Minneapolis sinks Columbus Day

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Today Minneapolis joins a short list of cities no longer recognizing the second Monday of October as Columbus Day.Earlier this year, the Minneapolis City Council and Mayor Betsy Hodges signed a resolution recognizing the second Monday of October as Indigenous People’s Day. The decision places Minneapolis as just the fourth city behind Seattle, Berkley and Los Angeles to replace Columbus Day with an American Indian celebration.“The City of Minneapolis understands that in order to help close the equity gap, government entities, organizations and other public institutions should change their policies and practices to better reflect the experiences of American Indian people and uplift our country’s Indigenous roots, history, and contributions,” the city’s resolution states.Idle No More Duluth organizer Reyna Crow said she first heard of Indigenous People’s Day in the ‘90s. “I think that [Columbus Day] is an insult to not only Indigenous people, but all people of conscience who believe we need to tell our children the truth that a federal holiday celebrating a trafficker and torturer of women and children, and a murderer still exists,” she said.Crow said she plans to celebrate by attending Augsburg College’s event I am Not a Mascot, which will feature a panel discussion focusing on issues of concern to the Indigenous people of Minnesota, their allies, and a musical performance.“The event is being held to educate and network with people interested in, or organizing around a variety of issues with a common link, and to promote greater cross cultural understanding of the concerns that those of us working to confront racism and racial inequities are dealing with that might not be obvious to all audiences” Crow said.At the Minneapolis American Indian Center, the city is holding a community meal from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. with indigenous foods from throughout North and South America provided by Native chefs Sean Sherman and Cheo Smith, a film screening, community speakers and cultural performances.Celebrations broke out over the weekend as well.Felipe Cuauhtli hosted Indigenous People’s Day Hip Hop Showcase at First Avenue on Sunday, Oct. 12. The event was originally known as Anti-Columbus Day, Cuauhtli said, but they changed its name in order to reflect the resolutions passing in Minneapolis. “The reason for doing this is to talk about colonization and how colonization has effected not just native communities,” Cuauhtli said. Continue Reading

What’s the Minnestoa Legislative Privacy/Data Commission’s next move?

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For many long time advocates of privacy and open government at the Minnesota Legislature, yesterdays meeting of the Legislative Commission on Data Practices and Personal Data Privacy may prove to be a turning point for the residents of Minnesota. For years the Legislature when a specific issue of privacy/open government and advanced technology clash the policymakers take a stab at it, think they have solved the problem, but technology sneakily bypasses the law. Continue Reading

Rep. Rick Nolan uses “turds” to describe past Minnesota water quality

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Yesterday’s 8th Congressional District candidates debate in Duluth between Rep. Rick Nolan (DFL) and challengers Stewart Mills (GOP) and Ray Skip Sandman (Green) touched on several topics, including social security reformation, gun regulation and oil pipeline expansion. But the highlight of the debate was easily when Rep. Nolan used the word “turds” to help prove a point as he described just how bad Minnesota’s water quality used to be.Rick Nolan: “I grew up in a time when the lakes and rivers were so polluted that they were catching on fire. The Mississippi River where we lived, why, you’d go down there in the spring and there’d be toilet paper, condoms and turds hanging on every branch. And that was the good stuff, that wasn’t the toxic stuff. And you had to haul drinking water into Duluth. Continue Reading

Vote Republican for more government shutdowns

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The U.S. federal government shutdown of 2013 started a year ago yesterday, and ran through October 16. Believe it or not, those who don’t happen to be wealthy white men were particularly impacted. It was wildly unpopular politically; congressional generic ballots saw huge jumps in Democrats’ favor when it was over, but that unfortunately hasn’t lasted. Americans’ short political memories are indeed the despair of many; if not for that, right-wing conservatism would be long gone as a political force, and practically everyone would be better off as a result. Continue Reading

Sudden closing of Community Action of Minneapolis shifts energy assistance responsibility

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Minneapolis residents who received energy assistance from the nonprofit Community Action of Minneapolis were told this week that they will now be receiving their services through Community Action Partnership of Suburban Hennepin. According to an article from the Star Tribune this week, the office of Community Action of Minneapolis was raided by employees of the Department of Commerce and the Department of Human Services and its employees laid off. This followed a state audit that showed several discrepancies in the organization’s funding and governance practices,  as well as expenses for things like spa trips, golf outings, and a car loan. In the days following the raid, all of the organization’s contracts were distributed to the Community Action Partnership of Southern Hennepin (CAPSH). “The Energy Assistance Program provides a vital safety net to thousands of low-income individuals and families and allows them to maintain affordable, continuous, and safe home energy” said CAPSH’s executive director Scott Zemke in a press release. Continue Reading

Code + Collaboration: Open government is greater than the sum of its parts

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The challenge of genuine, sustained, respectful collaboration, both the hope and the life blood of the information age, fascinates me. Over time I have learned to value viable collaboration and to celebrate the power of a diverse community of human beings who share the serious work it takes to identify, then achieve, a common purpose. I understand that collaboration is organic. More important, I appreciate that, while people and organizations will pay for goods and services, no one wants to pay for collaboration. Continue Reading

Star Tribune runs full-page anti-transgender ad

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The Minnesota Child Protection League, an anti-LGBT group that opposes LGBT inclusion in the state’s public schools, bought an ad in the Sunday Star Tribune. The ad says, “A male wants to shower beside your 14 year old daughter. Are you okay with that?”The ad is part of a push by MNCPL to stop the Minnesota State High School League from passing a policy that would provide inclusion for transgender athletes. The Catholic Church and the religious right have mounted a campaign to block it. In the process, they’ve perpetuated false stereotypes about transgender people, including the myth that transgender students will prey on fellow students in locker rooms, showers, restrooms and hotel rooms. According to many law enforcement, civil rights and sexual assault prevention organizations, the idea that transgender inclusion will put anyone at risk is unfounded.Related article: State athletics league mulls transgender inclusion in sportsThe Minnesota State High School League is “a voluntary, nonprofit association of public and private schools with a history of service to Minnesota’s high school youth since 1916.” The MSHSL oversees much of the athletics in the state.According to the proposed policy, transgender high school students can play on the team of their choice (male or female) but must have a physician’s documentation and in some cases must have begun hormone therapy to “preserve competitive equity.” The MSHSL policy also provides transgender students avenues for corrective action if a school district does not comply.The MSHSL will meet on Wednesday, Oct. 1, and Thursday, Oct. Continue Reading

Go global on September 28 – It’s International Right to Know Day!

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More than ever, the right to know ranks as a priority with democratic people, from emerging nations in Africa to struggling democracies in Europe to U.S. Senators debating the bipartisan Freedom of Information Act. Political and social structures are overwhelmed by information and telecommunications technology that pose both solutions and threats to the people’s right to know. Continue Reading

South Minneapolis Somali community asks for ethnic, healthy food shelf

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When it comes to food shelves in Minneapolis, halal food is hard to come by. But a group of Somali women want to change that. Isuroon, a local nonprofit that works to develop the health and empowerment of Somali women, is asking the city to help develop a new food shelf that provides healthy, ethnic food to the Muslim community living in South Minneapolis. The nonprofit, along with dozens of community members, are asking the city to allocate $150,000 to fund the new food shelf as a start-up. “As a Somali community, we cannot use some food shelves,” said Isuroon member Waris Mohamud. Continue Reading