McFarlane Ford Reader

FON ABUMBI II

His Royal Majesty Abumbi II, Fon of Bafut following elders meeting with the King at Sunnyside Café

King, elders connect in Royal visit to community

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By Al McFarlane and B.P. Ford The Editors

S

pike Moss summed it up beautifully. “Your Majesty,” he said, addressing H.R.M. King Abumbi II, the Fon of Bafut, “for years I have been teaching our children, telling them, ‘You are the sons and daughters of kings and queens!’ Sometimes it’s hard for them to believe that kingship runs in our veins. In a country that enslaved us, robbed us of our freedom and dignity, stole our labor and our lives, and that continues to try to marginalize our culture and distort our identity, it’s hard to keep them believing there is something greater in them than all the negative assaults that come from outside. That negativity breeds self hatred and self destruction. That is why our young men are killing each other.”

“I want to thank you for meeting with the elders of our community.

Your visit helps us refresh our own sense of purpose, our sense of sovereignty, our duty to the ancestors and to the Creator,” Moss said.

Moss and other leaders of civic, cultural and social service institutions met King Abumbi II at a breakfast hosted by Insight News at Sunnyside Café, 1815 Glenwood Avenue, in the heart of North Minneapolis. King Abumbi II is the hereditary leader of the kingdom of Bafut, which is a region in the northwest of the nation of Cameroon, in central Africa. Abumbi II is the 11th Fon, which means king, to rule the kingdom. His first visit to the United States, the Fon said his mission was to meet with Cameroonians in general and in particular, his subjects from the Fondom of Bafut, who now live in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Houston and Twin Cities. He returned to Cameroon Sunday, Aug, 26th, after

H.R.M. Abumbi II, Fon of Bafut with Spike Moss. Photos: studiotobechi completing a three week tour of the U.S. While in Twin Cities, the Fon received a formal welcome by Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and officials of Minneapolis Institute of Art, where his delegation was given a tour of the MIA’s extensive African Art collection. Rybak also gave the royal visitor a tour of the I-35W bridge disaster and recovery area and operations.

Story continues on page 6 X

Photos: studiotobechi

Top: Liz Moore; H.R.M. Abumbi II, Fon of Bafut; Elizabeth Samuels; Ora Hokes and Kelley Hardemann following elders meeting with the King at Sunnyside CafĂŠ. Bottom (left to right): Reverend Ian Bethel, Pastor of New Beginnings Baptist Tabernacle; Reverend Randolph Staten, Co-chair of the Coalition of Black Churches/African American Leadership Summit; H.R.M. Abumbi II, Fon of Bafut; Peter Hayden, President, Turning Point Inc and Clarence Hightower, President, Minneapolis Urban League.

Photos: Suluki Fardan

H.R.M. Abumbi II with host, Al McFarlane, Editor-in-Chief of Insight News at the Elder’s Meeting.

Photos: Suluki Fardan

Bottom: Victorene Ambe, a member of the Fon’s Royal Court who resides in Minnesota.

Photo: Suluki Fardan

Photo: studiotobechi

Top: Khalil Wright with H.R.M. Abumbi II. Bottom: Kelley Hardemann and Khalil Wright with his grandfather, Insight News photographer Suluki Fardan

Photo: studiotobechi

Alice Baker, Sunnyside Café; Ex-MN Vikings superstar and Hall of Fame professional football player, Carl Eller and H.R.M. Abumbi II, Fon of Bafut From 1 The meeting with Elders of the Black community was a special highlight for the Fon, his spokesperson said.

Minneapolis Urban League President, Clarence Hightower asked Abumbi II how he came to be king.

Fon Abumbi II said his being named king to succeed his father, Achirimbi II, the tenth king or Fon of Bafut who ruled over the town of Bafut and adjoining areas (the Fondom of Bafut). Achirimbi II ruled from 1932 to 1968, and was preceded by Abumbi I and succeeded by Abumbi II. The Fon said his society is polygamous, and that as the leader of the nation, he is also the leading polygamist. While he has some 25 wives, he said his father had hundreds of wives and his grandfather had more than a thousand wives. The idea behind polygamy in his

H.R.M. King Abumbi II with Al McFarlane

Photo: Suluki Fardan

society, he said, was the belief that every man and every woman should be married. Since there were more women than men, polygamous marriages enabled the society to achieve the goal of nearly 100 percent marriage among its population. He said divorce was uncommon.

In response to Hightower’s question, Abumbi II said he was the choice of his father and his father’s advisors, and beyond that, he was the choice of the Spirit. He said his culture practiced ancestor worship and that as Fon, he was the principal intermediary between the living and the dead.

He said he was the 400th son of his father. All of the sons were elegible for selection to succeed the father as king. He said his selection therefore, reflected the will and guidance of the ancestors…the Spirit.

His father, Fon Achirimbi II is famous for having remarked about the choice to join independent Cameroon or independent Nigeria from the British Cameroons in 1961. Achrimbi II called it a choice between the “Fire and the Deep Sea”.

He was considered by many as being progressive and willing to experiment with new ideas. He was treated with respect by both colonial administrators and nationalist politicians, according to internet information resource, Wikipedia.

The Germans tried to put a puppet ruler in place of the Fon after the Bafut Wars at the turn of the century, but failed. The Fon Abumbi I was openly hostile to the Germans, and diplomacy was not pursued.

The idea of decentralized governance by local people was put into practice in July 1917 in the British Cameroon when the District officer inaugurated an ‘Instructional Court’ in Bamenda.

This was an assembly of chiefs from surrounding communities who were summoned to be instructed in the new native court ordinance and to go on to form the new courts.

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The membership of the court consisted of 27 chiefs with the Fon of Bafut Abumbi I appointed as president due to his role as the “supreme fon,” Wikipedia reports.

Bafut is one of the two regions in Cameroon (the other being Bali, Cameroon), where traditional power structures are still in place. The Fon of Bafut also holds several important administrative positions including that of the head of the North West Fons’ Union (NOWEFU), and member of the Management Board of the North-West Development Authority (MIDENO).

The Fon participates in virtually all the important ceremonies of Bafut. One of the most important ceremonies is the annual dance Abin e Mfor or Dance of the Fon: This annual event, held in December is also known as the Abin Lela, or Dance of the Flutes. Village nobles play traditional flutes and fire guns to mark the proceedings. It is the climactic point of the annual ritual cycle, and is supposed to signify the death and rebirth of the year (i.e. a new year ceremony). The ethnic dance is performed in traditional dress. Luminaries of society (the Fon of Bafut and his advisors) form a spiral in the centre. The general public dances concentric rings around the spiral in a counter-clockwise fashion. Present-day African American ring dance ceremonies probably owe their origins to such ceremonies, Wikipedia said.

Social worker and educator Liz Moore asked the Fon about the philosophy of education in Bafut. The king said his society views education as the primary responsibility of the family, particularly the child’s mother and father. He said the schools and teachers are partners, supporting parent in their role as primarily responsible for the education of the child. He said corporeal punishment, administered publicly, in the presence of the child’s parents and peers, is a tool to force attention and compliance by students.

“If a child has not arrived at school for two or three days in a row, but instead has gone to town to be with other errant youth, the teacher or headmaster will come to the child’s home and tell the parents that the child has not been in school. Punishment to the child, in front of the parents might be a specific number of strikes with a cane,” King Abumbi II said.

Himself a lawyer by training, Abumbi II said he owns several schools as well as herding, and agriculture production, and mining enterprises. His palace in Bafut is on a world list of important structures that are endangered. Some 30,000 tourist a year visit the palace, 8,000 from the United States, with almost none of them African Americans,” the King said.

Former Minnesota Viking superstar, Carl Eller asked what opportunities there are for commerce between Black Americans and the

H.R.M. Abumbi II, Fon of Bafut people of Bafut. Abumbi II said creating the connection was a high priority. He said it should begin with more visits by Cameroonians to the Black community, and,

Photo: Suluki Fardan

in reciprocity, visits by Black Americans to Bafut, and Cameroon. “When you come to Bafut,” the King said, “I will show you the same hospitality you have shown me.”

THE GIFT

BY AL MCFARLANE • AL@INSIGHTNEWS.COM

I entered this world at Kansas University Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas. But we lived in Kansas City, Missouri.

My parents' decision to drive past several public and private hospitals to a hospital across the state line that would accept Black patients was an act of defiance, resistance and protest. A brother younger than me by two and a half years, and the younger brothers and sisters that followed, were born in the glow of dignity that was the result of protest and struggle.

MY BIRTH WAS AN ACT OF PROTEST AND RESISTANCE.

Black Kansas City broke the color barrier in hospital accommodations, and Black people were no longer forced to accept substandard medical and hospital services from the County General Hospital, regardless of means. The protest earned the right to choose.

Brenda Isom was a classmate of mine from kindergarten through middle school. We met first in the delivery room at KU Medical Center. Brenda's mom was in the operating room in the early stages of labor. My mother was waiting next in line. My imminent arrival required that Brenda's mom be rolled out of the delivery room and my mom be rolled in. Do you call that breaking in line? I arrived, my mother said, raising my arms skyward, palms open, grasping . . . reaching for the world.

Insight was born in 1974 as a magazine-format monthly publication dedicated to providing alternative views and analysis of quality of life issues and public policy affecting the North Minneapolis Black community

My dearest friends, the two people I adored most besides my parents, were my twin cousins Bernard and Burnele Powell. They were six months older than me, but we were like triplets. As four-year-olds we played church on the back steps of the Powell House, where several generations of our extended family lived. Mr. Powell owned a barbershop, a dry cleaners and pool hall near the famed 18th & Vine -- the historic Black commercial district. At the Powell House, the Big House, as we called it, the Powell family occupied the main floor and basement of the huge brownstone-like duplex. Our grandparents and I think an aunt and her family lived on the second floor. My

mother, father, older sister and I lived in the third floor efficiency that had two rooms plus a kitchen/breakfast area.

Playing church, Bernard, Burnele and I pretended to be Jesus and two of his disciples; preaching with passion, and singing with power that redemption and salvation were at hand. Bernard was murdered at the age of thirty-three. He had emerged at the epicenter of the Black Power movement as a civic leader and entrepreneur, demanding and getting a voice for youth at the table of power.

That conscious youth leadership grew Black political and economic might and aspirations in Kansas City. He was assassinated following a rally for his campaign for Missouri State Senate.

Bernard's twin Burnele finished law school in Wisconsin with advanced law degrees at Harvard. He became Law School Dean at University of Missouri at Kansas City, a prodigious author and legal scholar and expert martial artist.

In sixth grade the three of us, members of the youth branch of the NAACP Kansas City Chapter, joined older youth and adults manning picket lines outside hotels that refused to accommodate Black convention goers in downtown Atlanta who were attending the national convention of the NAACP. We got our instructions on picketing and civil • L-R: Kathleen, Patricia, Alvin Jr., Raymond, Wain, and Gregory McFarlane

• Top left: Al McFarlane, B.P. Ford, and James Earl Jones; top right: President Bill Clinton and Al McFarlane; bottom right: McFarlane receives; Stairstep Foundation Community Builder awards presentation; McFarlane and Rev. Al Sharpton with McFarlane daughters (l-r) Batala-Ra, Michelle and Kristin.

disobedience from Roy Wilkins himself, the national president of the NAACP. In high school we were among the students who chose to boycott rather than attend the only one-day-a-year "fun day" when the local amusement park would allow Black patrons.

At Morehouse College I helped to mobilize student turnout and participation in a student and community march and rally to the state legislature led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., which protested Georgia's refusal to seat duly elected Julian Bond because he spoke out against the war in Vietnam. The spirit and history of personal involvement in civil and human rights advocacy and protest guided the development of my career in journalism and mass communications.

Insight was born in 1974 as a magazine-format monthly publication dedicated to providing alternative views and

analysis of quality of life issues and public policy affecting the North Minneapolis Black community. We bought the publication from my employer, Graphic Services, Inc., and I spent a year working nights as a janitor in Wayzata to keep my family afloat while I spent my days organizing the re-launch of Insight as a newspaper.

We have sought to remain true to the fighting spirit. We endeavor to stand against and in protest of the incessant barrage of negative disinformation administered to America and the world as news. And we believe we have a right to speak our truth, even a duty to speak our truth, in the face of power.

While protest and the fighting spirit have remained defining characteristics of our work as communicators, in reflection, several principles have shaped these characteristics. The first and greatest principle is love.

Educator Dr. Joe Nathan of U of M Hubert Humphrey Insitute, Minneapols Public Schools Superintendent, Dr. William Green, and McFarlane at live broadcast of Conversations with Al McFarlane Public Policy Forum at Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis.

Love is the most powerful force in creation. For me, the highest refinement, experience and expression of love is in the relationship with my life and business partner B.P. Ford. The respect and love we find in each other contextualizes absolutely everything we do in business and in life. It guides our reverence for Creation itself and directs our stake in eternity. It shapes our understanding of and interaction with all other elements of Creation . . . with other human beings and with the physical environment.

cooperation and collaboration with others: employees, business partners and associates, colleagues in the profession or industry, other businesses, organizations and agencies. Knowing the value of collaboration led to the groundbreaking business innovation in the creation of Minnesota Minority Media Coalition and its successor, Minnesota Multicultural Media Consortium. The willingness to foster cooperation led to the creation of the successful regional marketing company, Midwest Black Publishers' Coalition.

The second principle is imagination. We hold that "if it can be done, we can do it," whatever it is. The limit is lack of imagination or misdirected imagination. Too often our people are nurtured to have low expectations.

Finally, an under-girding principle is having the courage to acknowledge and trust your gifts. I am trained as a journalist, but my ability as a communicator is greater than my training. It is a gift.

The third principle is recognizing that you best help yourself by helping others. Early on, B.P. Ford and I said that our pathway to fulfillment would be in helping others achieve fulfillment. We discovered that to be an appropriate role of the newspaper as a tool for community building.

It is the certainty of the value and power of the gift that has given rise to our most far-reaching and exciting endeavor, the weekly public policy radio broadcast and internet webcast of Conversations with Al McFarlane on KFAI 90.3 and 106.7 FM and online at kfai.org. Now into its 10th year, this unique and powerful program connects us to each other and creates a platform for presenting our A fourth principle is the value of cooperation and story, in our own words, reflecting our interests and collaboration. For us, nothing is accomplished by defined by us, to us and to the world. The program ourselves alone. Accomplishment and success is through harnesses communications technology, amalgamating

Public Policy Journalism At Its Best • The weekly public policy radio broadcast and internet webcast of Conversations with Al McFarlane on KFAI 90.3 and 106.7 FM and online at kfai.org

live audience programming, radio broadcasting and internet webcasting, video conferencing, electronic archiving and print media dissemination to present a robust information and identity experience.

THE UNIQUE VIDEOCONFERENCE BROADCASTS INCLUDED:

placing Twin Cities high school students in direct contact with Sudan's Ambassador to the US in Washington D.C., and with relief and aid workers in Juba, Sudan - extending exploration of CTC's production of The Lost Boys of Sudan.

Conversations with Al McFarlane, provides me with the opportunity to do what I love to do, engage my gift of • Connecting our Lucille's Kitchen broadcast audiences perception and gift of description in the service of my with Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa to guests, of our issues and interests, and for the benefit of discuss HIV/AIDS in South Africa and in North our community.

Minneapolis, and to discuss to criminal justice issues following the close of the Truth and Reconciliation Our community, our people, are gifted. The unending warfare against our sense of humanity, the gratuitous Commission hearings follow the collapse of apartheid; insult to our dignity and institutional marginalization of • Talking directly with Jews in Germany regarding their our culture seeks to discourage us from discovering, fight for reparations for state sponsored theft of their labor knowing and celebrating our gifts. My job as a during WWII, connected to a Lucille's Kitchen communicator, my work, is to continue talking to our conversation with TransAfrica president and author people, saying, "Acknowledge the gift. Redemption is at Randall Robinson on his book The Debt, What American hand."

Owes to Blacks; • Engaging members of Congressional Black Caucus, directly from the U.S. House of Representatives on the issues of education, business procurement in the food industry, and telecommunications policy; • Creating stellar programs in partnership with Children's Theatre Company, connecting area students and activists to eye witnesses of Birmingham church bombings of 1963 - theme of the CTC production, The Watson's Go to Birmingham; and, the international video conferences

Originally printed February 5, 2007

Jazz

Mina Agossi with band members Alex Hiéle, (bass) (right), and Ichiro Onoe (drums)

The language of democracy Conversations with Al McFarlane from KFAI FM

L MCFARLANE: Mina Agossi was born in France in 1972. Her parents are French and West African. In her early years she was drawn to the stage, following her mom’s footsteps.

She says she loves to travel. She studied theater in many countries around the world, including Niger, Morocco, and France. When she graduated in 1990, she continued to travel. She spent time both here in the U.S. and in Spain and returned to France in 1992. She found herself singing the blues as a favor to a friend who was also a saxophonist. She said that experience changed her life, so much, that she knew she was going to be a singer. Mina, let me let you take it from there - how have you developed and emerged as a singer?

A

Photo: viennajazz.org

Photo: Suluki Fardan

MINA AGOSSI: If I tell you really, you’re going to laugh. I wanted to learn Spanish so I was working in Spain, taking care of a little girl . . . When I came back to France, I had to go to the University to do something. I couldn’t do theater, which was really what I liked. So one day at the University I went to see a show at the bar in front of the University and there was a saxophonist playing with a kind of computer electronic system. He was alone. There was nobody there. I was really impressed. That was the first time I could see someone playing with machines.

He saw me really having fun, and at the break he came to me and said, “I’m sure you sing.” and I said, of course, “I don’t sing.” He said, “I’m sure you do sing. I could see you kind of nod your head and everything,” So I said, “No I don’t, but if you want me to sing, why not?” You know? I’ve never been very shy anyway, so I went on the stage and I did I don’t know what. But he loved it and this is literally how I started. He gave me a tape and he said, “I have a show in fifteen days. Please, can you learn these four songs?” And fifteen days later I had the songs in my head. I went to the venue. It was a restaurant.

There was nobody there. I was scared to death. I sang these four songs and he gave me five hundred bucks!

And I said, “Is this the life of a musician? If this is the life of a musician, I want to be a musician.”

XX

And this is how I quit the university. You have to put yourself into this world, this musical world, which is very tough. At first it is easy, but later you have to be very strong in your head in order to continue. And I decided, I’m not going to fail. So I continue.

AM: When I watched you perform last night, I had the feeling like your body was like music. It was more than the voice. The voice was huge, but as I watched you, I thought “If she had a choice, I bet she could transform herself away from the physical body into pure sound.” Does that make sense to you? That is how I look at you, as a person who could live, who could reincarnate as sound.

MA: That is so beautiful. Oh wow. I’m speechless.

AM: James Wright, you are Mina Agossi’s manager.

What do you think? I noticed you last night. You were into the music just like I was.

JW: You can’t watch Mina and not be totally fixated by what she does. It’s an incredible experience. The best part of my job is going somewhere new, sitting at the back of stage looking at the audience, and watching everyone’s face. It goes from shock to wonder and they fall in love every time. You can’t take your eyes off her. And you just become part of the music. I’ve worked with other bands, and other musicians, but this is the only time it’s happened every single show.

AM: It is clear that you are so comfortable with your voice and with sound. I had the impression, Mina, that you have this sort of intense love affair with sound itself. Is that correct?

MA: Oh, definitely.

AM: What does sound mean to you in your life, your body, your spirit?

MA: I don’t really know if I can explain it, but I’m going to try. It’s just that I hear before what I want to sing. I know what I want to hear, exactly, at the second it arrives. I know, for the bass or for the drums. It makes sense for me. Like it makes sense to me to not play with harmonic instruments, which is not really common. But for me, it makes sense, because I hear the bass. I hear the drum and bass. I think this is from my Benin roots. Benin is a country where the rhythms are hugely, highly important. Each village has its own rhythm. And it’s very complicated - not easy rhythms.

They have their own sound. It’s not like Mali or Senegal where they use the chords. It’s more melodic. Benin is very in the ground. The earth is speaking.

“Jazz, to me, is democracy, because everybody can comment on the subject, and express themselves.”

The shaking of the earth and the feet on the ground is something that I feel. That makes my heart beat. And then the bass is like the jazz part. Jazz, to me, is democracy, because everybody can comment on the subject, and express themselves. In that sense, the pub music of the seventies and jazz are very important to my ears. It doesn’t mean I’m not doing songs - I’m doing songs. It’s not free, but there are free moments where everybody can express themselves. I also like the people to be able to catch our hands, and not to be totally lost, so it’s a mixture of all this that makes me hear the sound that I want to hear before singing it.

AM: And what kind of sense do you get, as a per-

Photos by Suluki Fardan

son who is European, who is African, and who is also visiting this country?

MA: And is also American - in my heart. That’s something - I think you guys in the States, you have such a potential. You are not linked by old rules and old things. You are so fresh. You have everything in your hands. I believe in the American dream. Let’s put it this way - I still believe in the American dream.

But there is something that is really surprising from the European side. You have a big gun problem, for instance. And this, it seems to me, fuels the fighting between communities - having guns and fighting each other. I can see a lot of advertisements on the TV and it’s basically poor people that have guns and shoot each other. And this is going to stay exactly the same, here and in the world as long as, for example, in Africa, the ethnic-this is going to kill the ethnic-that.

My message is stop fighting each other for nothing.

It’s always sad to see the Italian community fighting the Black community or Jewish community. This is useless. In France, for instance, we have to say that the communities are really in a pot. It’s a melting pot.

And really, I don’t see a melting pot in the States. I see the area of the Blacks, the area of the Hispanics.

It’s not really mixed up. So, this is just an observation. I don’t judge anything. I just feel this - you see?

That you should all really stick together, because the American Dream is there. Just get rid of that fear and try to change things, because nowadays, I would say, it’s a little difficult.

AM: Your music is an expression of activism?

MA: In a way, and I always say that we are, but it’s true, we are the United Colors of Benetton in my band. One guy is Japanese. I’m Black, I mean half Black, half French. There’s a French guy. I would love to have Indian - whoever. I mean - what makes me sad, for instance in the Black community, is that we have to justify somehow that we’re going to suffer. And we raise our kids saying, “You’re Black, you’re going to get it, man.” I see some Black parents talking to their kids in a way that that tells them “you’re already going to suffer, because you’re Black.” And this is something that I really think should be taken away. If the parents just start to say, “Be proud of what you are and of your work,” that’s it, whatever color you are, and not talking only about

color. Like, “This is a poor community, you’re going to get it, you’re going to fall into drugs.” And it’s so complicated. And I think the way to change things is just to avoid fixating on color and just do what you have to do, and keep on doing this without falling into this gun thing, or the drug thing, because it’s a trap.

AM: How did you grow up, and where did you grow up? Do you have brothers and sisters? What kind of family environment produced the attitude that you have?

MA: It’s very, very weird. First of all, the name Agossi is Fon - it’s from Benin. It’s a dialect. And in Benin there are over fifty dialects. What is the use of that? People can’t understand - it’s such a small country, they can’t understand each other. We think through language, and if you speak a different language in the same country, it allows big industries to come here, take what’s in the ground, like cocoa and oil, and just give guns to these different ethnic groups, knowing they’ll shoot each other, allowing the foreigners to exploit the resources. “Agossi” means the one who was born feet first. I was born feet first. My mother immediately got trapped into this ethnic thing. She fell in love with my father. He was really, really Beninese, with his culture and everything. And after a while, she found out that she would never be able to understand him, but she was pregnant. So she delivered me in France, and he stayed in Africa. He didn’t want to go to France, which is really rare in Africa, because the French dream is like the American dream. They really think they’re going to have a wonderful time, which is really not the case. So my mother tried to make him come, but he would not. It took me six years to find my father in Africa. I don’t know if you remember, but around the ‘80s, between Benin and Gabon, there was a big fight in the African Union meeting.

Beninese people, who are basically intellectuals, decided to move to Gabon because there was oil.

And I mean, it’s always the same thing - oil, oil. But the presidents of Benin and Gabon hated each other and one slapped the other’s face during the meeting.

So all the Beninese at that time got their jobs totally cut off in Gabon. And that’s how my father got to be almost starving when I met him. XX

I saw him only twice because he passed away shortly after. So my life was basically living with my mother on the French side, and my mother was wonderful in the sense that she wanted me to know Africa very early. So I’ve been traveling around Africa. I started in Morocco when I was three. I’ve been living in Ivory Coast, in Niger, and I’ve been having such a good time. So the roots were always there, calling me up. I want to know who my father is. I want to know Benin. And now I have a regular connection with my aunt and I go to Benin regularly and it’s so strong.

And of course Benin used to be a big platform for transatlantic slave trade. So you have this harbor where the slaves were brought to come here. So I guess maybe we have the same blood. And this is very strong. And it’s the country of voodoo, which was exported to Haiti. So I’m really a voodoo child in that sense! I really started to talk with my aunt and all this Catholic, and this Muslim and this voodoo mixture in the country that is really something to see. It’s so interesting. And this is how I decided to get the distance on every side, on my French side and on my African side, because I would never choose between them. I’m half White, half Black, and this is what gives me, I think, power. In a sense, I cannot choose.

I don’t like Black people criticizing White people, and I don’t like White people criticizing Black people. I would have to split myself in two, I would be schizophrenic, I cannot choose.

AM: On the way here I was talking about my mission and vision as a newspaper owner and communicator.

I described myself as a trench fighter or a street fighter. That’s the spirit with which I attack journalism, truth telling and writing. My job is to be an advocate for my culture and my people. And when I say my people, typically, a person could assume that means African or African-American. But “my people” to me, is bigger than just African people, bigger than just Black people.

MA: And it’s good to remind ourselves of this.

AM: But we start there. We start with where you are.

You start with the skin you’re in. You start with the parents you came from and the culture that they brought, and that brought you and them to this place.

But then “my people” ends up being every human being on the planet. But it’s bigger than just people.

People are only part of the equation. Humans are only part of the equation.

We have to respect living things that are not human,

and we have to respect things that are not living. We must know the living and the inanimate are equally important, equal partners in creation. So that’s kind of how I approach the whole thing, but I have the feeling that you have the same approach and same view, or something like that, because it helps me understand, or helps you understand how I hear your music.

When I was driving and listening to you, Mina, it was like listening to the sound of creation or listening to something that is so expansive and so big that it’s everywhere, and I can’t describe it any better than that. But the music itself, the sound that you’re bringing is like breath - it breathes. That’s what I think, I don’t know. How does it make you feel to know that you have that effect on a listener?

MA: It makes me want to give you a big hug. Oh my god. It’s so beautiful, what you say. I’m not the one who can talk properly about what I do. It’s just something I feel and I hear the sound before doing it, so it’s like I know what I want to hear, and if you feel that, that means we are on the right path. Because this is exactly what I would love people to feel - this freedom. And how can this freedom be? It is because you are yourself. I think the problem these days is that the

world is stereotyped. I think it’s very important that you remind people your definition of “my people,” because for a lot of them, it is only Black community or this or that, which is not the case, as you said. It’s the people that feel themselves in connection with your fight, whatever color or whatever. And this respect of the environment, because this is exactly what you say - the planet is in danger and we know that, and it is not a question of politics anymore. We are all in the same boat - we know that we go in one hundred years, if we continue like this, there is nothing left. And what do we want for the kids, for the future? Is that what we want? The people need to start to think by themselves and stop only thinking about themselves and stop only thinking, “Okay, I have to follow this because it’s a law, because it’s imposed, because otherwise what is my neighbor going to think?” We really have to start standing up and thinking for ourselves and rethink the whole system, which is falling apart in every country of the world, and we know it. It is like a bomb that is going to explode, and it’s just a question of time, and we all know that. So what you say is to be street fighter is the same as me doing my music without caring about what people used to tell me. Before, when I started it, they’d say, “Stop that. When are you going to put in a piano?

You’re crazy. Nobody is going to listen to that.” You know? And if I had listened to these people, nothing would have happened. And you have to say, “Well, this is your opinion, which I respect, but I have the right to be who I am, and I have the right to think what I think, as long as I don’t hurt you.” The freedom stops where the other one’s starts. So as long as this is correct, what is the problem if I do what I do?

AM: Mina Agossi. Do I pronounce it right?

MA: Wonderfully well.

AM: Now, I presumed that the name would be either Italian or French. Is it?

MA: A lot of people think that, but it’s typically Beninese. Agossi and Agoso for the man. Agossi for the girl. Agossi is the “the one who was born feet first,” and also describes twins.

AM: Are you a twin?

MA: No, but my mother is a twin.

AM: Do you have sisters and brothers?

MA: When I met my father, I found out that I have three brothers and sisters - two sisters, one brother, and my mother got another life and married someone and had three kids, so I have six. XX

AM: So, a big family. How do you get along with everybody?

MA: And I’m the oldest.

AM: You’re the dean.

MA: Yes. AM: Your band is international, intercultural. The music is rich and warm and it’s fun. You can tell that you’re having fun with the music and having fun with the musicians. You are enjoying each other and the joy you share is infectious. James Wright, from London, it was obvious to me last night that you were just really into this music. How did you and Mina get together? How did you become her manager and how did you connect with her music?

JW: I started working for and still do work for the label in London which is Candid Records. Mina doesn’t actually know this, so it’ll be a first for her. I think I told her after a couple of glasses of wine a while ago, but I met Mina after about five days of working with Allan Bates, the CEO of the company. I started as the artist development manager - I mean, you know better than most people, the jazz industry is a hard industry to work and you need everything you can to push it forward to new audiences, and that’s really what my job was. I met Mina at the London Jazz Festival after five days of working there. Allan introduced me and said, “Now James, this is Mina and your job is purely to make her more well-known. Just make her famous - that’s all I care about.” And that was my first and only task. And that’s what we’ve been doing for the last twelve months.

MA: Oh, you should invite us every day. You will hear so many things.

AM: Mina, tell me, what was in your mind as you developed and chose the pieces to go on your new CD - “Well, You Needn’t,”? Are you impressed with yourself?

MA: No, never. Actually, every time a CD is done, I’m only thinking of the next one. It’s like, I never listen to that CD myself. If I start to rethink everything or congratulate myself, I have nothing to do. It’s like I deliver a baby and it has a long life. I cannot control the life. It’s up to the CD to please or not. I’m not doing music to please, but I do what I feel. So after

that, I don’t know. I was feeling this at the time I did it, and I’m happy. And of course, after when I do another CD, I like to listen to the old ones just a little bit just for little ideas of sounds or things like that.

But everything is always brand new and fresh for me.

It’s like a fairy tale, actually. It happens that one day, Allan Bates got the CD on his desk and listened to it and after maybe fifteen minutes, he wanted to sign me up for five years. So it’s like a fairy tale. I really want to say this in a very particular way, because all the people that listen to this show right now might think it’s easy, but it’s really a fairy tale, something really, really rare. But keep on sending your CDs on because

“You have the jazz or you don’t have the jazz. I don’t believe in learning ‘jazz.’ ” it can happen. So that’s what happened to me, so actually, he signed me up, and then he invited James Wright to join the team, and he said what he said to him. And this is like, I feel so much support. Allan Bates has big, big ears. I mean he’s been producing Abby Lincoln, Archie Shepp and Thelonious Monk.

I mean this person knows all about jazz history. So it’s even like, I told you this, James, he’s like an uncle to me. He’s more than just the boss of the biggest jazz endeavor label in the UK. He’s a part of my spirituality, and he’s 80 years old. And he’s like a baby - he’s so dynamic. I mean, to love what I do at his age . . . I know people who are 40 who are more stubborn, who have really narrow minds. This person is amazing.

He’s seen it all.

AM: How does he come to that awareness? James, you might know about his background a little bit.

How did you come to the label?

JW: It’s like a sixth sense. It really is, because, as we’ve been saying briefly, the music industry is a tough one at the moment. The record industry is

dying but the music industry is thriving, and you have to be clever. You have to outwit the public, and give them something they haven’t heard before, and that’s what Mina does with her music. We’re selling the track from the Great American Songbook, and just turned it over, flipped it on its head. And you need innovators in the industry to open it up again and to start fresh. And that’s what Allan saw - the next phase for female jazz vocals, and this is what Mina does. You need this, and it opens things up. It’s happened in history, and it’ll keep happening. But people need to start it. If we sit here for the next two hours and think, is there anyone else in female jazz vocals doing what Mina is doing? You can’t think of a name. And that’s what it’s about - it’s about innovation. And that’s what Allan saw.

AM: That’s amazing. You give tribute to America for the creativity that has produced this great music. How do you talk to your audiences and talk to the public about the origin, the source of this music?

MA: I just say that I think that everybody who had this respect of other communities and have this respect of democracy is able to play jazz, but the roots are American, and Afro-American, which means Afro and Americans. I really love the States. I would love to be American. I feel like I’m American. It’s like you have to sing your heart. You either have the blues or you don’t have the blues. You don’t learn the blues.

You have the jazz or you don’t have the jazz. I don’t believe in learning “jazz.” I really respect the schools and for the skills and everything, but the real mentality - I would never do another copy of Billie Holliday.

I can’t put myself in front of an audience singing the way that Billie Holiday was singing.

AM: But I hear Billie Holliday in your voice.

MA: That’s a compliment. But this is wonderful because I really am inspired by Billie Holliday, but also Bjork, also the Roots, so many bands, and some people see Tricky or whatever in my voice, or they hear things that are really wow, and it’s beautiful, I love that. But I would never be able to sing a jazz standard in the style of the sixties or fifties, because I will never be.

n June 12, 2006, Al McFarlane and Adrian HamiltonButler, co hosts of Conversations With Al McFarlane, interviewed actor Joseph Phillips, culture advocate Vivian Jenkins Nelson, business owner Monica Hines, health advocates Roxanne and Robert Tisdale, and Women Venture executive Amy Barringer at KFAI-FM 90.3 Broadcast Studio.

The interview was broadcast live and rebroadcast the following Saturday, June 17, 2006 on Independent Public Radio (IPR) Network affiliate, KMOJ-FM 89.9.

The broadcast started with questions about Phillips' newbook, He Talk Like a White Boy.

Joseph Phillips

Al McFarlane Al McFarlane: Tell us about the premise of the book. Why the name, first of all, and what are you doing in this book?

Joseph Phillips: He Talk Like a White Boy is about values, about those things that we all share in common, that we inherit, I believe, as Americans‌ values of family, faith, idealism. These are the things that bind us together as Americans. They transcend race. They transcend political affiliation. They transcend economic position.

The title comes from something that happened to me in the eighth grade. I was in accelerated English class, which is like the gifted programs that we have now. I answered a question in class, and a Black girl from across the room raised her hand and said, "He talk like a white boy."

And that was kind of the beginning of my life.

That accusation has followed me, as I began to date as a young man, as I became an actor and moved into show business, and then as I began to write a weekly column.

The accusation changed from "talking like a white boy" to "thinking like a white boy." And so this kind of goes to this question of authenticity: What is it to be authentically Black. Who is it that decides?

Ultimately, what I would like to do is to move beyond what I consider to be very narrow and constricting definitions of race and racial authenticity. I would like to move beyond labels and move to some higher ground where we again begin to talk about the things that we have in common. These things, I find, far more important: the importance of faith, our love of family in our lives, our love of this great country -- these are the things that I think are far more important and that bind us together.

Al McFarlane: Well, let's put that in context. Tell us who you are. Who is Joseph Phillips? And I raise the question to give you a chance to say, "I'm the son of, and the grandson of, and the great-great grand son of . . ." What is the lineage? And who are you in the context of your being an American today? You're a Black man. You're African American. What else are you?

Joseph Phillips: I'm not sure I understand the question, but this is the way I would answer it. You tell me if I missed the point. I'm a husband. I'm a father of three beautiful boys, ages 8, 6, and 4. I tell everybody that they are loud, stinky, and ashy, just like little Black boys should be. They are healthy, energetic, and bright, and I have been blessed to be given the opportunity to raise them. I am a writer. I'm also an actor. I'm the son of a pediatrician and school teacher. I grew up in Denver, Colorado in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood. So that's kind of where I come from. Does that answer your question?

Al McFarlane: That's part of it, but run back -- who is your grandfather? Who are your grandfathers and great-grandfathers?

Joseph Phillips: No one has ever asked me that question before.

Al McFarlane: And the spirit of the question is what genes make up Joseph Phillips? What is your genealogy?

Joseph Phillips: I'll skip a couple of generations. I'm named after my great-grandfather Joseph Bassilio Phillips who was from Tortola, and that's on my father's side.

Al McFarlane: I don't know where Tortola is.

Joseph Phillips: Tortola is an island in the British Virgin Islands. Tortola is, I think you can see it from St. Croix, which is U.S. Virgin Islands. My great-grandmother, Elnora Connor was from Florida. My middle name is Connor. I have written down someplace where they were married. I have a photograph, actually, in my home of my great-grandmother, and I have a photograph of my grandmother and my two great-aunts from 1912 or something. And then on my mother's side, I don't know a great deal, but my grandfather on my mother's side, James Brookes, born in South Carolina, and drove a cab for most of his life.

Al McFarlane: What's your sense of cultural identity?

Joseph Phillips: That's a very unusual question.

Al McFarlane: And here's where I'm going with it: What's your sense of your racial identity, of being a Black man, and being an African -- I call us Africans in America, but some people choose not to use that language.

Joseph Phillips: I don't.

Al McFarlane: What is your sense of who you are? You're American.

Joseph Phillips: I'm an American.

Al McFarlane: Of African extraction, or -Joseph Phillips: Well, yeah. People from America come from all over the place. I'm an American. My children are American children. You know, a couple of years ago, I had the great opportunity to go to Nigeria and participate in the Leon Sullivan Summit. And it's fascinating to me because people are free to define themselves This is the point: people are free to define themselves as they wish. This is part of what's great about America, which is that we have a huge blank canvas, and we can wake up in the morning and paint on it what we wish, and then the next day we can say, "I don't really like that," and we can start over from scratch.

Free men can define themselves as they wish. Part of what my book talks about is this notion that being Black in America is a limited list of things, and that there are other people who are able to define you racially as they wish. In my mind, frankly, it's a very narrow definition: you must talk a certain way, you must listen to certain types of music, and more importantly, you must hold certain ideological positions. That makes you authentic? I say that makes you a slave. It has other people defining for you who you are in a free society. My understanding of the struggle that my forbearers engaged in was so that I could define myself as I wished.

That being said, never was it more clear that I was an American than when I set foot on African soil. The Africans in Nigeria, in my admittedly narrow experience, were not confused about the fact that I was not African.

None of us on that plane were African, We were in fact Americans. And I felt very comfortable with that.

My trip to Africa, as wonderful and amazing as it was, and I would go back in a heartbeat, and might have the opportunity this summer, but it solidified and made very clear those distinctions.

My children are, again, American children. They have American values,

they engage in American traditions. They are not African boys. They are American boys. And that is not to say that I ignore or invalidate that part of my heritage, but it is to say that I appreciate and celebrate my American heritage. I get into discussions with people about this quite frequently, but one thing I say is, "You are right, I fly the American flag. You are absolutely right that I claim my American-ness. I defy anyone to deny me my American heritage, because this American-ness was paid for with blood. It was earned, the old-fashioned way. Our blood is in the soil of the Mississippi, the sands of New England, the red earth of Colorado, where I come from, the rich soil of North Carolina and Virginia, the tobacco fields, the dust of Alabama. Our blood is in the soil, so I claim this nation as my own, and you are right, I fly the American flag."

Adrianne Hamilton Butler Adrianne Hamilton Butler: You mention in the book the flack that you get for being a Black conservative. I do believe that the civil rights movement allowed us to be free to participate in this democracy without being bound by social parameters. Why do you believe there is an issue in the Black community with Black conservatives?

Joseph Phillips: The tag onto that question is, ". . . especially given that Black folk are so conservative." I think some of it comes from how we define what "conservative" means. Which is again, why, in the book, I really want to move past the labels, because so often, the labels are arbitrary. It's the values that speak to what we truly believe in. So, I tell people that I don't admit readily, anymore, to being a conservative, because I realize that what one person means by conservative may not be how I define conservative. For a lot of people that means what your mother tells you not to track into the house, you know, "Boy, I told you not to bring that conservative in here! Wipe that conservative off your feet." I don't admit to being that. But, if by "conservative" you mean someone who believes in equality, someone who believes in the principles upon which this nation was founded, believes in a nexus between virtue and liberty, that our rights extend to us from God, not from other men, in a limited government that derives its just powers from the consent of the governed, that believes in traditional family structures, that men should be the head of the house, with God at the head of the household -- that is how I define conservative. And then people tell me, "I know a lot of Democrats that believe that." And I say, "Well, exactly my point." We are caught up in the labels. Let's put the labels aside, and let's begin talking about those values. If we're going address problems and find solutions, then we're going to have to be able to talk to each other. Labels get in the way.

Let's go to the values.

Adrianne Hamilton Butler: One of the things that really touched me in your book was your openness, your ability to say, "I love my wife, but our marriage is still a work in progress." Or, "I've been a star, but still have my insecurities." Is there a risk for you in writing a book that says, "Here I am.

Here's what I think."

Joseph Phillips: I don't know how to write any other way. The risk, and I've experienced this in the four years that I've been writing a column, is that when people don't like what you say, and they comment on it aggressively.

They say mean things. It's very hard to sort of shake it off. Because I've written very personally, so the negative responses, I take very personally. And I admit, a lot of the things that people have said, that range from very ugly to down-right nasty have been very hurtful. People have said mean things about my wife. They've questioned my sanity, my sexual preference, my racial pride, and on down the list. And quite often they forget their home training when they do it.

Adrianne Hamilton Butler: I enjoyed reading what you said about your father. You described how he lived. Your relationship to your dad was very important to you. It impacts your life and the lives of your sons. You wrote: "It's a shame that as a social currency, fatherhood has lost such value. A man's honor is cheap. Starlets grace the covers of magazines, celebrating the birth of their fatherless children, actors, politicians, and any number of professional athletes are seldom taken to task for fathering children out of wedlock." Why do you think it is the case in our society that fatherhood is devalued and what do you think is the lesson for Black fathers, in particular?

Joseph Phillips: This is new-school. I refer to these values in the book as old-school values. I think there was a cultural shift that happened, because this idea of devaluing fatherhood, fathers not being in the home, raising their children, of abdicating their responsibilities in the community, that's new-school thinking.

Years and years ago, in the face of far more pernicious racism than we face today, outright hatred of Black men and Black people, Black men were somehow able to honor their women, marry the mothers of their children, raise sons, bring home the bacon, be gainfully employed, value academic success and education, if not for themselves, for their children. This new idea that we're experiencing now, with starlets on the covers and everyone celebrating, and people standing up, the first thing out of their mouths, "Well, I'm a single mother," and everybody claps, this is new-school and I would like us to go back to the oldschool. I think it's clearly no mistake. When you look at men in prison, when you look at neighborhoods run rampant with vandalism and antisocial behavior, when there is an entire genre of music that does nothing but celebrate nihilism, excess, and the degradation of women -- this is the result of men abdicating their responsibility for family and for community to other folk.

And the problems are not exclusive to Black men, to Black communities, or even to poor Black people. This is an area where I disagree with Bill Cosby. It transcends culture and economics. And the solution is the same. Men need to step up to the plate.

We need to again begin to embrace the notions of heroic manhood. I honestly believe that it is up to us.

Al McFarlane: Gangsters see themselves as "heroic men." The notion of heroic manhood right now is 50 Cent.

Joseph Phillips: That's new-school. There was a time when we used to hang pictures on the wall of W.E.B. Dubois, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Paul Robeson. We hung pictures of intellectuals on our walls. Now we hang 50 Cent. This goes to this notion of authenticity. Tongue-in-cheek we talk about "talking like a white boy," but the danger is that this becomes social currency which we begin to trade. "Talking like a white boy" becomes "Thinking like a white boy" which becomes "Academic success is acting white," which becomes "marriage is acting white," which becomes, "being gainfully employed is acting white."

We begin to constrain the definition of blackness so that it becomes, I can't find the word, not anti-social but anti-productive. It becomes behavior that doesn't move us forward.

Al McFarlane: Flip the script. Are you saying act white and run the world?

Joseph Phillips: You give credence then to those who would call old-school values white values. What I'm saying is that these values of family, faith, and freedom are not white values. They are the proper values. They were values that Black people at one time embraced. They not only allowed us to survive but to thrive. Two generations after slavery, we were an educated and literate people. We had university trained doctors, lawyers, business men, and so on. Then there was this cultural shift where old-school values became white values. In order to be 'authentic', we reject them.

Al McFarlane: Vivian Jenkins Nelson is the founder of InterRace. This is a fascinating conversation and you've got perspective on this issue of responsibility and accountability in our community and for our people.

I wonder how the ideas you've heard so far resonate with both your experience and observations, as a Black woman and an elder in our community?

Vivian Jenkins Nelson: Having grown up, coming out of the DeepSouth, I was very active in the civil rights movement. I'm called a civilrights baby, which means I'm old now. But, I had similar experiences growing up. My parents had me take French so that I could wipe the ghetto, wipe Alabama, out of my voice, so that I could have a better chance at getting a job. What they did not wipe out, however, was the notion that

Vivian Jenkins Nelsen

there is room for all of us, however we find ourselves, and that authenticity is not about talking a certain way, it's about living a certain way. I think that part of what our community has problems with, as far as what they have known of traditional Black conservatives, is that they have not been in the community. They have not worked to help poor people, shoulder to shoulder.

So I don't see it so much as how you talk as how you live.

I have had the wonderful opportunity of going to Africa and being mistaken for an African. That was like coming home for me. I mean people talked to me in the local language. But anyway, the whole sense of authenticity and belonging is one that is very painful. If you talk like we talk, that is often questioned. I have had my authenticity questioned many times. But I say now that I live in the "ghetto," down the street from Al. But my work takes me everywhere where racism and gender issues still exist. And all of that is not dead yet, by any means. I think all of us, regardless of what label we call ourselves or are called, have a responsibility to work with folks who are poor, folks who are single moms.

Al McFarlane: Vivian, you're creating dialog between African American and Somali women. That's why this question, Joseph, of lineage is important to me. How far do we, can we go back to assemble our cultural identity? When I have interacted with the Somali community, they open the meetings by saying, "Number one, we praise and thank you, African Americans who came before us. Because your struggle, the blood you shed in Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, your fight for freedom, has enabled us to come here today. So we thank you." And I appreciate that coming from them. They acknowledge the struggle that your grandfathers and mothers and mine have waged to create opportunity for us. Then they say, "We simply are the newest arrivals. We're here seeking freedom. We want to live with dignity as human beings." Yet, there is conflict between African Americans and newly-arrived Africans. How are you addressing that, Vivian?

Vivian Jenkins Nelson: About four years ago I was called in by a local high school principal because the African American kids and the Somali kids were fighting everyday and they were fighting on the bus, they were fighting in the school. At our organization is we do dialogs. We do mediations. We do a lot of different things to try to bring stake-holders to the table to solve problems. We had a day-long conference at Augsburg College that brought teachers from both sides, African American and African, and we were there all day. At the end the kids said, "This conversation needs to happen with our parents." The next school year, the principal called me up and he said, "You've just got to know one thing: the kids continued the conversation by themselves, the whole summer." We were very pleased about that. He called me again and said, "You have to come in again. It's four years later and we have a new group of kids and the same problems."

We started in my living room, and we are now on our third conversation where we've trained women on each side to be facilitators. We are dealing with issues that we bring to each other and issues that we can confront together. And we've been able to bring in some organizations, like the Somali PTA, for example. I think we're making some progress. Our notion is to move our conversations out further, to have conversations between African Americans and Liberians. We have a very large community of Liberians here. I do a lot of work in health care organizations, and they're clashing something fierce in those organizations. So we've got to really be able to talk to each other, to find our commonalities, and to work together on what matters.

And you see, that's my only comment here. I don't care what anybody calls themselves, or is called. The real test here is whether or not you're willing to invest the same blood that was shed in the old days, now in the streets, where we really need to reach young people.

Joseph Phillips: I absolutely agree with you. It's one of the things that I think my book is about.. And if we're going to be able to find solutions to the issues that we face, as Americans, we have to be able to sit down and talk. The values create bridges. If we sit down and one of us is convinced that the other is evil, that is the end of conversation. But once we are each sitting down, and we begin talking about our children, the importance of family, how we raise our children, the importance of faith in our lives, and in the life of our republic, the issues of character, idealism, then we find that we have a lot of things in common.

Al McFarlane: The big immigration issue now is the issue of the southern border, Mexico. What is the relationship between African Americans and Mexicans, those who are here legally and those who are here illegally, seeking citizenship and economic opportunity.

Joseph Phillips: I wrote quite a bit about it, but I want to make clear that my book is not about this issue. Well, I think that there are two things that are happening.

The first thing is that I do believe that there is an element at work here of the suppression of wage. You have people who are competing for low-skill jobs. They undercut the wage. They don't have the pressure of unions. They are at an advantage. In that respect, I do think that there is unfair competition for young Black men. The New York Times, a couple of months ago, I think it was March, published an article about the plight of young Black men. They talked about these men who did not go to high school or who had some high school but did not finish. Some had served time in jail and had no skills, or could only get low-skill work. That group is facing immigrant competition.

But on the same token, going back this idea of these old-school values, there was a time at which Black men did not stand on the corner doing nothing. This was not seen as manly behavior. It's incumbent upon these Black men to enter the job market and compete for jobs. We can take the stance that we're going to close the borders, close the southern border and the talk about the competition between Black men and illegal immigrants, it is still incumbent upon Black men to apply for those jobs and enter the work force and get jobs. We've seen it time and time again where the authorities come down on some local industry. In Alabama it was the chicken industry. Black men within twenty mile radius did not fill the void. They stayed unemployed. So that creates another question, another issue that we have to address. Even at prevailing market wage, they weren't taking jobs. I want to tie in something else that Vivian said earlier, she was talking about Black conservatives being in the community, and I had wanted to say that I absolutely agree with what you're saying, that part of the thing that has happened over the years is that Black conservatives have been seen as critics, standing on the sidelines, telling everybody what's wrong, instead of getting their hands dirty. And I think that for the "Black Conservative" movement, to what extent there is one, what will help will be that people who call themselves begin to come into the community, role up their sleeves and begin working, not just telling everybody what's wrong. That tends to create distrust.

Amy Brenengen Vivian Jenkins Nelson: It makes you want to slap people.

Al McFarlane: Amy Brenengen is with Women Venture. She's heading a program called FAIM, Family Assets for Independence in Minnesota.

Amy Brenengen: Women Venture as a whole is an economic development agency for women and for men. I think the success of families really has a lot to do with how they can grow economically. That has so much to do with their own stability, what they stand for, and how they live their values through how they choose to spend their money and what they acquire. The FAIM program is an excellent opportunity for folks who are lowwage workers who maybe have not had the same opportunity to save and to take advantage of opportunities maximize their assets that the government and private investors are providing.

Al McFarlane: Describe your program.

Amy Brenengen: Family Assets for Independence in Minnesota is actually a state-wide program across the state of Minnesota, and Women Venture is a provider. In this program you save thirty to forty dollars a month for two years. It's matched three times: once by the state, once by the government, and once by a private funder. The idea is that savers get to save for an appreciable asset like starting a business or continuing higher education or owning a home.

And at the end of the two years of saving, they have enough matched funds to start on one of those endeavors.

Al McFarlane: What is the maximum that they can save?

Amy Brenengen: The maximum they can save ends up being $3,800 with the matching, at the end, so that's about $490 a year. It is limited to those three assets, and every saver, regardless of the asset that they're saving

for, has to take twelve hours of financial literacy education, which is just an excellent overview of connecting your values, needs, and wants to the economic choices that you make, for yourself and for your family. They also have to do specific training around the asset that they're pursuing. So if it's a home, they have to take a home-buying class. If it's a business, there are vsome business classes that they take, and the same for education.

Al McFarlane: Women Venture is the sponsor, but is the program for women only? Or is it for anybody?

Amy Brenengen: It is for women and men, and we are sponsoring this in conjunction with community action agencies across the state of Minnesota and with United Way, so there's opportunities all over for folks to take advantage of it. We have a lot of openings right now that we want people to take advantage of.

Joseph Phillips: I think this idea, families saving, is very important. But the idea that it is for families, for men and for women, is significant. Married couples do better than singles. And we know that there are some things that people can do to help themselves along, and one of those things, I tell kids this all the time, one of those things is to graduate from high school.

The other thing that you can do is to not get pregnant in high school. It's important to get married and to stay married. But you should wait until after you're twenty-five to get married, and then, again, to stay married. There are some reports that came out recently talking about the expense of divorce, and how much wealth it costs people to end a marriage. So, I think these are all things that are in line with old-school values of saving and frugality. People saved for education. They saved for business. They saved for property. It was important. And in this notion of getting some new rims on your car when you can't pay your rent, that's new-school.

Al McFarlane: I want to bring two more voices in to the conversation. Robert Tisdale and Roxanne Tisdale are here on behalf of Open Cities Health Center. They want our community to pay more attention to our attitude toward health, our commitment to health, our awareness, understanding and utilization resources in the community that can help us be healthy as individuals.

Ultimately it's our personal choices, and our personal capacity and our willingness to use the resources.

Roxanne Tisdale: Open Cities Health Center is a federally funded health center that houses medical care, mental health care, and also dental care. We do a Father's Day Health Fair in celebration of our men and to get some of our resources out to them. It's just not the woman who can bring the child in, it's just not the woman who needs to be educated about asthma, diabetes. It's not just the woman who needs to know how to use a child car seat safely and appropriately. So we want to encourage, engage our men in the community to take on some of these roles, to get educated about health, to be empowered, to work on behalf of themselves and also their families and the community.

Robert Tisdale: We spend a lot of time talking about, what are we going to do for our community. What are we going to do for the parents? What are we going to do for the mothers and the fathers, to be better parents? My role in it is to talk to the men and let them know that we can be better men for our families. We can take care of our daughters. We can take care of our sons. Even if you're not in the home, you can still be a parent.

Al McFarlane: Tell me about your relationship, the two of your, your backgrounds.

Roxanne Tisdale: A I am a paramedic by trade. I am in nursing school right now. Robert and I met when I was in college and he has supported me through college and supported the family through college.

Al McFarlane: Robert, you sound like the kind of guy that Joseph was talking about a minute ago! (Laughter around room.)

Roxanne Tisdale: I started working at Open Cities as an outreach worker. One of the things that frustrated me was that there was no one to talk to our men. We were having women's support groups. We were having diabetes support groups. We were having mental health support groups, and who showed up? It was the women. And so I got frustrated, and ended up coming home and saying, "You know Robert, there's got to be something done. There has got to be someone out there. There has got to be a voice. There's got to be a role model." And from there, he was excited about it too, so we were doing health fairs, and going out into the community. People saw us as a team, working together. Now he is actually a volunteer for Open Cities Health Center, and I have called him up on a moment's notice and said, "Hey, look, I've got this brother down here who needs some talking to and he just cannot hear it from me. I need you down here." And before I hang up the phone, he's

already down here, got the brother in a room asking, "Okay, what's going on, what's happening? Here are some of the resources you can use. Here are some of the things that you can do."

And as frustrating as it may be for me that I'm saying the same things, they hear it differently from a male perspective, from a male point of view. I don't know if he uses his 'and's and 'but's in a different way, but they definitely take it differently, and they see him as a role model.

Al McFarlane: And so Robert, let me ask you, what's the mission and the vision, from your point of view? What's inside you that gives you both the confidence and the motivation to be on the front line, as you are called to be by your partner?

Robert Tisdale: I didn't grow up with a father. There is a gap growing between men and their families.

I can't even walk down the street without seeing another Black man and almost getting into a fight. We need to stop that as a community. We need to be able to walk down the street, see another Black man, say, "How ya doin?" And address them as 'sir.' We don't do that anymore. So my role is to educate the Black men, emotionally, physically, and spiritually to get us on a different path. I am reaching out to young men on their level.

Al McFarlane: Joseph, what do you think?

Joseph Phillips: There is an iconic vision that I have of the man, the father, in the old West, standing in front of his cabin with the loaded shotgun as his family stands behind him. That image is of the man, as the head of the house, protecting his family from evil that would come through the front door and harm his children and his wife. He's willing to sacrifice his blood, his life, if need be, to protect them. That is the image that I think that Robert shares, reflecting our role as protectors of the community, protectors of the home. And we have to be at the front door. We have to be at the gates of the community. Evil doesn't necessarily ride in on a gang of horses with six-shooters anymore, but there is evil out there. And we are the guardians at the gate.

Al McFarlane: Let me share a different perception. I see my role as a Black man, husband, and father, differently from what you've described. It probably includes that, but I wouldn't describe it they way you did because I fear that your description, which I think is a real for you, some may say relegates to women a role of being protected and not part of the protection class.

I see Al and Bobbi McFarlane in partnership. My iconic vision is of two units, two humans, sort of standing back to back, both equally committed to, equally responsible for creation of harmony, order, and opportunity for individual and collective growth, for safety in the community, and for creation of a space that allows the community and society to advance. I don't see myself as the guy with the gun. I see us both equally committed to and sharing responsibility for our lives and our community.

Joseph Phillips: But here's the other difference. In my marriage we are very much partners, and I would hope that no one would take what I'm saying to say that my wife has no role, because that's clearly not what I'm saying. My wife has a very important role in the family. But men and women do have different roles.So while my wife also protects, I think the notion -- I want to be careful how I say this -- I think the danger is that if we start to talk about this unified kind of everybody standing at the gate, what it does is it alleviates responsibility from men. And what I'm saying is over the last forty or fifty years what we have seen is the result of men stepping back and waiting for someone else to join them at the gates, or to take that role, which is a male role, of standing, of being the guardian.

Al McFarlane: Vivian, is that a male role?

Vivian Jenkins Nelson: I'm hyperventilating here. I'm definitely hyperventilating.

Al McFarlane: Think about it, before you answer.

Joseph Phillips: I can't imagine what I've said that you would disagree with.

Al McFarlane: Before you answer, let me bring one more voice in. Monica Hines recently graduated from Dunwoody College of Technology. She's forty-two years old. She's been divorced twice. She is the mother of seven children and she has seven grandchildren. Monica, you are a breast cancer survivor and you have been in the construction business, is that correct?

Monica Hines Monica Hines: Yes, Sir. I wanted to be an example to my children. I don't have a male role model in the home, and I can't be a father. But I can be a productive person that shows my sons to go to work and shows them how to pursue what they want to do in their life. I would love to have had, and I looked for male role models for them. They had my brothers and my uncles for male role models. But I had to be a role model within the house and I believed I could show them what they need to do to be productive in their life. I went to Dunwoody after doing construction for six years. I went against all odds because it's a male-dominated type of school. I have four brothers and it was kind of easy for me to be in that role.

Al McFarlane: Well, let me ask you to respond to the question, then, of what's the man's role in the house? You just said, number one, "I can't be the male role model for my sons." What is the man's role versus the woman's role.

Monica Hines: I can answer it this way: I know that if my sons had had a man that would have read to them, growing up, and a man that would go to their schools and make sure that academically, they were doing okay, they would have achieved their goals a lot easier. I did those things. I made sure they knew I was there. I read to them. But there is a relationship between a man and his father that is important. I believe that a son wants to prove himself to his father. I believe he is a lot better individual if he has someone looking out for him.

Al McFarlane: Vivian Jenkins Nelson?

Vivian Jenkins Nelson: I want to follow up on that. We're not too far away from understanding that there is a role for both parents to protect children from the things out in this world that may damage them. But I think it's very important the kind of picture that we have of families, whether it's their mothers standing there alone with their seven kids, or whether it's the mom and dad. As the Urban League said some years ago, "There is strength in Black families, and we have to find it." The strength is really around values, which is the word that you brought up earlier, Joseph. I think about my family. My folks were married. I come from an African American family. They were married for sixty-three years. My husband and I have been married for thirtysix years. Now, the iconic figure that I would like you to go away with is that my mother and dad held hands. They were equal partners, and if you really looked closely at my family, you would see a picture of my dad holding me, the only girl, on his lap, reading books. We read Edgar Allen Poe. We read everything together. I had very high ideals about who I would marry. The thing about it is that my brothers came out in interesting ways. My dad, I told you earlier, was in the civil rights movement. My brother was a Black Panther. So the two of them held hands in the community, even as my brother talked about the importance of the Panther breakfast program. What I'm saying is that families should be able to embrace people who are very different. We can embrace people who are very different in the community. If we can't do that, then we have problems.

Women and men can only be as good as each other is in assisting the other one. So we have to hold each other's hands up -Joseph Phillips: I agree with everything that you've said.

Vivian Jenkins Nelson: We absolutely must.

Joseph Phillips: I agree with that and I think you said it beautifully. Monica, I cannot believe you have seven grandchildren. I just want to say one thing, just to tag on, because I tell my wife all the time, I say: "Listen, you have the very important job of raising children. I have the job of raising men." And I believe that it takes men to raise men. That is where I was going.Conversations

Editors Note: Biography from josephphillips.com - Joseph was born and raised in Denver, Colorado the only son of four children. After graduation from George Washington High School he attended the University of the Pacific in central California as a communications major. Having been bitten by the theatre bug early on, Mr. Phillips decided on an acting career and transferred to the acting conservatory at New York University where he graduated with a BFA in Acting in 1983.

After graduation Mr. Phillips continued his education, studying with Michael Howard, Chicago City Limits and the late Nora Dunfee. He also participated in acting workshops with Anna Deveare Smith and Carmen Delavallade.

Phillips' theatrical credits include starring roles in the Broadway production of Six Degrees of Separation, the Kennedy Center and American Playhouse productions of A Raisin in the Sun, starring Danny Glover and Esther Rolle, and the off- Broadway production of Coriolanus with Christopher Walken and Irene Worth. Mr. Phillips also had the honor of creating the title role in Dreaming Emmett, Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winning author Toni Morrison's only theatrical play. Joseph's solo performance piece, Professor Lombooza Lomboo was a featured production at the 12th annual National Black Theatre Festival and the 2001 Minnesota Fringe Festival.

His feature film credits include starring roles in Strictly Business, Let's Talk About Sex and Midnight Blue. On television he starred on the hit series The Cosby Show and was a three time NAACP Image Award Nominee for his portrayal of Attorney Justus Ward on the Daytime Drama General Hospital. Most recently he appeared as Mayor Morgan Douglas on the CBS series The District and has also had guest starring roles on Las VegasVegas, Jack and Bobby, The King of Queens, Judging Amy, Family Law, Martin, The Larry Sanders Show, City of Angeles, Any Day Now, The Parkers, Popular, V.I.P. and Living Single among others.

As a writer Phillips has had essays published in Newsweek, Los Angeles Daily News, Essence Magazine, Upscale, USA Today, Jewish World Review, Turning Point, College Digest, BET.com and the Indianapolis Recorder. His column "The Way I see it" appears weekly in the The Columbus Post, The Los Angeles Wave, Akron Reporter, The Michigan Chronicle, The Michigan Front Page, The Chicago Defender, the New Pittsburgh Courier, The Tri-State Defender, Long Beach Times, The Atlanta Daily World, Miami Times, Tempo News and the web daily's Blackamericatoday.com, Blacknews.com, EURweb.com, attackmachine.com, Netlistings.com, Michaellwilliams.com, JewishWorldReview.com, and PoliticalVanguard.com Joseph has also contributed commentary to BET Tonight, BET Nightly News, The Dennis Miller Show, America's Black Forum, American Urban Radio Networks, was for 3 years a regular commentator on National Public Radio's the Tavis Smiley Show and currently appears as a regular commentator on NPR's News and Notes with Ed Gordon.

Acting and writing are just two of Joseph's many passions. His interest in community service has led to Mr. Phillips involvement with the Special Olympics, The Green Chimneys Foundation, of which he was an advisory board member, The Red Cross and most recently the Big Brothers of Greater Los Angeles.

He has been a visiting speaker for organizations such as the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, Black America's Political Action committee, Council for African-American Republican Leadership, Colorado Sickle Cell Foundation, Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, The United States Post Office, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., Youngstown University, California State University At Northridge, Towson State University, Pepperdine University, The Green Chimney's Foundation, Los Angeles Boys and Girls Club, Fullerton College, The Chicago Black Expo the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Mountain View Community Church Elections forum and at elementary and primary schools across the country.

Phillips has taught acting workshops at the National Black Theatre Festival, The College of William and Mary, California State University Long Beach, Louisiana State University, Delta State College, Canoga Park High School and The Lutheran School.

Joseph is a member of the Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Actors Equity Association, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated and was the National Co-Chair of the African American Steering committee for Bush/Cheney '04, was named a member of the Republican National Committees African American Advisory Board and was appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to the board of directors of the California African American Museum.

An interest in Law resulted in Joseph's acceptance to Rutgers University School of Law-an auxiliary career path he has put on hold. He is also a graduate of culinary school and has had recipes published in Soap Opera Digest, Essence Magazine and the best selling cookbook, Cooking with Regis And Kathy Lee, and is the Celebrity Chairman for Real Men Cook, Los Angeles.

However, his greatest passion is Nicole, his wife of 11 years, and their three children, Connor, 7, Ellis, 5 and 3 year-old Samuel.

WomenVenture is a leader in providing the technical tools and emotional support to help clients start a business, find a new job, or develop a new career path. Today's woman has many career and business opportunities in an ever changing marketplace. With this vast array of options comes the struggle to make the right choice, sort through all the information and understand all the options.

WomenVenture is committed to helping its clients focus energy, systematically plan, identify resources and carry out goals in a setting that is nurturing and supportive. WomenVenture serves women - and men (in most programs) - of all economic and ethnic backgrounds. In its 28 year history, over 78,000 women and men have been served. Contact Amy Barringer at Women Venture at 651-646-3808 and on the web at womenventure.org. Women Venture is located at 2320 University, St. Paul 55114.

Open Cities Health Center: For all ages. Mental Health, Dental, Prenatal Classes, Diabetic Education, Smoking Cessation, Social Service.

North End

135 Manitoba Avenue, St. Paul, MN, 55117 Phone: 651-489-8021 Fax: 651-489-4402 Bus Routes: 12 Dunlap Street 409 North Dunlap Street St. Paul, MN, 55104 Phone: 651-290-9200 Fax: 651-290-9210 Bus Routes: 16A, 21A, 50 Hours: Monday-Thursday 8:00 am - 8:00 pm Friday 8:00 am - 5:00 pm Saturday 12:00 pm - 3:00 pm Insurance Accepted: Medicare, Medical Assistance, UCare, HealthPartners, Medica, Blue Plus, Blue Cross, PreferredOne, Most private insurance,Sliding Fee Scale Other Languages: Hmong, Vietnamese, Spanish Staff: Family Practice, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Ophthalmology, Surgery, Dentistry Hospitals: Regions Hospital, United Hospital, St. Joseph's Hospital, Children's Hospital and Clinics - St. Paul Vivian Jenkins Nelsen is the cofounder of INTER-RACE: The International Institute for Interracial Interaction, a diversity thinktank dedicated to improving race relations through research, education, and consultation. Nelsen participated in two International U.N. Conferences on Women, advised the Carter and Reagan White Houses on urban issues, and was recognized by President Ford for her work in the resettlement of Southeast Asian refugees. She is the former Director of Administration at the Hubert Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs and served as the Director of Human Relations Programs for teachers at the University of Minnesota and Hamline University. In her role as Director of Mission in Communities, Vivian was the first African American woman to become an executive with the American Lutheran Church National Offices.

A third generation educator, Vivian has varied and extensive teaching, training, and curriculum design expertise. As the founding Chair of the Minnesota Academic Excellence Foundation and the Minnesota Chapter of the Political Congress of Black Women, she served school districts, city governments, and neighborhood councils as a strategic planning consultant, workshop facilitator, and trainer.

Recently, the Minnesota Association for Counseling and Development awarded Vivian their Distinguished Achievement Award for her outstanding contributions in teaching, role modeling, and publishing. She is a frequent guest on Twin Cities radio and television.

The world’s

omelet

best

BY AL MCFARLANE AND B.P. FORD, THE EDITORS

LISTED ON THE MENU AS THE BASQUAIS, THIS OMELET IS THE CHEF’S FORTE AT THE SUNNYSIDE CAFE, 1825 GLENWOOD AVENUE NORTH, MINNEAPOLIS

James, Alice and J.T. Baker

It’s arguably the very best omelet ever made -- anywhere. Listed on the menu as The Basquais, this omelet is the chef’s forte at the Sunnyside Cafe, 1825 Glenwood Avenue North, Minneapolis. Its creator, French and Italian chef and culinary artist James Baker, personally makes and serves the mastercaft breakfast entrée by special order Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays when the restaurant is open to the public.

The beauty of the dish is that it is virtually impossible to consume in one sitting. Consequently, it’s a breakfast that will serve you an additional one to two days because you can take what you can’t finish home in a “to go” container. And believe me -- this exquisite omelet just gets better when reheated in a stovetop pan, oven or microwave the second and third day. You can even freeze it, banking the savory delight to enjoy at a later date.

At Sunnyside, the making of an omelet is a huge affair. If memory serves us right, Chef Baker starts with eight extra large eggs. The omelets feature three types of cheeses. Pork omelets are made with ham and bacon and include four varieties of sweet peppers -- red, green, yellow and orange, and two varieties of onions, yellow and red. It is tasty. You can request turkey as an alternative or you can go vegetarian and discover the garden medley. This light and fluffy omelet is served with toast and a choice of potatoes or grits. The grits, creamy, cheesy and buttery, are the embodiment of Southern culinary art itself. It’s comfort food at its finest! Then there is the venue. It is warm and inviting, with an air of authenticity that relaxes you like sitting in your own home.

Sunnyside Café is the retail restaurant division of Elite Catering.

The company caters breakfasts, lunches and dinners for groups as large as 3,500. From weddings of all sizes to small custom affairs and business meetings, Elite Catering serves customers for whom quality in product, presentation and service is a must.

Owner James Baker specialized in French and Italian cuisine and ice sculpture at the renowned Washburn Culinary Institute in Chicago. He entered the culinary school after serving in the military, where he developed an interest in cooking and food service management.

“I was in Vietnam,” he said, “and the First Class Petty Officer noticed my interest in food preparation. He got me reassigned to the food service operation. Later, the commanding officer, complimenting me on what I had learned and accomplished, recommended that I pursue culinary school training when I left the military. That’s what I did.”

Baker’s partner in business and life is longtime Northsider Alice Bender Baker. Alice Baker is the daughter of the legendary chef and entrepreneur Timothy Bender, who owned and operated Timothy’s Pizza and Soul Food Restaurant on West Broadway and Emerson in the 1960s and ‘70s. Bender, now deceased, retired and moved to Hawaii in the 1980s. Timothy’s Pizza, was one the first advertisers in the original Insight Magazine when the publication launched in 1974.

James Baker is a native of Chicago. He says that he thoroughly enjoys Minnesota for the quality of life this state affords anyone who is willing to work hard and honestly. That attitude, which is reflected in the quality environment of Sunnyside, is guided by the Bakers’ shared commitment to self-discipline and selfreliance. It is an attitude they share with our community by their decision to locate the successful catering operation in the heart of the community. Their business presence brings stability and confidence to Glenwood Avenue, the central corridor of the Harrison neighborhood, an area that is about to benefit from $250 million to $500 million in investment and renovation. The development of Heritage Park, the new baseball stadium and the reclamation of the city impound lot will converge to convert the area to what may become hailed as a “most livable, most desirable, and most diverse urban community.”

The values of discipline and respect that the Bakers invest in their excellent eatery are the same values that guide their family life and parenting. Pictures line the wall showing the Bakers to be the proud parents of young master J.T. Baker. A martial arts student, one of J. T. Baker’s main challenges in life right now is how to juggle the rigorous martial arts training schedule with his desire to become a pilot -- at the age of eight.

The Court of Public Opinion in Session Friday Mornings at Sunnyside. As Insight News editors, we will hold informal Editor’s Roundtable meetings at the Sunnyside Café every Friday morning at 8:00 a.m. The meetings are intended to keep us in contact with neighbors and friends, business and civic leaders, politicians and advocates who want to share their issues and ideas with us and consequently, with Insight readers.

Our expectation is that community folks and business leaders who drop in to chat over breakfast, like us, will become adoring fans of Sunnyside Cafe and the impeccable elite service of James and Alice Baker.

For more information: Sunnyside Cafe (612) 374-5914 1825 Glenwood Ave Minneapolis, MN 55405

ADDIE’S SWEET SECRETS: DIVINELY INSPIRED TRIBUTE TO THE SACRED YAM

BY AL MCFARLANE AND B.P. FORD, THE EDITORS

IT’S THE KIND OF COLLABORATION THAT FORMS THE BEDROCK OF BUSINESS SUCCESS. Entrepreneurs James and Alice Baker, owners of Elite Catering and its retail restaurant subsidiary, Sunnyside Café on Glenwood Avenue in North Minneapolis, determined that their businesses had excess capacity.

They had down time for their commercial kitchens which served the restaurant and the catering operations.

ill Fridge, a native of Chicago, IL, started his career in law enforcement and corporate security as a police officer for five years in Gary, IN. He left that job, moved to Minneapolis, and became Director of Safety and Security for Prudential Financial, here in Twin Cities. His wife and partner in life is Dolores Fridge, former Minnesota State Human Rights Commissioner, and former Associate Vice Chancellor at Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MNSCU).

B

But from his days as a young man, Bill Fridge harbored a vision of bringing to market a food product that he believed was divinely inspired. Described as authentic and “down home” dessert, Fridge says his work pays tribute to the “sacred yam” - known in America as the sweet potato.

Modeling the spirit of collaboration that characterizes legendary Black business ingenuity, the Bakers and the Fridges struck a deal that provides first class commercial production facilities at Elite Catering for the creation of Fridge’s masterwork, Addie’s Sweet Potato Pie. “It is simply delicious,” Fridge said. “We also make a healthy, tasty sweet potato muffin. The original Addie’s sweet

potato muffin went over so well, we decided to have some fun with it and add different flavors and fruits to it and make a line of sweet potato based muffins. Each one has a unique flavor and they are all as healthy as the original. Along the way we took a detour and picked up a lime, a key lime, to be exact, and made a pie with a hand-made graham cracker crust.”

As a boy, Fridge was like most children. He sat in the kitchen with his mother as she baked. He waited for her to let him lick the remaining batter from the mixing bowl. Fridge’s mother, like her mother before her, baked her pies using a coffee cup instead of a measuring cup, adding ingredients by memory and taste.

Fridge had only a vague idea of ingredients and measurements of his mother’s sweet potato pie. His interest as a child was the final product: the exquisitely delicious pie. There was never a written recipe for this special family treat. When his mother, father and three siblings died in an auto accident, the then 18year-old Fridge was more focused on surviving and helping his remaining eight brothers and sisters than preserving family recipes and traditions.

But after many years of combining different ingredients and spices, Fridge was able to reconstruct his mother’s sweet potato pie. It was first introduced to family and friends during the holidays. It then made its first public appearance at David Howard’s Fish and Seafood Restaurant in Minneapolis in 1991.

The pies made their second appearance at the Bill & Jerry’s Shrimp Boil, an annual Twin Cities charity event.

In October of 2004, William Fridge decided to go into business full-time, making his mother’s sweet potato pies for the masses.

He formed Addie’s Sweet Secrets, L.L.C., naming the company in honor of his mother. The signature and staple of the company is his Addie’s ‘down-home’ sweet potato pie, as remembered by her son. Addie’s Sweet Secrets pies and muffins are available retail at Eastside Coop Grocery Store, 2552 Central Avenue, and North Country Coop Grocery Store, 1929 5th Avenue S, in Minneapolis. Addie’s Key Lime pie is on the menu at Crave Restaurant in the Galleria Shopping Center in Edina

and the pies and muffins are available at Keith Baker’s Palm Court Restaurant, 2424 Central Ave NE, Babalu’s Restaurant, 800 Washington Ave N, Minneapolis, Market Bar-B-Que,1414 Nicollet Ave, Minneapolis, and 15320 Wayzata Blvd, Wayzata, Baker’s Ribs, 8019 Glen Lane, Eden Prairie, MN, and Cuppa Java coffee restaurant, 400 Penn Ave. S, in Minneapolis’ Bryn Mawr neighborhood. The muffins are available at Diamonds Coffee Shoppe, 1618 Central Avenue NE, Minneapolis.

Fridge says his desserts are huge hits at company and agency meetings and events. Bill Davis, director of Minneapolis Community Action Agency, and Attorney Jerry Blackwell are among regular agency and corporate clients who serve Addie’s Sweet Secrets products at events and meetings they host. The delectable desserts can be custom ordered for events, meetings, banquets and the like by calling 952-974-1232.

The Fridge’s say they are fortunate, blessed, to have their daughter Denise Burnett as vice-president of the company with responsibility for business planning and marketing. Burnett moved back to Minneapolis from New York for two years to help convert the Fridge’s dream from a sideline to a full-fledge business operation. Burnett, a marketing and computer science professional, earned her degrees at University of Minnesota. She lives back in New York but visits frequently and participates in the daily businesses of the family business via internet.

For further information about Addie’s Sweet Secrets, visit the company online at www.addiesweetsecrets.com.

PREPARED TO LEAD Superintendent Dr. Meria Carstarphen ready to lead St. Paul Public Schools

M

“WE ARE RESTORING ABOUT $2 MILLION OF FUNDING DIRECTLY BACK TO SCHOOLS TO MAKE UP FOR SOME PAST WRONGS PUT ON THEM DURING THOSE SEVEN YEARS OF BUDGET CUTS.”

AL MCFARLANE AND B.P. FORD, THE EDITORS

Minnesota should provide much more aggressive leadership to create a long term, stable funding strategy for all public school districts in the state, according to Dr. Meria Carstarphen, superintendent of St. Paul Public Schools, the state’s second largest school district.

In St. Paul,” she said, “the conversation about the budget started almost a year ago, before I even came to the district. We had conversations about what it would take to get as close as possible to a stable funding strategy through what was in our control, and what we could do to offset the instability that was happening at the state.”

state, definitely in the history of St. Paul. Over 62% of our voting population said ‘yes’”.

Carstarphen praised St. Paul as a community that understands and values quality education. “We have a community that has said they value, in a world of choices in education, charter schools, home schools, private schools, St. Paul Public Schools -- that St. Paul Public School is a real choice for our families and communities. That is great news for us. And they voted. They went to the polls and told us so. So I am taking that on as a vote of confidence that we are going to do the right thing in St. Paul,” she said

“St. Paul is not alone in the ups and downs of funding while trying to hold together high quality programs. It starts with the state and federal funding programs and trickles down into our communities,” Carstarphen said last month in a broadcast interview for the Conversations with Al McFarlane public policy program.

The legislature and governor recently approved an education bill that was good news for many districts across the state because it provided funding for the 2007-08 federal mandates for special education. “They did one thing that we have needed for the last seven years. It is still not enough. It is not enough. We cannot stop now. But we did get some relief, which means no hardcore budget cuts for St. Paul this year.

That is a huge win. A huge win. And from that we are able to do things that we have never done before,” she said.

St. Paul Public Schools for the last several yeas has experienced about a $68 million budget cut. “It’s been incredibly demoralizing,” she said. “And over time that really takes a toll on staff moral and on our ability as executive leaders to do a good job.” Carstarphen said before she came on board, the district launched a very aggressive multi-year referendum strategy. That strategy was part of a long-term formula for setting in place a funding strategy that would work for students, families and district employees.

“I hit the ground running on July 21st of last year. So I haven’t even been here a year yet. I feel like we’ve done seven years of work in seven months, and I’m being honest about that. I don’t think I have a single staff member, from custodians to my senior leadership team, that hasn’t felt the burn. We’ve been sprinting up hill.

Hats off to my staff and the community, for taking this challenge, putting it underneath their wing, running up that mountain! We passed that referendum with a passage rate that was higher than any district in the

“We are restoring about $2 million of funding directly back to schools to make up for some past wrongs put on them during those seven years of budget cuts. We’re restoring special education funding to our schools.”

“I am a former accountability officer. I take money and data very seriously. I want the public to know that we are not going to short change them,” she said.

St. Paul Public Schools is one of 66 districts across the nation that are known as Great City Schools. The designation reflects size, budget, challenges, and the number of students. The Great City Schools network leaders get together throughout the school year and track what’s happening in these 66 districts. Great City Schools include large systems like New York City’s public schools and get as small as a district serving as few as 30,000 students. St. Paul is on the lower end in

size and capacity of these 66 districts, with New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, being largest, St. Paul is about the 50th largest, she said.

The district has 42,000 students, 6,000 employees in 120 buildings and programs. There are about 74 traditional school facilities, actual buildings and a teaching staff topping over 4,000. In Minnesota, St.Paul Public Schools is second in size to Anoka County Public Schools. “I have all intentions of changing that. I want to see St. Paul be the largest school district,” Carstarphen said.

While the district is number 2 in size, it ranks first in percent of kids in poverty, in percent of kids identified as needing special education, and in percent of students who do not speak English as their first language at home. No single ethnic group is the majority. Each major ethnic group is around 20-25%, up to about 30% of the student body. “That makes us incredibly unique,” Carstarphen said. “We have a special set of challenges, but it is also our strength. If we play to that strength and say that we welcome, respect and want not only this diverse population of our kids to continue to work and learn together, because we’re trying to prepare our kids for a global economy, this will serve them in ways that when you were in school, when I was in school, we didn’t get to experience.”

“So I think in St. Paul we are preparing the future in real, tangible terms. As you can see, that’s very exciting to me. I’ve never worked in a district like this. And I think that we can build on that as our strength that is going to make us number one in the state. Not just for enrollment and diversity but for achievement, and closing achievement gaps, and engaging our community in a way that says, despite what might be happening across the large educational landscape for urban districts, St. Paul Public Schools will be, and we are, head and shoulders above the rest -- and we’re going to stand tall for this next round and be number one for excellence. And I think I heard that from our voters when I interviewed for this job. I heard it from our constituencies. I know that’s something we can deliver,” she said.

The district annual budget is $623 million. Only one percent of that funding comes from the federal government and for that reason a lot of education administrators don’t like the federal “No Child Left Behind” mandates. “We all love the mandates and requirements, but these unfunded mandates and requirements break the backs of school systems across the nation. So we love the high standards, but we really want the federal authorities to put the money where their mouth is,” she said.

Some suggest “breaking the back of public schools” is precisely the agenda and goal of conservative ideologues who use unfunded mandates as a tool to cripple and destroy public education. Like goading the U.S.S.R. into an arms race that ultimately led to the Soviet Union spending itself into bankruptcy, then dissolution. You create noble high standards and requirement under the No Child Left Behind Act, but don’t provide federal money to pay for the requirements and eventually public schools. Advocates for public schools say that may be the real and insidious intent of conservatives who want to eliminate public education as we know it.

“I absolutely agree. The last superintendent, Pat Harvey, did a really outstanding job of putting St. Paul as a school district up in front of the nation, having us as part of a national conversation that could influence legislation. This year alone, we sent our English language learner staff to testify with Senators Kennedy and Clinton on the work that we’ve done and why it’s so important that the federal government get funding for No Child Left Behind,” she said. “We also get 84% of our dollars from the legislature of the State of Minnesota, and then fifteen percent comes from our local tax base.

ST. PAUL PUBLIC SCHOOLS WILL BE, AND WE ARE, HEAD AND SHOULDERS ABOVE THE REST AND WE’RE GOING TO STAND TALL FOR THIS NEXT ROUND AND BE NUMBER ONE FOR EXCELLENCE We put 77% of our monies into our classroom and 12% of our dollars in our buildings and facilities. And 8% goes to transportation and meals. Transportations is a big, big, big conversation within St. Paul, because we’re a district where we value choice within the school system. We’ve said to families, ‘your experience in education should not have to be determined by your zip code. You can live anywhere you want. If you want Spanish Immersion, you got it. You don’t have to be zoned into a school. We will bus your child to the program of your choice,’ and that is very expensive for us,” she said.

Carstarphen said St. Paul Public Schools spends only three percent of its budget on central administration, a figure lower than state or national averages. “In my reorganization, I have been very careful and thoughtful about not expanding the administration. I want to be respectful of those things that people in St. Paul say they value. They don’t want a big, robust administration. And at the same time, as the executive officer of a school system, I am going to say that we need to do more investment there. So it’s a conversation that we’re going to be negotiating over the years, but one that when we have the right people in the right place with the right bus going in the right direction, they’ll see how that will pay off for them in the long run.”

Education watchers say a principal challenge of urban school districts is creating a unity of purpose between stakeholders in the education apparatus. Does to school system owe its highest allegiance to organized labor, teachers represented by their collective bargaining agreements? Or do taxpayer interests and priorities come first? What about the interests of students and families?

“My whole training has been fairly controversial, considering the traditional training that most superintendents experienced. I was raised, professionally, in the era of accountability. So conversations about No Child Left Behind and closing the achievement gap and rethinking our relationships to unions and teachers is a norm for me. I have found in my time here that because there are so many people who are used to doing business in the old way, my professional training, sooner or later, comes in conflict with what they are used to,” she said. “If there is one thing I am, I am always very consistent about my message: I want to better support schools. I want more transparency. I want us to be accountable for our work. I want to talk more about achievement. I want less lowlevel thinking. I want more high-level thinking, preparing kids for the future. And I just keep saying it over and over again, and that just keeps building while,

you might see some of the old guard conversation about ‘What about us? What about us?’”

people are comfortable with, and that is bringing quality to all around education.

Carstarphen said the relationship between the district and the teacher’s union here is so different from any she has seen anywhere else in the country. “I am encouraged by our union president and her vision for accountability in the classroom,” she said.

She told me about her beliefs for education. She insisted that all of her kids, even in the worst of segregation in the South, got a high quality education. My father refused to go to boarding school and ended up going to school in a one room schoolhouse. He spent a lot of time talking to me about that.

My path in education has been one where I had a healthy respect for what it meant to have a high quality teacher, even when the building wasn't right. It was a dilapidated one-room schoolhouse. We see it behind the church. We still go there because our family is buried there. I see that little building and think, 'how could so many great things come out of that?'

My dad and my grandmother and everyone always said it's not about where you are, it's about who is teaching you. He had a great teacher who for all practical purposes probably could have taught him in a paper bag, and that has stuck with me forever. It is what I believe. I wanted to become a teacher.

“If I had no other choice but to invest in one thing, hands down, I would put money into developing the highest quality teacher that money could buy so that our kids are getting taught by the most competent, the most interested, the most dedicated, the most embracing and welcoming and loving teachers in this country. So I want to do what is typically the opposite of what most urban districts are seeing: I want to invest in my teachers. I want to put more money into materials and resources for them. I want them to be happy and engaged in their jobs. I want them to apply consistency in the rigor of their instruction, for every child.

I want all expectations high, for every baby, regardless of their ethnicity, or their socioeconomic status or their language or their special need,” she said.

“So that’s a different kind of conversation my union president, Mary Katherine Wicker and the administration under my executive leadership are starting. A high quality teacher is the premier indicator for a higher achieving student. So if I could get my arms around what it would take to get every teacher in St. Paul to be the best teacher, we don’t have to worry about achievement gaps, we don’t have to worry about enrollment, we don’t have to worry about money, because ‘if you build it, they will come.’

They will come back again and again and again,” she said.

TEACHER DEVELOPMENT: I believe in our teaching staff in St. Paul. There is still work to be done. Not everyone knows their content or has the same belief system about every child that comes to our schoolhouse gates. But I believe we are going to have what it takes to address content area expertise through job-embedded professional development, so they're getting real-time feedback on how they're doing, making sure that we're matching the best teacher to the best classroom structure and giving them things like time during the day to plan collaboratively, and time to really prepare for class. We can take their advice when they say, "This isn't working, the administration needs to go back and rethink this." I want them to have all the strategies in their tool belts to be able to teach a kid who has an English language need and at the same time provide rigor to my gifted and talented kids.

I can't tell you how often I see us in urban education pushing middle class families out the door, of every race; we push them out the door. We get so wrapped up in dealing with the lowest performing student. Because of all of this pressure behind No Child Left Behind, we have forgotten that we actually have a large student group, thirty percent of our kids, that are basically holding the center line on achievement.

They are keeping the districts afloat. That percentage gets smaller and smaller. And we don't serve them well.

So what does it take to get a child who is very capable, very interested in learning and to get them engaged. What does it take to be comfortable with the idea that we might actually have a third grader who is five grade levels ahead of where they need to be. How do we engage that student, give them support? They are not an adolescent. They're a young learner.

So that we don't want to have unrealistic expectations for them, but at the same time, we should be able to bring them along and let them grow, just blow the charts off. What does it take to get us as educators being comfortable with that?

SELMA, ALABAMA ROOTS: I see myself as a documentary researcher with a passion for visual arts that has manifested itself in photography. I was born and raised in Selma, Alabama, a very small town with a large, infamous reputation. I was not born in the 1960s, but my father was there. My mother's family and my father's family are all from that area. I have a very deep sense of the value of education. I had a grandmother who, in addition to telling me that I had an old soul, told me that she really believed that my destiny lies in doing what I think not a lot of

I knew that my greatest chance at influencing the lives of kids, breaking a cycle of poverty, breaking a cycle of ignorance, breaking into all those wonderful things that kids can actually do if we expect them to do it, was at the heart of being a good teacher. That's not true across the board. Not a lot of people feel that way consistently enough to have a critical mass to move an organization quickly. In a big, bureaucratic Great City school district like St. Paul, it takes a lot to turn the ship.

In the South, I grew up in a tracked school system, meaning you were predetermined to go low-level, vocational. My parents fought almost every school year to ensure that their four girls would get a least a track that would send them college bound. They had to fight for it. My parents are a hardworking middle-class family that wanted the best for their kids. It became very clear to me, as early as third grade, how tough it was to keep us at the forefront of what was divided by race into a completely white college-bound educational strategy and everybody else who was not going. We dismantled that in my hometown. But the residual effects have never been overcome. I made a personal commitment to my grandmother, and certainly to myself that I would never let that happen to kids on my watch.

PREPARED FOR LEADERSHIP So I've been well-trained and had a deliberate, aggressive, and I'm going to say accelerated path to the superintendency. I did it with the intentions of having a job like this. It wasn't hastened by any stretch of the imagination. I had great mentors who took me aside and tried to help me get there sooner rather than later, so that I could make a dent in this work as soon as possible.

There are great needs in our community and a dearth in leadership. There is no doubt that in St. Paul Public Schools, our largest achievement gap is our African American students.

It's my belief that we can offer whatever we want on the back end, but it starts at birth. I can't say it enough; it starts at birth.

It is really important that you start the day you decide to have a child and you commit to understanding what the work is from the family's perspective to get a kid ready for the first grade.

So I want more money in early childhood education programs. Money for three-year-olds in programs for families in high poverty and ethnic communities where there language needs and everything else. We have four-year-old programs.

We have all-day kindergarten. With that referendum, I said, 'equalize it.' Everybody gets a high-quality all-day kindergarten experience in St. Paul. You don't have to be poor, you don't have to be middle class; everybody gets it.

Here's what I know about our data: if a child is not reading at or above grade level by the third grade, they will be in the bottom ten percent by the time they are in high school.

So there is a real need to get in early, good attendance with parents being engaged, reading to the child. That will help them on the path. Then it won't even matter what happens on the back end because they will have learned what they need to do to be good in school.