Jim Mork
Community: "community building" ... only BOOSTERS of Minneapolis will
ever "build community" here.
Eva Young
one wonders ... self-appointed leaders of the Twin Cities' African-American
community
Eric Mitchell
They are actually elected leaders ... appointed leaders ...represent
organizations ... Ron Edwards, well I just don't know about him.
Jim Graham
The only purpose
of the list (for me) is to attempt to make a City I love a better place to
live. ... There is nothing like conflict to create positive change. Status
quo is all right for some, but there are major problems somebody has to
address.
Vicky Heller
I have three objectives to improve our City government, and this forum is
one of my avenues for achieving them. They are: 1. Full disclosure ... 2.
Accurate, timely, consistent financial reporting ... 3. Public policy in
agreement with the U. S. Constitution
Albert Einstein
"The world we have created is a product of our thinking. It cannot be
changed without changing our thinking." --
Ron Edwards, p. 294 of his book
I am bullish on Minnesota
Peter Jessen: as Ron Edwards repeatedly reminds us, quoting Nellie Stone
Johnson, "no education, no jobs, no housing" and "no education, no jobs, no
hope." The situation is greater than the Black-White debate or th R-DFL-I-G
debates. The Strib ran a very helpful series on the future of Minneapolis
in 2000 which Ron uses in his book. Coincidenally, he ran this piece on his
daily web log entry today (Wednesday), that meets the criteria above about
being a booster, about trying to create positive change, and about improving
our City government. Here is what he posted today. I will then give my
take on his credentials at the end.
Wednesday, October 29, 2003
#206. Message to the Corporate Community: Don�t Lose Faith. I�m still
bullish on Minneapolis. We shall make it. We shall overcome. We shall have
peace. Tell outsiders to come, invest, create jobs, and make money.
The unrest over the past year, and especially that over the past month in
terms of clashes between misperceptions by Black and White as to what the
others� agenda is, is causing some to wonder whether they can invest in
Minnesota, what is the problem here, etc. Just know this: this is a great
place to invest. The attempt by RT Rybak and the Strib to shape the agenda
and response of the Black community should be given no moment. Their attempt
to set up Don Samuels as the spokesman is as big a failure as all other
prior attempts with others.
Neither the Mayor nor the Strib nor Don, who refer to us as �they� (another
word used is to call us �Negroes�) are really not in touch with the
community other than superficially, and therefore these three have a far
greater pessimistic attitude than do we Blacks in the community. The Strib
piece on the Jordan neighborhood was hollow and almost schizophenic, saying
on the one hand things were getting better but on the other they were not.
In Grow�s column he admitted that he and Samuels are scared. We are not.
They are not willing to stand up for our community. We are. We know the
potential. We know what can be done. I believe the outline of recommended
suggestions in my 7 Solutions piece
[www.theminneapolisstory.com/pages/actualize.html] reflects what should be
considered.
We yearn for someone the mayor and the Strib will listen to that will grab
both by the scruff of their necks and tell them to quick fighting in our
sand box and cooperate with the other kids. There are solutions. They are
outlined in my Seven Solutions paper, posted August 31, 2003, which I open
up by stating:
QUOTE: Neither this [7 Solutions] paper, nor my book [The Minneapolis Story,
Through My Eyes], is about how bad Minneapolis is. It is about how it can be
better. Read p. 262, para. 1 "Society needs visionaries") through para. 7 on
p. 263 ("Thus, there are two Golden Triangles"). Minneapolis is a wonderful
city. Much progress in race relations has been made (Interludes 5 and 7).
Yet there is still much to do (Interludes 2 and 10): it is the work to be
done to bring about equal access and equal opportunity in education,
housing, political participation, entrepreneurial growth, into the
social/economic/political mainstream. And, of course, facts are facts. My
goal is to contribute to the reversing of current and disturbing trend lines
as discussed on p. 115 of Chapter 6 of "The Minneapolis Story, Through My
Eyes." Nonetheless, as I say on p. 294: "I am bullish on Minneapolis."
Nonetheless, "I will keep my eye on the prize of freedom" and "I will
continue to beat the drum of freedom" (Chapters 5 and 17).
The future is important. It is, as the old saying goes, where we will spend
the rest of our lives. The Star Tribune ran a series in 2000 on "Minnesota's
greatest challenge: whether to compete or retreat in the face of a new
economy" [links are provided in the 7 Solutions piece]. I vote compete. That
is what these solutions are all about. Not following them is about retreat.
As the Strib pointed out, "The thrust of our argument is that global and
technological forces are speeding the rearrangement of capital and talent,
sorting out metropolitan regions into winners and losers." Our problem?
"Complacency." The writer states "The Twin Cities...has been coasting...in
part because of a smothering cultural contentment...[that] will only
guarantee further slippage unless a community-wide efforts is begun to
rekindle the flame that, in the 1950s and 1960s, led to an extraordinary
burst of civic energy." That is what these 7 solutions are all about: trying
to foster a burst of civic energy, for all.CLOSE QUOTE
Strib head hunting tactics are setting up a prolonged seige of nastiness for
the future, of wedging groups and races rather than helping to reconcile
them, which is why I have stressed the "ubuntu" concept of reconciliation
used in South Africa to reconcile the oppressed Blacks with the oppressor
Whites after apartheid (see my web log entries #163, 164, 172). We can't
escape the negatives of the past, most of which none of us caused (see my
Restorative Affirmative Action piece,
www.theminneapolisstory.com/pages/restore.html, posted a week ago) but we
can shape a positive future which we can escape and which we have to accept
responsibility for (hence my book and my Seven Solution piece, all produced
for the purpose of helping Blacks and Whites together work to complete the
Unfinished Dream (www.theminneapolisstory.com/pages/dream.html), especially
as it relates to solving the public safety issues in our community as it
relates to the State of Emergency for Black Youth.
Recent newspaper stories regarding Black leaders have included their past
histories regarding run ins with the law (whether they inhaled or not,
whether they served time, or had other problems). This, I�m sad to say, is
against the spirit of reconciliation. This is looking forward through the
rear view mirror. Not helpful. It is the politics of personal assassination.
It now means that any who will be nominated for, say the Superintendent of
Schools, will have a microscope attached to their lives. Who wants that?
Surely the mediocre and poor candidates will have few problems in their
past.
The past is past. Again, we may deny responsibility for the past but we
can't for the future. What happened to reconciliation, to �let he who is
without sin cast the first stone?� People change and transform. Too many in
both communities now want to allow for that only in "their" people but not
for "the others." Surely Democrat Bill Clinton and Republican Arnold
Schwarzenegger (not to mention JFK and MLK, Jr.) have laid aside those
considerations about the past for both parties, allowing for the ideal no
matter the personal stumbling, so any can concentrate on the pragmatic �what
will work.� We see in the 7 Solutions paper that in the areas of : (1)
education, (2) jobs, (3) housing, (4) public safety, (5) safe environment,
(6) governing, and (7) ethics, some of what has been done has not worked.
What hasn't worked and what might should now be our focus, that and who can
do what will work, regardless of whether they are Black or White, male or
female, Ph.D. or not Ph.D., etc. It starts with education. As Nellie Stone
Johnson used to say, "no education, no jobs, no housing" and "no education,
no jobs, no hope." As part of the subtitle of my book chapter on education
states, "Stop the Clubbing and Teach Skills, Optimism, and Hope." That is my
hope. That is the essence of providing the kind of community foundation we
all want in the seven areas. Who does it doesn't matter. That we do it or
don't do it does.
Submitted Oct. 20, Posted Wednesday, October 29, 2003, 9:20 am.
Peter again. Ron speaks as an elder stateman, a "wise man" of the
community, as a conscience of the community. Lets not forget that he was a
trail blazer as the Chairman of the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission,
1979-1983 (having been Vice Chair 1967-1972), and as the longest serving
President and Chairman of the local Urban League, 1978-1989. His take on
his experience at these non-paid positions is recounted in his book (see
especially Chapter 14). And he was a member of the NAACP from 1962 until
earlier this month when the national NAACP expelled him for five years for
his speaking out. Who, indeed, represents who? At the last elections of
the local NAACP, he received the most votes of those cast for President.
The election, however, was stolen when the regional director was secretly in
town helping his lover steal the election by having those who voted for Ron
disqualified, as is borne witness to in depositions with the national NAACP
and as known to the local NAACP (and reported in Ron's daily web logs
#195-196 and 198-202. He answers the question of who speaks for the Black
community in his web log entries #190-191, 193-194, and gave the realistic
answer on Tuesday, October 20, in #194: White voters.
Peter Jessen, Portland
Visiting Minneapolis Nov 14-24
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