FREE SPEECH ZONE | Police raids and violence against activists

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I opened my local newspaper Thursday morning (Oct. 27) to find that the Occupy movement had made it all the way to page two, albeit as a result of excessive police violence against the activists in Oakland and Atlanta (police excesses in New York, Boston, etc. get a pass).  And as I write this, Scott Olsen, a Marine Corps veteran with two tours in Iraq, is scheduled to under-go brain surgery as a result of a head injury from a tear gas canister fired by the Oakland police (according to witnesses on the scene).  The AP article described the protestors as “on edge” and “unnerved”.  Well, I don’t doubt that if you’re attacked by SWAT teams and police in riot gear, using tear gas, batons, bean bags of lead shot and rubber bullets, you just might be “on edge”, or “unnerved”. Free Speech ZoneThe Free Speech Zone offers a space for contributions from readers, without editing by the TC Daily Planet. This is an open forum for articles that otherwise might not find a place for publication, including news articles, opinion columns, announcements and even a few press releases. I’m sure there are those out there who think “those people” must have done something to warrant such strong police actions; that, “they got what they deserved.”  Let me assure everyone that “those people” are from your neighborhood, they are your children, and your parents, they are people from your church and your workplace; they are truly a cross section of America … I know, I’m one of them.  I have occupied Freedom Plaza in Washington D.C. and People’s Plaza in Minneapolis.  No, I don’t have an enslaving student loan hanging over me; my home has not been foreclosed; neither my job nor my financial security has been stolen by Wall Street criminals (so far); like Scott Olsen, I too am a veteran and also a member of Veterans for Peace; however I’m a little older than Scott (who’s 24), I will be 67 years old in a few days.  While many of the protestors do suffer the hardships I mentioned and more, most of them are not out there merely to seek personal justice but are, like Scott Olsen and myself, seeking justice for all people.  Much has been made of the fact that this peoples’ uprising is “leaderless”.  I’m old enough to remember when we did have leaders, inspirational leaders; Jack and Bobby and Martin, they were killed.  Let us now take our cue from Thomas Jefferson and put our faith not in leaders, but in the American people.  I can attest to an exhilarating atmosphere generated by the horizontal democracy that’s developing. Many pundits denigrate us as having no unifying core issues or demands.   As is so often the case, the pundits are mistaken.  It’s just that the core issues (and the “demands” that will ultimately develop) are too broad for the pundits to grasp.  The people standing up publically for our rights simply want justice, and equality, for everyone; economic justice, and social justice, and criminal justice that is reasonable and applies the same to all.  We want to restore the dream that has always been America; the dream embodied in the Declaration of Independence and codified in the Constitution. The power of vast wealth in the hands of a few has horribly corrupted our environment, our marketplace, our government, and even our electoral process itself.  So now we have no option left but to take up the rights and responsibilities bestowed upon us by the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and restore our country.  It is time now, to put aside our differences.  It is time for the people to unite and use our lawful collective power to peacefully institute radical alteration of this government which has become destructive of our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  And just as a refresher, the First Amendment reads (in part), “Congress shall make no law  . . Continue Reading

MN VOICES | Angelique Kedem becomes the director in one of the nation’s first Promise Neighborhoods

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Growing in up in apartheid South Africa and witnessing her country’s first democratic election shaped the philosophy and character of Angelique Kedem, the new director of St. Paul’s Promise Neighborhood.After receiving a Master’s of Public Administration from the University of the Western Cape, Kedem moved to the U.S. in 2001 at the age of 25. She taught developmental English in the junior college system in Texas, and then special education at an Oklahoma elementary school during her first year in the United States.In 2002, she moved to Minnesota, volunteering for organizations such as the African American Teen Pregnancy Collaborative, the Women’s Initiative for Self Empowerment (WISE), and the State Council on Black Minnesotans. Kedem became the state director for the Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative (JDAI), where she helped battle the disparities that affect children of color in the justice system.Now, Kedem is at the helm of the Promise Neighborhood initiative, headed by the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation, as the project moves from a year-long planning phase into the implementation phase.The planning phase, which took place over the last year, assessed the major assets and needs of the community, with a focus on “an effort to build a continuum of cradle to career supports that help ensure the success of all children in St. Paul,” said Kedem. Continue Reading

MN VOICES | Kathy Mouacheupao

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After Kathy Mouacheupao resigned from her position as Executive Director at the Center for Hmong Arts and Talent (CHAT), where she started working as a teaching artist in 2001, all sorts of recognition came her way. She received a Sally Award from the Ordway, she was profiled in the Star Tribune, CHAT honored her with a commitment to setting up a scholarship in her name, and she received a Bush Fellowship to allow her to use artistic programming to strengthen connections within the Hmong community.Mouacheupao is taking things in stride. The youngest of three children (and only daughter) to Hmong refugee parents, she was born in Newton to Mato Moua Soua Mouacheupao and Sy Vang on May 19, 1978, the first and last American-born child in her family. She was named after her mother’s English teacher – in honor of her first experience with a formal education.The Child of RefugeesMouacheupao’s family was one of thousands of Hmong refugee families who resettled in the United States, but were the only family to land in Newton, Massachusetts. Coming from the mountains of Laos, where they had lived in a dirt-floored hut, raised chickens and farmed a small plot of land to a new country and a home with in-house plumbing, electricity, doors with handles, and refrigerators was quite a shock to her parents when they first arrived. Continue Reading

MN VOICES | Dr. Anton Treuer: Author, educator, linguist

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Anton Treuer had paid the repair bill and was headed to the lot to pick up his car when the mechanic called after him, “Miigwech!” For Dr. Treuer, a professor of Ojibwe at Bemidji State University, being thanked in that language by a non-native speaker represented a measure of progress. His mission is ambitious – to revive the indigenous tongue.The local Target, a coffee shop, the hospital: 120 Bemidji area businesses now post bilingual signs. For tourists, the Ojibwe words make this corner of northern Minnesota a mite more exotic. For residents of the three nearby reservations, Red Lake, White Earth and Leech Lake, they signal renewed respect. In Beltrami County, relations between the groups have at times been strained. Continue Reading

MN VOICES | Velma Korbel: “Not everything is Minnesota nice.”

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Dishwater and burgers. These are the intermingling smells that remind Velma Korbel of segregation. She told about a café that sold smoothies, milkshakes and, of course, burgers in the small town of Center, Texas where she grew up. “Blacks weren’t allowed at front,” she said. “They had to go to the back where the dishes were washed.”Velma Korbel, 51, is the 2011 recipient of the St. Continue Reading

Constellation: a Backyard Expedition—See how it shines

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Powderhorn artists, Lacey Prpic Hedtke and Kevine Loecke, wanted to think beyond conventional art venues for a show when hosting their friends, New York based  Non Solo, on their coast-to-coast art tour. So they recruited groups of artists around South Minneapolis to open their front porches, backyards, living-rooms, garages, trees, and even a bedroom for a highly imaginative and engaging experience over Memorial Day weekend. Here is a virtual mini-tour with some of the many highlights of Constellation a Backyard Expedition:A simple clothes line transformed Cole Hoyer-Winfield’s yard into an open-air exhibit for his wood block and screen prints.Live out a secret fantasy by baking a cake or come to the realization that a cake-walk is a metaphor for life.Transform your surroundings by making a sign. (Peter Haakon Thompson – Phillips West’s Unofficial Official Artist in Residence).A refrigerator box can help you move on and satisfy a sweet tooth.A front porch window is the perfect frame for Nick Howards’ large “Expansive Field #10” drawing.Slip into a cozy Garage Cinema to watch Trevor Adams’ spliced 16 mm film assemblages.And then make an appointment to check out a zine from Lacey Prpic Hedtke and Debbie Rasmussen’s Zine Apothecary (library) and Flying Zine Mobile.Or type out your own zine, paper tweet, or affirmation at the Wonder Hearts Flyaway station.Give new meaning to hugging a tree.Or dare to swing amid its soaring limbs. (Shoefly Aerial Collective)Sneak into Miranda Trimmier’s bedroom when nobody is around to look for “Some Repeated Substance.”Volunteering to perform the Ryan O’Neal character in Andy Sturdevant’s back yard scene-for-scene remake of Love Story is a good excuse for a cry.A handmade cup is first a gesture of hospitality and then a memento of a visit.Somebody cares about how you got here. Continue Reading

MN VOICES | Amy Rice, making art in the heart of Northeast Minneapolis

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At Art-a-Whirl, one studio you can’t miss is the one belonging to Amy Rice. She’s a Minneapolis-based artist whose star is just beginning to rise on the national scene. Her work has been shown in a diverse array of settings at home and abroad, from Palmer’s Bar on the West Bank to the Carmichael Gallery in London. Critics have praised her style—which makes use of spray paint stenciling and pastel palettes to create a fragile world of women and children in natural settings—calling it a mix of “cute” and “quirk” and comparing her work to that of another artist she’s exhibited with—Banksy.

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MN VOICES | Jim Northrup writes on the Rez Road

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For more than 21 years, Jim Northrup has been one of the premier literary voices of the American Indian and the Midwest writers’ communities. He is a playwright, a fiction writer, a newspaper columnist and teacher, but he calls himself a bullshitter ­- another name, he says, for a storyteller.Northrup, 67, is best known by many as a poet and for his award winning syndicated column Fond du Lac Follies, published monthly in The Circle, The Native American Press, News From Indian Country, and the Daily Planet. His books include Walking the Rez Road, a collection of short stories featuring Viet Nam veteran Luke Warmwater as the main character, and Rez Road Follies.His writing is filled with bone-dry and often pointed humor. Whether about his time in Vietnam, his run-ins with civil authorities to uphold treaty rights, his conflicts with tribal governments or his experiences with non-Indians who assume that he lives in a tipi, Northrup has a certain point of view, written to inflict a bit of discomfort to the comfortable reader.He is older and a bit heavier than in the photos that appear on his book jacket and website. His wiry hair is now mostly gray, hidden by his “Marine Veteran” cap which he keep on, even indoors. Continue Reading

MN VOICES | Tireless women needed

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When I moved to Minnesota over 20 years ago, I was a young immigrant who had arrived in the U.S. thinking that everyone here lived well, like the Americans I grew up watching on TV. It did not take me long to learn that, though Minnesota was a rich and prosperous state, there was deep and abiding poverty here, that communities of color bore the brunt of it, and that children of color carried the heaviest load. 
During the 1980s Minnesota was home to a strong movement on behalf of children of color, led by African-American, Latina and white social workers, who tried to get state and local leaders to pay attention to the persistent gaps that existed between minorities and non-minorities. They tried to educate political leaders about American-Indian children living in poverty, about the large percentage of African-American children being removed from their families and placed in foster care, and about the increasing number of Latino children who were being expelled from the schools without ever being given a chance to return to finish their education. I knew what poverty was when I came here. I had seen devastating, soul-devouring poverty in the streets of my native country of Colombia, South America, but everything here seemed so beautiful, so clean, so orderly, and so perfect. Continue Reading