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Ron's 8 media platforms are listed below. All Column Archives, by Year: Our Vikings appear to be saved. May 16, 2012 "Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues" Because of our decade of columns and solution papers on saving the Vikings, especially in the last two years, I have received calls saying my column was instrumental in helping change anti-stadium votes to pro-stadium. Who can say? We are pleased the House and Senate bills for the new stadium are in conference, soon to be sent to the governor to sign into law. But it is not over yet. Credit the Wilfs for doing the real heavy lifting, honorably resisting efforts to kick the Vikings to L.A. (efforts begun in 1997, two ownership groups before them). Still missing is a commitment to diversity (African American inclusion) in the stadium work: planning, constructing, and operating (see our solution paper on line, Diversity and Compliance Studies, detailing our columns on how Minneapolis purposefully practices disparity and avoids compliance). Four conclusions from this stadium process so far: 2. After squandering 17 years available for getting it done, the deal was purposefully done in secrecy with purposeful moves to ensure closed meetings. 3. Minnesota acted in bad faith and dishonorably, trying to get the Vikings to swallow poison pills that could have caused them to move. Will official Minnesota again dishonor its word and attempt pushing Vikings’ costs even higher? 4. State, county and city officials fragrantly omitted the inclusion of minority (African American) contractors and laborers. Construction and other relevant unions fought hard for their White Brothers but not their Black Brothers. Local Black organizations fought for training dollars but have done nothing to ensure “graduates” work on the stadium. We urge the Vikings to insist on inclusion (African Americans) if our elite “leaders,” White and Black, again refuse to do so. We urge the Vikings to stand up for its minority-worker fan base too. We encourage compliance with the law regarding the inclusion of minority contractors and workers, especially African Americans, insisting on training to the level where they actually qualify. Or we urge a plan to import qualified minority contractors and workers if local training efforts fail. To get a deal and be able to stay, the Vikings have reluctantly agreed to: 1. Pay $50 million more than the original agreed upon amount. (Hopefully they’ll get assistance from the NFL.) 2. Accept some user fees on fans and on game day that will cut into the Vikings’ revenue streams. Potential deal breakers taken off the table: 1. Not letting the Vikings have the naming rights revenue. 2. Not letting the Vikings have right of first refusal for a soccer team that would play in the new stadium. 3. More stringent user fees on fans and Vikings. But still out there, with no word on reversing them at the time of this writing, are attempts to get the Vikings to pay more so the State can pay less, and tying tax riders to the bill: 1. Requiring the Vikings to pay a percentage of their NFL shared revenue, the most sacred part of the NFL structure in order to keep teams competitive and profitable through revenue and draft parity. 2. Requiring that the Vikings have to pay all stadium construction cost overruns, which is a license to steal. As we reported in our 2002 book, “the July 2000 issue of the Journal of The American Planning Association reported a study that showed cost overruns have been the norm of the 20th century (1910-1998), …28% [average over run] with transportation 45% over in costs…. Developers and city planners both want opportunities to make significant extra money by doing this with selected developers and community leaders who can keep the neighborhoods docile.” That 28% of $1 billion is $280 million more that the Vikings would have to pay. [Editor’s note: KSTP reported May 13, 2012, that Council Member Gary Schiff has projected the total cost to Minneapolis to be $675 million. On May 1, The Start Tribune reported that if tax revenue is strong, the City's amount will be $890 million. What is still unclear, as of the date of this posting, is who will pay the projected $280 million in cost overruns.] 3. Establishing a slow process that would have the Vikings wait until 2015 or later to operate in a new stadium. 4. Expansion of charitable gambling to help pay the state's share. 5. Making Internet retailers such as Amazon collect state taxes when Minnesota customers buy online. 6. Linkage to tax breaks for the Mall of America. 7. Annual payments of $2.7 million to City of St. Paul for sports facilities. If there are no candy and flowers during courtship, what can be expected after being locked in for 20-30 years? Stay tuned. Posted Wednesday, May 16, 2012 , 3:08 a.m. Columns referenced above are archived at www.theminneapolisstory.com/tocarchives.htm. Ron's media message platforms: Change at the top in the MPD May 9, 2012 "Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues" May Day this year was highlighted by the announcement of the changing of the guard within the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) and, thus, the end of the Dolan era. Mayor R.T. Rybak announced that Assistant Chief Jane Harteau will become the new MPD chief, replacing Chief Tim Dolan, just as Dolan earlier replaced Chief William McManus in 2006. Dolan, who had over 30 years with the MPD and 35 years in law enforcement altogether, in turn announced that he would take an early departure at the end of the year, which we were the first to report two months ago. On the surface, it looks like a major change — White male Dolan replaced by Minneapolis’ first female and first Native American chief. Will this new test of leadership bring change or a continuation of the Rybak-Dolan era? Dolan and Rybak worked in tandem. William McManus, who now serves as chief of the San Antonio Police Department, moved on because he did not enjoy the full trust and support of Rybak. What will the new Chief Harteau do? The key is not her gender or ethnicity, but how she will deal with statistics in key categories of crime. The City says crime rates are significantly reduced, but we don’t see that in our neighborhoods and on our streets. We know that incidents that create the numbers and statistics can get “lost,” and we saw with the job hiring compliance numbers that they can also be made up. Know the “secret”: Each morning, Monday through Friday, in the actual Hennepin County courtrooms, we see how the actual number of people coming through the door and appearing before the judges is not consistent with the statistics, be it about plea bargains or trials. Are Minneapolis streets safer now than five or even 10 years ago? The rate of incarceration coming out of Minneapolis — and we are only talking about Minneapolis, not about all of Hennepin County — raises a serious question of the category of crimes being reduced. Let’s look at some examples. Example: drugs. There are more drugs on the street in Minneapolis and in communities of color than at any time in the last decade. This negatively impacts education and jobs. All types of drugs continue to flow through our communities, seemingly with immunity. As we reported in this column five months ago, it is puzzling that Minneapolis may be the only city in the top 50, by population, that does not have a narcotics unit. That is a troubling statistic. Example: assaults. Although down statistically, the number actually processed through Hennepin County’s Court system for assaults and crimes against persons does not match published statistics. Thus, those who live in the neighborhoods with the highest crime rates, who tell of nightly shootings, violence, ongoing assaults and other criminal activity, do not agree. Example: censorship. Major print and broadcast media attempt to condition us to believe things are getting better. How will new Chief Renee Harteau prioritize her agenda for fighting crime and making the city safer? Example: diversity. Citizens conditioned to believe the announced statistics miss that diversity compliance is “demonstrated” with made-up numbers. I have no recollection of the incoming chief showing any strong interest or commitment to improve racial diversity in the department. In fact, some say Harteau is somewhat soft on the importance of diversity and enhancing the presence of officers of color, and thus she does not work to increase the number of Native American and Black police officers. The statistics do not indicate a vigorous commitment to diversity under either the outgoing or the incoming chief, neither of whom have significantly sought to increase diversity in the ranks. One thing she will not have to worry about is pressure from Blacks on this issue. They have apparently received their marching orders from the Rybak administration, and thus have orders that say, “Stand down and stay silent.” We look forward to learning more about what the new incoming Chief Harteau has to say and what her thoughts are on the unprecedented police misconduct against a Black fraternal organization on April 21, 2012. Of course, I have to ask the question if anyone in City government is concerned about what happened inside that fraternal organization’s building. Jane, we wish you all the best; only history will judge your successes and/or failures. Stay tuned. Columns referenced above are archived at www.theminneapolisstory.com/tocarchives.htm. Ron Edwards hosts “Black Focus” on Channel 17, MTN-TV, Sundays, 5-6 pm, and hosts Blog Talk Radio’s “Black Focus V” on Sundays, 3-3:30 pm and Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm, providing coverage about Black Minnesota. Order his books at www.BeaconOnTheHill.com. Hear his readings and read his solution papers for community planning and development, “web log,” and archives at www.TheMinneapolisStory.com. Columns referenced above are archived at www.theminneapolisstory.com/tocarchives.htm. Posted Thursday, May 10, 2012 , 3:35 a.m. Ron's media message platforms: Assault by the MPD on the Ames Elks, May 2, 2012 "Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues" Elks lodge web sites state they are “places where neighbors come together, families share meals, and children grow up.” So why, at a time when the issue of excessive force discussions are going on nation wide in the aftermath of the February 26, 2012 Trayvon Martin killing, would 50 police cars and 60 police officers of the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) descend on the Ames Elks Lodge of Minneapolis, at 11:40 p.m., CDT, on April 21, 2012, without first checking to see if the 911 calls that shots were being fired and people were endangered was true or false. It was false. Didn’t matter. And why did the police of Chief Dolan knock people down as they attempted to clear the building, and then, on the second floor, have the dozen or so they found, male and female African Americans over 50, get on the floor and then kick, prod and poke them? The lesson we learn is that the racial tensions experienced during the five years I served on the PCRC (Police Community Relations Council) meetings, have continued unabated. No wonder downtown streets are “dead” at night and people wonder where will the customers come from for a rejuvenated Block E and other development to surround a Vikings stadium. People paying attention suggest it was in response to the three Caucasian males shot and killed in North Minneapolis in the last ten months, that the police want to teach our Black community a proper lesson. The most recent White tragedy was a 21-year-old Caucasian male shot and killed along the 3500 block of Fremont Avenue North. So the old lessons prevail: white lives are sacred. And privileged. Blacks’ are not. But it still makes a difference to us how many black citizens are victims of violence in the City of Minneapolis. The actions and deeds of the City, Big Corporate, and White Folks in General, suggest they really don’t care. The false 911 call just before midnight of a shooting and gunfire inside the Ames Lodge must have caused the adrenalin to really flow. Despite no guns or shootings, WCCO and other White media reported gunshots and injuries. Just think: 50 squad cars, 60 officers (although there has been no such police response when Blacks were killed). What most caught our attention, including Elks officials and security personnel, was the level of racial venom, racial animus and racial slurs directed towards both the male and female Blacks on the floor by both white male and female cops standing over them, even after the single suspect in the incident was taken into custody. There were no Black officers among this contingent of Officers kicking, prodding, and poking us, despite the department’s claims to have diversity. They were not kicking gang bangers. They didn’t recognize me. They were “just” kicking and abusing and raining down verbal and physical assaults on African Americans over 50, Question: would white members over 50 of a white fraternal organizations, such as the Shriners, white Elks, Knights of Columbus be subject to such abuse? Answer: I don’t think so. And neither do you. This case is a case that is racially driven, racially motivated, reflecting disturbing pattern of racial animus and hatred against African Americans still residing inside too many of Chief Tim Dolan’s 1,000 member MPD. Not everyone. But even one is too many, especially if he or she is beating, prodding and poking older African Americans on the floor. They are “to protect and serve” all. They don’t want us to remember that this police department was under federal review by the Department of Justice from 2004 – 2008 for racial incidents. What lessons can we assume were learned by the police April 21st regarding how to improve race relations between police and community in this city? Is it Chief Dolan’s inability to stop the calls for change that caused him last week to announce his early retirement? No one, Black or White, disserves the physical and verbal abuse rained down upon us April 21, 2012. Is the police message that the summer of 2012 will be one in which African Americans will be punished and disrespected, that lessons about how to better race relations in this city will continue to be ignored? Certainly for those like me who were there, on the floor, being kicked, cursed and disrespected, that is a fair questions. We await the City’s answer. Stay tuned. Columns referenced above are archived at www.theminneapolisstory.com/tocarchives.htm. Posted Wednesday, May 3, 2012, 4:15 a.m. Ron's media message platforms: Sid Hartman and Star Tribune confirm our stadium analysis. April 25, 2012 "Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues" “If Vikings are sold, they could be moved,” blared Sid Hartman’s headline in the April 16 Star Tribune. The dire avalanche of bad-news Star Tribune headlines continued last week. About the legislature: “Vikings stadium plan in doubt after House vote.” About the governor: “Dayton says stadium bill might have to wait until next year.” The league weighed in: “NFL warning of sale. Move adds pressure for stadium deal.” The NFL sub-heading continued: “There's a list of buyers and the Wilfs may be ready to listen with stadium plan stalled.” Sid warned again on April 18: “Pay a little now or pay a lot more later” (to get a replacement team in 10-20 years). Those familiar with this column and my books might think Sid Hartman was finally admitting to reading my book and columns, or maybe using me as his ghost writer. Everything in the first paragraph you’ll find in Chapter 15 of my 2002 book and in over 20 columns since. We welcome Sid confirming the truth of what we wrote in 2002 and since. The final deadline will now be February 15, 2013. Will Minnesota meet it or unlock the doors for the moving vans? And why hasn't Minnesota looked at the "no new taxes" approaches we identified? But today’s column is not about the Vikings and their stadium quest. It is about journalism to inform, not to censor, as censorship and closed doors negatively impact our city. The stadium struggle is an example. Minneapolis is plagued by censorship. My publisher personally delivered a dozen copies of my book to Star Tribune editors and reporters in 2002. When he asked later about his suggestion of a “local author writes book” story and a book review, he was told by then-Star Tribune columnist Doug Grow that the paper’s position was not to acknowledge the book’s existence nor to review the book — that the book was “shelved.” My publisher later personally talked about this with Jim McClatchy, former chairman and publisher of McClatchy Newspapers (owner of the Star Tribune), in his Sacramento office. McClatchy said he wouldn’t tell the Star Tribune what to do but invited him to contact then-Star Tribune editor Anders Gyllenhaal to talk about it. He called Anders, who continued the blackout of my book. Furthering Minneapolis-style censorship, the NAACP expelled me for writing the book, especially Chapter 14 (despite heads nodding in agreement at my hearing that what I wrote was true). When Whites and Blacks censor, the obvious question is what else they have kept quiet about on the issues of our city’s people. Many Minnesota worthies decided over a decade ago (see Star Tribune reporter Jay Weiner’s Univ MN 2000 book, Stadium Games for details; see reviews on Amazon) that the Vikings should leave town. I covered this in my book and later put together, in 2005, a “roll call” of over three dozen influentials who agreed. Since then: silence. If Sid and others are serious, they need to stop jerking the Vikings around and come out clearly for the stadium and repudiate the “roll call” of those who say to the Vikings, “Leave.” Only the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder has had the journalistic integrity to report uncensored. So I ask: What else has the Star Tribune censored besides those wanting the Vikings’ departure? How about in such areas as access and opportunities in education, employment, City hiring compliance violations, housing, development, community-police relations, taxing and spending, etc.? Where are the strategists, tacticians, realists yet visionaries? I said two weeks ago (April 11, 2012, Will the Vikings stadium be in Minnesota or L.A.?) that you can’t expect Zygi Wilf to wait around until 2017 to play in a new stadium. Unlike our city and state, they don’t wait. They take action. They know its importance. When will Minnesota? Hence our March 14, 2012 question: Vikings stadium plan in place??? Consider the solution I proposed a decade ago: (1) bipartisanship from the political parties; (2) corporations stepping up for their “base,” the people of Minnesota; (3) taxpayers being shown clearly how a new stadium can be a year-around benefit and still be done “without new taxes”; (4) adopt the “Save the Vikings” plan of 2005 and again November 9, 2011, Stop the punting of the Vikings! Minnesotans: Unite with a ‘Fan Response Movement’ to keep the team, and in othe past columns; and (5) hold a “family meeting,” which we’d be glad to help facilitate/mediate. It was unfair of Sid to dump everything on Speaker of the House Kurt Zellers when the DFL didn’t meet the stadium problem when they were in the majority. At this point, Minnesotans have to pull the covers back to see how many hands are opening the door to shove our beloved Vikings to Los Angeles. Stay tuned. Columns referenced above are archived at www.theminneapolisstory.com/tocarchives.htm. Column 2012/#17 Posted Wednesday, April 25, 2012, 5:58 a.m. Ron's media message platforms: America is on a racial ‘Razor’s Edge.’ "Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues" April 18, 2012 The death of Trayvon Martin on February 26 was not just another event in America’s troubled and tainted history of abusing the rights of African Americans. The controversy surrounding his death highlights a pivotal time in the history of our race relations. For every Trayvon there are 50 other Trayvon Martin cases that are never addressed for a variety of reasons: The community is not organized; the community is not aware; the community is frightened and intimidated; the community receives poor and ineffective legal counsel; and our community is often at war with itself. Not enough in Black and White America recognize that where there is a spark there is a potential for a full-fledged inferno that burns away and obstructs the quest for justice. This column has long warned that election year 2012 could become the most dangerous period in race relations in America’s recent history. The events beyond Sanford, Fla. in Tulsa, Okla., Baltimore, Md., Spokane, Wash. and Minneapolis, Minn. are signals of the growing chasm of racial intolerance in this country. The execution-style killing of a young White citizen along the 3500 block of Fremont Ave. N. of this city and other incidents across the country of racial animus and physical confrontation represent a clear and present danger. America refuses to enter into the kinds of discussions about the issues of race and racism that make up the four elephants in the room, the elephants of not only Whites killing Blacks and Blacks killing Whites, but the biggest elephants — Whites killing Whites and Blacks killing Blacks. Male elephants have a history and an extreme effectiveness of creating damage and mayhem if they become irritated, agitated and angry. The strife that has begun to emerge, the polarization that is increasing daily, should not and cannot be dismissed as a momentary thing or something that will pass. One can sense when one is out and about in the communities of America that the patience of Black Americans to be treated fairly and with dignity and respect is beginning to run out. Only a razor-thin margin is holding back a serious and dangerous eruption in America over the issues of race and racism. The solution is what Nellie Stone Johnson long called for: education that leads to jobs that leads to housing. Although it certainly appears that Trayvon is the victim of profiling, the reality is that 90 percent of Blacks killed are killed by Blacks and most Whites who are killed are killed by Whites. Unless both communities come together to work out education, jobs and opportunity for all, this violence will continue with the Black community getting the worst of it. Where are our Black leaders making waves about the 90 percent of our brothers who are killed by brothers? In fact, as a part of the razor-thin condition muting racial animus in America, no president has been so disrespected, insulted, threatened and challenged based not on his actions as president but simply on the color of his skin. Being insulted and challenged happens to all presidents in a country that honors free speech, but now it is heightened due to the issues of race and racism that America refuses to address and resolve. This president has been treated in a hostile manner that is unknown in the history of the United States and the institution of our presidency. And certainly there is a fear in this column that as the conservative right aligns itself for what they consider to be the final push to recapture the Whiteness of the White House, that razor-thin blade will cut us apart even more, risking the dismantling of our democratic institutions that are so important to maintain, and without which opportunity and strength will be denied both Blacks and Whites. These events signal that we are no more than a razor’s edge from tearing this nation apart based on racial hatred and racial agendas. The only workable agenda is an agenda for protecting the rights and opportunities of all. Stay tuned. Columns referenced above are archived at www.theminneapolisstory.com/tocarchives.htm. Column 2012/#16 Posted Wednesday, April 18, 2012, 3:14 a.m. Will the Vikings stadium be in Minnesota or L.A.? "Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues" April 11, 2012 Los Angeles is ready to save the Vikings’ goose by having it lay its golden eggs in L.A., saying “Y’all come” to one of four sites and get a new stadium. Thus, when National Public Radio’s (NPR) Los Angeles affiliate, KCRW, aired, on April 2, 2012, “Which Way L.A.,” regarding Los Angeles gaining an NFL team, we thought they had been reading our columns. The KCRW program, driven by events we reported last week — the purchase of the L.A. Dodgers for $2.15 billion — explains how the stadium debate could cause the Vikings to move to Los Angeles. L.A. offers four sites: downtown convention center site; Dodger Stadium land near downtown; south of L.A., Industry, CA; and the perennial near-downtown L.A. Coliseum. LA is offering land for a development partnership, whether mixed use, commercial, residential, condo, etc. Minnesota has denied six sites (Anoka, Arden Hills, the Farmer’s Market sports corridor, Linden Ave., Basilica, Metrodome), and offers little for a development partnership. For years we have made the case for how to keep the Vikings in Minnesota: 1. Campaigning to Save the Vikings (January 26, 2005, and November 9, 2011, and December 1, 2011, and March 14, 2012, and April 4, 2012). 2. Pleading with Minnesota influentials to say it’s not true that the Vikings have to leave (January 29, 2005). 3. Listing how to finance a new stadium without raising new taxes. The results so far: Minnesota is starving the goose that lays the NFL Minnesota golden eggs, denying financing, forcing the Vikings to have to consider leaving (January 26, 2005, and April 13, 2011, and May 25, 2011, and March 14, 2012). 4. Calling for the equal opportunity employment compliance on the proposed Vikings stadium (February 15, 2012, and April 4, 2012). We can save the Vikings for Minnesota with a stadium complex plan. The Vikings, investors in L.A., and Minnesota influentials, planners and legislators all know this (October 12, 2011). The participation of former NBA great Irwin “Magic” Johnson as a partner in the group purchasing the L.A. Dodgers, pending approval by MLB owners, indicates time is running out for Minnesota decision-makers. The KCRW report mirrors what we have reported for years. Voters will make clear to Minnesota’s political institutions that there is no cover, only slipping on their own banana peel if Vikings leave. Three key facts from KCRW report: 1. The NFL’s favored spot in L.A. is alongside Dodger Stadium in Chavez ravine, near downtown. 2. The trigger: “an NFL team standing up and saying ‘we cannot get it done in our current city and we have to move,’ and that will be the boulder that starts the avalanche.” 3. The NFL and its owners will offer no resistance to teams who declare they “cannot get it done” in their current locations. Candidate teams are Jacksonville, Buffalo, St. Louis, and Minnesota. The supposed package that would provide the Minnesota Vikings with the necessary stadium dollars — $975 million — is set. The Vikings are prepared to invest about $470 million. A new stadium will spring up if Minnesota does likewise. The Wilf group has been extremely patient, but a key signal is that no lease, short- or long-term, has been signed. Will the Vikings give up 2012 season ticket payments in exchange for tickets sold at “home” games played away at other NFL stadiums whose teams are “away” on Vikings “home” weeks? Aligned now are the NFL, L.A., and teams seeking new stadiums. Where is the alignment of Minnesota movers and shakers in the political leadership and big corporations? Will this stalemate lead to saying goodbye to the Vikings? The NFL has not denied the KCRW report that, in principle, NFL owners will offer no resistance to owners who declare they cannot get it done. Some legislators and some on the governor’s staff are saying if it can’t get done in 2012 it will be done in 2013. Do you think that with the attractive offers of four top-notch sites in L.A. the Vikings would be here for 2013? Aren’t the beat writers concerned for their jobs if the Vikings move? Stay tuned. Columns referenced above are archived at www.theminneapolisstory.com/tocarchives.htm. Posted April 16, 2012, 4:47 a.m. Column 2012/#15 Hiring mandates must be in place for Viking stadium project. "Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues" April 4, 2012 If job opportunity plans include hiring mandates for Blacks for the Vikings stadium are in place, let’s see them. If they are not, set a date for revealing the mandates of a hiring compliance plan. A week ago, the Rybak Administration announced it had the 7th vote needed to move stadium financing ahead without a referendum before the voters. Hiring Black construction/transportation/planning firms and workers has been a Minneapolis Potemkin Village, a movie set: street facades with few results for Blacks behind the facades. Thus, mandates are needed. In my 2002 book The Minneapolis Story (p. 131), I wrote about what McKinsey & Company (the global $7 billion in revenue firm, ranked 45th largest of the Fortune 500), reporting about Minneapolis planning agencies: nearly $1 billion on housing planning that netted 52 housing units. I also reported (p. 132) the July 2000 Journal of American Planning Association study: “of 258 different projects around the country ….. cost overruns have been the norm for the 20th century (1910-1998).” Don’t’ forget, when public housing began in 1935, it was for whites only. It was only through the efforts of Minneapolis’ Nellie Stone Johnson, the national Negro League of Women, Mary McCloud Bethune, and Eleanor Roosevelt that Blacks were finally mandated in 1941 (p. 134) to be included in public housing. Minneapolis’ foot dragging on Black hiring compliance is a 21st century version of “jim crow.” My April 20, 2005 column noted “zero” for a share for Blacks of the coming $5 Billion construction boom. My updated Nov 22, 2011 paper on “Disparity / Compliance Studies” (#46 on my site’s “Solutions” section) lists over 20 columns going back to 2005, reporting on how Minneapolis purposefully avoids both mandating compliance and enforcing compliance. The Mayor recently held a press conference with Blacks in hard hats, pledging construction jobs for Blacks on the Viking Stadium project (as opposed to the city’s false filings to cover up not being in compliance before). This newspaper has reported the local NAACP President stating that even Black leaders have turned their eyes the other way regarding such compliance issues. The March 27, 2012 Star Tribune headline is misleading: “Higher minority-hiring goal riles Minn. construction industry,” because their concern regarding the lack of qualified Blacks is justified, as training programs for Blacks by both Blacks and whites give out too many certificates of completion without the underlying requisite skills claimed. So, again I ask: when will the plan for minority inclusion be released, a plan that must also indicate dollar amounts in terms of relationships with architects and planning firms ($5-10 million), bonding and insurance underwriting ($20-30 million), developers (Black contractors with 20-30% of the overall general contract partnership with the white developers, which should round out to stimulus for the Black community of over $200 million), and the number of daily workers to be employed (12 – 22% depending on how defined). In other words: I’m talking about a place at the Minnesota table for everyone. New stadiums for California, recent and announced, have had little public money as California is broke, which means finance mechanisms are actually available. We read in a series of L.A. Times articles and in an ESPN/LA article, that 29 Billionaires or near billionaires stepped up to bid on buying the L.A. Dodgers. The winning bid, by a group led by Magic Johnson, was announced last week at $2.15 billion. To ensure we meet the goals of this new day of compliance and cooperation, I again propose that our “Vikings stadium plan” be included in both state and city legislation: 1. That the city hold “a family meeting” to work out implementing compliance goals, through the mechanism of public hearings, including City, County and State agencies, key local foundations and nonprofits, key developers, associations of developers and planners, state legislators and city council members, community and neighborhood organizations. 2. Pledge to include minimum of federal census level percentage of Blacks. 3. Guarantee minimum Black contractor involvement and daily worker hiring levels. 4. Guarantee use of locally certified as qualified skill workers, plans to train such or, failing that, guarantee to import qualified Blacks from other cities. 5. Guarantee minimum number of compliance accountants to keep track in order to ensure pledged compliance. 6. Guarantee minimum penalties and sanctions if provisions are violated, and include them in the legislation. 7. Guarantee that a governor and mayor appointed group examine the plan, weigh the success of what is being proposed by the legislation and have the authority to trigger and implement enforcement when there are compliance violations, and, when the existence of local Black companies and workers falls short, to include Black companies and workers from outside Minnesota. Stay tuned. Ron Edwards hosts “Black Focus” on Channel 17, MTN-TV, Sundays, 5-6 pm, and hosts Blog Talk Radio’s “Black Focus V” on Sundays, 3-3:30 pm and Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm, providing coverage about Black Minnesota. Order his books at www.BeaconOnTheHill.com. Hear his readings and read his solution papers for community planning and development, “web log,” and archives at www.TheMinneapolisStory.com. Posted April 4, 2012, 2:04 a.m. Column 2012/#14 Trayvon Martin murder exposes madness of Stand Your Ground laws "Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues" March 28, 2012 On February 26, 2012, unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was shot to death by George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old wannabe cop and self-appointed gun-carrying neighborhood watchman in a gated community, just outside Orlando in Sanford, Florida. (No local or gated community rule authorized such an armed role.) Trayvon was returning from a convenience store three blocks from the home of his dad’s fiancée to get snacks for watching a basketball game. He was essentially shot for SWB (shopping while Black). The 911 tapes (which police withheld until forced to release them by court order) make it easier to understand this latest American tragedy, as it reveals the use of racial hate language. The shooter was told by 911 to stand down and stop trailing the young man. Witnesses say Zimmerman struck Trayvon from behind, then shot him through the heart as he lay on the ground. Other “arrest” factors include the chilling one that Zimmerman was not only allowed to go free but also to keep his weapon. It is these kinds of actions of Zimmerman, the Sanford Police Department, and the state of Florida that brings shivers and fear into the African American community in Florida and other “Stand Your Ground” states. Fifteen states have Stand Your Ground gun laws that essentially expand on the “right” of citizens to claim self-defense in killing other citizens. Florida passed its law in 2005. There are thousands of gun laws, but police are lax in enforcement. And there remains a bias in favor of White gun owners. Zimmerman had been arrested four years ago in an armed assault on a police officer. He is not legally allowed to be issued a permit to carry a gun, and yet he was. Was this an Emmett Till moment? Homicides (purposeful murders) require bureaucratic report writing and investigating. It is so much easier for police departments to label them “accidental” and be done with them. It works because African Americans too often remain silent and don't take the necessary legal steps. You see, the Sanford Police Department refused to launch an investigation; they merely took the word of the assailant that young Mr. Martin represented a threat to Mr. Zimmerman by virtue of his race and appearance. The Martin family is showing the legal procedural way for future victims of such “accidents” to get justice. Florida Representative Corrine Brown was able to bring the Black Congressional Caucus and national figures such as the Rev. Al Sharpton to pressure Florida authorities and the Obama administration to explain why Mr. Zimmerman was let go instead of being charged. It is no wonder that Florida’s passage of Stand Your Ground legislation, combined with lax support of gun laws, caused many Blacks in the state of Florida to argue that this represents a dangerous and immediate threat to African Americans. It could be used as an instrument by White supremacists, vigilantes, and those who simply hate African Americans and others to hide behind the law as a legal shield to threaten and to terminate the lives of African Americans. Too many of the 2012 presidential candidates of the right, and their supporters, seem drawn to talk darkly about marginalizing and dismissing the rights of African Americans and other non-Whites. Despite “it can’t happen here” claims, it clearly does. And now, belatedly, cases are being examined in other American states with Stand Your Ground legislation. Did you know that our sister state of Wisconsin passed such a law and that one is working its way through the Minnesota legislature? Not surprisingly, there have been questionable circumstances where African Americans have lost their lives in, for example, Milwaukee and Beloit, Wisconsin, Texas, Louisiana, and Western states like Idaho, Utah and Arizona. An examination is underway to ascertain how these killings — nay, executions, murders — were handled of African Americans sacrificed on the altar of Stand Your Ground legislation. It’s American character soul-searching time. Only a veto from Governor Mark Dayton will stop it from becoming law in Minnesota. Will Minnesota also adopt Stand Your Ground legislation, adding another clear and present “open season” danger to African Americans in the United States of America? Please stay tuned. Ron Edwards hosts “Black Focus” on Channel 17, MTN-TV, Sundays, 5-6 pm, and hosts Blog Talk Radio’s “Black Focus V” on Sundays, 3-3:30 pm and Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm, providing coverage about Black Minnesota. Order his books at www.BeaconOnTheHill.com. Hear his readings and read his solution papers for community planning and development, “web log,” and archives at www.TheMinneapolisStory.com. Posted April 4, 2012, 2:07 a.m. Column 2012/#13 Early Spring Offensive of Violence. "Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues" March 21, 2012 On the international scene last year, the Arab Spring brought an offensive of hope for positive change in the Middle East, led by the young and unemployed. It also brought an offensive uprising of violence and confrontation by those wanting to dash hope and prevent needed change. Is this what’s in store for Minneapolis? My concern is not what happens with the 21st century Arab Spring but with Minneapolis Spring of 2012 and the disturbing pattern developing violence (drive by shootings, gun battles in the street, white and black youth fighting together and against each other in and through downtown). This is a concern for everyone, not just Blacks, not just Whites. The frustrated and unemployed are sending a very chilling message, asking clear questions about decades of broken promises, which, if continued, risks a Minneapolis Spring and Summer of dangerous discontent. In a six day period, from March 9 through March 14, at least ten individuals were shot and wounded in confrontations raging from Cedar Riverside, east of Downtown Minneapolis, to North Minneapolis in the again under siege 4th precinct. There were also shootings and stabbings in South Minneapolis. But it is that stretch from the West of the city limits in North Minneapolis, through downtown and almost onto the campus of the University of Minnesota that is my focus, as it signals an early and dangerous offensive of violence and threats to all citizens. In downtown Minneapolis, in that six day period, groups of young people disrupted traffic and the sense of security and safety along the Nicolet Mall and in other parts of downtown Minneapolis. Large groups of young people beat and attacked citizens attempting to enjoy activities and the “safety” of downtown Minneapolis. In North Minneapolis, more citizens than officials want to admit to and confirm, are creating safe rooms to protect their children, themselves and their loved ones from what has been an epidemic of activities of shooting into homes, shooting into cars, and shooting into citizens. It is further compounded by the Minneapolis Civil Rights Department and its Director to recommend to the City Council that the Civilian Review Authority be placed under the control of the Minneapolis Police Department and its Internal Affairs unit. All need to be included in the solutions. Exclusions lead to more failure. A disturbing pattern seems to indicate a total disregard for an under siege community and its citizens. The Minneapolis Star Tribune has embraced an interesting policy of a benign cover up of this early uprising of violence. The Star Tribune reports shootings and violence 4 or 5 days after they happen. We call your attention to a story in that paper last Wednesday, which reported on a violent confrontation in which two African Americans, one who had been featured with US Representative Keith Ellison just a month ago, were gunned down in their automobile by unknown shooters in cars working an obviously coordinated drive by. Such gunmen are attempting to take control of the city of Minneapolis. We do not speak or write lightly about this significant increase of violence with guns, knifes, and boots. But we have to again ask: where is the Plan to provide hope to those who send a message to city officials and others, that they see no hope (we offer our suggestions on our web site)? The community feels no one cares, and consequently they act out. That does not make it right nor is it being endorsed in this column. But we ask about all the 100s of millions of dollars and jobs the Mayor’s administration says have been made available over the past ten years to our communities. The data on payouts to traditional hustlers is not encouraging. Needed is adding to the big pay outs like the Vikings stadium by spreading the wealth across the entire playing field, such that everyone can sit and eat at the table of economic equality. Instead, residents of North Minneapolis are being used to generate money for folks living outside of North Minneapolis, as the city has deliberately failed to hold even itself in compliance with hiring laws, as it sows seeds of distrust that could lead to sprouting more violence. The councils insistence that minorities be included in any stadium bill is a welcome first step. Now let the executives and officials throughout the public and private sectors do the same, and develop and publish their plans for upcoming hiring compliance. Stay tuned. Ron Edwards hosts “Black Focus” on Channel 17, MTN-TV, Sundays, 5-6 pm, and hosts Blog Talk Radio’s “Black Focus V” on Sundays, 3-3:30 pm and Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm, providing coverage about Black Minnesota. Order his books at www.BeaconOnTheHill.com. Hear his readings and read his solution papers for community planning and development, “web log,” and archives at www.TheMinneapolisStory.com. Posted March 28, 2012, 10:52 p.m. Column 2012/#12 Vikings stadium plan in place??? "Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues" March 14, 2012 The headline of the March 7, 2012 Star Tribune story was very confusing: “: Senator says Target Center is in Vikings stadium bill, 'but it isn’t’.” Did you just hear the euphoria of the previous week’s “deal” whimper away? Maneuvers with strings attached by pro-stadium interests may have jeopardized what seemed to be a clear legislative undertaking. Mayor R.T. Rybak feels compelled to find dollars for the Target Center. Why “all or nothing”? The Star Tribune article of March 7 is self-explanatory, hence our title with three question marks. Three Vikings agreements are still “missing” from the discussions: 1. A lease agreement for the old Metrodome for the 2012, 2013 and 2014 seasons. 2. A rental agreement for University of Minnesota TCF stadium for the 2015 season. 3. A lease agreement with new stadium authority for the 2016 season and beyond. Governor Dayton’s stadium point man, Ted Mondale, threw sand when he said construction and financial plans would put the Vikings in their new stadium for the 2016 season, even after the Vikings said the extra wait is a deal killer (the Vikings’ owners, not the team, are paying $20 million extra each year on debt service) waiting for the 2004 promise of a new stadium. I am repeating what has been said by the prime-time players. By the time this column goes to press, will the ink also be drying on these three separate agreements? Vikings owner Ziggy Wilf is neither stupid nor naïve. How can it be assumed that the Vikings can be pressured to sign a long-term agreement on the Metrodome before the new Vikings stadium deal is done? Would any good attorney or financial advisor say this is the best deal for either the ownership group or the team itself, especially with Los Angeles shining with the color of gold? I’ve been looking at the NFL constitution. It states that when teams operate in a facility, whether owned, leased or rented, they have to protect the interests of the league, the franchise and the players with insurance. The NFL constitution insists upon a clear and concise legal understanding of who is libel for what. How can they do so without a lease? A year ago the Minnesota Vikings declined to sign an extension of their lease with the Metropolitan Sports Authority. The situation is past rolling things over or extending arrangements and contracts, because right now there are none to extend. My question, then, continues to be this: How is the negotiation going in regards to the Vikings as Metrodome tenants in 2012, 2013 and 2014 and University TCF Stadium tenants in 2015 with a new stadium lease beginning in 2016? The Star Tribune article raised serious funding questions. We ask: How can the Vikings open the exhibition season at the Metrodome in early August without these three leases in place? How can the Minnesota Vikings, the NFL, and the players’ association be expected to play in the Metrodome without a signed and delivered lease agreement and without a new stadium deal? Is this all a part of how the one percent plan to send the Vikings out of town and away from the 99 percent who want to occupy jobs? Will Minnesota “Save the Vikings” or not? Here are the “wave bye-bye” deal-breakers: State deal-breaker (Mondale): if state money goes to remodeling Target Center. City deal-beaker (Rybak): if no money goes for remodeling the Target Center. Vikings’ deal-breaker: Minnesota not keeping 2004 promise to build new stadium. NFL deal-breaker: Minnesota not keeping 2004 promise to build new stadium. Fans’ deal-breaker: legislature treating them as too small to occupy big jobs while “too big to fail” corporations are bailed out and given bonuses. Send the stadium jobs to Los Angeles and fans will see that legislators no longer occupy their seats. Who will call the “family meeting”? In 2000 (Star Tribune, August 10), Dave Jennings, then president of the Chamber of Commerce, said about the future of the Twins and Vikings in Minnesota, “The teams are crying out for somebody to call the family meeting.” The Twins got one. Why not the Vikings? Bottom line: Minneapolis and Minnesota need our need our November 09, 2011, Plan for fans to unite behind a movement to keep the team. The The Vikings have never used Los Angeles as a bluff. Doesn’t matter. High stakes risk: blink or lose, bluff and lose the Vikings. Stay tuned. NOTE: Star Tribune: Council group urges minority hiring for Vikings stadium, February 29, 2012. Ron Edwards hosts “Black Focus” on Channel 17, MTN-TV, Sundays, 5-6 pm; Hosts Blog Talk radio podcasts: “Black Focus V,” Sundays, 3:00 - 3:30pm, and Thursdays at 7:00 - 8:30 pm; providing coverage about Black Minnesota. Order his books at www.BeaconOnTheHill.com. Hear his readings and read his solution papers for community planning and development, “web log,” and archives, at www.TheMinneapolisStory.com Posted Wednesday, March 14, 2012, 11:28 a.m. Police unions turn to Republicans for help "Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues" March 7, 2012 One wonders how long it took the Rybak administration to realize the powerful Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis had turned to the Republican majority in the Minnesota legislature. Unlike Black organizations that do nothing when ignored and are thus taken for granted, the Police Officers Federation, ignored by the City, went to the other party. It’s a White thing Blacks need to learn how to do, which won’t happen as long as they stay self-glued to one party. As legislative lobbyists, special-interest advocates, and legislators themselves keep their supporters informed about legislation that will affect them, I wonder why the two Black state legislators for the City of Minneapolis didn’t give our community a heads up? It could have made a difference, and it could have resulted in the federation taking a softer position instead of setting up the demise of the Civilian Review Authority (CRA). I don’t know what it was that caused the Korbel Group in her Department of Civil Rights (DCR) to think they could get in the middle of White folks’ business. They are now suffering pain and retaliation. The police union and the Republicans in the legislature are showing how real politics is played. Of course there are those who say that this is what Mayor R.T. Rybak has wanted all along, as I suggested in this column a couple of years ago: end the MDCR and the CRA. What the police federation did was brilliant. It makes sense. As police union President John Delmonico put it in a February 23, 2012 Star Tribune article "We have worked with the city to do two or three revamps of the Civilian Review Authority. It has fallen on deaf ears" (“Bills would rein in police review board”). When the Rybak administration would not listen, the federation reached out to the Republican majority to seek legislation that will make the Civilian Review Authority disappear, as they believed the DCR and CRA were being dishonest and indifferent. Consequently, according to sources inside the federation, it was necessary to bang the drum, meaning take it to a higher level, and if that meant going to the legislature to get support for eliminating the incompetence, arrogance and indifference of the CRA, then so be it. Understandably, when the federation experienced incompetence and dishonesty in the DCR and its CRA, combined with the administration’s refusal to act, the police federation acted instead. The Republicans have solicited enough support from Democrats that they will be able to override any governor’s veto. Now that is effective politics. This is what happens when Blacks get involved in the middle of White folks business. Blacks must never forget that for any minority group, there is always a double standard. Minorities cannot be as incompetent and dishonest as the majority (in this case, Whites) and still expect to get ahead. This is a disaster for the African American community and other racial groups who fought long and tirelessly for civil rights in 1965 and for the CRA in 1990. As one who was there for both, as one who fought battles then and now, I cannot begin to say to you how disappointing it is to see this level of incompetency at the DCR that has resulted in these steps to eliminate the CRA. Once the police federation began to tell Republican legislators the horrifying stories of incompetency and dishonesty within the Civil Rights Department and the Civilian Review Authority, it was all the Republicans needed to hear (the DFL also knew but would do nothing). Obviously, members of the mayor’s own political party agree the Civilian Review Authority and the Civil Rights Department should pass into American history. So what’s it all about? Simply this: Who will meet the responsibility of the Minneapolis Civil Rights Department to administer and investigate cases? Who will meet the responsibility of the Civil Rights Commission to handle the judicial aspects of cases? And who will meet the responsibility of the Civil Review Authority to handle hearings on cases about findings regarding complaints about the police? Ron Edwards hosts “Black Focus” on Channel 17, MTN-TV, Sundays, 5-6 pm; Hosts Blog Talk radio podcasts: “Black Focus V,” Sundays, 3:00 - 3:30pm, and Thursdays at 7:00 - 8:30 pm; providing coverage about Black Minnesota. Order his books at www.BeaconOnTheHill.com. Hear his readings and read his solution papers for community planning and development, “web log,” and archives, at www.TheMinneapolisStory.com Posted Wednesday, March 8, 2012, 2:42 a.m. Can Minneapolis taxpayers afford the CRA? "Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues" February 29, 2012 The Star Tribune story “New names, old pains on Minneapolis police review panel”, February 20, 2012, reported on what we have reported on for a decade: the slow, continued collapse of the Civilian Review Authority (CRA) and, by extension, the collapse of its parent, the Civil Rights Department (CRD). Thus words in the story were not a surprise to us: “ranks depleted, … investigative staff overwhelmed … recommendations routinely ignored,” with the CRA “far weaker” in its investigation “of complaints against the police.” We know that the quality of professional investigation in the CRA leaves a lot to be desired. We understand why the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Chief Tim Dolan thinks the CRA is incompetent. This is one the dark holes that the Rybak administration needs to be concerned about falling into. Taxpayers have every right to expect that their hard earned dollars will provide the best possible service. One of the more revealing features of the Star Tribune’s story was that the CRA has only one investigator, with a second investigator on leave. Now this one working investigator reports to an $80K/year director, which raises the question of a lot of pork barreling. The CRD and, by extension, the CRA, seems to be extremely heavy with the presence of highly paid assistant directors and very few staff to do the work. We see a department that allegedly investigates as many as 300 cases. Yet it has a 3 year backlog of cases waiting to be investigated. The Rybak administration owes the taxpayers an explanation. It is clear that the Chief of the MPD, Tim Dolan, has no confidence whatsoever in the administrative and investigative quality of the CRA and, by extension, the CRD. In fact, it is quite clear that the CRA’s Board didn’t have much confidence in their responsibilities, because they never spoke up about the number of vacancies that existed on the CRA Board. Nine of the eleven positions were unfilled and allowed to let stand unfilled for quite some time, adding to the CRA’s inability to carry out its administrative responsibility, which is to hear the cases. Last year the city paid out $4.7 million of taxpayer money, the second highest total for a single year ever. Now we read that departing members of “the CRA Board are quoted as saying they have no confidence that Chief Dolan and the MPD command staff will ensure discipline for sustained allegations of misconduct.” But lack of confidence is a two way street. The Chief doesn’t believe in the CRA and the CRA doesn’t believe in the Chief. So who are the taxpayers of the City of Minneapolis to believe in and what needs to be done to keep their hard earned tax dollars from going to waste? This is a “luxury” the City of Minneapolis cannot afford. The Mayor is trying to get a stadium for those who can afford to be entertained, but this column feels that priorities are in the wrong place. The commitment of the taxpayers to support an effective and competent government should be a priority over all other things. The taxpayers of Minneapolis cannot afford this impasse. Large payouts. Non-responsiveness. Significant infighting inside City Hall. The Star Tribune piece includes this most compelling statement: that “Kenneth Brown, 2008-2009 Chairman of the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission, says Dolan does not believe in citizen scrutiny of police. He says Rybak is partially to blame for failing to appoint enough board members.” Said Brown: “The police chief and the mayor don’t believe they have to be accountable to the citizens of this city who are putting them in office.” Velma Korvelle said there is a plan for corrective action. I assume that that will take place during the confirmation hearings of the 8 new board members that, 3-4 months after the fact, are hearings finally being moved forward. My friends, the taxpayers of the City of Minneapolis cannot afford this kind of irresponsible governance and waste of their hard earned tax dollars. Think of how the city could afford to support a new stadium with the monies that it wastes. Stay tuned. Ron Edwards hosts “Black Focus” on Channel 17, MTN-TV, Sundays, 5-6 pm; Hosts Blog Talk radio podcasts: “Black Focus V,” Sundays, 3:00 - 3:30pm, and Thursdays at 7:00 - 8:30 pm; providing coverage about Black Minnesota. Order his books at www.BeaconOnTheHill.com. Hear his readings and read his solution papers for community planning and development, “web log,” and archives, at www.TheMinneapolisStory.com. Posted Wednesday, February 29, 2012, 2:22 a.m. MPD Chief Dolan hits back "Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues" It is clear that Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) Chief Tim Dolan has known that many of the recommendations coming from the Civilian Review Authority (CRA) were based on incompetence and dishonesty. So when an incompetent and dishonest recommendation was made to terminate two officers of color, the chief dug in and not only refused to fire the officers, but also reinstated them to duty. The action of reinstatement has revealed a significant and politically charged rift inside the top command of the MPD, along with an equally serious rift between the chief and his boss, Mayor R.T. Rybak. Contributing to the rift was the act of Assistant Chief Janee Harteau and Deputy Chief Scott Gerlicher when they terminated the two officers of color without proper consultation with the chief. Other actions include the leaking of the fact of the rift as reported in a December 19, 2011 article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune (Dolan panned on cop discipline). At that time, some in his own command indicated Dolan would be stepping down as chief in January 2012, a full year before his contract was to expire. The chief clearly identified the assistant chief and the deputy chief, as well as members of the Civil Rights Department (CRD) and the CRA staff (which is a part of the Minneapolis CRD), as sources of the leaks. According to reliable sources inside the police department, this was seen in statements by former CRA Chairman Bellfield as he closed out his term as a member of the CRA Board. The rift significantly increased when the chief reversed the actions of Harteau and Gerlicher. This deepening of the rift comes at a difficult time for the Rybak administration and the city council and those attempting to undermine Chief Dolan as head of the department. The lawsuit filed in 2011 by Lt. Andrew Smith and Sgt. Patrick King will go to trial in April of 2012. Chief Dolan became significantly aware of this when one of his favorite deputy chiefs, Rob Allen, was identified as not having properly supervised Lt. Smith and Sgt. King. Apparently, in December 2011 and January 2012 the chief uncovered the sources of numerous rumors and attacks on his administration in the attempts of others to position Assistant Chief Harteau as his successor. This has now led to a new political quagmire involving discussions of bringing in an outside person to succeed Chief Dolan. One person discussed is an African American. At this time, I choose not to disclose the person’s name. The discussions are at a crucial stage inside city hall. Some say Harteau has lost the support and confidence of Council President Barb Johnson, a very powerful player in the process of selecting a new chief. This all comes at a significant time for the Rybak administration in light of pending lawsuits against the City by Lt. Michael Keefe and Lt. Lee Edwards. Having a significant impact on relationships is the Star Tribune declining to report on the conspiracy against Chief Dolan as well as failing to report on the collapse of the CRA as a functional entity. Some maintain that that in itself will strengthen the chief’s hand if he decides to initiate litigation to protect both his tenure as chief and his reputation as a law enforcement officer. This rift has driven an unprecedented wedge into the department, maybe the most significant since the dark days of 2007 and 2008, when Black police officers were the targets of the conspiracy that destroyed the Black Police Officers Association and made them nearly invisible. I will continue to follow this closely over the next weeks. Damage has been done to the effectiveness of this department in certain areas of administration and professional performance. Historically, this kind of bureaucratic infighting over a position bringing out the worst in people is not unusual. The most celebrated example was the decades-later exposure of the identity of “Deep Throat,” whose Watergate leaks led to bringing down the Nixon administration. Deep Throat, as it turned out, was Mark Felton, who attempted to position himself as the successor to FBI head J. Edgar Hoover (as reported in the new book Enemies: A History of the FBI,” by Tim Weiner). As Robert Peale, who created the first modern police department in 1829 London and who later became British Prime Minister, said, “There seems to me to be very few facts, at least ascertainable facts, in politics.” Stay tuned. NOTE: following the 2-16-12 submission of column to the MSR for its 2-22-12 issue, the Minneapolis Star Tribune published a story 2-20-12 discussing these same events: New names, old pains on Mpls. police review panel. Ron Edwards hosts “Black Focus” on Channel 17, MTN-TV, Sundays, 5-6 pm; hosts “Black Focus” on Blog Talk radio Sundays at 3 pm; and co-hosts Blog Talk Radio’s “ON POINT!" Saturdays at 4 pm, providing coverage about Black Minnesota. Order his books at www.BeaconOnTheHill.com. Hear his readings and read his solution papers for community planning and development and “web log” at www.TheMinneapolisStory.com. Posted Wednesday, February 22, 2012, 6:43 p.m. Black jobs promised on Vikings stadium construction. Who will ensure the promises are kept? "Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues" Mayor R.T. Rybak stated in his February 6 press conference that he was pressing hard for the Minneapolis City Council to support his dream of a Vikings stadium near the Metrodome. (Star Tribune, “Flanked by union workers, Rybak pleads for Vikings stadium”) The mayor’s declaration reminds me of Isabel Wilkerson’s current best seller and Pulitzer Prize winning The Warmth of Other Suns, a moving, well-researched story of the promises made to Negroes of the World War II era that influenced the great racial migration from the South to the North. Their dream: good employment, good education for their kids, and a good future. The Oct. 22, 2010 “Disparity Report” disclosed that the involvement of the African American community in Minneapolis was heretofore nonexistent in the city and the surrounding metropolitan area. Thus, for too long, Minneapolis “Blacks need not apply!” signs replaced promises of full employment on such mega-projects as Twins’ Target Field, Timberwolves’ Target Arena, Gophers’ TCF Bank Stadium, University of Minnesota’s Children’s Hospital, Minneapolis Public Schools’ new headquarters building on West Broadway, Colorplas, Mall of America Phase II, new casinos, new light rail lines, major “destination” development , ancillary projects part of or next to these major projects, and infrastructure development. The statistical data of the $500,000 taxpayer funded October 22, 2010 disparity report, “The State of Minority and Women Owned Business Enterprises: Evidence from Minneapolis,” “Program Recommendations Prepared for the City of Minneapolis,” and the report “M/WBE’s Availability in the City of Minneapolis Market Place” affirmed data in the 19 columns of my website’s Solution Paper 49 exposing the purposeful avoidance of hiring compliance discussed in the disparity studies, exposing the dark side of Minnesota political and community leaders Black and White. It is important to recognize that the Minneapolis Civil Rights Department (MCRD) did not contest the October 22, 2010 “Disparity Report” findings, did not conduct appropriate on-site visits, and could not confirm the authenticity of the figures they signed off on. • Include correcting the 31 pages of problems identified in the October 22, 2010 report (pp. 74 – 111). • Include Blacks in the City and County process to acquire the land for stadium. • Include Black architects to design the facility, estimating $9-12 million. When will the Construction Hiring Verification Plan be announced and implemented? When will the plan offering a fair shake and seat at the jobs table be promised to the young men at the press conference? We thank the mayor for his early signal that the economic stimulus plans will include everyone in the city of Minneapolis. We look forward to seeing the Enforcement Plans being developed by the Civil Rights Department. Stay tuned. NOTE: Star Tribune: Council group urges minority hiring for Vikings stadium, February 29, 2012. Ron Edwards hosts “Black Focus” on Channel 17, MTN-TV, Sundays, 5-6 pm, and Hosts Blot Talk Radio’s Black Focus V on Sundays, 3-3:30 pm and Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm, providing coverage about Black Minnesota. Order his books at www.BeaconOnTheHill.com. Hear his readings and read his solution papers for community planning and development,“web log,” and archives, at www.TheMinneapolisStory.com. Posted Wednesday, February 15, 2012, 6:43 a.m.
Now the real battle for 2012 begins "Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues" February 8, 2012 The ugliness during the Republican primary in Florida provided us a front-row seat in the arena of negative electioneering that has become a hallmark of the 2012 Republican campaign. To say it has been uglier in the past doesn’t excuse it. It will get worse when Republicans vs. Republicans turn their vicious and ugly campaign against Barrack Obama, as Republicans train their sights on just a single target: the president. It began to emerge in Iowa. There was not much in New Hampshire. And then full-throated negative explosions erupted in South Carolina and Florida. Gingrich clearly signals he does not intend to stand back from the abyss he helped create. He has become “The Speaker of the House of Campaign 2012 Negativity.” In 2008, after a very bloody fight in the Democratic primary between Obama and Clinton, both sides were able to hold their noses and still shake hands. There is no indication at this hour that this strategy of cooperative support exists among the Republican contenders. Ron Paul will stay the course (in his attempt to influence the choice of candidate and party planks). Santorum with his emphasis on culture war issues is finally finding out he isn’t the soul of the Republican Party. Gingrich is too much in love with attention and hunting for a big post-campaign lobbying or nonprofit job to think of the Republican Party or put conservative principles first. Super PACS: Both Democrats and Republicans rely on Super PACS (Political Action Committees) while holding to the fiction that their candidates have no contact with them. Funds raised by the Super PAC supporting Romney clearly indicate that big conservative money in America is prepared to underwrite this PAC’s negative, political juggernaut. Negative campaigning An example of this troubling and dangerous pattern of negative campaigning is the call by the Republican Speaker of the Kansas House of Representatives, Mitch O’Neal, citing Biblical scripture (Psalm 109), calling for the death of the president. This is not Billy Bob sitting in his basement with a six-pack of beer throwing darts at a picture of Barack Obama. This is a man who presides over the Kansas legislature. Another example is the editorial by the owner of the Atlanta Jewish World News newspaper calling for President Barack Obama to be assassinated by Israeli agents as an option for saving Israel. Later apologies don’t take away the fact that these were serious statements comprised of dangerous rhetoric. Worse, they are statements of belief. It is the kind of rhetoric that drives some (and it doesn’t take many) to take political matters into their own hands. Black America has suffered through the assassinations of Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, Martin Luther King, Jr., and far too many others, including JFK and RFK. Black America suffered through the pain and the loss of those giants. Far too many political and religious conservatives who enjoy significant positions, prestige and power stand silent on this dangerous rhetoric from the Republican right. Doesn’t matter. Our concern is how the negative campaigns of either party impact what is more important: allowing all African Americans to sit at the education, jobs and housing tables. Blacks continue to unduly suffer due to the purposeful barriers to access and opportunity for African Americans in terms of the “Big 3” areas of Nellie Stone Johnson: good education, jobs and housing (see our columns on purposeful employment non-compliance). This has both victims and victimizers on the downward slope of what Thurgood Marshall called “nullification” and “reversal” of progress made in terms of denied access and opportunity based on race. The source of prosperity for people and the overall economy is jobs. Policies allowing mortgages backed with government guarantees only bring prosperity to banks. Policy should support creating jobs to enable earnings to facilitate home buying, not raising barriers to jobs. Job policies are needed, not new ways to spend money that doesn’t exist for people without jobs and without money to repay loans. Black History Month. It is tragic that this discussion has to take place during Black History Month. Who will stop the right-wing train of nullification and reversal regarding race as it thunders down the tracks away from the notion of the America Dream for all? Stay tuned. Ron Edwards hosts “Black Focus” on Channel 17, MTN-TV, Sundays, 5-6 pm; hosts “Black Focus” on Blog Talk radio Sundays at 3 pm; and co-hosts Blog Talk Radio’s “ON POINT!” Saturdays at 4 pm, providing coverage about Black Minnesota. Order his books at www.BeaconOnTheHill.com. Hear his readings and read his solution papers for community planning and development and “web log” at www.TheMinneapolisStory.com. Posted Wednesday, February 8, 2012, 12:41 a.m. Ron's media message platforms: The Road To Re-Election: The President’s State Of The Union Message. February 1, 2012 "Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues" The president’s “A Blueprint for an America Built to Last” State of the Union speech, on January 24, 2012, was a brilliant send-off for 2012 voters. The president, well prepared, vision clear, broad and inclusive, offered for discussion to all voters a blueprint for continuing America as “built to last.” The author of the book on corporations the president referenced, “Built to Last,” has since written on why “built to last” didn’t. This is why this blueprint is so important for America, so the oldest constitution in the world lasts. In a word, the president was pitch perfect for the group that will determine the election: independents. Whoever wins in November, regardless of party, will use much of this blueprint. Readers of this column know we personally wish the future of African Americans was included in his blueprint, especially in Black enclaves in inner cities, suburbs, and rural areas. Although we understand the president’s strategy, we haven’t forgotten the statistics and facts showing purposeful, unfair outcomes regarding education, jobs, housing, diversity compliance, etc., as reported for eight years in this column. Key blueprint points for keeping “the American promise” alive:
The president outlined our political parties’ strengths to achieve successful change in education, jobs, job training, energy, housing, manufacturing renewal, immigration, health care, Social Security, Medicare, deficit reduction, entitlement programs for the rich and the poor, college costs, student loan relief, and tax fairness proposals. Changes in technology and globalization will impact policy debates more and faster; they need to catch up, as the USA and the world seek a balance between investments and subsidies strategies. The president said, “I will work with anyone in this chamber to build on this momentum.” But just in case Washington stays “broken,” he’s taking his blueprint to the voters in November. So, just as with the Constitutional Blueprint designed 236 years ago, the American voters will be the final judges in November regarding who will lead 2012’s “Blueprint for an America Built to Last.” Stay tuned. Ron Edwards is the former head of key civil rights organizations, including the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission and the Urban League. He continues his "watchdog" role in Minneapolis, works to contribute to the discussions on leadership, planning, and the future of Black and White Americans living and working together in Minneapolis. Posted Wednesday, Febdruary 1, 2012, 7:57 a.m. NCAA contenders looked like Black colleges. They were not. Nor do Blacks athletes or Black colleges share in the wealth. January 25, 2012 "Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A week ago, tens of millions of Americans (with millions more around the world) tuned into the NCAA BCS national championship football game, played at the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. A big game. And a big revenue generator. A great payday for all White colleges eligible to get their cut of the media and game-day millions. A big payday for White coaches dependent on winning records. Ask, then, with all these millions, why players only receive a room, some books and a blanket? The players, the majority of whom are Black, are the economic engines causing mega-millions to rain down on America’s major White institutions. And its not just football. It’s the same agenda and scenario with college basketball. As we watched the BCS championship game, it was if we were watching two Black traditional colleges, because there were so many superb and excellent Black athletes on display in that game. Surely the winner was the Black college (as it would have been regardless of who won), which would also be an easy mistake to make for those watching around the world. But then I came back to reality: White schools making millions off of Black field hands on America’s collegiate sports plantations. And yet, since the creation of the coach’s poll, the AP poll, and other polls in both football and basketball, a Black college has never been ranked in the top 25. The facts: Black athletes make hundreds of millions of dollars for White institutions in exchange for a room, some books, a blanket, and the NFL dream. Playing for a top-25 college is the doorway to being showcased for playing in the NFL. Only about eight out of every 10,000 high school football players will make the NFL draft. Black athletes play collegiate football and basketball at all levels. There are two national collegiate championships, football and basketball. Doesn’t it seem each year as if they are Black colleges? In the 2012 national BCS championship game, the two White coaches are going to make, in salaries, bonuses and other gratuities, over $4 million between them. Guaranteed. The players? Graduation? Not guaranteed. Studies indicate only 35 percent of Black players will graduate with a degree. Some believe the number is lower. Yes, Blacks have come a long way. When the NFL became integrated in 1946, Alabama and Louisiana State University didn’t allow Blacks to do anything on campus except sweep and clean. After the “integration” of the White schools, their sports riches became even greater for the White schools they now went to. And with the lucrative television contracts starting in the 1980s, America’s White universities hit a gold mine, where the schools got the gold and most Black players got the shaft. And yet, in the tradition of “separate and unequal,” Black colleges in America slip further and further down the ladder of economic opportunity and growth. In the top division of NCAA collegiate football, there is an overwhelming number of Black players yet few Black coaches, few Black athletic directors, and few Black college presidents. Fifteen years ago, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and his Rainbow Coalition drew attention to the disparity confronting Blacks in the sports worlds of America. Then Rev. Jackson got distracted and backed away. We have not. We well remember the meeting held right here in Minneapolis, 15 years ago, at the Hyatt Regency, when White coaches like Joe Paterno, Lou Holtz and others told Blacks in sports to just be patient, as things would improve. Martin Luther King, Jr. decried the “wait and be patient” advice, as do we, for it really means wait patiently in your place at the back of the bus and be thankful to have that place. And so you can understand my confusion and error in the championship game at the Superdome in New Orleans. I was thinking about the dream, the dream deferred, a dream big money says we should not talk about anymore. Kind of like what Joe Paterno told the gathering at the Hyatt Hotel in downtown Minneapolis 15 years ago: Just wait and be patient and something good will come your way. Just like his assistant coach and all of those little boys? God bless the American Dream. Think about the future and don’t take your eyes off the prize. Posted Wednesday, January 25, 2011, 12:30 a.m.
Ron Edwards is the former head of key civil rights organizations, including the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission and the Urban League. He continues his "watchdog" role in Minneapolis, works to contribute to the discussions on leadership, planning, and the future of Black and White Americans living and working together in Minneapolis. Posted Wednesday, January 25, 2011, 2:15 a.m. A good man departs public service. Fire Chief Alex Jackson to step down February 29, 2012 January 18, 2012 "Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues" As I wrote in my April 28, 2010 Column, “All the Star Tribune and City Council Member Gary Schiff (DFL, Ninth Ward) have managed to do as shameless, vocal town criers against the department’s Chief Jackson, Assistant Chief Penn, and Fire Marshall Tyner, all African Americans, is get egg on their faces.” Despite how he has been treated, the good news is that Chief Jackson is leaving for retirement on his own terms, his head unbowed. Due to my long experience as one of the federal court-appointed overseers of the department, I am extremely familiar with the MFD and its demands. It was not always an easy task to convey to the union and the politicians the importance of adhering to the orders of the federal court. In the early 1990s, City officials thought they could skirt the laws. The federal court sanctioned the City to the tune of $1 million in fines. In the case called Carter v. Gallagher, Alex Jackson, John Griffen and Ricky Campbell gave testimony exposing the City’s court order violations. [See my December 30, 2009 Column: Historic Success Story: Integration of the Minneapolis Fire Dept] Alex Jackson has been an outstanding public servant and excellent fire chief. He took a department in budget disarray and low morale and reestablished the department’s strength. I watched Alex Jackson come into the fire department as a recruit. I watched him, Ricky Campbell, and the late Big John Griffen provide a level of leadership that enabled the MFD to become one of the most respected and diversified departments in the United States. [Star Tribune, June 10, 2008: Chief Jackson is the MFD first Black Chief]. And, as I wrote in my column of December 30, 2009, the integration of the MFD is a nationally recognized historic success story. Half the size of the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD), it has twice the number of Blacks. Chief Alex Jackson has been attentive to the orders of the court and the plan put in place by a committee appointed for the Minneapolis Fire Department and the City of Minneapolis. Throughout his career, he acted as an exemplary professional. But when you are committed to justice, you make enemies. We would like to think that everyone believes in equal access (diversity, opportunity, and that old civil rights term, integration). Unfortunately, too many people in positions of Minneapolis influence don’t. If they had their way, there would never be a Black fire chief and there would never be any Black fire fighters or Black police officers. During this occasion of the celebration of the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. and coming up on Black History Month, what better time to retool and remember the successful battles that were fought during a time that has moved beyond the current battles of today. Chief Jackson exemplifies what Martin Luther King, Jr. meant when he said that some Blacks may be unqualified, but they are definitely qualifiable. Chief Alex Jackson was both old school (respected the past) and new school (understood the importance of the past for the present and the future). He will be moving on with his life, his career, and will continue to pursue his vision of a better America for all. The loss is the city’s and its public institutions. All of us will lose as another successful warrior, advocate and visionary moves on. We say this to Chief Alex Jackson as he folds his flag of success and moves off the battlefield: Well done, Sir! Well done! And may God keep His hand on your shoulder and those of your family, for yours has been a story of success. You have made proud the many legends that came before you, such as Cecil Newman, Nellie Stone Johnson, and brother Michael Collins, all successful warriors who could not only talk the talk but could walk the talk as well. As Cornell West would put it, “You’ve got to be a thermostat rather than a thermometer. A thermostat shapes the climate of opinion [transformative]; a thermometer just reflects it [runs on polls].Lincoln was a thermostat. Johnson and F.D.R., too.” It’s also the difference between the evidence-based commentary of this column and mere prejudiced judgments that have been directed at Chief Jackson. Stay tuned. Ron Edwards is the former head of key civil rights organizations, including the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission and the Urban League. He continues his "watchdog" role in Minneapolis, works to contribute to the discussions on leadership, planning, and the future of Black and White Americans living and working together in Minneapolis. Posted Wednesday, January 18, 2011, 1:28 a.m. We still need help here! January 11, 2012 On Christmas day, December 25, 2011, three-year-old Terrell Mayes, Jr. enjoyed Christmas and the love and warmth of his family. By the late evening of December 26, Terrell Mayes, Jr. was dead, the victim of the continuous, senseless violence that is tearing at the soul of our city. By Wednesday, December 28, politicians were trying to put a favorable twist on this tragic story. But there is no twist, no mirage, no Madison Avenue-driven theme, no so-called “closure.” Death is irreversible. And at three years of age, this child’s death will haunt family, friends and community for the rest of our lives. Sadly, it is just as plain as the five fingers of your hand that violence, tragedy and death are alive and well in Minneapolis. The picture in the Sunday, January 1 edition of the Star Tribune said it all: a mother with tears running down her cheeks, remembering her youngest child who will never know another Christmas, never again hear the laughter of his loved ones and friends, never attend his first class in school, never know high school graduation, never see the birth of his own child, and never again feel the love and hugs of his mother. These are no longer happy events to be taken for granted about this three-year-old innocent Black child who had nothing to do with his own senseless death, despite the audacity of those who suggest that, based on his race and the circumstances of his life, he and others like him bring such fatalities upon themselves. To read such comments on White blogger websites and in the Star Tribune suggests a mean-spirited doctrine that continues to exist within this city and within this nation, despite pious protests to the contrary. People have been too quick to assume this was a Black-on-Black crime — as of this writing we don’t know that. There are no suspects, no witnesses, as has happened with too many other African American males and females who perished during 2011. Just the heartache of another lost Black life remains. My July 14, 2010 column was Please! We need help here! We are in perilous trouble as a people and a city, standing at a race-relations crossroads. As I talk to and meet a lot of people, I’m hearing far too many African Americans say that downtown, the Man, White folks, and even our own Black leaders don’t give a damn. That’s dangerous, my friends. When one peels back the casualty figures to reveal the number of African Americans, particularly the young, who continue to be the targets and victims of the violence, death, mayhem, heartache and sadness, one realizes that there is legitimacy to the statements made and feelings expressed. But nothing said now or later will bring back the life of three-year-old Terrell Mayes, Jr. How many more tragic ends like this can we afford? None before. None now. None tomorrow. Terrell Maze should not have been a victim in the first place. If we, as a city and as a nation, were committed beyond paying lip service to those things we say we are committed to — the preservation of life and the protection of our citizens, not to mention education, jobs, and most importantly the safety of our children — this would not have happened. Think of it, my friends: This child and his siblings heard gunfire that had become a daily occurrence in their neighborhood and around their home. That daily occurrence was hardly their fault. They were attempting to flee within their home to a place of safety, to a shelter that would protect them. But young Terrell didn’t make it. The bullet was faster. With his death, a little bit of all of us died. At some point in time, you begin to lose just a part of your soul and your spirit. We can’t continue to let our children die, to look the other way, to put our heads in the policy sands and pretend it won’t happen again. The tombstones reflect our looking away from the death of our babies. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the theologian Hitler had killed for standing up for the children of Germany, wrote, “The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.” Stay tuned. Ron Edwards is the former head of key civil rights organizations, including the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission and the Urban League. He continues his "watchdog" role in Minneapolis, works to contribute to the discussions on leadership, planning, and the future of Black and White Americans living and working together in Minneapolis. Posted Wednesday, January 11, 2011, 10:41 p.m. Ron's media message platforms: 2012: a year of decision, a year of danger January 4, 2012 "Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues" 2012 for Black America could be one of the most decisive and dangerous years since the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 and the turbulent days of the Civil Rights Movement (1950s and 1960s), regardless of which party wins in November. The conservative wing of American politics, so obsessed with defeating Barack Obama, has thrown their normal political caution to the winds. Before, for over 40 years, the left was seen as compulsive, irrational and careless. Danger: Both parties are not cooperating, just as in the period leading up to the Civil War and the period just prior to the Great Depression of 1929. Danger: According to the largest hunger report, “Hunger in America,” nearly 49 million people, one in six of the U.S. population and more than one in five children, were hungry or faced food insecurity at some point during 2010. 2011 statistics will be higher. Danger: When Americans, including military personnel returning from conflicts and wars in foreign lands, can’t find jobs due to the clash of ideologies and philosophies, trouble brews. Danger: Partisan debates regarding unemployment, wage stagnation, education, health care, foreign affairs, and the growing number of the hungry and “food insecure” will only get worse if both political parties don’t act from common ground. America’s citizens want their elected officials to seek creative, honest and successful ideas for answering these challenges that are testing America’s strength and fiber. Danger: The parties seeking secrecy to avoid elections being put under a microscope, whether U.S. Presidential, Senate and House campaigns, campaigns for state governors and city mayors, or for state legislatures and city councils, will only make matters worse. If those inside the beltway won’t work together, it’s up to us outside the beltway to elect those who will. We need to be able to see the lights at the end of the tunnel: jobs, housing, and better education results, showcasing a nation that can compete on the world stage. Danger: If we continue to live off the earnings of our children and grandchildren and not our own, African Americans understand a tilt downward and/or backward is the worst possible thing for the dream of Black America for parity and a future that will finally bring all of Black America into the mainstream. Danger: “Kicking the can down the road” has been the result of both parties spending money for programs each wants when each is in power. We learned in Vietnam and again in Iraq and Afghanistan that we can’t have both guns and butter, cutting taxes while increasing spending. Danger: As I have long stressed, if we do not discuss the slippage in the area of quality of life, if Americans believe that the only way we can compete is by fighting wars in foreign lands and dropping bombs on other people, our goals of hope, equal access and equal opportunity, fairness and justice are at risk. Which model? Exclusive and inclusive? Empty chairs or a seat for everyone? Will we opt for a more empowered and arbitrary centralized Federal government wealth redistribution model that gets ahead of revenue and is not inclusive of all the people? Or will we work toward a decentralized people empowered redistribution model in which the Federal government collaborates with states and municipalities to enable a more pro-growth self-reliant citizenry model adaptable by each level of government and enterprise, making sure everyone is included at the table and allowed to both participate and benefit? Will the 50% of Black Americans left out be invited to the table or will they have to keep fighting for a seat at the American table? Required is leadership. We have been harsh on Black leadership in this column and in Chapter 14 of my book. The old guard used their leadership positions for self-serving ends. The recent awarding of $28 million to a new nexus of leaders reflects this changing of the guard. We will watch them just as closely. It’s not who wears the leadership uniform that counts — it’s the results of leadership in terms of equal access and equal opportunity for all in education, jobs, and housing that count. See our new “solutions” paper on leadership on our web page, which includes a history and roundup of our suggestions regarding leadership and planning since 2002. The decisions of 2012 will determine whether 2012 is a year of danger or a year when all are invited to the table. What direction we go only God knows. It’s time we all came together to give Him a hand. Stay tuned. OUR CONDOLENCES to the family of three-year-old Terrell Mayes, Jr., killed by a stray bullet December 27, 2011. Ron Edwards is the former head of key civil rights organizations, including the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission and the Urban League. He continues his "watchdog" role in Minneapolis, works to contribute to the discussions on leadership, planning, and the future of Black and White Americans living and working together in Minneapolis. Posted Tuesday, January 4, 2011, 2:22 a.m. Ron's media message platforms: 2011: Preparing for the Election of 2012 December 28, 2012, Column #52 "Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues" If 2012 is an extension of 2011, there could be hell to pay as both political parties continue their Year of Preparation to obtain the prize each seeks: the presidency of the United States. Each will work hard to defeat the other; that is the American way. Don’t get mad at that. I’m just the messenger to remind all about this American genius. It is not devious. It is competing for power without using guns. But race haunts this election. Few will oppose Republicans just because they are White. The question is how many will oppose Barack Obama just because he is Black? And as Black leaders are not up to the task, we must individually carry our own water and vote. We must work to be sure our agenda and needs are part of the planks of both parties. Yes, you heard that right. We need to impact both parties. But if the President loses, we must not stop running the race, and not wait passively. We as a people know everything about survival and how to stand up for our rights. Be prepared to act. Worldwide, passive is out, action is in. “Equality” before the law is bedrock: Declaration of Independence, Constitution’s Bill of Rights. Even though Lincoln brought “equality for all” before the law out of the shadows and had it finally apply to the Negro through his Emancipation Proclamation and Gettysburg Address, it was muted for the Negro by Reconstruction and Jim Crow. And even though the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed, we still find barriers to the big 3: voting, equal access and equal opportunity. Six separate lists of my columns published in this paper are arranged by topic on my website to provide the evidence that this is still ongoing. See especially the ones documenting failures in the Police Department, hiring non-compliance, and leadership. Another is on the Star Tribune’s silence in covering such stories, which explains why you don’t read about it outside the MSR. 2011 has revealed dangerous indicators about voting. We need to work together to put countermeasures in place to counter acts of sabotage against Black voters in 2012. Recently, Attorney General Eric Holder expressed his concern about election protocols put forward by 30 Republican governors, protocols that, if left unchanged, will make it extremely difficult for significant numbers of African Americans to vote in 2012. I do not oppose protocols, only those that promote unfairness and put barriers preventing Blacks from voting. Attorney General Holder is probably 18 months late and certainly a dollar short in addressing this problem. See chapters three through six and eight of my 2002 book for my detailed discussion. In the Old South, the main barriers were a poll tax and literacy tests. Today’s barrier makers are more sophisticated. We are faced with the failure of the federal government, state governments, and local municipalities to address and support the search of significant numbers of African Americans to find employment. Congress spends too much time dilly dallying and not enough time working to find meaningful approaches that will allow jobs to be created. We need action. Minneapolis is at the top of the list of cities with Blacks as “last hired, first fired,” and most unemployed. We are also among the most over-trained groups graduating without exit jobs. It’s always our fault, even as Blacks are still purposefully denied jobs (the city’s infamous, “we can meet minority hiring compliance laws without hiring a single Black person”). As there has never been an all-Black legislature or government (federal or state), it is always White legislatures and governments that control the purse strings, create legislation, and define laws. After nearly 200 years, Thurgood Marshall became the first African American on the Supreme Court. This has been compounded in this century by Black American leadership no longer being up to the task, due to the money they receive to collaborate with the City and State in their anti-Black statutes and policies. So what will be the big picture for Blacks in 2012? Think of society for Blacks as a movie house with battered seats and tattered screens, but no projectors to project a vision onto the big screen, leaving just the movie’s title: Last Hired, First Fired, Heavily Trained but Barred from Jobs, produced and directed by Whites and their Black collaborators. Think about it. Stay tuned. Ron Edwards is the former head of key civil rights organizations, including the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission and the Urban League. He continues his "watchdog" role for Minneapolis, and his work to contribute to the planning discussions in order to help mold a consensus for the future of Black and White Americans together in Minneapolis. Ron Edwards' journalist platforms for communicating with the community: Posted Tuesday, December 27, 2011, 7:24 a.m. Some in Mpls City Hall are hostile to Blacks December 22, 2012, Column #51 "Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues" My Minneapolis beat continually exposes me to the fact that Black folks are really not liked nor appreciated in some circles in Minneapolis. The latest focus of City leadership is on our Minneapolis Fire Department because of its successful leadership by a Black man. Some in city government are determined to portray Fire Chief Alex Jackson as a negative example. Yet in my estimation, he has been one of the finest leaders in the history of the Minneapolis Fire Department (MFD). I should know, as I served a decade as one of six citizens presiding over the fire department for the federal court when the MFD was as discriminatory as the police department. Chief Alex Jackson’s stewardship goes beyond race. He has worked brilliantly despite the political and budget decisions of the city council that have caused staff reductions, budget cuts, and, most telling, the removal of responsibilities from the department. Due to my long experience as a representative of the federal court, along with the Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis, in the case known as Carter v. Gallagher, I am extremely familiar with the demanding responsibilities of being chief of the Minneapolis Fire Department. Chief Jackson fulfills his responsibilities. The problem is that race is again a factor. Even though it seems that Chief Jackson has the seven necessary votes on the council to be reappointed, I remain concerned about unwarranted statements about the department that are far from the truth. Example: It was surprising to recently observe how many current city council members did not know that the department’s policy on sick leave was the City’s policy, not a policy created by the Minneapolis Fire Department. Thus the criticism has to be directed at the City, not the fire department. Example: One of the most egregious offenders is the Minneapolis Civil Rights Department. Some would say you should not compare the 12 or so in the civil rights department against the better than 480 members of the fire department. Doesn’t matter. Proportionally, the civil rights department has one of the worst records of any department. Example: The success of one of the greatest cover-ups is taking place around the issue of overtime in the Minneapolis Police Department under its current chief. In fact, very quietly over the past two years officers have been quietly transferred out of their units to cover up their shenanigans. Example: Three internal auditors hired earlier this year discovered all kinds of abuses of overtime and sick leave in the Minneapolis Police Department. Example: Left out of the Steve Brandt story in the Sunday, December 11 edition of the Star Tribune and left out of the previous Star Tribune editorial is that Chief Alex Jackson will come in under budget. This omission leaves the false impression that Chief Jackson is a failure and a disaster as a department head. Example: Four years ago when the Star Tribune said that they were trying to examine the issue of overtime and sick leave in the Minneapolis Police Department, the department told them to go to hell and the Star Tribune withheld the data from its story. Example: The majority of the city council was serving then as now, and they seem have no problem with restricting the state’s largest newspaper from examining overtime and sick leave in the Minneapolis Police Department. Example: Imagine what would have happened to Chief Jackson if he had decided to be as obstinate in his responsibility to his stewardship as the chief of police has been in his. Most objective observers agree that the leadership of the two departments is different in complexion in more ways than one. Example: The recently unveiled downtown $2 billion development package contained no information regarding any role, plan or participation by Blacks in this promised economic upsurge. Add the examples above to the lists of examples by topic that I’ve posted on my website, the first of five being about (1) the Minneapolis Police Department, (2) the record of Minneapolis’ disparity and avoiding compliance with hiring Black people, (3) planning that meets the needs of White planners but not Black neighborhoods, (4) singling out the Vikings to leave town, and (5) the silence of the Star Tribune in covering the evidence outlined in these columns. These examples clearly support my statement that some key leaders in Minneapolis City Hall just do not like or accept Black folks. Stay tuned. Ron Edwards is the former head of key civil rights organizations, including the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission and the Urban League. He continues his "watchdog" role for Minneapolis, and his work to contribute to the planning discussions in order to help mold a consensus for the future of Black and White Americans together in Minneapolis. Ron Edwards' journalist platforms for communicating with the community: Posted Saturday, December 23, 2011, 6:07 p.m. The three unforgivable sins of Herman Cain December 14, 2011, Column #50 Herman Cain disappeared in the first week of December 2011 as a candidate for the Republican nomination for president. I was not surprised. A little over a month ago, in this column, I said Herman Cain had to stop stepping on the banana peels. There have clearly been more banana peels than Herman Cain could tap dance around. But Herman, my friend, that is what people do for all candidates — look closely at them. This is one reason we all know that the many debates in this year’s series will expose even more candidates in terms of their personal behavior and what they really don’t know. We knew you were a little light on foreign affairs. And although you need a good staff to help guide you around the information banana peels, your discourse on foreign policy in a way that would embarrass a high school student is your fault. (Jerry Ford lost when he said Eastern Europe wasn’t controlled by the USSR.) It is not your staffs’ fault that you have such a lack of understanding and recognition of America’s foreign policy, not to mention ignorance of the real politics of race in this country, saying you neither needed nor used civil rights and affirmative action, the first of three unforgivable sins. So, in the end, Herman, your candidacy was all a game, even the perceived enthusiasm about your candidacy. You gave fuel to the lie that a colored guy could not be on the same stage with the White cream of the presidential GOP crop. The Republicans haven’t been pouring chocolate, nor did they intend to. You helped them in their resolve. That is your second unforgivable sin. The others knew what was going on and easily found where you buried your skeletons. One of the cardinal rules, Herman, is that you forgot that not everyone who pats you on the back, gives you a cigar, and asks you to sing a song really believes in you, respects you, and would vote for you. That was one of the banana peels we were talking about a month ago. The questioning that Black America must ask tonight, irrespective of Barack Obama, current President of the United States, is how much damage Herman Cain has done to future, legitimate Black candidates who will seek political office in America in both parties. I’m not sure what the fallout will be, but we do know that with the suspension of his campaign, Herman Cain has become the new poster child for “don’t believe in any colored candidate.” The one positive is that he showed there are other Blacks aspiring to be president. They will just have to work harder now. Herman Cain’s third unforgivable sin, after denying he needed or used civil rights and affirmative action, was to then pull the race card to invoke all of the clichés of a Black candidate being abused by the White power structure. That type of race card is always the last refuge of the scoundrel, whether Black or White. We hope the lesson is clear. The front-runners for both parties are dedicated family men, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. They don’t have the baggage of personal banana peels. At the age of 15, George Washington made that personal character commitment and lived by it. Our young Black men are being misled by the myths of gangsta rap and disrespect- women-any-way-you-want videos, adding to the false urban myth that no harm can come to Black men acting that way. Thus, I would be personally remiss if I didn’t close this column to admire one of the most principled and courageous persons in this entire episode, Herman Cain’s lovely and courageous wife. She could have easily thrown him under the bus also, but in the tradition of the real strength of the Black family, she stood by her man. That is commendable and a profile in courage and love. We await such a one to run for office. Stay tuned. Ron Edwards is the former head of key civil rights organizations, including the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission and the Urban League. He continues his "watchdog" role for Minneapolis, and his work to contribute to the planning discussions in order to help mold a consensus for the future of Black and White Americans together in Minneapolis. Ron Edwards' journalist platforms for communicating with the community: Blacks wait for jobs as White planners plan planning . December 7, 2011, Column #49 Black unemployment in Minneapolis was 20.7 percent in 2010 (nearly four times that of Whites) and even higher today. For Black youth: 45 percent unemployment. The Minneapolis Foundation, the Blue Ribbon Commission, the Pacific Northwest Foundation, and other enlightened worthies can’t figure out how “one of the most generous, philanthropic states in the nation” can have “one of the worst disparities — education, economic development, housing, imprisonment" in the nation. That’s code for “What’s wrong with Blacks?” It is not a mystery. It’s on purpose. The purposeful policies and actions regarding no jobs for Blacks are not new. Among 20 columns I’ve written on this since 2005, see: You could build a new Vikings stadium for the money spent on subsidizing purposeful employment disparity. In the words of Malcolm X, for both Blacks and now Whites, those chickens are coming home to roost. Look around and see the despair and hopelessness in the state of Minnesota. Where is a Minnesota Jobs Plan that includes Blacks? On March 30 of this year, Governor Mark Dayton, Democrat, held a come-to-Jesus meeting in North Minneapolis. There were lots of statements about getting the big economic engine started to improve economic opportunities for African Americans and others. Four months later, the governor hosted another economic summit in a downtown St. Paul hotel. Over 1,000 participants/experts showed up. That’s eight months of discussions and reflections for planning to plan plans for planning. But there’s been no action on real jobs except for government planners. Do you remember the 2002 McKinsey report of Minneapolis spending over $900 million on planning for low-income housing and winding up with only 55 units? Lots of planning, but little jobs action. Planning without action is not an action plan, is it? Think of the jobs that could have been enabled if this time, money and effort were put into jobs for all? In the meantime, the quality-of-life standards in the African American community continue to plunge at an accelerated rate. Governor Dayton doesn’t seem to have a timetable. President Obama doesn’t seem to have a timetable either, even with his Federal Jobs Plan. All of this raises the old, old question of waiting. The title of one of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s books explains it all: “Why We Can’t Wait.” Waiting is not one of our luxuries. Of course, African Americans don’t have much choice. In November 2012, Black Americans can express their displeasure that we as a nation and we as a state will still be without a jobs creation plan. And that means that we will go through the motions of looking as if we have to reinvent the wheel. Think about it: You’ll have a new Congress, you may have a new president, and at the state level you’ll have the same governor but a new legislature that will still be talking about a plan, 20 months after the economic summit of March 30, 2011. White planners. Black waiters. The statistics are not positive, so I continue to raise the question of why Whites think Black Americans have the luxury of waiting for the jobs patent office to open up again. When I look at the economic and educational deterioration confronting Black Americans, I wonder just how long White America thinks Black America will just stand by while White America keeps recycling their plans that keep access to jobs away from African Americans? Think about it my friends: How much will you accept being asked to bear? How much weight placed upon your shoulders, your souls, and your spirit can you carry and still continue to believe, to have hope, and to have a dream? In his new book Back to Work, Bill Clinton calls for the best of what both parties have to offer to engage the “American Dream growth” style. But does that include offering jobs to Blacks as well? At some point Jesus just can’t help us, and we need to come up with our own plan. We must pursue our survival by any means necessary. Stay tuned. Ron Edwards is the former head of key civil rights organizations, including the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission and the Urban League. He continues his "watchdog" role for Minneapolis, and his work to contribute to the planning discussions in order to help mold a consensus for the future of Black and White Americans together in Minneapolis. Ron Edwards' journalist platforms for communicating with the community: Posted Saturday, December 7, 2011, 4:02 a.m. Tell us something we didn’t already know: November 30, 2011, Column #48 PULL QUOTE: The Star Tribune reporter provided two examples of DBEs, both owned by women, both White. Not one African American was reported. When the Monday, November 21, morning edition of the Star Tribune hit the streets, I was amused by the headline: “Preferred Public Works Contracts Get Scrutiny.” I’ve written 20 columns on this since 2005, identifying corruption and criminal malfeasance that has shut African Americans out of programs that were allegedly created to give the African American community a shot at some of the so-called big dollars, such as the $950 million Light Rail Corridor Project and the Gopher and Twins stadiums. So I welcome the Star Tribune in joining us in scrutinizing the whole issue of how fairness, justice and equality of opportunity for Blacks has been sidestepped by not enforcing disparity/diversity statutes, ignoring them, as politicians and their bureaucratic enablers favor laws/statutes/rules benefiting other groups claiming to be minorities. Had Martha Stewart been a Congress member, she would not have gone to jail for insider trading But, as the former director of the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights infamously said, pointing out how discrimination and exclusion is legal again, “We can meet our minority hiring compliance requirements without hiring a single Black person.” The danger in this kind of investigative reporting is that there are those who attack you for printing the truth, trying to apply pressure to make your column disappear, as they oppose hope and change in order to keep the changeless status quo and their position in it. But God is a good God: Be patient, persevere, and lay out the facts, and the truth will make a difference. I haven’t taken my eyes off the prize: prosperity for all through education that qualifies boys and girls and men and women for jobs, and then facilities equal access to those jobs When the City of Minneapolis released its report last year entitled The State of Minority and Women Owned Business Enterprises, October 22, 2010 (DBEs: Disadvantaged Business Enterprise programs), I wrote that it contained the evidence, statistics and data exposing the criminal acts against the interests and the future economic opportunity for African Americans in Minnesota. Think of how much better things could be for everyone if the Star Tribune practiced good journalism all of the time. I am pleased the Star Tribune column of Nov. 21 examines and confirms what this column has long investigated and reported on: the unquestionable and incontrovertible evidence of the efforts against the survival of the African American community. The Star Tribune reporter provided two examples of DBEs, both owned by women, both White. Not one African American was reported (as “minorities” now seems to mean “women” to many, not “African American”). This is a very dangerous signal being sent to the African American communities where violence is on the rise as African Americans are being gunned down in the streets and stabbed to death in downtown Minneapolis. Studies indicate a growing depression about the next cycle of economic prosperity, as, for too many African Americans in Minnesota, they feel they will be left behind. Now that the Council of Black Minnesotan’s executive director was forced out after 23 years, what is left: three human/civil rights departments, Minnesota, Minneapolis, St. Paul. They are either being too passive or too corrupt to enforce the law. Too many African Americans are still in a life-and-death struggle for their economic survival. With no commitment to statutory enforcement on behalf of African Americans, and with the level of despair and mental depression in existence within the African American community, I again ask: Where is the plan to both protect and provide hope to the African American communities of Minnesota, other than the plans to hold more planning meetings? Where is the vision for Black success on the White Horizon of Minneapolis’ future? That’s right: a White Horizon, because most reports done by White think tanks clearly indicate that, absent a corrective plan that is then enforced, African Americans in Minneapolis are an endangered species. Solution Paper #46 in the “Solutions” section of The Minneapolis Story website, Diversity and Compliance Studies: list of 20 columns reporting on Minneapolis purposefully practicing disparity and avoiding diversity compliance, posted 11-22-11). See especially columns of November 17, 2010 (“Disparity study finally released. It took 15 years to tell us what we already knew”) and November 24, 2010 (“Disparity Study reveals City failed to monitor hiring, contracting jobs and income. Result for Blacks: shameful loss of jobs and income”). Stay tuned. Ron Edwards is the former head of key civil rights organizations, including the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission and the Urban League. He continues his "watchdog" role for Minneapolis, and his work to contribute to the planning discussions in order to help mold a consensus for the future of Black and White Americans together in Minneapolis. Ron Edwards' journalist platforms for communicating with the community: Posted Saturday, November 30, 2011, 5:20 a.m. 16 reasons why JoePa should have done the right thing. November 23, 2011, Column #47 The philosophy in America has always been that one is innocent until proven guilty. Jerry Sandusky and Joe Paterno are clearly poster children for that doctrine or its failure, depending on how you look at it. Penn States seems to have a culture where children are sacrificed, where legality (“I reported.”) trumps morality (“I followed up.”). Leave no doubt in anyone’s mind: This is an ugly situation. There are enough mysteries going around that if Alfred Hitchcock were still alive he could make three movies out of this: a county DA who received the report nearly a decade ago and then disappeared, never to be heard from again; riveting testimony before the grand jury of sexual abuse and failure to apply the law (and in fact failure to even report allegations of sexual abuse; it was a mother who stepped forth, not the men). Penn State stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars due to lawsuits and legal fees. The Big Ten, to demonstrate its moral superiority all of sudden, took Paterno’s name off the championship trophy. And everyone is getting a criminal attorney, which is kind of peculiar when at the same time they call these allegations false, figments of imagination, and by gosh, it just didn’t happen. Now, there are several problems with that. A Grand Jury for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania met for over a year. They heard testimony. The transcript says they heard from some of the victims (who were 10, 11 and 12 years old when this happened 10, 15 years ago), while the perpetrator was allowed to still use football facilities and showers. The ESPN broadcaster urged focus on football, not what was off the field. Really? He was as shallow as the citizen-students on the campus of Penn State (yes, students, whether rioters or not, are citizens first). How do you riot in support of Joe Paterno and totally disregard the heartache, pain and suffering of the victims? You would think that young people spending the hard-earned incomes of their mothers and fathers to get an education in higher learning would have been more intellectually astute figuring out that they were sending the wrong message. We don’t know what motivated Jerry Sandusky. What motivated Paterno? JoePa has 16 grandchildren who we assume he loves dearly, and yet his statement that with hindsight he would have done more stills rings hollow and insensitive. He did nothing for these grandchildren of others. I doubt Paterno would have allowed a grown man to horse around naked in a gang shower with any of his 16 grandchildren. So why these? He seems to have treated interceptions and fumbles with greater concern than he treated information about the potential misconduct of one of his favored assistant coaches. Jerry Sandusky, until his early retirement in 1999 at age 55, was the heir apparent at Penn State when JoePa would step aside. Finally, there are a couple of other things to consider. First, the judge who set a rather questionably low bail of $100,000 “forgot” to reveal that she was a member of the board of directors of the youth organization that Jerry Sandusky was involved with. And then there is the general counsel for Penn State, Mr. Courtney, who “forgot” to mention that in the late 1990s, when he was asked to investigate allegations against Mr. Sandusky, he was also the general counsel for the organization that Jerry Sandusky had founded in 1977. No, my friends, it is not a pretty picture, and it seems now that damage control is late in coming (should have been exercised at the first report of an incident). Now a state university — which means, in the final analysis, the taxpayers of the state of Pennsylvania — will have to foot the bill for the damage that has been done. The problem is a lot greater than simply to say, as JoePa did, that in hindsight he “would have done it differently.” Tell that to the victims and the taxpayers of Pennsylvania. Stay tuned. Ron Edwards is the former head of key civil rights organizations, including the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission and the Urban League. He continues his "watchdog" role for Minneapolis, and his work to contribute to the planning discussions in order to help mold a consensus for the future of Black and White Americans together in Minneapolis. Ron Edwards' journalist platforms for communicating with the community: Posted Saturday, November 26, 2011, 7:20 a.m. U.S. African Command: the return of colonialism to Black Africa? November 16, 2011, Column #46 Eight months ago, just before the outbreak of hostilities in Libya, and with little fanfare or coverage by European or American press, the Obama administration quietly announced General Carter Ham’s appointment as supreme commander for the U.S. African Command, to deal with the increased presence of terrorists in the middle part of Black Africa. The command is now making its presence and authority known in Black Africa from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, through the heart of Black Africa, as American military recon teams stake out territories of involvement. This includes pursuing and destroying the chief rebel band in Central Africa, the Lord’s Resistance Army. Its leader, Joseph Kony, is wanted by the International Criminal Court for acts of terror and murder in Uganda, in northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, and in the Central African Republic. He has been killing and raping fellow Black Africans for 10 years. News reports indicate American Special Forces are providing a broad neck of military presence across Black Africa, including in Chad, Martinique, Niger, Nigeria, and Senegal, while keeping an eye on the soon-to-be-oil-rich Liberia. Does this mean lucrative opportunities for White companies or Black companies? When you think about the riches of middle Africa, do you think in terms of helping African economies and African companies to set up their own pan-African OPEC-like union of producers? Or do you think of helping European and American economies get back on their feet through American and European companies with African branches, colonial style? Or will African companies with African branches prevail? I applaud Senegal President Abdoulaye Wade, who, at a 2010 mining conference in Senegal, said to 500 delegates from foreign mining firms, "I never said, enrichissez-vous [enrich yourselves]. I said enrichissons-nous [let's enrich one another].” We see listed as needs in Africa what is also needed in North Minneapolis: “Hire more locals, adhere to stricter environmental rules, [and] build more roads and schools for local communities.” Will the projected oil revenues in the offshore oil fields of Liberia be for Big Western White Oil or for the Black people of Liberia? Is oil production revenue to help develop Liberia or to help stabilize economically paralyzed Europe at Africa’s expense? Is this administration saying Europe is more important than Africa? African riches spans the five major mineral categories: precious metals and minerals; energy minerals; non-ferrous metals and minerals; ferrous minerals; and industrial minerals. Besides oil and coal, the riches of Africa include some of the earth’s largest deposits of phosphates, iron ore, bauxite, copper, platinum, gold, silver, diamonds, uranium, chrome, manganese, zirconium, vanadium and titanium. The U.S. Africa Command has already stated it expects to utilize military resources and assets from Britain, France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and, for the first time since 1916, Germany, all in Black Africa again. Is this to stabilize Africa or Europe? Now, one has to assume that there are some military leaders and heads of intelligent agencies in Black African countries raising this question amongst themselves: If the United States doesn’t have respect for the color of the skin of its own leader, how can it care about people of color 8,000 miles away? Happily, the more progressive intelligence agencies, such as in Nigeria, Kenya and Tanzania, are already asking such questions among themselves. With its recollection of conflict between Blacks and Whites during and after Apartheid, how will South Africa’s experience help answer these tense questions? The question I ask in this column is: Will this be America’s commitment and program for the next 10 years for Africa or Europe? But before White House, State Department, Pentagon, and corporate and think tank experts act to answer that question, it first needs a serious and open discussion among Black Americans, now and through the lead-up to the 2012 election. We want to know. We still remember the significant number of Black Panamanians and Black Granadians laying dead, lining their countries’ highways when we entered them in the 1980s. We well remember how easy it was for American politicians and American media to dismiss the staggering number of Black nationals slain, executed, and killed, often under very questionable circumstances, including the execution of Granada’s Prime Minister Bishop. Whether in America or Africa, it is too easy to look at persons of color as if they are terrorists. Keep an eye on the U.S. African Command. Stay tuned. Ron Edwards is the former head of key civil rights organizations, including the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission and the Urban League. He continues his "watchdog" role for Minneapolis, and his work to contribute to the planning discussions in order to help mold a consensus for the future of Black and White Americans together in Minneapolis. Ron Edwards' journalist platforms for communicating with the community: Posted Wednesday, November 16, 2011, 5:05 a.m. Stop the punting of the Vikings! November 9, 2011, Column #45 In 2002, I wrote the following in my book The Minneapolis Story, Through My Eyes about for the Vikings:
On December 3, 2003, I published the The Roll Call of all who want the Vikings to leave. No one has denied it. Get rid of the Vikings. It’s what the corporations and the wealthy want, fans be damned. My May 25, 2011 Column, Budget battle threatens Vikings’ future, lists my columns on the leave/stay debate written since 2005. The Star Tribune and local media won’t talk about it: They don’t want you to know the truth, which is why the Star Tribune “shelved” my book (their term) and refused to acknowledge it in 2002. One of their writers, in 2000, in his book Stadium Games, already declared that the “leaders” of the city and state want the Vikings to move. There are two movements abroad in the land, the Tea Party Movement and the Occupy Wall Street Movement. Both are expressing their contempt for the contempt shown them by the political and corporate elites, elites who will make both parties and all the fans the scapegoats. The Metrodome was never the property of the Vikings or Twins or their owners. It is community property of the people, a Commons for all that our taxes built. Remodeled, it can be as good an NFL stadium as any, and do four things: (1) cost less than half of what is now proposed (2) enable the Vikings to earn two to three times more, a profit margin they seek to remain competitive (3) stop the NFL from interfering with Minnesota and stop Cincinnati and Cleveland and Indianapolis and Kansas City, etc. from voting to steal our team (4) enable the NFL to recognize that there is much more money for all 32 teams by expanding in Los Angeles with two new teams, rather than shrinking the pie by taking two teams away from their fans and putting them in the same stadium in L.A. Expansion creates a far greater pie for NFL owners to share. Any who deny any of these 4 points is a liar. Stay tuned. Ron Edwards is the former head of key civil rights organizations, including the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission and the Urban League. He continues his "watchdog" role for Minneapolis, and his work to contribute to the planning discussions in order to help mold a consensus for the future of Black and White Americans together in Minneapolis. Ron Edwards' journalist platforms for communicating with the community: Posted Wednesday, November 9, 2011, 8:11 a.m. Can it happen: jobs legislation? Can the political parties come together? Can they all get along, despite race? November 2, 2011, Column #44 As the nation contemplates the various national, state, and local campaigns of 2012, reflecting on the unique dynamic of America in all of its democratic voting glory, the obvious question as we follow today’s Republican debates and speeches and actions of the president: What will be the mindset of the American voter by summer 2012, especially about the disparity of Black unemployment? Our power-sharing process stands alone in a world resisting sharing power with “the people.” So why is that resistance still for Blacks in inner cities and rural areas? There are danger signs coming from cities across the world of steep divides, not only between the haves and the have-nots, but between retired elderly on promised benefits and young workers paying for it thinking those benefits won’t be there when they retire. But the biggest divide reveals the contest between the idea of democratic-based welfare with limits and the idea of centralized, imposed welfare with few limits. After nearly 30 years of economic and social progress tilted to Whites, we have hit the inevitable cycle of cracks in the economic and social walls of America, cracks widened by a poor education system in cities for Blacks, government-sanctioned gentrification of disbursing Blacks from inner cities, and the retarding of business innovation and new business starts for Blacks barred from being part of “the people.” The president has tried to deal with this, and in the process has made three mistakes. The first was in not making jobs legislative priority number one. Had he done so, “the people” would be clamoring for his re-election despite slow economic recovery. His second was not directing his Department of Justice to investigate sooner those on Wall Street gambling fast, loose and dangerously with America’s economic stability and, by extension, the world’s. It was an error not to challenge their claims that their initiatives and innovations were scientific and “risk-less.” The most troubling error to me was his not focusing on the reality of the Black-White divide he inherited in education and jobs from the four previous administrations. He had to know we were in big trouble with respect to jobs. He should not have waited so long to change course. Now, the Obama administration is faced with both a hostile Democratic Senate and a hostile Republican House of Representatives. Some would seemingly rather see this nation go up in flames than see President Obama achieve even minimal success in putting all Americans back to work, not unlike those who voiced the same regarding his predecessor getting out of the Iraq War. This is an extremely dangerous situation. Impassioned demonstrations are taking place across the world. The PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Spain) and the rest of Europe are in an economic crisis. Blacks must not be forced again to accept the dimming of their light to save the brightness of the lights of others. This has been an extremely bitter pill for Black Americans to swallow, as they have loved and believed in this president. We understand how treacherous the system can be in this country. Nonetheless, Martin Luther King, Jr. must be more than a giant face on a Mt. Rushmore-like slab of granite with his words etched alongside. The president must, at some point, pull up his own bootstraps and not fear doing battle with the intentional discrimination tolerated and abetted by the Big Three: corporations, state and local governments. He does not have to apologize for putting at the top of his agenda equal access and equal opportunity for all Americans. The problem for Black Americans is that they are not on the agendas for economic consideration and opportunity, as seen in reports issued by research groups and thing tanks. As detailed in these columns, it is more than just Black Americans not finding jobs. It is their being systematically barred from good education that is needed to qualify for good jobs. History will show that this place called Minneapolis is an illustration of opportunity denied African Americans by putting barriers in front of them. People of all colors across this country, including Whites, need jobs, and especially Blacks with two and three times more unemployed. National elections will have great impact on it. Stay tuned. Ron Edwards is the former head of key civil rights organizations, including the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission and the Urban League. He continues his "watchdog" role for Minneapolis, and his work to contribute to the planning discussions in order to help mold a consensus for the future of Black and White Americans together in Minneapolis. Ron Edwards' journalist platforms for communicating with the community: Posted Friday, November 4, 2012, 8:10 a.m. Candidate Herman Cain Polls show that Black Republican presidential contender Herman Cain, a former resident of the Twin Cities, continues to hang on in the race for the Republican prize. We should all be proud that finally it is routine to see Blacks qualified to be President. How great it would be if to see two Blacks vying for the Presidency as representatives of the two major political parties. That would make Martin Luther King smile down from his new Mt. Rushmore likeness on the Mall in Washington, D.C. and it would make Abraham Lincoln smile in his chair as he looks over the Reflecting Pool, staring at Capital Hill. Who would have ever thought it? The question is this: is America ready for even more prime time? I’m not sure, although it’s clearly possible. Look how many of us said a Black man would not be elected President in our lifetime. One of the measuring sticks for a Presidential Campaign is the ability to raise money, where the key color is not white or black or red or brown or yellow. The key color is green. I’m not sure Herman Cain is going to be able to do that over the Long Haul. Key Republican contributors like the Koch brothers will hardly funnel money Cain’s way. But then again, it could happen. But Herman, as all candidates, has to stop stepping on the banana peels, those tossed by his competing Republican candidates and those he tosses on the floor himself. It wasn’t very wise last week to advocate building an electrified fence along the border that would send those who touch it to their death. But he is in good company: too many Republican contenders speak carelessly about not wanting to follow constitutional rights and constitutional guarantees. Herman Cain should know better. In fact, as a young man working for the Pillsbury Company here in the Twin Cities, Herman had a little different view about Muslims, immigrants and civil rights. Yes, I knew Herman Cain then. He was part of the corporate hierarchy that we were all members of (I was in the office of the President of NSP). Most of us have heard the political doctrine that you have to be “a man for all seasons.” The key is not to pick the wrong season and not to get swept away by the media tidal wave, never to be heard from again. One of the banana peels Herman has tossed on the floor and slipped on, as have other prominent Blacks, is the dismissal of the significance and importance of affirmative action to the civil rights movement. When Herman Cain founded the CDH record company in the Twin Cities, Herman didn’t have a problem taking advantage of equal opportunity loans and funding. In fact it was affirmative action and civil rights that placed Herman into Pillsbury in the first place, putting him up on the corporate ladder where he could then have access and opportunity to pursue his success. Sometimes we forget from whence we come and sometimes we don’t have a clue about where we are about to go. One of the worst feelings in life is when you are in a dark room and can’t find your way, and you step off that unseen step and think that you won’t stop falling. Brothers and sisters who benefited from affirmative action should give thanks for it, not pretend as if it didn’t exist, that they did it all on their own. We need more action affirming the value of Blacks to improve education and jobs. If this were October of 2012, two weeks before the national election, I’d say that Herman would be a serious candidate and that history was about to be made again. But instead, this is October 2011, not November 2012. We’ll be watching closely. Will his campaign momentum continue to be positive? Will the Republican rank and file will see him as a viable candidate to carry the Republican Party’s banner in the Presidential campaign of 2012? But candidates, white or Black, that don’t avoid slipping on banana peels, will be nothing more than answers to presidential trivial questions, their moment fleeting, as they join others who stepped up, stumbled, fell back, never to be heard of again. These are serious times in America. We cannot have someone who is viewed as not serious or as a clown entertaining the political masses. Stay tuned. Ron Edwards is the former head of key civil rights organizations, including the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission and the Urban League. He continues his "watchdog" role for Minneapolis, and his work to contribute to the planning discussions in order to help mold a consensus for the future of Black and White Americans together in Minneapolis. Ron Edwards' journalist platforms for communicating with the community: Posted Friday, October 22, 2012, 8:12 p.m. State’s only winning professional team brings joy to the faithfull October 19, 2011, Column #42 Congratulations to the Minnesota Lynx, 2011 World Champions of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA)! This WNBA team joins the legendary NBA Minneapolis Lakers of George Miken, Jim Pollard, and Vern Nickleson; the four NFL Minnesota Vikings Super Bowl teams of Alan Page, Jim Marshall, and Big Carl Eller; and the MLB two-time World Series-winning Minnesota Twins of Kirby Puckett, Rod Carew and Harmon Killebrew. The Minnesota Lynx brought joy to the Minnesota faithful. Their road to victory provided moments that will not soon be forgotten, particularly their demonstration of what is too often lacking among male athletes: unselfish play and a commitment to and an enthusiasm for the game. This is a team that finished with 34 wins and nine losses overall — 27-8 during the regular season and 7-1 in their phenomenal playoff run. It was a joy to watch these women: Seimone Augustus, the Playoff MVP; Lindsay Whalen; and of course Maya Moore, one of the most energetic players, rookie or veteran, in professional sports, as well as all the others on the team. I call them the Eleven Women of Perfection who brought a championship to Minnesota and to their fans who have proudly supported them. It was refreshing to see over 15,000 spectators line the Victory Parade route as their fans displayed their warmth and respect for their Women of Perfection. Glenn Taylor stayed the course when some suggested it was time to fold up this WNBA franchise. It is clear that this owner is a man who cares and believes, making the fans and supporters of the Minnesota Lynx world champions. What a difference honesty and integrity make in the world of sports. Far too many would have played games with the city, made excuses, and driven away fans. We are thankful that Glenn Taylor has supported and nurtured professional women’s sports in Minnesota. Glenn Taylor brought back to this franchise a little of the good, old-fashioned “I love the game” and “I’ll support it with my money, my passion, and my commitment” attitude and enthusiasm. This is a wonderful change from much of professional sports where it’s usually all about me, me, me and profit, profit, profit. That’s important, but not as important as the fans and the joy a team can bring to the fans and their community. And so we all need to send a shout-out to Glenn Taylor for staying the course, and a shout-out to his beloved Minnesota Lynx, who have rewarded him and us fans with a magnificent championship season by a team of magnificent athletes. They are supported by a magnificent group of fans who felt their dollars were well spent for watching and reporting and cheering this group of professional athletes, who knew what it took to win and won. They did so by being committed, by being unselfish, and by enjoying the game, and in return bringing the joy of winning to professional sports in Minnesota. Here are some famous quotes to help us celebrate the Lynx championship. From Jackie Robinson, first Black MLB player: “I guess you'd call me an independent, since I've never identified myself with one party or another in politics. I always decide my vote by taking as careful a look as I can at the actual candidates and issues themselves, no matter what the party label… The right of every American to first-class citizenship is the most important issue of our time.” Bill Russell, 11-time NBA champion: “What's more important than who's going to be the first Black manager is who's going to be the first Black sports editor of the New York Times. Ron Edwards hosts “Black Focus” on Channel 17, MTN-TV, Sundays, 5-6 pm; hosts “Black Focus” on Blog Talk radio Sundays at 3 pm; and co-hosts Blog Talk Radio’s “ON POINT!” Saturdays at 4 pm, providing coverage about Black Minnesota. Order his books at www.BeaconOnTheHill.com. Hear his readings and read his solution papers for community planning and development and “web log” at www.TheMinneapolisStory.com. Ron Edwards' journalist platforms for communicating with the community: Posted Friday, October 22, 2012, 8:08 p.m. Mayor Rybak, Minneapolis officials hear private Vikings stadium pitch in Portland, Oregon October 12, 2011, Column #41 When the general manager of the Monaco Hotel in Portland, Oregon received reservation requests from Minneapolis for 90 guests for October 2-4, he may have thought a professional team was coming. Instead, it was the Select 90, the brain trust of Minneapolis’ professional urban design community, led by Mayor R.T. Rybak. They were there to see firsthand Portland’s approach to city planning in general and transportation in particular. They were joined by Les Bagby, who heads the Minnesota Vikings stadium initiative. He hosted a dinner and presentation for the Select 90 at Widmer Brewery on Portland’s East Side. I understand the interest by Minneapolis planners in Portland’s regional master plan. The multiple mode transportation development part includes transit centers, stops for light rail, street cars, trolleys, aerial tram and busses, as well as an extensive bike lane system and extensive parks and open space system with walking paths based on Portland’s Pedestrian Master Plan. Portland engages rather than neglects the city’s two downtown cores, one on each side of the Willamette River that bisects the city. Portland has also successfully thinned out Blacks from its two downtown cores. What I don’t understand is this: What message to the Select 90 did the Vikings deliver in Portland that couldn’t be delivered in Minneapolis? I alerted my publisher, who is in Portland, about the Select 90 being in town and asked him to check it out. He was admitted to the beer tasting and dinner hosted by the Vikings, which gave him a chance to renew old acquaintances with Mayor Rybak and the Pacific Northwest Foundation’s Gary Cunningham. He asked both of them why Minneapolis doesn’t hold a conference on the Planning Initiative Suggestions I have proposed. My planning approach begins with education and jobs, with inclusion and equal access and equal opportunity. He also had a chance to briefly compare stadium funding notes with Les Bagley. When my publisher was later told by organizers that he could not stay for Les’ presentation, he let Les know he wished he could have heard him speak. Les said, “I’ll give you my presentation summary,” and then, as he pounded his fist into his hand, he repeated, “Build the stadium, build the stadium, build the stadium.” What was the Vikings’ message delivered to the Select 90 that it had to be private? Was this a last-ditch stand to get a plan for building a Vikings stadium or else it’s off to Los Angeles? My message since 2002 (see Chapter 15 of my 2002 book, The Minneapolis Story, and follow-up columns, TV and radio shows) has warned of “The Plan” to force the Vikings out. I list in the “Solutions” section of my website the Roll Call of those in Minneapolis who want the team to leave and why. So far, no one has refuted anyone or anything on that roll call. See also the columns listed in my May 25, 2011 Column, Budget battle threatens Vikings’ future. Interestingly, before I met my publisher, he put on his personal website in 2000 what he sent to the governor, legislators and others regarding how to finance a Vikings stadium without new taxes, but no one in the city or state or corporations ever asked him for more. The Vikings told him in 2000 that they didn’t need it as they had a deal with the legislature to provide the funds. Does this mean that the move-not-move question has reached the 11th hour point of no return, such that the Vikings had to go to the extreme of going to Portland, Oregon to deliver a message to make their point to the significant movers and shakers of our metropolitan area? Remember the quick and decisive departure of NFL teams from Baltimore to Indianapolis and from L.A. to St. Louis? It’s happened before. It will happen again. Will our beloved Minnesota Vikings be next, relocating to Los Angeles or another city? It would be better for Minnesotans to be told in an honest manner what was talked about and what decisions may have been proposed in that closed meeting in Portland about the future of our great franchise. By gosh, you’d think the Select 90, traveling on taxpayers’ dollars, would realize they owe an explanation to the taxpayers and hold open meetings. The manager of the Monaco was partially correct — the guests were professional planners and politicians, not athletes. Minneapolis needs to know what was discussed and advocated for professional football in Minnesota and for widening gentrification. Stay tuned. Ron Edwards is the former head of key civil rights organizations, including the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission and the Urban League. He continues his "watchdog" role for Minneapolis, and his work to contribute to the planning discussions in order to help mold a consensus for the future of Black and White Americans together in Minneapolis. Ron Edwards' journalist platforms for communicating with the community: Posted Wednesday, October 12, 2012, 4:10 a.m. Who’s in charge of 807 West Broadway — soon to be 1200 West Broadway? October 5, 2011, Column #40 The headline of this column reflects the soon-to-be-finished headquarters of Special School District #1 of the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) and the mystery surrounding its funding. This raises further questions about who will operate the building, who will control other activities in the building, and what other groups are expecting to benefit, perhaps even be housed in the building at public expense. It also raises the question of MPS funding in general due to the discovery of a “deferred” $32 million fund, heretofore unknown to the public, for use in funding the $27 million projected as needed to redesign and expand three elementary schools in South Minneapolis These issues — the new district headquarters at 1200 West Broadway and why the district will not own that building for the next 20 years, and the redesign and expansion of three South Minneapolis elementary schools — were rekindled at the school board meeting last Tuesday, September 27. The school issue was raised in two recent Corey Mitchell stories in the Star Tribune (September 24 in the daily paper and in his online blog of September 27). At Tuesday’s meeting, the board reported it was hiring a consultant — name and amount of contract not stated — to begin redesign of those schools to be expanded. This brings to mind the candidates’ forum at UROC in North Minneapolis on Tuesday, October 12, 2010 where I served as one of the moderators. The candidates were asked about the ownership of the district’s new headquarters. Board member T. Williams was the only candidate to answer: He said that there was a shortfall, and that certain financial arrangements were being made to make up for it with the Ackerberg Group, a commercial real estate firm, who would finance it and hold title for the next 20 years. That was quite a surprise for many in the audience that night. That information from Board Member T. Williams has never been challenged or disputed. I wrote about this in my column of October 20, 2010. Several questions present themselves: Is the $32 million actually in place, or is it part of anticipated revenue that the district expects to acquire through a nine percent tax levy increase at the end of the year? Is the money “deferred” from this intended tax or carried over from some other source, and if so, what source? As the public will not be made aware until December that this increase will be coming, how does it fit into the assurance of the mayor and the Minneapolis City Council to property owners that there will be no increase in property taxes? Also at the Tuesday, October 27 meeting, the board was to have received a report laying out the financial/budgetary plan, a report some say is already four months overdue. The board clearly has the authority, under law, to set its own property tax levy. But for some reason Rick Mills, the deputy superintendent and chief executive officer of the MPS who started July 1, 2011, has not been able to get the proposal in place. Consequently, questions remain regarding whether both the $32 million is in place and whether the surplus some say currently resides in bank accounts of Minneapolis Special School District No. 1 totals $98 million. MPS has earned much suspicion from taxpayers and parents because of past practices. A recent internal evaluation led to the creation of the deputy superintendent/CEO position overseeing the associate superintendents. Clearly this was done to help the superintendent develop her skills and improve her performance in areas cited as weak. These are not our evaluations, but evaluations from internal and external reports consultants have presented. Observers indicated that the board was caught off guard more than once at the school board meeting of September 27 in discussions of fiscal stability and financial planning and analysis. In fact, one of the questions asked internally by the board is how is the redesign of North High School is going. My question is this: Will there be enough money budgeted to make the recommended redesign of North High School a reality? Stay tuned. Ron Edwards is the former head of key civil rights organizations, including the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission and the Urban League. He continues his "watchdog" role for Minneapolis, and his work to contribute to the planning discussions in order to help mold a consensus for the future of Black and White Americans together in Minneapolis. Ron Edwards' journalist platforms for communicating with the community: Murderopolis continues to flourish September 28, 2011, Column #39 Pullquote: The fact that $33 trillion has been spent on the War on Poverty and North Minneapolis and other inner cities are worse in education and jobs reflects the purposeful policy of discrimination. Newspaper and Internet news headlines: • June 30, 1996, New York Times, “Nice City's Nasty Distinction: Murders Soar in Minneapolis” (cited the city’s “Murderopolis” moniker with 97 murders in 1995). Key number: 61 percent of Minneapolis murders are committed in North Minneapolis, as politicians (Democrats and Republicans), corporations (large and small), and U.S. presidents (Black and White) fail to address the real cures for poverty and crime: education and jobs. According to the 1996 NY Times article, Star Tribune boosters said the Minneapolis “way of life” is "superior to that in most places on earth," raising the question of why this “idyllic city is shattered by violence, with gang turf wars and drive-by shootings on streets where children play games of kick-the-can”? Answer: The North Side is continuously left out of real planning by Black and White “leaders.” September 19, 2011: 16 year old Juwon Osborne, African American teenager, died in a hail of gunfire as African American youth fought amongst themselves in North Minneapolis. Over 300 Black youth gathered at the location the next day. September 20, 2011: According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, a community “leader” says there are not enough “resources” to “stop the bleeding.” Question: How many resources do “leaders” need — another million dollars? $2 million? $3 million? The War on Poverty has spent $33 trillion since 1965 in the U.S. Where did it go? Didn’t it go to self-appointed community and political “leaders” who became self-appointed bureaucratic dispensers/distributors of War on Poverty money to their favored agencies, churches, nonprofits, other organizations, leaving North Minneapolis and its education and job situations what they are today? The fact that $33 trillion has been spent on the War on Poverty and North Minneapolis and other inner cities are worse in education and jobs reflects the purposeful policy of discrimination by Minneapolis and other city governments and corporations, and their purposeful lack of accounting. Vast resources have poured into the community through the hands of “leaders” who say they are dealing with the problem. Results? Continued poverty, murder and mayhem. As local NAACP President Booker T Hodges suggested in this newspaper a year ago, it’s time for an audit, time to add up the dollars as well as the casualties due to the resources not being used to properly address the community needs of education, jobs and economic development. Too many “leaders” profit from the labor of others, are neighborly and helpful only if paid, whose pretense of good intentions trumps fiscal audit responsibility, silencing efforts for real peace, prosperity, and equality of access and opportunity. Needed is a passionate commitment to young, old and unemployed African Americans instead of the troubling re-birthing of Murderopolis, resulting in the tragic murders of teenagers like Ray Jon Gomez. There are some within the police department who feel that finding the murderer of Ray Jon Gomez does not deserve attention due to the mistaken belief that this 13-year-old child fired on police officers near 3219 Penn Avenue North on July 25. It was not until Milo Gomez, 18 years of age, was arrested on the 15th of September that police realized that cousins were carrying the same last name, and that the 13-year-old Gomez was not the one terrorizing police officers. Is this why there has been no progress in identifying suspects? The family and the rest of us want and deserve to know. Instead, the family has not been treated with the kind of respect and dignity they deserve. Has “vendetta” by authorities against the Gomez family become a guiding force for police instead of the pursuit of justice? If so, it puts us all in danger, risking a continued escalation of murder and mayhem in Murderopolis. Needed is a fierce passion on the part of all, Blacks and Whites, to be totally and absolutely committed to the preservation of our children and all segments of our communities. My columns and website solutions section offer suggestions for planning that can reduce the terrible effects of a renewed Murderopolis that threatens the stability of the society we all live in. Stay tuned. Ron Edwards' journalist platforms for communicating with the community: Posted September 28, 2011, 6:35 p.m. United States Commission on Civil Rights Was in Town. September 21, 2011, Column #37 When I learned that the United States Commission on Civil Rights, Mid-western Regional Office requested Chairman Martin R. Castro to be in Minneapolis on September 15, 2011, I could see truth to the rumors that the city was going to make an effort to sanitize two very crucial and critical studies of racial disparity (non-compliance) in Minneapolis unemployment and contracts. The purpose would be to protect the image of Mayor RT Rybak and his administration’s Department of Civil Rights by sanitizing its reputation with the Obama administration. Two very in depth examinations of disparity and discrimination were published in April and October of 2010, painting a very unfavorable picture as they exposed the cover up of the City’s continued pattern of purposefully failing to be in compliance with its own as well as federal statues in minority employment and contracts. The announcement said “Community Forum,” yet the agenda showed no intention to allow victims of racial discrimination to give testimony. In fact, some of the individuals on the panels to discuss unemployment disparities and its causes are directly responsible for carrying out the cover up of these barriers barring African Americans. And it is these barriers that contribute to continued poverty and poor education in the Black community. Why would it take the advisory committee to the U.S. Commission On Civil Rights 16 months to decide that this disaster disserved a formal and legal examination, and then make sure that the community was not only not informed but not given an opportunity to offer testimony, counter to the rules of the US Commission on Civil Rights, unless the purpose is cover up, not exposure? The Commission is obviously attempting to sanitize and protect the reputation of liberals, both Black and white. The statements made before the Commission September 15, 2011, at the University of St. Thomas, do not match in purpose what the Commission says on its own web site: “To investigate complaints alleging … fraudulent practices, ….. discrimination or a denial of equal protection of the laws because of race, color” nor “in the administration of justice.” Minneapolis has committed all of these fraudulent practices. If the Commission is not here to verify that it con only be here to cover it up. On September 13, a group of Black “leaders” met at the Urban League with the head of the Minneapolis Health Department to discuss funding for the mental health initiative directed against the African American community. For their troubles they were offered $40,000, which they rejected: they wanted $10 million. On September 14, Mayor Rybak was to present to the national Mayors Institute for City Design, Charleston, SC, his plan for the increased gentrification of African Americans in North Minneapolis (i.e, displacing them). On September 15, the US Civil Rights Commission was asked to sanitize documentation of racial disparity and unemployment in Minneapolis. These three dates will live in infamy as part of the grand plan for the final solution of removing Blacks from Minneapolis. The events of these dates reflect the level of disdain and disrespect white power brokers have of the Negroes, as well as the disdain and disrespect of our community held by their Black lackies. If the Commission is serious about Truth, it will read my February 10, 2010 column that answers, with facts and figures, the question, Where did it all go wrong?and it will read my March 31, 2011 Solution paper, Planning For The Positive Future …..of the African American community, which lists the links to the facts and figures in over 5 dozen columns printed in this paper that the Commission should read, if it is serious. The columns are easily Clicking on the links uncovers the willful and intentional refusal to comply by this city’s administration and its Department of Civil Rights. Even worse is that these tragic circumventions of the law to discriminate against Blacks is being carried out by Black lackies exercising the city’s “pathology and moral dereliction” of exclusion. As I have predicted in past columns, this has truly become the 2011 summer of Black rage, which is being reinforced by Black betrayal in education, jobs and housing. Ron Edwards' platforms for communicating with the community: Posted Wednesday, September 21, 2011, 1:00 a.m. Lt. Lee Edwards files against MPD September 14, 2011, Column #36 “Lt. Lee Edwards files 2nd suit in police corruption probe” was the Star Tribune headline September 3. It is his second discrimination claim lawsuit against the City; the first came when he was part of the Mill City 5 Black Officers' lawsuit against the City. This second suit charges the City with “retaliation for uncovering racial discrimination within Minneapolis police” in the first suit. The first suit ended in May 2009, with a settlement of the case the Star Tribune reported was about “a 20-year pattern of discrimination against Black police officers.” The Mill City 5 Black officers were Lt. Edwards, Lt. Charles Adams, Lt. Medaria Arradondo, Lt. Don Harris, and Sgt. Dennis Hamilton. Those close to the pattern of discrimination in the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) based on race are not surprised. This was also one of the common themes to come before the federally established PCRC (Police Community Relations Council) of 2004-2008, on which I served. I applaud Lt. Edwards (who is not related to this columnist) for being an African American police officer willing to fight those trying to trample on his constitutional rights. Recall the February 1, 2008 Star Tribune headline “Judge rejects city's motions as officers' bias case opens.” The judge was Federal District Court of Minnesota Chief Judge Michael Davis (see my February 6, 2008 column, Battle Lines Drawn in Federal Court). Layer by layer, the process began for peeling back the layers of corruption and racial bias, discrimination and animus within the MPD directed against officers of color, as well as White officers fighting MPD corruption (as Sgt. Michael Keith: see my column of August 29, 2007, A profile in courage and integrity—the saga of Lt. Michael Keefe), in the battle to drive out corruption in law enforcement in the political home of the legendary Hubert Humphrey. Under no circumstances could the current administrations of the mayor and the MPD chief be confused with the Humphrey legacy, an example of how far this city has fallen. I commend officers like Lt. Edwards and Sgt. Keith for the court actions they are taking to seek justice, not only for themselves but also for their fellow officers. This is different from the lawsuit two White officers filed in order to cover up the earlier corrupt investigation of MPD Black police officers. It is clear that in an email dated Monday, October 6, 2008, 9:17 am, to Capt. Amelia Huffman, head of the Criminal Investigation Division of the MPD, Lt. Andy Smith’s complaints reveal the panic within the MPD about the illegal wiretaps being conducted against Black officers who were involved with litigation against the MPD and the City of Minneapolis. In another example of MPD corruption, documents have “disappeared” that reviewed the requests for wiretaps made during the February 2007 to December 2008 period. It is quite clear that Lt. Edwards and his attorneys have discovered that privileged communication and conversation, specifically between the Mill City 5 and their attorneys, were being intercepted illegally and in violation of the rules of discovery of the federal court. Some suspect that the Mill City 5 attorneys did not want to believe that a government entity, such as the City of Minneapolis, would be involved in such egregious acts and violations of the constitutional rights of their Mill City 5 clients. They didn’t seem to want to believe the City could be so defiant of the federal court authority and the trust the federal court placed in the City to protect of the rights of all the citizens of Minneapolis. And yet it happened. These lawsuits need to go to trial, as even the Star Tribune has stated, as settlements deprive the public of the opportunity to hear the revelations and testimony that must be put forth, under oath, under the protection of the color of law. The pioneers of civil rights and human rights, and those who have stood against discrimination and animus from law enforcement, deserve nothing less than a full review and exposure that can lead to a cleansing of one of the most corrupt departments and cities in the United States of America. For more background, see “On the RACISM AND DISCRIMINATION in the Minneapolis Police Department,” July 10, 2008, updated through September 14, 2011 (lists 60 columns, 31 blog entries, and 12 “solution” papers at: ). The subhead, “Speaking over the silence of the major Twin Cities Dailies,” speaks to the scooping by this newspaper of the major dailies that often refuse to thoroughly report on this topic. Ron Edwards' platforms for communicating with the community: Posted 9-19-11, 3:38 p.m. Minneapolis Streets are the Battle Ground for the Soul of the City. Violence Continues to Spiral Out of Control in Minneapolis September 7, 2011, Column #35 The Rybak administration pretends crime and violence is under control on the streets and in the neighborhoods of Minneapolis. My last column reported 22 shot or stabbed, with 3 deaths. I now add six more stabbings where one died and the firing of gunmen on a Mosque in South Minneapolis celebrating Ramadan, killing a 26 year old Somali. This was the second attack on a religious gathering in Minneapolis in less than seven days. Can you believe that if gunmen fired on white Lutherans and white Roman Catholics I’d even have to point this out? Can you believe the silence of the ecumenical leadership of our city, both Black and white, in light of this sectarian violence? “Leadership,” Black and white, seems to be petrified, as if there are no answers to the violence and terror gripping the neighborhoods and streets of our city. The foundations, churches and interest groups that hold “what shall be done” meetings should check out the solutions offered on this column’s web page. Instead, they ignore who lives here and make promises of safety to visitors that Minneapolis is not a Little Belfast, like to the 10,000 strong American Legion that again came to Minneapolis for their annual convention. Even the Legionnaires, veterans of combat in different theaters of conflict around the world, can read between the lines. They read newspapers. They watch TV in their hotel rooms and wherever else they may be. Although guaranteed safety I question if they understand the level of terror gripping this city. And yet, still, with the exception of this column, silence continues. Here is an example of the muzzling of the 4th Estate in this city: five days ago, snipers in the vicinity of 29th and Morgan in North Minneapolis, fired from ambush on Minneapolis police, the second time in a month and a half that this column has reported this. Minneapolis police are wondering when their superiors will show some concern for the safety of law enforcement officers in our city. When you refuse to discuss the continued acts of violence, as the Rybak Administration and City Council and church communities have chosen to do, democracy and free society become precarious, and could evaporate or go up in flames. Despite the people in our city being shot, knifed, maimed and killed, the silence continues. Silence is not acceptable. Not since the days of Prohibition 80 years ago have Minneapolis police officers been fired on from ambush by snipers. What is the explanation? What are we up against as a city? Is Europe coming to America? Have we now fallen into a period of sectarian violence as Belfast and Londonderry in Northern Ireland in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s? Ask yourselves this: how safe are our 13 and 14 year old children seeing how 13 and 14 year olds are being gunned down on the streets of our city? This city pretends it is not Detroit, Newark, Chicago, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Memphis, or Baltimore, an honor roll that lives in infamy in terms of violence on the streets of those cities. We act as if we are above those references and identification tags. Either our city officials refuse to address how their policies contribute to this violence or they are afraid to express their views. The violence from guns, knives, feet and fists continue. The dust briefly settles and the Medical Examiner moves on, but the casualty figures continue to increase. The mayor and the city council are doing nothing to enable citizens to feel safer. We must not allow ourselves to become the Belfast or Rio de Janeiro of North America. Minnesotans and Minneapolitans deserve better. Hubert Humphrey would cry tears of humiliation if he saw this violence in his city now. Cecil Newman and Nellie Stone Johnson would pray for the salvation of African Americans. All three of these great patriots would cry over the darkness that has descended over this city during this period of outrageous violence, as our leaders, white and Black, cower fearfully, hoping this American tragedy just goes away. The establishment must act, for around the world, the young are rising up against establishments trying to keep them down. Minneapolis should be leading not retreating our youth. I don’t understand why African American leaders, sitting on $600K for Tornado recovery, are not offering $5K for information that can help apprehend the shooters of the 13 and 14 year olds. Stay tuned. Ron Edwards: platforms for communicating with the community: Posted September 7, 2011, 3:52 a.m. Fifteen shot. Seven stabbed. Three dead. August 31, 2011, Column #34 For six days last week, Minneapolis teetered on the edge of what could be called anarchy. Within a six-day period, 15 people were shot, seven were stabbed, three died, and two, as of the writing of this column, are still fighting for their lives. All were African American. Nineteen males, three females, the oldest 21 years of age, with one pregnant. As of the writing of this column, here is the breakdown:
Every city knows violence. Media usually keep all informed and aware of the level of violence. Except in Minneapolis, where White media often embargo news of the Black community unless Whites are involved too. Without knowledge, citizens are at greater risk and peril. News embargoes undermine the credibility of city leaders. I understand the need not to repel tourists and shoppers, but repelling voters will prove to be worse. Fifteen shootings and seven stabbings in six days is obviously disturbing. Particularly disturbing is the 19-year-old female shot at the corner of Broadway and Lyndale in North Minneapolis as she stood in a prayer circle offering prayers for the safety of the city. Yes, that’s correct: This 19-year-old was gunned down as she and 25 others, Black and White, prayed for the safety of the communities of our city. I repeat what is most frightening about this: The embargo on the publication of the news of these events by the White-controlled Twin Cities media, as if they hope that people being shot and stabbed and killed will go unnoticed. Once again we get a better understanding of how City officials suppress the magnitude of violence so they can proclaim that violent crime is down. They hope we have our heads in the sand, that it will blow over, and that people won’t know how much of the problem is because the MPD is spending more time on internal activity and less on protection and crime prevention. Maybe because of the fact that all 22 victims (and the unborn baby makes for a total of 23 human beings) are Black, White media is telling us that Black people are not important. That is a sad and dangerous commentary. Six days of violence in our American city. This is not Kabul, Baghdad, Tripoli, Rio de Janeiro, Stockholm or London. This is our city, our people, our neighbors, and our loved ones. Think about it my friends: six days of terror for the Black community. Fifteen shot. Seven stabbed. Three dead. An unborn baby fighting for survival. Two African American women in critical condition. All must be part of the shared concern with respect to what is happening in the African American community of Minneapolis. This is the 48th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s March on Washington “I Have a Dream” speech about poverty, social justice, equality, jobs, education, liberty and hope. The symbol of this is a 30-foot statue of Dr. King, dedicated Sunday, August 28, in the new MLK four-acre National Memorial in Washington, D.C. This is also the 56th anniversary of the murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till. Which visions will guide Minneapolis? Peace or violence? Poverty or prosperity? Education and jobs or despair? The MPD is part of that answer. The energy spent by the MPD to harass and try to ruin Black officers needs to be redirected to protecting the community. Too many Whites want us gone, as we see in the continual and inexorable gentrification removing Blacks from Minneapolis. Stay tuned. Ron Edwards: platforms for communicating with the community: Posted August 31, 2011, 2:08 a.m. Without MPD narcotics unit, drugs flow freely in Black community August 24, 2011, Column #33 In very early June of 2011, a community resident by the name of Johnny Turnipseed raised a very serious and profound question at a press conference being held by the tornado recovery team. His question had to do with the aftermath of the tornado and damage to homes: How were the authorities going to deal with the problems of drugs and prostitution? Longtime observers of the drug problem in Minneapolis know and understand that there has never been a truly aggressive effort to deal with illegal drugs, nor to confront those who give protection to those promoting drug activity within the Black community. One example among many is the 923 Club on Washington Avenue in North Minneapolis. For years it was the hub for illegal drug trafficking in the Black community. The club had police protection, which everyone knew and understood. In fact, a number of years later one of the law enforcement officers that gave aid and comfort to drug trafficking became the head of the Minneapolis Police Department’s narcotics unit. That raises another issue: Of the top 100 police departments in the United States, as of the publishing of this column, only the Minneapolis Police Department no longer has a narcotics unit. For reasons no one seems to want to explain, Minneapolis disbanded its narcotics unit, even though the flow of illegal drugs into the neighborhoods of Minneapolis is as acute and intense now as at any time in modern history. And so when citizen Johnny Turnipseed raised the question of drugs and prostitution and was then verbally attacked for doing so, I knew why. I encourage those who maintain they want to be enlightened on saving our youth to examine the National League of Cites report of 2009. And yet, the silence within leadership communities when one talks about drugs continues. Many know that drug trafficking in Black America is extremely beneficial and profitable for a small segment of “leaders” always at the ready to position themselves to make sure that drugs flow freely to their target victims in the African American community. It does not bode well that Johnny Turnipseed was beaten back and dismissed at the press conference on the grounds that drugs and prostitution were not the subject of the event, when drugs, prostitution and crime have been going on hand in hand with everything, including tornado recovery. Why does the City persist in its denial? Stay tuned. Ron Edwards: platforms for communicating with the community: Posted August 24, 2011, 11:30 p.m. Violence flares again in our beloved Shangri La August 17, 2011, Column #32 “Agitation is the marshaling of the conscience of a nation to mold its law,” said Sir Robert Peel, who helped create the modern concept of the police force and twice served as England’s Prime Minister between 1834 and 1846. Minneapolis needs planning that reflects its good conscience and diminishes agitation. Agitation is on the streets of Minneapolis, agitation due to the City’s responses to tornado recovery, economic downturn, furloughed workers, and violence in the streets, all part of 2011’s troubling summer. I reported on the sham that is the tornado recovery planning, the turmoil in the MPD planning and collapse of the Violent Offenders Task Force (VOTF), and City workers either furloughed or reduced to a four-day work week, much due to a lack of political and community leadership. Pitched battles fought weekly between police and young people are mindful of riots now going on in London. The cover-up/non-reporting of Minneapolis violence and instability is mind-boggling and dangerous to the health and future of what is promoted as a safe city. Comparatively speaking, “safe” is the furthest thing from the truth. The eight shootings in three days included a 17-year-old Black youth gunned down while bicycle riding in North Minneapolis, and a young man shot just on the outskirts of the Little Earth Housing Project in South Minneapolis, this time by police. In one night, there were five shootings in North and South Minneapolis. And along Penn Avenue in North Minneapolis, unknown terrorists fired upon police. Most disturbing is that there are no suspects. The internal unraveling of the VOTF is taking a wider toll on the city. But the most egregious and outrageous act of violence was the 26-year-old African American shot from ambush in the middle of the street at 13th and Oliver at 11 pm. Shot in the neck, he is now paralyzed from the neck down. What is so disturbing about this tragedy is that it has received no news coverage other than this column. No press conference. No update. No visit by the mayor or other political leader, and certainly no utterance of concern and condolence from leadership within the African American community. A young man gunned down in the streets, paralyzed from the neck down, with no one expressing concern as our good Samaritans “pass on the other side.” His loved ones and friends desperately seek answers. So far, no answers are to be had. And this doesn’t include the suspicious number of victims of violence and mayhem pulled from the Mississippi River. It makes me think of the1980s “disappeared” era in Buenos Aires, Argentina, or Sao Paolo, Brazil, or in Damascas, Syria today, or somewhere else in the wild Third World that is more forgotten than remembered. But this violence of which I write is happening here, my friends, on the streets of our own beloved city, Minneapolis, Minnesota, with a lot of victims and no suspects. Are the European street battles of agitation in London, Paris, Athens, etc. coming to America? Where is the reporting of the Fourth Estate? Where are the plans for dealing with it? Isn’t the suppression of news supposed to be only in the authoritarian regimes of South America, the Middle East, North Africa and parts of Asia? Why is it taking place here on the banks of the Mississippi, in our beloved Shangri La? Do not dismiss the agitation of the economic downturn, the lack of jobs, the unequal access and opportunity, and the dark forecasts of our economic future. The violence can only increase, and it is clear the African American community has become a target for the fallout from bad public policy. It is very simple, my friends: If there is no report, there is no investigation, no follow-up, no prosecution, and, in the words spoken too often in history, “We screamed for consideration, but there was no one left to hear our cries.” This is Minneapolis in the year 2011. As you think about the one thing that you have, life, be wise and think about the planning pieces we have written about (and placed on our website), which are also being ignored by the various leaderships and white journalists. Stay tuned. May God bless you. Ron Edwards: platforms for communicating with the community: Posted Wednesday, August 17, 2011, 1:22 a.m. When experience and knowledge truly mean something. June 8, 2011, Column #22 "Let nobody fool you, all the loud noises we hear today Over 60 serious minded people came together at 8 am, May 27, 2011, at the UROC center in North Minneapolis, and again at 3 pm that afternoon, across the street at the Urban League. Purpose? to discuss how to handle the aftermath of the tornado that damaged over 5,000 homes and businesses and caused millions of dollars in damage. The 8 am meeting had been announced by Mayor RT Rybak. It appeared no one was ready with plans other than Lutheran Social Services (LSS), which is the largest statewide private non-profit social service agency in Minnesota. Nancy Beers, the Director of Lutheran Social Services Disaster Services and Camp Noah, demonstrated what calamity preparedness is all about: meet calamity with ready, actionable response plans to assist disaster victims. Why doesn’t the Black Ministerial Group have such plans? The self-proclaimed “leaders” high jacked the morning meeting, announcing they were coordinating the relief effort in North Minneapolis. It was clear they had no such plan for doing anything other than collecting fees for coordinating. What an embarrassment for the Black community. Even more embarrassing was how some of those who receive big salaries to manage agencies within the Black community disrespected organizations that are actually doing real things to help real people (e.g., Lutheran Social Services, the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army). We choose at this time not to name names, hoping they’ll get it right, and then work to end the disconnect, and learn how to bring assistance to our community without putting their their hands out. The excellent LLS PowerPoint presentation bore witness to an extraordinary understanding of what to do in a community after disasters like the tornado. Ms. Beers and Lutheran Social Services obviously bring experience and sensitivity to communities in pain. We need Black leaders and ministers with knowledge and who really care? The 3:00 pm meeting in the afternoon at the Urban League, called by the Black organizational leadership was more fake, as they merely had Ms Beers and her Lutheran Social Services team repeat their outstanding PowerPoint presentation. I wondered what we would have discussed without the Lutheran Social Services presentation. When will our Black leadership and churches work to become relevant again, especially in response to disasters? To take advantage of the work and the knowledge of others is not uncommon, but it leaves a sour taste in one’s mouth to know they are drawing excessive and extraordinary salaries and still do so little. This point was made again when I attended another meeting the following Tuesday. A tremendous number of agency heads and other representatives met. This time, Ms Beers and her Lutheran Social Services team was not there. And those who positioned themselves as spokespersons and facilitators for tornado recovery were exposed as being unprepared. With no one’s work to hijack or pirate, incompetency driven by the mentality of hustling for the sake of the hustle was exposed. It breaks my heart to say this. But truth has to be spoken to misused power when so many neighbors are in pain, and all the status quo leaders bring is incompetence and hustling. All could see it. Truth is truth. Facts are facts. When will Black “leaders” trod the only leadership paths that count: education and jobs? Instead, they participate in dumbing down the education of our kids and grand kids, even helping to deny them jobs, even on the biggest construction projects, so they can keep their jobs. “Where there is no vision the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18). Lutheran Social Services showed vision. The Black leadership did not. Not all of them, of course, but with too many of them we don’t anticipate positive results on behalf of the black community. Instead we anticipate the same ‘ol same ‘ol: misrepresentation and lies by city officials, agency heads and Black “leaders” who wile their time dancing together at their tax payer funded feast. Much of our community’s confidence and vision of hope for the future have been shattered. Our community will continue to suffer as long as we are given incompetence, inexperience, and indifference. Lets us adopt plans Lutheran Social Services outlines the need: long-term disaster recovery services, such as disaster case management, volunteer coordination, rebuilding assistance, mental health supports, financial counseling, comforting children, and other services as identified. Stay tuned. Ron Edwards' journalist platforms for communicating with the community: Posted Thursday, June 9, 2011, 4:30 a.m. Disaster accelerates gentrification of North Minneapolis June 1, 2011, Column #21 The tornado that smashed its way through the northern part of Minneapolis on Sunday, May 22 unleashed what insurance companies call “an act of God.” This gives our dear leaders a chance to unleash Rahm Emanuel’s famously stated “never let a serious crisis go to waste,” using it for plans to line their pockets and hasten North Minneapolis’ gentrification. Instead of our recommended Nellie Stone Johnson Plan (provide education that qualifies for jobs that enables buying and repairing a home), we get the Hollman/Heritage Park Plan (forcing Blacks kept poor out, further reducing Black voters in Minneapolis). Planning for Black exclusion in North Side Minneapolis reconstruction continues what I called in 2003 “a cross between Birth of a Nation and The Wizard of Oz," labeling the racist and classist dispersing of poor Blacks a rainbow. What is the reconstruction plan? Why aren’t Blacks included in paid planning and paid cleanup? Why this Hollman/Heritage Park moment: Blacks colluding with Whites to scatter North Minneapolis’ poor Blacks without a right of return? The tornado changed our neighborhoods, but not the behavior of the elite hustlers and fixers from our churches, community organizations, foundations, other nonprofits and City agencies as they plan continuing gentrification, scattering poor Blacks and reconstructing without Black workers. Star Tribune headline, May 23, 2011: “North Minneapolis tornado toll: $166 million and likely to rise.” Governor Dayton: Minnesota “will offer whatever help north Minneapolis needs to recover, including a special session to consider disaster aid.” But “consider” is not a plan. The Minneapolis City Council: They will “request outside disaster declarations and aid.” But “request” is not a plan. Hennepin County admits to not having a plan for a disaster of “this magnitude.” Not having a plan is a bad plan. City officials: feared the damage to the North Side means “housing options have dwindled.” “Dwindling options” serves gentrification. FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency): government assistance only for a percentage of damage. Five thousand homes damaged. “Percentage” means huge boost to gentrification. A list at the May 24 meeting identified MBEs and WBEs (Minority Business Enterprises and Women’s Business Enterprises) already selected and agreed to participate in this criminal enterprise: pass-throughs from nominal minority companies back to major White businesses and construction companies that will do the actual work, all serving gentrification (continuing to do nothing to deal with the steep decline of Black businesses in North Minneapolis). I’ll be blunt: Numbers will be forged; press releases will announce fake numbers, all to show minority business enterprises and Black workers (mostly ghosts) on the job enjoying the benefits of the proposed $166+ million stimulus package for North Minneapolis. I have reported this sham that systematically and purposefully keeps Blacks off big construction projects in the Twin Cities, as no monitoring allows refusing to meet diversity compliance. With past as prologue, Black contractors and Black workers “need not apply.” My most recent reporting on this includes columns of 2009: September 30, November 4. 2010: January 13, April 14, May 5, 12, 19, June 16, August 11, November 17, 24, December 15. 2011: February 9, March 9. All are archived at www.TheMinneapolisStory.com. Does this mean the final solution of the North Minneapolis “round up” plan of my May 4, 2005 column is being worked out in reverse, using the tornado damage to hasten the dispersal of Blacks, not unlike what happened to the Jews in the 1930s and 1940s? Making African Americans in North Minneapolis an endangered species has long been the plan. Blacks now understand what is in store for them. To believe they will again accept it peacefully is a very risky gamble. [Editor’s note: Consider using, in preparing for such discussions, including with groups of concerned neighbors, these Solution Papers, listed at www.TheMinneapolisStory.com/tocsolutions.htm: #42, Dec 22, 2010: About Planning Ron Edwards' journalist platforms for communicating with the community: Posted Thursday, June 2, 2011, 12:05 p.m. It’s déjà vu with the MPD as history repeats itself. April 27, 2011, Column #17 One of the rules of investigating corruption is to determine the level of the offense. Overtime is that kind of issue. People steal overtime either by falsifying hours worked or working hours not needed or not assigned. Either way, overtime pay is stolen from the taxpayers. The level of Minneapolis Police Department overtime abuse was so great that it finally caught the attention of City of Minneapolis auditors scrutinizing overtime hours, which led to the investigation of MPD unit commanders by the assistant chief and deputy chief. The lawsuit filed (see April 5, 2011 Star Tribune, “2 Minneapolis officers sue, alleging retaliatory demotions”) caused me to ask in my April 20, 2011 column (“New lawsuit continues old MPD cover-up of White corruption”) what the driving force was for the auditors to provide information that caused the assistant chief and deputy chief to take decisive action to remove Lt. Smith and Sgt. King from duty. A February 14, 2011 letter from Assistant Chief Janae Hartung to Lt. Smith states they were placed on administration leave pursuant to Article 16 of the labor agreement. The letter instructed Lt. Smith to not be on any property of the MPD or the FBI without prior authorization. Thinking back, I remember seeing that kind of statement almost four years earlier, when Sgt. King and others had brought allegations to Chief Dolan against Lt. Keith, then head of the Violent Offender Task Force (VOTF). See my column of August 29, 2007. Consequently, déjà vu. For more déjà vu, see my list of columns of MPD cover-up on my web site. The deeper question and mystery is of how officers of the VOTF unit positioned themselves in the investigation of an assistant Hennepin County attorney, John St. Marie, who had been involved in a Hennepin County prostitution ring almost two years ago (Strib, July 12, 2009). These commanders indicated they had no knowledge of the overtime that was being identified by Lt. Smith, Sgt. King, and others in the VOTF Unit. Now it is not clear, as of the writing of this column, April 20, if these investigative reports will be made available to the public. Of course, under discovery, within the rules of the court, this information will be provided to the city in its defense against the allegations by Lt. King and Sgt. Smith. But the question remains: Where was the chief during this investigation? On page 13 of the complaint filed by Lt. Smith and Sgt. King, at lines 97 through 105, there is a most disturbing discussion between Chief Dolan and Lt. Smith about what Chief Dolan knew, when he knew it, what he saw, and what he asked. The public and a jury will have to determine the truth. At line 102, the chief acknowledged that he “personally reviewed the documents and personally determined that Smith and King had not violated any laws,” but he refused to identify the specific information on which he based that view. I have reason to believe that the chief knew as far back as January 26, 2010, when he wrote the letter praising the outstanding investigative work of Lt. Smith and Sgt. King, that he used it to expose the so-called corruption of Black police officers. It appears that Lt. Smith and Sgt. King knew all about how things were being approached in the investigations, including that by the county attorney’s office. This is why it would be important for the city council to scrutinize all timelines and the issues of overtime as well as the issue of retaliation. And whether in closed or open sessions, it is important that the chief explain to the council who it was he was talking about in his letter of January 26, 2010, as the Chief’s letter states that Smith and King were the targets for retaliation. But by whom? And why, as soon as Assistant Chief Janae Hartung made the federal authorities aware of her actions on Feb 14, 2011, did all federal agencies with personnel in the VOTF unit order their people to withdraw from the unit? Knee jerk reaction? Action due to uncovering significant criminal abuse? Just a desire to distance from it? The public has a right to know the answers to these questions. Will damages be paid out? Will the money go to those with a legal right to receive it, or is this is another scam perpetrated upon the tax payers of Minneapolis? Stay tuned. Ron Edwards' journalist platforms for communicating with the community: Posted Wednesday, April 27, 2011, 5:34 a.m. New lawsuit continues old MPD cover-up of White corruption April 20, 2011, Column #16 The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported April 5, 2011 (2 Mpls. officers sue, alleging retaliatory demotions) that two ranking Minneapolis police officers, Lt. Andrew Smith and Sgt. Pat King, filed a lawsuit “accusing superior officers of retaliating against them for uncovering corruption within the department.” I wondered why the majority media didn’t ask the following question: Why was Chief Tim Dolan not named as a defendant in the case? After further review of the lawsuit, I saw how clever this entire scenario is turning out to be. Racial tensions within the Minneapolis Police Department is not new news — I write about it regularly (two 2006 columns, seven 2008 columns, and 12 columns in 2009). The Star Tribune finally wrote on it April 28, 2009, FBI joins in probe of Metro Gang Strike Force almost two and a half years later (see my column of May 6, 2009). [Ed note: find URL’s of referenced columns at the end of this post.] I concur with lines 53-61 of the April 28, 2009 editorial: that Had the five African American police officers stayed the course, it would have allowed everyone to learn the truth about racial tensions in the MPD. But, for whatever reason(s), the officers chose to take the money. There has been nothing but silence since. The chief and his two top investigators of the Black police officers have now opened old wounds. In a January 26, 2010 letter to both Lt. Smith and Sgt. King, the chief praises and commends them for their “efforts in the corruption investigation that led to the conviction of former Minneapolis police officer, Michael Roberts.” The chief went on to say, “This letter will formally document that, at my request, you had a significant role in the internal corruption investigation.” As co-chair of the former Police Community Relations Council (PCRC), I am not surprised. After reading the entire letter, one realizes that this was about how to distract from the federal grand jury investigating corruption of White Minneapolis police officers in order to shift attention to Black law enforcement officers. The January 26 letter is very interesting. The chief wrote, “I want to thank you for your courage and willingness to serve the department in such an important effort.” Then, at the very end of the letter, the chief indicates the names of former and current employees with knowledge about this investigation. One of those was Deputy Chief Scott Gerlicher, who is a defendant in the Smith-King suit. This was classic Dolan, setting up Smith and King to be able to sue and thus draw attention away from the police department corruption, especially the White officers of the Gang Task Force. It then makes sense why Lt. Smith and Sgt. King claim they are targets of retaliation and threats. In fact, in the court document, according to Lt. Smith, Chief Dolan told them that “you don’t have an idea of how many people are gunning for you.” That is a rather interesting and transparent signal to them from their chief. The full scope of these legal allegations is seen when both plaintiffs indicate the dangers they were faced with, claiming that investigating Black police officers revealed the betrayal of the public trust by the Black officers. They further allege that the Black officers provided confidential and privileged information to known drug dealers and gang members for the purpose of allowing retaliation against citizens of this city. They claim these are factual allegations and that they put their careers on the line to expose corrupt African American officers in the department. It was interesting how they identified in their brief former officer Michael Roberts and former inspector and now Lt. Lee Edwards for their pubic corruption. My columns since 2006 have reported what they want to cover up: corruption of White police officers. After 14 months of dragging their feet, the city attorney’s office gave the lame assessment that I had no standing to bring this information forward. But of course I did, and do. Lt. Smith and Sgt. King’s obvious effort at reverse discrimination used some of the same arguments, but now they say said it was the Black officers who were the villains. The majority media has shied away from my columns since 2006 that have exposed the cover-up of the real villains: White police officers. In next week’s column I will go deeper into the conspiracy that brought down Black Minneapolis police officers. Stay tuned. Ron Edwards' journalist platforms for communicating with the community: Posted Wednesday, April 20, 2011, 12:22 a.m. ===== Past related columns: May 6, 2009 Column #17: Courageous witness may expose race-based MPD corruption September 26, 2007 Column #20: Minneapolis Black police officers take action against bias. The need for Chapter 149.80: A Time to Act September 12, 2007 Column #19: At MPD, retaliation is the order of the day August 29, 2007 Column #18: A profile in courage and integrity—the saga of Lt. Michael Keefe December 5, 2007 Column #25: 1. The Betrayal of Joan Johnson: A Civil Rights Tragedy 2. Black police officers sue city and chief for discrimination January 2, 2008 Column #1: MPD's scorched-earth policy: 2007 bleeds into 2008 April 30, 2008 Column #15: Targeting the Black police May 28, 2008 Column #19: Cops help bad guys threaten good citizens May 21, 2008 Column #18: History in the making: Police Federation requests criminal investigation of MPD Chief Dolan June 25, 2008 Column #23: The mystery continues: an update on MPD Black police officers July 30, 2008, Column #28: In the matter of Charles F. Adams: The continued saga of Black officers August 6, 2008 Column #29: The death of a settlement, the shame of a city August 20, 2008 Column #31: Flawed journalism misses MPD conspiracy against Black officers October 8, 2008 Column #38: Is The Strib Only Interested In Black Corruption?Why Did It Drop Its MPD Investigation When White Officers Were Implicated? November 5, 2008 Column #42: The shredding of 'Operation Payback' November 5, 2008 Column #42: The shredding of 'Operation Payback' December 24, 2008, Column #49: Time is running out for Police Community Relations Council “The Plan” revealed: no more jobs for Black Minnesotans in 2011 and beyond. March 9, 2011, Column #10 One of the important features of history is date sequences. They identify occasions of events, including place, circumstances and people involved. Here are some recent historical landmarks in the purposeful denial of jobs to Blacks in this city and state. Historic date: April 18, 2008 — Report of Michael Jordan, then director of the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights (DCR), using 20 references to “monitoring,” “compliance with,” and “increased opportunities for MBEs [Minority Business Enterprises].” All untrue. Historic date: August 28, 2009 — MinneapolisStory blog entry with list of 12 columns, 2005-2009, reporting incidents of noncompliance. Historic date: June 18, 2010 — Star Tribune editorial headed, “This is one list we’d rather not top,” about the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) study and testimony released to the U.S. Congress showing African Americans 3.1 times more likely than Whites to be unemployed in the metro area. Historic date: November 3, 2010 — Since those elections, both parties have shouted the clarion call for jobs, jobs, jobs. Where are they? Historic date: October 22, 2010 — “Diversity Study” report to the City, with 17 pages of recommendations, from NERA Economic Consultants. Key statement: “Minneapolis currently does not monitor compliance during performance. Contractor utilization is reviewed at contract closeout. This is too late to correct any deficiencies to ensure M/WBEs are treated fairly on their contracts.” Historic date: October 27, 2010 (five days later) — on page 2A of USA Today, Living Cities Foundation press conference in Detroit announces $16 million granted to each of five cities, including Minneapolis, for the employment of the unemployed, underemployed and hard to employ. Where is it? Where did it get diverted to? Historic date: February 24, 2011 — Publication of the letter of Dr. Samuel L. Myers, Jr. rebutting the October 22, 2011 Minneapolis “Diversity Report.” Had Dr. Meyers read my books, columns, and website, where I have thoroughly documented the purposeful job-denying economic rape of the Black community by the public and private sectors since 2002, he would not have written such an abstract letter devoid of street-level reality. (See my most recent columns, November 18 and 25 and December 8 and 15, 2010, and January 5 and 19 and February 9, 2011, archived at www.MinneapolisStory.com). Dr. Myers’ real goal seems to be to get the grant given to NERA, the Texas firm that conducted the study. But being in Minneapolis is not enough if you are blind to the facts and deaf to what is said by workers. Dr. Myers writes of documents that don’t exist (either shredded or never existing in the first place). Dr. Myers seems to place the blame for defective and incomplete information at the doorstep of NERA. The reason the NERA report contains flawed information and statistics, which they admit, is because the data and information they obtained from the DCR was flawed, with made-up numbers, contract payments, payroll information and Social Security numbers that never existed. Dr. Myers won’t acknowledge the City’s GIGO: garbage in, garbage out. He ignores the City’s refusal to follow its own regulations, and he ignores the former DCR director Michael Jordan’s public comment that major contracts under the legal custody of the DCR could be executed and completed without hiring a single Black person. When Dr. Myers suggests there might be “discrimination against White male-owned firms via existing race-conscious programs,” he shows just how out of touch with reality he is. He joins other so-called Black leaders more focused on their next funding project than on justice and fairness. The continued blocked unemployment of Blacks in the Twin Cities is an albatross of shame around the necks of those purposefully denying employment justice and fairness of law in the workplace. The historical timeline above reveals those in power (and those who elected them) not giving a damn. (For greater detail, see today’s blog entry on my MinneapolisStory.com website). The DCR has moved the discussion in a different direction, away from accurate reporting and following the law. Instead, the department is proposing in its business plan to downsize and remove itself from the active field of investigations by 2014, removing the need to pretend it enforces civil rights law. There it is, “The Plan,” out in the open, plain and simple. More studies are not needed. We already know that any attempt to provide opportunity for meaningful economic inclusion of African Americans in the state of Minnesota is doomed to failure. Stay tuned. Ron Edwards' journalist platforms for communicating with the community: Posted Wednesday, March 9, 2011, 8:00 p.m. Governor proposes $1 billion jobs stimulus program for Whites. No Compliance Enforcement Plan for Including African Americans. February 9, 2011, Column #6 Last week, newly elected Democratic Governor Mark Dayton announced a $1 billion jobs stimulus program for Minnesota. It sounds great on paper, but until I see a commitment to reversing the traditional disparities in such projects, it’s just a continuation of employment apartheid in Minnesota. The record shows [reported in this column as Disparity Study, Part I of November 17, 2010, and Part II of November 25, 2010], that no matter where stimulus proposals come from, African Americans are denied jobs. For eight years, this column has been asking for the plan of inclusion in employment, education and housing consistent with the spirit of Cecil Newman, Nellie Stone Johnson, Dr. Thomas Johnson, Frank Alsop, Father Denzel Carty, and other great Black Americans who have passed from this life. They would be heartbroken to hear that not only is there no plan in existence or contemplated, but also no Black or White community leaders have stepped up to oppose this. They want nothing to interfere with their separate gravy trains. This turning of their collective backs on opportunity for African Americans defeats the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., Black history, and the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement. History will rightly record these betrayals as acts of cowardice as “leaders” repudiate the dream and legacy of opportunity and freedom for African Americans in Minnesota. A $1 billion jobs stimulus program for Minnesota is absolutely great — if you’re White. It is one of the reasons that leadership of all colors in the Twin Cities have refused to discuss and examine the 2010 Disparity Report of October 21 and 22 (again, see my 2010 columns of Nov 17 and 24, and December 15). What and where is the Plan for 2011? [Thus we offer our own thoughts on planning here.] Only cowards or quislings would turn their backs on the findings and the warnings contained in that half-million-dollar study disclosing one of the things that is absolutely guaranteed in Minnesota: that people of color, and particularly African Americans, will not get a fair shake when it comes to hiring, the awarding of contracts, and other acts denying general areas of economic opportunity. There are many in the Black community who say they have the ear of the governor and of the power merchants of the Democratic Party, and yet none of them has spoken above a whisper regarding how Black Minnesotans will fit into this $1 billion jobs stimulus program. Maybe we have embraced more quickly than I realized what the White governor of Ohio told the Ohio Black Legislative Caucus: that he didn’t need Black people to do anything for him and his administration in regards to the future of African American economic opportunity in Ohio. The only difference between these White governors is that one is Republican and the other a Democrat. At least in Ohio, the Black legislative delegation challenged the governor of that state to ask for the inclusion of all Americans irrespective of race, creed, color or national origin. When will the Blacks of Minnesota stand up? It’s February, Black History Month, and yet no one has the courage to demand the basics that there be a place at the table for all of our citizens, regardless of their race or their color or whoever they may be. Think about it, my friends: a $1 billion jobs stimulus program in which the governor is saying he wants to borrow money to make things better so White Minnesotans feel more comfortable knowing there is success at the end of the great highway of White prosperity. How much longer until Black Minnesotans and others of color are afforded that same courtesy and respect? My oh my oh my oh my. As Bilbo would say, along with Strom Thurmond, happy days are here again for you know who. Let us offer our prayers for the sons and daughters of the African Americans of Minnesota, the victims of nullification and reversal in exchange for a better White Minnesota. Even in the worst of circumstances, we have been the most loyal and faithful to the republic, to this state, and to the Democratic Party. Yet we find ourselves once again oppressed by intentional nullification and reversal of the interests of Black Minnesotans. Nellie Stone Johnson said, “Without education there can be no jobs, and without jobs there can be no housing.” Vikings stadium construction jobs? Was the Vikings team’s stadium left off the construction jobs bill by mistake, as was the African American Museum? The museum has been put back on the list. Will the Vikings be put on the list? If so, will the team stop breaking the compliance rules identified by the Diversity Study? Stay tuned. Ron Edwards' journalist platforms for communicating with the community: Posted February 13, 2011, 11:22 p.m. The Black Church and the Black Council square off January 19, 2011, Column #4 Pull quote: A failure by either side to explain their actions in favor of facing off in battle denouncing each other will impede justice, especially in education, jobs and housing. Is God dead in Minneapolis? A nation or community destroys itself when powerful political and religious institutions part ways, hurling torrents of invective at each other, heaping scorn on each other’s ideas, and praying to the same God for help in beating each other. Too many think the key is to find moderates to bring the sides together, but moderates (as opposed to “moderation”) by definition are indecisive. Needed is to weave together the best that the Black church leaders and leaders of the Council on Black Minnesotans stand for, not their actions. These two factions’ actions reveal that they are not working together for the betterment of the community. Instead, they display deep-seated divisions and animosity. Only the Council knows why they chose to withdraw the invitation to former state representative Randy Staten to speak at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebration. Only the Black churchmen know why they marched into the auditorium of Central High School, almost a 100 strong and dressed in Black, denouncing the Council on Black Minnesotans and threatening to use violence. Members of the Black clergy say there has been inappropriate conduct by the Council on Black Minnesotans in terms of the handling of the tobacco settlement monies entrusted to the Council. For the last couple of years, the Council has awarded grants and awards totaling $250,000 per year. By Minnesota legislative statute, the Council is to regularly provide financial reporting to the legislature. Troubling are comments by the legislative auditor. Also troubling is the invitation to Republican Congresswoman Michelle Bachman (understandable in the legislative/political context). The Rev. Jerry McAfee scolded and repudiated the Council on Black Minnesotans for inviting Congresswoman Bachman (also understandable in light of her attacks on President Barack Obama, her taking personal credit on Monday the 17th for the ouster of former RNC Chairman Michael Steele, and in light of other very unkind and volatile statements she has made against the franchise of the African American). It is as legitimate to ask why the Council and the so-called MLK Commission extended this invitation as it is legitimate to ask why the Rev. McAfee threatened violence. These questions must be addressed. Certainly the legislative committee with oversight of the Council on Black Minnesotans must summon them to explain the various allegations laid against them by the Black Church group and the concerns of the legislative auditor. It is the right thing to do to begin the healing between two political bodies important to the well-being and future of the Black community in Minnesota. This is not the time for organizations to destroy themselves fighting internally in the community. Already we have lost too many organizations. Too many questions are unanswered regarding the collapse of organizations and the disappearance of African American leaders not able to stand in the well and ask the questions of inquiry (not to mention “lost” community monies). A failure by either side to explain their actions in favor of facing off in battle denouncing each other will impede justice, especially in education, jobs and housing. This can cause an unraveling of the fibers of strength that are so fundamentally important to tie the African American community together as one, doom unification, and undermine the future of the African American in Minnesota. President Obama asked in Tucson, "What, beyond prayers and expressions of concern, is required of us going forward?" Let’s start with (1) President Obama’s Tucson speech that “we live up [to the] expectations” of the nine-year-old killed in that city January 8, to work together to make America "as good as she imagined it"; (2) be guided by what many called the greatest piece of wisdom literature, the Sermon on the Mount; and (3) the solutions posted on my website, #42 (on planning) and #18 (on reconciling communities and races). Ron Edwards' journalist platforms for communicating with the community: Posted January 26, 2011, 3:36 pm Dec 22, 2010 Column #51: "Safe Streets" or "Street Safe" — take your pick. The fix is in again, and transparency out. "Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues" During the spring and summer of 2010, there was much discussion throughout the city about a program known as Operation Ceasefire. The entire odyssey was covered in great detail in my August 4, 2010 column in which we reported $2.2 million expected to come into the city, with at least $1 million being allocated to the group identified by Booker T Hodges in his columns over the last eight months. Once the announcement was made that Operation Ceasefire would not be coming to Minneapolis, I wondered what the next move would be. Now we are beginning to see. Federal sources and bloggers in Boston, Massachusetts reported that the weekend of December 10-12 a delegation from Minneapolis arrived in Boston to work on plans to bring a program and monies to Minneapolis. Those monies would be “Safe Street” monies, which, according to the website of the Minneapolis Council of Churches, would be funneled through the organization to a consortium of clergy and civil rights leaders. Bloggers are now reporting a meeting was held here in Minneapolis on December 13, comprised of the key principals in the plan, during which there was an in-depth discussion on how the proceeds would be assigned. During the December 13 discussion, a member of the ecumenical community indicated that his cut would be 43 percent off the top. In addition, the group discussed who would be revealed and who would not be revealed as principal operatives in this “Safe Streets” program. During the discussion it was pointed out that length of service, whatever that means, determines the cut of the pie. Of course, this position led to some philosophical debates, but it was quickly determined that there was nothing to debate, that it was a done deal. And feeling they had no place else to go, they relented. The Black Ministerial Alliance of Boston, of course, is running interference in endorsing the credentials of the Minneapolis group. To the best of our knowledge, the executive director of the Black Ministerial Alliance in Boston has never been in our beloved city to evaluate the environment and current operational programs in existence. But the presentation in Boston was tied to the following: personal relationships, the failed Operation Ceasefire, political endorsements in Minneapolis, and now, how the payouts would take place. An announcement of the date of the arrival of “Safe Streets/Street Safe” was discussed. Of course, with the publishing of this column, dates and timelines will no doubt be changed. In fact, we would expect that the leadership group would say no such meeting took place. The only problem is that inside the group, as of their reading this column, the folks are looking at each other cross-eyed and sideways. At some point, it will be revealed to the planners that they have been under surveillance by federal authorities for quite some time. In fact, they don’t even realize that when they arrived at Boston’s Logan International Airport, they had ghosts walking with them. Why is it important for this story to be written? Because of what Booker T Hodges and others have said for some time: It is way past time for transparency and to truly care for the community at large that these self-proclaimed leaders are supposed to serve, not serve the “leadership community.” The goal should be our safe streets, not their safe bank accounts. For more background, we list earlier columns — from 2010: February 10, June 9, and July 7; from 2006: July 19, August 16, March 1, May 10, July 5, October 11, and November 22. We hope the Minneapolis Council of Churches will do the right thing. Let us hope that consultation is with their conscience and their God, and not with the institutions and members of profit and corruption. We pray for all those involved in this season of the Savior, in the tradition of justice and righteousness. Happy holidays. Vikings en route to California? When the Dome collapsed early Sunday morning on the Mall of America Field, dumping snow onto the field, was the legal door opened for Ziggy Wilf to pull up stakes and take our beloved Vikings to the greater Los Angeles area? We noticed that all of the media in the Twin Cities have stayed away from “breach of contract.” It was no accident that during the Vikings’ 21-3 defeat to the Giants in Detroit, Ziggy Wilf was caught constantly looking up at the roof and all of the other amenities. He probably, this close to Christmas, had delusions of profit dancing in his head. And it must have been tough that because of a breach of contract by the Metropolitan Facilities Commission, Ziggy Wilf had just taken a financial bath in the cold rotunda of Detroit, Michigan, not to mention the cold bath he’ll take in the University of Minnesota’s outdoor TCM Stadium. Sounds confusing, doesn’t it? But thank God for the University of Minnesota. Ziggy is looking for something in his Christmas stocking. Will he get it from Minnesota or Los Angeles? See here and here. Stay tuned. Ron Edwards' journalist platforms for communicating with the community: Posted December 29, 2010,10:20 p.m. Dec 15, 2010 Column #50: Minneapolis Continues its Fairy Tale of Compliance. Only painful sanctions will make these tales come true. by Ron Edwards "Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues" “There they go again” can be the only statement to make about Minneapolis, as it again demonstrates its fairy tale that it meets its own compliance laws. In reality, it continues to deny African Americans equal access and equal job opportunity in Minneapolis. Despite the April 18, 2010 Diversity Study presented to the City Council on November 4, 2010, the city is essentially still saying: no. (see my earlier columns on the Diversity Study, November 17, 2010 and November 24, 2010). The key conclusion of the Diversity Study was made very clear: “Minneapolis currently does not monitor compliance during performance.” The historic Minneapolis formula: promise to comply, and then don’t. The Diversity Study counter formula recommendation: commit to compliance; monitor to show compliance; pay severe penalties if compliance is not done. No one has made the city do so before. Without sanctions it won’t. The new “Oversight” committee of the School District seems to say that no one but the African American community cares, and who cares about them? The community cares and has stepped up by putting a Community Benefits Agreement for compliance on the table of the committee appointed two months ago to oversee the construction of the new Education Services Center. The irony is that this committee, The Minority, Women and Diverse Business Participation Oversight Committee (MWD-POC), includes, as one of the individuals to continue the tradition of noncompliance, Velma Korvel, Director of the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights. The City’s Director of Diversity and Mortenson’s Director of Community Affairs announced the City’s very ambitious goal: 25% minority participation, with all the traditional googledygook of statements about intent to do right by the community. There were plenty of clues showing they don’t mean it. First clue: making community input hard. Don Allen, another City journalist, and myself made unsuccessful inquiries about when the Oversight Committee would meet. Finally, the District’s Media Relations Pubic Affairs Office sent out on December 2nd, an announcement of an Oversight Committee meeting to receive public input, to be held at the District’s 807 E Broadway building, on December 7, 2010, at 8:30 am, with speakers limited to three minutes each. Second clue: eleven people showed up besides the committee, five being from the community, of whom three spoke. It was as if the Oversight Committee didn’t want community input and were surprised people showed up. The meeting: 90 minutes. Community input: 9 minutes. Third clue: no one who actually lives in North Minneapolis is on the oversight committee. Fourth clue: the shock and dismay on the faces of the committee when Don Allen, a media and communications consultant, presented them with a Community Benefits Agreement that reflected the recommendations of the Diversity Study: sanctions if monitoring shows non-compliance. Proposed on p. 7 of the CBA: put up a $25 million bond before construction, to be forfeited to the African American Educational Trust Fund if the diversity goals are not met on the new MPS Educational Services Building (see my columns of May 5, 2010 and my column of May 26, 2010). The Agreement follows the successful template of the CBA used in Los Angeles on behalf of the community regarding the construction of the LA Airport expansion. The individuals who brought this Community Benefits Agreement have clearly followed the advice of Booker T. Hodges, President of the local branch of the NAACP: cut out the traditional hustlers who purport to be leaders of the African American community but who, in reality, rip it off. Page 17 of the Diversity Study recommendations states: “it is critical that these commitments be monitored and that these sanctions for noncompliance be available.” In other words, there will never be compliance with any goal so long as there are no penalties, sanctions or consequences for not meeting stated goals. As Mr. Hodges pointed out in this paper two weeks ago, if we allow the traditional fixers to be involved, compliance won’t happen. This CBA is the property of the African American community, not the fixers. It should be treated as a national treasure, not to be abused nor betrayed. The community understands and justly demands that penalties and sanctions be in place. White corporate America does this all the time. For example, with foreclosures, banks and lending institutions tell people of color that if they don’t meet their obligations they will lose their homes. We don’t think it should be any different in the quest for construction job compliance in Minneapolis, a city that has become legendary and notorious for noncompliance in supporting the interests and the franchise of the African American. Stay tuned. Ron Edwards' journalist platforms for communicating with the community: Dec 8, 2010 Column #49: Days that will live in infamy. "Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues" "Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues" A weekly column by Ron Edwards Featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder December 7, 1941 is the day then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said “will live in infamy,” the day of Japan’s devastating attack on American military and civilian facilities in Hawaii that ushered the United States into World War II. December 9 and 10, 2010 of this week will go down as continuing the days of infamy in Minneapolis, as once again the Minneapolis City Council and the Office of the Mayor will sign off on continuing the devastating dismantling of economic opportunity for the African American community in Minneapolis. Just as the Japanese warlords planned for the events of December 7, 1941, as seen in later documents that were found that brought to light their devious plan to bring about the demise of the United States of America, so too with new documents found regarding how Minneapolis continues to execute its plans to dismantle African American neighborhoods. When you add the lost lives due to decades of denying equal access to education, jobs and opportunities, and the lost lives due to decades of public policy enabling a culture of drugs and violence in the 69 years since 1941, you have decades of devastation as deadly and consequential as 1941. Two years ago, I uncovered and reported in this column the document outlining the plan to dismantle education, jobs and economic opportunity in the African American community. The plan, dated April 18, 2008, was submitted to the Minneapolis City Council and Mayor R.T. Rybak by the then-director of the Minneapolis Civil Rights Department, Michael Jordan. It was a plan to accelerate the economic rape of the Minneapolis African American community. The “Disparity Report” of June 6, 1010 by the National Economic Institute of Washington, D.C. (“The State of Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprise: Evidence from Minneapolis”), presented to the city council November 4, 2010, exposes the fraudulent reporting in the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights Contract Compliance Unit Reports going back to April 18, 2008. For two years I have reported this horrendous plan in this column, a plan equivalent to genocide on several levels. Mr. Jordan’s 2008 report pointed out, in an almost cavalier manner, that the City has paid out and awarded the White contractors and vendors $659 million, and alleged that $11 million had gone to MBEs (Minority Business Enterprises). Bad enough even if that were true — only 1.6 percent of the total. But we now know it is not so; the “Disparity Report” reveals even the $11 million figure to be bogus. At least 20 times in his report of April 18, 2008 Mr. Jordan makes reference to “monitoring,” “compliance with,” and “increased opportunities for MBE’s.” The “Disparity Report” proves all of this information was also a contrivance, part of the grand scheme, all part of a giant policy ponzi scheme. How much longer will the African American community invest its support in the Democratic Party’s broken promises of equal access and equal opportunity in education and jobs? We get promises followed by sneak attacks on our community. The African American community has believed in and with great loyalty committed itself to the support of the Democratic Party and its agenda, because we are always on the agenda — an agenda that is then not followed. History shows that just before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Imperial Japan and the United States considered themselves to be friends and allies. It has been no different in the relationship in this city between the African American community under siege and a Democratic Party that takes its relationship with the African American community for granted. The documentation of proof is in place. The many articles I’ve written about it for years that have been dismissed by the City and African American “leaders” dependent on the City are now shown, in the “Disparity Study,” to be true (see my past two columns of November 17 and 24). Just as there were agents of deceit and betrayal seated in Tokyo in 1940, agents are also in the conference rooms and hallways of Minneapolis City Hall still today. Their deceit shall also live forever in infamy as we remember both April 18, 2008, and December 9 and 10, 2010. Let the world pray for the salvation and survival of the African American in Minnesota. Last week in this paper (December 2), Minneapolis Branch NAACP President Booker T Hodges wrote of so-called leaders in our community who cooperate with the City in the devastation of our community. Does this mean the NAACP is ready to wake up and smell the truth, and work to forgive, reconcile, and act together to put our community first? Stay tuned. Ron Edwards' journalist platforms for communicating with the community: Posted Wednesday, December 8, 2010, 2:44 a.m. Read More 2010 Column Entries » February 10, 2010 Column #6: Where did it all go wrong? Jordan’s dismissal one more nail in the civil rights coffin EXCERPTS: 2-18-09: nine past columns are listed, reporting how Blacks have been systematically shut out of construction contracts and jobs. Thus, Michael Jordan (the sixth director in eight years) carried the noncompliance water for the mayor and council and yet is the only department head not reappointed. They will find another future scapegoat willing to continue to put nails into the coffin of a once-great dream.
About my new book: A Seat for Everyone We are all part of a great country that still has what Lincoln called "unfinished business," about which Martin Luther King, Jr. said we can no longer wait to have it completed. Thanks to all who have offered congratulations and asked questions. You can order the book on my publisher's website, www.beacononthehill.com. It is subtitled "The Freedom Guide that Explores a Vision for America." The sad part is that this is a book that should have been written by the NAACP, the Urban League, the leadership forum, or the ministers association. They have remained silent. Worse: acquiescent silence. The Urban League tossed Nellie Stone Johnson and me out a while back, and five years ago the NAACP national expelled me for writing my first book. So much for the First Amendment. I will not be silent. I will not lie down. Sadly, our once young and energetic civil rights leaders have atrophied and become keepers of the status quo they once fought against. They have brought the Civil Rights Movement to a standstill in the inner city. My hope is that, win or lose, the candidacy of Barack Obama rejuvenates the Civil Rights Movement with its lost energy and enables it to again refocus its eye on the prize, a seat for everyone, not just for the self-appointed leaders who now serve the mastuh. They have their seats at the table. I say there must be a seat for everyone. You won't read about what is in my book in the Star Tribune and mainstream media. They don't want you to read all the news, only the news they want you to read. Only the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder provides you with the news they won't. A Seat for Everyone: The Freedom Guide that Explores a Vision for America discusses the major status quo areas that have shown little or no progress: inner-city education, jobs, housing and public safety. I also reference key past columns and where to find them on my Minneapolis Story website. Also discussed in detail are the two historic lawsuits against the Minneapolis Police Department brought by Black officers. The conditions resulting in this litigation have had a profound impact on public safety in our city and in the City/MPD's treatment of its Black officers. The outcome will also have significant impacts. Minneapolis is so delusional that it has defined "minorities" to include so many "diverse" groups that it proudly boasts it can now comply with minority hiring without having to hire Blacks. My book discusses this insult as well. Why is everyone else silent about this? A unique feature is that the book "marries" the online world with that of traditional book publishing. I present my argument in less than 100 pages. This slim volume (literally, as it is easy to put it in your pocket and carry around for easy reference) includes five columns and one blog essay and lists additional columns that can easily be found at: www.TheMinneapolisStory.com/tocarchives.htm. The book presents a beacon of hope for the current lows in inner-city education, jobs, housing, and public safety. We need to work together to stand up for Black youth and stop waiting for the city government and its teachers unions as they continue to lie down also, rather than stand up for our kids in our schools. It all starts with education. As Nellie always stated, "No education, no jobs, no housing." Senator Obama would add, "No hope." My book brings hope back to the discussion. A note from my publisher From Beacon on the Hill: "Thank you, Mr. Edwards, for allowing us space to announce more details about the publication last week of your new book, A Seat for Everyone: The Freedom Guide that Explores a Vision for America. We want your readers know that they can not only learn more about it on our website, www.BeaconOnTheHill.com, they can also order the book on that site. "Mr. Edwards presents his arguments and vision in just 55 pages. The rest of this slim volume (easy to put it in your pocket and carry around for easy reference) lists specific columns that can be found in the archive at: www.TheMinneapolisStory.com/tocarchives.htm. He combines the printed word with the new online world of the Internet in a small package that packs a giant wallop. "In addition to covering major Minneapolis civil rights events, Mr. Edwards shares with his readers the background to the historical lawsuit by the Black police officers of Dec. 3, 2007, against the city and the department."
Formerly head of the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission and the Urban League, he continues his “watchdog” role for Minneapolis. Order Ron's books at Beacon on the Hill Press. Hear his voice, read his solution papers, and read his between columns “web log” on this site, 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. Ron's media message platforms: Column Archives | Blog Archives | Solution Papers | Order the Book | Back to Top | BLOG SIDE "Tracking the Gaps,” "Connecting the Dots" of "The Key 7": Education, Jobs, Housing, Public Safety (& the war on young Black men), Safe Environment, Governing, and Moral/Ethical Stances (access & opportunity, fairness & justice, liberty & freedom, rights & responsibility). Archives for 2003 - 2012. SUMMARY OF LISTS BELOW OF URLs ON KEY TOPICS SINCE 2003, followed by the details: 1. Record of city's purposeful and intentional practice in list of 20 columns posted 11-22-11: Disparity and Non-Compliance: how Minneapolis purposefully avoids compliance and sets barriers to diversity. Background to the serious violations is reported in the Disparity Study that found Minneapolis, current and past, is not and has not been in compliance. See columns on the Disparity Study, Part I November 17, 2010, and Part II November 25, 2010. See also the list of 12 additional columns written since 2005 on the disparities (web log entry of August 28, 2009). 2. Re Planning for education, jobs, housing, and economic development: Lists of columns and book chapters regarding plans and planning for all citizens in all of our communities, Black and white, at this link, Solution Paper #42: Planning, with suggestions for use in resolving the issues of unequal access and unequal opportunity in education, jobs, and housing. Also see here and here and here, and here: "Disaster accelerates gentrification of North Minneapolis. Reconstruction proceeds without Black workers." Another list of columns, blog entries, solution papers." Sid Hartman and Star Tribune confirm our stadium analysis, April 25, 2012. Will the Vikings stadium be in Minnesota or L.A.?, April 11, 2012. Vikings stadium plan in place??? March 14, 2012 Black jobs promised on Vikings stadium construction. Who will ensure the promises are kept? February 15, 2012 Column. Our revised November 09, 2011 Column: Stop the punting of the Vikings! Minnesotans: Unite with a ‘Fan Response Movement’ to keep the team May 25, 2011 Column: Budget battle threatens Vikings’ future. Lists columns on leave/stay since 2005. April 13, 2011 Column #15: Can Minnesota afford another stadium? Difficult times force difficult choices GROUPS AND INDIVIDUALS OPPOSED TO THE VIKINGS STAYING: 4.Key Minnesota leaders' "The Plan": have the Vikings leave town, 2002. 5. Stadium and arena promises were broken to Bob Short, Norm Green, and Red McCombs. Are theWilfs next. Original set of 3 posted January 19, 2011 column. 3. Re Black Leadership: Still open for consideration: local NAACP December 12, 2010 assertion in this paper that “Its time for leaders [who] put personal agendas ahead of community interests to go." In othert words, there are too many ministerial, government, corporate, foundation and other non-profits) not leading. See here for what, who, when, where, why. List of columns coming soon. 4. “Minneapolis POLICE Department Racism and Discrimination.” See list of July 10, 2008, updated through September 14, 2011 column (lists 60 columns, 31 blog entries, and 12 “solution” papers. The subhead, “Speaking over the silence of the major Twin Cities Dailies,” speaks to the scooping by this newspaper of the major dailies that often refuse to thoroughly report on this topic. 5. Ending the Journalism SILENCE by the Star Tribune about discrimination will help end discrimination. Lists columns and blog entries posted since 2003. 6. Re Planning for education, jobs, housing, and economic development: Lists of columns and book chapters regarding plans and planning for all citizens in all of our communities, Black and white, at this link, Solution Paper #42: Planning, with suggestions for use in resolving the issues of unequal access and unequal opportunity in education, jobs, and housing. Also see here and here and here, and June 01, 2011 Column:"Disaster accelerates gentrification of North Minneapolis. Reconstruction proceeds without Black workers." Another list of columns, blog entries, solution papers." August 2, 2011 There are two developments troubling to the Black community in the debt ceiling battle. The first is the one as seen by the Vice President and many others who refer to Tea Party Republicans as “terrorists” (which is also what King George called the colonists dumping tea in Boston harbor who wanted to break free of his centralized rule). The second troubling development is the attempt to establish a centralized ruling council within centralized rule. The Super Congress is now creating an unconstitutional Super Imperial Congress of 12 individuals, abdicating its power to this committee of “the 12” (note the Biblical ring) of 6 Senators and 6 Representatives, who are to determine how revenues are to be raised and spent. They will give cover to what both really want: tax money for their districts/states so they can be reelected, doing so at the expense of the Black community. In other words, our job as citizens is to get between the politicians and their access to public money. The battle for empowering (e.g., the civil rights movement) and the powering over others (such as political elites, whether white or Black) has come to a head with the debt limit battle. We can't afford both any more. This battle has shown that we have too few people acting as thoughtful adults. As St. Paul in the Bible’s “love chapter” (I Coriinthians 13) put it, “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” The rhetoric of calling each side terrorists does not bode well for answers to the question of “who decides” and what they in turn decide should be done and how. Blacks are citizens who should be allowed to be in that debate. The deplorable state of our cities’ in terms of jobs, education, and housing for Blacks shows just how much Blacks have been left out of the actual power discussions (Black Mayors of cities without money or jobs is not being among the powerful). During slave days, it was a capital crime to learn to read. They didn’t want slaves reading maps and road signs and figuring out themselves where they wanted to be, where they wanted to go. That continued during Jim Crow days as it does today in America’s Black bureaucrat run ghettoes, examples of how the Republicans and Democrats continue to conspire to keep young Black people, especially young Black men, from a good education, from training, and from jobs. Blacks understand the white rule: last hired, first fired. The wealthy and government workers/unions (including education) have all carved out entitlements regarding jobs, pay, retirement and other benefits for themselves, but not for the Black community. We are not opposed to folks getting together to carve up the pie (that’s been going on since at least ancient Rome). What we oppose to is not letting everyone have a seat at the table to participate in that carving up of the pie. How will this super group of 12 provide equal protection (access and opportunity) to the poor and uneducated, precisely continuing government policies espoused by Congress, Republican and Democrat, that purposefully and intentionally attempt to keep Blacks poor and uneducated? By providing 12, six from the Senate and six from the House of Representative, they will falsely claim that it is equal as all will get cuts and all will have to suffer together. Really? Cutting ten percent from a man with a $100 is far more severe than cutting 10% from a man with a million dollars. The white factions will begrudgingly allow the women’s faction and the Hispanic faction and other approved “victim” factions to join them, while Blacks will cointinue to pushed to the back of the line, or, using an older phrase, assigned to the back of the bus, to sit there while the buss is parked outside while the rest have gone into the roadside restaurant to sit at the table and divvy up the pie. A Super Imperial Congress indeed. In the days of Rome, they too elected a small number of their elite to make decisions for the whole. We all know how that worked out. Black congresspersons who represents the Black community, not Black elite leaders, need to be one of the 12. Needed is not more government stimulus but private-sector stimulus programs involving not government outlays but instead getting government out of the way of investors and entrepreneurs, as even Nancy Pelosi championed at a hearing in December 2010. We urge Congress to use the criteria of a calculus of meaning and a calculus of pain, as I have written about in my books. The Black community knows all about being on the wrong end of economic pain and given secondary status as meaning. Let all leaders stop calling names like “terrorists” and start brining all people to the same table to reconcile differences. If South Africa could do it after apartheid, the United States can do it too after its own economic earthquake. As guidelines for how the Committee of 12, and any federal, state, or city legislative body should go forward, see the section following on Planning as applied to America's Black Americans, as well as other suggestions and solutions in the "solutions" section of this web site. 1-12-12: Remember this: the current model of taking money from the young to give to the retired no longer will work as there are fewer workers and more retired (10,000 baby boomers a day going on Social Security and Medicare). The robbing the young to pay the oldmodel has run its course. Needed is a model that facilitates real investment, life long, that will cover retirement income and appropriate (not all) health care costs. Blacks and all minorities need to be part of that discussion and negotiation. Posted Tuesday, August 2, 2011, 9:21 a.m. ----BREAKING NEWS FOR SOME---- The City Inc.’s board voted Monday, January 3, to close their school today, Friday, January 7. So far, none of their kids have been placed/accepted in other schools.
Posted January 7, 2011, 6:57 a.m. --CONTINUOUSLY BREAKING NEWS FOR 15 YEARS IS FINALLY ACKNOWLEDGED-- The columns of 11-24-10 and 11-17-10 not only report 15 years late what we have known for 15 years, that there has been a tremendous disparity in hiring and wages between whites and Blacks, the Disparity Report also cries out for an answer to the question of why neither the Civil Rights Commission nor the City Council have called for hearings about it now that the shameful Disparity Report has finally been released. Hearins need to be held to investigate why Minneapolis "does not monitor compliance during performance in contracts and employment". The Civil Rights Commission has the authority, by statute to call such hearings (I know, as I was a member from 1968-1983, including being Chairman, and in those days we called such hearings). The Commission must call public hearings and take testimony on this Disparity Stud that details the denial of jobs to African Americans and, thus, the economic rape of African American economic opportunities and, thus, the denial of its access to the wealth of this city. Half the Commision is appointed by the Council, half by the Mayor. Are they blocking hearings? There must be public hearings to hear from the Civil Rights Department, from citizens, and from the Council as to why this has been allowed to happen. For more information, see my blog entry of August 28, 2009, in which I list 12 of the columns I’ve written on this subject since 2005. --BREAKING NEWS-- Posted Monday, November 1, 2010, 3:00 p.m. --BREAKING NEWS OF 2006 IN MS-P IN STRIB 2010- 2006: Minnesota Spokesman Recorder had it right in The Wrongful Death of Dominic Felter: 2010, Oct 25: The Star Tribune finally is forced to come clean, 4 years later, when the jury spoke: Family of man killed by Mpls. police awarded $1.8M. — B R E A K I N G N E W S — AGAIN — B R E A K I N G N E W S — AGAIN STAR TRIBUNE: NORTH HIGH TO CLOSE Posted October 12, 2010, 5:30 am; edited 9:15 p.m. 07-30-10 #3: This is a call to Council President Barb Johnson to empanel an ethics committee, as authorized by the city’s charter, to review the relationships between Mayor R.T. Rybak and Councilman Don Samuels in regards to their obvious conflicts of interest regarding the program "Ceasefire." My concerns: the $2.2 million funding allocations, program content, and program execution of the crime program Ceasefire Chicago, and the recipient organiations affiliated with the Mayor’s administrative aide and the Councilman’s wife: Mad Dads, The Peace Foundation, and Shiloh International Ministries. "Ceasefire" is a program, from Chicago, for dealing with crime, being recommended for Minneapolis. Many want to know what is behind this Ceasefire program in terms of who receives the monies in terms of both administrators and those delivering the program on the street, the plans to be approved, who approves the plans, who executes the plans, and why Ceasefire. The values that ensure political and economic progress and fairness are universal, not ethnic nor racial, yet Ceasefire came to town this week in the embodiment of all white people with a program for Black people, with no discernable Black input, as if crime was a Black problem, not a universal problem, black, white, yellow, brown. The founders of the DFL, a Black woman and a white man (Nellie Stone Johnson and Hubert H. Humphrey) would both ask, why aren't the top two "crime preventors" engaged: (1) reforming education so that it actually educates for working and jobs, and (2) inclusive economic development that creates jobs for non-whites as well? Where are the Nellie Stone Johnsons and Hubert H. Humphreys of today? Thank goodness their spirit lives on in the newspaper of their friend Cecil B. Newman: The Minneapolis Spokesman-Recorder). Cecil introduced Nellie and Hubert. And, along with their friend Charlie Horn, a key white businessman of the day, the four of them (Nellie and Hubert, Cecil and Charlie) liked to refer to themselves as "The Four Horsemen". So where are our four horsemen of today? Who of the new generation will step up and again carry the banner: “Eyes On The Prize,” and fight for freedom's prize, equal access and equal opportunity, especially in education and jobs? Let the ethics investigation begin. Posted Saturday, July 31, 2010, 11:57 am 3-18-10, #2: Alert: Is our lack of plans and their execution drawing us to a plan to execute in Mexico? 01-07-10 #1: Alert: Police: aiding and abetting, just incompetent, or ran out of cover ups? Different standards for white citizens than Black citizens? It is all over the TV today, January 7: Minneapolis Police Officer Tim Carson, a 3 year veteran and Iraq vet, was arrested for robbing a dozen stores and banks, raising the obvious questions: (1) how many other police officers are taking advantage of their positions? These are not questions I take lightly. Nor am I surprised as I raised these issues with the MPD while serving on the PCRC (Police Community Relations Council); we especially asked about background checks and rumors of white police officers out of control, being involved in drug dealings and thefts. The MPD would not answer; would not cooperate. Our concern was that questionable white candidates were passed while qualified Blacks were not, raising another question regarding whether the tests were rigged toward whites or just scored that way. Certainly we ask, "How did Officer Carson pass his profile tests?" And, we suggest, the city must lean to the best candidates, regardless of their color, and recognize the value to the city of having qualified Black officers rather than unqualified white ones. And how is it that when things happen to whites, nothing is said to the white "community" about "coming forth", but when it happens to people of color, they are asked to cooperate and come forward with information. This is currently going on regarding the 3 Somalis gunned down (some say executed). How can the community come forward when it doesn’t feel safe? The MPD terror investigation last year in the Somali community regarding killings that are essentially not street crimes as defined but political killings, have left Somalis feeling unsafe and unprotected. The mayor, broadcasters, and others follow the cue of the FBI and make the community the problem, not the public safety system. Many young Somalis are survivors of the Civil War in Somalia, and are here seeking a peaceful chance at life, something made more difficult with police like Tim Carson, whose precinct locker revealed guns and money. Carson reflects a department still out of control, which is what led to the establishment of the PCRC in the first place. The MPD continues to cover up the Metro Gang Squad, recently disbanded for their own law breaking. Public safety is more important than any Governor's race. We want to know how many others are like Tim Carson there are but who are more clever in avoiding getting caught, and why, if the MPD leaders claim to know all that's going on, why they let it ride and don’t act on it? Some have said it is because they are in on it. Others have said it is because they would rather have poor white recruits that excellent Black ones and thus have to admit more candidates of color to a department they'd prefer was all white. Stay tuned. Posted January 7, 2010, 11:30 pm, CST 9-17-09, #11: The demise of the Minneapolis Urban League. At 5:15 p.m., today, Thursday, 9-17-09, Minneapolis Urban League Branch President Scott Gray announced, in closed session, the new austerity: 10% salary reduction across the board; termination of ten employees within 30 days; and an indication that the staff of the Urban League Street Academy would go on part time employee status (thus loosing their benefits). Ever since the sell outs kicked Nellie Stone Johnson and me out 20 years ago, when I was the President of the Urban League with 118 employees, they have cannibalized the organization, reducing it from the 118 employees then to what will be less than 20 employees now. We show how this got started in Chapter 14 of The Minneapolis Story. Posted 9-18-09, 1:32 a.m. 8-30-09, #10: Who is our neighbor and how do we "do unto them"? 8-29-09, #9: Minneapolis Police Training Chickens Come Home to Roost. The key for police seeking to achieve public safety is the same for people of color seeking to achieve jobs: training. 8-28-09, #8: Trainers or plunderers? Demonstrating for jobs for people or money for selves? Yesterday we applauded the demonstration to draw attention to the plight of minority jobs and the efforts of those who train African Americans for jobs to obtain funding for jobs. We support the battle seeking the end of discrimination in economic development, especially that by the city and its contractors who openly violate City compliance laws by not hiring minority workers and contractors. Oh oh. It turns out their concern was money for their budgets that paid them, not jobs for those they trained. It turns out that money set aside for them has not been released by the State of Minnesota, and if not released by September 1, it goes back to the general treasury where, as one observe has put it, these hustlers can't plunder it. To "send a message" to the Department of Transportation in an effort to get it released, the demonstrators blocked traffic. We believe they would have a better chance if they admitted the truth reported in the columlns listed at the end of this blog entry and started there. In May of this year, Insight published a story about Louis King of OIC saying he had federal funds to create 1,000 jobs in the African American community. Last week Louis King had to admit he did not have the funds, that they had not been released. And so the demonstration was held about the funds for the leaders, not funds for jobs. As listed below, we will continue to advocate for jobs for workers, not funds for "leaders". This is what happens when the Governor of Minnesota and the Department of Transportation get tired of playing the games of the Mayor of Minneapolis and his allies that want to use government funding for themselves but not for the community. The state understandably doesn't want to take the blame for that. What is not understood is why the city and its minions think they can get away with their posturing. Our "leaders" spend much time training African Americans for jobs but little in standing up for their being hired to use their newly acquired skills. A lot of young men were expecting to get jobs. They will be disappointed, at the hands of Black "leaders." As seen below, we have written about the economic stimulus and its potential to help our community. It is the right cause with the wrong people in charge, as they plunder and tear asunder. We first published about this in The Corrupt and Racist Construction Contract System, Chapter 9 of our book, The Minneapolis Story, Through My Eyes, in 2002. We have continued updating this shame in our columns since then. Why haven't the "leaders" used the facts in the book and columns to plead their case for jobs? That is the best way to get funds for their organizations. We first published a roundup of columns in the Minnenapolis Spokesman Recorder in our Blog entry #21 of July 31, 2008 (Star Tribune...Denying Discrimination and Disinforming About the Black Community). That list is reproduced and updated below. It is with these that we urge Black leaders today, and those interested in "planning" for the communities of color, to start: advocating for jobs rather than seeking funds to plunderor or to recycle among nonprofits, neither of which profit the community. Here is that updated list of selected columns, 2005-2009: 4-20-2005: Black share of $5 billion construction: Zero. What can be done to reverse "Blacks need not apply" for the coming great construction boom? 7-13-2005: Where is The Plan for Black's share of jobs, development? 6-07-2006: Hallelujah! Good Times Are Here Again! "Best Effort". False alarm. 5-09-2007: Blacks remain barred from big-money projects 7-04-2007: Where's The Jobs Plan? Minneapolis Kremlin initiates retaliation 8-08-2007: Where is the jobs plan for Blacks for the bridge cleanup and re-construction? 1-23-08: Who will challenge discrimination in this city? 3-5-08: Response to a Challenge Baseball Authority Responds 6-4-08: Stadiums go up while compliance system breaks down 2-18-09: Where's the plan to ensure Blacks benefit from economic stimulus? Now's the time to ask your representatives. 2-25-09: With stimulus funds coming, where's the plan for inclusion? 7-15-09: Mismanagement forced re-bid of Marquette and 2nd Avenue Project. Cover-up keeps city council in the dark. We urge the Black leadership of the Twin Cities to begin with these columns if they are to be truly successful in obtaining jobs for our community and, in the process, funding for their organizations. Right now they have it backwards. We suggest they turn around and get it right. Posted 8-28-09, 11:10 p.m. 08-27-09, #7: In Minneapolis, training doesn't equal jobs for the trained, only the trainers (we are a city of over employed trainers with an "army" of underemployed, underutilized trained workers). 06-26-09, Blog #6: The Role of Black Organizations in the Minneapolis Story... 06-06-09, Blog #5: Welcome NNPA (National Convention of the National Newspaper Publishers Association) 06-06-09, Blog #4: Thanks for thrilling us 04-10-09, Blog #3: Minneapolis settles law suit with the Mill City Five, causing more questions to be raised than answered. 04-05-09, Blog #2: "Why, in an information age, they attempt such cover-ups, mystifies us. The truth will out." 03-31-09, Blog #1: The revealing of the truth: nearly three years in the making. EXCERPT FROM: July 31 2008 Blog Entry #21 Check out our columns of 2005, 2006, and 2007, when we raised the question: "When will Blacks be included in the billions worth of jobs in construction for stadiums, bridges, and other big money projects?" Here are six examples:
Posted July 31, 2008, 3:55 p.m. Read the Complete July 2008 Blog Entry » 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. About This Blog | Blog Archives | Column Archives | Solution Papers | Order the Book | Back to Top |
