2005 Columns

Best of 2005

December 28, 2005 Column #26: Best of “Through My Eyes” in 2005: Minneapolis still trying to teach America how to keep us in our place

"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues..."
A weekly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

We continue to report “through my eyes,” often scooping major daily and weekly papers regarding our communities of color. That saddens more than gladdens, for it means that their agenda doesn’t include telling our truths as they play the “see no evil, hear no evil, and thus report no evil” game.

This underscores the great need in Minneapolis for the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder to give voice to our community through its reporting and its columns, a voice still denied by White Minneapolis media and other Black weeklies.

John F. Kennedy said, “Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.” Our sixth president, John Quincy Adams, said take “actions [to] inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more.” We have done this through our columns and our “solution papers” on behalf of the “remnant” of the communities of color in Minneapolis and for any that are still waiting for full inclusion in terms of equal access and equal opportunity.

Our columns, web log, and “solution papers” track Black gaps in seven areas: education, jobs, housing, public safety, environmental safety, governing and ethics, with special attention on the state of emergency for Black inner-city adult men and young men.

Our columns, web log, and solution papers are posted on our website, www.TheMinneapolisStory.com. We advocate fairness, justice and the racial reconciliation needed to enable all people to acquire assets and build wealth. In terms of the “four freedoms,” we report how well we fare in freedom of speech and of religion, and how poorly we fare in freedom from want and from fear, as we continue to work for ways to end the violence in our schools and communities.

Our overarching themes are, first, how the Plantation Mentality still works to put us in our place, and second, how Minneapolis continues to show America how it is done (Column 18 on Katrina’s aftermath in New Orleans). We resist both.

We continue Nellie Stone Johnson’s fight against what she called the “culture of welfare dependency” and what it has done to our young men. We have stood up for our adult Black men and Black young men, even when they themselves would not or could not (Columns 3, 4, 6, 13, 14). Too many have lapsed into either a learned helplessness or have transformed into passive men seeking handouts for keeping their place serving the Minneapolis Plantation.

Our columns have exposed how the City regularly and openly works to choke off Black economic development, individuals and organizations, in both the private and public sectors, in City job compliance failure (Column 14), Enterprise Zones that exclude Blacks (Column 22), and shutting down Black-owned MPI (Column 25).

We reported on how Black individuals, elected representatives, and private citizens were put back in their place, as with MPS Superintendent Peebles (Columns 14, 17), faith community leaders (Column 19), Black police (Column 20), Natalie Johnson Lee (Column 23) and Neva Walker (Column 25).

We reported the parade of injustice to Ronald Reed and Larry Clark (Columns 7, 16, 17, 19, 20, and 24).

As a past head of the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission (1967-1983), I have sadly reported its transformation into an organization that now co-opts The Dream (Columns 15, 25).

We were the only ones in town to stand up for our Vikings brothers (Columns 2, 22) and the only voice in Minneapolis to stand up for a new first: a Black NFL owner (Columns 4, 5, 11). Related to this was our report on anti-Semitism (Column 21).

Two new questions arise: First, why no coverage in Twin Cities newspapers of our hometown athletic hero, the Arizona Cardinals wide receiver phenom Larry Fitzgerald, Jr.?

Second, who is pressuring State Sen. Richard Cohen (DFL-St. Paul) to demand public punishment of the four Black Vikings charged for partying on a private boating excursion with other consenting adults in acts that have yet to be proven, an almost hauntingly 1935-style of ignoring due process and dismissing the “innocent until proven guilty” principle?

We appreciate Strib columnist Patrick Reusse admitting the racism of Minnesota as seen in the way fans quietly give White Brad Johnson a pass for his errors while screaming for Daunte Culpepper’s Black neck for his.

We were the first to expose the City’s “round-up” of Blacks plans (Columns 9, 10, 11, 12, 23, 25) in what would be a replay of WWII Japanese detention camps. The 1970s King Arthur Plan (Columns 9, 25) is still alive and well. Most discouraging was the call of the St. Paul Civil Rights Department for the round-up not only of gangs, but their friends and families as well (Columns 10, 12).

We also raised our concern about the denying of due process (Column 21) and how the University of Minnesota remains Plantation University (Column 1).

And, of course, the NAACP continued to come under our scrutiny (Columns 3, 5, 12, 14, 18).

We will continue to report on our seven areas in 2006, and will continue to urge the Black community to stand up for The Dream, as the Minneapolis Story continues through my eyes.

Posted 12-28-05, 11:59 p.m.

Ron hosts “Black Focus” on Channel 17, MTN-TV, Sundays, 5-6 pm. Formerly head of the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission and the Urban League, he continues his “watchdog” role for Minneapolis. Order his book, hear his voice, read his solution papers, and read his between columns “web log” at www.TheMinneapolisStory.com.

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.

Home | Column Archives | Blog Archives | Solution Papers | Order the Book | Back to Top