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,
Suluki Fardan
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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