Greta commentary in this week's Insight News....
dennis plante
lind-bohanon
Below is an editorial published today in Insight News in response to the
recent political criticism of the PEACE Foundation:
Guest Commentary
By Michelle Martin
PEACE Foundation Director and Co-Founder
Like any movement seeking change, the PEACE Foundation has faced its share
of obstacles. Recently, Council Member Natalie Johnson-Lee has leveled
public criticism against the PEACE Foundation. She is currently running
against fellow City Council Member Don Samuels for election to the newly
formed 5th Ward City Council seat. Samuels happens to be one of the PEACE
Foundation's co-founders. Considering that Johnson Lee was one of the first
PEACE Foundation supporters she attended its launch, signed on as a
partnering policy-maker, and even gave a financial contribution the level
of criticism she now wages is political and unfortunate.
Johnson Lee suggests that the PEACE Foundation is redundant, saying: "Our
role should not be to create organizations that compete with the community;
our job is to strengthen the organizations that are already in the
community." This criticism is clearly politically motivated in light of
statements she has made regarding how hard she fights not to give money to
the same old agencies in N. Mpls. Notwithstanding this blatant
contradiction, she misses the point. The PEACE Foundation was established
specifically to do something no other organization has yet done--take the
issue of isolated, local violence to the broader community and invite
individuals and organizations to support the efforts of hardworking North
Minneapolis residents.
To this end, we are creating a broader resource base, attracting new funding
and recruiting new volunteer resources. Individuals and organizations from
throughout Minneapolis and beyond have readily answered this call to action,
and are committing their time, energy and funds to this problem. Our
intention has never been to replace the work of existing organizations, but
to facilitate collaboration between them and share with them our expanding
resource base.
While these political maneuverings have grabbed the media's attention, the
good work of the people participating under the PEACE Foundation banner is
important and should be recognized.
Volunteers from around the community have come together with Northside
residents to host street parties during the summer at the sites of the worst
crime and violence in North Minneapolis. Hundreds of neighbors from these
violence-weary blocks have come out to meet their neighbors
and take first steps toward organizing much-needed block clubs.
Plans are underway to host the first annual, city-wide PEACE Games where
thousands of youth participants and adult volunteers will hold sporting
competitions, artistic showcases, youth forums and community festivals on
the north side.
And most recently, the PEACE Foundation has forged a relationship with Urban
Youth Conservation, an outreach organization made up of ex-gang members, to
implement Project Take Back to reach out to youth in the drug trade and
offer them opportunity to reclaim their lives.
The PEACE Foundation will continue to build this movement of goodwill, and
will not be distracted or derailed by the political realities of an election
year. Our work will continue until neighbors in McKinley and Hawthorne can
expect the same level of public safety as those in Fulton and Linden Hills,
until children walking to Jordan Community School no longer fear a stray
bullet, and until youth come to the corner of 26th and Knox to buy candy at
the corner store and not to sell drugs.
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