Conor Donnelly wrote:
Pauline Thomas levels serious charges of racial discrimination today against theWM: I cannot answer specific spending questions, but if those low income people of color were not included in the process, the outcome cannot possibly reflect their needs.
NRP in her Spokesman-Recorder editorial piece.
However, I don't see any breakdowns of projects funded by phase 1. How was the
6.7 million spent in Jordan? What about the 18.2 million in Philips. How can we
examine specific spending patterns to evaluate these allegations?
I'm wonderingPauline Thomas lives now in Central Neighborhood, which is my neighborhood. However, she was not here during the organizing for NRP so does not have specifics of how low income people of color were ignored during the organizing process. In Central several different African Americans were hired to organize among people of color. For one reason or another none of those hired lasted any length of time. True, some of those people did not live up to expectations. However, I cannot say whether the expectations were fair or not in each instance. First, I do not know who was encouraged to apply for those jobs and who was not. I cannot say who was not chosen and compare their skills to those who were hired. I have seen, in other venues, that the least able of a group of African Americans would be hired, then let go because they didn't have the qualifications for the work. I know at least one case in Central where the least desirable candidate was chosen; I have surmised that it was a deliberate ploy to set back any organizing among people of color.
if any list members have experience with NRP that supports Pauline Thomas'
position? If so, what specific obstacles to involvement were encountered?
I have also observed that white people in my neighborhood may listen to people of color, but they seldom really hear what people of color are saying. Due to their position in our society, blacks think differently from whites. Add to that the disparities in income and a really unfortunate stew is created. Whites are seldom able to cross that great divide which might allow them to hear what's being said by blacks. Certainly that happens at every level in Central. Early in our NRP process there was a group that very clearly expected all the NRP money to go to white homeowners, they did not prevail as they wished, though some stayed in the process and worked against low income people of color gaining anything from the NRP process--and they were successful in keeping resources out of the hands of blacks.
WM: In order to have a more equitable distribution of resources, low income people of color will have to be recruited into the NRP process in sufficient numbers to make themselves heard. This requires an organizing effort that Central, at least, has been unable or unwilling to undertake. It means that organizers will have to be people of color but also really capable people of color. These folks are here, but the experiences of other people of color with these neighborhood organizations is such that those able people of color are unwilling to apply for the jobs or the working conditions and wages are such that they leave as quickly as they can find another position--one where they will be respected for their skills, their perspicacity and their person.Ms. Thomas sums up her position with this: "We are well aware that unless the city significantly reforms NRP, the program will never reflect the neighborhoods' populations with respect to low income people of color, and particularly renters." What reforms might be necessary to remedy this problem? Do they need to be enacted by the city, or would individual neighborhood level reforms be sufficient?
Earl Craig, the original director of the NRP, stated that he wished there had been no money attached to the NRP so that organizing was the chief goal of the process. Every year I see how right he was in that observation.
WizardMarks, Central _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
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