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December 26, 2012 Column #52: A Nation In Pain, A Nation Whose Heart Is Broken Again.
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A weekly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
December 26, 2012
When news began to flash across the airways Friday, December 14, that a tragedy was taking place in Newtown, CT, the magnitude and the heartbreak of this violent and insane action began to sink in. Twenty of the 26 lost lives were six- and seven-year-old children dying from multiple gun shots from an assault/combat rifle.
This incident caused me to pause and relook at what to write for this end-of-year/looking-forward-to-the-future column, especially in terms of the tragedies in Minneapolis’ African American communities in terms of education, jobs, housing and getting caught holding the bag to pay for a stadium neither the state nor city can afford.
In terms of school shootings, we remember Virginia Tech; Minnesota’s Red Lake Indian Reservation; Springfield, OR; Columbine, CO; Jonesboro, AR; Blacksburg, VA.; and 1927 Michigan: 42 killed, mostly children. Recent school killings have also been in Norway; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Sana’a, Yemen. Fifteen hundred children die in America yearly from abuse and neglect, over 3,000 a year in gun-related deaths, and more than 1,000 killed in auto crashes, not to mention the “death at an early age” mentally of millions of students due to bad schools.
Even though rifle-bearing cowards will be judged by a force more powerful than any of us, we are still left with the difficult task of explaining to parents the deaths of their six- and seven-year-olds. In the meantime, the “don’t let a crisis go unexploited” politics unfolds, as right and left square off to discuss gun control and assault/combat rifles, mental health, the NRA, gun registration and who should or should not be armed.
The trauma, murder and mayhem of these events and debates will fade in memory. Then, back to business as usual. America, as tribes and nations before it throughout recorded history, carved out and supported doctrines of “by any means necessary,” including taking of land from indigenous people (a history shared by all around the world, including those who did the same to those they in turn had conquered). It is a doctrine of supremacy by force of arms to hold what is assumed an inalienable right of might rather than a shared right of all.
As President Barrack Obama pointed out in a memorial service Sunday evening in Newtown, CT, assault/combat rifle availability and dealing with the mentally ill minds who believe this to be an acceptable rite of passage must be dealt with. Once again, it will be extremely difficult for an honest consensus building discussion on the use of guns and violence in America.
Parents in Chicago this past summer felt the same sense of frustration, anger and heartbreak as their children died on Chicago streets, as in other highly populated African American cities, though not well covered in the media. We need serious dialogue from those fighting for and against the right to be armed.
It is no accident that United States senators — Democrats and Republicans — were slow to speak out or appear on television-interview programs to defend their doctrine of the right to bear arms at any cost. So just how committed is the nation to seek a solution?
In many cities and hamlets there are those who have lost a loved one to violence in America, who, for decades, have sought serious discussions. Will contemporary school shootings join the gun battles of the Old West and Prohibition as appropriate for new acts of violence, or be dealt with?
Tragedies? The real tragedies on the national level are the 25 percent Black unemployment (50 percent among Black youth), 50 percent Black high school dropout rates, and inner-city substandard housing, as they are reflections of national policies compounded by local ones.
We would like to see an emphasis on the greater tragedies of the failure to deal effectively with education, jobs, and housing for African Americans, at the root of which is the state and city refusing to comply with known laws that could help prevent tragedies like shootings. We invite the reader to consider the columns and solution papers on our website, www.TheMinneapolisStory.com, as pathways to dealing with the tragedies of Minneapolis: failing to provide the best in education, jobs, and housing for African Americans, including the added tragedy of letting the “people’s stadium” funding prevent social stabilization and fairness for the people by diverting dollars away from education, jobs and housing, which we’ll address over the coming year.
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 Saturdays, 3-4:00 pm, providing coverage about Black Minnesota. Order his books at www.BeaconOnTheHill.com. Hear his readings and read his columns and blog, and solution papers for community planning and development. All are are archived at www.theminneapolisstory.com/tocarchives.htm. His second book, 2008, is A Seat for Everyone.
Posted Wednesday, December 26, 2012, 2:40 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 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' investigative reporting platforms for communicating with the community:
Ron's media message platforms:
(1) Column (since 2003): "Through My Eyes: The Minneapolis Story Continues", published weekly in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.;
(2) TV: Host of weekly Black Focus, Sundays, 5-6 pm, on Channel 17, MTN-TV;
(3) Blog Talk radio podcasts: host of “Black Focus V,” Saturdays, 3-4:00 pm, Sundays, 3-3:30 pm, and Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm; Archives here and here; On Point,
(4) Books: The Minneapolis Story Through My Eyes (2002); and A Seat for Everyone (2008); Order here.
(5) Solution Papers: for community leadership, planning and development;
(6) Blog: "Tracking the Gaps"
(7) CD: Hear his readings;
(8) Archives. (Columns, Blog entries, Solution Papers).
December 19, 2012 Column #51: City election 2013 candidates face some tough funding issues. Paying for the Vikings stadium is chief among them.
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A weekly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Pullquote: Minnesotans are neither enthusiastic about the revenue being projected nor about their anticipated and expected involvement in raising that revenue [for the stadium].
The City of Minneapolis is preparing for the elections of 2013. It will, in all probability, be a very contentious election, with a three-term mayor on the political ropes. The key factor that will influence candidates to run and determine how citizens will vote centers on developing intended and unintended consequences of the Vikings stadium funding, which in turn centers on four areas:
1. How the mayor deliberately and knowingly violated the City charter by refusing to let voters decide on any stadium bill over $10 million (the mayor being quite comfortable with having the City absorb the stadium debt);
2. How the actual numbers, with interest, are nearly 10 times the original projection for the City’s costs
3. How neither the City nor the State have the funds to meet their stadium commitments; and
4. What new taxes the candidates will declare in their campaigns as on and off limits to meet the City’s and the State’s commitments.
First, let’s look at the potential candidates and then key facts they will have to contend with.
Names being discussed include current Mayor R.T. Rybak, Ward 13 Council Member Betsy Hodges, Ward 8 Council Member Elizabeth Glidden, Ward 9 Council Member Gary Schiff, former mayoral challenger Alfred Flowers, former speaker of the House Margaret Anderson Kelliher, Minneapolis’ school board representative Hussein Sametar, and former city council president Jackie Cherryhomes. The City’s endorsement convention, in early 2013, should be as hot as the great Chicago Fire.
Next, let’s look at key facts that will significantly impact on the election races:
• The Kaplan report, made before the council voted on stadium funding, stated the City would be nearly $50 million short of its $150 million commitment for a Vikings stadium. The report clearly spelled out that there were inconsistencies in the mayor’s and his supporters’ statements that the City of Minneapolis could meet its commitment to Vikings stadium funding.
• Eight months ago, Mayor R.T. Rybak dismissed and violated the importance and sanctity of the City Charter, and said if voters didn’t like it they could vote him out of office.
• Early projection: stadium cost when capital and operations over 30 years are added to the original $150 million: $338 million.
• Councilmember Gary Schiff’s projected Minneapolis cost (KSTP, May 13, 2012): $675 million.
• The City's actual stadium cost (Star Tribune, May 1, 2012): $890 million.
• Cost estimate for city in my May 2012 column taken from Star Tribune stories: $1.170 billion over the next 30 years
• Minnesota has just reported it has a $1.1 billion fiscal shortfall.
• The State has mis-projected the revenue from electronic pull tabs the State said would cover its funding commitment for the stadium (only 85 of 6,000 bars have electronic pull tabs). The faulty projections reflect what we have said before: Minnesotans are neither enthusiastic about the revenue being projected nor about their anticipated and expected involvement in raising that revenue.
These represent political albatrosses that are millstones around the necks of legislators and council members who voted for the stadium. This means that all the contenders and pretenders for the 2013 elections for the offices of mayor and city council members are going to have to explain not only their roles in the added debt being imposed on the voters of the city of Minneapolis, but also what new taxes they will have to impose for Minneapolis to pay its “fair share” of the Peoples’ “no new taxes” stadium.
Voters should ask in 2013 for specifics about projection assumptions, and of what other revenue generators they will propose for meeting the City’s stadium payment obligations.
Of course, Election 2013 will have other important issues, such as education, jobs, public safety, affordable housing, and those projects such as the downtown casino, which apparently has hit a dead end while Block E continues to die its slow and agonizing death.
So get ready, Minneapolis, for Election 2013. For the incumbent mayor, this could be an anxious political run, particularly if the Obama administration decides not to beckon him to join the administration. That means he’ll have to fight vigorously if he is to sustain continued employment as mayor of Minneapolis.
It also means that the previously identified contenders and pretenders will have to shape their arguments regarding their plans for a new vision for a new Minneapolis and their plans for paying for it. The City must have a plan to guarantee an economy that will generate jobs and tax revenue if Minneapolis is to survive in the future.
Finally, how do those who are opposing growth plan to avoid having Minneapolis become like Detroit?
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 Saturdays, 3-4:00 pm, 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 columns and blog, and solution papers for community planning and development. All are are archived here. His second book, 2008, is A Seat for Everyone.
Posted Wednesday, November 21, 2012, 5:00 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 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' investigative reporting platforms for communicating with the community:
Ron's media message platforms:
(1) Column (since 2003): "Through My Eyes: The Minneapolis Story Continues", published weekly in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.;
(2) TV: Host of weekly Black Focus, Sundays, 5-6 pm, on Channel 17, MTN-TV;
(3) Blog Talk radio podcasts: host of “Black Focus V,” Saturdays, 3-4:00 pm, Sundays, 3-3:30 pm, and Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm;
(4) Books: The Minneapolis Story Through My Eyes (2002); and A Seat for Everyone (2008); Order here.
(5) Solution Papers: for community leadership, planning and development;
(6) Blog: "Tracking the Gaps"
(7) CD: Hear his readings;
(8) Archives. (Columns, Blog entries, Solution Papers).
December 12, 2012 Column #50: Minnesota: Land Of Underused Though Highly Skilled Black Quarterbacks. There’s Too Much Emphasis On White And Not Enough On Win.
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A weekly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
The elephant in the middle of the sports living room is back: another round of a decreasing number of Black quarterbacks (irrespective of RGIII, the phenomenal Black quarterback of the Washington Redskins). Sports columnists in this paper periodically hint at it in terms of Minnesota. Time to put it front and center.
Vikings Joe Webb and Gopher MarQueis Grey are highly skilled Black quarterbacks with tremendous talents being underutilized. Let’s talk about it.
Two years ago, after Bret Favre was injured, Joe Webb and Adrian Peterson carried the Vikings on their backs. Who can forget Webb’s performance in the victory over the Philadelphia Eagles? Then came the NFL draft the following spring.
Vikings first-round draft choice: Christian Ponder, an excellent college quarterback from Florida State University. Immediately, White Minnesota sports writers and broadcasters proclaimed him as the second coming of such White wonders as Bret Favre, Fran Tarkington and Johnny Unitas.
Joe Webb’s snaps last season were significantly reduced. They did put him in some wildcat packages. And a couple of times they tried to make a wide receiver out of him.
A pause to note two things: First, we understand first-rounders and the money they are paid often necessitates playing them before they are ready. The test is over. Ponder isn’t ready.
Secondly, always play the best players, regardless of color. This is not a civil rights rant, nor a call for affirmative action, nor a call for some kind of idiotic quota system. Those who accuse me of that haven’t read my books and columns nor heard my radio nor seen my TV show. This is about the fans getting the best players playing so their teams have the best chance to win.
As I wrote in my November 7, 2012 column on the Timberwolves, “Play the best players, whether all White, all Black or a combination.” Race only comes in play where “Great White Hope” thinking is in play, the desire to win with Whites, not Blacks.
Last year’s Vikings won a total of three games under Ponder. This year, after a 5-2 start the schedule caught up with them, going 1-4 in the last stretch.
Has Coach Leslie Frasier been told that no matter how much the Vikings slide, Ponder must be his quarterback of the future? I just hope that after they finish 6-10 with Ponder at quarterback, Leslie Frazier, for whom I have great respect, still has a job.
Now let’s talk about how poorly the University of Minnesota is utilizing MarQueis Grey, who UM admits is “one of the most highly regarded dual-threat quarterbacks in the nation.” The unspoken rule: a winning injured quarterback gets his starting job back when he returns.
Grey has returned from injury after leading the Gophers to a 4-0 start. So why isn’t he starting again?
For three years, the White media in this town, who criticized Joe Webb, equally criticized MarQueis Grey, implying that neither African American had the intellectual skills or a deep enough intellectual knowledge of the game to be a winning quarterback in control of games, despite their obvious records to the contrary. At play, as with the Timberwolves, is Minnesota White sports media thinking about the wrong “w,” thinking White and not Win.
And please, let’s dispense with all the fluff about how much they love Warren Moon, Randall Cunningham, and Dante Culpepper. Even at the top of their game there was always some harping criticism of their lacking the intellect, the smarts, and the gifts to control and win games, despite their winning. In the case of Joe Webb, with Ponder the designated future, waive Webb and allow him to catch on with a team that appreciates his intelligence and skills.
The Star Tribune famously published a 21-day series on race in Minnesota in June 1990. Key sentences: “The Twins are burdened by a history of racism.” “...the Gopher program has ignored the contributions of the minority community.” “When it comes to the Vikings, a hidden resentment in the minority community boiled over last year…”
The cover of Mpls/St.Paul magazine, January 1990: “I’m not racist, but…. ‘Nice’ Minnesotans don’t talk about it, but the ugly fact is that racism is alive — and growing — in the Twin Cities.”
Another clue: Most coaches are former players. The majority of players are Black. The vast majority of coaches are White.
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 Saturdays, 3-4:00 pm, providing coverage about Black Minnesota. Order his books at www.BeaconOnTheHill.com. Hear his readings and read his columns and blog, and solution papers for community planning and development. All are are archived at www.theminneapolisstory.com/tocarchives.htm. His second book, 2008, is A Seat for Everyone.
Posted Wednesday, December 12, 2012, 12:57 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 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' investigative reporting platforms for communicating with the community:
Ron's media message platforms:
(1) Column (since 2003): "Through My Eyes: The Minneapolis Story Continues", published weekly in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.;
(2) TV: Host of weekly Black Focus, Sundays, 5-6 pm, on Channel 17, MTN-TV;
(3) Blog Talk radio podcasts: host of “Black Focus V,” Saturdays, 3-4:00 pm, Sundays, 3-3:30 pm, and Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm;
(4) Books: The Minneapolis Story Through My Eyes (2002); and A Seat for Everyone (2008); Order here.
(5) Solution Papers: for community leadership, planning and development;
(6) Blog: "Tracking the Gaps"
(7) CD: Hear his readings;
(8) Archives. (Columns, Blog entries, Solution Papers).
December 05, 2012 Column #49: Still waiting for the Equity Plan for the new Vikings’ and Minnesota’s People’s Stadium
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A weekly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Where is the long awaited/anticipated Equity Plan for the People’s Vikings Stadium, a plan to guarantee inclusiveness (all of “we the people”) in the development, construction and operation of the stadium?
Inclusive means diversity (more than just one race). The lack of an Equity Plan mocks “inclusive” and “diversity,” as does stadium legislative language stating all that is required is “a best effort.” If this continues it will be the handwriting-on-the-wall warning of delays to the projected opening of July 2016, suggesting more than slight bumps in the road.
The Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights missed the city-council directed deadline for submitting the Equity Plan. The DCR then outsourced it to two individuals who work for the Metropolitan Council, who are doing it on a moonlighting basis as private contractors. These well-compensated employees of the Met Council are thus engaged in open conflict of interest, double dipping by serving two masters (the Wink Wink Doctrine). No one seems to care or talk about it. I care.
Was this DCR Director Velma Korbel’s equivalent of fumbling, throwing an interception, poorly executing a poorly designed trick play? Regardless, its effect: to delay the process of guaranteeing the participation of the African American community’s organizations and people in the People’s Viking Stadium.
Why this continued Minnesota un-nice antagonism to African American contractors and employees (see my Solution Paper #46, “Disparity/Compliance Studies,” a list of 20 columns, going back to 2005, detailing this ongoing pattern).
If all the prime-time players, including the attorney general’s office, are comfortable with this relationship, we will learn a lot about not only their sense of ethics but also their continued commitment to skirt inclusion and diversity, to not honor justice and fairness.
You kind of wonder if there are enough hours in the day — and days in the week — to serve and be paid by two masters. “We the people” tax-paying public ask how it is possible to carry out their responsibilities in a timely manner when they serve two masters as paid state employees are also paid private contractors working for the city and a private entity, the Minnesota Vikings.
We are glad that there has been a delay in the signing of a general contractor or general manager, for a signed contract without an equity plan would mean that only the “best effort” language of the legislation would prevail, opening up the possibility of eliminating African Americans and causing delaying lawsuits. With the governor’s office and the legislation in the hands of the DFL, we will now see if the party of Hubert H. Humphrey and Nellie Stone Johnson is still the party for justice and equal access/opportunity for all.
However, there is more: These personnel are also diversity overseers for light rail going through the city of St. Paul, another tremendous time-consuming responsibility for our moonlighting pair, again raising the question we will again explore in greater depth over the next five weeks: the process of certification that guarantees that companies are not only who they say they are, but that they report what they are actually doing, signing actual MBE/WBE contractors using people of color or signing non-minority contractors employing people of color.
As our “Disparity/Compliance Studies” solution paper documents, both Minnesota and Minneapolis have a record of not meeting statutory definitions/requirements/goals regarding MBE (Minority Business Enterprises) and WBE (Women Business Enterprises).
The $753 million construction contract for the People’s Stadium represents significant life lines to all, especially our beleaguered and underrepresented African American community. So again I ask: Where is the Equity Plan? What will be available for the African American community as demanded by law and morality? Will the Black community again be the recipient of basically zero in the construction of the People’s Viking Stadium?
That will truly be a tragedy and a disgrace to the conscience, ethical reputation and image of Minnesota, exposing the lie of its self-proclaimed social-justice platform, not to mention the cost of the delay by-products. We encourage the special commission created by the Vikings People’s Stadium legislation to ask these questions when the first annual report of the People’s Stadium is made to them in January 2013, as legislated.
Finally, ask why the Sports Facility Authority, Vikings, City, and foundations have not taken advantage of the resources regarding planning for inclusion and diversity for hiring as outlined in our Solutions Papers #42-45b.
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 Saturdays, 3-4:00 pm, providing coverage about Black Minnesota. Order his books at www.BeaconOnTheHill.com. Hear his readings and read his columns and blog, and solution papers for community planning and development. All are are archived at www.theminneapolisstory.com/tocarchives.htm. His second book, 2008, is A Seat for Everyone.
Posted Wednesday, December 5, 2012, 2:00 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 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' investigative reporting platforms for communicating with the community:
Ron's media message platforms:
(1) Column (since 2003): "Through My Eyes: The Minneapolis Story Continues", published weekly in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.;
(2) TV: Host of weekly Black Focus, Sundays, 5-6 pm, on Channel 17, MTN-TV;
(3) Blog Talk radio podcasts: host of “Black Focus V,” Saturdays, 3-4:00 pm, Sundays, 3-3:30 pm, and Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm;
(4) Books: The Minneapolis Story Through My Eyes (2002); and A Seat for Everyone (2008); Order here.
(5) Solution Papers: for community leadership, planning and development;
(6) Blog: "Tracking the Gaps"
(7) CD: Hear his readings;
(8) Archives. (Columns, Blog entries, Solution Papers).
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 Saturdays, 3-4:00 pm, 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 columns and blog, and solution papers for community planning and development. All are are archived here. His second book, 2008, is A Seat for Everyone.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012, 12:05 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 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' investigative reporting platforms for communicating with the community:
Ron's media message platforms:
(1) Column (since 2003): "Through My Eyes: The Minneapolis Story Continues", published weekly in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.;
(2) TV: Host of weekly Black Focus, Sundays, 5-6 pm, on Channel 17, MTN-TV;
(3) Blog Talk radio podcasts: host of “Black Focus V,” Saturdays, 3-4:00 pm, Sundays, 3-3:30 pm, and Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm;
(4) Books: The Minneapolis Story Through My Eyes (2002); and A Seat for Everyone (2008); Order here.
(5) Solution Papers: for community leadership, planning and development;
(6) Blog: "Tracking the Gaps"
(7) CD: Hear his readings;
(8) Archives. (Columns, Blog entries, Solution Papers).
November 21, 2012 Column #47: A political ponzi Scheme: The fix was in with 2012 election.
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A weekly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
November 21, 2012
Shell-shocked Republicans are asking “What happened?” as they lick their wounds and offer recriminations and finger pointing regarding who to blame for losing the election. They include those Republicans who are Bernie Madoff-like Ponz-like schemers ,and those Republicans who feel like Ponzi scheme losers, all asking what happened.
If they were suckers, can they get a refund? It was like putting money in a paper bag and passing it to campaign collectors. Consolation for large donors is their getting access to key political players and key statistical data for use in the next election.
Big donors like the Koch brothers should ask for a refund. As for the self-described election gurus like Karl Rove, win or lose, they pulled off the equivalent of their own slick Ponzi schemes. Throughout, people were reaching into their billfolds to put up cash to either help the president stay in the White House or to help throw him out. If Rove charged 10 percent of the $300 million awarded to him for the election, he’s a winning Madoff while his donors are Ponzi losers.
As they analyze, many tend to forget the depth and breadth of President Obama’s experience and street smarts (Harvard education in law — he taught constitutional law — and community organizing on the streets of Chicago). He and I are students of the teachings of Saul Alinsky (I was in classes taught by Alinsky) and those who helped craft the Alinsky doctrine — to prevail: Face off against the opposition, outthink them, out-plan them.
You win by being organized, by maintaining contact, by maintaining organizational structure, and by maintaining positive relationships with the masses. Following the 2008 campaign, Obama left organizers in the key battleground states — the Big Nine — and especially in Ohio, to prepare voters for the 2012 campaign, demonstrating he cared deeply about the 2012 election.
However, something was amiss for both sides, as each side received fewer votes than in 2008 (Democrats 7.6 million fewer votes, Republicans 1.3 million fewer votes). And how could the self-proclaimed smartest and brightest pollsters and commentators forecast a Republican victory? Several longtime political commentators (Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Peggy Noonan, and Dick Morris) proclaimed Romney would win big. And yet, despite protesting early calls on losing Ohio and Florida, Republican illusions couldn’t prevent their loss.
Both sides will be haunted by the question of did they win (or lose) because of super storm Sandy (15 percent said it influenced their vote) or debate moderator comments, or because of what? In politics, perception is reality. Pew Research reports exit polls showed that 53 percent of voters viewed the president favorably, Romney 47 percent. Yet only 43 percent want an activist government (52 percent in 2008) and 49 percent disapproved of “Obama Care” (44 percent approved). Also, “59 percent believe abortion should be legal, 65 percent support a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, and a plurality support legalizing same-sex marriage in their states.”
We are left with several concerns. Winners have to be wary when a game is won in extra innings that could have gone either way.
Clearly, there is something amiss when it takes five days to certify an election, as in Florida, and seven days later they are still counting the votes in the state of Arizona (with people of color voter suppression suspected), and with the feds looking into irregularities in Ohio. Our great system of democratic elective government depends on it being unbroken.
There will be two grassroots movements competing in the communities and neighborhoods in 2014 and 2016: Alinsky grassroots from the left and Tea Party grassroots from the right. Each has to choose: demonize or be substantive on the issues.
In 2014 and 2016, which party, movement, and candidates will advocate for prosperity and growth in minority communities and neighborhoods, especially regarding education, jobs, housing, and Black leadership? I have fought for this for over 50 years (I have a chapter on each of these topics in my book, replicated on my web page).
My argument with Saul Alinsky and the Black leadership in Minneapolis has been about the failure to replicate initial successes. We need to concentrate on getting back to the focus and style of Martin Luther King, Jr., who never took his eye off the prize, the prosperous development of our neighborhoods.
Will the political parties follow Lincoln’s “house united” approach and heed his warnings about a “house divided?” If not, the African American community will see their own hope and change for their neighborhoods postponed for another four years.
Which party will stand for and promote the integrity of the electoral system?
God bless America.
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 Saturdays, 3-4:00 pm, 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 columns and blog, and solution papers for community planning and development. All are are archived here. His second book, 2008, is A Seat for Everyone.
Posted Wednesday, November 21, 2012, 12:46 p.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 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' investigative reporting platforms for communicating with the community:
Ron's media message platforms:
(1) Column (since 2003): "Through My Eyes: The Minneapolis Story Continues", published weekly in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.;
(2) TV: Host of weekly Black Focus, Sundays, 5-6 pm, on Channel 17, MTN-TV;
(3) Blog Talk radio podcasts: host of “Black Focus V,” Saturdays, 3-4:00 pm, Sundays, 3-3:30 pm, and Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm;
(4) Books: The Minneapolis Story Through My Eyes (2002); and A Seat for Everyone (2008); Order here.
(5) Solution Papers: for community leadership, planning and development;
(6) Blog: "Tracking the Gaps"
(7) CD: Hear his readings;
(8) Archives. (Columns, Blog entries, Solution Papers).
November 14, 2012 Column #46: Obama wins! Historic Second Term.
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A weekly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
November 14, 2012
The 2012 Presidential election proves 2008 was not a fluke nor an accident. 2012 demonstrates the peril of all white “dream teams” with mostly white door knockers in the field. When will the Republicans accept “representative democracy” on ballots and in the field as well as in voting booths?
It was interesting to watch the red faced and frivolous TV pundits scramble to understand, whether Fox News, CNN, MSNBC or the rest. The Republicans mixed up a special batch of snake oil tonic in the first week of November 2008, after President Barrack Obama won his first term. They should have mixed up a batch of cooperation and compromise: that is The American Way of checks and balances.
The attempt by Karl Rove to make it appear we had another Florida in both Florida and Ohio exposed the depths of deceit and deception some Republicans attempted. But that is something for another time and another day.
Today is about the tremendous accomplishment of Barrack Obama. We personally offer our congratulations to he and his wife and daughters.
At one point late Tuesday and early Wednesday, Romney led in the popular vote. Florida, still counting its votes as I write, will not be center stage. It’s over (as I write, the President is now 4 million votes ahead in the popular vote). Had that held it would have been the fourth time in U.S. history. Doesn’t matter. The Electoral College makes sure every state counts, not just those with the most voters. Why? Inclusion.
Two good men fought hard. Their surrogates did the heavy stone throwing. May future campaigns discuss issues more.
Regardless of speculation about what President Obama’s strategies will be to get this country up and running and dealing with the many issues, American voters made clear they want his leadership and they want Republicans and the far right to understand they risk going the way of the Whig Party.
The heralded Romney strategists and tacticians were defeated at the polls by their lack of understanding race and inclusion. Republicans scared voters to switch to Obama because of the perception that Romney favored undocumented Hispanics “self- deporting”, ending Medicare in ten years, and letting rape victims be victims. No longer will either party win with strategies that exclude and anger voters of color and retireds.
Hispanics: 75% for Barrack Obama. African Americans: 98% for Obama. Asians 73% for Obama. Groups by gender, age, and race: more than 50% for Obama. Will Republicans finally get the message that good ‘ol white boys can no longer make decisions without including the rest of America? My 2008 book’s title says it all: “A Seat for Everyone: The Freedom Guide that explores a vision for America:” diversity, education, jobs, housing, and a much better understanding of the political networks that govern and enable the institutions of democracy.
There will clearly be a battle within the Republican Party to determine who will now lead the party. Will it be the petty and biased 2012 Republican candidates and political aspirants? Or will they also include rising candidates of color, be they black, brown or yellow?
With race now set aside, the key issue for 2012 will be which party advocates education and economic growth minority communities desperately need. Whoever denies them growth on the basis that our economy is too big and wrong will lose. The winning ticket in 2016: whoever outlines an economy that generates jobs and prosperity, including in energy. Our hope and prayer is that President Obama brings the latter to communities of color during the next four years.
And lets not forget the young. They realize the ‘ol crazy racial animus of ‘ol Dixie is a losing strategy. Over the last 44 years, Dixiecrats have taken off their donkey ears and put on the tails and ears of the big elephant. Minnesotans are proud that it was the late partner of Nelly Stone Johnson, Hubert H. Humphrey, who sharpened that movement in his 1948 Democratic Party Convention speech in Philadelphia, near the Liberty Bell, in one of the great speeches to put front and center the issue of equality and unity in America. On November 6th, the American voters entrusted that mantle to Barrack Obama. We hope and pray, as Americans, that Democrats and Republicans alike embrace that Humphrey standard to make this a better nation through inclusion.
As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation.”
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 Saturdays, 3-4:00 pm, 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 columns and blog, and solution papers for community planning and development. All are are archived here. His second book, 2008, is A Seat for Everyone.
TO BE Posted Wednesday, November14, 2012, 12:46 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 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' investigative reporting platforms for communicating with the community:
Ron's media message platforms:
(1) Column (since 2003): "Through My Eyes: The Minneapolis Story Continues", published weekly in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.;
(2) TV: Host of weekly Black Focus, Sundays, 5-6 pm, on Channel 17, MTN-TV;
(3) Blog Talk radio podcasts: host of “Black Focus V,” Saturdays, 3-4:00 pm, Sundays, 3-3:30 pm, and Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm;
(4) Books: The Minneapolis Story Through My Eyes (2002); and A Seat for Everyone (2008); Order here.
(5) Solution Papers: for community leadership, planning and development;
(6) Blog: "Tracking the Gaps"
(7) CD: Hear his readings;
(8) Archives. (Columns, Blog entries, Solution Papers).
November 07, 2012 Column #45: The "smartest" White team in the NBA. Timber Wolves team return to the 1950s?
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A weekly column by Ron Edwards, featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
November 7, 2012
Race controversy swells up once again as seen in the bitter reactions to an October 28, 2012 Star Tribune story (“Timberwolves: Pale in comparison to the rest of the NBA”), about how the T-Wolves are “going White,” with readers opposed to my saying it was not a coincidence but a Timberwolves' calculation, saying I was beating a dead horse. Commenters backed David Kahn (Wolves president of basketball operations), and Rick Adelman (head coach). See also the Star Tribune story’s chart on the NBA’s diversity lineup and its chart on the Facts and figures on race, players and the NBA.
I used words like “disturbing,” “raises some real questions,” “calculated.” I paraphrased Martin Luther King, Jr, saying it was a "nullification of diversity and a reversal of history".
Did not Coach Rick Adelman say that with his now mostly all-White team, he finally has “a very smart team”? Are White quarterbacks smarter? Or just Whiter?
I not only applaud the passion and enthusiasm of the fans seeking a winning team, I agree: Play the best players, whether all White, all Black or a combination. To have the best game possible, Commissioner Stern has insisted on “color blind” drafting/signing. So why not the Timberwolves?
My question is this: Are White European players chosen because they are better than Black players or because they are the best of players after excluding Black players?
What surprised me the most was most commenters believing racism’s discrimination is over. It isn’t. Read my columns since 2003, and the papers (by number) in the “Solution Papers” section of my website (www.TheMinneapolisStory.com) on the history of calculated discrimination in Minneapolis that continues today in hiring (#46), education (#40), jobs (#39), housing (#41), sports (#24) and #47), and so-called planning (#42 and #45a).
Read Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “A New Sense of Direction” delivered months before his April 4, 1968 assassination. Compare that with the 21-day Star Tribune series in 1991 and with the recent historic analysis two months by Walter Russell Mead, “The Last Compromise”.
Then read this revealing piece on Kahn, . It appears Mr. Kahn has a history of not being very successful, be it as a sportswriter or basketball executive or attorney. Kahn calls the Trailblazers a poorly run organization, expressing disdain for Trailblazers’ owner Paul Allen.
Coach Adelman has been upset since Paul Allen rejected him as general manager. We wonder how much the Minnesota decisions were affected by Kahn and Adelman’s history in Portland.
Be clear: Everyone is entitled to their opinion based on their strategy — unless the strategy is to exclude and discriminate on the basis of race.
You can see the snake oil David Kahn sells in the comments about his open letter to the fans in 2010, in which he implied that the final pieces for perfection were in place. Well, of course, that wasn’t true. The 2011 season of the Timberwolves was an absolute disaster (thankfully, Kevin McKale had signed Kevin Love before Kahn arrived).
For 2011-2012, Kahn brought good buddy Rick Adelman here as head coach. Despite his earlier successes, Adelman has only modest success here, hence the anxiety within the Timberwolves executives. Clearly a calculation was made to blame 2011 and 2012 on the Black players, and then sell to the general public that White guys (primarily European and international), would save the day (postponing their day of reckoning).
Therefore, I challenge Tinberwolves owner Glenn Taylor to show that his "smartest" White team in the NBA can provide a minimum of 45-50 victories and be in the playoffs. By the way, how does one explain the success of his primarily Black Lynx team? Is the reason, Glenn, not because they are smart but because they are women?
It is the Timberwolves who have played the race card, not me. If not for the injury to Kevin Love, the Minnesota Timberwolves would have opened the 2012-2013 season with an all-White starting five. Kahn and Adelman have returned us to the glory days of the 1950s Minneapolis Lakers, the days of Miken, Pollard, Nickelson, Martin, and Skoog. All great players: all White.
True students of the game acknowledge that the NBA was once all White. As recently as 1957: seven percent of players were African American (all time NBA All Star Bill Russell, who refused to play when denied lodging at team hotels in the South, famously said of the 1950s, “you’re allowed to play two Blacks at home, three on the road, and five when you are behind”). Kahn and Adelman have turned back the clock to a time admired by Senators Bilbo and Thurman, and others, of a discredited time long past. You be the judge: Will they get at least 45 wins?
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 Saturdays, 3-4:00 pm, 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 columns and blog, and solution papers for community planning and development. All are are archived here. His second book, 2008, is A Seat for Everyone.
Posted Wednesday, November 7, 2012, 1:33 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 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' investigative reporting platforms for communicating with the community:
Ron's media message platforms:
(1) Column (since 2003): "Through My Eyes: The Minneapolis Story Continues", published weekly in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.;
(2) TV: Host of weekly Black Focus, Sundays, 5-6 pm, on Channel 17, MTN-TV;
(3) Blog Talk radio podcasts: host of “Black Focus V,” Saturdays, 3-4:00 pm, Sundays, 3-3:30 pm, and Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm;
(4) Books: The Minneapolis Story Through My Eyes (2002); and A Seat for Everyone (2008); Order here.
(5) Solution Papers: for community leadership, planning and development;
(6) Blog: "Tracking the Gaps"
(7) CD: Hear his readings;
(8) Archives. (Columns, Blog entries, Solution Papers).
October 31, 2012 Column #44: An Historical Presidential Election
An Historical Presidential Election
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A weekly column by Ron Edwards
Featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
October 31, 2012
This nation’s voters face a historic decision November 6, 2012: choosing between two Harvard graduates, both good, admirable family men, each with similar visions but clear differences on how to meet them. Given the improvement trend in the economy, does America change horses midstream and risk reversing improvement? Will Americans allow President Obama to complete his mission to help America recover economically and spiritually?
In six days, the final votes will determine our future course. I urge America to set aside the issue of race and appreciate the character of President Obama as well as the content of his policy proposals.
Will a form of amnesia grip voters in regards to the decisive action President Obama took as he stepped in to continue his predecessor’s bailout programs for American industries (adding auto, banking and investment, and energy, investment industries) that were on the verge of leading us into a depression (not recession but depression)?
All presidents are presidents of all the people and need to be given latitude to work with Congress to achieve solutions. Congress has to cooperate to make needed compromises to avoid paralyzing gridlock.
Amnesia seems to have set in about the role of the Tea Party and the stifling of the president by Congress (Senate and House), as the president sought to strengthen the country, lift up the middle class, and take action on behalf of the growing number of the poor. Some believe, and I am one of them, that his first initiative should have been jobs and dealing with poverty, which are tied to the economic future of the nation. But we know he has learned from his mistakes and that jobs and poverty will be his first initiatives if re-elected.
His staff has let him down. But worse is the mindset that came out of the 2009 meeting of key Republican leaders (including Newt Gingrich, Mitch McConnell, and John Bohner), who stated their number-one purpose was to undermine the Obama administration and any program he attempted in order to prevent his re-election.
Both parties do this. Neither party is correct. It hurts the nation. It must stop, regardless of who is elected.
The elephant in the middle of the room is the anger of those opposed to having a Black president. That they would risk such collateral damage as the future of this great nation and its citizens is an abomination. How ironic that big money tycoons whose industries the Obama stimulus saved are in the forefront of funneling money to Republican campaigns through Super PACs and by “any other means necessary.” Such conduct and ethics should disturb all Americans.
As we write, the polls show the race is tied. The $1 trillion a year spent on poverty needs to be employed in training and job development, not in the care and feeding of an army of bureaucrats (it is disconcerting that President Obama’s opponent talks more about solving poverty). Our foremost concern is that after the election the president, Congress and the 50 states address the plight of unemployed African Americans (ranging across the country from two to four times that of Whites). We are prepared to work with either man and both parties.
Martin Luther King, Jr.’s book states “Why We Can’t Wait.” We want the winner to lead Congress in a positive and prosperous direction for all. The winner must be concerned about both his 47 percent of the population and the other guy’s 47 percent. We will see a sign of the winner’s character in how his proposed solutions presented to Congress address “the least of these” (including poor children, seniors, veterans, and the physically and mentally challenged).
For four years, President Obama has been committed to unity and respect. We urge all election winners and the citizens who elect them to commit to a house united, not divided, consistent with the great Americans of all colors, philosophies, and ethnic origins that did so before us.
November 6: a day of judgment. We want winners to commit to all, to commit to unity (acting to include all races, ethnics, and creeds). Or will we be forced to wait once again?
George McGovern died last week. As we prepare to vote, let us remember his life, and especially his 1972 presidential campaign that advocated fostering American greatness through inclusive community bottom-up grassroots citizenship, and his fighting hunger since then.
God bless America, and God bless those who will vote.
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 Saturdays, 3-4:00 pm, 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 columns and blog, and solution papers for community planning and development. All are are archived here. His second book, 2008, is A Seat for Everyone.
Posted Thursday, October 31, 2012, 6:24 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 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' investigative reporting platforms for communicating with the community:
Ron's media message platforms:
(1) Column (since 2003): "Through My Eyes: The Minneapolis Story Continues", published weekly in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.;
(2) TV: Host of weekly Black Focus, Sundays, 5-6 pm, on Channel 17, MTN-TV;
(3) Blog Talk radio podcasts: host of “Black Focus V,” Saturdays, 3-4:00 pm, Sundays, 3-3:30 pm, and Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm;
(4) Books: The Minneapolis Story Through My Eyes (2002); and A Seat for Everyone (2008); Order here.
(5) Solution Papers: for community leadership, planning and development;
(6) Blog: "Tracking the Gaps"
(7) CD: Hear his readings;
(8) Archives. (Columns, Blog entries, Solution Papers).
October 24, 2012 Column #43: Sgt. Pat King Moves Across the Street. Law Enforcement Officer Moves to Hennnepin County Sheriff’s Separtment
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A weekly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Last week there was a lot of surprise and concern in law enforcement circles regarding how this new chapter in Cowboy King’s history could take place: being transferred to the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Department’s Violent Offender Task Force (VOTF), especially in light of his having taken personal credit for destroying the Black Police Officers Association and destroying the career of fellow officers (see my August 29, 2007 column, August 29, 2007 Column, A profile in courage and integrity—the saga of Lt. Michael Keefe, September 12, 2007 Column, At MPD, retaliation is the order of the day December 14, 2007 blog essay, The Twin Towers of Minneapolis' Nullification and Reversal Begin to Finally Crumble as 5 Black Officers Sue the City for discrimination).
With the transfer of Sgt. King, public officials again put fellow officials’ career survival/pensions ahead of their sworn oaths to do their duties in terms of public safety. Sgt. Pat King should minimally be censured, not celebrated. In the court transcript of a couple of months ago (I attended every day of that trial), he slandered a significant number of well-respected officers as “scum of the earth.”
Besides the transcript, see my recent 2012 columns of February 22 (MPD Chief Dolan hits back. Attempts by subordinates and the Civil Rights Department to oust him fail.)and May 30 (Tensions within the MPD revealed in the case of Lt. Michael Keefe). In my August 1, 2012 column (Minneapolis Police Department tears itself apart from the inside), I stated: “Lt. Smith and Sgt. King also lied about Black police officers, including Lt. Lee Edwards, Sgt. Charles Adams, Sgt. K.G. Paulis, and later Lt. Art Knight and former patrol officer Mike Roberts, along with White officer Lt. Michael Keefe, saying they were associates and co-conspirators with Minnesota’s Black gangs.
“Their testimony did not stop there. They portrayed Assistant Chief Janée Harteau and Deputy Chief Scott Gerlicher as lying, incompetent co-conspirators.” In their phrase, in the court transcript: “scum of the earth.”
Note the obvious: This transfer is heightening tension between Black and White officers in local law enforcement. Rumor has it that Sgt. King has stated he is immune to consequences relevant to his conduct, including his lies, deceit, and help in the destruction of the Black Police Officers Association and severe damage to reputations of Black police officers he falsely accused of being criminals in his trial testimony.
Why didn’t testimony by current high-ranking Minneapolis Police Department officers as well as representatives of the U.S. Attorney’s office carry weight in this Sgt. King decision? Black officers feel they have been both betrayed and slapped in the face. With this very career enhancing transfer for Sgt. King, it clearly sends a signal to Black law enforcement officers, especially those in Minneapolis, that false allegations can be made against them, with rewards — not sanctions — for those bearing false witness.
We hope Sheriff Richard Stanick takes the opportunity to read the trial transcript (“Andy Smith and Pat King vs. the City of Minneapolis and officers of the Minneapolis Command”). Why wasn’t retiring Chief Tim Dolan included in their suit? Troubling about this reward for Sgt. Pat King is his false testimony going unchallenged about highly qualified officers being part of a criminal enterprise. This exposes the lie about departmental “esprit de corps.”
What is of great concern today is this: King will feel free to continue spinning his contemptible slanders with impunity that fellow officers are “the scum of the earth.” Ironically, many of these slandered officers were under the command of Captain Richard Stanick when he headed the Minneapolis Police Department Criminal Investigation Division.
What powerful forces, political and otherwise, were at play to make the decision to send Sgt. Pat King to another venue after he so slandered fellow officers in trial under oath? We fervently hope that the truth will eventually be taken into account rather than brushed aside, such that all of these very fine and honorable police officers of the Minneapolis Police Department will not only be vindicated but receive apologies.
Why didn’t anyone care about how on point the testimony of the U.S. Attorney’s office representative was? What a poorly disguised way for city officials to say that Black police officers have no rights and are not respected.
Whether talking about ruining lives or departments with slander, whether slandering the concepts of rights and justice, or whether slandering Black Americans by calling them unqualified and not qualifyable, therefore denying Black contractors and workers jobs on major projects like the new Vikings Stadium, the powers at be are allowing color to trump character.
As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right. A man dies when he refuses to take a stand for that which is true. So we are going to stand up…letting the world know we are determined to be free.”
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 columns and blog, and solution papers for community planning and development. All are are archived here. His second book, 2008, is A Seat for Everyone.
Posted Wednesday, October 24, 2012, 12:53 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 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' investigative reporting platforms for communicating with the community:
Ron's media message platforms:
(1) Column (since 2003): "Through My Eyes: The Minneapolis Story Continues", published weekly in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.;
(2) TV: Host of weekly Black Focus, Sundays, 5-6 pm, on Channel 17, MTN-TV;
(3) Blog Talk radio podcasts: host of “Black Focus V,” Sundays, 3-3:30 pm;
and Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm;
(4) Books: The Minneapolis Story Through My Eyes (2002); and A Seat for Everyone (2008); Order here.
(5) Solution Papers: for community leadership, planning and development;
(6) Blog: "Tracking the Gaps"
(7) CD: Hear his readings;
(8) Archives. (Columns, Blog entries, Solution Papers).
October 17, 2012 Column #42: Vikings stadium officials promise 32 percent diversity hiring! But no one seems to have a copy of the equity plan
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A weekly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Pullquote: Ballyhooed training programs, Black and White, haven’t done the job: Both White and Black contractors have stated there are too few or no workers qualified for specialized stadium construction jobs.
At a small, special meeting I attended at the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority (MSFA) Wednesday, October 10 that included MSFA Chairwoman Michele Kelm-Helgen and Executive Director Ted Mondale, we discussed the so-far nonexistent equity plan for the Vikings stadium that would include African American contractors and workers.
The Met Council people present said there was one, online. We noted that is just not true.
During the meeting we were told that 32 percent of the hours in stadium construction in the eventual plan will go to minorities and women. Really? Do the math: $753 million for construction times 32 percent is $240,960,000. If true, this is welcome news indeed.
Eventually Ted Mondale stepped up to help reverse decades of public and private lying: “This is not like the Target Field project. They had no numbers for compliance, nor was there a plan.” He then stated the heartening, “You need to give us a chance.” Both Mondale and Kelm-Helgen, during and after the meeting, said they hoped I would work with them, help them, and advise them.
This is especially good news in light of the 30 columns listed in my solution paper #46, going back to 2005, recording one of the greatest ongoing betrayals in the history of perceived Minnesota participation.
1. Actual disparity in hiring compliance purposefully practiced by State and City agencies and corporations on nine major projects,
2. Constant lying about nonexistent or not-followed equity plans, and
3. Constant collusion of paid Black leadership with paid White lies, consistently stating I didn’t know what I was talking about as Black leadership gave cover to White discrimination against African Americans.
It gets worse. Ballyhooed training programs, Black and White, haven’t done the job. Both White and Black contractors have stated that there are too few or no workers qualified for specialized stadium construction jobs.
Doesn’t matter. Precedent: The Metrodome imported African American and White workers from around the country. The Vikings stadium needs to do the same.
Will Minneapolis City officials and Black leadership again attempt another equity plan charade, another Velma Korbel disaster, another failure of the Minneapolis Civil Rights Department under her stewardship and — let’s be clear — under the mayor’s leadership?
Another meeting of note: October 4, hosted by the new and powerful (or so they think) Viking Stadium Consortium (VSC), a newly formed group of primarily White companies working in architectural, engineering and mechanical disciplines. Many were vying for stadium contract dollars as “shared local” dollars for African American firms. But the ruse would continue: African American firms given contracts are to pass it through white workers.
The VSC thinks it is positioned to dictate significant involvement in the $753 million construction contract. The Met Council point person stated that all parties were in agreement: 19 percent diversity in hiring (communities of color were told they will have a $7.5 million involvement in the architectural contract and upwards of $100 million in the actual construction of the Vikings stadium, to follow the plan developed by Velma Korbel and the Minneapolis Civil Rights Department that will be monitored by the Met Council, which has oversight authority.
Two problems:
1. What plan? When I asked at the meeting for a copy of the equity plan, no one could provide one.
2. I pointed out that the legislation gives no one other than the Sports Facilities Authority oversight authority.
I have asked others for a copy of the equity plan — the Mayor’s office, the city council president’s office, the Civil Rights Department, the Metropolitan Council, the MSFA. None have been able to produce a copy. (The equity plan was ordered by the city council, May 12 and signed by Mayor R.T. Ryback May 25, with a deadline for completion of June 29.)
Deceit everywhere: offices, restaurants (JD Hoyts, Monte Carlos), and a private suite at the Metrodome during the Vikings’ victory over the SF 49ers three weeks ago, as “players” committed to falsify the numbers and deceive the general public. Hors d'oeuvres and cocktails can be dangerous to the survival of some people’s integrity and commitment to truth.
To enable Ted Mondale’s October 10 statement to be realized, and to thus end the pattern and practice of misrepresentation of past projects, plans must first move from making an “effort” to specific “shall” language in both general contracts and subcontracts, and second, have language that defines “minorities” as having a set percentage of African Americans.
Only then, as with the Metrodome, will we have a true people’s stadium, ending the betraying and deferring of African American dreams in Minnesota. See last week’s column and 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 columns and blog, and solution papers for community planning and development.. All are are archived here. His second book, 2008, is A Seat for Everyone.
Posted Wednesday, October 17, 2012, 8:46 a.m.
Ron's media message platforms:
(1) Column (since 2003): "Through My Eyes: The Minneapolis Story Continues", published weekly in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.;
(2) TV: Host of weekly Black Focus, Sundays, 5-6 pm, on Channel 17, MTN-TV;
(3) Blog Talk radio podcasts: host of “Black Focus V,” Sundays, 3-3:30 pm;
and Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm;
(4) Books: The Minneapolis Story Through My Eyes (2002); and A Seat for Everyone (2008); Order here.
(5) Solution Papers: for community leadership, planning and development;
(6) Blog: "Tracking the Gaps"
(7) CD: Hear his readings;
(8) Archives. (Columns, Blog entries, Solution Papers).
October 10, 2012 Column #41: Taxation without representation. Force of contract law needed to ensure Black contractors/workers for stadium
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A weekly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Action: $34 million contract awarded September 28, 2012, by the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority (FSFA) and the Minnesota Vikings, their largest stadium contract to date, to HKS Sports & Entertainment Group, Dallas, Texas (they did stadiums for the Colts and Cowboys). My concern is not the sucking sound of Minnesota money being deposited in Texas banks: Money follows expertise, not geography, and Minnesota has not kept up.
Concern: as of this writing, still no stadium equity plan as called for in stadium legislation. When I talked with HKS people at their exhibit at the Metrodome, September 7, 2012, I asked them if they used minority subcontractors. They said yes. I asked for an example of who and on what project. They could give none.
Question: Is the equity plan delay on purpose to give contractors an excuse for not hiring African Americans, as the stadium legislation section 473J.12 only states: “make every effort” to include minorities?
Action: Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority’s Resolution 2012-8, in August, listed 34 contractors approved for contract services. Not one is African American.
Concern: failure so far to include African Americans as contractors and laborers in stadium construction, including professional, technical and expert service (PTE) contracts. This is not a call for quotas, set-asides or racial featherbedding. It is a call for merit-based non-discriminatory inclusion (whether qualified African Americans are from Minnesota or not). The 21st century Tea Party, as the Boston Tea Partiers of the 18th century, want no taxes without representation. Blacks paying taxes used in Minnesota’s big projects but Blacks not getting hired is discrimination (taxation without representation).
Ray of hope: Hometown Source.com reported that HKS has pledged “to work with a local architectural firm for a portion of the design and has committed to hiring 19 percent targeted businesses — 11 percent minority and eight percent women-owned firms for portions of the contract. The $34 million contract for design services includes fees for subcontractors.” At the October VSC meeting, Keith Baker said that the 19 percent came from the Equity Plan. But, there is still no monitoring plan and when asked to see a copy, it could still not be produced.
Question: What does “minority” mean? The stadium bill (No. 2958, 2nd (and Final) Engrossment - 87th Legislative Session, 2011-2012) discusses the term “minorities” but doesn’t include “African Americans” (). The African American former head of the city’s Civil Rights Department infamously said Minneapolis could hire “minorities” without hiring a single African American.
Goals:
1. That HKS keeps its pledge;
2. That HKS (and the general contractor, when picked), stipulate how many “minorities” will be African American by percentage;
3. That compliance be monitored in real time with real reports, such as uniform collection of award data, uniform collection of subcontracting data, monitoring of actual use and payments, reporting of actual African Americans by name, dates, and hours worked, and
4. That monthly public updates be provided on hiring compliance regarding African Americans.
Action: $50 million to be deposited by Minnesota Vikings to stadium construction fund, as designated by stadium legislation, even before the state and city make deposits.
Question: Does the city of Minneapolis have its $150 million stadium contribution; is it scheduled and in the pipeline?
Question: How will Minneapolis pay for the real cost over 30 years to city taxpayers: $890 million (Star Tribune, May 1, 2012), and who gets all that additional $740 million, including interest money?
Question: What part of the distribution of the people’s stadium dollars can African American contractors and laborers expect?
Concern: need to place equity plan under contract law instead of under “best effort.”
Question: How can one expect African American hiring without placing hiring by contractors under contract law?
Question: How can there be African American and other minority contractors of record when the City purposefully delays the mandatory equity plan and the State remains silent about it?
Concern: taxation without representation. The Sports Facilities Authority is to report to a special Minnesota legislative commission by January 15 of each year. I don’t know what questions the legislative committee will ask but I do know that under the legislation there was a specific provision, Subsection 9, that “the authority may conduct research studies and programs, collect and analyze data…and conduct all necessary hearings and investigations in connection with its functions.”
Question: If it doesn’t get hiring compliance, will it conduct such hearings and investigations?
Historic precedent opportunity: the HHH Metrodome put African American hiring in the contracts. Will the authority prevent stadium hiring discrimination against African Americans by also putting African American hiring for the building of the peoples’ stadium in the contracts?
Concern: So far the authority has chosen not to do so, while State and City remain silent.
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 columns and blog, and solution papers for community planning and development.. All are are archived here. His second book, 2008, is A Seat for Everyone.
Posted Wednesday, October 10, 2012, 1:47 a.m.
Ron's media message platforms:
(1) Column (since 2003): "Through My Eyes: The Minneapolis Story Continues", published weekly in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.;
(2) TV: Host of weekly Black Focus, Sundays, 5-6 pm, on Channel 17, MTN-TV;
(3) Blog Talk radio podcasts: host of “Black Focus V,” Sundays, 3-3:30 pm;
and Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm;
(4) Books: The Minneapolis Story Through My Eyes (2002); and A Seat for Everyone (2008); Order here.
(5) Solution Papers: for community leadership, planning and development;
(6) Blog: "Tracking the Gaps"
(7) CD: Hear his readings;
(8) Archives. (Columns, Blog entries, Solution Papers).
October 03, 2012 Column #40: School district provides ‘Kindergarten Report’ on HQ construction.
Will Vikings stadium reporting be the next fairy tale?
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A weekly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
At the Minneapolis School District (MSD) sub-committee meeting of September 24, a final report was presented — “Minority, Women and Diversity Business Participation Oversight Committee” (MWDB-POC Report) — on the construction of the MSD Headquarters (HQ) building in North Minneapolis, including reporting on minority hiring compliance. I call it a “Kindergarten Report” because the report is long on words, short on numbers, and fanciful with the truth.
This is not to put down kindergarten children. They are too honest and innocent to present as truth the fabrications presented in what was more like a Star Chamber-type report, a report in a style children like: fanciful fairy tales.
The report stayed true to the traditional Minneapolis pattern and practice of providing fanciful fabrication of project hiring compliance reports (think also Twins ballpark, Gopher’s stadium, U of M Fairview Children’s Hospital, etc.) either not using African Americans, or claiming the use and presence of African Americans in construction projects when they were nearly nonexistent.
The MWDB-POC Report continues Minneapolis’ dark and dishonest pattern and practice of dishonest job hiring compliance reporting. It lacked names of actual participants and lacked certification and authentication of minority workers.
In my 2002 book, Chapter 8, p. 132 (# 41in my website’s “Solution” section), I reported the 20th century norm (1910-1998) of “a 28% average cost overrun of projects, to keep neighborhoods docile” by providing “extra money for selected developers and community leaders” [Ed note: report was in the July 2000 issue of the Journal of The American Planning Association]).
So I again raise the still unanswered question of cost overruns, as I did two years ago, regarding the new MPS HQ building in North Minneapolis.
It was announced that it would cost $27 million. It wound up costing $41.2 million. For what and to whom did the $14.2 million cost overrun go?
Once again, Minneapolis Civil Rights Director Velma Korbel is in a conflict of interest situation: She is a member of the committee gathering the data while also being the one who signs off on whether the data actually reflects achievement of the stated hiring goals.
And now, “here they go again”: Ms. Korbel and her civil rights department have still not provided the report regarding the upcoming Vikings stadium that was due June 29. Even worse, the Black leadership has remained silent, more interested in funds for themselves than jobs for African Americans.
An additional fairy tale façade of the MWDB-POC Report alleges that M.A. Mortenson, general contractor, had 759 workers on the project, with 156 “minority” and 50 women. For two years, a group of observers, including this columnist, watched the construction of the District HQ.
We had individuals take video shots of the construction and the workforce. Think back to when you passed by that site: For two years, do you recall ever seeing over 200 minorities and women working on the project?
We anticipate the old pattern and practice to be attempted with the Viking stadium: Numbers will be provided in the final breakdown of the workforce, but the numbers, again, will not be verifiable. Although the MPS HQ project was nowhere close to being as expensive as the upcoming Viking stadium will be, the principle concern remains.
The Vikings need to be made aware of the pattern and practice of misrepresentation of MBE and WBE reports on construction projects in Minnesota so early reports of not meeting it don’t add delays.
At the September 25 Minneapolis School Board meeting, I raised another question I asked two years ago: Was it true that the school district did not buy American and that the steel used to construct its HQ building was actually brought from China? Could this be why the Minnesota legislature now requires a majority percentage of the steel to be used to build the “People’s Stadium” come from the people’s state’s taconite mines of Northern Minnesota?
This is why I call for a review of the documents of certification of the MPS HQ building, assuming they have not been shredded, to truly certify that the school district supported the American economy and American manufacturers. It is fair and right to ask for and expect to receive these documents for review.
Another disappointment: The questions put forth by a reporter for this paper who was promised clarification on the numbers remain unanswered. Will the City again dodge using an agreed-upon audit method to certify and authenticate Vikings stadium numbers?
The Minnesota Vikings need to know so they can deal with this legendary pattern and practice of Minnesota and avoid unnecessary delays.
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 columns and blog, and solution papers for community planning and development.. All are are archived here. His second book, 2008, is A Seat for Everyone.
Posted Wednesday, October 3, 2012, 3:28 p.m
Ron's media message platforms:
(1) Column (since 2003): "Through My Eyes: The Minneapolis Story Continues", published weekly in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.;
(2) TV: Host of weekly Black Focus, Sundays, 5-6 pm, on Channel 17, MTN-TV;
(3) Blog Talk radio podcasts: host of “Black Focus V,” Sundays, 3-3:30 pm;
and Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm;
(4) Books: The Minneapolis Story Through My Eyes (2002); and A Seat for Everyone (2008); Order here.
(5) Solution Papers: for community leadership, planning and development;
(6) Blog: "Tracking the Gaps"
(7) CD: Hear his readings;
(8) Archives. (Columns, Blog entries, Solution Papers).
November 28, 2012 Column #48: In the matter of Susan Rice: Let the president govern. Please!
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A weekly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
As war rockets explode in Israel and Gaza, there is a great need for American leadership and diplomacy to be there working for peace. The world needs American firmness, clear vision and leadership. To create this, the president — any president — has to be able to govern without unwarranted obstruction, impediments, roadblocks, and the just plain craziness of “gotcha” power politics that threaten our economy and our security, as well as world peace.
All of these issues are in play in the controversy surrounding Susan Rice, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, creating speculation that she will be nominated to replace Hilary Clinton as Secretary of State. But it has nothing to do with Rice. It has all to do with ongoing efforts to cripple the president.
Ambassador Rice was given a task after the September 11, 2012 tragic events in Benghazi, Libya: to go on the Sunday talk shows to spell out what were the reasons and the circumstances surrounding the attack in Benghazi that led to the death of the American ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, and three other Americans.
She was given talking points that said, among other things, that the disturbances were the outgrowth of Muslim anger over a low-budget film made in the USA that Islamists interpreted as disrespectful of their prophet, Mohammed.
Later it was determined that instead it was a well-coordinated attack carried out by any number of Al Qaeda-aligned anti-American factions operating in North Africa.
Now we find a well-coordinated attack against Ambassador Rice, not surprising given the obsession Republicans have had since 2009 to challenge and defeat the president by undermining his ability to govern. The American way is to find the pragmatic compromises (checks and balances) needed to enable meeting our ideals (equal access and equal opportunity) in ways that are peaceful and prosperous.
Ambassador Rice is supremely qualified. Confirmed by the U.S. Senate as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations by unanimous consent on January 22, 2009, why is she now “unqualified”? Rice attended Stanford (as did Condoleeza Rice — no relation), was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship, earned a master’s and a doctorate degree at Oxford (writing her dissertation on international peacekeeping). Rice served under President Clinton on the National Security Council, served as director for International Organizations and Peacekeeping, and served as assistant secretary of state for African affairs.
Given her accomplishments, I can only conclude racism and sexism is involved when Senator McCain vows to fight the nomination using such code words as “not qualified” and guilty of “not being very bright.” Despite the fact that it is the Senate’s role to “advise and consent,” it is two Southern Republican members of the House who lead the petition of nearly 100 Republican representatives to urge the president not to nominate Rice for secretary of state, using the well-known “code” word “incompetent.”
We now know that the testimony by Ambassador Rice that she was sent out to give at the U.N. and on talk shows was concocted by a White House national security team. Remember how the same was done to Colin Powell when he was secretary of state: given inconsistent information and intelligence “facts” and sent to testify before the United Nations, helping launch a war that lasted 10 years and a second one still going on?
People are dying in the Middle East. Tensions and potential conflict exist all across this planet. It is clear from polls that “we the people” demand the United States show leadership. To do so, we must unite at the ocean’s edge and provide the world with a scene showing all of our respect and honesty for the person chosen by the American people to lead: President Barack Obama.
Again, let the man govern. Allow him to work both sides of the aisle to foster respect and civility in developing pragmatic policy for all, not the craziness of “gotcha” politics. As the president recently said, in reflecting on Abraham Lincoln, “He calls on us through the ages to commit ourselves to the unfinished work he so nobly advanced — the work of perfecting our union.”
Republicans need to pay heed to what former U.S. Republican Senator and U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Henry Cabot Lodge said: “In becoming a Republican, I thought I was joining something affirmative, revolutionary, and idealistic, which demanded sacrifice and generosity — not a party which said no to all proposals for change.” Thus, change “or go down in ruin.”
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 Saturdays, 3-4:00 pm, providing coverage about Black Minnesota. Order his books at www.BeaconOnTheHill.com. Hear his readings and read his columns and blog, and solution papers for community planning and development. All are are archived at www.theminneapolisstory.com/tocarchives.htm. His second book, 2008, is A Seat for Everyone.
Posted Wednesday, November 28, 2012, 12:31 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 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' investigative reporting platforms for communicating with the community:
Ron's media message platforms:
(1) Column (since 2003): "Through My Eyes: The Minneapolis Story Continues", published weekly in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.;
(2) TV: Host of weekly Black Focus, Sundays, 5-6 pm, on Channel 17, MTN-TV;
(3) Blog Talk radio podcasts: host of “Black Focus V,” Saturdays, 3-4:00 pm, Sundays, 3-3:30 pm, and Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm;
(4) Books: The Minneapolis Story Through My Eyes (2002); and A Seat for Everyone (2008); Order here.
(5) Solution Papers: for community leadership, planning and development;
(6) Blog: "Tracking the Gaps"
(7) CD: Hear his readings;
(8) Archives. (Columns, Blog entries, Solution Papers).
Wednesday, November 21, 2012, 12:05 a.m.
Ron's media message platforms:
(1) Column (since 2003): "Through My Eyes: The Minneapolis Story Continues", published weekly in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.;
(2) TV: Host of weekly Black Focus, Sundays, 5-6 pm, on Channel 17, MTN-TV;
(3) Blog Talk radio podcasts: host of “Black Focus V,” Saturdays, 3-4:00 pm, Sundays, 3-3:30 pm, and Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm;
(4) Books: The Minneapolis Story Through My Eyes (2002); and A Seat for Everyone (2008); Order here.
(5) Solution Papers: for community leadership, planning and development;
(6) Blog: "Tracking the Gaps"
(7) CD: Hear his readings;
(8) Archives. (Columns, Blog entries, Solution Papers).
December 26, 2012 Column #52: TITLE HERE
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A weekly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
A Nation In Pain, A Nation Whose Heart Is Broken Again.
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A weekly column by Ron Edwards
Featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
December 26, 2012
When news began to flash across the airways Friday, December 14, that a tragedy was taking place in Newtown, CT, the magnitude and the heartbreak of this violent and insane action began to sink in. Twenty of the 26 lost lives were six- and seven-year-old children dying from multiple gun shots from an assault/combat rifle.
This incident caused me to pause and relook at what to write for this end-of-year/looking-forward-to-the-future column, especially in terms of the tragedies in Minneapolis’ African American communities in terms of education, jobs, housing and getting caught holding the bag to pay for a stadium neither the state nor city can afford.
In terms of school shootings, we remember Virginia Tech; Minnesota’s Red Lake Indian Reservation; Springfield, OR; Columbine, CO; Jonesboro, AR; Blacksburg, VA.; and 1927 Michigan: 42 killed, mostly children. Recent school killings have also been in Norway; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Sana’a, Yemen. Fifteen hundred children die in America yearly from abuse and neglect, over 3,000 a year in gun-related deaths, and more than 1,000 killed in auto crashes, not to mention the “death at an early age” mentally of millions of students due to bad schools.
Even though rifle-bearing cowards will be judged by a force more powerful than any of us, we are still left with the difficult task of explaining to parents the deaths of their six- and seven-year-olds. In the meantime, the “don’t let a crisis go unexploited” politics unfolds, as right and left square off to discuss gun control and assault/combat rifles, mental health, the NRA, gun registration and who should or should not be armed.
The trauma, murder and mayhem of these events and debates will fade in memory. Then, back to business as usual. America, as tribes and nations before it throughout recorded history, carved out and supported doctrines of “by any means necessary,” including taking of land from indigenous people (a history shared by all around the world, including those who did the same to those they in turn had conquered). It is a doctrine of supremacy by force of arms to hold what is assumed an inalienable right of might rather than a shared right of all.
As President Barrack Obama pointed out in a memorial service Sunday evening in Newtown, CT, assault/combat rifle availability and dealing with the mentally ill minds who believe this to be an acceptable rite of passage must be dealt with. Once again, it will be extremely difficult for an honest consensus building discussion on the use of guns and violence in America.
Parents in Chicago this past summer felt the same sense of frustration, anger and heartbreak as their children died on Chicago streets, as in other highly populated African American cities, though not well covered in the media. We need serious dialogue from those fighting for and against the right to be armed.
It is no accident that United States senators — Democrats and Republicans — were slow to speak out or appear on television-interview programs to defend their doctrine of the right to bear arms at any cost. So just how committed is the nation to seek a solution?
In many cities and hamlets there are those who have lost a loved one to violence in America, who, for decades, have sought serious discussions. Will contemporary school shootings join the gun battles of the Old West and Prohibition as appropriate for new acts of violence, or be dealt with?
Tragedies? The real tragedies on the national level are the 25 percent Black unemployment (50 percent among Black youth), 50 percent Black high school dropout rates, and inner-city substandard housing, as they are reflections of national policies compounded by local ones.
We would like to see an emphasis on the greater tragedies of the failure to deal effectively with education, jobs, and housing for African Americans, at the root of which is the state and city refusing to comply with known laws that could help prevent tragedies like shootings. We invite the reader to consider the columns and solution papers on our website, www.TheMinneapolisStory.com, as pathways to dealing with the tragedies of Minneapolis: failing to provide the best in education, jobs, and housing for African Americans, including the added tragedy of letting the “people’s stadium” funding prevent social stabilization and fairness for the people by diverting dollars away from education, jobs and housing, which we’ll address over the coming year.
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 Saturdays, 3-4:00 pm, providing coverage about Black Minnesota. Order his books at www.BeaconOnTheHill.com. Hear his readings and read his columns and blog, and solution papers for community planning and development. All are are archived at www.theminneapolisstory.com/tocarchives.htm. His second book, 2008, is A Seat for Everyone.
Posted Wednesday, December 26, 2012, 2:40 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 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' investigative reporting platforms for communicating with the community:
Ron's media message platforms:
(1) Column (since 2003): "Through My Eyes: The Minneapolis Story Continues", published weekly in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.;
(2) TV: Host of weekly Black Focus, Sundays, 5-6 pm, on Channel 17, MTN-TV;
(3) Blog Talk radio podcasts: host of “Black Focus V,” Saturdays, 3-4:00 pm, Sundays, 3-3:30 pm, and Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm; Archives here and here; On Point,
(4) Books: The Minneapolis Story Through My Eyes (2002); and A Seat for Everyone (2008); Order here.
(5) Solution Papers: for community leadership, planning and development;
(6) Blog: "Tracking the Gaps"
(7) CD: Hear his readings;
(8) Archives. (Columns, Blog entries, Solution Papers).
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 Saturdays, 3-4:00 pm, 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 columns and blog, and solution papers for community planning and development. All are are archived here. His second book, 2008, is A Seat for Everyone.
Wednesday, December 26, 2012, 12:05 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 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' investigative reporting platforms for communicating with the community:
Ron's media message platforms:
(1) Column (since 2003): "Through My Eyes: The Minneapolis Story Continues", published weekly in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.;
(2) TV: Host of weekly Black Focus, Sundays, 5-6 pm, on Channel 17, MTN-TV;
(3) Blog Talk radio podcasts: host of “Black Focus V,” Saturdays, 3-4:00 pm, Sundays, 3-3:30 pm, and Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm;
(4) Books: The Minneapolis Story Through My Eyes (2002); and A Seat for Everyone (2008); Order here.
(5) Solution Papers: for community leadership, planning and development;
(6) Blog: "Tracking the Gaps"
(7) CD: Hear his readings;
(8) Archives. (Columns, Blog entries, Solution Papers).
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.
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