THE COLOR PURPLE
PRESORTED STANDARD U.S. POSTAGE PAID MINNEAPOLIS MN PERMIT NO. 32468
First National Tour: Mysterious Ways featuring Trent Armand Kendall (Preacher) and Bridgette Bentley (Church Soloist). At the Ordway March 17 thru March 29. Photo credit Paul Kolnik.
March 16 - March 22, 2009 • MN Metro Vol. 34 No. 11 • The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • www.insightnews.com
Fear fueled by years of oppression Connecting Gaza and Minneapolis By Al McFarlane & B.P. Ford, the Editors editors@insightnews.com Rabbi Amy Eilberg struck a responsive chord when she described the fear and pain Israelis and Jews around the world feel when people make pronouncements about wiping Israel off the face of the earth. The largely African American audience connected with her description of a mindset created in response to incessant, unrelenting global hostility. "When I hear negative words about Israel, it feels like my family and my being is under attack. So when you hear Jewish leaders refuting such attacks and responding to physical threats, they are feeling their family has been attacked," Eilberg said in a broadcast of "Conversations with Al McFarlane" Public Policy Forum March 3 at the Glover Sudduth Center for Neighborhood and Community Development.
Eilberg joined US Rep. Keith Ellison, D-MN, and Father Michael O'Connell in a program that explored the local community's stake in the brutal and costly conflict in the Gaza Strip in the Middle East. Ellison recently returned to Twin Cities following a visit to the region. He said he was the first Congressman to visit the area in over three years. Ellison was in January appointed to the House of Representatives Foreign Relations Committee. Eilberg's powerful testimony followed a session in which Black Minneapolis residents passionately defended the purpose and need for an aggressive and effective Civil Rights Department. While Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak attempted to assure the Black community that Minneapolis was not abandoning its commitment to civil rights and enforcement of civil rights laws, Black residents said they view public pronouncements about the need to reduce the size
GAZA TURN TO 2
Courtesy Keith Ellison
While on a recent trip to the Middle East, US Rep. Keith Ellison, D-MN (L) had an opportunity to visit with people in Gaza whose lives have been impacted by the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Ellison traveled with US Rep. Brian Baird, D-WA. This was the first trip to Gaza made by a Congressional delegation in at least four years.
Promoting Brand Jamaica By Al McFarlane & B.P. Ford, the Editors editors@insightnews.com
http://www.whitehouse.gov/
President Barack Obama
President Obama delivers speedily on campaign promises By Dorothy Rowley Special to the NNPA from the Afro-American Newspapers WASHINGTON (NNPA) President Barack Obama told supporters in the waning weeks of his election campaign that once he got to the White House he would hit the ground running in order to stabilize the economy and put the nation back on solid footing. He also said he was all about bringing people together and engaging them in the process of restoring the country’s reputation as a super power, while eradicating longtime partisan differences. Not only has Obama kept his word, says Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser and assistant to the president, but he is the only president in recent memory to accomplish as much as he did the past two weeks. All totaled, the
president tackled eight priorities, she said. ‘’It’s been an exciting time . . . it’s been a busy week,’’ Jarrett told reporters during a media teleconference March 6, before rattling off a list of activities in which the president was involved. The list included a fiscal summit, followed by meetings with national security teams of Afghanistan and Pakistan governments and a highly successful healthcare summit that engaged people from across the country and several walks of life. However, since assuming the leadership helm six weeks ago, Obama, in addition to dealing with the mounting deficit, also inherited two wars as well as ongoing issues involving housing, health care, public education and energy - all of which have had a disparate impact on the African American community. Many of the concerns
STRATEGY TURN TO 2
At a time when Barack Obama's US government is injecting trillions of dollars of taxpayer money into efforts to salvage collapsing financial institutions and jumpstart the atrophied American economy, Geneive Brown Metzger, Consul General of Jamaica, New York, remains hardnosed in her core belief that the free enterprise system and entrepreneurial muscle hold the best solutions for the world's small- and medium-size business sectors. And it is these businesses, Brown-Metzger says, that will mean the most in saving and growing national economies worldwide. Brown Metzger was in Twin Cities at the end of last month for talks with state international trade officials, area corporate leaders and Jamaican and Caribbean nationals who live in Twin Cities. In meetings organized by McFarlane Media Interests for Jamaica Minnesota Organization, the Consul General said, "Jamaica offers a fine example of a national financial policy and infrastructure providing a backbone aligned with a robust small business network. "Government can't do it alone," she said. "But we can foster and promote the development of the small business sector. Our Minister of Finance says despite the turndown in the economy, the government is willing to support small business development." Brown Metzger was appointed Jamaica's eighth Consul General,
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Geneive Brown Metzger, Consul General of Jamaica New York, on February 21, 2008. Prior to her appointment she worked in public relations and marketing establishing the firm Geneive Brown Associates in 1984. Brown Metzger met with Tony LoRusso, Executive Director of Minnesota Trade Office and Amelia Goeppinger, with the US department of Commerce Commercial Service. She said her mission was to encourage business investment in Jamaica and in Jamaican products that could be purchased by US consumers. She spent an afternoon introducing Minnesota consumers to a boutique of Jamaican frozen food entrees, being sampled at a
Cub Foods store in Bloomington. Cub and its parent corporation SuperValu have aggressively pursued acquisition of Jamaican food products on the strength of the popularity and value of sales of Caribbean foods to Caribbean customers and to sophisticated "foodies" consumers who enjoy global food palattes. Cub Foods has been a leader in acquiring and marketing ethnic brands reflecting world cultures, from Asian, Latino/Hispanic, European, and Caribbean/African markets. In doing so, the company expands its customer base, strengthens customer loyalty, provide expanded choice for all customers. Brown Metzger said Cub
Foods' refined and successful marketing prowess creates a perfect platform for what she called, "Brand Jamaica." Brown Metzger hoisted the Brand Jamaica flag again at a sampling booth at the sold out Twin Cities Food and Wine experience at the Minneapolis Convention Center. "We had great traffic. People who had been to Jamaica were happy to discover they could now find the foods they enjoyed in Jamaica in their local Cub Foods", said Dr. Karlene Silvera, President of Jamaica Minnesota Organization. "National pride is at an all time
JMOTURN TO 3
Making Black
A look at race,
Beyond church
EFNEP celebrates
A Week
12-Year-old
history by investing in the future
incarceration, and American values
walls, delivering the people’s stimulus plan
40 years of food and nutrition education
in the nation’s Capital
bowler has the lanes in his genes
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Page 2 • March 16 - March 22, 2009 • Insight News
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Making Black history by investing in the future By Esther Sliver-Parker Black History Month 2009 is now history itself, but new Black history is made every day by African Americans who are willing to share their time, talent and resources with the larger Black community. Everyone gets the opportunity sooner or later, sometimes in surprising ways. I was fortunate to come of age during a dramatic period in the history of both African Americans and the United States. My high school years in the small, segregated North Carolina town where I grew up coincided with the climactic years of the Civil Rights movement. I'll never forget marching with my classmates
Gaza From 1 and or scope of the Civil Rights Department by transferring parts of its responsibility to the beleaguered State Human Rights Department, in much the same way Rabbi Eilberg said Jews see public pronouncements that amount to attacks on Israel and Jewish identity. "Because of a 2,000 year history of persecution, genocide and suffering, the psyche --collective
Suluki Fardan
The Rev. Randolph Staten
memory-- of Israeli people is very scared with memory of being hurt. When someone says we want to wipe your country off the map, some news analyst might say 'that is just rhetoric. Don't believe it. He is just mouthing off....' As Jews, we have to believe they intend to try to do what they say. We are profoundly afraid. It may not look like that when you read the statements made in the press, but Israelis see themselves at the David in a David and Goliath scenario," Eilberg said. "We have a lot to be afraid of when Hamas is ruling next door." Eilberg's passion matched that of the Rev. Randolph Staten, who in the preceding interview told Mayor Rybak that the mayor's plan to
down our main street past the local branches of retail store chains where I wouldn't have been allowed to sit at the lunch counter or use the rest room. Fast forward through the decades, and today I, an African American woman, work as an executive with Wal-Mart, a retailer with a commitment to promoting diversity and a philosophy of giving back to the communities it serves. Wal-Mart exemplifies this philosophy through its support of endeavors that highlight the legacy of African Americans. Wal-Mart is the presenting sponsor of Tavis Smiley's "America I AM: The African American Imprint," a mobile museum and exhibit that celebrates the impact African Americans' actions, innovations downsize the Civil Rights department amounted to retreat by the City of Minneapolis from its commitment to protect Black people. Staten said because of the history of blatant racial discrimination, and persistent efforts to deny and derail opportunity and civil rights advancements and protections, the Black community looked at plans to dismantle or reduce the responsibilities of the Minneapolis Civil Rights Department as an attack on Black people. Eilberg said rockets from Gaza into Israeli towns cause fear and trauma in children and families. "I wished they had responded differently," she said, referring to Israel's overwhelming military response to the rocket attacks. "Understand there is so much fear. We thought we could make peace. Then there was an election and the guys who got elected are those that won't even recognize Israel. They won't even say Israel's name. That feeds fear in Jewish populations." Staten said Minneapolis has a history of serious problems in racial discrimination and he said public pronouncements that won't recognize the legitimacy of Black people's protestations against discrimination and illegal treatment even by city government feeds fear and distrust in the Black community. "Even the Black police officers have filed race discrimination lawsuits against the City of Minneapolis," he said. "Black people didn't get genuine access to Fire Department jobs until we protested and filed lawsuits against Minneapolis City Government," he said. "Minneapolis continues the illegal practice of awarding construction contracts to companies that are not meeting the requirements in law for inclusion of Black sub-contractors and Black workers," he said. Congressman Ellison, in the panel on the Gaza Strip and
and teachings have had on nearly 400 years of American history. We were also able to provide a $12.5 million letter of credit through the Wal-Mart Foundation to start construction on the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial in Washington, D.C. We are proud to be a part of a project that will help future generations uphold the legacy Dr. King stood for by studying his work, ideals and vision for America. It's personally gratifying to be part of efforts that help make a corporate investment in the continuing history of Black America. I'm constantly aware, though, that whatever I've achieved in my own life is the result of investments others have made in me. My family had more love than
money, but my father and mother always made it a point to give back. There were seven children in our family and my father worked as a janitor, but my parents saw to it that we all went to college. Like most children in our tight-knit community, I also benefited from the investment of older African Americans who were our role models. They ranged from the highly motivated teachers in our schools to the elderly "porch ladies" who watched over the community's children from their front porches. They delivered the message that we were the future, and our future would only be limited by our own goals and commitment. You can't directly re-pay personal investments like that, but you can make investments of your
own in those who need it most. It's something we all can do on some level. We can help a motivated, but financially needy, young person attend college. We can share our time and experience by acting as mentors to students or young people finding their way in the business world. It can be as simple as providing an elderly neighbor good company or perhaps a hot meal. No matter who you are, or how you do it, giving back is one of the best ways to honor and exemplify the spirit of black history and make a big difference at the same time. Esther Silver-Parker, as senior vice president of Corporate Affairs at Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., is charged with the strategic
Esther Sliver-Parker planning and execution of WalMart's relationships with community- based organizations and leaders in the United States, and in countries around the world, where Wal-Mart does business.
Suluki Fardan
(L-R) Rev. Michael J. O’Connell, Rabbi Amy Eilberg and US Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) Palestine/Israel conflict, emphasized real connections between US policy in the Mideast Region and what happens locally in communities across America. "We may think the Mideast conflict is far away and doesn't matter to us," he said. "But if you look at the trouble in the Middle East, you'll see it is driving so many things that affect us directly. In 2001 the US military budget was $290 billion. Now it's $690 billion. Martin Luther King, Jr., said 'defense of war is the enemy of the poor.' It deprives us of domestic expenditures that we have to have. So peace is in the interest of everybody, not just those directly involved in the conflict. "The fact that we don't have peace in the region drives so much of American foreign policy, which commits dollars and soldiers to the region. Between the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea there are 200,000 American soldiers in various deployments. And billions of American dollars follow them and support them there. The conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians needs to be solved so we can try to reshape our whole world. It is not the only conflict in the Middle East. But it is the conflict that everybody points to. So it is in our interests to try to solve it," Ellison said. Ellison said he visited Gaza, Jordan, Israel and Doha, Qatar, "the
heart of the Arab world." He said he visited Israeli towns that were getting bombed by rockets every day, and he visited Gaza communities where he saw bombed out hospitals, schools, and factories. "One guy had a factory that employed 250 people. His family had owned the factory for three generations. It was bombed out. Those families lost their income. Gaza has been rendered inaccessible to the outside world during the Israeli blockade of the past 18-24 months. People have survived by creating a network of tunnels to move consumer goods from across the border into the country," he said. "Israel has legitimate concerns about security," Ellison said. "A small percentage of Gaza residents belong to Hamas, which the US government calls a terrorist organization. But they have the guns." That notwithstanding, Ellison said, "I stand for opening the borders, now." "I don't want people blaming only Palestinians or only Israelis. There is plenty of blame to go around. We need people standing with us for peace in the region, so we can have our money put to work here at home to solve our housing crisis," he said. Father O'Connell said he is working with interfaith groups of Christians, Jews, and Muslims who
Strategy
more than 90 percent Black - would be directed for that purpose. ‘’If you look strategically at how the dollars are going to be allocated, a lot will be going to projects that are in cities, and most of those are going to be construction projects,’’ said Jarrett. ‘’We’ve had several meetings with unions that have not traditionally been as open and inclusive in their memberships, who now realize that if they’re going to do projects in cities, they’re going to have a mechanism for training and bringing in people.’’ White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel added that at this time, having passed the Economic Recovery Act within Obama’s first 30 days in office, the administration remains primarily focused on the economy. ‘’It’s the most essential effort that we have,’’ Emanuel said, emphasizing that the recovery act also dealt with providing tax credits for the middle class, building roads and bridges, laying broadband and establishing medical technology information to control costs.
From 1 were denied funding in previous administrations. Jarrett noted, in particular, that while the unemployment rate has skyrocketed, African Americans have been most affected. ‘’Today, we saw that the unemployment rate has generally gone up 8.1 percent,’’ she said. ‘’However, before today, the African American unemployment rate was 12.6 percent.’’ Further, ‘’over 95 percent of public school kids are African American, so focusing on public education is [just as] critical.’’ An Ebony Magazine reporter queried Jarrett on what policies the administration has in place to help African Americans ‘’come out of a hole.’’ Jarrett responded that since the bulk of the African American population can be found in cities, a large portion of stimulus funding, such as the $800 million earmarked for Washington, D.C. - which is
Courtesy Keith Ellison
want to bring peace to the Middle East. "There is a peace group that is courageous and that has fought opposition on both sides. It has been able to stand up and do the right thing," he said. "I have less sympathy with religious groups that choose to point fingers at one side or the other," O'Connell said. Eilberg said she agreed with the analysis that the conflict was not
fundamentally a religious conflict. "But religion gets hijacked to fuel what is, at base, a political conflict: two peoples struggle over a land," she said. "We know the answer. Bill Clinton negotiated the border. Later written accords defined borders and what sharing Jerusalem should look like. The only question is how many on both sides must die before we can put the solution in play."
Valerie Jarrett ‘’It was the crux of the first leg of the president’s economic strategy,’’ said Emanuel, who went on to say that the Obama administration is now in the
www.uchicagokidshospital.org
economic agenda’s second phase which leans toward the budget. The third and final phase deals with comprehensive financial regulatory reform, of which the aim is to ensure that another bailout crisis doesn’t occur. But Emanuel said the main goal of the overall (economic) agenda is to see how passing the budget reflects Obama’s five-year economic plan. ‘’The president has assembled a terrific cabinet…he has taken on more than any other president in our country,’’ said Jarrett. She said people are asking why Obama is taking on so much; his response has been, ‘we have no choice,’ said Jarrett, adding, because healthcare, public education, energy and unemployment are all tied to the economy, everything has to be tackled at once - rather than in sequence.
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Insight News • March 16 - March 22, 2009 • Page 3
Unemployment rate nearly double for Black workers By Dorothy Rowley Special to the NNPA the Afro-American Newspapers WASHINGTON (NNPA) "Astounding" is how President Obama, speaking March 6 in Columbus, OH, characterized the nation's new unemployment figures - a staggering 8.1 percent, the highest since 1983 as employers pick up the pace of layoffs. Just as disconcerting is the sharp rise in unemployment among African Americans - a whopping 13.4 percent in February. The last time the Black monthly unemployment rate was so high was in February 1994, as the nation was digging out of a recession, according to
the Labor Department. The latest figures continue to show job losses are large and widespread across nearly all major industry sectors. In January, the overall national unemployment rate was 7.6 percent. For Blacks, it was 12.6 percent. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate the Black unemployment rate has traditionally far exceeded that of other ethnic groups, especially Whites whose joblessness is normally half that of African Americans. Reasons for the disparity cited by experts include a gap in education between Blacks and Whites, marginal ties by African American households to the labor market and a failure by policy-makers to equate Black unemployment to a crisis needing urgent attention.
The BLS Web site, which maintains Black unemployment data dating back to 1972, also states that the Black jobless rate reached its lowest level on record in April 2000, when it dropped to 7.0 percent. While the agency's latest figures highlight a growing gender gap between Black men and women in the workforce, it also shows that the unemployment rate for Black men in February was 16.3 percent compared to 10.8 percent for Black women. The Washington, D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute's Race, Ethnicity and Economy Program reported recently that Blacks are typically impacted by recessions and that it comes as no surprise that there is a significant increase in Black unemployment during such times.
Program Director Algernon Austin offered in a recent Chicago Sun article that lack of job opportunities for Blacks ultimately trickles down to teens, making it doubly hard for them to find work, particularly with summer on the horizon. ''We really want teens to work,'' Austin said. ''Getting job experience now helps people in their employment.'' The jobless rate for teens in general is just over 21 percent. However, Austin noted that the rate among Black teens has already surpassed 38 percent and the figure could be as high as 44 percent for teens still looking for work. ''The sad and troubling part of this is most likely these aren't the peak numbers,'' Austin says in the article, suggesting that the peak will come in a year's time, ''unless the stimulus comes in
and works.'' The latest figures continue to show job losses are widespread across nearly all major industry sectors. Construction and manufacturing jobs have been among the hardest hit, a continuing concern for such groups as the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists. The organization periodically blasted the Bush era, saying unemployment among African Americans had become so dismal during his administration that it was well on its way to becoming a socially explosive issue, mainly because a growing segment of the Black community, including its youth, had begun to feel permanently disconnected from the economy. Now, with President Obama at the helm, his administration maintains he has made a
considerable thrust at providing job training programs in inner cities where the largest populations of African Americans tend to reside, as well an increase in government jobs through the recently enacted $787 billion economic recovery plan. ''The president is going to do his job, but needs to get the word out [to city and state agency heads about] how high the stakes are,'' Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett said last week during a teleconference with Black journalists. Meanwhile, even as Obama's recovery strategy was created to save more than 3 million jobs, the country continues to lose jobs quickly, with 651,000 lost in February, and keeping the administration racing to keep up.
JMO From 1 high," Brown Metzger said. "The spirit of the people and our penchant for creativity means we know how to do more with less. But we recognize there are real opportunities especially for Jamaicans and other small business owners who can engage their knowledge of Jamaican assets and culture to develop business opportunity." "Jamaica is working hard to reduce bureaucracy, reduce corruption and remove waste in the economic and business system. The Jamaica Trade and Investment Agency realizes the need to build partnerships and is creating processes that are investor friendly." She said the country is diversifying tourism offerings to expand visitor traffic and opportunity and to promote growth despite the gloomy economic situation. Jamaica is promoting investment opportunity in manufacturing, agribusiness, mining, renewable energy, sports, faith-based tourism, creative industries, like film and music, and knowledge services.
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(L-R) Mark McDermoth, Jamaica Tourist Board; Geneive Brown Metzger, Consul General of Jamaica; and Jeff Long, Cub Foods manager Brown Metzger said Jamaica has embarked on a program to create 24,000 jobs with an accompanying expenditure of $70 billion over the next three years. Brown Metzger is a founding member of the Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CACCI), the Jamaican Association of Alumni Associations (UJAA), and has served on several trade and investment Boards Brown Metzger has also been a Director of Policy and Government Relations at the National Council of Negro
Women, Senior Administrator at New York Civil Liberties Union, and at the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. She was the national Managing Director of the 50th anniversary commemoration of the U.S. Supreme desegregation case, Brown vs. Board of Education. In 1977, she also was the administrator of the 25th anniversary celebration of the same case. Her very successful consulting practice was merged with the worldwide public relations firm Ruder Finn in 1990, where she established the Emerging Markets
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(L-R) Demonstrator, Geneive Brown Metzger, Consul General of Jamaica; and JMO volunteers and Caribbean Business division. Ruder Finn currently manages the public relations account for the Jamaica Tourist Board and Air Jamaica Limited. She is an amateur classical violinist and a devoté of the arts, serving over the years on the Caribbean Steering Committee of
the Brooklyn College Center for the Performing Arts, the Board of Directors of the Paramount Center for the Arts and special committee of the Brooklyn Academy of Music. She's the founder of the Amadeus Circle, and the One World Arts and Culture Fest, a multi-day cultural celebration on
the Hudson River in northern New York. Brown Metzger holds a Bachelors from CUNY and a Masters from Columbia University. She is married to economist Dr. Stephen Metzger, Phd. They have two daughters.
Page 4 • March 16 - March 22, 2009 • Insight News
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COMMENTARY A look at race, incarceration, and American values Children’s Defense Fund
By Marian Wright Edelman Glenn Loury, a professor in the Department of Economics at Brown University, has long been one of the nation’s most outspoken Black intellectuals. For many years he was a leading conservative voice on topics like affirmative action, and whenever he focuses on a policy issue affecting the Black community, people pay attention. In his title essay in the recent book, Race, Incarceration, and American Values, Professor Loury sounds the alarm on some of the same concerns the Children’s Defense Fund has been raising when we talk about the pipeline to prison crisis. Professor Loury begins the book by pointing out just how out
of proportion prison rates have become in our country, citing data like a 2005 report from the International Centre for Prison Studies in London that showed the United States had five percent of the world’s population, but 25 percent of the world’s inmates. As he says, ‘’Our incarceration rate (714 per 100,000 residents) is almost 40 percent greater than those of our nearest competitors (the Bahamas, Belarus, and Russia). Other industrial democracies, even those with significant crime problems of their own, are much less punitive…. We have a corrections sector that employs more Americans than the combined work forces of General Motors, Ford, and Wal-Mart, the three largest corporate employers in the country.’’ This dramatic increase in incarceration rates wasn’t in proportion to an equally dramatic increase in crime, as Professor Loury goes on to explain, but was instead tied to a shift in our nation’s thinking about the purpose of incarceration—away from rehabilitation and towards
punishment. He argues that ‘’[d]espite a sharp national decline in crime, American criminal justice has become crueler and less caring than it has been at any other time in our modern history. Why? The question has no simple answer, but the racial composition of prisons is a good place to start.’’ Professor Loury describes how incarceration trends in the United States are connected to our country’s legacy of slavery and segregation. He reminds his readers that cultural phenomena like lynching, Jim Crow, and legal segregation were all part of a deep-seated pattern of racial subordination in America that lasted long after slavery ended. Scholars are now noting that in the post civil-rights era, racially skewed incarceration rates have become a new way of continuing the same old pattern. Professor Loury argues that the United States is unique in the way historically marginalized groups are disproportionally ‘’bearing the brunt of order enforcement.’’ As he puts it, ‘’Crime and punishment in America have a
color.’’ The current incarceration crisis is creating a cycle too many children and youths are finding difficult to escape and that is ravaging Black families and communities. As an example, Professor Loury talks about a large group of Black men who have been devastated by the rise in incarceration rates—the nearly 60 percent of Black male high school dropouts born in the late 1960s who were imprisoned before they turned 40. This is the generation that should be the husbands and fathers at the centers of our communities right now. But even after some of these men have gained release, they and their families continue to be affected by lasting consequences. Professor Loury says, ‘’While locked up, these felons are stigmatized—they are regarded as fit subjects for shaming. Their links to family are disrupted; their opportunities for work are diminished; their voting rights may be permanently revoked. They suffer civic excommunication. Our zeal for social discipline consigns these
men to a permanent nether caste… [and] we are creating a situation in which the children of this nether caste are likely to join a new generation of untouchables.’’ Professor Loury then takes a philosophical look at the idea of justice to talk about whether any of this is consistent with our society’s ideals of fairness. Ultimately, he reminds readers that we still live in a country where there is an undeniable racial gap in all kinds of life outcomes. Poor children of color simply aren’t born with the same chances! He explains: ‘’Our society—the society we have made—creates criminogenic conditions in our sprawling urban ghettos and then acts out rituals of punishment against them as some awful form of human sacrifice. This situation raises a moral problem that we cannot avoid. “We cannot pretend that there are more important problems in our society, or that this circumstance is the necessary solution to other, more pressing problems—unless we are also prepared to say that we have
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Glenn Loury
turned our backs on the ideal of equality for all citizens and abandoned the principles of justice.’’ There is no more urgent priority for our nation than ensuring every child a level playing field from birth to successful adulthood. Our national soul and future depend on it. Marian Wright Edelman, whose latest book is The Sea Is So Wide And My Boat Is So Small: Charting a Course for the Next Generation, is president of the Children’s Defense Fund. For more information about the Children’s Defense Fund, go to www.childrensdefense.org.
High unemployment rates translates into multiple layers of misery By Julianne Malveaux NNPA Columnist I was watching the periphrastic pundit, actor and neo-economist Ben Stein on CBS Sunday morning pontificating. He said that if President Obama offered more happy talk, more conviction that times would get better, then they would. I was watching him just a few minutes after I had a conversation with a sister who lost her job the same week her husband did. They were confident that they could make it through three months, thanks to savings, but didn’t know what would happen to them after that. Stein wants happy talk, sister wants a job. The real deal is that the jobs are hard to come by. To be sure, at any point in time, some folks are hiring even as the market is hemorrhaging
jobs. Eight hundred fifty thousand people lost their jobs last month – or 851,000 to fully accurately reflect the report that was released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate shot up, not unexpectedly, to 8.1 percent. That is only one measure of unemployment. If we add up the people who have dropped out of the labor market, as well as those who are working part time but need full time work, we are really talking about a rate of 14.8 percent. That means one in seven Americans doesn’t have the work she needs. When we break it down, we are talking a rate of 7.3 percent for Whites, and 13.4 percent, almost double, for African-Americans. When we make the appropriate adjustments for those who are stopping out, dropping out, or underutilized, the rate for AfricanAmericans is 24.4 percent. That means that one in four
African American people cannot find work! That means for all the talk of recession, the African American community is in depression. There has been precious little recognition of this fact in this era that some would describe as “post racial”. Instead, there is much talk of the boat we are in, the same boat. Some folks are riding, and some folks are rowing. This high African-American unemployment rate translates into multiple layers of misery. Some churches see their collections off. People are giving, but they are giving less, because they have much less to give. Some nonprofit organizations see giving off, for the same reasons. People are inclined to be generous but you can’t get blood from a stone. From a college perspective, when unemployment rises, parents find themselves in distress that trickles down to students. Bills go unpaid, graduations are
imperiled, and colleges juggle their tendency to collect on unpaid bills and provide some compassion to those students who need a break. America needs a break! Perhaps the stimulus package provides some of it, but if the truth is to be told, those best prepared to benefit from the stimulus are those least hurt by this depression. We need to call it like it is for the African American community. The majority community may feel our pain one of these days, but in the shortest run, we remain two Americans. When we unpack stimulus, too many are relying on goodwill to have benefits trickle down to the African-American community. Even in stimulus, there must be some discussion of affirmative action and equal participation in the $787 billion that is being spent on jump-starting our economy. Can we jump start the economy and leave
some people out? If we are not careful, we will see better macroeconomic numbers and little relief in the African American community. The United Negro College fund (www.uncf.org), the organization that supports the 39 private HBCUs in our nation, has taken steps to help our colleges weather the storm. They are raising money to provide emergency scholarships to our students with greatest need. Of course, they are asking folks to help, and of course, those of us who are able to help will do so. UNCF just celebrated its 65th birthday, lifting up Black Enterprise publisher Earl Graves and New York education booster Caroline Kennedy, as honorees. The organization is one of the many attempting to buffer the depression that is brutalizing the African American community. Still, this depression is real and devastating, and any gathering of our
American jobs are worth fighting for By R. Thomas Buffenbarger In January alone, 598,000 jobs were lost. More than 200,000 of those jobs were lost in the manufacturing sector. The employment rate now stands at a staggering 7.6 percent. The
global credit crunch has, finally and decisively, thrown the gears of growth into reverse. This global recession is like a runaway tractor-trailer. Downshifting works, once in a while. But if the incline is too steep or the load too heavy, downshifting destroys the
gearbox. Momentum does the rest. When the rig comes to rest—and it will, eventually— the wreckage is found everywhere. The just-passed stimulus bill will repair some of the damage done to America’s economy. But a second stimulus
package is needed. And revitalizing America’s manufacturing sector must be its highest priority. America’s trading partners will not buy a trillion dollars in U.S. Treasury notes to finance our recovery while their own economies sink deeper into recession. They’ve already been burned badly once. Yankee traders sold them the toxic debt—the subprime mortgages, credit default swaps and collateralized debt obligations—that triggered this global recession. Selling them more commercial paper stamped “Made in America” is not a viable option. Our only recourse is to make things other nations will buy. So to stimulate our own economic revival, we must renovate our plants, install new machinery and hone the skills of our workforce. America needs a 21st Century version of Franklin Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration. Roosevelt put millions of Americans back to work on an emergency basis in 1935. He did so by creating jobs that would produce “permanent improvements in living conditions or that create future new wealth for the nation.” Roosevelt’s basic strategy can be re-engineered for the modern manufacturing sector. Today’s unemployed can be put to work renovating factories and installing new equipment; devising new financing, marketing and sales packages for local businesses; and reinventing our decaying skillsdelivery system. We can jumpstart depressed local economies by letting counties and communities hire the unemployed with federal dollars. An effective manufacturing sector stimulus package cannot stop there. In the recession of the 1980s, then-Sen. Howard Metzenbaum (D-OH) proposed a 10 percent investment tax credit for the rehabilitation of existing stores and businesses. Crafted to encourage businesses to renovate older downtown buildings, his legislation used
$40 billion in tax expenditures to generate nearly $400 billion in private investment. Likewise, a 10 percent investment tax credit for the rehabilitation and renovation of existing manufacturing facilities could pump billions of dollars into modernizing America’s plants. With an additional investment tax credit for new equipment, businesses could retool their factories. If those two investment tax credits could be banked to offset downstream profits, millions of new jobs would be created. As America revitalizes its industrial base, it must do the same for its technical knowledge base. Two years of technical training should be offered to recent high school graduates and recently unemployed adults. Tuition at community colleges, universities and high-tech institutes should be heavily subsidized by the federal government as it was after World War II. We tend to forget that FDR’s GI Bill covered more than college tuition. The Greatest Generation got a chance to hone their skills for careers of their choice. A similar investment in America’s newest generation of workers and the recently unemployed will pay dividends for decades. America’s manufacturing jobs are worth fighting for. These jobs are the key to a middle-class life for millions. A second, targeted stimulus package will give America’s manufacturing sector—and all those whose livelihoods are tied to it—the fighting chance it deserves. And it will ignite the long-term growth and sustained job creation that our nation so desperately needs. R. Thomas Buffenbarger is president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
people brings tales of economic distress – joblessness, foreclosure, homelessness, and more. While this new stimulus package is not perfect, it is the largest we have seen. Will the African American community benefit from the billions of dollars pumped into the economy? Are we prepared to fight for our share of the stimulus package, and of this budget? Julianne Malveaux is President of Bennett College for Women. She can be reached at presoffice@bennett.edu.
INSIGHT NEWS www.insightnews.com Insight News is published weekly, every Monday by McFarlane Media Interests. Editor-In-Chief Al McFarlane CFO Adrianne Hamilton-Butler Publisher Batala-Ra McFarlane Associate Editor & Associate Publisher B.P. Ford Director of Content & Production Patricia Weaver Sr. Content & Production Coordinator Elliot Stewart-Franzen Web Design & Content Associate Ben Williams Distribution/Facilities Manager Jamal Mohamed Receptionist Lue B. Lampley Contributing Writers Paul Edward Hamilton Ryan T. Scott Julie Desmond Rashida McKenzie Marcia Humphrey Photography Suluki Fardan Tobechi Tobechukwu Contact Us: Insight News, Inc. Marcus Garvey House 1815 Bryant Ave. N. Mpls., MN 55411 Ph.: (612)588-1313 Fax: (612)588-2031 Member: Minnesota Multicultural Media Consortium (MMMC) Midwest Black Publishers Coalition, Inc. (MBPCI) National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) Postmaster: Send address changes to McFarlane Media Interests, Marcus Garvey House 1815 Bryant Avenue North Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55411.
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Insight News • March 16 - March 22, 2009 • Page 5
BUSINESS Wedge Co-op announces 2008 WedgeShare grants recipients The Wedge Co-op, a Minneapolis natural and organic food cooperative with almost 14,000 member-owners, last week announced the 13 2008 WedgeShare organizations that received a total of $50,000 in financial grants from the Wedge Co-op.
Grants went to a range of organizations that combat hunger, promote food safety and foster renewable energy and sustainable communities. They include: the Emergency Foodshelf Network, Cornucopia Institute, Youth Farm & Market Project, Farmer’s Action Legal Group, Universal
Healthcare Action Network of Minnesota, Great Plains Windustry Project, Community Design Center of Minnesota, Southside Family Charter School, Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy, Local Fair Trade Network, Gardening Matters, Women’s Environmental Institute at
Amador Hill and Urban Arts Academy. Since 1997, The Wedge’s WedgeShare charitable giving program has awarded grants to community non-profits whose work aligns with the cooperative principle that co-ops “work for the sustainable development of their
communities.” WedgeShare awards grants to organizations that work in one or more of the following areas: environmental quality, protection or beautification; natural health and wellness; natural food and sustainable agriculture; community involvement; and/or
cooperative-related activities. This year, 13 organizations that applied for WedgeShare grants made the final ballot. Wedge Co-op members voted to distribute the grants during the coop’s annual election in October 2008.
Get free tax help from Internal Revenue Service IRS Offices Open in Twin Cities The Internal Revenue Service and community partners nationwide will open hundreds of locations on Super Saturday, March 21, in an effort to reach Americans who may be struggling through difficult financial times and low- to moderate-income taxpayers who need help preparing tax returns. In the Twin Cities, IRS offices will open their doors for Super Saturday from 9 am - 2 pm in St. Paul at 30 E. Seventh St. (nearest entrance is across the street from Walgreens) and in Minneapolis at 250 Marquette Ave. Volunteer tax preparation sites will also be open at select locations throughout the state. More than 250 IRS offices nationally will be open on Super Saturday to help taxpayers earning $42,000 or less prepare basic federal tax returns. IRS employees can also answer basic tax law questions, resolve tax issues and help establish payment agreements for qualifying taxpayers struggling
to pay their taxes or assist those having a hard time keeping up with tax payments. “We want to go the extra mile to help – especially for taxpayers who have been compliant in the past and may now be experiencing a hardship situation,” said IRS Spokesperson Carrie Resch. “These are tough times for a lot of people, and we want to provide services when it’s more convenient for people who are working or busy during the week.” On Super Saturday, taxpayers also can learn if they qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit. Difficult times may mean more people than ever could qualify for the EITC because of changes in their income last year. The EITC could mean as much as $4,824 for some families, but people need to file a return to get it, even if they aren’t normally required to file. Single filers, grandparents caring for grandchildren or taxpayers without children also may
qualify. About 286, 450 workers in Minnesota received more than $502 million in EITC last year, but the IRS estimates that one in four households eligible for the credit never claims it. Some Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) and Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) sites also will offer free Super Saturday services to lowto moderate-income (generally below $42,000) people and seniors. Trained community volunteers help taxpayers prepare returns. Most sites also offer free electronic filing. To locate the nearest VITA or TCE site, call United Way at 211. “What makes this Saturday ‘super’ is the large-scale effort to help people experiencing hard times,” said Resch. “We are opening far more IRS locations than are typically open on any other weekend and combining that with our partner sites which are also opening their doors.” Super Saturday services: •
Federal
tax
return
preparation including free electronic filing that can speed refunds within 10 days • Payments or payment arrangements • Assistance with letters, notices and levies on your wages or bank accounts • Copies of tax returns and transcripts • Basic federal tax forms Whether taxpayers visit an IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center, a free income tax preparation site or a professional tax return preparer, they should bring certain documents with them, including: • Valid driver’s license or photo identification (self and spouse, if applicable) • Social Security cards and dates of birth for all persons listed on the return • All income statements: Forms W-2, 1099, Social Security, Unemployment, or other benefits statements, selfemployment records and any
Foreclosure prevention resource book Wells Fargo announced last week that with the National Urban League it will co-sponsor a new edition of The Foreclosure Workbook: The Complete Guide to Understanding Foreclosure and Saving Your Home. The workbook, written by foreclosure author Carla Douglin, will be free-of-charge to at-risk customers across the nation through Wells Fargo’s Leading the Way Home initiative. Our vision has long been to help our customers succeed financially by helping them achieve and sustain homeownership, said Cara Heiden, co-president of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. We believe in doing what is right for our customers, and that includes working with them to find solutions to keep them in their homes when they face financial difficulties. The hands-on guide will help homeowners experiencing challenges making their mortgage payments and who may face potential foreclosure. Copies of the workbook will be distributed at Wells Fargo home preservation workshops held across the country and at all 101 Urban League affiliate offices. The workbook was officially launched during the February 28 State of the Black Union address at the Los Angeles Convention
Center, staged by Tavis Smiley. Wells Fargo served as the title sponsor for the event for the third consecutive year. Earlier this year, Wells Fargo introduced Leading the Way Home, a multi-faceted initiative to stabilize housing, advance homeownership and revitalize neighborhoods in cities hit hard by foreclosure. In addition to providing financial literacy tools, Wells Fargo is helping real estate agents, nonprofit housing organizations and city officials understand how to sell vacant and foreclosed properties to new owners. The company also offers financing to new buyers of vacant properties, and provides loan education that reinforces sustainable homeownership. The National Urban League has long held economic empowerment as one of its fundamental programs. Through the distribution of the workbooks, it will continue to provide homeowners at-risk of losing their residences with information to help them preserve and sustain homeownership. This workbook complements the National Urban League’s outreach efforts to homeowners in distress to help them stay in their homes, said Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League. The opportunity to own, and the
ability to pursue and preserve homeownership, are core components of the Urban Leagues Opportunity Compact, and are deeply embedded in the Urban Leagues Economic Empowerment Agenda. Over the past year and half, Wells Fargo has provided more than 706,000 foreclosure prevention solutions for at-risk homeowners, said Heiden. “The workbook we are announcing today is yet one more way we can improve on our 94 percent contact rate to help customers who are
two or more payments past due on their mortgage loans,” she added. The Urban League assists more than 400,000 people a year with home ownership issues by providing important housing counseling and financial literacy services in an effort to improve the financial situation for minorities with respect securing homeownership, maintaining good credit and obtaining monetary savings.
documents showing taxes withheld • Dependent child care information: payee’s name, address and SSN or TIN • Routing and account numbers for direct debit or deposit
• Prior year tax return (if available) • Any other pertinent documents or papers
Page 6 • March 16 - March 22, 2009 • Insight News
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FULL CIRCLE Be The Change By Aaron Stephenson
Welcome home. Today is a new day. Today is the people’s day. From “yes, we can” To “yes, we will” To “yes, we did” Full names and bloated titles on the tongues of dignitaries.
The crowds roar and jeer and cry. The sacred oaths begin. Endless repetition and so help me gods. Somewhere a cannon fires. The crowd erupts. This man-our man-stands before us. A sea stands assembled. People united by a common goal and purpose. We will get
this great nation back up on it’s feet. We have the strength to dedicate ourselves once more. We are one. One people. One nation. A land of the free built on blood and sweat and tears. But we can do it. Yes, we can.
Beyond church walls, delivering the people’s stimulus plan Wilmington, DE --In troubled times people search for answers, guidance, and, spiritual renewal. Today, millions of people are turning to Bishop Gregory M. Davis, Sr., one of the country's next generation of emerging ministers. What makes Davis, who founded the River Of Life Church (Wilmington, DE) and
Ebenezer Full Gospel Baptist Church (Downingtown, PA) stand out is not merely his message of empowerment and community revitalization, but the way he delivers it. "We want to be the church of the new generation," said Davis. If that means utilizing hip hop as a backdrop to his sermons to attract younger
believers, then Davis may use a Kayne West or T.I. song to inspire. If it means going beyond church walls, then Davis will be in the community--addressing its needs and concerns directly. It's the personal touch that Bishops has. While furthering his mission, Davis has created a successful
brand. His television show, Rejoice In The Word, on the Word Network is currently seen in 65 million homes in 120 countries and reaches 120 million viewers worldwide. The program, which he hosts and produces, is the network's only live premiere show seen weekly. Also, he hosted one of the most historical television shows on the Word Network Voices of The Black Church, which featured top spiritual leaders from across the nation. In addition, his daily radio show, Let the Healing Begin has nearly 5 million listeners and can be heard on Radio1000.org. Davis is tuned into to the needs of the masses. So it is only fitting that his Greg Davis Ministries International (GDM Intl.),www.gregdavisministries.org, has announced it is taking direct action to help people in need. Davis has launched his own version of the People's Campaign Stimulus Plan. GDM will host an all-encompassing career fair on Easter Sunday entitled "Resurrection Weekend Resurrecting the Total Man...Mind Body and Soul." "We're going to have a resurrection of the mind, body and soul," said Davis. "We will offer tangible help on how to get a job, how to be inspired to entrepreneurship and we will also offer spiritual guidance." The fair will not only include potential employers seeking new workers
BlackNews.com
Bishop Gregory M. Davis, Sr. takes his ministry to the people— Millions hear his message of hope, inspiration & salvation in a job fair but also resume and employment skills workshops and even a "work-attire" fashion show. Additionally, Davis plans to distribute boxes of groceries to help attendees in need of food. "In these challenging economic times, it's important for the church to play a very active role in meeting the immediate needs
of the community," said Bishop Davis, who runs GDM with his wife of 18 years, Pastor Kim A. Davis, who is also co-founder of River Of Life Church (and Ebenezer Full Gospel Baptist Church). The Career Fair is expected to be a standing room only event-especially when you consider GDM's previous job fair had people lined up for blocks, and, the fair will be offered during Easter service. For Davis, community activism means bringing the church to the people. "You have to be seen in the community. You have to understand the issues the community is dealing with. And each community is different and the church has to reflect that," Davis said. Being truly multimedia, Davis has also authored a number of books, offers his sermons online, and has recorded several CDs. His first CD was Let the Healing Begin, followed by Let the Healing Begin Part 2, a compilation of healing scriptures and meditation, in 2008. He has also released Today is your Day for a Miracle Live, showcasing traditional gospel music. In all, Bishop Davis has written 11 books. His latest, The Dreamers are Coming, is a series of sermonic texts designed to challenge readers to turn their dreams into realities. Davis established GDM, for which he serves as President and CEO. He also hosts, through GDM, the popular Seven Days of Glory Conference and Deliverance Now Crusades. His ministries aren't only done from inside church walls, Davis believes in the human touch. The spiritual stimulus is on its way.
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Insight News • March 16 - March 22, 2009 • Page 7
AESTHETICS Spirit and soul : Sweet Honey In The Rock By Alaina L. Lewis When harmony took a ride with spirit and soul the result of this union gave birth a sensation known as Sweet Honey In the Rock (SHIR). Born from Psalm 81:16, "He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied you," and timelessly regenerated through the vocal throws of five amazing songstresses, this Grammy Awardwinning ensemble, founded by Bernice Johnson Reagon, now proudly celebrates their 35th year of commitment towards music and impacting the community. On March 7, SHIR vocally shook the foundation of St. Paul's O'Shaughnessy Theater, giving more than just a roof raising and standing ovation-worthy performance for its eager audience of listeners and audio impaired followers. The audience was led through their choral message by the hands of SHIR's ASL interpreter Shirley Childress Saxton. Members Ysaye Maria Barnwell, Louise Robinson, Carol Maillard, Aisha Kahlil, and Nitanju Bolade Casel easily led the audience through the powerful messages that always emerge from their Rock. Leading the audience in an intense journey of politics, heritage, moral responsibility, love, and spirituality, the a cappella quintet, who opened the show with their 1985 hit, The Other Side, continued to offer a breathtaking array of vocals, scats, light percussion and harmonic melodies through a mix of genre's including, jazz, gospel, folk, reggae
Suluki Fardan
Sweet Honey In The Rock performed at St. Paul's O'Shaughnessy Theater on March 7. and African hymns. The glimpse at our heritage is fought by the story within the melody and won by a brief interruption nothing shy of amazing. Lyrically offering a celebration of our Freedom Fighters like Rosa Parks and sounding off on their outrage of injustice and greed at the hands of our national government, they generated a feeling not quite like any, that took you from a regular concert to the front row of a show like VH-1 Storytellers. Each offering, laced with a promise of understanding, left its listeners with a renewed vision of hope and spirit as their lecture through harmony and lyrics uplifted the quiet corner within your soul as you indulged in a peaceful celebration of music throughout the phenomenal evening. SHIR, who were nominated for another Grammy Award for
Men in Gray… Monknificent Artspeak
By Irma McClaurin Last Friday night, March 6, 2009, my mom and I had the pleasure of listening to the "Men in Gray," also known as the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, led by Pulitizer prize winning music director Wynton Marsalis. Their tribute to Thelonious
www.flickr.com
Thelonious Monk
Monk, performed at Minneapolis' Orchestra Hall, highlighted the range and genius of Monk's contribution to jazz. Born in 1917 in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Thelonius Sphere Monk lived in New York City with his family from the age of four onward. He attended Stuyvesant High School, but never graduated; and while his sister took piano lessons, Monk's affinity for music and the piano were essentially selftaught, and began as early as age nine, signaling him as a musical child prodigy. Monk is considered a standard bearer by jazz aficionados, and one of the innovators of "bebop." This style of music gained popularity in the 1940s, replacing the then-popular "swing." Bebop, sounding like its name, consisted of fast tempos, improvisation, and emphasized the different pitches and chords (harmonic structure) over melody. Other bebop giants included Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Kenny Clarke, and later Miles Davis. In his heyday, Monk was known as a virtuoso improvisational, but difficult to follow, jazz musician. His style included a heavy percussive style, punctuated by silences and hesitations, playfully dubbed "Melodious Thunk." The Men in Gray captured this unique style of Monk, when playing some of his standards such "Epistrophy," "Light Blue," and their own tribute to Monk. What marks Wynton JAZZ TURN TO 9
Experience 101, recently partook in an a fortunate invitation by our First Lady, Michelle Obama, to perform at the White House for a group of 7th and 8th Graders in celebration of Black History Month. Currently, alongside Alvin Ailey and the American Dance Theater, they have produced an incredible soundtrack, Go In Grace. This piece of work expresses their timeless message rich in African American traditions through the choreography of Hope Boykin and the Alvin Ailey dancers. SHIR, and their commitment to music, community and the Twin Cities, participated in a number of events surrounding their 35th Anniversary weekend via their community initiative Sweet Honey in the Rock Project (SHIRP). SHIRP, alongside their longtime producer, Arlana Vaughan offered a weekend of workshops, lectures, and a poetry and poster contest
around the theme, "Peace Begins at Home- How Can I Change The World?" Their continual involvement with the unrecognized blessings that exist within the minority, hearing impaired and socially impacted individuals in our community are made possible through their partnership with Iluminadas Performing Arts Organization and several other community sponsors that work in unison to project their important message. It was a weekend of music, heritage, peace, and possibility. We're always touched by a Sweet Honey experience because through their music, they continue to be the gift that keeps on giving. They are the imprints on the water that kiss the surface of a ripple. Sweet as honey and always solid as a rock, they make us proud to have them as our Sweet Honey In the Rock.
Page 8 • March 16 - March 22, 2009 • Insight News
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HEALTH EFNEP celebrates 40 years of food and nutrition education WASHINGTON D.C — USDA’s Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) recently celebrated 40 years of helping limited-resource families and youth make sound nutrition and health choices through the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP). At the 40th anniversary celebration held at the University of California Washington Center in Washington, DC, Nimo Yusuf of Minneapolis was recognized for her integral support to the program. “The community-based work which Nimo Yusuf and all our Nutrition Education paraprofessionals so skillfully do across the state of Minnesota is extremely important, especially now in these tough economic times,” said Dr. Pat Tschida, State EFNEP Coordinator. EFNEP addresses national priorities, such as hunger, health and obesity. Participants learn to make food choices that can improve the nutritional quality of the meals they serve their families, gain new skills in food preparation and safety, and learn to better manage their food budgets and related resources from federal, state and local food assistance agencies and organizations. They also learn about related topics such as physical activity and health. EFNEP annually helps more than 500,000 individuals. “Ms. Yusuf’s ability to reach audiences is enhanced by how closely she pays attention to learners’ needs and presents information in a manner they can easily understand,” said Fay McLain, Community
Program Specialist and Yusuf’s supervisor at University of Minnesota Extension in Hennepin County. “Yusuf teaches food and nutrition education to youth and adults. She uses USDA dietary guidelines in her lesson plans. She was nominated in the area of reaching new audiences, particularly the Somali immigrant communities of the Twin Cities,” said McLain. In 2008, 94 percent of adults graduating from EFNEP reported improved dietary intake, including an increase of about 0.8 cup equivalents of fruits and vegetables. Additionally, 73 percent of youth graduating from the program reported eating a variety of foods from all groups in their diets. The hands-on, learn-bydoing approach allows participants to gain the practical skills necessary to make positive behavior changes. Through EFNEP, participants also experience increased selfworth, as they recognize that they can improve the health of themselves and their families. County Extension family and consumer science professionals provide training and supervise peer educators and volunteers who teach EFNEP in their local communities. Methods for program delivery include direct teaching in group or individual situations; mailings and telephone teaching to complement other teaching methods; mass media efforts to develop understanding, awareness and involvement in the educational program; and development and training of volunteers to assist with direct
Nimo Yuse teaching of adults and youth. CSREES distributes Congressionally-appropriated funds annually to support EFNEP at the state level
through land-grant university cooperative extension programs. Through federal funding and leadership for research, education and
extension programs, CSREES focuses on investing in science and solving critical issues impacting people’s daily lives and the nation’s future. For
Photo: University News Service
more information, visit www.csrees.usda.gov/efnep
McCollum introduces the Newborn, Child, and Mother Survival Act WASHINGTON, DC -To coincide with Women's History Month and International Women's Day, US Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) last week introduced the Newborn, Child, and Mother Survival Act of 2009 (H.R.1410), a bipartisan bill which seeks to restore America's leadership through a global health strategy to keep mothers and children in the world's poorest countries alive and healthy-before, during, and after childbirth. Every year, more than 9 million children under age five, and 536,000 women, die from pregnancyrelated causes and other treatable diseases that are preventable with simple, affordable interventions, including antibiotics, vaccines, bed nets, exclusive breastfeeding and vitamins. "Making motherhood safe
and keeping children alive is a global health priority for me, and I want to make it a priority for this Congress and the Obama Administration. The Newborn, Child, and Mother Survival Act is an important step toward restoring our nation's commitment to reduce child mortality and maternal deaths. U.S. leadership is essential to save the lives of the millions dying needlessly. A commitment to the survival, safety, success of women and girls is necessary to reshape our bilateral relationships and redefine our nation's foreign assistance investments," McCollum announced while delivering the keynote address at the U.S. Agency for International Development's International Women's Day celebration. The Newborn, Child, and
Mother Survival Act calls for a U.S. strategy, puts forth goals, outlines interventions needing investment in order to save the lives of children and mothers. Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and advocacy groups, like Save the Children, are among the early supporters of the bill. "No parents should have to bear the pain of seeing a child die from illnesses like diarrhea, pneumonia and malaria, all of which can be prevented or treated inexpensively," said former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, M.D., chair of Save the Children's child survival campaign, Survive to 5. "This legislation will mean simple, cost-effective tools to save more than 5 million children each year are within closer reach of families throughout the world."
"U.S. leadership and investments in global child survival programs have helped to decrease under-5 child deaths dramatically in many countries. Despite this progress, more than 25,000 children under-five still die each day of highly preventable causes," said David Oot, head of health and nutrition at Save the Children and chair of the U.S. Coalition for Child Survival. "This House action will help save the lives of mothers and babies by bringing proven, affordable health measures to families in communities that need them." The Newborn, Child, and Mother Survival Act of 2009 has been endorsed by the U.S. Coalition for Child Survival, Save the Children, U.S. Fund for UNICEF, and the Global Action for Children. The bill
will: • Commit to proven, low-cost, highly effective techniques for life-saving interventions that will save the lives of newborns, children, and their mothers. • Develop a comprehensive, integrated U.S. strategy for reducing child and maternal mortality. • Establish a Newborn, Child, and Maternal Health Task Force to maximize U.S. ability to leverage investments to reduce child and maternal mortality. • Authorize funding for child survival and maternal health programs to help save the lives of hundreds of thousands of newborns, children, and mothers, in 60 poor countries.
US Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN)
Congresswoman Betty McCollum serves on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations.
Minneapolis goes dark in observation of Earth Hour The Minneapolis City Council Committee on Health, Energy and Environment last week approved a resolution to join the Earth Hour program for the second year. For one hour, from 8:30 to 9:30 pm on Saturday, March 28, the City will turn off all uses of electricity in municipal buildings that are not required for life, safety or operations. The decorative lighting on the underside of the Stone Arch Bridge will be turned off for the night, and City Hall’s clock tower neon lights will be turned off as well. According to the State of Minnesota, electricity use in the state accounts for 35 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to global climate change. Participating individuals, businesses, governments and organizations around the world turn off their lights for one hour – Earth Hour – to make a global statement of concern about climate change and demonstrate their commitment to finding solutions. “Even though it’s a symbolic call to action, Earth Hour had actual energy reduction results last year,” said Mayor R.T. Rybak, “It was a 10-percent drop – double what organizers had expected. This
points to the good we can do for our environment if we practice energy conservation every day. As City government, there are many ways we’re working to be more green, but this is a great reminder that each of us can fight global climate change by making smart energy choices in our daily lives.” “We’re very proud to participate in the Earth Hour effort for the second year running,” said City Council Member Scott Benson, who chairs the City Council’s Health, Energy and Environment Committee. “Raising awareness is another way we can help reduce our impact on the environment, in addition to our other initiatives. Last year we passed a new ordinance limiting vehicle idling in the city, we are using more and more renewable energy in our buildings and fleets, and we are making major infrastructure and planning improvements around better biking, walking and public transportation that allows our residents, workers and visitors to drive less.” “By participating in Earth Hour and urging all businesses and members of the public to do the same, we’re sending a clear message that the people of
Minneapolis are passionate about doing our part for the planet,” said City Council Member Cam Gordon, Vice Chair of the Health, Energy and Environment Committee. “We stand with the rest of the world in seeking solutions and acting immediately to take measures that will help fight global climate change.” In 2009, organizers expect more than 1,000 cities in 100 countries to participate. In Minneapolis, in coordination with the City, 20 buildings are signed up already, from the Red Stag Supper Club to many of the tall lighted buildings downtown including IDS Center, Wells Fargo Center and Target headquarters. The list continues to grow. Volunteers have hosted fundraisers, passed out flyers and worked on various online social marketing efforts. Many employers are sending out notices to their employees. City leaders encourage businesses and individuals to participate and support the effort to fight climate change. Earth Hour began in 2007 in Sydney, Australia. During Earth Hour 2008, more than 50 million people in 400 cities on all seven continents turned off their lights. Learn more, sign up
and share your ideas at http://www.earthhourUS.org. The resolution to participate in Earth Hour will go before the
full City Council March 27. To learn more about sustainable Minneapolis and find out how you can practice a more
sustainable life, visit www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/sust ainability.
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Insight News • March 16 - March 22, 2009 • Page 9
LIFESTYLE Please and thank you still go a long way Style on a dime
By Marcia Humphrey About four Sundays ago, my husband and I decided that we would take our three children to the downtown Minneapolis public library after church. After circling the block a couple times we finally found a free parking space --my husband will drive around forever to avoid paying for parking! Because it was such a blustery day, we broke into a light jog to get into the building as quickly as possible. I was the first to approach one of the four glass doors and was about to open it. Just inside of the next door, stood a man-apparently struggling just a bit-trying to get the door open for me. Noticing his kind gesture, I released my grip on the door handle and let him hold the door open for me. While entering I looked him squarely in the eyes, and with a smile on my face, and in my voice, I said, "Thank you so much, sir!" He responded something like, "You are very welcome, Miss Lady!" In that
very brief exchange, two people made each other feel valued. (Note: Cost of good manners-free) Now, let's contrast that with what happened next. My three children come busting through the door and that same gentleman offered them the courtesy he had extended to their mama. After the first child entered, without acknowledging his kindness, I looked at her and said, "Thank you, sir!" (my way of reminding my child to express gratitude.) She responded promptly, but somewhat dryly (not the way I trained her). Well I'll be doggone if my second daughter didn't roll through that same door, held open by the same gentleman, without uttering a word of thanks. "Thank you, sir!" I snapped at her. With an absent-minded tone, she promptly responded. The rest gets fuzzy in my mind, but all I know is that suddenly, as I was telling my children to turn around, make eye contact, and then say "thank you" the gentleman became upset. He began, "Oh no, don't bother saying thank you, because they do that to me all the time!" When I attempted to have the children repeat themselves with eye contact and tall voices, the man refused them the opportunity. "Go ahead on, I am used to that, don't bother!" he repeated, as he used his hands to shoo us away. Feeling ashamed of my girls'
behavior and also sensing that we should probably not pursue this further, I took my kids on into the library. They immediately (and quietly) received a scolding for not properly acknowledging the man or clearly expressing gratitude for his simple kindness. You never know how a few words-or lack of words-can affect another human being. Not only do we need to teach our children the value of good manners and respect, we also need to remember its value. Common courtesy goes a long way in every situation, whether resolving conflicts, interviewing, meeting new people, or just being a bright spot in another's (otherwise rough) day. Please say, "Please (And Thank You)" Do: Teach your child the importance of expressing appreciation when others are kind to them-whether in small ways or big ways. Don't: Allow the kids to say, "Give me that!" Phone Manners Do: Train your kids to say, "Hello Ms. or Mr.____. This is____. May I please speak to____?" Don't just say: "Is___there? Or Can I speak to_____?"
Do: Train your children to make eye contact, say hello by name, and shake hands when appropriate, during introductions to adults. Don't: Allow your kids to ignore adults (or anyone) when being spoken to. Our family highly values consideration and courteous behavior. In fact, the most consistent comment that we hear from others about all three of our babies is that they have really good manners. Their brains must have frozen that Sunday during that dash into the library! Training our children to be conscientious and caring members of society takes persistence. Of course, they will not always get it right (I know I don't). However practice creates excellence (not perfection). There is a Bible verse that states it plainly: Don't forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it! Don't let the looks of a person determine how you will treat him. Let your interaction with your brothers and sisters reflect the respect due them and due our Creator. Courtesy never, never goes out of style. So friend, let your inner-style-light shine and Enjoy the results! P.S. To the Kind Sir at the library who
Meeting New People
Kmart makes creating the perfect patio space effortless Kmart recently announced the expansion of its Jaclyn Smith Home Collection --just in time to shake off the winter blues. A reflection of the continued popularity of Jaclyn's signature designs, coupled with affordability, the expanded line will most notably include patio furniture along with tabletop and decor. Soft home collections will get an updated look with fresh florals and elegant patterns, all featured in two distinctive design sensibilities within the Today and Traditions collections. Refreshing your home for spring is made even easier through the convenience and practicality of Kmart layaway. For the past 20 years, Jaclyn Smith and Kmart have teamed up to create apparel and other home collections that are both budgetfriendly and style savvy. Now, with Jaclyn Smith's affordable designs for the lawn and garden, Kmart shoppers can create a contemporary patio space that ties into their entire home effortlessly, including: • Kingston Collection - 5pc tall Dining Set $649.99; 7 pc Dining Set $699.99 • Winfield Collection - 4 pc Seating Set $499.99 • Elmhurst Collection - 5 pc Dining Set $299.99
Jazz From 7 Marsalis' directorship of the impressive Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra is its immense diversityorchestra members, all wearing gray suits, represent almost every racial/ethnic spectrum of the rainbow; the age range reflects the orchestra's commitment to intergenerational musical dialogs; and every member is given the opportunity to shine in solo performances. There is a playful camaraderie and appreciation of each other's talent that was reflected in the orchestra's musical style and group interaction. One can only hope that in the future, women musicians might be added to this powerful American treasure; notwithstanding
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Ever mindful of value the lawn and garden line ranges from patio umbrellas to complete patio sets and everything from décor to bedding for interior home decorating. Additionally, customers can use the Kmart layaway plan to purchase the larger ticket items on an installment basis, pay incrementally, and pick up their patio furniture just in time for warmer temperatures. "Jaclyn Smith's appeal has
only increased over time and her collections have never been more relevant," said Doug Wurl, VP/GMM of Home Fashions at Sears Holdings. "When Jaclyn Smith introduced a cashmere sweater for less than $30 during the holiday season, it became the number one seller of all products offered online. That was a strong signal to us that customers will continue to respond positively to exceptional products if they are priced right. Adding layaway to
the mix only strengthens our ability to help customers during a challenged economy." The Jaclyn Smith Home Collection was introduced in August, 2008 and included bedding and bath. The introduction coincided with the expansion of Jaclyn Smith's fashions in apparel to include jewelry, footwear and handbags. Shoppers can find the latest Kmart shopping news by visiting Kmart.com.
this one oversight, for surely there are powerful jazz women musicians who'd love to join, the Men in Gray were nothing short of impressive. If you didn't get a chance to listen to the group this time around, a word of advice: the next time they're in town RUN, don't walk, to hear the Men in Gray laying down the cool action of jazz, swinging the cool action of jazz, improvising the cool action of jazz-and that folks, is an epistrophy! For more on Thelonious Monk or on Marsalis playing Monk: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theloni ous_Monk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v= F2s6LZUdYaU http://www.monkzone.com/silent/bi ographyHTML.htm http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/art icle.php?id=3941
Irma McClaurin is an anthropologist and also Associate Vice President for System Academic Administration, as well as Executive Director of the Urban Research and Outreach Center at the University of Minneapolis. Her latest essay, "Walking in Zora's Shoes or 'Seek[ing] Out de Inside Meanin' of Words': The Intersections of
Anthropology, Ethnography, Identity, and Writing," was just published in Anthropology Off the Shelf: Anthropologists on Writing (Wiley 2009). The views expressed are entirely her own. ©2009 McClaurin Solutions Updated 3/12/09 7:10pm Updated 3/8/09: 10:25 am 3/7/2009: 11:52am
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decorator and home stager who specializes in achieving high style at a low cost. A native of Michigan, she and her husband, Lonnie, have three children.
Page 10 • March 16 - March 22, 2009 • Insight News
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Insight News • March 16 - March 22, 2009 • Page 11
EDUCATION A week in the nation’s Capital By Titilayo Bediako WE WIN Institute has been working for the last 12 years to bring educational excellence to the lives of children in Minnesota. With a mission of the academic and social success of all children, WE WIN has focused on students who have had the greatest difficulties being successful in school and in life. When WE WIN learned only 38 percent of Minnesota’s African American students were graduating from high school as compared to 83 percent of white students, we knew something had to change. We have called for a Black Excellence Movement which says that all Black children can be successful in school. WE WIN sponsored a Black Excellence contest. African American students explained through artwork or essays what Black Excellence meant to them. The first place winners in middle and high school went to Washington D.C. and experienced the inauguration of the first Black president of the United States, Barak Obama. What an appropriate prize because President Obama is the epitome of Black Excellence. WE WIN Institute discussed the vision with US Rep. Keith Ellison in the summer of 2008. The plan was to spend a week in D.C. and have the winners present their essays to members of the Congressional Black Caucus. We wanted our winners to be surrounded by African Americans who represent excellence. Far too often the models given our children are mediocre or less; excellence must be the only stance we take with our children’s education. After Barak Obama won the presidential election, Rep. Ellison’s office was bombarded with requests to the inauguration. Some of the most important and influential Minnesotans in the state inundated his office with requests. I can only imagine how they reminded him of their financial commitments to his campaign and how much “they” do for the party. Rep. Ellison had a finite amount of tickets and I didn’t know if we would be included in the number. When his assistant called and said there were tickets to the Inauguration for our group, I was ecstatic. Jaleice Johnson and Estrella Seals were the first place winners of the Black Excellence contest.
Being in Washington, D.C. during the inauguration week was one of the highlights of my life. Even greater than being in the Capitol for the swearing in of the first African American president, the spirit, the hopefulness, and the complete and utter joy of all who participated in this history making event is what made being in Washington so exhilarating. Everywhere we went, we saw
the line for our designated spot to stand; and the gates didn’t open until 8 am. Everyone was cold, but happy. We became instant friends with people we had never seen before. When the line finally moved, we had to go through metal detectors before being let in. Being checked by the detectors became a way of life during our sojourn in the nation’s capitol.
Courtesy Keith Ellison
US Rep. Keith Ellison showing Estrella Seals (center) and Jaleice Johnson the statue of Martin Luther King, Jr. people smiling, and we saw people sticking out their chests, standing tall, feeling good and feeling proud. The majority of these people were African Americans. Everywhere we went, we were represented. When we went to hear the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, at Howard University, it was overflowing with Black folks. They filled five different venues and there were still people waiting to hear his words. Contrary to what the media has made the public believe, Rev. Wright was proud of the success of his prodigy. We went on the National Mall to see the mega concert of stars from Stevie Wonder to Beyoncé. There were so many people; it was difficult to see the huge monitors throughout the park. Again, we saw thousands and thousands of African Americans. The morning of the Inauguration, we were at the Metro station at 4:30 am. It was a cold, brisk morning, but the excitement was throughout the air. When we made it down to the Capitol area, there were so many people, I had wondered if we should have come earlier. With our silver tickets, we were three or four blocks from the start of
We were one of the first to claim our spots by the gate to have a good view of the jumbo-tron. One of the girls had to go to the restroom. It was literally impossible to get back to our place; people weren’t hearing that we had been there before. The girl’s were practically frozen, and we had another 2 hours before the inaugural festivities began. My first thoughts were: “No, we have to stay out here.” But looking at them shivering, fearing they would lose a foot or hand as a result of frost bite, led us to find refuge. We worked our way to the Congressional Offices, which were two blocks away, where a plush room was reserved for Minnesotans, by US Rep. James Oberstar. Because so much of D.C. was barricaded and blocked off during the Inauguration, it took us over an hour to arrive at the Congressional offices. Everywhere we turned, there were either people or barriers that prevented our forward movement. When we finally arrived at the Rayburn Office Building, we ran into our familiar friend, the metal detector. The accommodations for
Minnesotans were first class. The chairs were oversized and leather. There was a plethora of drinks, pastries, fruits and vegetables, free for the taking. Huge television screens were on the walls giving second by second action of everything leading up to the swearing in of Barak Obama. We met people we didn’t know, but we also were surrounded by friends who had taken the long bus trip from Minnesota for one day, just to experience being in D.C. during this historic time. First to arrive on stage were the Obama children and their grandmother. A feeling of pride and satisfaction came over me as I saw the new first family carrying on the African tradition of the extended family by welcoming, appreciating and loving “Mama Robinson” who agreed to join them in the White House to continue in her help in raising her two granddaughters. Walking out next was Michelle Obama in her simple, but eloquent greenish-yellow dress with matching jacket. After coming in from the freezing cold, I kept thinking, “Where’s her Overcoat?” If Mrs. Obama was cold, it never showed. Barak Obama walked out with a gait like only a selfassured Black man has. He was confident with his head held high, showing the world he was ready to be president. During the classical performance of cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Itzhak Perlman, pianist Gabriella Montero and clarinetist Anthony McGill, Mrs. Obama put a loving, reassuring hand on her husband’s shoulders which seemed to be just what he needed. Once Mr. Obama took the oath of office, the cheering, screaming and intense vivacity never ended. After the swearing in of President Obama, we hit the streets. There was total excitement everywhere we turned. It was astonishing. It was incredible that the vast majority of people were Black folks. Far and wide, there were people of African descent. For the first time in so many years, we had a reason to come up, to celebrate to be part of a change that will make a significant difference for our people and for our country. Two days after the swearing in, we toured the United States Capitol. In telling the history, although only a couple of sentences, it told how African slave labor built the structure that
Courtesy Keith Ellison
Jaleice Johnson, Titilayo Bediako, US Rep. Keith Ellison and Estrella Seals Americans so adore. After taking a tour, we had lunch and headed to Congressman Ellison’s office to present the Black Excellence essays. As we arrived, Ellison’s aides were rushing him to the floor for a vote. He told us to follow him. We were able to ride on the exclusive elevators used by members of Congress. He led us to the lounge where elected officials relax and confer with each other. As we waited, we looked up and all the members of the Congressional Black Caucus came in. It was exciting to see these brilliant African Americans who represent and fight for the rights, needs and aspirations of Black Americans. These are officials who do not apologize for insisting that our needs are included; they consistently remind their colleagues of our long arduous history and the sacrifices we have made to make America – America; and that we too pay taxes. When our illustrious representative, Rep. Ellison walked in the room, he treated us like dignitaries. He took us around to members of the CBC, explained that the students were winners of the Black Excellence Contest and pointed out to the girls that all these representatives were examples of Black Excellence. The girls read excerpts of their essays to Rep. Ellison and other members of the Caucus and they were able to take pictures with various members. Rep. Ellison proceeded to give us a personal tour of the Capitol. We toured areas that the public usually are not allowed see and he pointed out statues and individuals who worked hard to make America great. He talked about the importance of Black Excellence and why the girls had to work and give their best in school and in life for benefit of the African American community
and the country. He sent us away with copies of books on African Americans and Women in Congress. Each book weighed over 20 pounds. Not only did he autograph them, but had his assistant take our addresses and send them to our respective homes. On our way back to our car, we saw eight or nine motorcycle lights flashing. We didn’t have a clue of what was going on; and then suddenly, the presidential limousine appeared. President Obama waved at us and we waved back. In addition to arranging our Capitol tour, Rep. Ellison’s office arranged tours to visit all the monuments and memorials. It was a full day adventure. We visited the Washington Monument and went to the top where we were able to see D.C., Virginia and Maryland. We went to the Arlington Cemetery, where we saw the graves of President John F. Kennedy, his wife, Jacqueline, and his brother, Sen. Robert Kennedy. We went to the World War II, the Viet Nam, the Korean, the Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jefferson, and Lincoln Memorials; we also saw the site where the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial will be built. Everywhere we turned while we were in the nation’s capitol, we were exposed and inundated by those who modeled Black Excellence. It may be years before Jaleice Johnson and Estrella Seals can fully appreciate the extraordinary exposure and the historic significance of the trip. But, what will always be most memorable is being in the nation’s capitol during the swearing in of the first African American president of the United States and the example of Black Excellence shown to us by our Congressman, Keith Ellison.
College preparatory program recruits candidates for scholarships Admission Possible, the nonprofit organization providing college preparatory programming to lowincome high school students for free, is recruiting now through mid-April for sophomores interested in obtaining a college education. Applications are being accepted from eligible sophomores by Admission Possible staff at each of the 19 Greater Twin Cities partner high schools, including two new partner schools. Students in attendance at other high schools may contact Admission Possible headquarters to apply at (651) 917-3525 or info@admissionpossible.org. “This is an extremely exciting time of year for us at Admission Possible because we get to meet our class of 2011,” said Admission Possible founder and CEO Jim McCorkell. “These sophomores may not completely believe it today, but two years from now college will not only be within their grasp, they will be on their way! I really encourage sophomores to go ahead and apply, even if right now they are unsure college is for them.” In Admission Possible’s eightyear history, 99 percent of participating students have earned admission to college; 95 percent went on to enroll and nearly 80 percent of those students are still working toward their college degree or have already graduated. The program currently serves 1,300 low-income juniors and seniors in the Greater Twin Cities. Admission Possible students commit to two after-school sessions a week during their junior and senior years of high school. Students join a small learning group and are assigned one Admission Possible college coach who works with them in small groups and individually for each year of the program. During
these two years, students are provided free ACT/SAT test preparation, intensive guidance in preparing college applications, help in obtaining financial aid, and guidance in the transition to college. “Admission Possible really supports me and helps me a lot,” said Admission Possible junior, Tia’Lana Hunter, who attends Minneapolis’ Edison High School. “I like meeting in a small group because I can express myself more.” Three requirements for entry into the Admission Possible program are: 1) income eligibility
– a student’s family income is at or below the median income for the city of residence; 2) a student is a high school sophomore on track to be a junior in 2009-10; 3) a student is willing to commit to after-school sessions, and Saturday ACT practice exams, college campus visits and community service outings over the two years. Additionally, students admitted to the program typically have a GPA of 2.0 or higher and a solid record of school attendance. More than 700 sophomores across the Twin Cities will be notified of admittance to the
program by late April and will begin Admission Possible afterschool programming in the fall of the 2009-10 school year at one of these 19 partner schools: Arlington, Central, Como Park, Harding, Highland Park, Humboldt and Johnson high schools in St. Paul; Patrick Henry, Roosevelt, North, and Edison high schools in Minneapolis; Armstrong and Cooper high schools in Robbinsdale, Minn.; St. Louis Park High School; Columbia Heights High School, Coon Rapids High School (new partner) and charter schools, Higher Ground Academy, Ubah
Medical Academy, and Community of Peace Academy (new partner). Students, parents and other caring adults interested in learning more about the program or wishing to refer a student may
visit the Admission Possible office at a partner high school, or call (651) 917-3525, or visit the organization’s website www.AdmissionPossible.org/Stud ent_Recruitment
Page 12 • March 16 - March 22, 2009 • Insight News
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Girls learn about trades, nontraditional career options
Courtesy of YWCA
More than 50 Minneapolis girls attended the YWCA Power Girls event on February 21 to learn about careers in which women are traditionally underrepresented. Girls talked with firefighters, built and raced egg-mobiles, and completed hands-on trades related projects. Young girls from Minneapolis spent a recent Saturday gaining hands-on experience in trades and nontraditional job fields. Part of the 9th annual YWCA Power
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started with a fashion show that highlighted women in career fields ranging from firefighters to high school science teachers, from millwrights to a young trade school student. Said one youth, "The Assumed Name fashion show was cool. I learned a lot 1. State the exact assumed name under which the business is or will be conducted: of things about All & All Transportation people in different jobs, and what they 2. State the address of the principal place of business: 2311 Thomas Ave No, Minneapolis had to learn in MN 55411 school, and what they earn, and what 3. List the name and complete street address of all persons conducting business under the they like about their above Assumed Name: Carlos Carter, 2311 jobs." Thomas Ave No, Minneapolis MN 55411 S a t i y a Solomon, event co4. I certify that I am authorized to sign this organizer and certificate and I further certify that I Board President of understand that by signing this certificate, I am subject to the penalties of perjury as set Women in the forth in Minnesota Statues section 609.48 as Trades, shared, "We if I had signed this certificate under oath. wanted to have fun Signed by: Carlos Carter and highlight the Date Filed: 2/13/2009 trade clothes and Contact Person: Carlos Carter
Girls events, more than 50 girls participated in the day-long workshop at Dunwoody College of Technology. New this year, the event
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"Meeting the firefighters was my favorite part. We got to try on the uniforms - they were big and heavy." Representatives from the Society of Women Engineers led the girls in an Egg-mobile activity. The women engineers said the event "helped expose girls to many disciplines and careers that most people don't understand." They see Power Girls as an "especially great opportunity for girls because women are underrepresented in the engineering field." The Power Girls event has continued to grow every year since its inception. Most of the girls who attend are participants in year-round YWCA of
Minneapolis Girls & Youth programs including Girl Power, an all-girl after-school math and science program, and Discovery Leadership, an all-girl leadership development program. Christa Perkins, event coorganizer and Girls Inc. Manager at the YWCA of Minneapolis, summed up the event. "Women who work in the trades and jobs where women are still underrepresented are great role models for girls because they have challenged stereotypes in pursuit of personal and professional success. Girls gain hands-on learning beyond what they receive in the classroom. They build skills, confidence and a curiosity for new experiences."
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tools that are important to succeed. People are still shocked by seeing women in trade clothing, and toting around tools." Throughout the day, girls attended educational and handson sessions where they were able to learn from firefighters, a K9 police officer, women engineers and a range of skilled tradeswomen. "How many years of college does it take to become a police officer, because my sister and I want to do that!" questioned one young participant after meeting the Minneapolis K9 police officer and her canine companion. For another nine-year-old participant, the firefighters made a big impression. "The firefighters were amazing. When we saw the truck and stepped inside, it felt like we were firefighters right away." Her 10-year-old sister agreed:
Still there? Working when everyone else is gone Plan your career By Julie Desmond julie@insightnews.com While enjoying that shorter commute to work, you have less time than ever to contemplate your unique situation: still employed. But "The Economy" is impacting you, too, and the sooner you acknowledge your new challenges, the better off you will be long term. Typical symptoms reported by those still working include increased stress at work, survivor's guilt and anxiety. Ironically, these are the same problems your former co-workers are facing. Now what? Companies are cutting employees at break-neck pace. Some are truly strapped for cash, and some are shedding excess pounds. In better times, companies could keep staff on hand to address fluctuations in workload. Now, employers must run lean, deleting redundant roles and
ensuring that everyone on board is contributing. Survivors of a mass lay-off will likely experience a shift in duties and, inevitably, a heavier workload. You might be relieved to have a job, but that doesn't mean you're happy. Additional stress comes from survivor's guilt: you pass someone's empty cubicle on your way to the copier and wonder why them, why not you. Anxiety is another ongoing problem. When the owners of one company addressed those remaining after a major cut, they offered a message of reassurance: these reductions are essential to the long term success of the company, they said. We'll be more profitable this year than last, and everyone will share in this success, they added. The owners were cheerleading, but the employees were unmoved. They wondered whether they were hearing only part of the story. The employees' understandable sense of powerlessness made it difficult for them to know what to think about their futures. What to do? Of course, acknowledge your feelings. But after that you need to take your career into your own hands. Even well-meaning management can be surprised sometimes, and forced into additional (albeit unanticipated) cuts.
Now is a good time to be skeptical. Accept the added workload like the lucky employed person you are. But recognize you are still only one person. Discuss new projects thoroughly with those involved and gain a clear understanding of everyone's expectations. Be upfront about your ability to meet deadlines and keep others informed regarding your progress, your challenges and any additional resources you need. Be quick to ask questions. Allow for a learning curve when taking on new tasks. Once you know what's expected, get everything in writing. If your boss is suddenly let go, you will want the next guy in charge to know where you stand. For networking and friendship, stay in touch with former co-workers through LinkedIn or Facebook. You're only one closed-door conversation away from joining them. Start networking now, and spend some time every week positioning yourself for something new. If a better job comes along? Don't be afraid to take it. The working world is changing now. Be open. Julie Desmond is Senior Talent Consultant with the Walstrom Group in Minneapolis. Write to Julie@insightnews.com.
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Insight News • March 16 - March 22, 2009 • Page 13
SPORTS The Terrell Owens saga continues… Mr T’s Sports Report
By Ryan T. Scott ryan@insightnews.com Lawd, here we go again! Terrell Owens got dropped by the Dallas Cowboys recently, and was then quickly snapped up by the Buffalo Bills. But this does give me the opportunity to drop some vital information on the football fans (and those perhaps trying to understand for the sake of surprising their man). See, there is this funny phenomenon in football where it seems that it is always players in a certain position that are causing lots of problems by running their mouth. Consistently that position is the wide receiver
position. Wide receivers are the one's that the quarterback throws the ball to (Sorry fellas. I gotta make occasional community service tutorial statements like that for the greater good). Running backs are the ones that the quarterback hands the ball off to (lol). Now it makes perfect sense to me that the wide receivers, like Owens, are the ones who you can count on to consistently bump their gums in dissatisfaction. The fact of the matter is that they are the only ones on the field who are consistently put into the position of having to call for the ball. The other part of that equation is that the more balls a wide receiver catches, the more money he is likely to make in the future. The third part of the equation is that if the quarterback doesn't throw the ball to the wide receiver, then the wide receiver likely just did a whole bunch of running around with no direct reward (though there are plenty of things they
can do besides catch the ball). For an office person, that would be like the boss sending you out for coffee, and then when you got back to the office they say they don't want it anymore. You just might cuss him/her out under your breath…of course you're not making $6.5 million either. Owens, Chad Johnson, and retired player Keyshawn Johnson, are a few of the names that come to mind as receivers who have stirred things up immensely by their provocative means of calling for the ball to be thrown their way. The natural side effect of all this is that the other players and coaches wish that those wide receivers would just shut up and wait their turn. The football analysts have gone so far as to pin the word "Diva" to players like this. Owens is considered "Diva #1" in today's NFL landscape. Owens' diva ways have now gotten him kicked off of his third team in his 12-year career. The
Dallas Cowboys released Owens, but it only took about 48 hours for another team (the Buffalo Bills) to pick him up and offer a one-year contract for $6.5 million dollars. In the meantime, since the Cowboys cut Owens before his contract ended, he still gets about $9 million from his previous contract. In other words, the Cowboys were willing to give him $9 million just to go away! Now that's a diva! Keyshawn Johnson wrote a book called Just Throw me the Damn Ball. Terrell Owens should write one called Damn the ball! Throw me off the team so I can collect two checks! There is no doubt that Terrell Owens has issues. I gave him a chance until he got on television crying and quivering because somebody talked mess about his Dallas quarterback Tony Romo. I've never seen somebody cry about a mama-joke, much less a cotton-pickin quarterback. Instead of waving his hand so the
Terrell Owens quarterback will throw him the ball, Owens just figured he would take it to the tilt and cry on national television for some attention. Oh the brilliance! It's almost…uh…infantile. At the
www.helmet2helmet.net
some time, there ain't nothin infantile about Owen's pocketbook. Crazy, or crafty? You make the call. I say both…with a strong lean towards crazy.
12-Year-old bowler has the lanes in his genes By Earl Austin Jr. Special to the NNPA from the St. Louis American ST. LOUIS (NNPA) - It would not be a stretch to say that Jessie Mapp III was born with a bowling ball in his hands. Bowling has been a big part of Mapp’s family for four generations. Young Jessie could not help but get involved in the family legacy. He started bowling at the age of one. “At first, he started rolling apples and oranges around the house,” said Mapp’s father, Jesse Mapp II. “He was always around the sport. When he started
bowling, he never wanted to use the bumpers as a child. He would cry if he had to use the bumpers. He wanted to use the same lanes that the old people used.” At the age of 12, Jessie Mapp III can now be considered a bowling prodigy. On Feb. 4, he bowled a perfect 300 game at the Gateway Classic Youth Bowling Tournament at the St. Charles Lane. It was quite an achievement for a talented youngster who has not reached his teenage years yet. Although official records are not kept, Mapp III has to be one of the youngest African-American bowlers to achieve a 300 game. “It was like watching a miracle,” said Jessie Mapp II. “It
was unbelievable to watch, especially since I’ve never done it. I had tears in my eyes. I was so proud of him because I know how hard he’s worked.” Said Mapp III after his performance, “I was astonished...It had been a goal of mine to bowl a 300 game before my father. It was real exciting for all of us.” A seventh-grade student at Cross Keys Middle School in Florissant, Mapp III is part of a family that enjoys an incredible passion for bowling. It all started with his greatgrandfather John Mapp, who bowled in leagues until he was in his 80s. His son, Jessie Mapp, Sr. picked up the sport and passed it
down to his son, Jesse Jr., and two daughters Kendra Mapp Worsham and Kerri Mapp Cunningham. Kerri was a twosport standout at Pattonville High who earned a bowling scholarship to Missouri Baptist. Joining Jesse Mapp III in the bowling family are his brothers Lonnelle Washington, 15; Shaun Mapp, 12; and sisters Cassie Williams, 12; and Jaya Mapp 8. Jessie Mapp keeps all of his children active as director of Youth Leagues at the Crest Bowl in Florissant. “It’s fun to be part of a family that bowls, because we all kind of help each other,” said Mapp III. After taking up the sport for the first time, it did not take long for
him to establish himself as a top performer. At the age of six, he was featured in the United States Bowling Congress Magazine for bowling a game of 147. He competes in travelling youth leagues in Missouri and Illinois on Sundays. Among his numerous accomplishments are his two Gateway Classic Youth Tournament championships. When he gets older, Mapp III is pretty clear about his future aspirations. He wants to become a professional bowler. “I’ve had the dream to become a professional bowler ever since I was six, maybe even before that,” Mapp III. “I also want to bowl in college.”
Jessie Mapp II
NNPA
Page 14 • March 16 - March 22, 2009 • Insight News
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