The Experience of Ron EdwardsA Renaissance Black Man in a White Man's WorldA Beacon for Freedom in the City
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4-30-08, Blog #6: 29 shoootings, 6 homicides, March 25 - April 28, 2008.
Most recent victim: A 15 year old girl, gunned down in her own home. Police attempted to hide the age of the young victim. Why? There is an ongoing problem in the streets. We are moving into total gang warfare, much of it a spill over from Chicago. When will the MPD turn its attention to the gangbangers instead of on exemplary Black police officers?
Posted 4-30-08, 4:46 p.m.
4-24-08, Blog #5: Blaming "No Child Left Behind:" old politics dressed in new wine skin of the politics of change.
Both Democratic presidential candidates blame the "No Child Left Behind" law for the conditions of learning in our schools. The fact that half or more of Blacks drop out of inner city schools in America with poor reading and math skills is not due to the No Child Left Behind law of the Republicans. Its been going on for forty years, because of Democratic Party policies and Democratic Party teachers unions, 40 years of kids being left behind. Kids are being left behind by both parties, especially in the inner city, as the test results published Wednesday regarding Minneapolis demonstrate.
Posted April 24, 2008, 12:25 a.m.
4-24-08, Blog #4: Shooting tallies continue while reporting of shooting does not.
Chicago : 36 shootings, 9 dead over past weekend, reports the Chicago Tribune
Minneapolis: 23 shootings, 4 dead, over 24 days, almost one a day, unreported in Minneapolis.
What's going on in America?
Twin Cities media refuses to publish statements at Wednesday's press conference at the Urban League by the PCRC on increased violence in the city of Minneapolis, involving 23 shootings and 4 homicides in 24 days (nearly one a day). Media hears stats, hears testimony, but remains silent, pressured by City of Minneapolis to scrap what was reported at the press conference.
Posted April 24, 2008, 12:25 a.m.
4-14-08, Blog #3: 22 shot, 4 killed, in 20 days, since March 25th
2008 Blog #3, 4-14-08:
The latest: a 15 year old today on the playground of Willard Middle School in Norh Minneapolis. Can you imagine the huge cry if these were white?
Posted 4-14-08, 5:20 p.m.
4-4-08, Blog #2: Are Republicans Ready for "Murderopolis"? A Reflection on and Preview of next week's column (4-9-08).
Thirteen shootings, two killed, in 10 days. All peope of color (12 Black, 1 Asian). Yet mum is the word from the City, the Police, and the media. No alerts to the public. As we will ask next week (April 9) is this Censorship, Shoddy Reporting or Star Tribune Policy?
Is it a fear of losing the $50M the Twin Cities are to get to keep order during the Republican National Convention in St Paul, September 1-4, 2008?
Or is this to keep the Republicans in the dark: if there is a shot in the forest and no one hears it, did it take place? Whose nerves are on the line, the city's or the Republicans?
13 shot, two dead in 10 days, since March 25th.
A 14 year old boy inside McDonalds. A 15 year old girl standing in a gym doorway. I know, as, because I get calls, I was personally at all the sites. I saw the bodies on the street, on the grass.
So I ask again, is the news blackout on this mayhem meant to calm Republican jitters at the expense of the jitters of our citizens? As all have been people of color, we know. Shouldn't whites be alerted?
And now the gang that calles itself the Bloods has entered into an alliance with the gang that calls itself the Talaban, in South Minneapolis. And yet how eerie that our Presidential campaign has become out tribal as well. It isn't about issues, about hoarding chairs nor is it about advocacy for sharing the chairs so there is a seat for everyone? Women say women should vote for Hillary. Blacks say Blacks should vote for Obama. So who, then, should old white guys vote for?
I say forget that, and instead lets all vote for sharing the chairs of equal access and equal opportunity, so that there is a seat for everyone.
Before, the shootings were in the 4 th Precinct. Now? In the South, near the silk stocking area. Where are the stories in the Strib? Where is the press conference by the city to alert the citizens? How will they keep a funeral in Edina, where the police chief lives, from looking like Baghdad afterwards?
In my first book, in 2002, The Minneapolis Story, Through My Eyes, I noted the problem regarding the city's refusal to deal effectively with pubic safety: "Unrest Disturbance: The Status Quo Price Minneapolis is Willing to Pay." That chicken is now coming home to roost. We offered a series of solutions in that book followed up with more solutions on our web site. Rather than rally around for common purpose, common cause, neither the City nor the Black leadership has led. They hide. Indeed, the local NAACP had the national NAACP expel me, not because of what I wrote, but that I wrote. Minneapolis is an equal opportunity censorship city, regardless of whether by whites or Blacks.
The Black leadership is AWOL. That I write this on the 40 th anniversary of the shooting of Martin Luther King, Jr., shows that the Black leadership of Minneapoils no longer has its eyes on the prize of freedom. Therefore, I offer my second book, in which I urge everyone to support the goal of providing A Seat for Everyone: The Freedom Guide that Explores a Vision for America.
Posted April 4, 2008, 2:25 p.m.
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.
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.
