Twin Cities Daily Planet (https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/category/opinion/page/15/)
The following are some thoughts after attending “Let’s Talk: Ferguson” at Penumbra Theatre, Wednesday, September 10. Sarah Bellamy hosted panelists Dr. Matthew Johnson, Ricardo Levins Morales, and Dr. Soolin Pate. Artistic readings were given by Malik Curtis, Erin Washington, H. Adam Harris, and Gebreil Khadar.
Until recently, many Twin Cities residents were oblivious to the fact that our metro region ranks among the worst in the country when it comes to racial disparities in employment, education, housing and incarceration. These disparities are particularly bad between whites and African Americans, and whites and Native Americans. But disparities have become a common theme in politics in the Twin Cities. Politicians are constantly talking about eliminating disparities and closing gaps.
“Indict, convict, send them killer cops to jail; the whole damn system is guilty as hell.”The refrain rang out as roughly 100 protesters against police brutality marched Wednesday night from North Commons Park in Minneapolis to the Fourth Precinct of the Minneapolis Police Department and at times blocked residential traffic, in an effort to raise awareness around their demands for justice.When they arrived, however, no officers were there to greet them – save for one that had accompanied the march.This is a Community Voices submission and is moderated but not edited. The opinions expressed by Community Voices contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the TC Daily Planet.The demonstration was sponsored by twelve local activist organizations, among them Communities United Against Police Brutality and Twin Cities Save the Kids. It was part of “Ferguson October,” a nationwide solidarity struggle emanating from out of Ferguson, Missouri, where 18-year-old Michael Brown was fatally shot, unarmed, by officer Darren Wilson.Activists from Ferguson have been calling for sustained nationwide protests this month to demand that Wilson be charged with a crime and arrested. Protests in Ferguson are expected to intensify immensely if this demand is not met.To those ends, activists in Minneapolis planned this demonstration as part of a week-long program of protests and other educational events.The protestors arrived at the Fourth Precinct and surrounded the main entrance, putting police tape up around the pillars in front of the door. In addition to chants that seemed to taunt Police Chief Harteau, Mayor Hodges was the target of some rhetoric, calling into question the seriousness of her efforts at improving police-community relations.“I think a lot of [Mayer Hodges’] efforts are really just sort of window dressing; we have given the city a list of 31 concrete actions they could take right now with no law changes…let’s see some action on those,” said Michelle Gross, president of Communities United Against Police Brutality.“Police brutality is a local and national epidemic. Continue Reading
This Wednesday, October 22nd will be the 170th anniversary of “The End of the World,” as predicted by the adherents of Millerism in the 1830s. William Miller had predicted the Second Coming of Christ on October 22nd, 1844, That day came and went, and left a good number of people disillusioned. Some returned to their old congregations, others became Quakers or Shakers. In more recent years, the late Harold Camping predicted October 21st, 2011 was going to be the day to end all days. Continue Reading
On October 25, residents and grassroots community leaders from across Saint Paul will come together with elected representatives and transportation officials to begin plotting the path to a healthi
Sarah Lahm’s conspiracy piece about “billionaire and TFA” money flooding in to support Don Samuels in the Minneapolis School Board race went national last week. Washington Post columnist Valerie Strauss (a staunch opponent of ed reform) reprinted Lahm’s original piece from “In These Times.” This is a Community Voices submission and is moderated but not edited. The opinions expressed by Community Voices contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the TC Daily Planet.A few days later, some Minneapolis voters woke up to find Lahm’s article tucked inside their screen doors with this helpful note, “I noticed a Don Samuels lawn sign in your yard. This may be information you need to make a more informed decision.”Key word here is “informed.”Which is sort of funny because Lahm’s piece is so loaded with factual errors, omissions and conspiracy theories, I scarcely know where to begin. It mirrors the stuff we progressives roll our eyes about when we hear it coming from Fox News.Related story: Don Samuels calls cops over hotdog giveawayHere are four things wrong with the piece:1) Lahm says that a California “billionaire” gave the Don Samuels campaign $10,000. This is false because: a) the individual legal limit for an at-large school board candidate is $1,000 per person, so no one can give $10,000 to anyone’s campaign; b) the alleged billionaire didn’t give any money to the Samuels campaign period.2) Lahm seems to be confused about personal contributions to a candidate’s individual campaign and contributions and in-kind services given by political groups.The big money tends to be in this latter category. And since Sarah Lahm is focussing on the latter……… Continue Reading
Immanuel Jones, 21, a junior at Minnesota State University Moorhead, says he’s trying to become a successful entrepreneur with the goal of giving back to the community.This is a Community Voices submission and is moderated but not edited. The opinions expressed by Community Voices contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the TC Daily Planet.“My mantra is to create impact, and my mission statement is creating impact deeper than the surface because the surface is not deep enough,” Jones said.Jones founded an urban garden that helped feed more 100 individuals. He also has two clothing businesses trademarked, I Rep Christ (IRC) and Life Without Shame, based on a model where consumer purchases will help give clothes to someone in need.Jones said that early in life his mother had him volunteering, whether it was for church or the Salvation Army.“She had us volunteering a lot to keep us out of streets and to make sure we were learning, because there are a lot of things you don’t learn in school. We needed those real-life lessons,” Jones said.Community involvement and using business as a catalyst to give back was something Jones said he learned from his mentor, D. Craig Taylor, executive director for the Business and Community/Business and Technology Center at the University of Minnesota.“I made the decision to mentor him because I see the potential there. I want to see him become the man his mother knows he can be,” Taylor said.Jones met Taylor as a high school student in 2010 when he participated in a summer program at the University of Minnesota called jEM, Junior Entrepreneurs of Minnesota. Continue Reading
The four Phillips Neighborhoods of Minneapolis, Phillips East, West, Midtown and Ventura Village, collaborated once again onr the annual Phillips Clean Sweep on October 11. Neighbors grabbed garbage bags and picker-uppers to pick up trash on the streets and others joined city garbage crews to pick up large items in the alleys. This is a Community Voices submission and is moderated but not edited. The opinions expressed by Community Voices contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the TC Daily Planet.Community volunteers gathered at two sites in the morning for breakfast and then after the cleanup, met again at Stewart Park for lunch and a celebration. Hundreds of residents and dozens of organizations partnered to make the event a success. Continue Reading
Drunken Secret Service operatives bring prostitutes to foreign hotels, fight with them over money, and pass out in the hallways.