Summer Zydeco Cowboy party features Wain McFarlane and Zydeco Blue Band
aesthetically speaking
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Insight News June 22 - June 28, 2015
Vol. 42 No. 25 • The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • insightnews.com
MELVIN CARTER II AT LARGE
Element Fitness puts St. Paul on boxing map By Melvin Carter II The sport of boxing dates back to ancient Rome, Greece and perhaps even to ancient Egypt. On June 6, two figures stood mid-ring, artistically bobbin’ weavin’ slippin’ slidin’ floatin’ stingin’ and sometimes toe-to-toe. It was a bright shinny day. The sun’s light, shining thought large glass picture windows lit up the enormous state-of-the-art, highly equipped gymnasium. The place is Element Fitness. The two men were Dalton Outlaw, and Tony “2 Sharpe” Lee. Both men seek their place in history, putting St. Paul back on the international boxing map. Thomas “Coach Ali” Williams, a most incredible, ingenious, trainer gently shouted out instructions. David Bradley
Dalton Outlaw (left) spars with Tony Lee
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LEADERSHIP PROFILE
Saran Jenkins Crayton Women Leading Change Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges
By Dr. Artika Tyner
A neighborhood with promise
Everyone deserves the best defense. They fight for it. “Gideon’s Army” The landmark case of Gideon vs. Wainwright laid the foundation for protecting the rights of criminal defendants. For those who are charged with a felony level crime and cannot afford counsel, they can be appointed an attorney otherwise known as a “Public Defender.” Over 50 years later since the ruling in the Gideon case, progress has been made to provide equal access to representation; however this promise has not been fully realized. Today, the demand for legal services continues to rise when “an estimated 80% of felony defendants in large
By Mayor Betsy Hodges and Congressman Keith Ellison (MN-05)
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Saran Jenkins Crayton
Legislative Auditor: MUL received “Financial Clean Bill Of Health” By Steven Belton MUL Interim President On Saturday, June 13, the Star Tribune published an editorial acknowledging the Office of the Legislative Auditor issued
Congressman Keith Ellison (MN-05)
the Minneapolis Urban League a “financial clean bill of health” related to allegations it improperly billed the state for two of its education programs. The editorial calls for continued support of MUL programs and initiatives. The OLA’s findings were first published on June 5
in an article by Star Tribune reporter Steve Brandt. This was a manufactured controversy, from our perspective, resulting from inaccurate and indolent reporting of Star Tribune writer Alexandra Matos who wrote several stories alleging improper
Insight 2 Health
Music education
Gardening for good health
Many school students don’t have access to music classes
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billing but was unavailable to report the news the Legislative Auditor had cleared MUL. For many contemporary media outlets, like the Star Tribune, the distinction between
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When city planners drew a Minneapolis map in 1935, North and Near-North neighborhoods were marked as “Negro” sections and SumnerGlenwood was given the title of “Negro Slum (Largest in City).” These distinctions led to a generation of discrimination and disinvestment. Ignored by local government, black residents were systematically denied access to financial assistance granted to their white neighbors. For example, Federal Housing Administration mortgages were only available to white families and communities until the Civil Rights era. Businesses paid black workers less than their white colleagues. The effects of pernicious segregation and decades of disinvestment persist in North Minneapolis today: 60% of residents in the 1935 citydesignated “Negro Slum” still
live in poverty — a rate three times higher than the rest of the city. Unemployment is 20% higher, graduation rates are 50% lower, and median family incomes in North Minneapolis are 5 times lower than their neighbors across the freeway. Our shared strategy for reversing these decades of disinvestment is long-term and organized investment in North Minneapolis. To this end, the City of Minneapolis worked collaboratively with 150 community leaders and stakeholders to apply for the federal government’s Promise Zone designation. After a concerted effort, on April 28, the Obama Administration selected a big part of North Minneapolis as one of only eight Promise Zones out of 123 applicants from across the country. The 10-year Promise Zone status provides major opportunities to refocus and expand our efforts to rebuild a community that has long-
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Commentary
Education
Celebrating the gifted James Baldwin
Closing achievement gaps requires more than education reform
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