The Experience of Ron EdwardsA Renaissance Black Man in a White Man's WorldA Beacon for Freedom in the City
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June 30, 2010 Column #26: COLUMN
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues.."
A bi-monthly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
COLUMN HERE
June 23, 2010 Column #25: COLUMN
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues.."
A bi-monthly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
COLUMN HERE
June 16, 2010 Column #24: COLUMN
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues.."
A bi-monthly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
COLUMN HERE
June 09, 2010 Column #23: COLUMN
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues.."
A bi-monthly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
COLUMN HERE
June 02, 2010 Column #22: COLUMN
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues.."
A bi-monthly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
COLUMN HERE
May 26, 2010 Column #21: COLUMN
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues.."
A bi-monthly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
COLUMN HERE
May 19, 2010 Column #20: COLUMN
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues.."
A bi-monthly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
COLUMN HERE
May 12, 2010 Column #19: City failed to monitor hiring during Twins stadium construction.
May 12, 2010, Column #19,
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues.."
A bi-monthly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
How many ‘ghosts’ were paid
instead of claimed Black workers?
Time line:
August 3, 2007: I filed civil rights complaint, MDCR File # A6392-BS-1F-7.
June 12, 2008: I was told my August 2007 complaint was dismissed due to MDCR (Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights) lack of jurisdiction.
July 18, 2008: I vigorously opposed the breaking of employment compliance law to the Ball Park Authority while the MDCR allowed the Mortenson Construction Company to self-report (like putting the fox in charge of the lock on the hen house door).
May 3, 2010: I went in person to talk to the MDCR about employment compliance law violations.
The Civil Rights Complaint that I filed August 3, 2007, spoke to the existence of serious civil rights violations in the construction of Target Field. The MDCR had just accepted a contract from the Ball Park Authority to monitor and authenticate compliance with federal and state statutes regarding hiring minorities.
Keep that in minds, my friends. The MDCR agreed to protect the applications of the statutes of the laws of the State of Minnesota. And then didn’t.
My filing spoke to a series of law violations, including “pass throughs” (dummy corporations set up identifying either persons of color or White females as minority companies doing business on projects).
I also cited the serious abuses of “ghosts.” In the business of “pass throughs,” “ghosts” are identified by the number of skilled and unskilled workers on the job who do not really exist. This practice of “ghosts” is normally guarded against through quarterly payroll reviews, payrolls that are supposed to include the names of the workers and their Social Security numbers. My August 3, 2007, filing identified the pattern of utilizing “ghosts.”
On June 12, 2008, 10 months after filing this complaint, I was told it was dismissed because the MDCR suddenly determined it did not have jurisdiction to protect the rights of the affected class and did not have the jurisdiction to protect existing federal and state statutes. That is like announcing the “right” to steal.
They took 10 months to say what they could have said in 10 days. Note this: The MDCR did not return the money paid them by the Ball Park Authority, meaning the taxpayers of the State of Minnesota were also fleeced in addition to those jobs going to “ghosts” rather than to actual African Americans.
One month after the case was dismissed, on July 18, 2008, in a meeting of the Ball Park Authority, the MDCR directed the then-director of construction compliance, James Patterson, to tell the Ball Park Authority that the Department was too overwhelmed with cases to be able to monitor, recommending Mortenson be allowed to self-report — another recipe for disaster.
To authenticate this, see the July 18, 2008, Ball Park Authority agenda, Item 9A, “Community Participation Update,” and its Mortenson report entitled “SWMBE [Small Women Minority Business Enterprises] Participation Summary.” In a later column, I will talk about the report’s data.
On Monday, May 3, 2010, I met with the MDCR to ask about certain inconsistencies in the Mortenson participation summaries, and asked if they had reviewed the payroll reports of the MBE (Minority Business Enterprises). I was told they were informed that the MDCR does not review nor check names or Social Security numbers assigned to the payroll records, which is what opens the door for “ghosts,” nonexistent “persons” who receive large sums of money.
I detailed “pass through” practices in my August 2007 filing, as well as at the July 18, 2008, meeting. I vigorously protested the capitulation to allow Mortenson to self-report. But powerful forces were at work. Money was being spread around. Envelopes were being passed back and forth. Corruption, Minneapolis style, was at play.
$37 million is said to have gone to minority firms (that means race), with $71 million going to White female firms, for a total of $108 million, and yet no one can produce the payroll payouts which are tied to the contracts awarded. Mortenson says 2,038,000 hours were worked by racial minorities and White females; yet, as of the writing of this column, no one has been able to produce the pay slips nor the names and Social Security numbers of those who allegedly benefited from $108 million in contracts and payoffs.
You can figure it out. Stay tuned.
Ron hosts “Black Focus” on Channel 17, MTN-TV, Sundays, 5-6 pm. Formerly head of key civil rights organizations, including the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission and Urban League, he continues his “watchdog” role for Minneapolis.
Order his books at www.BeaconOnTheHill.com. Hear his readings and read his solution papers and “web log” at www.TheMinneapolisStory.com .
Posted 5-12-10, 3:18 a.m.
May 05, 2010 Column #18: An ‘Economic Uplift’
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues.."
A bi-monthly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
School district headquarters to be built in North Minneapolis
The lack of Black contractors and workers on the TCF Gopher stadium laid bare the University of Minnesota’s refusal to comply with hiring compliance laws.
We saw hiring refusal laid bare again at the Twins Target Field construction. What will the school district do?
“Refusal to comply” describes the reality of “no attempt.” “Failure to comply” masks the refusal by suggesting attempt was made. Slavery was a refusal to comply with the “inalienable rights” of our founding documents. Jim Crow was a refusal to comply with the Great Emancipation. No hiring compliance is a refusal to provide equal access and equal opportunity.
Will the Minneapolis Special School District One break this pattern of refusal by including Blacks in its $27.5 million headquarters building construction project in North Minneapolis it approved five-to-two last week? Or will the move from its 50-year-old White N.E. Minneapolis headquarters be another slap to North Minneapolis by providing only White economic uplift?
Mortenson, developer/construction manager, and Legacy Development, sub-contractor/developer, both parade as bringers of diverse economic uplift.
Off the parade route they routinely refuse economic uplift to people of color.
Remember the former director of the Minneapolis Civil Rights Department’s infamous statement: Minneapolis could meet its minority hiring compliance without hiring a single Black person? How? White women classified as minority combined with submitting false compliance figures.
Mortenson’s March 16, 2010 letter to the Ball Park Authority claims diversity success: Of $314 million in contracts awarded on Target Field, $108 million was to small businesses and to businesses of women and minority firms, of which $38 million was awarded to women business enterprises (WBEs) and minority business enterprises (MBEs). Lynn Littlejohn’s Mortenson letter shows that Calvin Littlejohn’s Tri Construction, located at 1200 West Broadway, received the largest African American contract, a little over $2.1 million.
Hispanic and Native American firms did better. Nordic Construction, which claims to be Hispanic, received $6.3 million.
Mortenson’s March 16, 2010 letter claims 2,038,000 hours logged in by WBEs and MBEs. Really? Then why isn’t there a roster of the workers listing as required by law, their names, residence addresses, and social security numbers?
Mortenson’s parade of claimed compliance is like the parading emperor wearing no clothes, as Mortenson wears no proof by audit, authentication or certification. Now that the Twins have their new toy, Target Field, and all is well in their Camelot, will we again get a “so what” about deteriorated North Minneapolis? We look to the Minneapolis Special School District to model compliance by tearing down this wall of refusal.
We are told the school district’s $27.5 million HQ construction project will be different. At the school board meeting last Wednesday, April 28, 2010, Fifth Ward Council Member Don Samuels talked about the significant “economic uplift” that it would bring the community.
In light of the University and Mortenson’s refusals, now is the time for the school district to outline how it will demonstrate compliance with audit, authentication and certification of the work force utilization commitment in terms of the percentage of African American skilled and unskilled jobs on their project.
One of the most important aspects of getting a disadvantaged community involved in the fruits of success is a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA).
I am surprised one has not been proposed.
The Northside Redevelopment Council proposed a CBA for the massive rebuilding program and research facility that was going to come to North Minneapolis — proposed but not done. But the idea kept the community at bay.
To prevent another naked emperor parade, I am proposing the school district require Ms. Littlejohn’s Mortenson Construction company and Legacy Development subcontractor post a surety bond guaranteeing the meeting of these goals equal to the cost of the project. Failure to meet the goals would cause the bonds to be forfeited and placed into a community education trust fund for children of color so they too can enjoy the project’s economic uplift.
A bond to be put up by the NAACP for the Holman Project of McCormick Barron of St. Louis, MO was stipulated by the federal court to protect the developer on that private project. The NAACP didn’t have the money then. For this public project, I propose the developer’s surety bond be posted to protect the community’s “uplift.”
There is history to be made here to allow children to be educated and parents to be employed. What better way to initiate true economic uplift in our time?
Stay tuned.
Ron hosts “Black Focus” on Channel 17, MTN-TV, Sundays, 5-6 pm. Formerly head of key civil rights organizations, including the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission and Urban League, he continues his “watchdog” role for Minneapolis.
Order his books at www.BeaconOnTheHill.com; hear his readings and read his solution papers and “web log” at www.The MinneapolisStory.com.
Posted 5-5-10, 11: 20 pm
April 28, 2010 Column #17: Why the rush to judgment on tragic April 2 fire?
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues.."
A bi-monthly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Those eager to fix the blame on Black department leadership should be ashamed
The Star Tribune and certain Minneapolis City Council members act as if this is 1906 San Francisco, when 30 fires destroyed 25,000 buildings on 490 city blocks, killing 3,000, or 1871 Chicago, when 17,500 buildings and over 2,000 acres of the city burned to the ground, with 300 losing their lives.
When it is said that the tragic fire of April 2, 2010, that destroyed a building and took six lives is the worst in 24 years (when there was in fact one far worse), we should be reminded of how great the service of our Minneapolis Fire Department is.
But for some opportunistic politicians and the opportunistic Star Tribune, this is a chance to use this tragedy to scapegoat the fire department’s Black leadership and try to roll back civil rights gains obtained during the 20 years a federal oversight committee evaluated the department.
I know. I served on that committee. I never missed a meeting. I know just how good this department is.
In this period of anti-Obamaism, it is clear that some have decided the Minneapolis Fire Department leadership would be an easy mark to use as a steppingstone to desired political office. They could not be more wrong.
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.
And although I appreciate the fact that Mayor R.T. Rybak has stood strong in his support of his chief and the department, it is time for the city council and certain City departments to support them as well.
The entire fire department personnel, Black and White, is furious that the department is being painted as comprised of incompetent, uncaring firefighters who don’t know their jobs. This is an affront to their individual and collective professionalism. The leadership is held in high regard by the department.
We are now learning that Chief Jackson did every thing he could to clarify questions asked by the media and elected politicians. But that isn’t enough for those who already know the false scapegoat statements they want to promote.
Racism not only enables reaching conclusions without the facts; it also entails purposefully ignoring the facts. I can only conclude from the report of Minnesota State Fire Marshal Jerry Rosendahl that the Star Tribune and Council Member Gary Schiff are suffering from self-inflicted “wounds” to their credibility.
In his letter to Chief Jackson, of which I have a copy, and which the Star Tribune was forced to report last Wednesday the 21st, Rosendahl does not criticize the fire department’s performance, although clearly the Star Tribune and Schiff thought he would. But that is one of the high costs of racism: loss of objectivity along with an inability to see the real world as it is.
Rosendahl said the City should increase its code inspection frequency.
His recommendation that the buildings with dual use — apartments and commercial tenants — be inspected at the same time, not separately, is a policy Chief Jackson implemented last year. For the department to make more frequent inspections, the City will have to provide the resources, manpower and budget that will enable it to do so.
The state fire marshal concluded that the department has done a “thorough” job and that existing protocols have been followed.
Developing these procedures and recommending funding and resources for more inspections is the responsibility of the city council and the Department of Regulatory Services.
The council has yet to provide such additional needed resources.
Missing in all of this is an appreciation of the heroics of the firefighters.
Eight almost died in the April 2 fire when they entered the burning building to rescue those inside. Only their training and quick reactions saved their lives.
Indeed, so sure was Chief Jackson of their performance that he became the first fire department chief in the state to request that the state fire marshal do a department review. Rosendahl obviously approved of his actions: “I commend you and Fire Marshal Brian Tynor for making this request to us. This type of transparency in government is especially critical in the interest of public safety.”
The state fire marshal points out on pages seven and eight of his report that, in terms of apartment fire deaths and fire death rates, the Minneapolis Fire Department is operating better than the national average. For this we should be thankful, not critical.
Ron hosts “Black Focus” on Channel 17, MTN-TV, Sundays, 5-6 pm. Formerly head of key civil rights organizations, including the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission and Urban League, he continues his “watchdog” role for Minneapolis.
Order his books at www.BeaconOnTheHill.com; hear his readings and read his solution papers and “web log” at www.TheMinneapolisStory.com.
Posted April 28, 2010, 11:56 p.m.
April 21, 2010 Column #16: What would Kirby say?
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues.."
A bi-monthly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
No stadium hiring report leaves serious questions unanswered
What would the legendary Kirby Puckett, the greatest player in Minnesota Twins history, the man who led them to win the World Series in 1987 and 1991, say about the fact that there was no commitment to put Black people to work on Target Field as workers or contractors?
What would Kirby say about the Minneapolis Civil Rights Department’s shameless act of betrayal, openly violating the statutes by telling the prime contractor, Mortenson, to self-report false numbers to mask the lack of Black workers and contractors for the House that Kirby Built?
Such Twins greats as Kirby Puckett, Rod Carew and Tony Oliva understood, as men of color, the importance of opportunity and inclusion for all.
Their accomplishments remind us of what Minneapolis officials deny the city when they deny men and women of color opportunity and inclusion.
This past Monday, I spoke directly with Minneapolis Civil Rights Department Deputy Director Marvin Taylor. There is no data. There is no report. Where did the Black “leaders” get their information when they claimed that they “worked with others to negotiate successfully with the Twins Stadium of hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars to subcontractors in our community?”
Mr. Taylor indicated to me that the situation is so serious with respect to the lack of numbers that the department presented a deadline for the report to be completed. I doubt it can or will be done. The serious consequences I have warned for ignoring Mortensen’s hiring practices on the baseball stadium (see last week’s column as well as past columns) will come to pass.
When I spoke to the office of Council Member Elizabeth Glidden, DFL, Eighth Ward, who has a large Black constituency, I asked whether or not she was aware that there was no report, and that Mortensen was allowed to self-report, a violation of all existing statutes — federal, state, county and municipal.
I’m still waiting for a response.
The Black community has been outrageously lied to in a calculated, premeditated manner to cover the purposeful circumventing of statutes in order to block access and opportunity for people of color. I now understand the rumors swirling around city hall that Michael Jordan lost his position as director of the Civil Rights Department because he lied about this situation and the lack of data.
From July 2008 until August 2009, no one was assigned to obtain the information, nor to certify the information, nor to protect the rights and franchise of workers and subcontractors of color. Will incoming Director Korbel be able to set things right? Does she want to? Will the mayor let her? Will the council demand it, or cover it with more covers?
In July 2008, I addressed the City’s capitulations in violation of its own statutes at the meeting of the ballpark authority after the City’s contract compliance manager, James Patterson, told them he was ordered to allow Mortensen to self-report. I knew that my speaking would be to no avail,
as the City would continue to violate its own statutes. The fix was in.
Kirby would not have thought well of or very kindly about his organization allowing this to happen. They turned and looked the other way as African Americans were denied access to the well-paying jobs of Target Field construction and millions of dollars in subcontracts. Again — see my past columns on this as it pertains to the Gophers’ stadium.
All of the new park’s ceremony and merrymaking and self-congratulations won’t hide the tarnishing of the legacy of a great team and its great leader, Kirby Puckett. They have been tarnished not because of anything they did, but because of the Twins’ disrespect of a community Kirby deeply loved and respected.
Kirby, if he were alive, would not have remained silent about this disrespect and dismissal of the African American community locked out of contracts and jobs for building Target Field. He would also have cast a jaundiced eye on the credit falsely asserted by self-proclaimed Black leaders.
Someone needs to tell public officials, Minnesota Twins, and the self-proclaimed Black leadership that someone on high, in the name of Kirby Puckett and others, has just thrown strike three and they didn’t even see the pitch go past them.
How I yearn for the emergence of true leaders like Cecil Newman, Nellie Stone Johnson and Hubert Humphrey, leaders who like them will uphold the integrity of Minneapolis. I don’t think that the incoming civil rights director understands that the third-strike pitch was thrown as she came to the plate. Who will stand up for us?
Stay tuned.
Ron hosts “Black Focus” on Channel 17, MTN-TV, Sundays, 5-6 pm. Formerly head of key civil rights organizations, including the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission and Urban League, he continues his “watchdog” role for Minneapolis. Order his books at www.BeaconOnTheHill.com; hear his readings and read his solution papers and “web log” at www.TheMinneapolisStory.com.
Posted 4-21-10, 9:15 p.m.
April 14, 2010 Column #15: New Leadership Announced for Minneapolis Civil Rights Department. Is the Department Ready? Was the Twins Stadium a Compliance Success?
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues.."
A bi-monthly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Can the new director show us how the Twins stadium brought ‘hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars’ to subcontractors in our Black community?
The question mark in the sub-headline of this column reflects the debate and sharp exchange in this newspaper between Booker Hodges in his H.I.T. column and the COBC/AALS (Coalition of Black Churches/African American Leadership Summit).
Included in the exchange was reference by the COBC/AALS to the hiring compliance of African American community contractors and workers in the construction of the Twins stadium.
On April 6, the mayor announced that Velma Korbel, Minnesota Department of Human Rights director, would accept the appointment as the next director of the Minneapolis Civil Rights Department (the sixth under Rybak). We urge her to release the Twins stadium hiring compliance figures so we can all be one big happy community family again.
From this debate, can we assume that one of outgoing director Michael Jordan’s last acts must have been to release copies of the two-year monitoring report on the Twins stadium to the COBC/AALS, and thus to the Minneapolis City Council and the Office of the Mayor as well?
We ask because COBC/AALS reported last week in this newspaper that they worked to successfully negotiate with Mortensen Construction to obtain “hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars” for subcontractors and workers in our community.
I’m sure when the new civil rights director releases the report, the debate will end as she clears up how it was done, who did it, and who certified its numbers, not to mention laying to rest the rumor that the department, contrary to law, delegated the compliance report to Mortensen despite the grant of $100,000 to do the study itself. This will answer the naysayers.
How did Mortensen deal with the difficulty of finding qualified minority subcontractors and workers for both the Twins stadium and the Gophers stadium? This knowledge can ensure that there will be qualified Black contractors and workers for the just-announced “biggest highway-construction season in MnDOT history” of “283 construction projects totaling $1.3 billion.”
This will enable the African American community to sing “Happy days are here again.” I look forward to reading the hiring compliance reports on these projects as well.
I appealed to our two African American state representatives to obtain from the University of Minnesota their audited and certified figures with respect to the Gophers stadium (in my November 4, 2009 column). Even though that has not happened yet, we assume such a certification will take place soon. See also my 2010 column of Jan. 13, and my 2009 columns of Feb. 18 (which lists eight other columns), Feb. 25 and Nov. 4.
The praise of Mortensen’s success bringing jobs and contracts to African Americans made by the COBC/AALS at the Minneapolis Public School Board meeting on April 6 must mean the figures for both the Gophers’ and Twins’ stadiums have been audited, authenticated, and certified. Doesn’t their praise mean that the COBC/AALS has in its possession the documentation of the Mortensen diversity compliance success that they praise?
That just makes good sense, my friends. Just think of it: hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars to subcontractors and workers in our community. All that is needed to clear up this debate is to release the report showing when the final figures were given to the Civil Rights Department, who audited them, and who certified the accuracy of such numbers as actual hours for skilled and unskilled labor (as opposed to just the number of days on which they worked).
The report should also document the dollar amount paid to minority subcontractors and the dates these minority contractors were certified by the City of Minneapolis as having submitted their own private audits, as required by law.
How wonderful, in these tough economic times, that at least the Twins stadium provided hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars for contractors and workers in our community. Of course, if the documentation is not in place, there are some serious questions and declarations that must be answered to the African American community that allegedly was a part of this success story.
The Fair Employment Practices Act became law in Minnesota on April 15, 1955 (with significant support of Republicans Al Quie, Luther Youngdahl, and Elmer Andersen, who all became governors). When Nellie Stone Johnson first proposed the Fair Employment Practices Act in the 1940s, Black organizations opposed it (e.g., the NAACP at first tabled it).
Why did Black organizations fight Black economic development and economic opportunity then? Why do some still do so? Look around: Thurgood Marshall said to judge “intent” by the results. We still have poor education, lack of jobs, and poor housing in the inner city.
Welcome aboard, Ms. Korbel.
Stayed tuned.
Ron hosts “Black Focus” on Channel 17, MTN-TV, Sundays, 5-6 pm. Formerly head of key civil rights organizations, including the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission, he continues his “watchdog” role for Minneapolis. Order his books at www.BeaconOnTheHill.com; hear his readings and read his solution papers and “web log” at www.TheMinneapolisStory.com.
Posted April 14, 2010, 2:28 p.m.
April 07, 2010 Column #14: The Death of Kenneth Sims and the Shame of the City
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues.."
A bi-monthly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
9:07 pm, Tuesday, the 30th of March: Minneapolis recorded its 15th homicide since the first of the year. Kenneth Sims, 21 years old, was shot multiple times by assailants unknown at the time of this writing. For the chief and mayor and council to continue to downplay such shootings by repeating their mantra that all is OK tells us they have lost their moral compass, just as the major print and broadcast media downplay coverage.
What could be more devastating to a parent than losing her only child? The pain and suffering are incalculable.
In addition to Mr. Sims, there were three other homicides: a woman who died of a drug overdose administered by an unknown person, a young woman killed inside the city limits of Minneapolis whose body was dumped in Brooklyn Center, and a young man beaten to death along the 1600 block of Vincent Ave. North.
9:50 pm: Fifty gathered where Mr. Sims was shot. Uneasy and unhappy, angry and frustrated. One mourner asked the White TV camera crew to show respect and get their cameras out of the mother’s face. She told them we’re not monkeys and this is not a zoo. Only through the intervention of police officers was this first confrontation averted from escalating.
10:20 pm: The crowd had grown to over 100 young people. Friends. Relatives.
Loved ones. It became obvious that this 21-year-old African American was extremely popular, loved and respected by his peers. Mr. Sims’ mother arrived a short time after he had been shot, cried out, and asked to view the body of her son. One could sense the heartbreak of her loss and sense her frustration at how the scene was handled.
10:30 pm: Sirens and gunfire could be heard from the direction of 42nd and Irving Ave. North. Police radios reported shootings at the lower end of North Minneapolis.
11:05 pm: A representative of the mayor’s office arrived, met with investigators at the scene, then quickly left. Whether he knew it was the grieving mother he walked past without saying anything we do not know, but we do know he didn’t seek her out to offer condolences. No other leaders, Black or White, appeared.
11:45 pm: Close to 125 friends and loved ones were pushing against the yellow tape, demanding Mr. Sims’ body be covered and removed from the area. But Minnesota does not allow for bodies to be removed until after the medical examiner arrives and makes a preliminary examination.
Three years ago, an agreement was reached between the Police Community Relations Council (PCRC) and the city that in situations when crowds gather, police would take steps to maintain dignity. Doesn’t matter. Immediately following the end of the federal mediation agreement on December 31, 2008, city officials said they would not bother with those kinds of procedures and protocols.
And then they wonder why our community believes they don’t care. It’s because they obviously don’t.
11:50 pm: The medical examiner’s car arrived. Only thanks to the efforts of Police Chaplain Jeffrey Stewart and a community activist who was present was a full-scale confrontation prevented as the crowd became incensed at the insensitivity of the authorities. And once again we could see the difference it makes when no Black police are present in a Black neighborhood. This department is becoming as lily-White as police departments in Finland.
12:30 am: The medical examiner finished and Mr. Sims’ body was taken away.
As the crowd began to disperse, an eerie silence fell over the 4200 block of Irving Ave. North as the sad realization sank in that another life had been lost, another dream shattered.
A mother who lost her only child received no answers to her cries, her questions. A little bit of the city’s soul, heart, and vision of the future died a little, too, as the African American community took yet another hit.
When will the OK chorus regain its moral compass? When will the city address such deep troubles with effective plans for corrective change?
Nellie Stone Johnson notes in her biography that even in 1949, “the NAACP” and the “educated Black middle class elite,” including Thurgood Marshall, were not inclined to take on Brown vs. Board of Education.
Nellie called it “the milquetoast position, the path of least resistance,” even in the face of injustice.
Thurgood finally did. When will Minneapolis’ Black leaders see the light and stop replaying 1949? Stay tuned.
Ron hosts “Black Focus” on Channel 17, MTN-TV, Sundays, 5-6 pm. Formerly head of key civil rights organizations, including the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission, he continues his “watchdog” role for Minneapolis. Order his books at www.BeaconOnTheHill.com; hear his readings and read his solution papers and “web log” at www.TheMinneapolisStory.com.
Posted April 7, 2010, 7:16 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 entries 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.
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