Pop-up Museum at Capri showcases North Minneapolis MORE ON PAGE 5
November 25 - December 1, 2013
Vol. 40 No. 48 • The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • insightnews.com
Minnesota African American Museum fights to open By Harry Colbert, Jr. Contributing Writer
Bob Holder
Minnesota African American Museum. Inset: Roxanne Givens
Along a stretch of museums and other points of interest in Minneapolis sits a beautiful Victorian mansion at 1700 3rd Ave. S. that houses the Minnesota African American Museum (MAAM). Though the site houses the Minnesota African American Museum (MAAM), in many ways the museum is homeless as the 1884 built structure is uninhabited due to a fight between the museum and a contractor that has walked off the job and placed a lien on the property. This, on top of a promised $1 million bond that has since been denied, leaves the building in disrepair and far from being visitor ready. According to one of the museum’s founders, Roxanne Givens, the project got off to a roaring start, raising nearly $1 million in less than a year. Givens said in addition, MAAM secured a matching $1 million bond from
the state, which should have put the project in full swing, but when a dispute with the contractor arose midway through renovations the work stalled and left the building in near shambles, non compliant with code and MAAM out of nearly $800,000 and owing the contractor another $800,000. Givens said the main contractor – chosen because of its willingness to subcontract to the minority owned Tri Construction – was slow to complete tasks and the work that was completed was sub par. Insight News has reached out to the contractor, but is not naming the company in order to give the company adequate time to respond to the allegations. Adding to the woes, the matching bond that was believed to have been secure has since been held up and four and a half years since MAAM’s inception the main building on the property sits with exposed electrical, unfinished plumbing
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Pilots bring flight to academy for Black teens a commercial cockpit. Some might even be shocked that the percentage is even that high. But a group of aviators in the Twin Cities is working to boost the appallingly low numbers and introduce a new generation of African-Americans to a career in flight. The Twin Cities chapter of the Organization of Black
By Harry Colbert, Jr. Contributing Writer Currently in aviation only about seven percent of all U.S. pilots are African-American. For those who fly regularly, this number might not seem shocking, as it is quite rare to see an African-American in
Floyd Balentine
Aerospace Professionals (OBAP) is reaching out to African-American teens to participate in its Aviation Career Education (ACE) Academy, set for June 16 - 20 of next year. A goal of the program is to motivate and empower youth to pursue educational opportunities in the field of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM)
Joy Mosley
– and flight in particular. “Academy attendees will acquire invaluable life skills, and build the necessary skills to pilot an aircraft in the process,” said Floyd Balentine, director of the OBAP Twin Cities ACE Academy.
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To Council Member-elect Abdi Warsame: We speak from among members of the African American community to heartily hail and salute your successful election to the City Council of Minneapolis. You are not only the first continental African to win a seat on the Council, you are the first Somali. Only one other Somali has won a city council seat across the United States –Ahmed Hassan, of Clarkston, GA. We welcome you to this long persistent journey in the struggle to make democracy more inclusive and real for persons of color. Your achievement reminds us that democracy is a process, and not a static condition. We wish you well. Hip Hip Hurrah! Signed, Al McFarlane & B.P. Ford, Verlena Matey-Keke, Mahmoud El-Kati, and African American community members.
City Councilmember-elect, Abdi Warsame
Open letter welcomes Warsame to rights, equity legacy African American community members are sending an open letter of congratulations to Minneapolis 6th Ward City Council Member-elect Abdi Warsame. Warsame is one of two Somalis elected to city council offices in the United States. He is the first continental African
elected to a city council in Minnesota. Organized by Verlena Matey-Keke, Professor Mahmoud El-Kati, and Insight News Editor Al McFarlane, the open letter will invite and gather signatures of community, civic, social, business and church leaders in Twin Cities
African American communities in tribute to Warsame’s stunning victory in the 6th Ward. It welcomes Warsame to the ongoing fight for justice, equality and inclusion that has been centered in the Black community and culture, McFarlane said.. Persons interested in adding
their name to the congratulatory open letter to Abdi Warsame are invited to do so online at www. insightnews.com or by sending an email to al@insightnews. com confirming their agreement with the open letter. For further information call Insight News 612-588-1313
The Black Press and Black Church:
Reclaiming our roots and our voice By Jeffrey L. Boney Houston Forward Times As we look at the state of Black America, we see that if ever there was a need for us to have a “come to Jesus” moment; it’s now.
Rachel Schutz
Health
Community
Strength training, lifting weights and body image
Improving arthritis pain with diet
Enhance your holiday landscape
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For those who are either too young to know or too complacent to remember, all one would have to do is perform a little historical research to learn how the Black church and the Black press were the two primary catalysts
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Ladan Yusuf and Crossing Barriers ‘It is okay to talk about racism’
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