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Insight News August 4 - August 10, 2014

Vol. 41 No. 32 • The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • insightnews.com

Flowers: Once they attacked, I felt every blow

By Harry Colbert, Jr. Contributing Writer Community organizer Al Flowers says he was beaten unconscious on July 26 by Minneapolis police as they attempted to serve an arrest warrant at his home for his teenage daughter. Flowers said the assault started when he asked to see the arrest warrant.

The incident took place at around midnight at Flowers’ Southside residence. A warrant was issued for Flowers’ minor daughter, who, police said, was unauthorized to be away from her home while wearing a monitoring device. It was later determined that the teen was compliant with the rules of her court-ordered monitoring.

Though the minor is not facing additional charges, Flowers was charged with assaulting a police officer in the incident that left him in need of staples to the head and other injuries including a black eye, blood within the eye, facial lacerations and bruised ribs. According to Flowers, his injuries were so severe that the county jail refused to process him and insisted he be taken first to a hospital.

Following a series of rallies and protest in support of Flowers, Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges and Police Chief Janeé

Shem Mustakfa Shakir

Shem Mustafa Shakir dies, 72 “Swing low … sweet chariot … coming for to carry me home…”

Photos: LaJuanda Flowers

Al Flowers

FLOWERS TURN TO 4

Over 1,000 infected: Can the Ebola virus be stopped?

Civil rights icon Matthew Little was celebrated in a Homegoing Celebration at Shiloh Temple International Ministries on Saturday, February 1, 2014

FIRES OF THE 60’S VS THE DEITY OF DADDY PART VIII

Paying the price for fatherhood

By Azaniah Little What my “burn baby burn” generation did not understand was that “fatherhood” is expensive, but real fatherhood costs absolutely everything.

And Daddy paid the price.

The personal cost that my father paid for consistently giving his life to the civil rights movement is equal to the price Madiba, Nelson Mandela paid.

While I was grateful for the grand memorial presented at my father’s death, I sat realizing

Insight 2 Health Fitness Challenge Testimonial: Jeff Jefferson

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that the host of dignitaries could not know the tremendous personal price my father paid in order to achieve all that he had.

The days of his glory, and the insurmountable achievements that he was able to accomplish,

LITTLE TURN TO 8

Decontee Sawyer Jul 28 (GIN) – As an Ebola epidemic sweeps relentlessly across West African borders, with the death toll topping 600, some are now asking if the virus can be stopped.

The Ebola outbreak started in Guinea and spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone. It has been called the deadliest in recorded history, with Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and the World Health Organization declaring

the situation out of control.

The skyrocketing infection rate reflects an ominous reality –under-funded public health systems, too few clinics for too many people, underpaid health professionals, and citizens distrustful of the prescriptions of unfamiliar foreign health aides Traditional healers are viewed more favorably than unfamiliar health workers in many cases. This week, the Red Cross working in Guinea suspended some operations in the country’s southeast after staff working on Ebola received threats.

“Locals wielding knives surrounded a marked Red Cross vehicle,” said one Red Cross official, asking not to be named. An MSF center

EBOLA TURN TO 5

Shem M. Shakir, age 72, died Wednesday, July 9, at Regions Hospital in St. Paul.

Shakir was interred in Marion Memorial Garden Cemetery on Saturday, July 12, in his hometown of Salters, S.C. A memorial celebration of life for him is scheduled for Sunday, August 10 at 3 p.m. at Macalester College Weyerhaeuser Chapel located at Grand Avenue and Macalester Street in St. Paul.

During his lifetime, Shakir was a farmer, student, husband, father, social worker, community activist and community entrepreneur.

Shakir was well known and a long-time resident of St. Paul.

For more than 40 years, he was involved in efforts to bring social justice and economic development to communities in both St. Paul and Minneapolis. After a position as sales associate at Merck Pharmaceutical Company in Minneapolis, he spent more than 30 years working in various community-based organizations. Shakir spent more than 15 years with both the St. Paul Urban League, as a labor organizer and St. Paul Ramsey Action Programs, as the community director. For several years, he served in a similar capacity as director of advocacy and outreach with the Minneapolis Urban League.

However, Shakir was most proud of his 11-year accomplishments as president and CEO of Frogtown Action Alliance in St. Paul. There, he developed and implemented strategic resident-based neighborhood programs and services. He was responsible for strategic planning, program development and delivery, community organizing,

SHAKIR TURN TO 5

Health

Miguel Ramos

Lifestyle

Dr. Gene Gullingsrud trains eye doctors in Myanmar and Vietnam

Minnesota Twins executive to chair Green Card Voices board

Can you hear me now?

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TESTIMONIAL JEFF JEFFERSON On March 15, I was 380 pounds, my A1c level was a 13 (which translates to a better than average chance of developing complications from diabetes), I was on six different medications for hypertension, high cholesterol and diabetes and my self esteem and energy level was at an all time low and I felt like garbage.

As of July 13, I weighed in at 333 pounds (and counting down), my a1c level was one half point from normal, I have eliminated two medications (and counting), I look better, I feel better and I can’t sit my butt down. If it were not for Tyrone Minor, Jamie Minor, The Fit Lab, Insight News, the Insight2Health challenge, my “lab partners” Erick Goodlow, Adero Riser Cobb, Jelanna Donaby, Anna Williams Al McFarlane and the rest, I would still have at least one foot in the grave. I consider you all blessings from the Most High and will ride for you forever. Tyrone and Jamie have provided a way out of the hellhole of poor health and for that, I owe them my life.

Alaina Lewis

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Insight News • August 4 - August 10, 2014 • Page 3

HEALTH Dr. Gene Gullingsrud trains eye doctors in Myanmar and Vietnam Dr. Gene Gullingsrud, an Eden Prairie resident and ophthalmologist with Edina Eye Physicians and Surgeons, joined a team of nine volunteer faculty in Yangon, Myanmar this past April for the country’s first western eye surgical training program in decades.

Myanmar has only about 300 ophthalmologists, a ratio of one to 200,000 people, one quarter of the World Health Organization’s target.

“In Myanmar, I was honored to be asked to lead the advanced cataract surgery section on this historic teaching mission. Teaching is a passion of mine. The difficulty is taking an extended period of time off my private practice in Minneapolis, but I made it happen and it was all that I hoped it would be,” said Gullingsrud.

The four-day Myanmar Eye Meeting, conducted by the Hawaiian Eye Foundation in partnership with Yangon Eye Hospital, was attended by about 50 Burmese ophthalmology students and practicing ophthalmologists. A wide range of topics, including cataracts, glaucoma, and corneal and retina disorders were covered in lectures, patient consultations, and diagnostic equipment demonstrations.

Immediately following the Myanmar Eye Meeting, Gullingsrud and fellow faculty members traveled from Yangon to Hue, Vietnam, to

Gene Gullingsrud participate in the foundation’s fifth biennial Imperial City Eye Meeting. Gullingsrud has been involved in all five of these

meetings since the inaugural in 2006.

“Since the 2006 conference, I have made several friends in

Vietnam, including hosting two of its primary organizer MDs for short-term fellowships at my practice in Minnesota,” said

Gullingsrud. “So, I was excited to return to Vietnam for many reasons – teaching, revisiting a beautiful country and seeing

Vietnamese ophthalmologist friends and meeting their families.”

Gullingsrud and fellow faculty members traveled to Myanmar and Vietnam at their own expense to donate their time.

“Teaching eye surgeons in their own countries provides the best means of transferring ophthalmologic knowledge,” said Gullingsrud in explaining his reason for consistent participation. “Improvement in healthcare delivery for a nation is no small goal. The doctors in these countries, for political and financial reasons, had not been able to gain knowledge from colleagues in other countries the traditional way, which is to attend an organized ophthalmology teaching conference. We essentially brought the conference to them, and made sure we were teaching worthwhile subjects and asking leaders in their respective fields to become faculty members, to insure a quality learning experience for the Vietnamese and Burmese.”

The non-profit Hawaiian Eye Foundation, based in Honolulu, has sponsored ophthalmic training programs in Southeast Asia since 2006, and for 30 years has conducted humanitarian eye surgery expeditions to Pacific island nations, including Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, Palau, Marshall Islands, Vanuatu and Kiribati.

SPACC receives grant to improve heart health in St. Paul community; One of 28 recipients of American Heart Association grants in Midwest The Saint Paul Area Council of Churches (SPACC) is the recipient of a one-year Community Innovation Grant from the American Heart Association for 2014-15. The Community Innovation Grant initiative is designed to help achieve the American Heart Association’s mission: to build healthier lives, free from cardiovascular diseases and stroke.

SPACC is one of 28 grant recipients, out of a total of 152 applicants, across an 11-state region served by the American Heart Association’s Midwest Affiliate.

SPACC received $3,000 to support Diabetes Education. SPACC’s Department of Indian Work program offers free diabetes education for youth and families. The programs show participants that small measures can make a big difference in managing or even preventing diabetes.

According to Kathy DenmanWilke, Department of Indian Work Director, “We are delighted

to receive this funding from the American Heart Association, which will enable us to educate people about how to live a healthy life and improve the heart

health of our community.”

For more information about the project, contact Kathy Denman-Wilke at 651-7893854. To learn more about the

American Heart Association and their Community Innovation Grant program, visit www. heart.org.

Kathy Denman-Wilke

You belong.

The health plan with you in mind.

At Medica, you’re not just part of a health plan.

You’re part of a community that believes in better health for all.

Learn more at medica.com/PublicPrograms

Page 4 • August 4 - August 10, 2014 • Insight News

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BUSINESS Caller ID phone scam hits region Better Business Bureau of Minnesota and North Dakota (BBB) says area consumers are reporting they’re receiving illegal marketing calls that display their own phone number on caller ID. Though it’s natural to be curious about such calls, BBB advises the public to ignore the calls or let them go to voicemail – and then delete the messages.

“This is another clever ruse scammers have devised to get people to answer their phones,” said Dana Badgerow, president and CEO of BBB of Minnesota and North Dakota. “You look down, you see your own number on caller ID…obviously you want to know what it’s all

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about. We’re advising people to override that instinct.”

Since the start of summer, Better Business Bureaus across the country have been hearing from harried consumers who are confused – and annoyed – by these calls, which are often dialed by computerized calling centers.

Here’s how the scam works: Your phone rings and you see your name and phone number pop up on caller ID. If you answer, a computerized message claims to be able to lower your credit card interest rates, which of course, means they will require your credit card number. In some cases, consumers are informed they can supposedly opt-out of future calls by pressing “1.” People who do so can count on receiving more calls of this nature from other shady telemarketing firms.

Any action consumers take tells fraudsters that a phone number is ‘good,’ and that number is added to phone lists which scammers then sell to other scammers.

In any case, these promises of lowering your credit card interest rates are not legitimate.

The practice of using technology to alter or disguise the true number of an incoming telephone call is known as “spoofing,” and its use is growing among criminals who also use this technique to pretend they are calling from a well-known company or government agency.

By hijacking the names and phone numbers of organizations with which you are familiar, the callers attempt to gain your trust in hopes they can trick you into handing over personal or financial information.

Per FTC rules, telemarketing sales calls with recorded

messages are generally illegal unless you have given the company written permission to call you. Some prerecorded messages are permitted — for example, messages that are purely informational. That means you may receive calls to let you know your flight’s been cancelled, reminders about an appointment, or messages about a delayed school opening.

Prerecorded messages from a business contacting you to collect a debt also are also permitted, but messages offering to sell you services to reduce your debt are barred.

Other exceptions include political calls and calls from certain health care providers.

For example, pharmacies are permitted to use prerecorded messages to provide prescription refill reminders. Prerecorded messages from banks, telephone

Publisher Batala-Ra McFarlane Assistant to the Publisher Shumira Cunningham Associate Editor & Associate Publisher B.P. Ford Vice President of Sales & Marketing Selene White Culture and Education Editor Irma McClaurin Director of Content & Production Patricia Weaver

FUNdraising Good Times

By Mel and Pearl Shaw We eat, drink and sleep fundraising. It’s what we love. We truly enjoy and embrace the people and organizations we work with.

We get excited when clients take the tools we develop for them and put them to work. We cherish their successes and most importantly we celebrate their work. At the end of the day fundraising is all about attracting resources for nonprofit organizations and institutions that make a difference in people’s lives. While not every organization is in a position to hire fundraising counsel, there are so many people doing wonderful things who need just a few suggestions, or some

Judy Davis new information so they can do a better job and raise more money.

These are the people we write FUNdraising Good Times for.

This column is our way

of giving back and sharing information about fundraising, fund development and the important roles of nonprofit board members, staff and volunteers.

It was almost nine years ago that FUNdraising Good Times debuted in The Globe Newspaper in Oakland, CA. There are now 30 papers and two magazines from around the country that publish

this column. This commitment on the part of publishers and editors demonstrates their commitment to growing the nonprofit sector and supporting the people who give their time and energy to serving others.

We cherish our readers, though most are unknown to us. As writers you don’t always “meet” your audience. But, we did recently met a reader who embraced us sharing “I read your column all the time.”

We were conducting a workshop for the ArtsMemphis community engagement fellows when Judy Davis came up to us and shared that she raised $45,000 using suggestions from our column. That caught our attention and we had to learn more!

We learned that Davis, the membership outreach manager at the Metal Museum in Memphis, played an important role in The 10th Anniversary Gates Campaign. The museum was celebrating the 25th anniversary of the most beloved part of their permanent collection – the 10th Anniversary Gates. These are metal gates adorned with 331 unique rosettes that were contributed by over 200 metalsmiths from

Production Intern Sunny Thongthi Distribution/Facilities Manager Jamal Mohamed Receptionist Lue B. Lampley Contributing Writers Harry Colbert, Jr. Julie Desmond Fred Easter Abeni Hill Timothy Houston Penny Jones-Richardson Toki Wright Alaina L. Lewis Darren Moore Photography Michele Spaise David Bradley

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around the world. After 25 years of exposure to the elements the gates and rosettes desperately needed restoration. This required removing, repairing and cleaning each rosette, and then sandblasting and repainting the gates.

The campaign raised $45,000 by inviting museum members and visitors to “sponsor a rosette” with individual donations ranging from $100 - $500. Each rosette sponsor received a credit line in a catalog published to commemorate the rededication of the newly restored gates on Mother’s Day, 2014.

This was Davis’ first professional fundraising project and she was armed with inspiration and information from our columns.

Next week: The details!

Copyright 2014 – Mel and Pearl Shaw Mel and Pearl Shaw position nonprofits, colleges and universities for fundraising success. For help with your campaign visit www.saadandshaw. com or call (901) 522-8727.

Flowers From 1

Sr. Content & Production Coordinator Ben Williams

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initiate the call, do not provide bank account, credit card or Social Security numbers over the phone. It’s best to end calls that make you uncomfortable or that you’re not sure about and follow up with your bank or financial institution – or government agency – directly.

Don’t rely on caller ID – Remember, scammers can use technology to make it appear as though their calls are coming from legitimate businesses or organizations – or even from your own phone number. Caller ID is a helpful feature, but it’s far from foolproof. Keep your guard up.

Trust your instincts – If something doesn’t seem right to you, end the call and report your experience to BBB, by calling 800-646-6222 or visiting bbb. org.

Reader success!: An interview with Judy Davis – part one

Editor-In-Chief Al McFarlane CFO Adrianne Hamilton-Butler

carriers and charities also are exempt from these rules if the banks, carriers or charities make the calls themselves.

“The most ingenious aspect of these ‘spoofing’ calls is the lack of information available to consumers,” added Badgerow.

“If they report the issue to the FTC, what are they to report – their own phone numbers?”

Nevertheless, BBB has confirmed the FTC does want to hear about these calls and other suspect robocalls. People can file complaints by visiting www. ftccomplaintassistant.gov. The FTC is interested in the time and date the call (or calls) occurred and what product is being offered.

Before responding to unsolicited phone calls, BBB advises: Never give out any financial information – If you did not

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Harteau announced they will seek an independent investigator from outside law enforcement to look into Flowers’ arrest and injury.

“I thought I did everything right, and I got caught off guard,” said Flowers during a rally at the Minneapolis Urban League in North Minneapolis. “And once they attacked I felt every blow.

I felt every one of the 30 to 40 blows to my head.”

Flowers supporters are calling on the prosecutor to dismiss all charges against him, as they say he was the true victim. Flowers said he did nothing to provoke the attack.

The officers began pummeling him once he asked to see the warrant for his daughter, he said.

The incident has captured the public’s attention because Flowers is a well-known community organizer and tensions between much of the African-American community and the Minneapolis Police Department are running high due to what many say is a culture of harassment and brutality within the department. For the city’s part, both the Minneapolis mayor and police chief released a joint statement calling for an outside investigation.

“Chief Harteau and I decided together that transparency and fairness for Mr. Flowers, the police department and the community are best served by an independent investigation,” said Hodges. “We intend to identify the leader of this investigation in the coming days.”

In the statement, Harteau seems to be sticking by the actions of the officers in question.

“As I have stated in the past I have the utmost faith in the abilities and professionalism of our officers in the Minneapolis Police Department,” said Harteau.

But she continued, “I believe an outside investigation is necessary in this case to avoid any appearance of impropriety in the handling of this investigation.”

Many feel it is no surprise that Flowers would be the target of Minneapolis police. Since 2004 Flowers, has filed at least six separate complaints against the department alleging excessive use of force.

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Insight News • August 4 - August 10, 2014 • Page 5

Miguel Ramos: Minnesota Twins executive to chair Green Card Voices board and Casa de Esperanza a national organization dedicated to preventing domestic violence. Ramos moved to the Twin Cities from Puerto Rico with his family 20 years ago.

This appointment comes at the organization’s oneyear anniversary. On Sept.

6, Green Card Voices will celebrate its anniversary and commemorate the completion of its 100th story at a gala event entitled 100 Stories – 365 Days. The event will

Miguel Ramos Miguel Ramos has signed on as board chairman for Green Card Voices, a young 501(c)3 that facilitates understanding between immigrant and nonimmigrant communities through digital storytelling.

“This young organization has already accomplished

so much. When Green Card Voices celebrates its one-year anniversary in September they will have told 100 stories from the perspective of immigrants.

My job will be to put an already dynamic organization on the path to world-class success,” said Ramos.

Ramos is director of diversity marketing for the Minnesota Twins. Prior to joining the Twins, Ramos worked at Nestle before leading his own consulting firm providing services to organizations such as the Minnesota Timberwolves,

St. Paul Companies, William Mitchell School of Law and others.

Ramos has served on the governor’s Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee, the board of the Greater Minneapolis & St. Paul United Way, the Science Museum of Minnesota

Ebola

earn roughly $1.80 a day – meaning that new, untrained staff are commonly at the frontline of the health care system.

Meanwhile, U.S. health officials at the Center for Disease Control (CDC) tried to dismiss fears that the virus would reach American shores.

“Ebola virus disease poses little risk to the U.S. general population at this time,” advised a CDC “level 2” alert, which cautions people in the affected region to avoid contact with anyone who seems infected.

“However, U.S. healthcare workers are advised to be alert for signs and symptoms of Ebola virus disease in patients who have a recent (within 21 days) travel history to countries where the outbreak is occurring,” it reads.

“If we ever needed a reminder that we all live in a connected world, this horrible Ebola outbreak is it,” said Stephan Monroe of CDC’s National Center for Emerging & Zoonotic Infectious Diseases.

That means the U.S. and other countries have a stake in investing in developing countries, whose needs may seem to be far from U.S. domestic priorities.

Back in the U.S., the American wife of Patrick Sawyer, was grieving the unexpected death of her husband, a U.S. citizen of Liberian ancestry, who had been traveling to Lagos, Nigeria, from a Liberia stopover when symptoms of the disease emerged. Decontee Sawyer, of Coon Rapids, Minnesota, said her husband

had planned to return next month for the birthdays of his daughters.

The grieving widow said she hoped her husband’s death would be a wake-up call about the global threat of the virus.

“Patrick could’ve easily come home with Ebola,” she told Minnesota’s KSTP-TV. “It’s close, it’s at our front door. It knocked down my front door.”

built a team of several agents.

Shakir (formerly Ralph B. Stafford) was born June 9, 1942 to Edward and Kathryn Stafford in Greenville, N.C. He had 12 siblings – 10 brothers and two sisters. He received a K-12 public education in the racially segregated county public school system in Williamsburg County, S.C. Before graduating in 1960 from St. Mark High School in Bloomingvale, S.C., Shakir played basketball, while being very active in the school’s social clubs and organizations and enjoying entrepreneurial farm life.

Shakir studied industrial relations at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, N.C. (1960-63). While at A&T, he was a member of A&T’s famous Air Force ROTC Pershing Rifle Drill Team.

This made it possible for him to perform at President John F. Kennedy’s Inauguration Parade in 1961, and, by chance, he personally met outgoing vice president, Richard M. Nixon.

In August 1963, Shakir also attended the March on Washington, D.C., where he witnessed the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have A Dream” speech on the National Mall to more 250,000 people.

After relocating to St. Paul in the early 1970s, Shakir received a Bachelor’s degree in psychology and industrial relations from Metropolitan State University in St. Paul. He pursued a Master’s degree in counseling and psychological services at St. Mary’s College in Minneapolis. Later, he received a Certificate in Reflective Leadership and Public Policy from the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota. With support from the St. Paul Insurance Companies, Shakir participated as a community organizer in the Leadership

Initiatives in Neighborhoods at the National Development Center in Washington, D.C. Upon completion; he received a Certification in Neighborhood Development.

Additionally, he participated in numerous institutes, conferences, workshops, seminars, and webinars, all while doing graduate work along the way over the years.

As a spiritual and caring person, Shakir always maintained his educational and religious bearings. He was deeply vested in both the Quran and the Bible.

Throughout his life, Shakir maintained a steady religious persistence with the utmost dignity and grace, especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragements he encountered. He was said to have never spoken a hurtful word towards society’s most vulnerable.

Shakir is preceded in death by both parents and three siblings. His immediate family survivors include Sybil, his beloved wife of more than 40 years; a son, Cabral of St. Paul, daughters Tia Whitlock (Sean) of Brooklyn Park, Ayana Shakir (Jibrail Amir Jefferson) of Taif, Saudi Arabia, Ayoka Shakir of Atlanta and Niambi Shakir of St. Paul. There are six grandchildren, a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, in-laws, friends and an overabundance of acquaintances throughout the United States. Shakir and his wife made sure that all their children received at least their college bachelor’s degrees.

The family has requested, in lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Edward and Kathryn Stafford Endowed Scholarship Fund at North Carolina A&T State University, attention Ann McCabe Beamon, College of Arts and Sciences, General Classroom Building – A411, 1601 East Market Street, Greensboro, N.C. 27410.

From 1 elsewhere in Guinea was attacked by youths saying the charity brought Ebola into their country.

The current outbreak has exposed the inadequacy of the region’s health care systems.

In a World Bank survey, Guinea had one of the lowest numbers of hospital beds per person – with just 0.3 beds per 1,000 people. Sierra Leone, which offers free care to pregnant women, has three doctors per 100,000 people.

Liberia has only 51 doctors, according to the World Health Organization.

Combined with that is a high turnover at public health units. Nurses in Sierra Leone

Shakir From 1 legislative advocacy, fund raising, personnel management and financial controls. There he supervised 10 full- and part-time employees and 2530 volunteers. For Frogtown residents, his community-wide initiatives provided business loans and training, economic development, jobs and employment, cross-boundary strategic corridor initiatives and commercial development.

The Frogtown community’s revitalizations, in a sense, can partially be attributed to his collaborative efforts.

Beginning June 2001, Shakir served as CEO with Infinity Consultants, LLC in St. Paul. He created, with three other partners, a consulting group that works with non-profit organizations to identify financial resources, utilizing various products in capital campaign modalities.

He marketed these products to establish home-based businesses for clients, as well as for others with similar interests.

During this time, Shakir also worked as a planning analyst with Hennepin County. He was responsible for researching, evaluating and implementing outcome measures and securing resources to improve the quality of life of disadvantaged African-American men, ages 18- 30.

Prior to his recent illness, Shakir began a new career in the insurance industry as a licensed insurance producer and educator in the life insurance field. He sold life insurance policies, while recruiting individuals to become licensed insurance agents who he supervised and mentored. Within a few months of joining the staff at ServU Financial Services Opportunity, he became a district leader, and

unite all 100 storytellers, their families, and the community at the Intermedia Arts building in Minneapolis where each story will be presented using multiple media formats.

Based in Minneapolis, Green Card Voices utilizes digital storytelling to share personal narratives of America’s immigrants.

To learn more, visit www. greencardvoices.org.

Page 6 • August 4 - August 10, 2014 • Insight News

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COMMENTARY A Mississippi Freedom Summer pilgrimage: An atrocity we must never forget

By Marian Wright Edelman and Julia Cass Along a back road near Philadelphia, Mississippi, was the final stop on our step-bystep journey through the final tragic day of Freedom Summer volunteers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner. Our guide was Leroy Clemons, a longtime local leader and activist whose family was involved in the civil rights movement in Neshoba County and who is prominently featured in the excellent documentary “Neshoba: The Price of Freedom.”

We both took this journey on June 25 with a group of about 400 young people, including young women participating in the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF)’s summer leadership institute for young Black women from rural Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi, part of CDF’s Southern Rural Black Women’s Institute for Economic and Social Justice. Other young people who were in Jackson, Mississippi for the 50th anniversary commemoration of Freedom Summer joined our group too, as did Freedom Summer organizer and leader Dave Dennis; James Chaney’s sister, Julia Chaney Moss, now a minister in Willingboro, New Jersey; and Walt MacDonald and Michael Nettles from ETS—the Educational Testing Service.

Our buses were escorted by state troopers. For a split second, that almost seemed like an honor until we quickly wondered why we needed a police escort. The site is just down the road from the families of two of the Ku Klux Klan members involved in the murders, and as the buses stopped to see the murder site, riders on some of them said that pickup trucks rode by, back and forth, in a presumed effort at intimidation.

In a flash it brought back the absolute reign of terror faced by Black people in Mississippi in

those days. We’re certain all of us gathered at the murder site—we went in small groups—couldn’t even begin to imagine the terror the three young men felt that night as Leroy Clemons, from his study of histories, articles, court records, and his own interviews with stillliving Klan members, told us what happened.

Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner were stopped and arrested by Klan member and deputy sheriff Cecil Price as they drove away after speaking with members of a Black church that had been torched a few days earlier. The rebuilt church was our first stop in recreating their day. The deputy, Cecil Price, and the Klan knew that civil rights workers had been at the church several times to talk about having a Freedom School there—especially Michael Schwerner, who had been working in the area for some time, and they were looking for him.

Chaney, the driver, was charged with “speeding” while Goodman and Schwerner were booked for investigation, and all three were taken to the former jail—a squat non-descript building which was our second stop. After the Klan had time to gather, Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner were released around 10 p.m. and told to drive back to Meridian where they were staying.

As they were driving Price stopped them, the Klan members drove up, and they took the three young men to the spot pictured above. They selected this place, Clemons said, because Edgar Ray “Preacher” Killen, the ordained Baptist minister and local Ku Klux Klan leader who was eventually accused of directing the murders, lived on this road and wanted to see the place they were killed whenever he came and went.

About 20 Klansmen, drunk and full of “blood lust,” chained James Chaney to a tree and beat him with chains. When they unchained him, he fell to the ground, and then they castrated him as Goodman and Schwerner watched. Then they

We must make sure that our children and all of us know our history...

shot him. Schwerner came up and cradled Chaney in his arms.

A Klansman asked, “Are you that nigger lover?” and he said, “Sir, I understand your concern.” And they shot him in the heart. Andrew Goodman ran and they shot him too.

They then took the bodies to a dam a little further down the road (private property so we couldn’t go there) where a tractor had already been deployed to dig the graves. Evidence suggests Andrew Goodman was buried alive. The bullet hadn’t quite killed him because an autopsy showed red clay dirt in his lungs and also grasped in his fists from trying to dig his way out. The next day, Edgar Ray Killen took all the weapons and bullet casings to the Meridian Police Department, which destroyed them. The department was made up of Klan members.

We listened in horrified silence. James Chaney’s sister, who had never been to this place, stood completely still and stared at the makeshift memorial. Being there made the brutality vividly real and present. The night before, some of the veterans of Freedom Summer—Dave Dennis, Rita Schwerner Bender, Michael’s widow, and a few others— talked to the young people in the audience at a church rally in Jackson about those surreal and horrendous days in the summer

of 1964. The young people also watched “Neshoba: The Price of Freedom,” which covers the events of 1964, the town’s racial complexity in the present, and the trial in 2005 of Edgar Ray Killen who was charged with murder but convicted of manslaughter and is now in protective custody at Parchman Penitentiary because when he got there he said, “it’s too many niggers in here,” according to Clemons. In 1967, in a case brought by the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, seven Klansmen were convicted by a jury of Mississippi citizens in federal court of conspiracy to violate Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner’s federally protected civil rights.

Eight others were acquitted and the jury was undecided on two more. None served more than six years in prison. A half-century later nobody has ever been convicted of murder in their deaths.

The Freedom Summer veterans on our pilgrimage used the courage of the three young men and the other young men and women and local Black citizens who participated in Freedom Summer to urge today’s young people to pick up and carry on the movement in this era of racial profiling, stop and frisk, chokeholds, and mass incarceration—one in three Black boys born in 2001 will grow up to spend time in prison; voter

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suppression; inferior education for millions of Black children, 80 percent of whom do not read or compute on grade level in the 4th and 8th grades; and epidemic gun violence which is the leading cause of death among Black youths. Although much progress has been made, great danger lurks for so many in our community and the prospects for poor children of color in Mississippi and across our nation are diminishing. It is time for another transforming movement to honor the sacrifices of those who went on before us. We must all finish the job Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Septima Clark and Medgar Evers and so many other civil rights warriors struggled and sacrificed for.

We must make sure that our children and all of us know our history and that the atrocities that wiped out the lives of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner and countless others who died for freedom and justice during the Civil Rights Movement— including eight other Black men whose bodies were only found as the FBI dredged Mississippi rivers and swamps searching for these three young men—do not ever happen again. We must all do our part to create a safe and hopeful nation for every child.

It is way past time for all adults to step up to the plate and make sure that the backwards slide for poor children is stopped and light a fire under ourselves to combat with all our might the continuing discrimination, dehumanization, and lack of public support and concern for children and youths of color and poor children in America.

The need for the Children’s Defense Fund was first evident in Mississippi when the state turned down Head Start money in the new anti-poverty program after the summer of 1964 because they were trying to push poor Black people out of the state and make sure poor children would not get the skills they need to survive

in the economy and to become informed citizens. But civil rights and church groups were able to apply and give children hope and skills and history not provided by the public schools.

The Child Development Group of Mississippi—the largest Head Start program in the nation that year—created hundreds of new jobs for parents and other adults free of the plantation and state Jim Crow structure and seeded new effective leaders. We do not want to go back to those days again. We do not want to return to the old days when powerful segregationist members of Congress could eviscerate food programs for poor sharecroppers who attempted to vote, and when child hunger to the point of starvation was evident in Mississippi in 1965 and 1966 and 1967. This hunger became a national issue when Senator Robert F. Kennedy went up into the Mississippi Delta followed

by Dr King who later called for a Poor People’s Campaign.

We must move forwards and not backwards to the not so good old days during that extraordinary summer of sacrifice that transformed America in positive and fundamental ways. It is time for a new transforming movement to end child and family poverty, hunger, homelessness and illiteracy in America.

Julia Cass is a Pulitizer Prize-winning journalist on assignment for the Children’s Defense Fund.

Marian Wright Edelman is President of the Children’s Defense Fund whose Leave No Child Behind® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities. For more information go to www. childrensdefense.org.

insightnews.com

Insight News • August 4 - August 10, 2014 • Page 7

LIFESTYLE

Can you hear me now?

Man Talk

By Timothy Houston It has been said that money problems and infidelity are the top two causes of divorce, but I believe that it is the inability to communicate about these problems that is the real issue.

Effective communication is hard work. When a message is sent, it is filtered through ears, eyes, mind and heart of the receiver and the true meaning can be lost in translation.

When it comes to male / female relationships, effective communication has become even more complicated.

Effective communication is achieved when a message is clearly transmitted by the sender and clearly understood by the receiver. When there is static on the line, we find ourselves saying “Can you hear me now?” Here are some tips that will help keep the lines of communication open.

1. Avoid the appearance of an interrogation. Part of the challenge of effective communicating is determining the reason for the message.

Share your experience first.

Men often view a barrage of back-to-back questions as an interrogation and not as communication.

When you share your examples, experiences, perspective first, it allows the other person to get a better understanding of the reason for the conversation.

Sharing your thoughts first also sets the tone, attitude, and disposition of the sender and the expectation of the receiver.

2. Share at the level of detail that you would like to receive. This is part of the reason of sharing first. If you want a blow-by-blow response, sharing first allows you to give blow-by-blow examples. To ask for details without being willing to share details is not effective communication.

Conversation is a process of giving and taking. It requires openly and willingly sharing at the level of detail that you would like to receive.

3. Confirm the message.

Photoxpress

Effective communication is the bridge over troubled relationships, and it is more than simply getting your point across.

This is the “what I heard you say” part of communicating.

When a message is shared, it is filtered by the thoughts, experiences, and preconceived ideas of the receiver. What

the sender says and what the receiver hears can often be lost in translations. Confirming the message allows the sender the opportunity to clear up any miscommunication or

misunderstanding. This is even more critical when emotions are involved. Men need time to process emotional responses so confirming the message allows them time to process.

4. Use body language that supports the message.

This is even more important when communicating over the phone. A smile can be heard through the telephone. When communicating in person, 55 percent of the message is nonverbal so be mindful of the message your body language is sending.

5. Talk more text less.

Texting is a poor form of communication. The messages are usually abbreviated and do not include punctuations. They also are riddled with acronyms that may be known only to the sender. If the message has the

potential to be emotionally charged, pick up the phone and call the other person. Faceto-face meetings are the most effective, and they should be used whenever possible.

6. Give your undivided attention.

Remove any and all distractions. Real communication requires undivided attention. Turn off the cell phone, television, and video games or any other action that require your attention. You cannot communicate effectively when you are engaged in other activities. Some conversation should not be held until the right environment exists.

This is the responsibility of both the sender and the receiver. Choosing the right time to have the conversation improves the likelihood of effective communication.

Effective communication is the bridge over troubled relationships, and it is more than simply getting your point across. Never win the argument at the expense of losing the other person or the relationship. Share openly and honestly and expect the same in return. Following these simple rules can lead to the effective communication and prevent the need to constantly repeating the words “Can you hear me now?”

Timothy Houston is an author, minister, and motivational speaker who is committed to guiding positive life changes in families and communities.

To get copies of his books, for questions, comments or more information, go to www. tlhouston.com.

OutFront Minnesota launches new strategic plan in the movement for LGBTQ equality In the past two years, Minnesota has passed legislation for marriage equality and safe schools.

While advocates say these are huge milestones on the road to equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people, OutFront Minnesota, a leading LGBTQ organization, says there’s still work to be done.

Over the last 18 months, OutFront Minnesota has been crafting a new strategic plan and launched it this past week during the Equality Federation’s Summer Meeting,

an annual conference attended by more than 150 LGBTQ movement leaders, including state-based and national advocates working for equality all across the country.

OutFront’s goals for its strategic plan include continuing to actively engage supporters from throughout Minnesota in the movement for LGTBQ equality, and advocating for LGBTQpositive policies, benefits, laws, ordinances and judicial decisions, on the state, local and corporate levels.

OutFront said its goals

are for LGBTQ Minnesotans to feel safe to come out, are accepted and embraced by their families, are welcome at their schools, at their workplaces and in their faith communities, have access to equitable health care coverage, have jobs that pay a living wage and can live openly without fear of violence, harassment or discrimination.

As part of the strategic planning process, staff and board members interviewed close to 100 leaders and community members across the state about what is next in the movement for LGBTQ

equality. Based on these conversations, OutFront will be focusing future works primarily on youth, people of color, transgender justice, faith and LGBTQ elders.

The organization said it has a three-year financial commitments of at least $1,000 per year from 15 donors who

strongly believe in the group’s vision.

“We know that freedom cannot be measured only in policies and laws,” said Monica Meyer, OutFront Minnesota executive director.

“It must also be measured by the experiences LGBTQ people have in our daily lives

– interacting with family, friends, neighbors, classmates, co-workers and members of our faith communities. We have momentum on our side. And, working with champions of equality throughout Minnesota, I know we will make this a reality.”

Page 8 • August 4 - August 10, 2014 • Insight News

insightnews.com

Little From 1 despite the Jim Crow and racism were indeed worthy to memorialize and I am grateful that he was recognized and loved.

However, as I think of my first Father’s Day without him, as well as without Mandela, I think of their mechanisms of resilience.

Even while he was imprisoned in Robins Island, Nelson Mandela developed a seemingly mundane schedule.

He would arise, complete a set of push-ups, pray, study and write. He did this day after day, then, year after year, then 10 years past … then 20, but he held fast to this schedule.

I realize that my father and Madiba’s greatness came from the daily, methodical life that is hard to reckon in these days of cyberspace and cell phones.

Doing the same thing again and again, day after day, setting their faces like flint and refusing … refusing to surrender to the hate or become bitter … refusing to give up, no matter how fiercely the fire lapped at their heels.

As the fires lapped madly at the psyche of young Black girls like myself, our new “fathers” forgot to emphasize the methodical daily sometimes hum-drum and seemingly boring hard work lifestyle that produces the transformation of solid character.

I am 61 years old now. Most of the “burn baby burn” fathers died long before many of our real fathers did, and I am grateful to them; for they too imparted many important gifts to me. However, in retrospect I understand that many of them lacked what I was so blessed with … a father like Matthew Little.

I have never been as broken as I was at my father’s memorial, and if I hadn’t escaped to the ladies room to speak to my spiritual father, Pastor James Broughton, I would not have been able to stand.

My father was my hero, my friend, my personal cheerleader and confidant. He was able to live long enough to see me transition gracefully into my destiny, as a minister and writer, the highlight of which, he was able to hear me at least try to deliver a sermon at

“

Photos courtesy of Azaniah Little

Matthew Little’s Homegoing Celebration, Saturday, February 1, 2014. Front row l-r: Delores Little, Amenah Kambui, Kinshasha Kambui, Titilayo Bediako, Matthea Little-Smith, Ms. Booker, Jeannette Booker, Hadasha Smith, Azaniah Little, and Raynesha Smith.

Middle row l-r: Mary Little, Namibia Little, Robert Little, Robbie Little, Stanley Little, and Theresa Little. Back row l-r: Shade Little, Jr., Tryn Watley, Damani Bediako, Darnell Lashapelle, David Booker and Josh Sage.

Azaniah and daughter Namibia

Matthew Little, first grandson Xzavior Lashapelle and wife Lucille Bryant (Little). his family church in Washington, N.C. The sermon was entitled “The Prodigal Daughter,” which captured my relationship with Daddy. My rebellion took me to places still whispered about – nearly costing me my life on several occasions.

Just as the biblical prodigal returned from rolling around in pig sties and his father embraced him when he came home, took off his ring and threw a banquet,

my daddy always celebrated when “I got up,” even though I would fall down again, and again, and again. Yet, each time I got up he embraced me … and called me angel. It was Daddy’s unconditional love for me that demonstrated the grace of God. For he actualized what the role of the father is intended to do, which is to demonstrate the very nature and character of God to his first responsibility – his family.

Before there was religion, God created the father to be a shadow of the heavenly Father and for thousands of years, humanity knew him only as the provider, the judge … even the healer.

By modeling the unconditional love of the spiritual Father, just as my father’s calling me “angel” served as medicine, not only brought me from death to life, his love for me brought me to complete surrender and to the throne of God himself. No father is perfect, but the office of father is divine. I believe that fathers need to be reminded that their

roles are far from whimsical.

It is critical to revisit what father means just as I have done.

In ministry, I have wept with women with absent fathers, both spiritually and emotionally … addicted women, married women, single mothers … women of all colors, class and status who suffer emotional and spiritual scars from fathers who were absent, or did not represent themselves in their lives “in the office of father.”

From ministering to them I have learned that there is no greater barrier to wholeness than the absence, or a disconnect, from the true love of a father. I am convinced that the fires that burned in the 1960s that elevated the woman from housewife to career woman also blurred the role of the father. When the fires of the 1960s were quenched the culture made the decision to alter the role of father.

“A woman can be both mother and father” to her children I have often heard.

When the women’s liberation movement began to ignite, when the flames died down it was common for women about to

have a baby to say they did not want a husband for their child.

“I want to have this child on my own. I do not need a husband,” I heard said more than once – not giving consideration that this decision was denying the child access to his or her father. There was an invisible castration of the Black man and the effects are seen in the behaviors of children of all colors.

Just as the father’s sperm has the authority to impregnate the egg, public opinion lacks the ability to change the fact that this designation goes to the father and him alone.

It’s not an accident that it was my father’s love that began the process of bringing me from death to life.

I believe that God rewarded my father’s faithfulness. Toward the end of his life he remarried Lucille Bryant (Little) who shared his love of tennis and travel. Together they traveled to more than 20 countries, and competed in the Senior Olympics. He was redeemed in his family and community as eventually the fires were quenched and many of the “burn baby burn” brothers disappeared.

I was so blessed to have Matthew Little as my Daddy, but I also have an array of “fathers” who speak into my life, encourage and counsel me. Fathers like my former employer, Al McFarlane, Congressman Keith Ellison – my former attorney, Pastor Arthur Rouner, and my pastor, James Broughton. I think of fathers such as Gov. Mark Dayton who helped finance my first trip to South Africa or Peter Hayden, my uncles Bud and George Booker, Sam Grant, Sr., who all nurtured the seed that my Daddy had planted but laid dormant needing only watering not for me alone, but for those who perhaps never had the love of a father. For in my wholeness I can be used in their lives and can now empty out myself by calling the unlovable “angel” just as Daddy did.

Azaniah Little lives in Seattle. She works as a freelance writer, minister and consultant, and is currently seeking publication for her first book, “Purpose for Your Pain...”

She is the proud mother of Namibia Little who lives in Minneapolis.

Like many home care workers, I am a woman of color and a single mom.

For generations, we have struggled to make domestic work be recognized as “real work,” a legacy that is rooted in slavery and in women’s unpaid household work.

Make no mistake: our struggle continues today.

Being a PCA has been a great challenge to myself and my family. I am voting YES to form a home care workers union because I will keep my strength and independence.

“

I am voting YES to form a home care workers union because my voice will be heard.

— Shaquonica Johnson, Brooklyn Park 81,7('

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insightnews.com

Insight News • August 4 - August 10, 2014 • Page 9

COMMUNITY MORE THAN ART FLOW Northside Arts Crawl promotes healthy eating

By Sagirah Shahid, TC Daily Planet This year’s FLOW Northside Arts Crawl brought more than just great art. Organizers promoted healthy eating as one of the main messages of the festival.

The event, held on July 26, transformed over a mile and a half of West Broadway into a dynamic and culturally diverse artistic spectacle. The art crawl was comprised of 25 sites and featured 300 visual and performing artists from the Northside community.

The arts festival had its common sights, such as art installations, live mural paintings and free Pedicab rides.

But unlike most art crawls, it also provided access to healthy, locally grown fruits and vegetables, which organizers said was an intentional push to encourage healthy eating in an area that has historically had poor access to fresh produce. “We don’t always think about what we’re putting into our bodies,� said ShaVunda Horsley, a member of the Not Bad Rap hip-hop collective who performed and spoke at the crawl. “I’m very amped to bring what I have studied about food justice and food access into my community.�

The group hosts lectures, workshops on spoken word and hip-hop, and conducts cyphers (a group freestyle of poetry preformed in a circle).

They performed these cyphers throughout the day in front of C and J Barber Shop but they

Sagirah Shahid

also focused their talks on the importance of nutrition and handed out healthy snacks.

The social justice nonprofit Emerge handed out old plastic bottles repurposed into flower pots and encouraged event goers to start their own gardens at home as a sustainable solution to getting access to healthy foods. The plastic bottle flower pots were created by high school students who

Classifieds

teamed up with members of Emerge as part of an art project that aimed to encourage community members to start thinking about their eating and recycling habits.

FLOW’s messages this year reflects the same efforts the Minneapolis Health Department has been making recently to close the widening disparities in produce consumption seen in North Minneapolis compared

to other areas. As part of the department’s continued fight against diabetes and obesity caused by unhealthy diets, MHD has given particular support to businesses and organizations on the Northside that encourage healthy living.

Appetite for Change is one of those programs and they hosted a variety of visual and performing artists during the crawl at their soon-to-

Phone: 612.588.1313

W l Walmart t Careers C

be headquarters on West Broadway. “I think art is such a great vehicle to say a lot of things,� said Appetite for Change project manager Zoe Hollomon. “The message that is going out when people are coming together is really important and it’s an opportunity to talk to people about fresh and local food, the development of new spaces, and ways that they can

Fax: 612.588.2031

get engaged.�

It’s important that the community comes together to generate creative ideas for art just as much as the more concrete ideas of growing vegetable gardens, Hollomon said, and Appetite for Change hopes to implement some of the ideas generated from the community that day into their future programs.

Bedlam Theater performing artist Farrington Starnes expressed his desire to cultivate positivity out of all the negativity surrounding the Northside communities, at the crawl, especially concerning the stereotypes of African Americans. “I’m really trying to wake black people up and let them know that you’re more than what the world is telling you that you are and that the possibilities of what you can be are really endless,� Starnes said. “It’s time to stop limiting ourselves.�

Regardless of how FLOW fueled its participant’s minds and creativity, the reception of the art crawl has been overwhelmingly positive amongst attendees. Dozens of participants flocked to the KMOJ stage to see the performances of national headliners. Several families lingered at the Juxtaposition campus with their children. All in all, the community grew a bit together as it planted the seeds of redefining unity. Š 2014 Sagirah Shahid POINT(49.5279996 37.1171617)

Email: info@insightnews.com

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Director of Membership Services Volunteer Attorney Program Coordinator Central Minnesota Legal Services-St. Cloud Office Full-time position in our Saint Cloud office. Duties Full-time position in our St. Cloud office. Duties include: recruiting volunteer attorneys, completing client intakes and referrals, maintaining case files, outreach to the client community, bar associations, and pro bono planning organizations; administering legal advice clinics, and planning community education events. Valid driver’s license and reliable vehicle required. Spanish or Somali language a plus. Salary: D.O.E. per CMLS salary schedule. Excellent benefits.

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by August 15 (late applications accepted until filled), specifying interest and skills to Terri S. Thorson, Managing Attorney, CMLS, 110 6th Avenue South, Suite 205, St. Cloud, MN 56301. No calls please. EOE.

Job Summary: The Director of Member Services has primary responsibility for managing and implementing membership activities, services and databases to ensure a meaningful and positive membership experience for MSSA members.

Required Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Communications, Administration, Membership /Volunteer Management or related field; with at least three years related work experience. Ability to handle multiple tasks, projects and priorities effectively and professionally. Excellent, positive interpersonal and customer service skills. Excellent oral and written communication skills. Experience in managing and utilizing membership databases. Organized, able to attend to details and provide error free work products.

Closing Date August 15, 2014 Salary $41,200-$61,800 Contact For more information, or to submit a resume czeise@mnssa.org | www.mnssa.org

RENTAL UNITS AVAILABLE

Joint hearing Aug. 13 on revised Southwest LRT plans for Minneapolis

By Met Council/Hennepin County Board and Regional Rail Authority

We are Hiring Drivers for our Transportation OďŹƒce!

Menomonie, WI In the ďŹ rst year driving for Walmart, the average full time Walmart Driver will earn $76,000 per year working a 5.5 day work week.

Walmart drivers earn: • Mileage Pay • Activity Pay • Hourly Pay • Regular schedule and reset hours at home, not on the road • Training Pay • Weekend Premium Pay • Quarterly Safety Bonus • Average length of haul is 300 miles Protect and provide for yourself and your family with comprehensive medical/dental plans and a company-matched 401(k) retirement plan.

Learn about our Professional Truck Driver opportunities, view the minimum job qualiďŹ cations and apply online at www.drive4walmart.com.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer- By Choice.

4:30 p.m. - Open house 5:30 p.m. - Hearing to receive comments Central Library’s Pohlad Hall 300 Nicollet Mall Minneapolis For any special accommodations, contact Daren Nyquist at daren.nyquist@metrotransit.org or 612-373-3894 at least 7 days before hearing.

For more information, see Municipal Consent at www.swlrt.org

University of Minnesota Extension Center for Community Vitality Extension Educator – Leadership and Civic Engagement Morris or Moorhead, Minnesota

This Leadership and Civic Engagement Extension Educator will be based in either the Morris or the Moorhead Regional Extension office and will primarily serve a region of 11 or more counties in west central Minnesota (which also has a Community Economics educator assigned to it.) The Educator meets program area outcome and impact goals through education, outreach, applied scholarship and by leveraging University of Minnesota resources for and with communities. The educator also serves as a member of a statewide program team that serves other regions and the entire state of Minnesota. Required: A Master’s degree at time of appointment. Formal education should include significant course in leadership development or studies (personal and/or community); educational, counseling or clinical psychology; and/or in public or civic engagement, community studies, sociology, communication, adult learning or a closely related field.

Application Review: The review of applications begins on August 18, 2014. Position will remain open until filled.

To learn more about these positions and to apply, visit: @ http://www1.extension.umn.edu/about/employment/ or call 612-624-3717

The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Housing Authority has rental units available in Cass County, MN. Please call 218-335-8280.

Must meet certain qualifications.

Vacancies Cokato Apts, Cokato, MN (a seniors complex 62 or over or handicapped) has vacancies on 2nd Floor for one BR apts. Waiting list open. Contact Don at 320-286-2758. E-Mail cokapts@embarqmail.com

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Note: This advertisement is placed by HUD and does not constitute the legal notice of foreclosure sale.

FOOD SERVICE

Volunteers of America, MN Line Supervisor for Senior Dining.

Serve the noon meal to Seniors M thru F -3110 Blaisdell Ave S, Mpls Hours 8:30-1:30 Pay $11.79 Apply: clarew@voamn.org

Operations Generalist – Jury Specialist The U.S. District Court, District of MN is accepting applications for a full-time Operations Generalist – Jury Specialist in our St. Paul location. Salary range is $40,617 - $66,019.

For complete job description, visit the court’s website www.mnd.uscourts.gov, Employment.

An Equal Opportunity Employer

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Page 10 • August 4 - August 10, 2014 • Insight News

Photos by Mark Allan Peterson

Top: (328 West Broadway Ave.) - Community leaders in North Minneapolis have made some really fantastic pushes to bring more artwork to their streets, including refurbishing storefronts and adding more murals painted by local Northsiders. Truly some of the most beautiful murals in the city are on the northside. Above: (1102 West Broadway Ave.) - A creative use of windows.

Below: (1108 West Broadway Ave.) Bottom: (1808 Emerson Ave. N)

insightnews.com

The 30 hottest

Minneapolis

murals

By Kristoffer Tigue, TC Daily Planet We often forget just how colorful the Twin Cities get when summer rolls in.

Most of the time, our sister cities are blanketed in snow under gray, overcast sky. But underneath all the dreariness, lies hundreds of brilliantly painted murals.

Photographer Mark Allan Peterson has taken it upon himself to document every outdoor mural in

Minneapolis, and so far he’s shot over 550. That’s a lot of murals to sift through, so we’ve done the leg-work and picked out some favorites.

Here’s four of the selected 30 hottest outdoor Minneapolis murals that are located in North Minneapolis.

To view all 30 of the hottest outdoor Minneapolis murals go to: http://www.tcdailyplanet. net/news/2014/07/24/30h o t t e s t - m i n n e ap o l i s murals.

insightnews.com

Insight News • August 4 - August 10, 2014 • Page 11

August 4 - 10

Aesthetically It! is a list of picks from the editors of Aesthetically Speaking.

Aesthetically It! features venues, events, outings and more that are worthy of “It” status. If you have a venue, event or outing that you feel is “It” worthy, email us at aestheticallyit@ insightnews.com

Charmin Michelle

Alexander Abreu and Havana D’ Primera

Monday, Aug. 4 PHOX First Avenue 701 1st Ave. N., Minneapolis 8 p.m.

(Sold Out) With a six-piece indie pop band from Baraboo, Wisc., featuring standout singer Monica Martin, PHOX plays a sold out show at First Avenue.

PHOX

Tuesday, Aug. 5

Keith Sweat

The Poet’s Groove – Open Mic Blue Nile Restaurant 2027 E. Franklin Ave., Minneapolis (612) 338-3000 10 p.m.

FREE Billed as the longest running weekly open mic in the state, the Poet’s Groove features a full live band including world renowned drummer Kevin Washington. Sign up begins at 10 p.m. every Tuesday at the Blue Nile and the show starts at 11 p.m.

Ramona Africa

Wednesday, Aug. 6

UP Rock

Young Jeezy Myth 3090 Southlawn Dr., Maplewood 8 p.m.

21-plus $35 – $45 Not many rappers can say they’ve survived nine years in the music industry. Recently making headlines for his rumored “Illuminati” themed artwork for the new album “Seen It All,” Young Jeezy returns to Minnesota at Myth.

Thursday, Aug. 7 Alexander Abreu and Havana D’ Primera Varsity Theater 1308 4th St. SE, Minneapolis $30 advance, $40 door Alexander Abreu and Havana D’ Primera will be performing live for the first time in Minnesota as a part of the “Me dicen Cuba” world tour. This exclusive one night showing looks to be a spectacle for lovers of all types of music. Backed by a 15-piece orchestra, the sounds of salsa, jazz, funk and Afro-Cuban fuse to together to create the sound that is taking the genre of Timba to a whole new level.

Friday, Aug. 8

Young Jeezy

Twin Cities Black August The Common Table 2001 Riverside Ave., Minneapolis 6 p.m.

– James McClain, William Christmas and Ruchell Magee.

Take part in a day of speakers, poets, and a call in from Ramona Africa of MOVE.

Black August originated in the concentration camps of California to honor fallen freedom fighters, Jonathan Jackson, George Jackson, William Christmas, James McClain and Khatari Gaulden.

Jonathan Jackson was gunned down outside the Marin County California courthouse on Aug. 7, 1970 as he attempted to liberate three imprisoned Black Liberation Fighters

Performers and speakers include Kool Akiem, Antoine Martinneau, Keno Evol, Malik Ceesay, Mysnikol Miller, Manu M. Lewis, Nicque Mabrey, Jonathan Aka Faceman, Sol Ras, Marcus Harcus, Chaun Webster, Donte Emily Collins, Poet, Fatima Camara, Dr. David Pellow, Glo Pesci and Emmanuel Ortiz.

Keith Sweat, Lyfe Jennings and Avery Sunshine State Theatre 805 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis 6:30 p.m.

R&B Singer Keith Sweat has enjoyed success since the days of the “New Jack Swing” era.

The award winning singer returns with Lyfe Jennings and powerhouse vocalist, Avery Sunshine.

Saturday, Aug. 9

Audiyo Element and UP Rock Dakota Jazz Club and Restaurant 1010 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis 11 p.m.

18-plus $5 The Black Out Show features recent Battle of the Bands winners Audiyo Element and UP ROCK for the Dakota’s Late Night series. Members Dundee and Digie were involved in a group, The Abstract Pack in the early 1990s and have branched out with the Afro-futurist group UP ROCK.

Sunday, Aug. 10 Charmin Michelle: DANCE TIME! Cinema Ballroom 1560 St. Clair St., St Paul 7 p.m. $12 adults, $8 students Jazz vocalist Charmin Michelle performs for ballroom dancers along with Jerry O’Hagan and his orchestra.

A free dance lesson starts at 6:15 p.m.

Page 12 • August 4 - August 10, 2014 • Insight News

insightnews.com

BOOK REVIEW

“Dollar Democracy: With Liberty and Justice for Some”

By Kam Williams “Big corporations and their super wealthy owners have bought many American politicians through campaign contributions and lobbying.

These politicians have voted to benefit their donors, not the American public… The Corporate dominated policies of these sponsored politicians have resulted in the greatest gap between the American rich and poor since the Great Depression…

They have made decisions that led to: outsourcing good middle-class jobs; dismantling our public education system; deteriorating health care that leaves Americans in danger, sick and broke; the destroying of our environment; the polluting of our food through deregulation of Big Agribusiness, pesticide use, and proliferation of Genetically-Modified Foods: the crash of Wall Street and the Great Recession, from which the bottom 99% of Americans have not yet recovered.”

Excerpted from the Book Jacket In recent years, the American Dream has proven to be increasingly elusive for most of us. Even if you’re lucky enough to have a job, you’re probably working longer hours for less pay.

Meanwhile, millions of jobs are being outsourced to China, Bangladesh, India, Vietnam, Mexico, the Philippines and other countries that don’t have decent child labor, minimum wage and/or occupational health and safety standards.

Consequently, it’s no surprise that there have been several suicides at Apple factories by disgruntled peasants paid only pennies per hour to perform

Peter Mathews repetitive tasks for 10-12 hours, 7 days a week, with no compensation for overtime.

What makes Third World nations so attractive to multinational corporations are the cheap labor and absence of consequences for human rights violations. Let’s face it, it’s impossible for unions operating in the U.S. to be as appealing to a company as a totally submissive labor force that’s easy to exploit with the help of a Communist government.

This is among the critical factors contributing to the current, domestic economic crisis discussed in detail in “Dollar Democracy: With Liberty and Justice for Some.”

The insightful tome was written

by Peter Mathews, political science professor, talk show host and former Democratic Party nominee for Congress in Long Beach, California.

Besides jobs, the author sets his sights on such hot button

topics as education, health care, the environment, Wall Street vs. Main Street, and election finance reform. Invariably weighing in from a progressive perspective, Mathews is dismayed that, “An American child’s chance of acquiring a quality education depends more on the parents’ income than on almost anything else.”

Despite the country’s dire state of affairs, he remains optimistic, and closes the opus with some viable plan for the people to reclaim the American Dream. The literary equivalent of a one-man million-man march for equality and justice for every U.S. citizen.

“Dollar Democracy: With Liberty and Justice for Some”

by Peter Mathews CreateSpace Paperback, $24.99 368 pages ISBN: 978-1-49605973-4

Bobby

Bobby’s photo shows North Mississippi Regional Park, giving a brief look at the many parks and nature centers located within the community

THIS IS MY GREEN JOB. Every day, I help turn Hennepin County’s postrecycled garbage into enough clean, renewable energy to power 25,000 Minneapolis homes.

In addition to serving the community with sustainable waste disposal and clean, renewable energy, the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC) provides well-paying, green jobs for area residents.

For more information on HERC and its operations, visit covanta.com or hennepin.us/herc.

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

Recover Energy-from-Waste.

Jennica

Edwin

Edwin’s photo shows a giant sculpture of flowers representing the thriving art scene in North Minneapolis

Jennica’s photo demonstrates that beauty can be found everywhere you look in the community

“TRUE NORTHSIDE” Photography exhibit at Minneapolis Urban League celebrates community EDIT youth present “True Northside” Photography Exhibit at Minneapolis Urban League on August 7th 5-8pm.

“True Northside” is a youthproduced photography exhibit aimed at raising awareness of North Minneapolis and all it has to offer. North Minneapolis holds a stigma in many people’s eyes because of the crime and poverty that are prevalent in the community.

Most stories that make the news perpetuate this stigma

by focusing solely on the issues the community is facing. This gallery seeks an answer to this issue.

Youth from North Minneapolis came together to learn about the community, discuss its benefits and pitfalls, and develop a plan to highlight some of the aspects of the community that are seldom heard of in news reports. During the course of this project, the youth participants used photography

to learn about and understand the community. They learned to consider the power of an image to tell a story. In this exhibit, you will see stories of North Minneapolis, as seen through the eyes of youth who live there.

This gallery is a collaborative effort between youth participants of local nonprofits EDIT and Emerge.

Minneapolis Urban League is located @ 2100 Plymouth Ave N.