Insight News ::: 3.19.12

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Brasil

Gardens in Paradise Sunday, March 25th - Saturday, April 7th at Macy’s Downtown Minneapolis

INSIGHT NEWS March 19 - March 25, 2012 • MN Metro Vol. 38 No. 12 • The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • www.insightnews.com

DIRECT Nana Amuah-Afenyi VI

King Peggy

tour promoting her phenomenal book, King Peggy: An American Secretary, Her Royal Destiny, and the Inspiring Story of How She Changed an African Village. According to one reviewer, “The charming real-life fairy tale of an American secretary who discovers she has been chosen king of an impoverished fishing village on the west coast of Africa. King Peggy has the sweetness and quirkiness of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series and the hopeful sense of possibility of Half the Sky.” King Peggy chronicles the astonishing journey of an American secretary who suddenly finds herself king to a town of 7,000 souls on Ghana’s central coast, half a world away. Upon arriving for her

By Al McFarlane Editor-in-Chief If you had to choose one word to describe Peggielene Bartels, that word, “direct”, might be your choice. You could choose “stately”. You could choose “beautiful.” Perhaps, “fierce”. Or, “royal”. Any of these words would fit this sovereign, King Peggy, ruler of the town of Otuam, in the Central Region of Ghana. But in truth, to use any one of these appellations alone, while accurate, would underwhelm the immensity of her story and her ebullient persona. To incorporate all, would be the beginning of a fitting description: a description fit for a king. King Peggy visited Minneapolis March 5th as part of a national

KING PEGGY TURN TO 6

The

State of Black America stock.xchng

National Urban League seeks to “Occupy the Vote” Opinion

By George E. Curry The National Urban League’s annual “State of Black America” report took a sharp turn this year from what it normally considers the most pressing issues facing African-Americans. “More than the economy, more than jobs, more than an excellent education, the single

issue that arguably stands to have the greatest impact on the future of Black America in 2012 is the vote,” wrote Marc H. Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League. That’s quite a statement from the head of an organization famous for its successful job training programs and close working relationship with Fortune 500 companies. Morial explained: “As Congress wrestles over measures to create jobs and grow the economy, a multistate effort is underway to exclude those Americans most profoundly affected by the

VOTE TURN TO 9

Business Leadership Profile

Four generations of great hair

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No easy solutions By George E. Curry © TheDefenders Online.com After remaining virtually unchanged throughout 2011, the Black unemployment rate fell from 15.8 percent last December to 13.6 percent in January, a drop of 2.2 percent. But from January to February, the figure eased back up to 14.1 percent , an indication that the persistent problem of Black unemployment is not

Justspeak

Ethnic mapping and racial profiling: What’s in a name?

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likely to go away soon. African-Americans, who voted for President Obama at a rate of 95 percent, have been quietly sulking over his inability to lower the Black unemployment rate. They saw the rate rise from 9 percent in December 2007, at the beginning of the recent recession, to 14.9 percent in June 2009 when the recession officially ended, to 15.8 percent in

EMPLOYMENT 2 TURN TO

To Be Equal

By Marc H. Morial “The single issue that arguably stands to have the greatest impact on the future of Black America in 2012 is the vote.” The State of Black America 2012 This week, the National Urban League takes its fight for jobs, education, voting rights and empowerment to Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. In meetings

Interview

Len Elmore: From hoops star to lawyer to broadcaster

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with Obama Administration officials and leaders from both parties in Congress, we will demand immediate action on the persistent jobs crisis and we will offer our own 8-point plan to Educate, Employ and Empower the 13 million Americans who remain out of work. The highlight of our threeday occupation of the nation’s capital is the March 7 release of our annual State of Black America report at a 7 pm town hall meeting on the campus of Howard University. I will be joined by Howard University president, Dr. Sidney Ribeau and a host of civil rights, political,

OCCUPY TURN TO 5

Full Circle

Hope, the remedy for disappointment

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