Make your voice heard
Vote Tuesday November 6th
INSIGHT NEWS November 5 - November 11, 2012 • MN Metro Vol. 39 No. 45 • The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • www.insightnews.com
A letter to my people By Dr. Josie R. Johnson
I
Suluki Fardan
Dr. Josie Johnson
am an 82-year-old Black woman who has been involved in the struggle for justice and equality most of my life. I did not believe I would live long enough to see the election of a Black President. But sadly, I have not lived long enough to see the fulfillment of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Dream … “a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. …” The most surprising and disappointing observation, for this old lady, is the depth of racism that exists in our America. Racism and white supremacy have influenced the four years of this President’s administration. We were warned after the swearing in of this President that the leadership, among the
Appomattox: From the Civil War to Civil Rights Act I, takes place at Appomattox, then a little known village in central Virginia in 1865. It is now a historic place. It is where General Robert E. Lee, head of the southern Confederate Army met and surrendered to General Ulysses Grant, leader of the victorious northern United States of America’s Union Army. The surrender of Lee to Grant represents one of the most significant events, not only in U.S. history, but world history. The result of this and the abolition of Black enslavement changed the course of history on four continents, at least if not the world. The meeting of these
Notes on the struggle By Professor Mahmoud El -Kati With apologies to Soul Brother #1 James Brown; Please, Please, Please, Please see this play. Please. The play premiered on Friday, October 5, at the Guthrie Theatre and runs until November 11. This play has merit, if for no other reason that it has some of the right people in the right places, which is a strange twist of candidness about a presentation of American history.
Michael Brosilow and Allen Brisson-Smith
Cast of Appomattox
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The power of one: Voting matters! Gateway to excellence By Scott Gray MUL President/CEO
It happened on a Saturday, the date was August 13th in 1955; just 57 years ago. He was a farmer, a World War II veteran, an organizer of voter registration drives. This man was a civil rights activist who was fiercely committed and dedicated to ensuring that Black voters understood their rights and more importantly, the significance of letting their political voices be
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heard. Brookhaven is a sleepy, tiny Mississippi town that most of us have never heard of, unless perhaps a student of the Civil Rights Martyrs’ Roll Call List. In 1955, equality was not fully embraced with open arms in this town, and disenfranchisement, particularly when it came to voting was more the order of the day. In
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the face of this reality and even after being told he was too political and subsequently threatened with death if he persisted in working to mobilize voters, this warrior for righteousness refused to quit. Ask yourself, have you been so committed to a cause, to doing the right thing that you were
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opposition, pledged to make him fail; that he would be a one term President, etc, etc. His successful election, in America, was a shock to many! During his campaign he offered hope, courage, intelligence, respect for differences and a sense of peace. The World saw him as an example of the possibilities of America. The World Community gathered wherever he appeared to hear him and see the American who preached possibility, respect and joy. Governments that had questioned our attitude and policies began to re-examine their views and began to have trust in America, again. The President received the 2009 Nobel Prize soon after his election. The Nobel Prize Committee said it honored the President for his “extraordinary effort to strengthen international
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Ballot or the bullet By Corey Yeager, MA, LMFT On Election Day 2008, I went to my polling site to participate in the most historical election since the origin of this country. I recall the excitement that coursed through me as I made way to my local polling station. That morning I had made the intentional decision to vote early before I headed to work. My reasoning for voting early that morning held deep meaning. I am an African American male Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. For the last number of years I have had the pleasure of working with incarcerated youth at the Hennepin County Juvenile Detention Center, downtown Minneapolis. In this role, I see on a daily basis the “New Jim Crow” implications. Young men and women of color being “shackled” with the chains of felony and the subsequent loss of many rights,
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Corey Yeager especially the 15th Amendment to the constitution, the right to vote. The 15th Amendment states in part that it “prohibits each government in the United States from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen’s race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” With this being said, my intention for going early that morning to vote was all important. I wanted all of the students that I would encounter that day to know how important it is to vote. It
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