Insight News ::: 08.17.15

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A Ving thing MORE ON PAGE 10

aesthetically speaking

Insight News August 17 - August 23, 2015

Vol. 42 No. 33 • The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • insightnews.com

Live free without violence flag raised for second week

Associate Justice Alan Page

Justice Page leaves another Hall of Fame legacy By Harry Colbert, Jr. Contributing Writer After 23 years, Associate Justice Alan Page’s second illustrious career is coming to a close. The justice, who endeared himself in the hearts of many Minnesotans as the leader of the Purple People Eaters – the defensive unit of the Minnesota Vikings of the 1970s – is retiring

from the Minnesota Supreme Court on Aug. 31. The retirement is mandatory as state rules say no justice can serve after the month of his or her 70th birthday. Page turned 70 on Aug. 7. Page, who was elected to the state’s high court in 1992, was the first African-American to serve on the Minnesota Supreme Court. And while Page was named NFL MVP in 1971 (the first for a defensive player) and

has been enshrined in both the college and pro football Halls of Fame, it may be his second career as a lawyer and jurist for which he is most known. Page’s election and subsequent reelections to the Minnesota Supreme Court speak volumes to how highly he is respected; not as a football hero, but as a great legal mind. Also of significance is the fact that throughout his career, Page was a vocal advocate for

African-American causes – mostly centered on education. In 1988, Page and his wife Diane Page launched the Page Education Foundation with a goal of introducing more students of color to higher education. To date the foundation has awarded more than $12 million is scholarships. Page said once his service to the state concludes he will

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To honor the lives of Krista Ambers and Kelly Ann Anderson, Minnesota’s 13th and 14th known victims of domestic violence homicide in 2015, more than 300 agencies, organizations, businesses and individuals from across the state will raise the Live Free without Violence flag – a public awareness campaign spearheaded by the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women. Ambers, 36, was murdered on Aug. 6 in her Brooklyn Park home. When police arrived at the home in response to a report of an unconscious person, Ambers was found without a pulse and had injuries to her neck and arms. According to the medical examiner the cause of death was strangulation. The suspect, Amber’s former boyfriend, is said to have had a history of domestic abuse charges and an order for protection filed against him. Ambers’ family stated that they had seen visible marks of abuse on her in the past, and expressed concern. She was the mother of three children. Anderson, 45, was stabbed to death in South St. Paul. Early in the morning of Aug. 7, the suspect is said to have called 911 and told a dispatcher he

Krista Ambers

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PACs and Politics: Who’s your Rich (white) Daddy? the proverbial political kitchen, because money is the fuel driving political elections today. America used to decry the political culture of Latin America that seemed embroiled in the politics of money and family connections, to the point of creating political aristocracies. But reading the WSJ article reveals we can no longer point the finger (of integrity or without impunity) at the idiosyncrasies of other countries’ politics. We have our own political aristocracy. Jeb Bush is heir apparent to the Bush political aristocracy. Even if he hadn’t had a long tenure as governor of Florida,

Commentary

By Irma McClaurin, PhD Culture and Education Editor A recent Wall Street Journal (WSJ), “Billionaires Put Their Stamp on Campaign,” makes it clear that we are watching a new political era in the United States-an era of Big Bucks Politics. If you don’t have millions in your coffers, or rich friends, get out of

his name alone would have cleared a path for him to take any political office and open the pockets of the wealthy. That today’s political candidate can garner contributions of a $1M a pop or checks of $5M signals that the days of Obama and the average person single digit contribution making a difference are over-obsolete! To run for high stakes political office today, you need a Rich (white) Daddy! Most of the high stakes contributors to Super PACs are wealthy white men. Even Hilary Clinton is

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Injustices represent staggering violations of the fundamental human rights of Black America

Call for U.N., international response to human rights violations Black Press of America By Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., President and CEO, NNPA Almost daily there is another fatal case of racially-motivated police brutality that occurs against a Black American woman, man or child. What is happening to Black people in America? What is causing this resurgence of bigotry, violence and brutality? The occurrences of other

serious injustices are also growing: voter suppression, economic inequalities, mass incarceration, as well as racial discrimination in education, housing, environment, employment, and health care. Taken together, these injustices represent staggering violations of the fundamental human rights of Black America. I believe it is time once again to petition the United Nations for an international response to the violations of the human rights of Black Americans, just as Malcolm X had proposed. Human rights may defined as those universal rights that are inherent to all human beings. In

1948, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The preamble states,” Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.” Thus, our chant today “No Justice, No Peace!” is rooted in international law. There are some who will question the effectiveness of calling upon the United Nations to introduce and pass a resolution to stop the human rights violations of Black people and others in the U.S. We live in a global economy and a geopolitical world. I

believe, therefore, if international sanctions were to be imposed by the U.N. on the U.S. because of systematic and racially-motivated human rights violations, it would serve as an effective deterrent. We should recall that back in 1947, W.E.B. DuBois led the NAACP to petition the United Nations to protest the deadly and discriminatory treatment of Black Americans. The document that Dubois and the NAACP presented to the U.N. was titled, “An Appeal to the World.” They cited in their U.N. petition a litany of facts detailing widespread lynching, racial discrimination, as well as documenting the inequalities in housing, employment, education,

voting rights and health care. The new form of lynching today is the use of deadly police force and actions that lead to the unjustifiable deaths of Black Americans, most of them unarmed. Not only are our civil rights being denied, but also our human rights are being systematically violated. It is relevant to today’s state of affairs in Black America to read the following quote from the NAACP U.N. petition 68 years ago: “At first [the American Negro] was driven from the polls in the South by mobs and violence; and then he was openly cheated; finally by a ‘Gentlemen’s agreement’

with the North, that Negro was disfranchised in the South by a series of laws, methods of administration, court decisions, and general public policy, so that today, three-fourths of the Negro population of the nation is deprived of the right to vote by open and declared policy.” Twenty-one states have implemented some type of voter suppression law or policy that is directly targeted at Black Americans and others who have been historically denied equal justice. There are 113 voter suppression proposals pending in 33 states. This action comes

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Insight 2 Health

Business

Commentary

Community

Fresh summer salad

STEP-UP announces 2015 Employer, Intern and Supervisor of the Year Awards

One year after Ferguson: Change still must come

From Minnesota with solidarity: Humanitarian aid to Cuban hospitals

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