I read Tim Connoly's post about the People's Institute and the impact it has had on Duluth and the need for more discussion of race in this city with great interest. As a political junkie, I often go to thomas.loc.gov to see what interesting things are being introduced in Congress that are not making the local media. I find it interesting that James Oberstar is the only cosponsor from Minnesota on several pieces of legislation being forwarded by the congressional black caucus and other bill's dealing with race and poverty issues. Sabo and McCollum would seem to be the logical choices among Minnesotan congresspeople to be building these alliances as they represent the most racial diverse parts of the state. I would venture that the People's Institute has brought such issues into the discussion in Duluth creating more awareness and pressure on Jim Oberstar to consider these issues. Minneapolis has one of the highest disparities in income between people of different races of any major city in the country. Minnesota has the highest discrepancy in incarceration rates between whites and blacks. The racial differences in Minneapolis Public School graduation rates are startling and truly shameful. Having lived in Michigan, Texas, New York, and spent significant time in Georgia-I find it odd that Minneapolis and Minnesota are at once the least homophobic and most conscious of sexism of any place else I've lived while at the same time being the most racsist. The difference in the racsism I have observed locally and that I have seen elsewhere is that most of it here seems to come from a sheer lack of interaction and thus knowledge, awareness, comfort, and sensitivity to difference. I have been asked by white coworkers at a business I worked for in downtown Minneapolis if all black people did'nt smell funky and different. I have observed people assume that someone is on welfare because they are of a different race when the person they inquired about has a doctorate and is well off. I have seen people lock their doors and act terrified when they joined me on an excursion from work to Mercado Central or a restaurant on the West Bank. They told me that I should never take them to such a "dangerous" neighborhood again. I have even seen people react that way to Eat Street. More distressing was when I worked in the suburbs and a client of the firm I worked for who was a teacher in the Minneapolis Public Schools told me she was terrified of her students because they were all-you know-not from here. There were customers at the convenience store where I went to grab snacks that succeeded in getting the store to stop carrying brands they considered to be popular with blacks or latinos because they didn't want to draw those "kinds of customers". I like Minneapolis and Minnesota very much and find this to be it's most distressing flaw. I feel Minneapolis has the potential to be a truly world class city if it can truly embrace and celebrate racial, ethnic, and cultural differences. I've always thought Minneapolis could be as vibrant as Toronto if it could get over it's distressing problem with "whiteness". One great book I read years ago on this topic was called "Understanding Yourself as a White Person or Understanding the White People in Your Life". I strongly reccomend it. David Strand Ward 7 Loring Park __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - Minnesota E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
