Insight News ::: 8.3.09

PRESORTED STANDARD U.S. POSTAGE PAID MINNEAPOLIS MN PERMIT NO. 32468

Where: When:

Orpheum Theatre Friday, August 14 at 8pm.

For further information or to order tickets, call Children's Cancer research fund at 952-893-9355 or visit childrenscancer.org.

Ne-Yo and Kristinia DeBarge performing

August 3 - August 9, 2009 • MN Metro Vol. 35 No. 31 • The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • www.insightnews.com

Transformation

Time to move beyond change Beverley Anderson Manley, former First Lady of Jamaica will deliver the keynote address for the Jamaica Minnesota Organization’s Annual Independence Gala 7 pm Sat., August 8, 2009, at the Radisson Plaza Hotel Ballroom, 35 S. 7th

Status of Women and represented Jamaica at the Organizations of American States (OAS) Gender Section.

She served as Consultant Director of the Jamaica Bureau of Women’s Affairs.

Today, Manley is a gender

Anderson Manley places a transformation lens on issues of the day always looking for possibilities, no matter the situation. This is in keeping with her vision of creating opportunities for transformation of Jamaicans wherever they live.

Street, in downtown Minneapolis.

Anderson Manley, the widow of former Jamaican president Michael Manley, in the 1970s served as Jamaica’s representative to the United Nations Commission on the

and transformational trainer and a consultant on Third World development and communications issues. A vice president of the Third World Foundation, in Chicago, IL, Manley became a leader in the politics of the Peoples’ National

Party (PNP) in the 1970s and early 1980s. She was President of the PNP Women’s Movement and Chairperson of the PNP Political Education Programme as well as its Canvassers Training Progamme.

Anderson Manley is executive producer and host of the radio program “Today with Beverley Anderson Manley which airs on Jamaica’s HOT 102 at 6-9 am every week-day morning. Anderson Manley places a transformation lens on issues of the day always looking for possibilities, no matter the situation. This is in keeping with her vision of creating opportunities for transformation of Jamaicans wherever they live.

In 2008 Anderson Manley published her memoirs The Manley Memoirs and is currently launching it across North America and the United Kingdom. She will be reading from her book at the Independence Gala presentation and autographing books following her presentation.

Angie’s Hats revives elegant art of yesteryear

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Fannie Lou Hamer “Sick and tired of being sick and tired”

Beverley Anderson Manley

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Gates arrest was not first racial embarrassment for Cambridge police

By Hazel Trice Edney NNPA Editor-in-Chief WASHINGTON (NNPA) – The recent outrage in response to the Cambridge Police Department’s arrest of prominent Harvard Professor Henry Louis “Skip” Gates was not the first time that the Cambridge Police Department was nationally embarrassed amidst a racial incident.

Ten years ago, the Cambridge Police commissioner and mayor issued a public apology after a story by this reporter exposed racially offensive teachings and language by Cambridge police officers during an interview

Renegade: The Making of a President

PAGE Scott Gray, Minneapolis Urban League Executive Director Photos: NNPA

Henry Louis “Skip” Gates

about the use of pepper spray.

Though a decade has passed, last week’s incident in which Gates was arrested for

GATES TURN TO

By Dr. George Banks Part 1 Racism and related issues persist to this day in all aspects of our society. These issues are reflected in longstanding disparities between the life experiences of African Americans and “mainstream” Americans.

If African Americans come to understand that assumptions about effectiveness breed and sustain racism then, African Americans can take the initiative to resolve these critical problems.

One significant problem for African Americans is the practice of “racial profiling.”

The following is a case study that illustrates ingredients that can be useful in confronting this racist practice.

Early one Saturday morning my daughter and I began our long drive to attend the funeral of my older sister who had just passed away. We would have to travel some distance through several states. We braced ourselves for a strenuous, sad trip realizing also that this was a chance to join with family and friends to honor the loss of someone special.

After driving for sometime on the highway we reached a toll both, paid the required toll, and resumed our driving. Within moments of leaving the toll booth, a police unit with two officers inside, began to follow my vehicle.

I was signaled to pull my vehicle over to the side of the road. After a few minutes one of the police officers approached my vehicle

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Suluki Fardan

Closing the racial economic gaps in our community

Gateway to opportunity

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A different way to handle race profiling

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By Scott Gray President/CEO Minneapolis Urban League Poised on the corner of Plymouth and Penn, tan brick arches welcome African Americans to pursue new opportunities for economic and social

development.

The GloverSudduth Center for Economic Development, which houses the headquarters of the Minneapolis Urban League, is one of the most striking of all Urban League facilities out of 100+ affiliates throughout the country. The building reminds me of the building I helped to develop in Madison, WI, that is scheduled to

break-ground in September 2009.

I can only hope that the Greater Madison Urban League’s facility is utilized as much as I have seen this building utilized by the community in my first 45 days.

As any good architect or developer knows, the facility built must compliment the spirit and

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Health Care Reform- An important topic concerning all of us?

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NorthPoint gets $1.3 million in federal stimulus grants

By Al McFarlane Insight Editor-In-Chief NorthPoint Health & Wellness Center as a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) was awarded two grants from Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) $2 billion America Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) stimulus funding for health centers.

NorthPoint CEO Stella

Whitney-West said the grants made NorthPoint among the first institutions in the state to receive Stimulus funds from the federal government.

Whitney-West announced the funding at the monthly meeting of Willard Homewood Organization, which meets regularly in one of the NorthPoint campus facilities on Penn Avenue North at 14th Street.

“NorthPoint is a $30 million health and social services enterprise

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The rebirth of the Tavaris Jackson Fan Club Suluki Fardan

Stella Whitney-West

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Photos: Bettie Foster Crowe

Angie Hall Sandifer

Amye Scharlau

Monette Ortega

Bettie Foster Crowe

Carol Nicholson

Rosemarie Cook

entrepreneurial spirit. The idea for her company, stumbled under her brim like only the beauty of an accidental fate can supply.

With severance money in hand to be utilized to forge a new career with ample training, what started off as a school project at Metropolitan State University, where she was asked to design a website in her desktop publishing course, transitioned into a fated heartbeat that whispered the birth of a new life and a new direction under the veil of a company known as Angie’s Hats.

“I love hats.

My grandmother wore hats, my mom wore hats, gloves, and shoes. I used to just love it when she would dress up. Back then people wore hats and got dressed up and unfortunately, we don’t dress up anymore. I think when women dress up, they act different —we respect each other more and it gives people a since of well being. It’s a way to acknowledge another sister and at the same time have fun,” said Sandifer.

Sandifer, who crafts her entire collection by hand, spent years studying the lost art of hat making from milliners across the country. She uses traditional materials such as felt and straw, and embellishes each creative design with different precious materials from Swarovski crystals to silk flowers. From the pillbox to cloche, or an Aretha Franklin-inspired Inaugural piece, many of her designs mirror the ageless beauty that was once lost to the seasons of change.

Her custom-made hats are perfect for weddings, parties,

special occasions and other events. She doesn’t sell her work on her website, although she does display her collection to give her growing clientele an idea of the beauty in her unparalleled creations. Not every hat is designed to fit every head, nor is every style guaranteed to be a perfect match for every woman, so buying a hat from Sandifer is a satisfying experience, because she works with each customer to provide an everlasting smile under each brim that escapes her vision. All of her hats are custom made to fit the client and their desires.

With her, you can rest in the theory that there is a hat for every woman, and a woman for every hat.

Angie’s Hats recently held their 2nd Annual Garden and Tea Party to celebrate not only her creations, but to give her guests a comfortable platform to dress up and showcase their personal hats. For Sandifer, the event is but a sign of things yet to come from under the cap of her creative spirit. “People tell me that they love hats, but they don’t know where to wear them.

So what I’m trying to do is create places or events for women to wear hats. Maybe a high tea or another occasion, but just somewhere they can go to wear their hat,” she said.

Angie’s Hat’s is at the beginning of what promises to be a captivating journey of revisiting our timeless traditions.

For more information on how you can purchase a hat visit, www.Angieshats.com or call (651) 208-4442.

Milliner Angie Sandifer revives elegant art of yesteryear

By Alaina Lewis There used to be a time when you’d never see a lady out in public without wearing a work of art atop her head. A lady’s life

was often visited by a parade of eloquent hats that captivated the moment and captured the essence of special events such as the Kentucky Derby. At best, a hat was as essential to the moment as the moment was to

that particular hat. But like the celebration of most timeless traditions, the beauty of what once was, often falls victim to the artificial aspects of a life here and now.

Although millinery hats are seen mostly as a lost art amongst manufactured convenience, there is still a glimpse of nostalgic refinery peaking through the creations of a southern gem known as Angie Sandifer.

Sandifer is

Minnesota’s answer to a misplaced season of picturesque eloquence and everlasting traditions. Through her budding company, Angie’s Hats, the art of yesteryear is recapturing the hearts of her growing clientele.

As a daughter of the South, Sandifer’s life was rich in southern traditions, so after being laid off from a 31-year career with Qwest in 2003, she interlaced her love for wearing hats with her newfound

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Insight News • August 3 - August 9, 2009 • Page 3

EDUCATION “Sick and tired of being sick and tired”-studying Hamer teaching African American youth about their rich culture and history.

Through the use of licensed teachers, African dancers, drummers, photographers, artists and computer experts, children in WE WIN’s programs have been able to gain a plethora of knowledge grounded in their rich cultural traditions.

On Tuesday, August 18, WE WIN will have an Open House at 3805 Third Avenue South to showcase the work of their students over the summer. For more information (612) 721-2364.

By Titilayo Bediako “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired” are the famous words of the remarkable and immortal African American she-roe, Fannie Lou Hamer. Hamer is best known for her impassioned speech to the Democratic National Convention in 1964 during which she told the world how she was beaten to a pulp and put in jail by Mississippi troopers, for daring to work for freedom and justice for African Americans.

Born in 1917, Hamer worked in the fields of Mississippi from the time she was six-years-old and she had only a sixth grade education.

She participated in meetings of the Regional Council of Negro Leadership, where speakers spoke of self-help, civil rights, and voting rights.

In 1962, Hamer began working with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) registering Black voters in the South. She and her family were kicked off the land they had been working for over 20 years because she dared to help Black folks to vote. SNCC hired her as a field secretary. Hamer was able to register to vote for the first time in her life in 1963. She taught others what they’d need to know to pass the thenrequired literacy test, which had to be passed in order for African Americans to be able to vote.

After being charged with disorderly conduct for not following a restaurant’s “whites only” policy, Hamer was beaten so badly in jail that she was permanently disabled.

African Americans were excluded from the Mississippi Democratic Party, so the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) was formed, with Hamer as a founding member and vice president. The MFDP sent an alternate delegation to the 1964 Democratic National Convention.

They sent 64 Black and four white delegates. Hamer spoke to the convention about the violence and racism faced by Black voters who tried to register to vote. Millions of

Fifth grade student David Walker essay demonstrates his understanding of Fannie Lou Hamer.

Fannie Lou Hamer rogerhollander.wordpress.com/.../

Fannie Lou Hamer people from around the country heard the impassioned speech of this great freedom fighter. As a result of the work of Fannie Lou Hamer and others, President Lyndon Johnson signed the voting rights act in 1965, which allowed all American citizens the right to vote.

WE WIN Institute has implemented an innovative summer program at Zion Baptist Church on the Northside of Minneapolis and

their Southside location on 38th street in Minneapolis. Serving over 80 children, in their 10-week program, children have learned about the work of Hamer and how her accomplishments created a better way of life for African Americans and created a foundation for the United States to have its first Black president, Barack Obama.

For the last 10 years WE WIN has done extraordinary work in

Art By Demetrius Compton

Drawing of Fannie Lou Hammer

Fannie Lou Hamer was born in Mississippi in 1917. Fannie’s mother was short, Black and poor.

She was also tough. She never let anyone mess with her babies. A person could be big, rich and white, but if they messed with her babies they would have to mess with mama.

One day Fannie was playing in the field at the age of six. Her mother’s boss made a deal with her.

The deal was that if Fannie could pick 30 pounds of cotton, she could go to the store with him and get anything she wanted. She did it.

Fannie didn’t know that the man had tricked her and from the age of six she had to work in the field with no treats.

When she grew older she met a man named Pap Hamer. They got married in 1945. One day in 1962 Fannie woke up and went to Ruleville, MS to register to vote.

Because she did that Pap and Fannie lost their jobs.

One time on the bus in Winona, MS, Fannie and a group of Blacks got arrested. The police made the other Black prisoners beat Fannie with a solid lead blackjack. She would never forget the pain and

hunger she knew most of her life.

She started the Freedom Farm for poor Black and white people to come so they would never go hungry.

Fannie Lou Hamer was a great woman. I learned to stand up for myself and be the best person I can be. She is my she-roe.

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COMMENTARY Increase Africa’s AIDS medication funding Justice for all

By Judge Greg Mathis The World recently celebrated the 91st birthday of Nelson Mandela, freedom fighter and former President of South Africa.

Celebrities came to toast his life and work, starring in concert

tributes that paid homage to his legacy. While Mandela is definitely worthy of praise, I’m sure he’d much rather the efforts put into planning the celebrations have been put toward reducing AIDS deaths in sub-Sahara Africa, where his people are suffering greatly.

Doctors Without Borders, an organization of healthcare professionals who provide critical medical support to impoverished and war torn nations, reports that a shortage of drugs needed to treat AIDS in six African countries will eventually lead to the loss of thousands. At last count, over 30 million people across the world

were living with the HIV virus that causes AIDS; 2/3 of these people are in sub-Sahara Africa with Zimbabwe, Congo, Malawi, Uganda, Guinea and South Africa being the most affected.

Mandela’s native South Africa has the highest rates of HIV infections in world.

The shortage in medication can be attributed largely to the fact that those who make funding commitments in the past don’t actually meet them. Between $3 and $4 billion in promised funding has not made its way to Doctors Without Borders and nations across the globe that have promised to help Africa haven’t

made good on their word.

One of the few – perhaps the only –bright spots in the Bush Administration was the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief through which $15 billion was pledged over five years to fight the global AIDS epidemic.

Despite all the money the U.S. has funneled into fighting the disease on the continent, more can be done. President Obama has promised to expand Bush’s efforts by $1 billion a year; we haven’t seen the funds from this commitment made available.

Fighting AIDS in Africa must be made a priority. African nations debilitated by AIDS would not

make strong trading partners as America and other developed nations seek to expand their global impact.

There can be no trade relationship with countries that lack a healthy workforce.

Furthermore, nations such as Britain, France, Portugal and the U.S. have benefited greatly from the continent of Africa having raped the land of its natural and human resources for generation. It is only just that, in this time of great need, these countries give back by expanding their commitment to fight AIDS on the continent and working to make sure they fulfill those promises.

Judge Greg Mathis became the youngest judge in Michigan’s history and was elected a Superior Court Judge for Michigan’s 36th District. He has been called upon as a regular contributor to national television programs, including “Larry King Live,” “Politically Incorrect,” CNN’s “Talk Back Live,” “Showbiz Tonight” and “Extra” to discuss his opinions on complex issues of the day, such as national security, unique sentencing, affirmative action and celebrity scandals. He also offers his take on high-profile legal cases.

Now disappearing: Black farmers must be protected

By John W. Boyd, Jr. NNPA Guest Columnist Black farmers in the United States are disappearing. In the 1920s, there were approximately 900,000; today there are only 18,000, accounting for less than 1 percent of America’s farmers.

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But the staggering 98 percent decline in Black farm ownership does not tell the whole story: when each farm closed, those farmers, their families and their employees all lost a way of life that had existed for generations.

When I started the National Black Farmers Association in 1995, I, like quite a few farmers in my community, was on the brink of losing my farm. As a thirdgeneration Black farmer, I wanted to save my own farm and preserve my heritage, but I also wanted to protect the first and oldest occupation for Black Americans.

Today’s Black farms primarily are small enterprises with particular needs for the crops we grow. Our productivity comes from our enterprise and hard work, aided by biotechnology innovations that help our crops tolerate certain herbicides and

Profiling From 1 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 Vice President of Sales & Marketing Selene White 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 Brenda Colston Julie Desmond Marcia Humphrey Mehgaan Jones Alaina L. Lewis Rashida McKenzie Brandi D. Phillips Ryan T. Scott Photography Suluki Fardan Tobechi Tobechukwu Contact Us: Insight News, Inc. Marcus Garvey House 1815 Bryant Ave. N. MinneAPOlis., 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.

and stood at the window on the front passenger side by my daughter. The officer identified himself.

The officer proceeded to inform me that I had been driving at a speed of 70 mph in a 55 mph speed zone. I presumed that he was referring to distance traveled by my vehicle from departing the toll booth to the point where I was directed to pull my vehicle over to the side of the road.

The officer then asked me for my license and the vehicle registration. I had to reach into my right rear pocket to take out the folded registration for my vehicle, a rental automobile. I unfolded the registration paper and gave it to him. As he took my license and registration he made a comment to me including words something like “you seem nervous” and he did it in a manner and phrasing that strongly suggested he was asking me a question for which an answer was required.

The officer returned to his unit.

After a short period of time he came back to my vehicle and stood at the driver’s side window. He ordered me out of the vehicle and

protect them against insects.

Biotechnology helps reduce labor costs by eliminating the need to use more labor-intensive farming methods, reducing pesticide use and insect problems; and increasing crop yields.

Because no two crops are alike, having access to the best choice of biotechnology innovations is critical to meeting the challenge of feeding an ever-increasing world population.

For most of the NBFA’s history, racial discrimination was the biggest threat to the livelihood of Black farmers. More recently, however, anti-competitive conduct by monopolists and reduced competition for the biotechnology that we need has emerged as a major obstacle. Lack of choice in agricultural markets was a topic of discussion at the NBFA’s recent Legislative

Conference.

One area we identified in which we desperately need more competition is for biotechnology used in seeds, because it currently is controlled by one company: Monsanto. Monsanto is the Microsoft of agriculture: the dominant company that controls the key biotechnology that all farmers need. The St. Louis-based company’s recent lawsuit to block DuPont and Pioneer from introducing their new biotechnology with Monsanto’s biotechnology in soybeans is only one of the practices it has used to preserve its monopoly and attempt to intimidate customers and competitors.

A few years ago, following the NBFA’s public opposition to Monsanto’s acquisition of Delta and Pine Land, then the largest cotton seed company in the

United States, Monsanto used those practices against us. Several of my colleagues and I were unable to purchase seed — the lifeblood of any farm — from our local retailer because of threats to penalize the retailer financially.

We were forced to drive to a different state to do so. But the NBFA members and I will not be intimidated or silenced. We fought the U.S. Department of Agriculture to ensure and obtain civil rights for Black farmers, and we will fight for our rights to be free from monopoly tyranny.

Monsanto’s monopoly limits farmers’ choices and threatens our livelihoods. But America’s antitrust laws were enacted to protect us — including farmers — from this very situation. These laws are premised on the belief that competitive markets produce the best products, and they need to

be enforced.

I welcome the Oklahoma Attorney General’s recent comments expressing concern about the impact of Monsanto’s lawsuit, and I ask him and other state attorneys general to take action to protect farmers and consumers. Farmers ought to be able to obtain the technology that we need for our crops regardless of the source of that technology.

Restoring competition to agriculture will allow Black farmers to choose products that best suit our needs, making it a little easier for us to stay on our land.

instructed me to stand at the right rear of my vehicle, a place that was at the right front of his unit. At this time he questioned me regarding the contract for my rental vehicle. The officer stated that he had the authority to impound my rental car. He said he had this authority because the rental contract stated authorization for use of the vehicle in only one state and that was not the state we were driving in at the time. I had informed him earlier that my daughter and I were traveling to attend the funeral for my sister in another state.

While having me stand in the same place between my vehicle and the officer’s unit, the officer began to interrogate me regarding my travel to my sister’s funeral.

His questions were about the identity of my daughter, the day and time of my sister’s funeral, the travel time to and from the funeral in the other state, and hotel arrangements for overnight stay.

Next he asked me again about the identity of my daughter, the front seat passenger. He then directed me to remain standing in place between the two vehicles.

At that time he walked to the passenger side of the vehicle and began talking with my daughter.

After a short time, he then returned to where I was standing and

instructed me to return to my vehicle and sit inside.

Waiting in my vehicle for a short period a second police unit drove in to park behind the first

police unit. Another officer got out of the second unit and walked to the driver’s side of the first unit.

The additional officer talked for a few minutes with the officer who

had interrogated my daughter and me. He then came forward to my vehicle and stood at the passenger side window.

Without

John W. Boyd, Jr. is president and founder of the National Black Farmers Association. He grows corn, soybeans and wheat in southern Virginia.

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AESTHETICS

Skinhead searches for self in surrealistic drama

By Kam Williams Back In 1996, riots broke out in St. Petersburg, FL following the fatal shooting of an 18-year-old Black driver by cops who had incorrectly suspected him of stealing a vehicle. During the disturbances which ensued, a police officer was

shot and 28 fires were set by rampaging hordes of African American youths.

Chris Fuller, a white resident of the city who was 15 at the time, started writing a script about the incident, but from the controversial perspective of a skinhead. Although it took him over a decade to complete the

project, the upshot of his efforts is Loren Cass, a surrealistic Southern drama sympathetic to the plight of young white rebels without a clue.

Using St. Petersburg’s palpable black-white tensions as a bleak backdrop, Loren Cass focuses on the empty lives of three individuals from the caucasian side of the tracks. But looks can be deceiving, for as the narrator inscrutably notes, “This is their story, and it’s all a mother[bleeping] lie.”

There’s bald from the ears up Jason (Travis Maynard), a tattooed wonder who likes to contemplate the meaning of life while waiting for a ride from Cale (Fuller), an equally-ignorant pal with a pickup truck. By day, the two have nothing more productive to do than to cruise around their lilywhite enclave looking to beat the living daylights out of any African American pedestrians unlucky enough to be walking alone in the neighborhood. Evenings, they unwind in a nearby nightclub’s mosh pit watching stage diving as noisy punk rock bands perform.

The third wheel to this tacky triumvirate is Jason’s girlfriend, Nicole (Kayla Tabish), a slightly more complicated soul who works as a waitress in a truck stop diner.

What the racist Jason doesn’t know is that the object of his affection has a bad case of Jungle Fever. For at the point of departure, we find her secretly sleeping with a brother (Din Thomas) in her own bedroom and practically right under her parents noses.

But the movie is more of a meditative mood piece than a melodrama about race relations, because it is given to long stretches where Jason just sits on

http://lorencass.com/multimedia/stills.html

Loren Cass movie poster

the curb holding his shaved pate in his hands staring at the piece of the street between his feet. Along the way, the daring director drops big hints that his antihero might be depressed, such as by having him hang out in a cemetery or extinguish a cigar on his own arm.

I’m not sure why it’s even in the movie, but for some reason the film includes the disturbing scene featuring the unedited, graphic footage of R Bud Dwyer committing suicide by shooting himself in the head. I went into shock at that point and could think of nothing else.

So, what’s the movie’s message? Perhaps, that underneath the antisocial veneer, angry white males with suicidal tendencies are people, too. A sobering reminder if we all are going to have to get along in the all-inclusive, postracial Age of Obama.

Very Good (3 stars) Unrated Running time: 83 minutes Studio: Kino International To see a trailer for Loren Cass, visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v =jX4HvrCDmPc

Book review:

Renegade:

The Making of a President

By Kam Williams Renegade: The Making of a President

by Richard Wolffe Crown Publishers Hardcover, $26.00 368 pages ISBN: 978-0-307-46312-8 “This is the making of a president, witnessed from a front-row seat, as it unfolded from its first day to its last. With the help of more than a dozen one-on-one interviews with the candidate and then president— as well as scores of sessions with his trusted aides, friends and family—this account is an attempt to translate the enigma of Barack Obama, to answer the questions of who he is and what ay behind his rise from freshman senator to fortyfourth president of the United States of America.”

Excerpted from Chapter One, “Change” (pages 5-6) The election of Barack Obama has spawned a cottage industry of books about the President and the First Lady. Many of these publications have merely been

www.amazon.com

“take the money and run” rip-offs rushed to print in a calculated attempt to cash-in on the collective euphoria about the historic moment. One author even freely admits in the introduction of her tome that she never even spoke to either the Obamas or to any of their relatives, friends or colleagues. But that didn’t prevent her from quickly putting out a coffee table-type keepsake.

People who were patient enough to wait for a quality opus will find themselves handsomely rewarded by Renegade, a recounting of Obama’s ascension to the White House by Richard Wolffe, a reporter who was assigned by Newsweek Magazine to cover the 2008 campaign from beginning to end. Over those 21 months, he enjoyed unusual access to the candidate, since it was Barack himself who came up with the idea of Wolfe’s chronicling his rise to the presidency for posterity, ala The Making of the President, the Teddy White’s classic about JFK. Renegade revisits all of the high and low points of the campaign trail, allowing the reader to get inside Obama’s head at critical moments, like after the win in Iowa, the loss in New Hampshire and during the agonizing days of the Rev. Wright controversy. We also learn when Obama identified Hillary Clinton’s Achilles Heel, and when and why he decided to neutralize her as a threat by appointing her as his Secretary of State.

Furthermore, Wolffe discusses the Obamas’ early years together, when Barack’s “restless political ambitions took their marriage and finances to the brink.” Michelle essentially supported the family during that period until he finally agreed to take what “was supposed to be his last shot at politics,” a run for the U.S. Senate. Miraculously, “He burst onto the national scene with a single speech, trounced the opposition, and secured a handsome book contract.”

And the rest is history, and it’s all recounted here in vivid detail.

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LIFESTYLE Stretch paychecks by using proper care to extend life of clothing and gear Style on a dime

By Marcia Humphrey Like nearly all Americans, you have probably been feeling the squeeze of the economic slowdown. Although some experts say that recovery is on the way, if you are like most, you might be asking, “Are we there yet?” As a result, you are still on the lookout for new ways to make your paycheck last longer. Here is another cost-cutting idea that you may have not yet considered. By using a few simple tips and a little

extra attention, you can prolong the life of your family’s wardrobe and keep more cash in your wallet. Let’s get started!

Slow Down and Read the Label!

Often in our race to get everything on our to-do list completed, we neglect to read the label which explains the best way to care for our garment. If you wash a delicate garment in hot water, when the instructions call for cold water, the life of the garment is shortened. In addition, shrinkage, either slight or major, occurs. Just ask my husband about his favorite, nearly new wool sweater that now fits my six-year-old son.

Oops, my bad!

Wash, Don’t Dry! In addition to washing most clothing in cold water, another way to keep your dark-colored clothes from fading is to skip the

dryer. This is a tip mama taught me as a child. As a practical nurse, she only had two uniforms when she first began working. She hand-washed the uniforms and then hung them over the bathtub to dry. They seemed to last forever!

Remove Stains Promptly!

The quicker the stain is removed the less likely it will leave any evidence. Most importantly, if you are having difficulty fully removing a stain, do not place the garment in the dryer until all your stain-removal efforts have been exhausted. The key to successful stain-removal is to use the right cleaner for the job. Try this website for great tips on conquering stains (on everything). http://www.doityourself.com/stry/ qnacleaning6

Follow Directions!

Whether it’s laundry detergent, stain-removal products, or fabric softener it is very important to follow the label instructions.

More product does not always yield better results. As a child I recall how stiff the clothes were when I would help mama remove them from the washer. One day she told me that she finally figured out why; she would add two to three times the recommended amount of detergent so that the clothes would be cleaner-oops!

When I was a younger, childless adult I used to see boys with sewn-on knee patches on their pants and wondered if it was really necessary-I thought patches were awful. After having children, and especially our son, I realize that patches serve a much-needed purpose in boyhood.

During times of economic

uncertainty we can often save ourselves more time and money in the long run if, in the short run, we appropriately address the small stuff; missing buttons, small rips, etc.

There is nothing particularly fun or glamorous about tending to dirty, stained laundry or doing minor mending projects. Yet, if your goal is to save money and save the stress of buying what you can’t afford, then stay on track. Care for and wear, with pride, the gear that you already have. Just don’t forget your musthave accessories for this (and every) season; gratitude and peace. Enjoy!

Marcia Humphrey is an interior 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.

Advocates say Rosemary Williams housing victory elevates people power On July 24, at 9:15 am, the Hennepin County Sheriff’s office knocked on the door of Rosemary Williams, 3138 Clinton Ave S, Minneapolis.

They handed her an eviction notice, stating that she and her family (including two grandchildren) had to be out of the house by Monday.

Williams, along with the MN Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign and the MN Coalition for People’s Bailout, were already prepared with a press conference to

MUL From 1 aesthetic qualities of the neighborhood. The architect and developer of the Glover-Sudduth Center for Economic Development, Clarence Hightower, deserves commendation for having the vision to build this facility.

Bearing the names of two long-

announce plans to resist the eviction.

Twenty minutes before the press conference, Williams received a phone call from Minneapolis Councilmember Elizabeth Glidden. Word came through that a buyer had been found for the house, and that Williams could get a chance to lease her home with an option to buy. The sheriffs were called off. And Rosemary stays in her home.

“This victory shows that when you fight back, you can

win,” said Linden Gawboy, of the MN Coalition for a People’s Bailout. “Rosemary has lit the path for millions of others in this country. Stay, stay, stay.

Never give up.

Our communities depend on us staying.”

Cheri Honkala, of the MN Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign said, “Rosemary’s victory proves the strength of people’s power.

Through a unified struggle made up of directly affected people and allies, mega-

corporations like GMAC have run scared. Rosemary has won.”

Williams has lived on the same block in South Minneapolis for 55 years. Since she began her fight against foreclosures, she has been speaking not just for herself, but for other people who are in the same situation. She has testified at the legislature, before the city council and attempted a ground-breaking court case to save her home.

“This is what happens when organizations and

community come together and work collectively,” said Williams. “I just want to encourage everyone to not just leave in the night like they want you to. Fight for what is yours.”

time leaders of the MUL, Gleason Glover and Gary Sudduth, the building reflects the strong foundation of leadership and service. I am extremely grateful for what all three of these men, and countless other men and women, have contributed to the 82-year history of the MUL. Beyond the bricks and mortar, today, the Minneapolis Urban League is at a pivotal. The organization does not need an architect or developer to build a

new facility; it needs an architect or developer to retrofit its programming to address the 21st Century challenges. Some of the serious challenges that the greater Minneapolis community face is triple digit unemployment for African Americans, a 60% high school dropout rate, less than 30% homeownership rate, and a dismal number of Black businesses. In my estimation the vision must fit these challenging times and I am calling this new architectural design the “Gateway to Opportunity.”

This gateway has three objectives: 1) evolving into a workforce solution center that trains and connects adults to emerging careers-not just employment, 2) designing a college readiness and career development youth education program that includes creating a 13th transitional grade and becomes a clearinghouse for youth to be better prepared for higher education, and 3) becoming the catalyst for increasing home ownership and creating opportunities for African American businesses to become scaleable in exchange for more jobs.

The vision is clear, but the question becomes how does the organization in its current state ramp up its programming when resources are shrinking and competition is more fierce than ever before. We must continue to create, find, and fight for

resources for the community. Our facility should be a gateway to accessing those resources.

grades now enjoys the privileges excelling in school brings. He went from a mediocre school with lowered expectations for its student body to a well disciplined, excellence-oriented, leadership-focused military academy and blossomed into a strong, focused, athlete and scholar who achieves in the classroom, enjoys the music program and excels in athletics.

When watching CNN’s “Black in America 2,” Steve Perry, the outstanding principal of Connecticut’s Capital Preparatory Magnet School, shared how he gave a blighted neighborhood hope by developing a school that focuses on high achievement by demanding excellence from his staff, the students, and himself.

As a result, 100% of his students go on to college. If he can get these results, there is no reason we cannot demand those types of results from our elementary, middle, and high schools. It is incumbent upon us to do all we can to prepare our kids for college and careers if they are going to have a chance to close the achievement gaps in their life.

Access Connecting to resources is an obvious role of the Urban League. But as this world has flattened out and we face harsh economic times, we have learned that we must connect to emerging sectors. We must think about long term solutions and not just quick fixes. Anyone entering our gateway with a desire to improve their circumstances and change their life can leave with a plan and access to the appropriate support to make their plan work.

By collaborating with other agencies, colleges, programs, and employers our solution center will provide results one family at a time.

Achievement When so many resources are currently available, why do so many African Americans still fall short of their dreams and on the wrong side of the social and economic gaps? This leads to our second demand of higher achievement for us by us.

I have had the personal privilege of observing how a strong achievement and excellence orientation can change the culture of an organization and all of its participants. My son, who struggled as a middle school student from peer pressure to be a cool low achiever with average

For more information: Cheri Honkala Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign (612) 940-1040 or (267) 439-8419; Linden Gawboy, MN Coalition for a People’s Bailoutmn-peoplesbailout.org: (612) 296-5649

Accountability The cornerstone for any achievement is the accountability tied to it. It is not enough to have great access to opportunities and high goals for achievement, but we must be willing to do the necessary hard work to make it happen.

We must all be

Suluki Fardan

Linden Gawboy

accountable for the success of closing these gaps. The Urban League should be a gateway to provide access to the best resources for disadvantaged African Americans. We should set high achievement standards for our programs, our staff, and our schools and we should be accountable to these goals. One organization cannot do it alone — we need partners interested in building each other up rather than tearing one another down. We need members from the community to volunteer and provide financial resources. We need corporate partners to assist with making this a great community to live and work. We need individuals who utilize our programming to pursue the opportunities with rigor and a spirit of excellence.

Unfortunately, progress won’t be easy but it can be attained with the right preparation, vision, and work ethic. As we continue to prepare this gateway to opportunity, I challenge everyone reading this column to think about what they can do to provide a solution to the daunting gaps facing African Americans in the Twin Cities. As one of the great movement leaders, Whitney Young, said, “It is better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have one than to have an opportunity and not be prepared.”

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Insight News • August 3 - August 9, 2009 • Page 7

BUSINESS Face time: Stay visible to stay employed Plan your career

By Julie Desmond julie@insightnews.com Terry and his future brother-inlaw, Paul, were golfing one afternoon when a close family friend waved to them from the next fairway. Terry waved back.

Who’s that, Paul wanted to know. Terry explained, you’re

going to nix two friends from your guest list, and he is going to be at your wedding.

Sometimes staying employed seems equally arbitrary. If upper management is cutting head count and asks, “Who’s that?” about you, be sure your colleagues know who you are and what your contributions have been. While stellar job performance is the obvious first step to job security, there are other steps you can take to ensure your place at the party.

Remain visible. Work from the office, even if you don’t have to. With remote work capabilities, people often prefer to work from home. Without

surrendering all flexibility, do show up at the office regularly, once or twice a week or more, for a regular work day. Sign on for team projects and collaborate when possible. The more people see you live, the better they will understand the value you bring to the organization.

Go to lunch with a coworker, rather than eating alone. At noon, the park near my office is lined with cars – business people eating fast food alone. Take advantage of lunchtime to get to know your coworkers away from the office. Consider it networking.

If you do have to look for a new

position sometime, knowing others in your industry will be a plus.

Go to corporate events, picnics and annual meetings.

Few people enjoy the prospect of spending a weekend with people they have been listening to for eight hours a day every day. But companies continue to schedule these events, and people who attend are generally glad they did. Show your dedication and interest by attending; extra points for volunteering to help.

Keep your meetings.

Especially important are oneon-ones with managers. These are easy to cancel or change,

because everyone dreads them.

Your manager has more important issues to deal with than chatting with an employee who isn’t having problems; and for the employee, these meetings may be intimidating.

However, keeping these appointments can be key to keeping your job. Take the initiative on if you have to.

Confirm the meeting and arrive on time, prepared with one or two topics to discuss. Keep a notebook specifically for your one-on-ones, and take notes.

Be flexible if your manager wants to change the meeting time, but reiterate that you’re looking forward to getting

together, and try to schedule for the same day if possible.

Simply letting someone know it matters to you can bring it up a line or two on their priority list.

Being visible, people will know you and may be more likely to keep you in the loop if there are major changes in the company. Make sure that when someone asks who you are, the answer will be positive.

Julie Desmond is a career consultant with 15 years employment recruiting and coaching experience. Write to Julie@insightnews.com.

Gates From 1 disorderly conduct in his own home was a stark reminder of the ugliness of racial stereotyping and profiling in Cambridge and across the country. It also reminded America of the longevity of friction between police and people of color.

“It’s a national problem and we haven’t been able to really control it in a rational way,” said Harvard Law Professor Charles Ogletree in an NNPA interview.

Ogletree, the lawyer for Gates, says he is glad the incident has sparked a national discussion that began in Cambridge but could have far-reaching and long-term ramifications.

Gates was arrested on his front porch by Sgt. James Crowley even after he showed his Harvard I.D. and driver’s license to the officer who was investigating what a neighbor apparently thought was a burglary. It was actually Gates and his driver trying to get into his front door, which was stuck.

The charges were dropped against Gates, who became irate during the heated confrontation.

He was handcuffed, arrested and held for four hours.

The incident brought back memories.

A headline on the website of last week’s Cambridge Chronicle reminds, “Not the first time Cambridge Police Department faced with race allegations.”

It was early August 1999. A group of white Cambridge police officers – including a use of force trainer - sat around a desk inside the police department talking to this reporter.

They were confident and boisterous in the taped interview as they told how their police academy trained their officers that Mexicans and other people who may have grown up eating or working with a lot of cayenne peppers were immune to the affects of pepper spray. ‘’The people that it doesn’t affect are people who have consumed cayenne peppers from the time they are small children, and this generally breaks into ethnic categories,” Officer Frank Gutoski, a trainer in the academy, told this reporter, who at that time was working a summer job for the Cambridge Chronicle.

Henry Louis “Skip” Gates’ “mug shot” “Every year, I teach this,” Gutoski was quoted in the Aug. 19, 1999 story headlined, “Pepper Spray Theory Stings Some Minorities.”

He named Mexican Americans, Pakistani Indian and Cajuns as examples of people who are more likely tolerant to the chemical-like spray that causes intense burning in the eyes and face and closing of air passages. Two other officers in the room excitedly agreed during the openly taped interview.

Emergency room doctors gasped at the police theory: “This is absolutely not true,’’ said Dr. Michael Burns, emergency medicine attending physician and medical toxicologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. “Most police have no medical background and there is absolutely no scientific evidence whatsoever to support this.’’

The story was picked up by news mediums around the country, including the Boston Globe, which reported that “Many doctors and law enforcement specialists say it

Charles Ogletree Ogletree, executive director of Harvard’s Charles Hamilton Institute for Race and Justice, hopes the conversations will go much further than just beers at the White House. Civil rights advocates have long fought to end racial profiling. He says this incident could rejuvenate that cause.

A 1994 book that he helped produce with the national NAACP examined what happened with the video-taped 1993 Rodney King beatings and

“The fact that people are willing to talk about it, willing to meet about it, to move from their strongly held views to some alternative possibilities is a real strength. And that makes me exceedingly optimistic that we will be able to resolve this in an important way.” sounds crazy.”

Amidst community outrage and embarrassment, Cambridge police and city leaders immediately issued a public apology for the racially offensive and medically unfounded statements. ‘’It is unfortunate that these comments were made,” said then Cambridge Police Commissioner Ronnie Watson.

“There is no empirical or scientific evidence to support these statements.”

Then Mayor Francis H. Duehay said, ‘’It is inconceivable in this day and age that the training program for police officers in Cambridge would contain information which has no scientific basis and slanders the Latino community.

I apologize for the misinformation about pepper spray which has been communicated and for the ethnic slur it contains.’’

In the Gates incident, there were no such apologies forthcoming. Police stood firmly behind Crowley who insisted he was correct in his actions despite public outrage.

The Chronicle recounted the 1999 incident after even President Obama weighed in on the Gates arrest. In a nationally televised press conference July 22, Obama said the police department “acted stupidly” in the arrest. But, he later softened the criticism, saying he did not mean to disparage Sgt. Crowley or the department and invited the officer and Gates to the White House for a beer this week.

what could be learned.

The book, Beyond the Rodney King Story: An Investigation of Police Conduct in Minority Communities, laid out a series of investigations that had recommendations.

They included the need for community policing, culturally sensitive policing, more diversity in police forces around the country and the need to make sure there was continuous police training on meeting the needs of an increasingly diverse community.

“Those recommendations in 1994 are eerily necessary in 2009 as a result of the incident that sparked the debate on July 16,” he said.

Currently, Ogletree says plans are underway to bring together diverse segments of the Cambridge community to discuss issues that led to the blow up and how to avoid them in the future.

But that’s just one city. “The national effort will take much longer,” he said. But there is hope as he is getting emails and texts from people of every race, gender and class “who are accounting their own experiences and wanting profiling to end,” he said.

“The fact that people are willing to talk about it, willing to meet about it, to move from their strongly held views to some alternative possibilities is a real strength. And that makes me exceedingly optimistic that we will be able to resolve this in an important way.”

Page 8 • August 3 - August 9, 2009 • Insight News

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HEALTH Reform a high priority: Universal health care can work Health & Wellness

By Brandi D. Phillips Health care reform is a hot topic at this time and has been for a long while. President Obama is currently working with members of congress to pass a new health care reform policy that will provide all US citizens the opportunity to access universal, high quality and affordable health care insurance and services.

Democratic and Republican congress members as well as voters of both political parties differ on whether or not we should adopt a health care policy that will reform our health care system.

Many critics of President Obama say that he is doing too much too soon, as he is trying to save the economy with the stimulus package while simultaneously trying to reform the

health care system. In his Friday July 24 speech, Obama addressed these critics by saying that health care reform has been in discussion since the times of Theodore Roosevelt.

Republican Congress member Jim DeMint (SC) commented on his internet blog that Republicans have made many suggestions regarding alternative health care systems in which individuals would have the choice to choose if they wanted to be provided health care or not.

This is an individualist approach to health care. The individualist cultural theory believes that individuals in a specific culture are more concern with the advancement of self over the advancement of the group.

The United States is a country that is high in individualist qualities and characters. A very common phase that supports this thought is “I got to get mine”. That frame of thought runs rampant in both urban and rural America.

Another concern of some Republicans is that the cost of health care may be paid by middleclass Americans. On his blog, Jim

DeMint also stated he is concerned with US government having so much control over the health care of citizens.

Hilary Clinton stated in a speech she said on June 7, 2008, that she was in favor of universal, high quality and affordable health care insurance and services.

Democratic congress members and voters are also in favor of a health care system that originates from a collectivist cultural theory.

Collectivist theory involves members of a society believing the good of the whole [society] is more important than the goals of the self.

Japan is a country that has a culture high in collectivist theory and practice.

Another concern of some Democrats is the continuously rising costs of medical prescriptions and premiums. It is thought by some that universal health care will reduce costs, by providing preventative care, in order to avoid expensive operating costs such as amputation and rehabilitation. Those involved with helping the uninsured and the poor, are concerned that current health care systems do not provide quality

and affordable services to those in need.

Wikipedia.com commented that some researchers suggest that preventative health care does not necessarily mean that care costs will be reduced or illnesses will be avoided.

I must say the concern that DeMint has with government having so much involvement with health care is also a concern of mine. The government having so much control over anything that happens in my life is a concern of mine. Whether it is government or some other entity, I am a person who likes to have some control over the things that occur in my life.

Although I agree with DeMint on his concerns regarding government involvement, I personally believe in a more collectivist theory. I have always believed in doing what is fair. I know “the world is not fair”, but I think it should be.

I do not think it is morally correct for some people to have access to high-quality, trustworthy, affordable, health care and other individuals do not have the

www.outsourcestrategies.com

opportunity or the financial capital.

I think if we are able to provide health care to all US citizens, we as a society should do so.

It has been proven in many other health care systems such as those is Germany, France and Japan, universal health care can work. Those of us who practice using common sense, know that the current health care system in the United States is not working, and should be willing to do some kind of reform.

Health care reform is a very important topic that all adults and

youth should be concerned with.

By doing research of your own, you will be able to get a further understanding of the political position you hold regarding health care.

Whether you are in favor of or against the reform of the United States health care system, contact your local congressperson by writing letters, emailing or calling to gain their support.

Brandi Phillips is a life skills coach and personal trainer.

Groundbreaking initiative will identify and test game-changing ideas NEW YORK – Concern Worldwide US announced on July 28, 2009 that it has received a five-year, $41 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support the development and field testing of bold and inventive ways to overcome barriers to delivering proven maternal, newborn, and child health solutions in six countries.

The initiative will start in Malawi, India, and Sierra Leone, which face major obstacles to reaching the 2015 Millennium Development Goals for maternal and child health. In Sierra Leone, more than 25 percent of children die before reaching their fifth

birthday, and in Malawi, one in every 18 women dies during pregnancy or childbirth. In India and Malawi, two-thirds of mothers and children lack essential health services like vaccinations, skilled care at birth and micronutrient supplements.

Proven interventions already exist, with the potential to save millions of lives. The challenge is to scale up effective delivery to ensure the interventions reach all the people who need them. There is an urgent need to focus on the critical obstacles to delivery, many of which are the product of weak, overburdened health systems or harmful practices such as discontinuing breastfeeding too

early.

The initiative will seek out, field test and evaluate at least 27 breakthrough ideas that have the potential for rapidly increasing intervention coverage, as well as the characteristics most conducive to scaling-up. The project will reach out to a broad spectrum of constituencies—including midlevel and junior health workers, academia, civil society, the private sector, and community members—stakeholders with traditionally limited influence or decision-making power in the health sector.

“Even the most effective health interventions can only save lives if they reach the people who

need them,” said Jaime Sepúlveda, Director of the Integrated Health Solutions Development program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

“Concern Worldwide’s commitment to seeking innovation from diverse, nontraditional sources will be a key ingredient in the success of this program.”

“This project is all about discovering and testing new ideas.

It requires good leadership, an extraordinary team, prudent risk taking, and a relentless commitment to improving the state of our world. That’s a cornerstone of our organization, and that is why we exist. We’re delighted to have this opportunity,” said Tom Arnold, CEO of Concern Worldwide US.

Bill and Melinda Gates

images.businessweek.com

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Insight News • August 3 - August 9, 2009 • Page 9

Inferior Health Care in America: A shameful reality

By A. Barry Rand NNPA Special Commentary For all the reasons to fix the health care system, one of the most critical has been overlooked in the national debate: The shameful reality that African-Americans and other minorities often receive less care and inferior care than other Americans - and suffer worse health as a result.

The disparities begin even before birth, as Black women too often receive inadequate prenatal care. Their babies too often are born prematurely and with low birth weight. The odds of an AfricanAmerican child dying during infancy are more than double those of Whites. Disparities continue through life, with Blacks suffering higher rates of chronic illness, such

NorthPoint From 1 whose revenue largely comes from health clinic patients…our customers, who value the world class services and support we provide them and their families,” Whitney West said.

“This is a community based and community directed business enterprise that has a partnership

Profiling From 4 identifying himself he asked my daughter and me questions that were similar to those questions asked in two interrogations by the first officer. He then returned to the first police unit and talked with the first police officer while standing by the driver’s side window of the first unit. He then walked back to his unit and drove away.

A short time later the first office again came to the passenger side of the vehicle. He returned my driving papers and gave me a written warning for speeding. He then informed me that I was free to drive on.

I was furious with what had happened. The police action was without justification. In those moments of contact with the police I had a strong urge to question the practices and motives involved.

Being an African American man I was certain that my daughter and I were being subjected to “racial profiling.”

When we reached our destination, we began the “bittersweet” moments with family and friends.

We were so happy to see each other again, so sad that it was on such an occasion, but thankful we could come together. In one of those relaxed moments of catching up with family I told them about the police incident on our trip.

They listened with amazement and outrage while “shaking their heads” and asking what do you do short of confronting the police and being led off in handcuffs.

Two of the young men in our family provided insight into the incident. They confirmed that my daughter and I were subjected to “racial profiling.” They explained that the make of the rental car we were driving is known “on the

as asthma, diabetes, and cancer, more HIV, and higher rates of obesity than the U.S. population overall.

These problems are made worse by obstacles to care, such as unaffordable insurance. And they last until death, which often arrives years earlier for Blacks than for Whites.

America should not be a nation of health-care haves and have-nots.

Fortunately, health care reform can provide much of the answer. AARP is urging Congress to approve comprehensive health reforms that will: • Guarantee quality, affordable care for all Americans. Insurers should not be allowed to charge extra or reject people based on age or health history.

• Lower prescription drug costs.

This can be achieved by making low-cost generic drugs more widely available, and strengthening

prescription drug benefits under Medicare.

• Improve care for all. People should get the right treatment at the right time. Yet too often this does not happen. By certain measures, the quality gap for African-Americans and Hispanics has actually worsened.

Elderly Blacks are less likely than elderly whites to get a pneumonia vaccine, and this gap has widened. African Americans with diabetes are more likely than Whites to end up with a foot or leg amputated, another disparity that has grown worse.

Blacks and Hispanics get screened less frequently than Whites for colorectal and other cancers.

They also have lower rates of treatment for depression. Black women are less likely than white women to have breast cancer diagnosed from a mammogram or a clinical breast exam. (See

http://www.kff.org/minorityhealth/7 633.cfm for state data).

Make no mistake: Individuals should do what they can to help themselves. People should maintain healthy lifestyles and make responsible personal choices. But the problem of disparities goes deeper. Fixing it will require significant policy changes.

Expensive insurance is a towering barrier to good care. About one in five African-Americans does not have health insurance. For Whites, the statistic is one out of eight.

The lack of insurance is not the only barrier that minorities must contend with. Traditional doctors’ offices have vanished from many urban and rural areas, prompting residents to seek basic care in chaotic emergency rooms. Wouldn’t they be better off with a doctor who actually knows them and is set up to provide non-emergency care?

AARP believes that everyone should have affordable, quality health care choices.

The federal government should issue comprehensive requirements to collect more health care data on race and ethnicity, so experts can get the clearest possible sense of the disparities and strategies needed to address them. Congress can help by strengthening Medicare’s safety net programs to ease the cost burden of low-income seniors.

We also support payment policies aimed at increasing financial rewards for doctors who provide routine, primary care and for efforts to prevent illness, rather than wait until problems emerge.

Education and training are another part of the answer. We encourage efforts to increase cultural awareness and racial diversity in the health care workforce. Health care providers need the best possible understanding

of what’s going on with their patients if they are to provide the excellent care everyone deserves.

Disparities in care are more than unfair. They undermine health and erode productivity in our economy.

By allowing ailments to worsen, they raise costs for everyone. They are an invisible divide that weakens all of society.

If you agree, please go to www.HEALTHACTIONNOW.org and join AARP’s campaign to transform health care. It’s time for action to fix these inequities. It’s time to create a better system for everyone.

with Hennepin County to ensure it is able to respond to the needs in our community. We can build our capacity and extend and strengthen our role in serving the health and wellness priorities of North Minneapolis. Our health is our business,” she said.

The grants were based on formula allocations determined by patient visits and totaled $1.3 million for increased demand in services, equipment and capital improvements to existing space.

In addition, NorthPoint Health & Wellness Center is eligible to apply for ARRA stimulus funding through Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for capital funding in the amount of $12 million.

NorthPoint is requesting at least a $6 million dollar match from Hennepin County with funds from prior appropriation for NorthPoint’s Community Wellness Capital project.

This funding would provide

resources to implement phase 1 of the campus-wide capital expansion plan that is currently on hold due to budgetary constraints. This phase 1 plan includes expansion of NorthPoint’s Behavior Health Clinic, location of HSPHD Regional Services Hub and YMCA Fitness Center. This proposal would create five positions in NorthPoint’s Behavior Health department, relocate at least 21 HSPHD staff, and generate approximately 30 positions in

construction related employment.

The first grant, a $339,007 twoyear period funding package provides increased services for spikes in demand to serve uninsured populations. Due to the current economic situation, NorthPoint anticipates large increases in the number of uninsured individuals seeking health care services. In 2008, NorthPoint provided services to 21,129 unique patients, including 6,360 uninsured individuals. In 2009, NorthPoint is projecting

7,437 uninsured individuals (an increase of 17% uninsured over 2008).

The second grant of approximately $1 million for capital improvements will be used to remodel clinic areas to accommodate increase in demand for services, as well as purchase of digital mammography equipment, dental equipment and optometry equipment.

streets” as a “pusher car” and it gets “profiled” by the police as being driven by drug dealers. They said that a Black man with a young Black lady, who happened to be my daughter, fits the profiles for which the police look. I said I had no idea about “that make of car” considering how little attention I pay to automobiles. This quickly was followed by a comment from one of the young men that “Hey, big, black ‘Dr. G.’ you had no idea you were dealing up the road in your ‘pusher car’ with this young chick in tow?” which brought a roar of laughter from the group, people who know my conservative demeanor.

While driving home from the funeral I began to think about my options for handling the incident of “racial profiling.” I knew I could have immediately confronted the officers accusing them of “racial profiling” and racism, an act that would have been immediately and greatly satisfying. I would be thinking to myself. “No one gets away with treating my daughter and me that way.” But I knew with that approach I would have ended up in handcuffs, as my family made clear.

I had to “use my head.” I had

to think. I had dealt before with racism experienced by myself and by my family. I had resolved the situations successfully. I knew I could handle this situation also. I had to remind myself about what I

and other African Americans are really facing in these situations.

Indeed, I wrote a book about it.

Armed with that knowledge I began to think through my plan.

A. Barry Rand is the CEO of AARP, a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization that helps people 50+ have independence, choice and control in ways that are beneficial and affordable to them and society as a whole.

Page 10 • August 3 - August 9, 2009 • Insight News

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COMMUNITY CALENDAR Send Community Calendar information to us by: email, ben@insightnews.com, by fax: 612588-2031, by phone: (612) 588-1313 or by mail: 1815 Bryant Ave. N. Minneapolis, MN 55411, Attn: Ben Williams. Free or low cost events preferred.

in Minneapolis between Franklin Ave. and East 18th Street.

Events

National Night Out at Peavey Park- Aug. 4 Tues, 5:00pm-8:00pm At Peavey Park 730 22nd St E. Mpls, MN (Free Event)

4th Annual Protect The E.D.G.E Basketball Camp - Aug. 3-6 8 - 4:30pm each day at Brooklyn Center High School, Brooklyn Center, MN. For more information please call Quadree Drakeford at 612-216-0845 Annual Day of Hope on Chicago Avenue - Aug. 4 Tues. 11am - 2pm, Chicago Avenue

El-Kati Book Reading & Signing - Aug. 4 Tues, 7:30 p at Common Good Books, 165 Western Avenue North in St. Paul.

15th Annual Latino Family Resource Fair - Aug. 8 Sat, 10am - 2pm at the Midtown Farmer's Market at the intersection of East Lake Street and 22nd Ave. South.

Stevens Square Center for the

Arts - Aug. 8-23 "We'll Burn That Bridge When We Get To It " Collage Art and Woodcuts by Erik Farseth, Opening night reception on Sat, August 8 at 7pm-10pm. 1905 3rd Ave S. Mpls, MN AFTH Domestic Webinar - Aug.10 Mon, 7pm - 9pm, An AFTH social worker will discuss the program and the adoption process. Call Kelly McCallion for more information at 610-642-7200 Register for Fall Classes at Camden Music School Registration begins Aug, 10 for the 10-week fall term, At Luther Memorial Lutheran Church, 3751 Sheridan Ave. N and Luther Memorial Lutheran Church, 3751 Sheridan Ave. N, If any questions

Contact Janet Zahn, 612-618-0219 Learning to cope: Managing Stress During Tough Times - Aug. 11 This event will be hosted at the Jewish Community Center in St. Paul, MN, Tuesday, August 11 at 6 p.m. The event will include hors d'oeuvres and a silent auction to raise money for the organization.

National Health Center Week Aug. 12 Wed, August 12th, 3:00-6:00pm, People's Center Medical Clinic, 425 20th Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN. Contact Rhonda Eastlund at 612-238-3527 for more information about the event Financial and Medical Programs for Children - Aug.12 Wed, 1 - 3pm, at Hennepin County

Library - Southdale, 7001 York Ave. S., Edina.

Business Workshop: Best Practices for Waste Reduction - Aug.13 Thurs, 9:00 A.M. - 11:00 A.M at la Vina Restaurant, 3010 4th Ave. (Free Event) The 4th Annual "Neighborhood Link-Up" - Aug. 15 Sat., Aug. 15, 12:00pm- 4:00pm at The Jordan New Life Hub, 1922 26th Ave No. Minneapolis (corner of Newton and 26th Ave No.) M&I Bank Shredding Events Aug. 15 M&I Bank, 11915 Elm Creek Blvd. North Maple Grove, MN M&I Bank, 7095 151st St. West Apple Valley, MN Minneapolis Urban League CAC

and UNP Meetings - Ongoing August 19th, 2009 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm Minneapolis Urban League September 16th, 2009 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm Lao Assistance Center October 21st, 2009 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm Minneapolis Urban League November, 18th , 2009 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm Minneapolis Urban League December 16th, 2009 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm Urban Research and Outreach/ Engagement Center

Minneapolis Department of Health and Family Support Positions Available for the Statewide Health Improvement Program

Bid Advertisement The Minneapolis Department of Health and Family Support (MDHFS) received $3,163,000 of Statewide Health Improvement Program (SHIP) funds to implement policy, systems and environmental strategies to reduce obesity and tobacco use. To accomplish interventions in schools, worksites, health care and community settings, MDHFS is seeking applicants for the following positions, which are grant-funded through June 30, 2011 and are contingent upon the continued availability of funding:

Project: MPHA#PH08.13A IO#5 Modernization of 2419 5th Avenue South Location: 2419 5th Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN Bid Date: SEALED BIDS are due to MPHA's Office by TUESDAY, AUGUST 18, 2009 @ 2:00 pm and will be publicly read.

FAMILY SUPPORT SPECIALIST 3 1.0 FTE Position responsible for improving access to nutritious foods in community based settings. Starting Salary: $53,481 - $73,874. Application materials will be accepted July 27 through August 14, 2009.

Description: Modernization of 118 units which includes new kitchen cabinets, countertops, paint, closet doors, flooring, mechanical/plumbing upgrades, fire protection, electrical upgrades, concrete parking lot and interior/exterior signage.

This project is funded by the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Owner: Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (MPHA), 1001 Washington Ave N, Minneapolis, MN 55401 Architect: McMonigal Architects, 1224 Marshall Street NE, #400, Minneapolis, MN 55413 612.331.1244 Contractor: BOR-SON Building Corporation 2001 Killebrew Dr # 400 Minneapolis, MN 55425 952.854.8444 Plans & Specs: Bid set available on Friday July 31, 2009 @ NOON at Minneapolis & St. Paul Builders Exchange, NAMC Plan Room, F.W. Dodge, Reed Construction Data Plan, MEDA Plan Room & BOR-SON Plan Room.

FAMILY SUPPORT SPECIALIST 2 1.0 FTE Position responsible for improving nutrition and physical activity policies and practices in charter and alternative schools. Starting Salary: $47,021 $65,075. Application materials will be accepted July 27 through August 14, 2009.

FAMILY SUPPORT SPECIALIST 2 .8 FTE Position responsible for developing an obesity and tobacco cessation referral system with health care providers. Starting Salary: $47,021 $65,075. Application materials will be accepted August 3 through August 21, 2009.

RESEARCH ASSOCIATE 1.0 FTE Position will support evaluation activities related to SHIP. Starting Salary: $47,021 - $65,075. Application materials will be accepted August 3, 2009 through August 21, 2009.

To find detailed information about each position and application requirements, go to http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/residents/employment.asp or call (612) 673-2282 for application information

Equal Employment Opportunity/Equal Housing Opportunity

CLASSIFIEDS Assumed Name

City of Minneapolis

1. State the exact assumed name under which the business is or will be conducted: Specifications & Green Building Consultants Network

EPIDEMIOLOGIST (HEALTH & FAMILY SUPPORT) REQ #20560 - SALARY: $53,481 $73,874.

Open for application 7/27/09 8/14/09. The Epidemiologist performs program development, research, evaluation, and surveillance activities of critical importance and considerable difficulty in the practice of population-based public health. Under limited supervision, initiates and leads the planning, design, and implementation of epidemiologic, research, and evaluation studies, including analysis, and reporting of findings. Examples include projects designed to reduce infant mortality, childhood lead poisoning, sexually transmitted diseases, and obesity.

REQUIREMENTS: Masters Degree in epidemiology or closely related field is required and at least two years of experience in public health surveillance and/or evaluation, or a closely related field, or relevant community experience. An equivalent combination of related education and experience may be considered.

To apply go to www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us or call (612) 6732282 for application and full job announcement.

Please send resume with supplemental questions.

AA/EOE

2. State the address of the principal place of business: 4133 Ensign Ave. N, New Hope, MN 55427 3. List the name and complete street address of all persons conducting business under the above Assumed Name: Pamozi, LLC, 2751 Hennepin Ave. S, #211, Minneapolis, MN 55408 4. I certify that I am authorized to sign this certificate and I further certify that I understand that by signing this certificate, I am subject to the penalties of perjury as set forth in Minnesota Statues section 609.48 as if I had signed this certificate under oath.

Signed by: Sunday O. Onadipe, General Manager Date Filed: 7/17/2009 Insight News 7/27/2009, 8/3/2009

Program Representative Non-profit housing organization is seeking a Program Representative for its North Minneapolis office.

Responsibilities include processing publicly financed home improvement and down payment assistance loans, providing office support and assisting callers and visitors with resource information.

Must be an energetic person with excellent oral and written communication skills, proficient in Microsoft Office products and have good math skills. Send cover letter and resume to ssnyder@gmhchousing.org.

An equal opportunity employer.

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Insight News • August 3 - August 9, 2009 • Page 11

SPORTS The rebirth of the Tavaris Jackson Fan Club Spiderman slings a web. Like Spiderman, Jackson just needs to relax and sling webs like he’s just your friendly neighborhood superhero. If someone would just get him a book on Zen, or have him talk to Billy Dee Williams for a minute, then

By Ryan T. Scott ryan@insightnews.com Well, well, well. After all that hullabaloo about Brett Favre coming to the Vikings, all of the traitors must now come back on their knees groveling for the laser-like cannon arm of the one and only Travaris Fox Jackson to save their purple dreams.

Though I’m horrible at prognostication, I have to stick my puny chest out and say that I told everybody (well, two people) that Favre was not coming to play for the Vikings.

My thoughts were that Favre looked a little old and shaky last year during his stint with the NY Jets. It just seemed like his body’s output was beginning to match his mostly-salt and slightly-pepper hair color. Add to that the fact that the Vikings offensive-line (the big guys who protect the quarterback, for the edification of non-sporties) has been known to step back and say, “OLE!” when some strapping, blazing fast, 6’4” 290lb defensive-end (the big guys who specialize in hurting quarterbacks) comes barreling around the corner with steam, slobber, snot, and blood pouring out of his facial grill. Now if you put that vision of a humanbull together with a fragile 40year-old Brett Favre spinal column, you have the makings for one of the ugliest scenes in the history of professional sports.

Considering that Favre’s brilliant 18-year career was based with the Green Bay Packers, the potential for irony in seeing his destruction while playing with the Vikings at the end of his career would have been the worst possible way that Favre could end his Hall of Fame career.

Now Brett Favre knew all this about the potential situations if he were to join the Vikings, and thus I am saying

“OLE!” that the whole wishy-washy media saga covering his potential comeback has been a purposeful hoodwink of a publicity stunt. Favre has been pulling these stunts for years, and obviously sees value in trying to find ways to keep his sort-of-retired name in the news. In this case, the “suckers for love” are the Vikings and all of their fans.

The Vikings organization now has some damage control to do because they let this whole saga drag out for far too long. Many people had their hopes soaring over the top of the IDS Building, that Favre would come and solve the quarterback (qb) problem that has plagued the Vikings for years. I’ve gone over it a few times in the past, but Brad Childress, while a good evaluator of talent, has failed at evaluating situations properly (some may say it reflects in his play calling also…some ends with m-e). The Vikings have had a golden opportunity over the last few years to capitalize on a solid all-around roster that is built to win. The simple problem has been at the quarterback position. Travaris Jackson has been the most talented of the bunch of qb’s that have been marched in and out of the Vikings starting lineup. Jackson’s talent has been stifled by a lack of proper grooming. The quarterback is known as the most difficult position in pro sports, and the Vikings basically graduated Jackson from the 8th grade to a Fortune 500 CEO overnight.

No matter the mishandlings of the past, the fact of the matter is that the Vikings have Travaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels as their potential starting qbs. Considering that Rosenfels has been a constant fixture as a back-up qb on three previous teams (he was backing up some pretty sorry qb’s on those teams), my analysis would conclude that he is who all those other teams thought he was…a decent back-up quarterback.

And so that leaves us with superhero Travaris Jackson to save the day, complete with purple tight pants and everything. At times, Jackson

Tavaris Jackson has been a clumsy superhero, but Spiderman slammed into a

couple walls in the beginning, too.

www.zimbio.com

Nonetheless, Jackson slings a pigskin about a fast as

Jackson would cool out and realize his potential.

The Travaris Jackson Fanclub is quietly poised to tell you, “we told you so” when the 2009 Action Jackson springs into, uh, action? Betta get’cha popcorn!

Page 12 • August 3 - August 9, 2009 • Insight News

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