i buzzed by the juneteenth celebration saturday afternoon. despite a brief
hail storm, the event was packed; everyone was stylin' and it rocked.
but there were several discordant notes. it's hardly a new observation that
minneapolis is a de-facto segregated city. the truly discouraging point is
how internalized and self-segregated we are. while juneteenth was jammin' ,
let's just say the number of white faces in attendance was so small as to be
statistically irrelevant (discounting those working the crowd in whatever
capacity). it was disappointing that i saw little evidence of support by
neighboring bryn mawr residents, closer to the event than many from the
north or south sides. and scarce scene-making by the groovy-white
contingent so prevalent at, say, may day at powderhorn, despite the bustin'
music and great food. (of course, we can also see this split any night of
the week with a quick observation of the clientele frequenting downtown
nightspots, notably excepting the gay clubs.) what-up people?
even more unsettling were <what i perceived as> the more subtle, insidious
traces of unacknowledged segregation. namely, while there were no physical
orange barricades preventing (black) drivers from crossing over and
entering bryn mawr, there were assuredly psychological barriers that kept
drivers from venturing off the northern gridlocked streets, into the empty
neighborhood tracks of bryn mawr and it's temptingly-close parking. not to
mention the city of golden valley posting temporary 'no parking' signage on
"their" side of glenwood, the resultant effect to keep 'them' (us?) on the
minneapolis side of wirth parkway. those unknowingly-or defiantly-parked
were quick to receive tickets.
while i think affordable housing, property tax rates, school reform, and
other issues, are of import, i believe race relations to be a crucial,
unspoken, time-bomb for our town. (assuredly a none-too-hidden
undercurrent is the racial profiling debate...or can anyone say cincinnati?)
which is why i was disappointed in not seeing a stronger presence by RT's
campaign. as we might expect, SSB staffed a booth, had high visibility. i
would like to have seen RT reaching for a deeper connection to this
community. admittedly, i wasn't there to note if he was in the earlier
parade (and i'd bet he was), or out shaking hands at some point - although i
did see lots of his blue campaign flyers littering the streets. even if he
had, a staffed booth to get his message out and increase his profile,
would've been a more, shall we say, integrated approach.
this is not <necessarily> meant to be an indictment of RT or implied support
of SSB - at this point i favor neither. it is merely a statement that race
relations are serious s**t and we need leadership with the character and
credibility to address it, someone with chutzpa to bring it to public
discourse despite the volatility and ugliness. i'd like to see more
discussion by all candidates and activists on race and strategies to bridge
the communities.
beth solle
ward 10
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