COMMUNITY VOICES | One Minneapolis Mayoral Forum: Not sexist, not Minnesota Nice either

By |

Recently, I had the privilege of participating in the One Minneapolis Mayoral Forum that was held at Sabathani Community Center in South Minneapolis. The Forum was designed to carve out a unique space in which candidates for the Minneapolis Mayoral race would be called upon to bring forth specific solutions to address the growing racial disparities in the City. Unlike traditional political forums, the One Minneapolis Forum was organized by youth workers who are routinely forced to confront the harsh realities of poverty, homelessness, and unemployment through the eyes of the young people they serve. In addition to a specific focus on socio-economic disparities, the Forum organizers sought to ensure that racial disparities would for once be front and center in a major mayoral debate, as opposed to a peripheral issue, as is often the case in such forums. For a video replay, see http://www.theuptake.org/2013/06/06/minneapolis-mayoral-candidates-address-race-issues/.The Forum was Not “Business as Usual”The Forum attracted hundreds of young voters, concerned citizens, seasoned freedom fighters, and a large number of residents from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. The energy in the overflowing auditorium was electrifying and signaled the desire for an end to a “business as usual” paradigm in political forums and ushered in the possibility of a new form of citizen engagement in political arenas.The organizers of the event decided that the forum would be highly structured in some respects and free-flowing in other respects to allow for audience participation and feedback. Continue Reading

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK | Teacher’s headlock of Somali student – is this about race?

By |

The appearance of two Youtube videos showing a teacher apparently holding a Somali student in a headlock sparked outrage in the Somali American community. The incident took place at Champlin Park High School. The first video shows a verbal altercation between two students escalating to a physical attack, and the teacher intervening; the second video shows the teacher apparently grabbing the Somali student by throat, putting him in a headlock and holding him there. The family has identified the Somali student as 14-year-old Camaar Abdul-Kadir.Watching the videos, it is hard to ignore that a Somali student is on the receiving end of physical attacks from a white student and then from a white teacher. On the other hand, the videos do not provide a complete story. Many questions remain unanswered: What happened? Continue Reading

FREE SPEECH ZONE | Yet Another Gap in Our State?

By |

The Twin Cities has yet another gap to add to our growing list–the job gap. According to a recent article in the Star Tribune “Twin Cities jobless gap worst in nation”, the jobless rate of blacks is more than three times that of whites in our state.Randy Furst, the author, explores a few reasons why our jobless gap is the worst in the nation in his article Twin Cities jobless gap worst in nation.” I do not doubt any of them.Based on my experience as a job counselor at a non-profit in North Minneapolis, I would add though, that areas like North Minneapolis also have very few employment opportunities. I would even describe the area as a job desert. People living here must travel far (often to suburbs) to places where the jobs are and if Metro Transit is the only mode of transport, this can be a long and difficult daily commute (read: at least 1.5 hours).Free Speech ZoneThe Free Speech Zone offers a space for contributions from readers, without editing by the TC Daily Planet. Continue Reading

White privilege 2:Psychology and pathology of entitlement

By |

This week’s show brings back our guests and the next phase of our discussion on White Privilege (see Part One). The dynamic of hatred of a people we once enslaved is not as unusual at it may seem. This is the American Indian experience and the African-American experience. The psychology and pathology of refusing to accept what it means to be white pervades the culture still. In the wake of the recent annual conference on white privilege* in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, TTT delves deeper into the issue of unconscious entitlement that is so much a part of the American psyche, and the most difficult to extricate from our national inclination toward the colonial European view of race as well as understand the oppositional subculture we’ve created from the dregs of slavery over 200, 300, 400 years of American history. Continue Reading

Interracial Marriage

By |

      Imagine this scene: a brown boy and a white girl go to a restaurant. They are very nicely dressed, as it is their first wedding anniversary. They sit down for a nice dinner, an extravagance in a year marred by unemployment and high tuition bills. Continue Reading

Race gap persists for Minnesota students

By |

“History tells us that Minnesotans are hesitant to acknowledge the racist nature of educational outcomes; rather the problem has been treated as a race neutral or personal responsibility issue,” said the annual report of the Minnesota Minority Education Partnership (MMEP). MMEP recently held its State of Students of Color and American Indian Students Conference and released its latest report documenting the educational outcomes of Minnesota’s students. The report specifically highlights disparities between students of color, American Indian students, and their white counterparts. While communities of color comprise about 14 percent of the total population in Minnesota, students of color comprise 23.6 percent of all K-12 education enrollments in 2008. The November 6 conference at the University of Minnesota’s Coffman Memorial Union welcomed teachers, counselors, educators, administrators, youth workers, policy leaders and community members who are interested in increasing the success of students of color in Minnesota’s educational system and to improve educational outcomes. Continue Reading

VOICES | On Black leadership, Kersten and Bell should stay tuned

By |

It has taken me several weeks to respond to a couple of items that appeared in the Minneapolis Star Tribune concerning Black leadership. The two authors, Katherine Kersten and Peter Bell, are people I like and respect. Katherine and I have colluded on the state of African American academic achievement in the public schools. And, she was responsible for my now-infamous “vote with your feet” quote in the Wall Street Journal several years ago. Peter Bell is one of the brightest people I have met, and I have watched his career transcend racial boundaries. Continue Reading

Report: Fewer minorities employed by state compared with a decade ago

By |

Minnesota state agencies barely employ more minorities now than they did in 1997 and a number of departments are showing a decline despite the steady growth of populations of color statewide, according to a new report by the Minnesota State Affirmative Action Association (MSAAA). Further, it appears that the bulk of that slippage has occurred since Gov. Tim Pawlenty took office in early 2003 for reasons that are unclear, according to the 25-page report.Some affirmative action advocates argue that the state of affairs is the result of lackadaisical attitudes toward the related laws, coupled with an unwieldy computerized hiring system — assertions that some state officials deny. Many of the state’s affirmative mandates simply aren’t followed or have makeshift solutions while some statutes are crafted in such a way that they’re impossible to fulfill, the MSAAA report explains. It points out shortcomings such as the absence of a full-time diversity director to oversee affirmative action and equal opportunity efforts, a required position that was cut early in the Pawlenty Administration, with some of those duties being heaped onto an employee relations staffer. Additionally, each of the 1,000-plus departments are supposed to have a diversity point-person, but a good chunk of them don’t and in many cases that role has been reduced. Continue Reading

To Koryne Horbal . . .

By |

and other “feminists” who say they’ll reject Barack Obama and write-in Hillary Clinton as their presidential preference:
“McCain promised that, if elected, he would follow President Bush’s model in choosing Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.
“That could establish a large conservative majority on the court for years. With conservatives in full control, the court would probably overturn Roe vs. Wade and the national right to have an abortion.”*
During their campaign for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton and many of her “feminist” supporters had no qualms about playing the “gender card,” the “race card,” the “assassination card” and finally the “petition card” to defile and defeat Barack Obama. Will she now allow her supporters to continue playing them, or will she truly back her party’s nominee?**
*”John McCain and Barack Obama: Two visions of the Supreme Court” www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-scotus19-2008may19,0,5298248.story
**”Feminist leader says no to Obama”www.startribune.com/templates/Print_This_Story?sid=19416774 Continue Reading