Insight News ::: 01.14.13

Pinocchio January 15 – February 24, 2013 UnitedHealth Group Stage Friday, Jan 18, 7 p.m. (opening night) Recommended for grades K+ Children’s Theatre Company 2400 Third Ave S, Minneapolis BOX OFFICE: (612) 874-0400 childrenstheatre.org

January 14 - January 20, 2013

Vol. 40 No. 3• The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • insightnews.com

Answering the

Call

Ellison, Brother h AAli, lii R Rabbi bbi LLatz jjoin i R Rose McGee and ght against foreclosures

By Harry Colbert, Jr. Contributing Writer A group of about 100 – including Rep. Keith Ellison (D-5th) and hiphop star, Brother Ali – gathered at Shir Tikvah Synagogue, 1360 West Minnehaha Pkwy., this past Saturday (Jan. 5) to support McGee and other Minnesotans ghting foreclosures. According to

organizers, the event was planned to educate the public on how many homeowners are being forced into foreclosure when banks and lenders refuse to work with homeowners.

Following the gathering at Shir Tikvah, many in the group boarded a school bus on an area-wide tour of homes in foreclosure.

MCGEE TURN TO 7

Rose McGee

Rights chief Jessi Kingston passionate about business equality

By Harry Colbert, Jr. Contributing Writer In 2008, the Department of Human Rights & Equal Economic Opportunity (HREEO) did not exist in St. Paul government.

But when Mayor Chris Coleman took ofce in 2006, recognizing the divide among a growing minority population and government, three years

later he established HREEO to address the civic and economic divide in the city.

“We weren’t doing what we needed to do to make sure everyone was being included,” said Coleman.

According to the 2011 HREEO annual report, “One of the principle factors that led to the formation of our department was the need to increase the city’s efforts to direct contracting and employment opportunities to low-income,

Jessi Kingston

small-, women-, and minorityowned businesses.” Recently, HREEO has seen a change at the top as its outgoing director, Luz Maria Frias, was replaced by new director, Jessica “Jessi” Kingston. According to Coleman, Kingston is the perfect t to foster equality – especially business equality – within the city.

“She’s passionate about the position,” said Coleman, at a meet-and-greet for the new director. “She understands the

January marks 150th anniversary of Emancipation Proclamation

Remembering our collective history

By Benjamin Todd Jealous, NAACP President and CEO The Emancipation Proclamation, which set our nation on the path to the end of slavery, was signed 150 years ago this month.

This year we should resolve to teach our children the story of our collective history. The past century and a half offers countless tales of bravery and sacrice to inspire the next generation. Only by sharing our history will we be able to continue our progress over the next 150 years.

President Lincoln’s wartime proclamation in 1863

Benjamin Todd Jealous read that “all persons held as slaves” in rebel states “are, and henceforward shall be free”.

Education

Four new directors join Minneapolis School Board

PAGE 2

This was a noble idea and certainly a brave gesture. But any astute observer at the time would know that it was more aspiration than policy.

The Emancipation Proclamation applied to 3.1 million slaves, but only freed about 70,000 right away. The rest, like my grandmother’s grandparents, would have to wait until the union army advanced south to end the war. It took another seven years for the Fifteenth Amendment to grant African Americans the right to vote. And even then, Jim Crow laws and threats of violence kept many people of color away from the polls.

Before Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation,

Aesthetics

Django Unchained: The good, the bad, and the ugly

PAGE 5

Frederick Douglass urged patience to his followers.

“Lincoln may be slow,” he said, “but he will take no step backward.” Since then, the civil rights movement has seen many slow periods of buildup spiked by sudden crescendos of passion that sparked great change. We have struggled at times to keep this nation moving forward, but we have also committed, like Lincoln, to never move backward.

Fifty years after the Emancipation Proclamation, NAACP founder W.E.B. Du Bois lauded the accomplishments of the burgeoning civil rights

JEALOUS TURN TO 3

issues and she talks the language (of business owners). She’s top to bottom just right for the job.

We needed someone who had the head for the work, but we needed someone who had the heart for it. Jessi is passionate and she has both the head and the heart. To get us where we need to go, there’s no better person (to head HREEO).”

Kingston comes to HREEO from Digital River where she was the associate director of purchasing. She is also a

member of the Edina Human Rights Commission, serving as chair for the past two years. She has one year left on her term.

“I’m here to make sure we’re addressing issues of economic opportunity and confront the issues of disadvantaged businesses and try to overcome these obstacles,” said Kingston.

In confronting the issues facing disadvantaged businesses and workers, the department

GAP TURN TO 3

Making stakeholder investment dollars count in 2013 Gateway to excellence

By Scott Gray

MUL President/CEO Nationally, the economy is going through a fundamental restructuring, and the nonprot sector is certainly being affected by these changes as well. In recent years, boundaries between public (government), private (business), and social

Community

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day events

PAGE 10

(non-prot) sectors have become blurred as more commonly there is an apparent blending of social, human development, economic and environmental aims with business approaches.

Expanding needs from within communities and shrinking resources have made it apparent that the best chance of achieving sustainable social impact is through collaborative partnership and the use of sound business practices.

Demonstrating recognition of this shift, the Minneapolis

GRAY TURN TO 8

Health

Prediabetes: What can I do about it?

PAGE 11

Page 2 • January 14 - January 20, 2013 • Insight News

insightnews.com

EDUCATION

Carla Bates hugs departing board director Jill Davis.

Four new directors join Minneapolis school board Tracine Asberry makes remarks following her oath accompanied by her son, Miles Asberry-Lindquist

Photos: MPS

The Minneapolis Board of Education elected new ofcers for chair, vice chair, treasurer and clerk. Alberto Monserrate will serve as chair, Jenny Arneson as vice chair, Richard Mammen as clerk and Rebecca

Gagnon as treasurer. The school board voted on the nominations after swearing in four new board members during its annual meeting Tuesday, January 8,

BOARD TURN TO 8

Target, NFL support schools’ media centers, athletic program Media centers at eight Minneapolis Public Schools will benet from a $15,000 Target grant, while one school will also use a grant from the National Football League to update gym equipment.

The schools that received Target Library Makeover grants are Anne Sullivan, Anishinabe, Bancroft, Bryn Mawr, Nellie Stone Johnson, Pillsbury, Sheridan and

Waite Park. Each of the schools received an initial grant from Target between 2008 and 2011 to update the school’s library or media center. The latest grants will enable schools to enhance library spaces with additional shelving, updated technology and bean bag chairs.

Waite Park Elementary School also received a $10,000 grant from

the National Football League and the National Dairy Council through the Fuel Up to Play 60 campaign.

The campaign, which strives to reduce the childhood obesity rate, encourages children to engage in physical activity for at least 60 minutes per day. Waite Park parent Jenn Bennington applied for the Fuel Up to Play 60 grant.

The NFL Play 60 Super School

contest selected one school from each of the 32 NFL markets, as well as two schools in non-NFL markets. To help Waite Park celebrate attaining the $10,000 grant, Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jared Allen also visited the school in December. Allen spoke to students about the benets of healthy choices and exercise.

Waite Park submitted three

essays demonstrating the school’s NFL team pride and examples of how it incorporates football into lesson plans. In addition, the school was asked to demonstrate how its physical education environment and classes teach students about the importance of being active and eating right.

“We received this grant because we believe in eating healthy

and being physically active,” Principal Cynthia Mueller said.

“Our students receive physical education once or twice per week.

Our physical education specialist, Kammie Jackson, taught a football unit in the fall where third- through fth-grade students learned the game through skills acquisition like catching and throwing.”

Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood Early Learning Scholarships available Up to 100 Early Childhood Education Scholarships of up to $11,000 each year are still available for qualifying families within Saint Paul’s Promise Neighborhood.

The scholarships, which are expected to average about $8,000 per year, provide families with

nancial support to help pay for high-quality early childhood education for 3- and 4-year-old children.

Qualifying families will receive help paying for and choosing a Parent Aware qualityrated early childhood education program.

The scholarships are

available to families who live within the geographic boundaries of the Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood – a 250-block area between Pierce Butler Route and Selby Avenue, Rice Street and Lexington Parkway – and meet income and other criteria.

Families must have an income

below 200 percent of the federal poverty guidelines, which is slightly more than $46,000 for a family of four.

Applications are distributed by the organization Think Small.

Interested families should call Think Small at 651-641-6604 for an application.

Children who participate in high-quality early childhood education are more likely to be ready for kindergarten. Over the years, research has shown that a child’s chances for success are signicantly increased when high-quality early childhood education is a factor.

The Promise Neighborhood Early Learning Scholarships are made possible with funds provided in part by a grant from the Minnesota Department of Education using federal funding CFDA 84.412A -Federal Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge Grant.

Senator Amy Klobuchar and family join Minnesotans and Americans celebrating the January 21, 2013 Inauguration of President Barack Obama and celebration of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Paid for by Klobuchar for Minnesota

insightnews.com

Insight News • January 14 - January 20, 2013 • Page 3

BUSINESS

Working with the u Plan Your Career

By Julie Desmond

julie@insightnews.com

INSIGHT NEWS www.insightnews.com

Insight News is published weekly, every Monday by McFarlane Media Interests.

Editor-In-Chief Al McFarlane CFO Adrianne Hamilton-Butler Publisher Batala-Ra McFarlane Associate Editor & Associate Publisher B.P. Ford Vice President of Sales & Marketing Selene White Culture and Education Editor Irma McClaurin Director of Content & Production Patricia Weaver Sr. Content & Production Coordinator Ben Williams

Penny is going to get red. She thinks so, anyway. She spent $130 to obtain the precious drug, Tamiu, on day two of what she knew was something worse than anything she’s had before. She is now on day ve, barely able to drag herself off the couch, and plotting a way to hide her illness in order to keep her job. Ethically, she should stay home. Practically, she can’t afford to. What to do?

First, don’t get sick. Wash your hands.

Clean your keyboard, bring your own coffee cup and bring it home at night to wash it, spray down your desk, your phone, the keys

on the copier and the knob on the door to your ofce. Then wash your hands again. It might be impossible to avoid illness, but by going overboard with the hand sanitizer and the Lysol, you will at least be able to say you tried. Did I mention?

You need to wash your hands.

With soap.

When you meet someone, and you are forced by professional etiquette to shake hands, don’t whip out the hand sanitizer and pass it around.

Just avoid touching your hands to your face until you can clean up. Is your pen full of germs?

Maybe, but stave off the OCD

tendencies and realize, again, you can only do so much. Your pen is not your enemy, unless you put it in your mouth. Same goes for coworkers.

But when you do get sick, rst, tell your manager. Hourly employees are in the worst position here. The work needs to get done, but bringing a bug to work can infect an entire staff, which is much worse than having to bring in a temp for a few days to cover your shift.

Your boss reads the newspaper, sees the news and is just as worried as anyone about loss of productivity due to u. If you have a doctor’s note, share that

with your manager. But if you don’t, it should be okay. Most leaders won’t be surprised by a sick call this week or next and a good leader will tell you to stay home.

Do not fake the u, however.

Next week you might actually have it, and you will have used up your legitimate excuse for being absent.

When you do get sick, make it your mission to get healthy again. Oranges, soup, lots and lots of water. People who die from inuenza are often victims of dehydration. Keep the liquids coming in, get the sleep you require, and you should improve

Julie Desmond is IT Recruiting Manager with George Konik Associates, Inc. Send your career planning questions to Julie at jdesmond@georgekonik. com.

Communities of Color grant applications due February 1 The General Mills Foundation announced the continuation of the Celebrating Communities of Color grants program for 2013.

The application deadline for the $500,000 grants program is Friday, Feb. 1. Grant applications and other details are available on the Web at: General Mills Community of Color Grants Grants of $10,000 each will be awarded to 50 nonprot

organizations, schools and other community groups across the Twin Cities with programs designed to improve the lives of people within the local communities of color. Grant recipients will be announced in May, 2013.

For questions about the program, e-mail: Community.

ActionQA@genmills.com Launched in 2004, the

Celebrating Communities of Color grant program has served more than 500,000 children, families and individuals across the seven county metro area with a total of $4 million in grants.

The program was established in recognition of the Foundation’s 50th anniversary and aligns with General Mills’ commitment to diversity.

The mission of the General

Mills Foundation, celebrating 58 years of giving, is to nourish communities.

Continuing its tradition of generous giving and global community support, General Mills contributed more than $143 million to charitable causes in scal year 2012.

General Mills invests in and collaborates with community organizations and programs that focus on alleviating hunger,

advancing nutrition wellness and improving K-12 education.

In addition, 83 percent of U.S. employees volunteer. To learn more about the ways General Mills nourishes lives through philanthropy and community engagement, please join us on Facebook at Facebook.com/ GeneralMillsGives or visit us online.

Jealous

present hesitation and hypocrisy of America is nal.”

Fifty years after that, civil rights leaders mobilized more than a quarter-million people of all races to ll the capital’s Mall, demanding passage of meaningful civil rights legislation, an immediate end to school segregation, protection of the right to vote and a public works program for all unemployed. The 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom marked the centennial of the Emancipation

Proclamation with a forceful call for social justice.

Another fty years have passed. We are about to see the rst black president begin his second term in ofce. But in too many ways, our struggles still mirror the struggles of our ancestors. We need to teach our children about the full history of our people. At the dawn of our collective freedom, our ancestors focused on how their children could get the best education; how they could get past persistent discrimination

and nd jobs; how they could make the justice system work for them rather than against them.

Today, people of color still face major obstacles to education. A black man in America is still six times more likely to be incarcerated than a white man – and three times more likely to be incarcerated than a black man in South Africa at the height of apartheid. We still face rampant discrimination in lending, housing and employment.

And nearly 150 years after the Reconstruction Amendment, some states are imposing new restrictions on voting that target low-income communities and communities of color. Unlike the Jim Crow era, when people broke the law to suppress the vote, politicians are now using the law – photo ID laws, cuts to early voting and registration restrictions – to suppress the vote.

Lincoln’s quiet courage and Douglass’ brash condence are important sources of inspiration, but the lesson must not end there.

We must teach our children about the many heroes who refused to accept the status quo, and who followed Lincoln’s example to never go backward.

When our children remember our whole history, they will be more inclined to see themselves as a part of it. And now, more than ever, we need them to see that the story of our movement is not so much the history of the past as it is instruction for the future.

From 1 movement: “From slavery to freedom, from 4 million to 10 million, from denial of citizenship to enfranchisement, from being owned chattels to ownership of $600 million in property.” Yet Du Bois also warned that achieving justice could take decades – even lifetimes, adding: “The Negro has refused to believe that the

Production Intern Miki Noland Distribution/Facilities Manager Jamal Mohamed Facilities Support / Assistant Producer, Conversations with Al McFarlane Bobby Rankin

Gap

Receptionist Lue B. Lampley

From 1

Staff Writer Ivan B. Phifer Insight Intern Abeni Hill Contributing Writers Cordie Aziz Harry Colbert, Jr. Julie Desmond Fred Easter Oshana Himot Timothy Houston Alaina L. Lewis Lydia Schwartz

Kitchen looking more like an office?

At this rate, you might want both.

Photography Suluki Fardan Tobechi Tobechukwu Contact Us: Insight News, Inc. Marcus Garvey House 1815 Bryant Ave. N. Minneapolis., MN 55411 Ph.: (612) 588-1313 Fax: (612) 588-2031 Member: Minnesota Multicultural Media Consortium (MMMC), Midwest Black Publishers Coalition, Inc. (MBPCI), National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA)

in a day or two.

This year’s u is said to be the worst since H1N1 hit in 2009.

Tragically, it has already claimed lives in MN and nationally. Be smart. Be careful. Be healthy.

Penny needs to tell her manager why she is not at her desk. She is a top performer; her boss will understand. Now, please excuse me while I go wash my hands.

Get a great rate on a Home Equity Line of Credit.

There’s never been a better time to make those home

RATES AS LOW AS

3.99

%

APR*

Variable Rate

improvements you’ve been thinking about. U.S. Bank is offering a Home Equity Line of Credit at a great rate of just 3.99% APR,* with no closing costs. Not to mention the tax advantages, great service, and convenient branch locations. Start adding value to your home today.

Postmaster: Send address changes to McFarlane Media Interests, Marcus Garvey House 1815 Bryant Avenue North, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55411.

branch

usbank.com/lowrate

800.209.BANK (2265)

*3.99% Annual Percentage Rate (APR) is available on Equiline Home Equity Lines of Credit with a U.S. Bank Package and a 70% or 80% loan-to-value (LTV) or less. Minimum credit limit conditions may also apply and vary, depending upon the market. The APR will vary with the Prime Rate as published in the Wall Street Journal. As of December 21, 2012 the variable rate for home equity lines ranged from 3.99% APR to 8.99% APR. Higher rates apply depending upon the credit limit and a higher LTV. The rate will not vary above 25% APR or applicable state law, nor below 3.25% APR. An annual fee up to $90 may apply after the first year. Offer is subject to normal credit qualifications. Rates are subject to change. Property insurance is required. Consult your tax advisor regarding the deductibility of interest. Some restrictions may apply. Home Equity Loans and Lines of Credit are offered through U.S. Bank National Association ND. ©2012 U.S. Bank. All rights reserved. Member FDIC.

has set a goal of 25 percent disadvantaged business inclusion for all city contracts.

That breaks down to 10 percent small business enterprise, 10 percent women-owned and 5 percent minority-owned businesses.

“These numbers are minimums, not maximums,” said Coleman. “We don’t just want to achieve the minimum.”

Coleman pointed to the recent construction project at Como Park as a success of beefed-up inclusion efforts.

The St. Paul mayor said that project achieved a 30 percent disadvantaged business inclusion rate.

Kingston is seeking similar numbers with the current construction of the new stadium in Lowertown. The eventual home of the St. Paul Saints is expected to be completed in 2015.

Coleman said in a short time, attitudes about St. Paul are changing in respect to its efforts to be more inclusive.

“If you think about where we have come from in seven years, this city has come far,” said Coleman. “The (minority) community didn’t trust what the city was doing.

The conversation in 2013 is so fundamentally different than the conversation in 2006.”

Minnesota Commissioner of Human Rights, Kevin Lindsey, applauded Coleman for his selection of Kingston and for having the forethought to create HREEO. “I think it’s important to have a strong person in place (to head HREEO),” said Lindsey.

“I think she’s (Kingston) is the right person. I’m looking forward to working with her.”

Page 4 • January 14 - January 20, 2013 • Insight News

insightnews.com

MSU student Vance Holmes on the verge of achieving dream Ten years ago, Vance Holmes’ world was turned topsy-turvy.

His mother had died unexpectedly from an aneurysm.

Then several months later, Holmes’ brother was shot and murdered on the streets of McKeesport, Penn., close to Pittsburgh.

All of which makes his most recent accomplishment – earning a graduate certiďƒžcate fall semester from Metropolitan State University’s School of Urban Education – bittersweet.

It is bitter in that neither his mother nor his brother are alive to witness Holmes’ quest, but sweet in that he is on the verge of achieving his longtime dream of teaching urban youth. “I am doing this in part to honor my mother’s memory,� said Holmes, who lives in downtown Minneapolis. As for his brother, “I think he would be very, very proud of me. He never got to go to college, but he wanted to.�

Holmes’ accomplishment is not his ďƒžrst brush with higher education.

The McKeesport native earned an undergraduate degree in music theater from West Virginia University, Morgantown, in 1985. Five years later, he completed a graduate degree in directing for

Vance Holmes with Sue K. Hammersmith, president

Metropolitan State University

the theater from the University of Minnesota.

For about a decade afterward, Holmes was an actor, director and choreographer as a full-time permanent company member of the Minneapolis Children’s Theater. After that stint, he was a freelance actor, director and choreographer for a number of Twin Cities-area schools and arts organizations, including the Chanhassen Dinner Theater and Penumbra Theater.

Holmes has penned several musicals in his career, including one called the “Jazz Barber of Seville,â€? which was performed in Red Wing and Albert Lea. He describes the musical, an allAfrican-American version of the opera, “The Barber of Seville,â€? as his proudest accomplishment. “It ďƒžnally happened and was very successful,â€? said Holmes.

Along the way Holmes, also a freelance web designer, launched a website posting pictures and background information on missing college students.

That endeavor received considerable attention as Holmes was contacted by some of the students’ parents and interviewed by media locally, nationally and even internationally.

Throughout his successful

artistic and other efforts, Holmes has long craved teaching.

Speciďƒžcally, he wanted to teach urban youngsters. That passion was immediately apparent to his Metropolitan State instructors and advisor. “What is most clear above and beyond Vance’s extraordinary dedication and impressive work ethic is the powerful drive to make the world better through teaching,â€? said Adela Peskorz, one of his university professors. “I love going to school,â€? said Holmes. “And I’ve always wanted to teach. But it’s taken awhile to get here.â€?

Holmes said the university’s supportive environment and affordability, plus a twoyear scholarship from the Metropolitan State University Foundation’s Urban Teacher Endowed Scholarship, aided him in his pursuits.

Holmes expects to earn his state teaching license in early 2013, after which he plans to teach English language arts to Twin Cities-area urban youth.

It pains Holmes that his mother and brother are around to bear witness to his achievements. “I really wish that both could be here to see this,� said Holmes.

Images of America: Black banking

By William Reed Starting during the 1930s, the Mitchells of Washington were close friends with Edward Kennedy Ellington’s family.

So, in 2009 when the Duke Ellington Commemorative Quarter was to be distributed, the Ellington family selected the Mitchell’s Industrial Bank on the historic U Street corridor to begin distributing the quarter.

The Ellingtons and Mitchells are evidence of the evolution of the nation’s Black middle class. The families grew up in Le Droit Park, an area of urban, narrow row houses anchored

by Howard University. The bank of Le Droit Park residents, Industrial Bank of Washington, grew to be one of America’s oldest Black-owned banks. The bank and Mitchell family are testaments to the Washington Black business movement.

When it opened, Industrial Bank

was Washington’s only Blackowned bank. Jesse Mitchell, a 1907 Howard University Law School grad started Industrial Bank of Washington in 1934.

A range of Black investors, from individuals, churches, and service-oriented organizations rallied around the effort. The bank has had a national impact through three generations: Mitchell’s son B. Doyle Mitchell Sr. succeeded him as president in 1953, who was then succeeded in 1993 by his grandson B. Doyle Mitchell Jr. as president and CEO and his granddaughter Patricia A. Mitchell as executive vice president. Under their guidance, Industrial Bank remains a family-owned business that has 150 employees and $350 million in assets.

The story of Industrial Bank of Washington is of importance to Black Americans because as Black wealth has evolved, Industrial Bank has, over generations, delivered banking

and ďƒžnancial services toward the growth and development of the nation’s largest and longest enduring Black middle class.

Both the bank and Edward Kennedy “Duke� Ellington are Washington legends. The “Duke� and other Black music legends helped establish the U Street entertainment corridor.

On February 26, 2009, Industrial Bank led the way when the jazz musician became the ďƒžrst Black American to be prominently featured on a U.S. coin in circulation with the release of a quarter honoring the District of Columbia.

In “Images of America: Industrial Bank� B. Doyle Jr. and Patricia A. Mitchell have produced a good look and insight into Black Washington over the past seven decades.

The book is a worthwhile look into the Black banking world, people and events. Since slavery, Africans in America realized the necessity of accumulating wealth

and the subsequent beneďƒžts of collective ďƒžnancial security. The Free African Society, the Free Labor Bank, and the Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company laid the groundwork for Black capitalism in America. Black banks gave African Americans a venue in which to learn about and participate in the business of banking.

They helped

Blacks learn valuable economic lessons about being industrious and saving money. AfricanAmerican churches and fraternal organizations served as pooling places for capital needed to open banks sensitive to the needs of African Americans.

In “Images of America: Industrial Bank� the authors tell the story of the institution in 130-pages and through more than 200 vintage images that brings to the fore the people, places, and events that shaped the character of Washington until today.

The bank held accounts for the National Business League, the National Bankers Association, the Black Press of America and most national fraternal and sorority organizations.

In “Images of Americaâ€? the Mitchells have deďƒžned a community as the bank’s story is illustrated through images from the Industrial Bank archives and the Scurlock Studio Records, Archives Center, National

Museum of American History, Behring Center and Smithsonian Institution. The foreword was composed by Edward Ellington Jr. and April Ellington, son and daughter of “The Duke.� “Images of America: Industrial Bank� is recommended as a “must read� for Blacks. The book is published by Arcadia Publishing – www.arcadiapublishing. com. Learning about what has become a mainstay for Black Washingtonians will be a lesson well learned. Industrial Bank has received wide acclaim for its community reinvestments and performances. B. Doyle Mitchell Jr. says, they provide “services to create a vibrant local community based on encouraging thriving businesses.�

William Reed is publisher of “Who’s Who in Black Corporate America� and available for projects via the BaileyGroup. org)

HUD Voucher Program fails to relocate families from poor neighborhoods

By Stefanie DeLuca America’s Wire Writers Group WA S H I N G T O N - S o c i a l scientists and policy makers have long understood the harmful effects that living in high poverty neighborhoods can have on children and adults.

Numerous studies underscore the links between neighborhood disadvantage and a host of social problems, including high school dropout, infant mortality, cognitive difďƒžculties, teenage childbearing and exposure to violence.

These studies show that families living in high poverty neighborhoods face burdens beyond their individual resource constraints in ďƒžnding jobs,

staying safe and raising children.

After falling during the decade of the 1990s, both the number of neighborhoods of extreme concentrated poverty and the number of people living in such neighborhoods rose during the past decade, such that 10 percent of poor people now live in extremely high poverty neighborhoods.

Starting in the 1990s, the federal government signiďƒžcantly reshaped housing policy to address the problem of concentrated poverty. Recognizing that public housing projects were creating the very environments they were designed to eliminate, Congress authorized the HOPE VI program in 1992. This program provided funding to demolish public housing complexes, in many cases replacing them with

FREE TO THE PUBLIC

HOUSING EMPOWERMENT EXPO SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 1 – 5 p.m.

Shiloh Temple 1201 W. Broadway Ave., Minneapolis t ( FU FREE MFHBM IFMQ BOE BOTXFST BCPVU BWPJEJOH GPSFDMPTVSF t - FBSO BCPVU PXOJOH B )BCJUBU IPNF GPS MFTT UIBO ZPV XPVME QBZ JO SFOU

SPONSORED BY THE NORTHSIDE PASTORS’ COLLABORATIVE

mixed income communities.

While these new communities were intended to reduce poverty concentration by encouraging middle class and poor families to share the same neighborhood, the HOPE VI program did not give residents a right to return to the redeveloped community, and failed to provide one-for-one replacement of public housing units. This contributed to a reduction the nation’s supply of public housing, and also meant that many of the original tenants would not be part of the newly developed community.

The families who did not or could not return to public housing after HOPE VI joined the millions of poor families already participating in the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program. HCV (formerly Section 8) is the largest housing program in the country, subsidizing over 2.2 million households, twice the number served by traditional public housing projects. The voucher program provides tenants with a rent subsidy which they can use to lease any private-market unit renting at or lower than 40-50 percent of the metropolitan area median rent.

Because vouchers are not attached to speciďƒžc developments, the HCV program should theoretically work to deconcentrate poverty by allowing poor families to move to more afďƒ&#x;uent neighborhoods than they would otherwise be able to afford.

Yet despite this potential, voucher holders usually struggle to move out of poor neighborhoods -on the whole, they are no more likely to relocate to low-poverty communities than poor renters who do not receive federal housing assistance.

There are also signiďƒžcant racial differences in the program.

Minority voucher users are even less likely than whites to move to better communities, and the proportion of voucher recipients in such neighborhoods shrinks

when recipients are mostly black and unassisted households are mostly white. In sum, the HCV program falls short of its full potential to facilitate moves by low-income families out of poor neighborhoods.

A multi-year study of family dynamics and housing mobility that we conducted in Mobile, Alabama helps explain why the program doesn’t work as designed.

While the story of housing and segregation is well known in larger “rust beltâ€? cities in the Northeast and Midwest, less is known about how these processes play out in smaller cities, and cities in the South. Almost a quarter of the HCV households in the Mobile area live in the highest poverty neighborhoods. Between 2009 and 2012, we talked with more than 100 low income African American families across Mobile about the places they had lived in the past, their reasons for moving, and their neighborhood characteristics, children, ďƒžnances, and family dynamics.

The difďƒžculties begin before the families even receive their subsidy. Because the supply of vouchers lags far behind the demand, housing authorities often maintain waitlists that are thousands of names long. In many cities, the names on the waitlists are so stale that administrators have abandoned a â€œďƒžrst come, ďƒžrst servedâ€? policy and instead select families randomly when turnover vouchers become available.

Once families do receive their voucher, they are limited in the amount of time they have to search for a unit. With such a high demand, housing authorities are under pressure to rescind the voucher if a family can’t ďƒžnd a unit in the allotted time, in order to let the next person on the waitlist use it.

Mothers responded to this time crunch in a number of ways that reduced their chances of moving out of poor neighborhoods and into higher opportunity areas. Some relied

on their social networks to refer them to a landlord-this common practice eased anxiety about running out of search time and being left without housing, but often meant that families took a housing unit in a poor or segregated neighborhood, because a relative in such a neighborhood saw a “for rent� sign down the street, or were themselves renting from the same landlord.

Another signiďƒžcant factor that limits the geographic scope of the housing search is “the list,â€? a sheet of available properties and participating landlords given to families by the housing authority.

Many people said the list was their primary resource during the housing search, and some believed (incorrectly) that they were not allowed to use their vouchers at places which weren’t on the list. After reviewing the list, we found that there were nearly 200 properties on it, but only nine were in non-segregated neighborhoods in the city, and only seven were in non-poor neighborhoods.

Clearly, families who use the HCV program face a number of constraints that limit their ability to make a careful, calculated search for housing. Not only do they face difďƒžculties ďƒžnding affordable housing where landlords will take their voucher in the ďƒžrst place, but with the loud ticking clock on their voucher, they are often forced into desperate and last minute choices about where to live.

Landlord referrals, the housing authority’s limited property list, and a general unfamiliarity with better off neighborhoods helped channel families into other poor, segregated neighborhoods. Under these circumstances, it would be misleading to say that many of the families were afďƒžrmatively “choosingâ€? their neighborhoods.

These barriers are reinforced by some aspects of the HCV program’s administration that reduce the capacity and incentive for public housing authorities to implement programs that leverage

vouchers to deconcentrate poverty. For example, the way that HUD has traditionally chosen to set maximum “Fair Market Rents� (FMRs), at the 40th (or 50th) percentile of overall metropolitan rents, tends to place rental units in many higher opportunity communities out of reach.

While the constraints are daunting, there are policy changes that can directly impact them, some of which are currently under consideration at HUD: • Give more weight to the poverty deconcentration factor in the tool HUD uses to evaluate the administration of HCV. • Streamline the portability process. • Experiment with smaller area FMR limits, which would set voucher rents by zip code rather than metropolitan area, thus increasing the rent limit in better neighborhoods while decreasing it in high poverty ones. • Extend the voucher search time, especially for families who are trying to rent the difďƒžcult to ďƒžnd units in better neighborhoods. • Expand special “mobility programsâ€? that have been implemented in several metropolitan areas; these programs provide counseling to low-income, minority families to help them ďƒžnd housing in low poverty or nonsegregated neighborhoods and to stay there.

While the nation’s public housing policy is touted as allowing poor families the freedom and “choice� to move to better neighborhoods, our research shows that is frequently not the case. The reality is that many low-income families are stuck living in high poverty, racially segregated areas.

Stefanie DeLuca is Assoc.

Professor of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University.

insightnews.com

Insight News • January 14 - January 20, 2013 • Page 5

AESTHETICS

Django Unchained: The good, the bad and the ugly

By Richmond Pulse / New America Media, Commentary, Jazmyne Z. Young, Asani Shakur EDITOR’S NOTE: The following two lm reviews offer competing perspectives on Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained,” a movie about a former slave who sets out to free his wife from bondage and exact revenge on a sadistic Mississippi slave owner. The reviewers, Jazmyne Young and Asani Shakur, are both African American youth from Richmond, California, and writers for The Richmond Pulse newspaper.

‘Django’ criticisms are predictable, misguided

By Jazmyne Z. Young In a way, I’d been looking forward to seeing Quentin Tarantino’s new movie, “Django Unchained,” before I’d ever even heard of it, since the moment I drove away from the theater so thoroughly entertained by his previous lm, the revenge-full “Inglourious Basterds.” (If you aren’t familiar with that lm, but did see “Django Unchained,” you’ve done yourself a great injustice.)

“Inglourious Basterds” -- now there’s a movie where the director took liberties with historical accuracy and was still able to tell a damn good story, all while keeping the spirit of the era (World War II) intact. At the time I’d thought to myself, “Wow, I’m not even Jewish and I still felt a sense of satisfaction when the Nazi’s head got bashed in with a baseball bat…

I wish there was a movie like that for Black people!”

I don’t imagine the public reactions to the violence in “Django” will be much different from that of “Kill Bill” – certain women’s groups

Jaime Foxx in Django Unchained attacked the lm for its scenes of brutality against the lead character, a woman -- or any other number of Tarantino movies. And certainly there were Jewish people who felt that the director’s disregard for historical accuracy in “Basterds” amounted to nothing less than blasphemy.

Speaking of historical

accuracy, I can’t help but compare “Django Unchained” to another movie circulating theaters right now, Seteven Spielberg’s “Lincoln.”

If the historical inaccuracy of Djangoupsets you, the perceived truths in Spielberg’s latest lm concern me just the same. At least Quentin Tarantino didn’t run from the

Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty

uncomfortable, brutal, savage nature of American slavery, whereas Steven Spielberg turned it into a matter of rhetoric and policy. All things considered, with awards season approaching in Hollywood, I’d rather spend my money to boost the ticket sales of a lm like “Django” than “Lincoln.”

Still, it’s only natural that all Black people will not

Columbia Pictures

receive “Django Unchained” with open arms. It doesn’t help that our most highly respected lmmaker has publicly boycotted the movie, saying it is disrespectful to his ancestors.

Ironic, because Spike Lee is actually the reason why I became a fan of Quentin Tarantino’s work in the rst place. (Remember Tarantino’s cameo appearance in the Lee

lm, “Girl 6?”) My read of Lee’s disdain for “Django” is that it has less to do with the lm itself – after all, he refuses to see it -- and more about his own current position in Hollywood, considering that (1) people aren’t seeing his movies like they used to (Who do you know that saw “Red Hook Summer” or “Miracle at St. Ana?”) and (2) if Spike Lee were to try to make a lm like “Django,” it would never get the same nancial backing and support from Hollywood that Tarantino enjoyed, let alone a nationwide release on Christmas Day. Not even with Barack Obama in ofce do I think that would ever happen.

As for the lm’s generous use of the n-word, it was a Spike Lee character (played by comedian Paul Mooney) in the lm “Bamboozled” that admitted, “I say nigga 50 times a day; it keeps my teeth white.” We are so subjected to gratuitous use of the n-word that it’s laughable this lm would be regarded as anything more than a spec in an n-wordlled sea. If I’m not mistaken, Kanye West & Jay-Z’s summer anthem was called what? Who was in Paris? That’s the same musician (Jay-Z) seen rubbing shoulders with our beloved Black president on the campaign trail. So please, spare me the need to reiterate a count of how many n-bomb’s get dropped in “Django Unchained.”

In critiquing “Django,” it’s important to also keep in mind that no man is an island, including Tarantino. His new lm was produced by Reginald Hudlin, also the producer of the Black animation series, “The Boondocks.” Remember the George Lucas lm, “Red Tails?” (I know, I tried to forget it, too.) It was produced by Aaron McGruder, creator of “The Boondocks” franchise.

DJANGO TURN TO 6

Columbia Pictures

ZERO DARK THIRTY

Riveting docudrama recounts manhunt for Osama Bin Laden Film Review

By Kam Williams

kam@insightnews.com After 9/11, the United States intensied its efforts in the international manhunt for Osama bin Laden (Ricky Sekhon).

Nevertheless, the elusive mastermind of the terrorist attack continued to orchestrate mass murders in Bali, Istanbul, London, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere around the world.

Dismayed by the evermounting death toll, the authorities rationalized the use of rough interrogation tactics bordering on torture in the hope of expediting the capture, dead or alive, of the slippery al-Qaida leader. He was ultimately tracked down to a walled compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan where he died on May 2, 2011 during a daring, helicopter raid conducted

by Navy SEAL Team Six. Directed by two-time, Academy Award-winner Kathryn Bigelow (for The Hurt Locker), Zero Dark Thirty (military

speak for 12:30 AM) is a riveting, super-realistic account of the decade-long search for bin Laden. Bigelow has again collaborated with Oscar-winning scriptwriter Mark Boal (also for The Hurt Locker), with the pair apparently gaining access to classied materials in preparing the project.

The lm is structured as a tale of female empowerment revolving around Maya (Jessica Chastain), a cool, calm and collected CIA agent who manages to keep her head even when so many around her seem to be losing theirs, literally and/or guratively. She also has an uncanny knack for deciphering which clues might be worth following, cutting a sharp contrast in this regard to bumbling colleagues who fritter away most of their time on wild goose chases.

At the point of departure, we nd Maya nally getting her rst taste of eldwork after starting her career boning-up on bin Laden behind a desk in Washington, D.C. She’s been reassigned to participate in the questioning of al-Qaida members and sympathizers being detained at secret sites located outside the U.S. where the Geneva Conventions provisions relating

to torture presumably don’t apply.

Soon, Maya’s chasing clues from Pakistan to Kuwait to Afghanistan and back, alongside tone-deaf bosses (Jason Clarke and Kyle Chandler) who could crack the case quickly if they weren’t such male chauvinists suffering from Persistent Disbelief Syndrome. That’s the shopworn plot device which pits a frustrated, unappreciated protagonist against an army of stubbornly skeptical naysayers.

Whether a convenient, cinematic contrivance or an accurate portrayal of what transpired, Zero Dark Thirty’s version of history certainly makes for a very convincing piece of patriotic storytelling.

Credit Jessica Chastain for imbuing her character, Maya, with a compelling combination of vulnerability, sagacity and steely resolve in a memorable, Oscar-quality performance.

CIA Agent Strangelove, or how I learned to stop worrying and love waterboarding!

Excellent (4 stars) Rated R for profanity, disturbing images and graphic violence.

Running time: 157 minutes Distributor: Columbia Pictures

© 2012 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

STARTS FRIDAY, JANUARY 18

CHECK LOCAL LISTINGS FOR THEATERS AND SHOWTIMES

Page 6 • January 14 - January 20, 2013 • Insight News

FULL CIRCLE

insightnews.com

Why we can’t wait Man Talk

By Timothy Houston Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was born January 15, 1929. This month, all over the country and the world events and activities will be held to commemorate his contributions and achievements with are many and noteworthy. He was a leader, preacher, activist, and writer. I believe one of his greatest works was written in 1963 from his jail cell in Birmingham Alabama. Without the aid of any reference material, Dr. King wrote the 20 page letter on the margin of the newspapers and other scrap

pieces of paper. He words in the letter were so thoughtprovoking and powerful that they still resonate today.

Dr. King wrote the letter in a response to a statement made by eight white Alabama clergymen.

These men questioned King’s tactic.

They believed that social injustices existed but argued that the battle against racial segregation should be fought solely in the courts, not in the streets. They criticized him calling him an “outsider” who causes trouble in the streets of Birmingham. To this charge, Dr. King eloquently responded using his knowledge as a preacher and an activist as the platform for his response.

The theme of the letter was simple and straight forward, we can’t wait. Dr. King believed that “this ‘Wait’ has almost always meant ‘Never’. King declared that they had waited

for these God-given rights long enough and that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.” He wrote, “Injustice

garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly… Anyone who lives inside the United States

Dr. King believed that this ‘Wait’ has almost always meant ‘Never’

anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single

can never be considered an outsider…”

From his dimly lit jail cell, Dr. King passionately

addressed the accusation that the civil rights movement was “extreme”, rst disputing the label but then accepting it.

His discussion of extremism implicitly responds to numerous “moderate” objections to the civil rights movement, such as President Eisenhower’s claim that he could not meet with civil rights leaders because doing so would require him to meet with the Ku Klux Klan.

This moderate approach would accomplish nothing. He argues that Jesus and other heroes were extremists and writes: “So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be.

Will we be extremists for hate or for love?”

Dr. King ended his letter with a message of hope.

This message is needed now more than ever. With racial proling on the rise and the unemployment gap between

blacks and whites at the highest levels in modern times, we can not wait! We have been given our charge. Dr. King ended his letter with the following, “Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our feardrenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.”

Happy Birthday Dr. King!

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, or for questions, comments or more information, go to www. tlhouston.com.

Community celebrates Reverend Noah Smith’s 105th birthday The Rev. Noah Spencer Smith will turn 105 years old on Jan. 18 and birthday celebration will be held at Wayman AME Church, 1221 7th Ave N. on Saturday, Jan. 19 The celebration takes place from 3 p.m. – 5 p.m. The event is open to the public.

Smith has been described as man of humor, humility, honesty and an inspiration to those who know him. Calling himself a late bloomer, he did not enter ministry until he was 49 years of age and was not ordained until he was 52.

Django From 5 Yet we saw how “Red Tails” turned out -- it had none of the edge of “Boondocks.” Now look at “Django Unchained.”

Reverend Noah Smith At age 74, Smith enrolled at Macalester College. And

Samuel L. Jackson’s character might as well have been named Uncle Ruckus (a “Boondocks” character). It is clear to me that Hudlin (also the producer of “Boomerang” and “House Party”) brought the same sensibilities that helped make “The Boondocks” so edgy and

when he turned 81, Smith got his masters of divinity degree from New Brighton’s United Theological Seminary.

“I started in 1954 at St. Peters,” said the more than century old minister who said he is still active in the ministry.

“I’m going to speak this coming Sunday (Jan. 13) at Wayman and the Sunday after that at St. James.”

Smith was formerly the regular pastor at St. James AME, 624 Central Ave. W., Saint Paul.

Smith left his Marion,

Ind. home to make music as a jazz drummer. Traveling throughout the Midwest in the 1920s, he eventually landed in Minneapolis, a place he loved so much, he made it home.

“I liked the cool nights, so when the rest of the band went back to Michigan, I decided to stay here.”

Smith grew up in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and in the 1940s, after his music career slowed, he joined and became an active member of Saint Peter’s AME Church in Minneapolis, playing

in the church band, reading scripture, and teaching Sunday School. When the then minister pulled him aside a few years later to tell him he should become a minister, Smith was abbergasted. “I said, ‘Why should I do that? God should have called me earlier,’” recalled Smith.

The then minister said, “He did, but you wouldn’t listen.”

Smith worked for Great Northern Railway (which later became the Burlington Northern Railroad), for 31 years before retiring in 1975.

After four years of study, Smith became an assistant minister at Saint Peter’s AME Church. Smith later met his wife, Hallie Hendrith-Smith, and together they moved among ministries in St. Paul, Duluth and Minneapolis. Although he has delivered sermons for more than 50 years, Smith never tires.

“You never retire as long as God gives you life,” said Smith.

For more information on the birthday celebration or to RSVP, call (612) 374-4711 or email waymanofce@qwest. net.

satisfying, to the decisions that ultimately made “Django Unchained” such a cinematic success.

So at this point it’s safe to say that if you don’t appreciate the sarcastic humor of “The Boondocks”; or if you thought “Kill Bill” was too bloody and sexist; or if you just couldn’t accept the fact that Tarantino’s imagined group of “Inglourious Basterds” snuffed out Adolf Hitler in a movie theatre, then you will probably never appreciate “Django Unchained” for what it is, and may quite possibly even write it off as something that it is not.

But for my part, I’ll just say thank you, Mr. Tarantino.

Thank you, Mr. Foxx. Thank you, Ms. Washington -- you’re so beautiful, I cried every time I saw you on that screen, from your sheer beauty to the intense plight that was all too familiar to our ancestors. Thank you Mr. Jackson, for reminding us what a real Uncle Tom is. “Django Unchained.” See this movie.

Entertaining, but lm misses opportunity to inspire

By Asani Shakur

$12,000 to get Django’s wife out of slavery, and expressed compassion for the victim of what was the most heart wrenching scene in the movie, where a slave is depicted being torn apart at the limbs by dogs.

In those times, for a white man to do such things for a black man showed a rebel spirit and tenacity that makes him my favorite character in the movie.

The use of the “n-word” did not bother me. Yes, it was used excessively. However, knowing a thing or two about history, it was no surprise. Not to mention the fact that the word “nigga” is commonly used in our communities and music, sometimes as a term of endearment (although I personally don’t agree with this). More curious to me is why the word “nigger” -- more commonly used back then by whites as a slur – seemed to have been replaced with “nigga” in the lm, which may or may not have been intentional.

I didn’t leave the theater feeling any sense of anger toward whites, as I’d heard some mention. Maybe because the entertainment outweighed the outrage, and also because I went into the movie theater already with a solid knowledge of our history, so I was prepared for the degrading scenes, the use of the n-word, and other diabolical practices that were a common way of life back then. Plus, we can’t get more offended by a ctional movie than by what’s actually going on in our communities, with the way we view and treat each other.

Yet despite it all, I left disappointed.

Again, not because the movie wasn’t good -- all of the actors did an amazing job -- but rather because there was no message of substance to be found in the entertainment; nothing motivating to leave you inspired, nothing that would help uplift our communities or humanity in general.

The movie “Django Unchained” was an exceptionally entertaining and courageous love story – that totally lacked inspiration.

Judging by the previews, I’d developed a notion that it was a story inspired by the life of Nat Turner, or some other rebellious slave. I was wrong.

In the end, “Django” just didn’t turn out to be the hero I had in mind.

Yes, he showed bravery and determination to get his wife back, but not without the help of Dr. Schultz, the German dentist character who, in my opinion, stood out much more than Django did as the lm’s hero -which I found ironic, being the movie was promoted as a slave hero lm. After all, he freed Django, paid him favorable wages, and crafted the plan that helped lead Django to his wife. Not to mention, he taught Django how to ght, paid

insightnews.com

Insight News • January 14 - January 20, 2013 • Page 7

U.S. Representative Keith Ellison (MN-05)

McGee From 1 “(The foreclosure crisis) is really a moral issue,” said Rabbi Michael Adam Latz of Shir Tikvah. “It’s about people being treated fairly and with justice; and we as a synagogue work hard to promote fairness.”

The congregation at Shir Tikvah began advocating against unfair foreclosures when the issue was raised by the activist group, Jewish Community Action (JCA). Vic Rosenthal, executive director of JCA, said McGee’s story is one of many.

“Rose symbolizes what happens when the system is broken,” said Rosenthal.

“We’re gathering to raise people’s consciousness and to give hope and in some ways to spring us into action with the state legislature to see that this doesn’t happen to Rose or anyone like her.”

McGee’s troubles began when she was laid off from her job. The widow of William E. McGee, former chief public defender for Hennepin County,

Rose McGee fell behind in her payments, but was all-the-while in contact with CitiMortgage – her mortgage holder. She later found another fulltime job and requested to modify her loan. McGee said while she was in constant contact with CitiMortgage and being assured the lending company was working with her, her home was sold from under her with the buyer being none other than CitiMortgage.

McGee said she was a victim of a practice known as dual-tracking.

Dual-tracking is the practice in which a lender continues to pursue foreclosure without the homeowner’s knowledge, even though the homeowner is in the process of seeking a mortgage modication.

Rosenthal said he and other housing activists are calling on Minnesota law makers to outlaw the practice of dual-tracking.

In addition, they want to force mediation between lenders and those facing foreclosure and to have lending companies to have a singular contact for homeowners facing foreclosure.

According to Rosenthal, lending companies have set

up a complex bureaucracy for homeowners to navigate and oftentimes are given mixed messages.

McGee’s home went into foreclosure and a sheriff’s sale was set for March of last year. The matter is currently in litigation.

Ellison said the issue of less than scrupulous lending practices has been around for quite a while. He said while he

Brother Ali was a state legislator he was a part of a campaign called “Don’t Borrow Trouble” that fought to warn potential homebuyers of sketchy sub-prime, adjustable rate mortgages.

“This housing crisis hurts everyone,” said Ellison. “It doesn’t matter that you’re a homeowner and paying on time, your house value is affected. Even if you’re a renter it affects you. If your landlord

is foreclosed upon, you could be out on the streets. But this thing can be won. If it can be won for Rose, it can be won for anyone.”

Latz drew a parallel between McGee and Moses. The rabbi told the story of Moses asking God why he was picked to lead, as Moses did not feel worthy for such an undertaking. Latz said God assured Moses that he indeed was up to the task of

Suluki Fardan

leading his people. The story was read in Hebrew – and later translated in English – from a hand-written Torah.

“Rose, you have been picked to lead this ght,” said Latz.

The day-long event culminated at McGee’s home with a concert featuring Brother Ali, Toki Wright, and other local artists.

Page 8 • January 14 - January 20, 2013 • Insight News

insightnews.com

LIFESTYLE

Penn gas stop joins Appetite for Change Healthy Corner Store Project in North Minneapolis

By Makula Dunbar TC Daily Planet If you look closely between the two ‘No Trespassing’ signs on the outside of Penn Gas Stop, an improved addition is advertised on another sign — fresh produce. As a part of the Healthy Corner Store Project, the station located on the corner of Penn and 26thAvenue N. in

Gray From 1 Urban League in 2012 proactively commenced a transformational journey from a disappearing social services approach to the emerging social enterprise approach.

A Non-Prot’s Value: Just Survive or Thrive Nell Edgington, President of Social Velocity, one of nation’s innovative nonprot management consulting rms states, “If [nonprots] don’t dramatically change the way they do business they’re not going to be able to survive and thrive. The status quo where nonprots can hide behind the benevolent shield of charity no longer exists. Nonprots have to make some signicant changes if they want to survive in this new reality. Forget the traditional ROI and think about a social return on investment (SROI). It’s not enough to say we are doing good work and we’re helping people.

You now need to start to prove that. That’s a real movement in the sector and I think that’s exciting.”

Every day the Minneapolis Urban League is striving to transform itself in response to these changing stakeholder challenges and elevated expectations regarding outcomes. MUL is proactively retooling both its program and operational processes.

MUL is shifting to become a social innovation organization.

Social innovation is about creating new and unexpected approaches to resolving some of society’s biggest challenges often from unlikely sources.

True social innovation is not just seeking to address a problem using the band aid approach; it is about drilling down to identify the root cause of that problem and applying a sustainable, replicable, scalable solution.

Money Matters: Making Leveraged Dollars Count If you could invest $75,000, see it leverage additional funds, and then witness it exponentially have a social return on investment (SROI) impact of some $6,469, 450, would you? Seeing this type of individual benet and

Minneapolis has just ramped up its supply of healthy “grab and go” options.

“We wanted to do this for a long time and I just think we needed a little push, “ said store manager Fouab Bazzine.

“There was an incentive too, because most people ask for fruits and vegetables all the time anyway.”

Penn Gas Stop is one of more than a dozen corner stores in

North Minneapolis taking part in the project, which kicked off January 4 at this location. The Minneapolis based Appetite for Change program, the City of Minneapolis Department of Health and Family Support and the West Broadway Business and Area Coalition teamed up to create the initiative, which encourages healthy eating in communities with minimal access to healthy foods.

community impact multiplier effect, would you be willing to invest even more?

During 2012, MUL workforce solutions programming, providing talent development, job readiness and placement services for jobseekers, entry level to industry specic professional, achieved such an SROI and the impact continues to mount.

Through programs such as our Labor Education Advancement Program (LEAP), Big Step Building, Construction Trades and Highway Heavy Apprenticeship Program; Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Program; Renewable Energy Network Empowering Workers (RENEW); and Business Employment and Solutions Training (BEST) Program executed in collaboration with our city, county, state, corporate and foundation partners, from July 2012 to now MUL has enrolled 155 job seekers into its programs, placed 88, and 67 have attained a certicate.

As we usher in 2013, MUL is positioning itself to achieve more as it works to build its programmatic and nancial capacity and continue its organizational transformation.

In its role as an innovation organization, MUL merged best practices, career pathway demand driven workforce development and intentional collaborative partnerships to create sustainable change and nd jobseekers jobs.

MUL is on a journey to redesign it program service delivery model and to shift its funding strategy so that as an organization it can further expand it SROI here in the Twin Cities. MUL through intentional partnership, integrated programming and innovative practices, makes every dollar invested count resulting in measurable outcomes.

We live in a new world, a new economy, a new community that requires our organizations and our community members to continually grow and thrive in order to survive. We thank all of our stakeholders and funders for continuing to invest in what is now the new normal. Join us in 2013 as we continue to strive to transform our organization and this great community.

“Now we have things that we haven’t had before. It’s like a store. So far the customers like it. They’ve never seen anything like it,” Bazzine added.

When he started working at Penn Gas Stop two years ago, there were no healthy options.

Gradually the station added fruit, selling oranges, bananas and occasionally apples when shelf space was available.

Now that the deli is open,

Bazzine says the station orders less readymade sandwiches, opening up more space for produce.

Aside from oranges, apples and bananas, Penn Gas Stop now carries lettuce, carrots, tomatoes and other common veggies. On the launch date, the organizations backing the project visited the station, placing much bigger signs inside the store. Part of the

Healthy Corner Store project includes an appealing makeover of the produce section or front counter. It is their hope that blending fruits and vegetables with other snacks will inuence better decisions.

“It’s all about what people ask for,” Bazzine said.

“Sometimes they don’t see it, but once they start seeing [and taking advantage of it] they’ll come back for more.”

Kim Ellison repeats her oath administered by her daughter, Amirah Ellison, student lobbyist

Photos: MPS

Josh Reimnitz repeats his oath administered by his mother, Marcia Reimnitz

Board From 2

bringing the total number of directors to nine.

Newly elected members Josh Reimnitz and Tracine Asberry will represent Districts 4 and 6, respectively. Kim Ellison, who

was appointed to the board in January 2010 to ll a vacancy after Lydia Lee resigned, begins her rst elected term representing the northwest side of Minneapolis in District 2.

The lone returning member this election cycle is Carla Bates.

The new members join current board members Monserrate, Arneson, Mammen, Hussein Samatar and Gagnon.

insightnews.com

Insight News • January 14 - January 20, 2013 • Page 9

COMMENTARY

Republicans want to control Obama cabinet picks Nobody Asked Me

By Fred Easter Nobody asked me, but Republicans, having learned the hard way that they can’t be president, have decided to choose the cabinet instead.

They are so apoplectic over having to watch a Black man run this country, they will throw any roadblock they can into the way of letting President Barack Obama’s presidency proceed on the course he and the electorate intend. It is as if they’ve decided to have the country hold its collective breath until this next four years is over. They seem to think that if nothing happens while he’s president, it’ll be like he never was really elected in the rst place.

They have made the last Congress the least productive in three-quarters of a century. The Republican controlled House does nothing and the Republican Senate minority uses the “silent libuster” to block any action in that chamber.

Their roadblocks aren’t even real. They libuster their own ideas if the president proposes them.

They supported two wars that were not budgeted and then blithely blame Social Security and Medicare for the decit. George W. Bush added $5.07 trillion to the decit. He inherited a balanced budget and a surplus. Obama has added $1.44 trillion. He inherited those two wars, a massive debt and the deepest recession since 1929.

They raised the debt ceiling many times when people named Bush were in the White House and, now threaten to shut down the entire government rather than raise it again.

You remember when our

state government shut down?

Imagine it on a national level.

No federal court action, no pay for government employees, no money owing that originates

for air. What manner of men would do this to their own people?

Never forget, they don’t consider us their people. We

The “corporate people” cannot stand the thought of an America congured for the benet of classes of people they see as beneath them.

at the federal level. Grant monies, education funding, Social Security, unemployment, federal pension checks, all on hold – small businesses gasping

stood in long lines to support Obama. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie praised Obama’s leadership and the people of New Jersey and New York

found out that they weren’t “their people” either.

The actions and planned actions of Republicans and their masters threaten the foundations of the democracy the Founding Fathers envisioned. They have, wherever they held sway, gerrymandered districts so that a two party system has ceased to exist. Folks like Ohio Republican, Rep. John Boehner don’t have to worry about campaign challenges from Democrats who would be supported by such as you and me. Instead, he fears primary challenges from Republicans more right wing than himself.

What I was taught in school – and maybe it was a lie then, too – was that candidates ran on their beliefs and values. I was taught that those who agreed with the beliefs of one candidate supported that candidate. Those who favored the views of the other candidate supported that candidate. Now it seems that the only people with beliefs are the “corporate people” who

can nance campaigns. The candidates are all well dressed puppets. How else could vice presidential candidate, Rep. Paul Ryan, and more than a dozen freshman Congress-folk vote against aid to victims of Hurricane Sandy hours after being sworn in?

The “corporate people” cannot stand the thought of an America congured for the benet of classes of people they see as beneath them.

Recent immigrants, people of color, the poor, the working poor, the middle class (soon to be working poor), they do not view these folk as the building blocks of a ruling class coalition. And to think, Obama is one of them. If they could, they would mothball Air Force One and force him to y coach on Sun Country Airlines. We have to nd a way to put Democrats in control of the House in 2014 or the next sound we hear will be the sound of a bubble bursting.

Boehner: Intemperate, ignorant and out of control Child Watch

By Marian Wright Edelman Congressman John Boehner was re-elected speaker of the House of Representatives with a narrow vote. Needing 218 votes, he barely clinched it with 220. His narrow vote reects the fact that no Democrat would vote for him and that many Republicans are disillusioned of him. Perhaps it also reects the fact that he has so poorly comported himself that he does not deserve reelection.

Most folks who curse do it behind closed doors. In deference to their position, they attempt to parse their public statements to reect the dignity of the ofce they hold. Not Mr. Boehner, who dropped the “f” bomb at Senator Harry Reid not once, but twice, in the middle of scal cliff negotiations. To his credit, Senator Reid did not respond, but

behaved as if he perhaps did not hear the out-of-control Boehner.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives comported himself as intemperate, ignorant and out of control.

The fact that Boehner appeared out of control is no surprise to those who have observed him over these past two years. He leads with bombast and bluster then backs down into defensiveness and profanity.

Last December, he refused to compromise with President Obama on scal matters surrounded by a deant set of Republicans who agreed with him. When he backed down, he was surrounded by not a soul, virtually abandoned by his party.

Déjà vu. After ponticating, and offering a nonsensical Plan B for a House vote, his party rebuked him and he had tuck tail and sit down at the negotiating table. No wonder he managed so much ire that he cursed the Senate Majority leader.

You can cuss in public and you can cuss in private. The fact that Boehner chose to kick New York to the curb as a big an “F” bomb as the one he offered

Senator Reid.

After being promised that relief for Hurricane Sandy was forthcoming, Boehner broke his promise and pushed the vote back to the 113th Congress. Only after Democrats and Republicans, governors and Congressional representatives excoriated him on the House oor, did he agree to vote on $9 billion plan on January 5, with another $53 billion up for vote on January 15.

Meanwhile, many New Yorkers are still living in the backs of their cars, lacking electricity and other basic needs, eating in soup kitchens, bathing in shelters, no better off than they were when the hurricane hit. Have we not learned lessons from Hurricane Katrina? Can we not get relief to people just a bit sooner? Must New Yorkers be treated as pawns in this partisan nonsense? Should Boehner have the right to metaphorically ing the “f” bomb at them?

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a Republican, have expressed their righteous rage at Congressional chicanery. This has not moved

Wilmington Ten pardons: Black Press at its best Opinion

By George E. Curry When then-National Newspaper Publishers Association Chairman Danny Bakewell, Sr. asked me to emcee the Black Press Week luncheon at the National Press Club in 2011, I had no idea that I would be witnessing history. At the urging of Wilmington Journal Publisher Mary Alice Thatch, the NNPA decided to launch a national campaign to win pardons for the Wilmington 10, a group of activists who were falsely convicted and sentenced to a combined total of 282 years.

Everyone knew it would be an uphill battle, but it was a battle the NNPA was willing to wage.

It established The Wilmington Ten Pardon of Innocence Project whose goal was “to generate national and worldwide support for the petition, to the state of North Carolina, and specically the governor, to grant individual pardons of innocence to the Wilmington Ten.” NNPA publishers saw a video about the Wilmington Ten at the luncheon and its leader, Benjamin Chavis, Jr., was interviewed by me and the publishers. When I asked Ben, a longtime friend, about his lowest point in prison, he tried to steer me away from the question by saying he preferred to focus on the future, not the past.

But the past affects the future,

which is why I brought him back to my original question. This time, he gave a direct, emotional answer.

“I was warned not to go into the shower,” he said, his voice barely audible. “I couldn’t take a bath for eight months.”

And the reason Chavis was reluctant to take a bath was because of death threats.

No one should have to live like that, especially after the criminal justice system has been manipulated to obtain a false conviction.

For Chavis, the trouble began after the all-Black high school was closed as part of the courtordered desegregation of New Hanover County, N.C. schools.

The Black students were forced to attend the previously allWhite high school, where they were harassed. In February 1971, the United Church of Christ dispatched Chavis, a native of Oxford, N.C., to help organize a school boycott.

During that period of unrest, someone rebombed Mike’s Grocery, a White-owned business located a block away from Gregory Congregational Church, where Chavis had set up headquarters. When re ghters and police ofcers arrived, they were attacked by snipers.

Chavis and nine others were charged and convicted of arson and conspiracy in connection with the incident. Most of the defendants received a 29-year sentence, with Ann Shepard, the White woman from Auburn, N.Y., receiving the lightest sentence of 15 years and Chavis, then only 24 years old, getting 34 years, the longest sentence.

In 1980, a federal appeals court overturned the convictions of the Wilmington Ten. The

court ruled that the trial judge had wrongly restricted defense attorneys from cross-examining witnesses who had received special treatment in exchange for their testimony and that the prosecutor violated due process rights by failing to turn over evidence that would have impeached the testimony of its chief witness, Allen Hall. In addition, the prosecutor refused to turn over a second statement made by Hall that directly contradicted at least 15 of his allegations.

After taking up the cause of the Wilmington Ten, NNPA newspapers gave prominent display to stories written about the case by Cash Michaels, editor of the Wilmington Journal, and distributed to member papers by the NNPA News Service. Through talent and dogged persistence, neither Cash nor his publisher, Mary Alice Thatch, would let the campaign for pardons stall.

The national campaign heated up last spring when Michaels produced a string of stories examining every aspect of the case. In one story, Michaels traced the shattered lives of the seven survivors (one has since died) and the families of three deceased members of the Wilmington Ten. He found that some of the survivors, including Chavis, had successfully rebuilt their lives while others had not.

One blockbuster story began: “In an extraordinary discovery, the 40-year-old case les of the prosecuting attorney in the two 1972 Wilmington Ten criminal trials not only document how he sought to impanel, according to

CURRY TURN TO 11

a Congress that bootstrapped scal cliff legislation with goodies for Puerto Rican rum producers, some Hollywood moguls, and other assorted pork.

The day of the earmark has supposedly expired, but those with special interests spent more time promoting them than they did no repairing the damage from Hurricane Sandy.

Congressman Peter King (R-N.Y.) calmed down after a private meeting with Boehner.

He had it absolutely right before he calmed down though.

Then he raised questions about the way Congressional representatives run to New York for fundraisers and support, but

have not rushed to support New York and New Jersey in this crisis. While monies may yet be forthcoming, it should have hit New York, Connecticut and New Jersey at least a month ago. And while $9 billion is seemingly assured, with a new Congress, the affected areas may be lacking much longer.

I’d bet that if one of Boehner’s Ohio’s eighth district constituents complained about sleeping in a car, he might care more. I am sure he wouldn’t bristle and use profanity (or behave profanely) with those who presumably vote for him.

But Boehner has abdicated all claims to decency in the

past year or so. He has led a nonproductive and incompetent Congress, and tainted scal cliff negotiations with earmarks and set-asides. Why not an earmark for hurricane victims? Why not pure decency for his peer, Senator Harry Reid? Why not pretend to have good sense, even if you don’t. Can Boehner stoop any lower? Let’s see what other stunts he pulls as House Majority Leader of the 113th Congress.

Julianne Malveaux is a Washington, D.C.-based economist and writer.

She is President Emerita of Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, N.C.

Page 10 • January 14 - January 20, 2013 • Insight News

insightnews.com

COMMUNITY

Henry Crosby to keynote MLK celebration

Suluki Fardan

Henry Crosby

Calendar • Classieds REV. DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. EVENTS Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Event Jan. 14 The Human Rights Commission and the Human Services Division of the City of Bloomington will sponsor Dr. Don Bartlette and his presentation, “My Journey Across Black America” in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day during lunch on Monday, January 14, 2013 at Creekside Community Center. Prior to presentation, watch his lm, “Macaroni At Midnight,” which shares his remarkable story growing up as a Native American child, living in

poverty, experiencing issues such as racism, abuse, and struggles with his own disabilities. The lm will show at 9:45 a.m.

Following an 11:30 a.m. lunch and presentation. A question and answer session will follow presentation. The following are additional dates the lm will be shown for free at Creekside Community Center: Wednesday, January 9 at 9:30 a.m. and Friday, January 11 at 1:00 p.m. This event does require a prepaid registration 3 days in advance. Meal cost is $0-3 for guests 60+ (NAPIS form required) and $6 for guests under the age of 60. If you would like more information or would like to make a reservation, visit or call Creekside Community Center 9801 Penn Ave. S., 952-563-4944,

Phone: 612.588.1313

Henry Crosby, director of the North Community YMCA will be the keynote speaker at the annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration.

The event, hosted by the Gamma Xi Lambda chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., will be held on Saturday, Jan. 19 from 5 p.m. – 7 p.m.at the Minneapolis Urban League, 2100 Plymouth Ave N. Crosby began his YMCA career in 2006 with the Minneapolis YMCA serving as the Urban Financial Development Specialist. He came to the YMCA from the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) where he served as Area Development Director from 2001-2006.

Crosby is also one of the founders of the African American

Fax: 612.588.2031

Rights of Passage Program. He has more than 20 years of sales and marketing experience from Bell & Howell, AMI Imaging Systems and Source Corporation.

A graduate of Tuskegee Institute, Crosby pursued his graduate studies at the University of Minnesota – Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. He and his wife, Stephanie Crosby, live in Golden Valley and have two adult children. His Son Brian Crosby is a 2003 graduate of Morehouse College. Crosby’s daughter, Ariana Crosby, completed her studies at Spelman College in Atlanta in 2011.

For additional information on the celebration, contact Levi Brady at (651) 688-7904 or Ellis Bullock at (651) 209-8011.

Email: info@insightnews.com

TTY 952-563-4933.

St. Paul Central High School and Concordia University Annual Martin Luther King Rally and Celebration Jan. 16 9:30am-3pm. Rally begins at St. Paul’s Central High School Auditorium (275 N. Lexington Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104), followed by a march at 10:35am from the school to Concordia.

Participation in the march and all other events is open to all.

A celebration at Concordia University Gangelhoff Center follows. For more information: http://www.csp.edu/news-events/ news/2012/01/2012-martinluther-king-jr-day-event/ Augsburg College Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation Jan. 16 1pm at Augsburg College, Hoversten Chapel, Foss Center, 625 22nd Avenue S, Minneapolis, MN Minneapolis Urban League MLK Celebration...Jan. 19 January 19th 5-8:30pm.

Community march at 4pm from KMOJ 2321 W Broadway to Urban League 2100 Plymouth Ave N MCTC’s MLK Day Of Service Jan. 19 Jan. 19, 8am-2pm, Minneapolis Community and Technical College, 1501 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN 55403.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Tribute Jan. 20 A Martin Luther King, Jr. Tribute will take place Jan. 20, 4–6 p.m., Ted Mann Concert Hall. This year’s event will feature renowned vocalist Oleta Adams as well as performances by local artist Ahmad Lewis and students from Walker West Music Academy.

For more information: https:// diversity.umn.edu/mlktribute MLK Celebrations at Powderhorn Jan. 21 MLK Celebrations at Powderhorn on Jan. 21, 11 a.m.-2 pm. at Powderhorn Recreation Center, 3400 15th Av. S., Minneapolis.

Activities for youth, entertainment and authentic soul food provided

by Soul Sisters. Aztec dancers, youth choir, West African

Chief Financial Ofcer

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. drumming, hip-hop and salsa dancing and a King tribute song.

The event will also feature a civil rights Internet scavenger hunt and West African drum lessons. For more information: http://www. minneapolisparks.org/ Martin Luther King Feeding the Dream Community Food Drive Jan. 21 The Martin Luther King Feeding the Dream Community Food Drive will be held Jan. 21, 6:30pm-7:30pm at the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Recreation Center, 4055 Nicollet Avenue S. Minneapolis. For more information: <http://www. minneapolisparks.org/default. asp?PageID=1023> Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Breakfast Jan. 21 General Mills 23rd Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Breakfast Jan. 21, 7 am at the Minneapolis Convention Center, 1301 2nd Ave South Minneapolis, MN 55403. Tickets $30 each. For more information: <http:// www.mlkbreakfast.com/>

TCC Land Bank, a nonprot nancial service org., seeks CFO to perform strategic nancial planning and data analysis, oversee all nancial activities including budgeting, audit, and contract and reporting compliance. 5 yrs of experience as CFO or equiv. Letter of application and resume received at hr@tcclandbank.org through January 14, 2013 will be considered.

Lead Director/Organizer

The Harrison Neighborhood Association seeks a dynamic and experienced Director/Lead Organizer committed to grassroots organizing and social change. Send cover letter, resume, and writing sample to info@hnampls.org. Call 612-374-4849 for full description. Application materials will be reviewed by the search committee starting in January.

Manager of Finances

Sabathani Community Center is accepting applications for the position of Manager of Finances. The mission of Sabathani is to provide people of all ages and cultures with essential resources that inspire them to improve their lives and build a thriving community.

The successful candidate will have the ability to work and report to the Executive Director, Finance Committee and Board of Directors. The candidate must demonstrate knowledge in nancial management, budgets, A/R, A/P, nancial forecasting, accounting policies and procedures as well as administrative processes; including HR, payroll and benets. Experience should include auditing compliance and donation and grant administration.

Qualications: • Must have at least 5 to 8 years of professional experience including managing nances and administration of $1 to $2 million organizational budget.

• Must have a Bachelor’s degree (MA preferred) in Non-prot management or Business Finances.

Please send cover letter and resume along with salary requirements to: sturner@sabathani.org by January 14, 2013. No phone calls please. For more information; visit our website at www.sabathani.org.

Martin Luther King Community Breakfasts Jan. 21 The St. Paul Area Council

of Churches hosts community breakfasts at churches and across the Twin Cities on Jan. 21.

Locations include: Progressive Baptist Church, St. Paul; Faith United Methodist, West St. Paul; Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, St. Paul; White Bear Unitarian Universalist Church, Mahtomedi; St. Bridget’s Catholic Church, River Falls, WI. Registration for tickets required by January 16.

For more information: <http://www.spacc.org/mlk> Annual Bell Concert at Minneapolis/Hennepin County Courthouse Jan. 21 The Tower Bell Foundation perform an annual Martin Luther King concert on the City Hall courthouse’s bells on Jan. 21, 12-1pm. Listeners can hear inside or outside the Courthouse.

Pending conrmation - check the Tower Bell Foundation website for event details <http://www. towerbellfoundation.org> Calvary Baptist Church MLK Service Jan. 21 Calvary Baptist Church, 2608 Blaisdell Av. S., Minneapolis: 6:45 p.m. The service will allow people to reect on King’s work and celebrate with music and song.

Send Community Calendar information to us by email: info@insightnews.com, by fax: 612.588.2031, by phone: 612.588-1313 or by mail: 1815 Bryant Ave. N. Minneapolis, MN 55411. Free or low cost events preferred.

EVENTS The Rhetoric of Certainty Jan. 16 Art and policy intersect again as the Minnesota Opera and the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs convene a public conversation inspired by the world premiere of “Doubt.”

Librettist John Patrick Shanley and other distinguished panelists will explore the rhetoric and political implications of certainty and the natural human aversion to doubt, particularly in the context of the opera’s setting (Vatican II and the Civil Rights movement) and the war in Iraq, the event which

provided the playwright with his inspiration. Join us at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, January 16, at the Rarig Center, 330 21st Ave. S., Minneapolis for this exciting conversation. Sponsored by the U’s Humphrey School, the event is free and open to the public but an RSVP is required at http://doubt.eventbrite.com/.

For more information, contact Sophia Ginis at hhhevent@ umn.edu.

Redening, Redesigning Fashion: Designs for Sustainability Ongoing beg.

Jan. 18 Redening, Redesigning Fashion: Designs for Sustainability is a juried exhibition that explores how designers create clothing and accessories with sensitivity to environmental, economic and social concerns. The opening reception is from 6 to 8 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 18 at the Goldstein Museum of Design, 33 McNeal Hall, 1985 Buford Ave., St. Paul.

The exhibit will run January 19

Library of Congress

Special day at the park Jan. 21 Luxton Park will be celebrating the life and workings of Martin Luther King Jr with a special day at the park. We will be having activities, performances, and refreshments. Please join us in this family fun event 4–5:30pm at Luxton Park, 112 Williams Ave. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414.

NHCC Celebrates Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In Concert Jan. 24 North Hennepin Community College is celebrating Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in concert on Thursday, January 24th at 7:30 p.m. in the Fine Arts Center Theatre. The concert will feature songs of praise by the NHCC Chamber Singers, directed by Karla Miller; Sandy Hodges and Friends; and Voices of Inspiration from Macedonia Baptist Church, directed by Nerita Hughes. This event is free and open to the public, with a meet and greet and refreshments preceding the concert. Theatre seating is limited, so arriving early is recommended.

Sponsored by NHCC’s Diversity Council, Student Life, and the Fine Arts department. For more information, contact Sean Davis at 763-488-0490 or visit www. nhcc.edu.

- May 26, 2013. Sponsored by the U’s College of Design, the reception and exhibit are free and open to the public. For more information, contact Barbara Lutz at lutzx106@umn.edu.

“Hidden” – An exhibition

by Chinese artist Zhang Meng Thru Jan. 18 The work of Zhang Meng in traditional Chinese ink painting and new media explores the complexity of Chinese society, bridging historical traditions with new technologies. The exhibit runs from Jan. 7 through Jan. 18 at the Quarter Gallery of the Regis Center for Art (East), located on the West Bank campus at 405 21st Ave. S., Minneapolis. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 5 pm, Monday through Friday. Sponsored by the U’s Department of Art and the Katherine E. Nash gallery, the exhibit is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Rachel Kirchgasler at kirc0110@umn.edu or (612) 624-7900.

insightnews.com

Insight News • January 14 - January 20, 2013 • Page 11

HEALTH

PART 3

Prediabetes: What can I do about it?

Get a handle on stress.

Stress levels affect our blood sugar.

Find practices like consistent exercise, relaxation breathing or prayer that allow you to manage life stressors. If you are overwhelmed, please seek out assistance.

Do what you can to limit exposure to pesticides. Higher levels of pesticides in the blood have been found to be associated with increased diabetes risk regardless of weight. Eating organic vegetables and fruits can lessen your exposure to pesticides. However, it may not possible for many of us to buy organic food due to increased cost and poor availability. If this is the case, make choices that are less harmful. There are foods that are known to be highest in pesticide levels, and these levels persist even after foods are washed and peeled.

You can nd a list of the “dirty dozen” here: http://www. ewg.org/foodnews/summary/.

If possible, buy these foods organic or consider using alternatives from the “clean 15” list that are lower in pesticides.

Always wash fruits and vegetables thoroughly (even if organic). If buying organic food is not possible, remember that the benets of eating fresh vegetables and fruits still outweighs the risks of pesticide exposure.

This concludes the series on prediabetes. Remember, your biology is not your destiny. You have within your power the ability to make choices and take actions, that will improve your health, the health of your family and your community. You can start today!

Our Health

By Nicole Winbush MD This is the nal article in a continuing series about prediabetes. In the rst article we discussed the diagnosis of prediabetes and how to know if you are at risk. Last week we discussed some common myths about prediabetes and in this nal article we provide a list of 7 things you can do to reduce or reverse some of the metabolic changes associated with prediabetes.

Don’t drink your calories.

This may be a change that you have already made. If so, keep it up. But if not, let’s take a look at the numbers. A typical bottle of soda or sweetened tea contains 180 - 220 calories.

This does not seem like much, but over the course of the year, just drinking an average of 1 bottle per day translates into an additional twenty pounds of excess calories. Have you stopped the soda and tea and started drinking juice instead?

The calorie count in juice and soda is about the same. You are best eating whole fruits or vegetables. The calories are fewer and you will get the benets of more ber and nutrients.

Sugar free beverages can be a short term change, but there is evidence to suggest that these drinks may actually increase your appetite for more sweet and calorierich foods. What should you drink? Water - our bodies are made up of over 60% water.

Unsweetened herbal and green tea are also good choices. If you have developed a taste for sweet beverages, it can take some time to break this habit.

Ease your transition by adding water to juice and gradually increasing the proportion of water over time. Your taste buds adapt to dietary changes in a matter of weeks.

Learn about the Mediterranean Diet. There is no one perfect way of eating.

However, there are certain foods that have been shown to be benecial to controlling blood sugar and to help in weight loss and good weight maintenance. One pattern of eating that has shown benet is called the Mediterranean diet. In brief, this is a way of eating in which you eat lots of vegetables, moderate amounts of whole grains, nuts and seeds.

PhotoXpress

There is no one perfect way of eating. However, there are certain foods that have been shown to be benecial to controlling blood sugar and to help in weight loss and good weight maintenance.

Meat in this diet most often comes in the form of poultry or sh and is only a couple of times per week. Olive oil is the main oil used in food preparation. If you are interested in learning more about the Mediterranean Diet and adaptations using foods that are more specic to different cultures including the African-American culture, resources can be found at: http://www.oldwayspt.org/ resources/heritage-pyramids Don’t skip meals. Skipping meals is too common in our society. However, if you are wanting to moderate your blood

sugar, wanting to lose weight or both, consistency is key.

Skipping meals is very stressful to the body. We have already discussed how increased stress hormones can increase blood sugar.

In addition, if you frequently skips meals, your body thinks you are in a semistarvation state that makes it harder to lose weight. Many people tell me that they do not feel like eating much in the morning. If so, start with a room temperature or warm beverage like a glass of tea or water. This can prepare the stomach for a small meal

in the morning.

In time, one’s digestion will become accustomed to a morning meal.

Add more veggies. You really cannot eat too many brightly colored and green vegetables. People with higher vegetable intake have been observed to have lower chances of developing diabetes. Also, choose a variety of vegetables.

People who eat a wide range of different veggies have also been shown to have lower rates of diabetes over time. Think about experimenting and trying a new vegetable each time you are at the store.

Gain muscle and lose fat. If you are working to lose weight, do not starve yourself to do it. Make sure that you are getting sufcient calories and protein to provide energy during the day. You want to lose fat not muscle. If you need assistance developing a balanced eating plan, see your healthcare provider for assistance. Also, make sure that regular physical activity is part of any weight loss plan.

This will allow you to maintain and build muscle while losing weight.

Dr. Winbush is a family physician practicing at NorthPoint Health and Wellness Center. She has a strong interest in wellness and patient education to help individuals feel empowered to optimize their health and functioning.

She wants to hear from you! To respond to this article, request topics for future articles and for additional resources visit www. functionwellmedicine.com or LIKE Function Well Medicine on Facebook.

The information contained herein should not be used as a substitute for the advice of an appropriately qualied and licensed physician or other health care provider. The information provided here is for educational and informational purposes only. In no way should it be considered as offering medical advice. Please check with a healthcare provider if you suspect you are ill.

Radioactive gas is persistent health risk in Minnesota

By Minnesota Department of Health Every 25 minutes, one person in the U.S. dies from radon-related lung cancer. It is the largest environmental cancer risk and the leading cause of lung cancer among non-smokers.

Fortunately, the risk is largely preventable.

More than 40 percent of Minnesota homes have dangerous levels of radon gas and state health ofcials say every home should be tested.

To emphasize the importance of radon testing, Gov. Mark Dayton has declared January “Radon Action Month” in Minnesota.

Over 40 local public health agencies around the state have partnered with the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) to make over 8000 radon test kits available to local residents

Curry From 9 his own written jury selection notes, mostly White ‘KKK’ juries to guarantee convictions, but also to keep Black men from serving on both juries.”

Michaels story continued, “The prosecutor chose, in his own words, ‘Uncle Tom’ types to serve on the jury, it was disclosed. The les of Assistant New Hanover County District Attorney James ‘Jay’ Stroud Jr.

at low or no cost. For details on how to obtain a kit, contact your local public health agency or MDH. A list of participating health agencies can be found on the MDH website at http:// www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/ indoorair/radon/rncontacts.html.

During the months of January and February, MDH is sponsoring a series of eyecatching ads in the skyway systems of St. Paul, Minneapolis, Duluth and Rochester designed to get people’s attention about radon. MDH will also be sponsoring radio ads in the Twin Cities to encourage people to test their homes.

Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States and more than 21,000 deaths are attributed to radon each year. Radon exposure, however, is a preventable health threat. Over 1,000 Minnesota homeowners

every year have radon reduction systems installed in their homes, but this is a small percentage of all Minnesota homes that have elevated radon levels.

Radon is odorless, colorless and tasteless, so the only way for homeowners to know if their home has radon is to test.

Testing is easy, inexpensive and only takes 3-5 days. Most test kits are priced under $20 and are available at city and county health departments, many hardware stores, or directly from radon testing laboratories.

Discounted test kits can also be purchased online at www.radon. com.

The best time to test is in the winter, but testing can be done year-round. It is especially important to test during realestate transactions. Radon tests can be easily incorporated into a home inspection.

Tests should be done in the

also document how he plotted to cause a mistrial in the rst June 1972 Wilmington Ten trial because there were 10 Blacks and two Whites on the jury, his star false witness against the Ten was not cooperating, and it looked very unlikely that he could win the case, given the lack of evidence.”

Without Michaels’ exceptional reporting and the national exposure, many of the facts about the Wilmington Ten injustice would still remain unknown – and Gov. Perdue would not have pardoned the

civil rights activists.

This was the Black Press at its best.

George E. Curry, former editor-in-chief of Emerge magazine, is editor-in-chief of the National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service (NNPA.) He is a keynote speaker, moderator, and media coach. Curry can be reached through his Web site, www. georgecurry.com. You can also follow him at www.twitter.com/ currygeorge.

lowest level of the home that is frequently occupied. Tests should not be done in laundry or utility rooms, kitchens or bathrooms. Once you have tested, further action can be taken based upon your results.

If your home’s level is over 4 PiC/L, you should consider verication testing and having

a radon mitigation system installed. Anyone interested in mitigating his or her home for radon should consult MDH’s list of certied radon mitigation contractors at http://www.health. state.mn.us/divs/eh/indoorair/ radon/mitigation.html.

For more information on radon testing and mitigation

visit www.health.state.mn.us/ radon or call the Minnesota Department of Health Indoor Air Unit at 651-201-4601 or 1-800798-9050. To see how radon has affected the lives of cancer patients and their families visit www.CanSar.org.

Page 12 • January 14 - January 20, 2013 • Insight News

insightnews.com