History: after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the executive order in 1942, that created internment camps, officially called “relocation centers” for Japanese in this country, despite three quarters being born here.

One of the key individuals who carried out that executive order was California US Attorney General Earl Warren, who was later Governor of California and future Supreme Court Chief Justice.

That “relocation”, so far, is “the first and only episode in American history in which the United States government forcibly interned American citizens on the basis of their racial and ethnic affiliation.”

That still leaves the question of what should be done with groups who want their own legal system, such as Muslims in America who want to be ruled by Sharia Law.

[Ed note: [ED note:  the question has been asked if slavery wasn’t the first:  no, because that was not the US government doing it; it was done by the individual Southern States of what was later called the Confederacy.  Also:  with the Japanese all their property was taken from them.  During slavery, slaves were the property.]

In his memoirs, Warren regretted the roundups for relocation, as it was “not in keeping with our American concept of freedom and the rights of citizens,” that it was wrong “to react so impulsively, without positive evidence of disloyalty. . . .” He learned a lesson about racial harmony, equality, and civil liberties that led him later to strike down the “separate but equal” clause in the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education case.

The confrontations on September 11 and 12, 2016, had no news coverage in Minnesota. Other than my radio broadcast of September 14, 2016, there was no detailed report whatsoever of the confrontation involving Somalis and the police, nor with Bloomington Police and other security forces on the 12th of September.

With the long running hostility between Muslims and Christian whites in St. Cloud, is retaliation not far behind?

Do the leaders of these cities have the leadership skills to help repair the damage? There are calls for serious restrictions against the Muslim population. Because the fourth estate chose to suppress the events of Sept 11th and 12th, the opportunity for meaningful discussion and reconciliation has been lost. Will the winner of the presidency be tempted to sign such an executive order for such demonstrations and internments?

Will whoever wins the presidency order such draconian marshall law measures? Rest assured that even as this column is being written, discussions about these types of draconian internment are taking place.

Will Minnesota heal in time? Only time will tell. There is not much time left. Who will take the initiative?

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.

Written Monday,September 19, 2016
Published, MSR, Thursday, September29, 2016
Posted,TMS, Saturday, October 1, 2016, 2:32 a.m.


September, 21, 2016 #38: N/A

No article


September, 14, 2016 #37: Betrayal: will we fight it or feed it?

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 August 4

Pull quote: From the Great Society forward, the number of Blacks incarcerated grew from 350,000 in the 1960s to over two million today.

Betrayal is as much a part of the human race as the color of the sky and the shape of clouds. Betrayal is a characteristic that does not serve the human race. It harms the human race.
Yet we are still surprised by those who betray a trust, betray a relationship, betray a belief, betray a people. Betrayal highlights 2016’s political campaigns, with betrayal of movements, betrayal of issues, betrayal of promises.

Betrayal for profit highlights some institutions that serve themselves and betray the people they claim to serve. Betrayal of the African American community is a highlight of Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians and Greens.

Betrayal of the African American goes to the beginning of this republic, first by the English colonists, then by the Federalists, the Democratic Party, the Whigs, and the Republican Party. Center cities, rural poverty, education, unemployment, and incarceration numbers offer irrefutable proof.

Betrayal is killing African American dreams of a better future, of a better tomorrow, of better choices, as I have outlined in this column and in my books. Betrayal by both parties has long kept African Americans out of key roles in congress. Betrayal has accosted all minority populations, red, yellow, and brown, not just black.

Betrayal has been made easy by using the language and liberty of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, claiming them changeable by whoever is in charge. Betrayal of Black law enforcement officers has long been the order of the day, including a White officer who stood up for them, for justice, for the Constitution, and, thus, for the future of African Americans in the Minneapolis Police Department. This courageous White officer was betrayed by a system that placed greater value on betrayal of Black officers.

Betrayal by not remembering is becoming more common. In one of Bill Clinton’s state of the union speeches, his stance on immigration was the same as Donald Trump’s today. Bill referred to Blacks as thugs, calling for “three strikes and you’re out.” From the Great Society forward, the number of Blacks incarcerated grew from 350,000 in the 1960s to over two million today.

Betrayal of social science has also hurt Blacks, as science is used in justifying poverty and dependency, justifying them “scientifically” by claiming it reveals what programs all should live by rather than using social science to explain why certain programs don’t work. Instead, social science is too often used to justify programs rather than explain why programs of officials fail.

Social science has been used to avoid the four negative cornerstone progressions I share with Nellie Stone Johnson: without education, no jobs; without jobs, no housing; without housing, no public safety. Betrayal to come was outlined in the 1960s by Daniel Patrick Moynihan and James Coleman, exposing social science being used as a false recipe book rather than a tool of analysis to show why certain recipes don’t work.

Progressives claimed families were not as important as individual pleasures, too often resulting in more inner city and rural poverty.

Betrayal is how Sean “P. Diddy” Combs recently described the current administration. Betrayal poisons all that it touches. Betrayal causes a society and its people and institutions never to be able to reach their fullest potential.

Betrayal is seen in Black and White institutions failing to speak up while denying others their right to speak out. Such silence endangers us every day.

Betrayal, as part of freedom of choice, is as tied to the human race as the blue skies and the shapes of clouds.

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.

Written Monday,September 5, 2016
Published, MSR, Thursday, September 15, 2016
Posted,TMS, Wednesday, September 21, 2016, 2:54 a.m.


September, 07, 2016 #36: N/A

No article


August, 31, 2016 #35: N/A

No article


August, 24, 2016 #34: Trump challenges.Can Democrats respond?

September 1, 2016

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 August 4

Pull quote: It appears as if Donald Trump is reflecting on this dynamic in our history while Democrats deny it

Donald Trump spoke truth when he asked Blacks in Milwaukee, Friday, August 19, 2016, what has the Democratic Party done for Blacks, and then appealed to the Black vote by asking, “What the hell have you got to lose?” These are great questions offering a challenge to Black America. The answer to “lose” for both sides is the same:  the decisions of the new nominees for the Supreme Court.

This is not new. Blacks have been appealing for ending obstacles to prosperity opportunities for far longer than Donald Trump. Yet Trump is correct when he implies we should not vote for any party that leaves us in the back of the bus.

During the six days from when he asked his questions and this column was submitted, Hilary Clinton and liberal Democrats were slow to provide a response to Trump’s very interesting reflections, especially about key realities regarding inner-city Black communities:  second-class schools and teachers, second-class jobs and higher unemployment among 17-34 year old Black men, second-class housing and economic neighborhood development, and second-class efforts dealing with higher incarceration rates for crime and gun violence in our neighborhoods.

Donald Trump echoes what has long been known and long eloquently expressed, before, during, and since the Jim Crow period, although too many chose to ignore it. Trump echoes what Black historians and community and civil rights activists have long said. In 1932, enlightened Negroes were saying the same thing to the Republican Party regarding Black America’s support for Franklin Delano Roosevelt as Donald Trump is doing regarding Democrats in 2016.

Those who research history archives regarding the first third of the 20th century discover that by 1901, both the Democrats and Republicans had sold out the African American and the African American future in the United States of America, a sell out that continues in the 21st century, regardless of who is president. 

President Woodrow Wilson, a Democrat, was so comfortable abandoning the Negro that in 1914, he segregated, by executive order, the entire city of Washington, D.C., the supposed city that was to be a beacon on the hill shining its light of freedom, liberty, and justice. It appears as if Donald Trump is reflecting on this dynamic in our history while Democrats deny it.

Too often Black reflections are not accepted until the same facts are seen as relevant when a White person makes them. What Donald Trump said must not be dismissed. The Harlem Renaissance and driving forces for deep discussions and calls to arms became a movement that would not be denied, even as the country moved into the Great Depression.

The discussions of the early 1920s through the late 1930s created a challenging mindset expressed by African Americans after doing battle for this country and for democracy during World War II. It is important, regardless of who said it in White America that Donald Trump merely echoed what was said by African Americans at the end of the First World War, at the end of the Second World War, and at the end of the uprisings and conflicts of the 1960s.

We welcome The Donald to the painful, slow, and sad history of Black America, as the sons and daughters of the African see far too little change and improvement, irrespective of the election of Barack Obama, and the tireless and committed commitment to provide for better opportunities and access for the sons and daughters of the African.

Again, thank you, Donald Trump, for supporting what Blacks have been saying since 1863. A lesson for everyone: know your history — and vote.

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.

Written Monday, August 15, 2016
Published, MSR, Thursday, August 25. 2016
Posted,TMS, Thursday, September 1, 2016, 6:30 a.m.


August, 17, 2016 #33: Mike Baker out after 2016 season 

August 18, 2016

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 August 4

Pull Quote:  They tried to get Mr. Baker to write a letter to the MSR and state that my columns were wrong. Mike Baker refused because the columns were not wrong

In the Park Board’s latest letter to the editor of this paper, July 28, 2016, it again purposefully misleads. Ironically, in so doing, it affirms the accurateness of my June 2, July 7 and August 25 columns about Mike Baker and his departure from the Theodore Wirth golf complex. Let’s review the time line:

· March 2016: The Park Board posted a job opening for the position held by Mike Baker. When he asked why, after what was later called 25 years of “valued” service, he was told the position now required a college degree.

June 2, 2016, my first MSR Baker column: “Racism inside Theodore Wirth golf course: White Mike Baker forced out by internal White racism.”

· June 16, 2016, first Park Board letter to the MSR (no heading), establishing their case. Amazingly: a White person making the claim of no racism to a Black newspaper.

        The decision to force Mike Baker out through termination was now no longer an option when they found out that he had obtained an attorney. Now they informed him, retroactively, that he was not fired but “transferred” to Meadowbrook Golf Course in St. Louis Park, for the 2017 season (but at a significant decrease in pay).

· June 23, 2016, MSR news story: “Minneapolis parks chief defends racial equity process: 20 year plan tackles 20 year work backlog.” Martin Luther King, Jr., made it clear “why we can’t wait." For the Parks Board, its 20+20= 40 years of waiting and still counting.

· Early July 2016: They tried to get Mr. Baker to write a letter to the MSR and state that my columns were wrong. Mike Baker refused because the columns were not wrong. So they wrote the letter. It was shameful and mean-spirited to ask Mr. Baker to lie about his situation. Mr. Baker has more integrity and courage than a lot of people in the Park Board system. Mr. Baker refused to carry out any action that would be a misrepresentation of the facts, of which he obviously has first-hand knowledge

· July 7, 2016, my second MSR Baker column: “Michael Baker is out at Theodore Wirth golf course.”

· July 28, 2016: second Park Board letter to MSR editor — as Mr. Baker would not write it — with heading, “Edwards wrong: Park Board employee not fired” (which was their intent when they wrote the first column, now changed to “transferred”). They carelessly used the term “temporary” position when it has been a position for 85 years. The complaint that I had not spoken to the letter writer nor to Mr. Baker is disingenuous. I have not talked to nor met with Mr. Baker, as I don’t want to jeopardize his employment. I’ve been aware since late May that he was under surveillance. My sources are extremely reliable and will continue to be reliable as I continue my surveillance of the Park Board and its managing. They win the award for consistently misleading and changing their story

August 25, 2016: this third MSR Baker column, “Mike Baker out after 2016 season.” To the city’s forensic auditors and to the quislings who sit like Black crows on the fence of nullification and reversal. Compare the employment records of the golf courses under Mr. Baker’s supervision against the lack of diversity in golf courses not under his supervision.

Mr. Baker is a man of integrity. I respect his refusal to play the game of deceit, segregation and nullification.

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.

Written Monday, August 8, 2016
Published, MSR, Thursday, August 18. 2016
Posted,TMS, Tuesday, August 23, 2016, 12:25 a.m.


August, 10, 2016 #32: What is a confidential informant? What are the ground rules for handling an informant? When will being an informant no longer give them permission to commit crimes with impunity?

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 August 4

August 11, 2016

Notice, we did not ask who is an informant.  We all know that informants can be helpful to law enforcement.  Our complaint is when they are harmful to the community or are allowed to commit crimes with impunity.   There are average informants and those that are card carrying, official CCI’s (Certified Confidential Informants).  They are usually neighbors.  They come in all colors, races, genders, religions, creeds, and orientations. 

The role of an informant is as old as civilizations from ancient times, whether Western, Eastern, or a mix. Informants are recruited to spy on fellow citizens, report activities, and, too often, set up negative incidents.  For their work they get favors, pay, or reduced sentences.  But when  county and city prosecutors allow them to be above the law they are using and fooling the law.  This suggests there may be a need for citizen oversight like the former PCRC.

The Black Community is too often targeted for the use of informants in dealing with race and crime problems, especially since J Edgar Hoover and the FBI turned to them during the 1960s.  Federal, state, city and town agencies all have a history of stepping over the line to utilize informants to block or slow the civil rights movement.

The siege of Black America due to illegal drugs such as crack cocaine, allowed to be brought in by outsiders, has torn the heart and soul out of many African American neighborhoods.  Informants have been a significant part of providing chaos, suspicion, manipulation, physical violence, and, yes, murders, while Black and white leadership benefit by standing by quietly.

We are not surprised by how many informants are being used (federal, state, and city) that are allowed to commit mayhem in our neighborhoods to, create obstacles to prevent or slow civil rights progress and prosperity.

U.S. Representative Maxine Waters, D-CA, first signaled the dangers of confidential informants when she warned her constituents in South Central Los Angeles of the pending threat that began back in the 1960s. 

In the Twin Cities, over the past year, I’ve seen a frightening patternof African Americans used as confidential informants.  For instance, September 15, 2015:  a young African American was shot six times. He survived but will remains partially paralyzed.  His mother has fought valiantly to have her son’s shooter, an informant, arrested.  Her request for justice is continually denied.

Recently, the Hennepin County Attorney declined to charge the prime suspect in the death of a two year old child in North Minneapolis (see my columns of July 21 and 28, 2016), creating polarization between the MPD (that wants to charge) and the Hennepin County Attorney’s office (that doesn’t).  As of the writing of this column, ago, the suspect was released and has disappeared.  We have learned the informant is considered too valuable as a confidential informant to be charged in the two-year old Black child’s death.  This has become quite common in America today: confidential informants, some paid, creating chaos and maintaining confusion and conflict within the African American neighborhoods.

We understand informants are important in the war against crime.  It crosses the line when they become part of the war against Black America.  There are some who will gasp at that statement, that it is impossible, that institutions of law and order would never carry out actions contrary to justice.  But, it happens.   It is a part of the conscious devaluing of the rights of equality of opportunity during the fight for justice and equal protection under the law, ironically making it also more dangerous for informants as well as for justice

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.

Written Monday, July 18, 2016
Published, MSR, Thursday, August 4. 2016
Posted,TMS, Thursday, August 5. 2016, 12:25 a.m.


August, 03, 2016 #31: A great friend! A great coach!The passing of Dennis Green, at age 67

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 August 4

August 4. 2016

Pull quote: He raised the Vikings from the ashes, giving them respectability and a winning foundation, as he did at Northwestern, Stanford, and the Arizona Cardinals.

Football and the nation lost a great man, my good friend Denny Green, July 22,, 2016, a giant on and off the field. He was one of the most successful head coaches in the history of both college and NFL football. Many players acknowledge his role as mentor, impressing on them to have a plan to enable sustaining success throughout life.

He was a lifelong supporter of community organizations, including Boys and Girls Clubs, community charities, the Minneapolis Bakers, and summer camps for inner city kids. Read more in his book, No Room for Crybabies, and, on his website, with archives, www.dennisgreen.com.

His book and website provide us with guides for personal, community, family, team, and organizational success. He was the first to receive The World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame award as an individual. He urges us to commit to “Living on the High Road …, doing so with desire, dedication, and determination.” His five Fs were Faith, Family, Friends, Football, and Fishing. He invites us to take the C.O.A.C.H. pledge and personally adopt:

·   Call for human rights
·   Oath for civic responsibility
·   Advocacy for youth
·   Challenge for unity
·   Honor God

When introduced as Minnesota Vikings Head Coach, he announced “there is a new sheriff in town.” He raised the Vikings from the ashes, giving them respectability and a winning foundation, as he did at Northwestern, Stanford, and the Arizona Cardinals.

Denny was committed to justice and civil rights, to inclusion and opportunity for all. Behind the scenes he supported our Minneapolis community and stadium plans. I am proud of his support of my community work, calling me “the last man standing” in Minneapolis. Believing my story too important not to be in print, he encouraged me to write my two books, helped edit them, and financed their printing.
Thank you, and farewell old friend.

Special offers: (1) For as long as supplies last: a free copy of my 2002 book, The Minneapolis Story, Through My Eyes. Pay only $5 shipping and handling. (2) My 2008 book, A Seat for Everyone: The Freedom Guide that Explores a Vision for America, available “Print on Demand,” for $7.76 plus $5 shipping and handling. Order either or both at www.beacononthehillpress.com.

Justice denied

The suspect in the murder of two-year-old Le’Vonte King Jason Jones was released by county attorney Mike Freeman, stating: not enough evidence to charge.

It’s one of the most ridiculous excuses for not protecting Le’Vonte’s rights. The Hennepin County Attorney’s office would have us believe the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) did not conduct a thorough investigation. I cannot, in good conscience, allow that false premise to stand.

We see again how the attitude that the life of an African American, irrespective of age or gender, is irrelevant to this prosecutor and many of his staff in dismissing justice for African Americans. Freeman’s decision not to prosecute the suspect after the work done by the MPD to track this individual back and forth across the country in order to finally arrest him in St. Cloud, after his return from Southern Florida, is clearly disrespectful of the African American community, essentially highlighting again “no justice.”

The leadership of our community is not prepared to stand up to this act. Who would have thought that he could so easily deny a two-year-old baby the right to be provided with justice? Is this the beginning of a return to an older America of Black Codes, when we were told there were no rights, and that there was no obligation to provide us with safety?

No justice, no peace, no cooperation. Mike, your answers are the wrong answers in the universal game of justice.

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.

Written Monday, July 18, 2016
Published, MSR, Thursday, August 4. 2016
Posted,TMS, Thursday, August 5. 2016, 12:25 a.m.


July, 27, 2016 #30: Consider not just “who” matters, but also “what” matters. Continued denial of underlying causes will keep violence predictable.

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

July 28. 2016

Shooting events during this bloody summer of 2016, here and across the country, have long been pred. So why haven’t plans been devised and implemented to stop, hinder, or slow it? And why, given a half century and more of studies showing the link between violence and poor education, poor jobs, poor housing and poor communities, hasn’t this knowledge been applied?  

This is another dangerous period for African Americans and their public spaces and accommodations. Such danger is not new. Recall slavery; recall the “Jim Crow” period; recall the Black Codes instituted after World War I ended in November 1918; recall the conspiracies, in and out of government, to destroy the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and the violent introduction of drugs into Black America in the 1980s. 

History’s patterns predict it. So, again, why isn’t that knowledge followed with plans and their implementation? Do the various establishments, including the Black establishment, fear change will end their privileged status quo?

We saw it coming long before the current series of events began in Ferguson, MO, with Michael Brown in August2014. It continued in Cleveland, Ohio and New York City. In 2015, media attention focused on events in Hempstead, TX; North Charleston, SC; Baltimore, MD; Arlington, TX; and Chicago, Ill. And now, July2016: Baton Rouge, LA; Falcon Heights, MN; Dallas, TX; Kansas City, MO; and, again, in Minneapolis.
It’s not been that long since whole Black communities were attacked, as we saw in Rosewood, FL and Tulsa, OK (as I reported in my 2001 book).

Today we are experiencing a new version of the age-old debate over “who” matters (Black, White, Brown, Yellow, Blue, etc.). My concern is the lack of attention to “what” matters: failed policies leading to poor education, poor jobs and poor housing contributing to the underlying causes of violence, not to mention families without fathers and returning Black veterans being treated badly upon return. 

In recent columns, we wrote about Minneapolis again being like a Little Chicago, about the death of a two-year-old child, and now about another young woman gunned down in the street last week. Too many accept this as so-called “collateral damage.” 

The hostility and hatred behind such violence raise key questions: “Do we have the capacity to deal with it? Yes, but will we deal with the key causes: poor education that doesn’t prepare for the jobs needed to earn wages to afford stable housing and support a family?

History reminds us we must not forget the elephant in the room: 95 percent of Blacks killed by fellow Blacks. Some suggest we call this “community crime,” another example of denial. Nothing will change until the elected and non-elected leaders stop denying and start facing up to problems confronting all of us, Black and White.

The police are not going to go away, as they should not (or else gangbangers would feel free to bang anyone, anywhere, anytime). Hopefully, as Black Americans we will not become extinct at our own hands. There is a significant burden of responsibility on us to continue as a freed people to develop solutions and corrective actions.

Mr. Long, the recent Kansas City shooter, wrote that no revolution has ever been successful without using violence, and thus carrying out his revenge mission required bloodletting. With Dr. King, we believe his choice of violence as the way to achieve his vision is wrong. Many proposed solutions can’t be successful unless they are authorized and implemented (including the suggestions of our 50 solution papers at our “The Minneapolis Story” website).

God bless Black America. We all need to work hard to stay safe and progress.

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.

Written Monday, July 18, 2016
Published, MSR, Thursday, June 28, 2016
Posted,TMS, Thursday, June 28, 2016, 3:20 a.m.


July, 20, 2016 #29: A Child Is Killed. A City is In Pain. A Two Year-Old Loses Life To Minneapolis Violence

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

July 21, 2016

As we have warned, without implemented solution plans, summer would bring more violence and death.  The latest is a two year old baby, Le’Vonte King Jason Jones, shot and killed, and his 15 month old sister, Mela Queen Melzina Jones, shot in the leg but survived..  What madness when a todler’s life is taken because adults are acting like children playing western style shootouts, but with real guns, real bullets, and real deaths.  It is also madness when community leaders also act like those in westerns, unwilling or afraid to to speak up and condemn the vioilence, leaving it all to police (who then get blamed).

Once again, a family is in mourning, with questions but not answers.   Why are those eager for violence unable to feel the tragedy of those caught in their cross hairs, cross fires and drive bys?  They have become what they hate.  We must remember that all life is important, whether one is two or thirty-two, black or white, brown or yellow, male or female, and yes, even blue.  

Why must it be left to a journalist to warn of vioilence as the outcome of this madness and neglect?  Where is leadership besides seeking money for their organizations internal activities?  These shootings bring us the kind of international attention no city wants.

On Monday, July 11, 2016, a group of young children from Lucy Lanie Elementary School demonstrated unity and respect, as they marched from their school, two blocks from the scene of the tragedy, to lay flowers and to memorialize this tragic end of a child and his future.

Questions asked in our community include “Mommy, daddy, why did Le’Vante die?”  “Why did they shoot him?”  “Were they mad at him?”  There is a significant level of embarrassment in Black America, as we try to explain our pattern and practice of violence, death, and mayhem in our owncommunities.

These are tough questions, expecially in a community whose leadership has not yet found the time, as of the writng of this column, to ask these questions themselves.  The Good Book says, and the little children shall lead you, as the Luch Lanie school kids.  It is sad when we need children to help us understand the answers to our questions.

Nothing will bring back Le’Vonte.  Nothing will aleviate the pain felt by his mother, grandmother, and family.  

Although I am a grandfather, I was at a loss for words when my grandchildren called from Houston, Texas, to ask why these shootings are happening.  I felt their pain as they struggled to understand.

Leadership has talking points but no real solutions.  They let people vent their feelings but do nothing in areas of greatest need:  education, jobs, housing. I still cannot dismiss from my mind how a two year-old baby’s life was cut short because of an individual who will burn in hell for taking his life and wounding his sister.   When will thugs think positively of their own communitries instead of bringing pain?

The good news is that the MPD’s Community Response Team and Federal Oversight group (I serve on both), will be issuing a report with recommended action solutions for our communities.

It was not a good week for America, for Dallas, Baton Rouge, St. Paul, and in Tennesee and Missouri.  But it was the worst time possible for the Jones family and their two year old child.  They should be enjoing the beauties and pleasures of summerPray for peace.  Pray for people of all colors.  Pray for the killed and their killers.  Pray for self and family.  May peace reign.  

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.

Written Monday, July 4, 2016
Published, MSR, Thursday, June 14, 2016
Posted,TMS, Monday, July 18, 2016, 11:04 a.m..


July, 13, 2016 #28: Are we becoming little Chicago? Are w on the highway to self-imposed genocide?

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

July 14, 2016

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

Pull quote: Most shootings remain unsolved, becoming “cold cases,” another significant term within Black America.

Are we heading for a self-imposed crown for again becoming “Murderopolis,” as Minneapolis was called in 1992-93, when we averaged nearly 70 homicides per year? It was two homicides per year in the 1950s, five in the 1960s, 11 in the 1970s. Then, nearly 30 per year in the first decade of 21st century, approaching 40 per year for this decade.

Gangs (and other mutual interest and community groups) are trying to work out a truce, as tit for tat killings eventually leaves no one left to kill. Unlike the Jets and Sharks in West Side Story, the murder “dance” is all too real. People die. We must support the gangs while they work out their truce. We all need to step up.

We are not a killing people, but we must face the elephant in the room that is making us a crying, grieving people. As Andrew Young has said, “the real problem is the fact that 93 percent of Blacks are killed by other Blacks.” Not facing and admitting that, and advocating violence, is like saying Black lives really don’t matter.

Each DOA (dead on arrival) — whether at the scene, at the hospital, or sometime later — creates a new pool of suffering grievers, regardless of age, gender or orientation, of the African American victim. Will we take steps to end or speed up our becoming a little Chicago (320 DOAs so far this year)? Regardless, every death brings pain, grief, and sadness over a lost loved one, and fear. Most shootings remain unsolved, becoming “cold cases,” another significant term within Black America.

As part of the chief’s community response support team, we see people of different families suffering through pain brought by the death of a loved one. As I write this column, I have just returned from a shooting on the 1400 block of Morgan Avenue North, one block from the 4th Precinct, where a 38-year-old African American lost his life because of a misunderstanding. Another, a 19-year-old African American female, lost her life on Penn Avenue North. Her cousin was killed four days later in a blaze of gunfire in a parking lot along the 1100 block of West Broadway behind a nonprofit called Emerge.

South Minneapolis is also a shooting gallery. Earlier this month, an African American lost his life in an ambush along the 2400 block of Oakland Avenue South, dying last week. We are on a road which does not discriminate about time, place or the amount of gunfire that is needed. Our dark figure of self-imposed genocide will kill whether with one bullet or 20 bullets in a body.

Homicides force good men like Bishop Howell and other respected clergy to have to preside over more than deaths, as they also preside over this self-imposed genocide of young and old African Americans.

People are numb. Despite even innocent grandmothers being shot and killed, few people are stepping forward to express their concerns as a community that cares and that still has compassion for those who are the targets of killers. There seems to be a growing of indifference, an indifference that is recognized by those who kill.

We are a smaller version of Chicago, destroying our community, tearing apart everything we have fought for and dreamed about for making our community a safer place for all of our citizens. We have addressed this on numerous occasions, far too numerous, and we will continue to address it as we must confront it. Let’s not let a highway to genocide excuse the slow extinction of our race of people.

How sad, my friends, how sad.

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.

Written Monday, July 4, 2016
Published, MSR, Thursday, June 14, 2016
Posted,TMS, Monday, July 18, 2016, 11:04 a.m.


July, 06, 2016 #27: Michael Baker is out at Theodore Wirth Golf Course

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

July 7, 2016

Pull quote:  Demotion as of October 1, 2016

In my column of June 2, 2016, I reported serious issues of racism inside the Theodore Wirth Golf Course, using as an example the courageous stand taken by Mike Baker, a manager, to hire African Americans at the golf course. For doing so, he is being let go.

Then came the cover up. This column uncovers the cover up.

The cover up began with the letter to the editor in the MSR June 16-22, 2016 edition. The director of golf, expressed his concern with what he called the “misinformation and inaccuracies of my column” and that “it is unfortunate that Mr. Edwards did not verify the information in his opinion column.” He called Mr. Baker “a valued employee [who] is not being fired.” We are used to people challenging the authenticity and accurateness of this column who have something to hide.

The cover up continued with the article in the MSR’s June 23-29, 2016 edition. The Minnesota Park and Recreation Board Superintendent said, “People are raising issues who don’t have the facts and [they aren’t] speaking from factual information.” This reminds me of when the NAACP national (and thus local, too) expelled me. At the hearing the question was raised of those in attendance whether I wrote anything false in my The Minneapolis Story, Through My Eyes.” The answer: No, but he shouldn’t have written it. As we see today, some only want written what supports their desired status quo.

One of the elements of both honest government and journalism is telling the truth. Let’s pull back the covers: When I wrote my June 2 column, I knew Mr. Baker’s future: he was being drummed out effective October 1, 2016, despite 25 years of stellar service, punished for believing in and implementing diversity in his area of responsibility, to improve opportunities for African Americans.

These two park officials were ill-advised in their words to the MSR. We all know about Operation Harlem Nights, a covert operation put in place to begin the reduction of African Americans working within the Minneapolis park system. They knew they had already initiated the dismissal of Mr. Baker from any position of responsibility, and then quietly hired from within the park system. Park and recreation, with malice aforethought, punished and dismissed Mr. Baker because he both believed and attempted to implement a policy of inclusion and diversity.

Operation Project Harlem Nights, a clandestine undertaking by the forces of nullification and reversal inside park and recreation, had clearly targeted Mr. Baker to make him an example. I said in this column, “Michael, you attempted to do justice to the doctrine and philosophy of equal opportunity and diversity within the park system.”

In her interview with the MSR, the park superintendent let the cat out of the bag when she said park and recreation is “almost 20 years behind in our backlog of work. It is my estimation that it will take 20 years to get it completed.” The commitment game is “to do better,” but in the future.

So wait, Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote Why We Can’t Wait any longer. We submit and maintain that the area of racial opportunity will never happen at that pace. It was/is all a game, all propaganda.

Michael Baker was made an example. He paid the price. We the citizens and tax payers of the city should be ashamed of the games by which park and recreation play. They thought they could push the envelope of truth. It didn’t work.

Mike Baker has lost his positon of responsibility, and the liberal reputation of a Minnesota institution has been shattered once again.

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.

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.

Written Monday, June27, 2016
Published, MSR, Thursday, July 7, 2016
Posted,TMS, Monday, July 18, 2016, 11:04 a.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.

« Previous Quarter | Next Quarter »
Home | 2016 Columns » | All Columns » | 2016 Blogs »