Insight News ::: 03.11.13

Ronnie Baker Brooks Returns to the Minnesota Music Cafe MORE ON PAGE 5

March 11 - March 17, 2013

Vol. 40 No. 11 • The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • insightnews.com

African American DFL Caucus to screen mayor, city council candidates The African American DFL Caucus from 10AM to 4PM March 16, 2013 conducts candidate screening for Mayor and City Council of Minneapolis at The Carlson School of Management, West Bank University of MN. They will screen six mayoral candidates seeking DFL endorsement, all of whom are seeking African American DFL caucus endorsement as well.

The caucus will also screen candidates for Minneapolis City Council running in Wards 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8. Each candidate will receive a 12-20 minute

interview.

Questions were sent out to the candidates prior to the screening so that they could prepare responses. Candidates face follow up questions at the end of their presentations.

Candidates will be ranked by Caucus members in attendance who are in good standing and at the end of the day rankings will be tallied for candidate endorsement.

DFLers who wish to join or confirm their membership in the African American DFL Caucus can contact Sherrie Pugh via email at 60spugh@gmail.com.

Candidate Screening Questions Background: The African American community is seeking elected leadership that will initiate an equity agenda in the city of Minneapolis. That leadership must be committed to: • Accountability for the use of city resources that must benefit the residents.

• Sustainable community infrastructure in the African American neighborhoods.

• Appointment and the employment of qualified African American residents in city administration,

Jackie Cherryhomes

Mark Andrews

Betsy Hodges

Gary Schiff

Don Samuels

departments and commissions.

• Ensuring the authority of the Civil Rights Department is elevated and not marginalized.

• Addressing transportation disparities.

Questions 1. What strategic actions would

CAUCUS TURN TO 11

Striking janitorial workers claim unfair labor practices

By Harry Colbert, Jr. Contributing Writer Alleging mistreatment, low wages and poor working conditions, a group of striking workers recently protested outside of the Target Cooperation headquarters in downtown Minneapolis.

The striking workers, most of them people of color, claim Target and other retailers such as K-Mart are turning a blind eye to the treatment of contracted janitorial workers.

The workers are employed by various cleaning companies who have contracts with the retail giant. Among the allegations are workers being forced to work as much as 70

hours a week without being paid for their overtime and being routinely locked inside closed department stores overnight.

Royce Reeder, who has been contracted to clean stores such as Target and K-Mart for the past 17 years, said the poor working conditions and low wages were not always the case.

“When I first started with Target (as a contracted worker) they were fighting with us,” said Reeder, who said at one point he was making as much as $16 an hour, but now earns between $8 - $9 an hour.

“Now they’re not on our side anymore.”

According to Reeder, who works for Diversified Maintenance, contractors are

SPECIAL REPORT

Life in China from fusion cuisine to live snakes BEIJING (NNPA) – When Julia Wilson visited China for the first time in 2002, no one had to tell the former Los Angeles television reporter why China was known as “the Kingdom of Bikes.”

Wilson, who is CEO of Washington, D.C.-based Wilson Global Communications, said: “It was so different, especially with the bicycles. Imagine rush hour traffic – with bicycles. All of the bicycles would stop at the traffic light. It was a thing to behold. The cars were to the side because there were not many cars. Today, it’s the reverse and the cars have replaced the bikes.”

China is the world’s largest market for automobiles, making it “the Kingdom of Bikes” and “the Kingdom of Cars.” General Motors, despite entering the market after Volkswagen, is the best-selling foreign automaker.

Bicycles coexisting with automobiles, especially in urban areas, is just one aspect of life in China.

Lynne Coleman, who spent nine years as an administrator at international schools that cater to American expatriates in Beijing and Shanghai, gets excited when she reflects on her time in China.

“It is a place where I can dine on delicate fusion cuisine

understaffing projects while raking in huge profits with contracts as high as $150,000 per store. He said it is common for a staff of three to be responsible for cleaning an entire store. He also claims he has been promised a raise for the past three years, but has yet to receive one.

“Wages are just going down and down,” said Reeder.

Molly Snyder, a spokesperson with Target, said if the workers have a gripe it is with the companies for which they work; not Target.

“Target contracts with regional vendors to provide housekeeping services for all our stores and, as such,

STRIKE TURN TO 11

Legislators support Urban League 13th grade initiative The Minneapolis Urban League introduced it’s 13th Grade Pilot Program for enactment by the Minnesota State Legislature.

Co-authored by Jeff Hayden and Bobby Champion in the Senate and Raymond Dehn and Will Morgan in the House, the measure could potentially impact over 3,000 young adults ages 18-26, placing them on college and career pathways by 2015.

Growing numbers of

Minneapolis youth leave high school lacking a defined career path or the basic skills required for employment.

The 13th Grade initiative is a twelve month, non-residential college and career-readiness program focused on the academic, technical, and soft skill competency-building of disconnected young adults who are unemployed, not enrolled

MUL TURN TO 4

Mai Tong Yang: Think Big Says Boys and Girls Club Youth of the Year

By Christina Garner

Cars and bikes share the roads in China. prepared by world-class French and American chefs, or choose a live snake for dinner and watch it killed, bloodied and cooked in front of me,” she said.

National Coalition of Black Women

Sequestration is not the best solution

PAGE 2

Her husband, Craig Trygstad, prefers reflecting on China’s rich history rather than its rich – and sometimes exotic – food.

“What I enjoyed most was

Education

Early childhood education: What does culture have to do with it?

PAGE 3

Photo by Ann Ragland/NNPA

getting to know the people,” said the former teacher. “And since I

CHINA TURN TO 3

Boys and Girls Club of America Midwest Youth of the Year, Mai Tong Yang, plans to dream big as she starts a new chapter in her life – college.

After years of dedication, volunteering and work with the Boys and Girls Club, 19-yearold Yang was acknowledged this past year by getting the organization’s title of Midwest Youth of the Year.

The Twin Cities native has been a member of the Boys and

Music

An old song still resonates: “Is It Because I’m Black?”

PAGE 7

Mai Tong Yang

MTY

YANG TURN TO 8

Community

Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office expands community outreach efforts

PAGE 10

Page 2 • March 11 - March 17, 2013 • Insight News

PRISON PHONE JUSTICE Strong Families, Safe Communities Did you know- A fifteen minute collect phone call received from a loved one who is incarcerated can cost up to $17?

Does the high cost of prison phone calls make it difficult for you to stay in contact with your loved ones who are in prison?

LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD! Take action by: 1.) Calling the Storyline and sharing your experience– 1-877-410-4863 (press 3)

3.) Writing a letter to your local newspaper editor Go to www.phonejustice.org Click “Take Action” 2.) Submitting comments to the Federal Click “Send a letter to the editor” Communications Commission (FCC) Select a newspaper Go to www.phonejustice.org Submit the draft letter or Click “Take Action” personalize the letter Click “Submit a comment” Comments due by Monday Enter the requested information March 25, 2013! and click “Submit” Main Street Project

St. Paul Branch Community NAACP Justice Project

Dollars and Sense: The Case for Prison Phone Justice

By Natalie Peterson, Dr. Artika Tyner, and Shannon West (Community Justice Project) There are over 2.4 million children with a mother or father in jail or prison right now and tragically the high-cost of prison phone calls is cutting them off from contact.

For 15,000 children in Minnesota this is a lived reality. Prison phone rates unfairly punish prisoners’ families, forcing them to pay up to $20 for a 15-minute collect phone call to speak with a loved one in prison. Thankfully, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is taking steps that would lower the cost of prison phone calls. The FCC recently initiated a proceeding, to determine if federal regulation is necessary for interstate prison telephone calling systems.

Intervention is needed to regulate the prison phone call industry in order to cap the high cost of prison phone calls and offer an affordable method for families to remain in contact. Phone rates in prison do not reflect the cost of service. To the contrary, telephone companies have put in place

commissions and call markups that increase the cost of calls to and from prison by 60 percent, making it clear that the FCC needs to step in and establish a standard rate for these calls. In Minnesota, state prisons receive 49% commissions on phone calls made from prisons which generate about $1.5 million in revenue each year. In turn, families must bear the burden of choosing between accepting a loved one’s call from prison and meeting their basic budgetary needs.

The FCC has the authority to regulate these egregious call rates and, in doing so, make our communities safer and more stable places to live. Numerous studies show that prisoners who maintain family connections are much less likely to reoffend, therefore breaking the cycle of recidivism.

Our families and communities can’t wait any longer. Join the Campaign for Prison Phone Justice in telling the FCC that the time is now to act to end high prison phone rates. Fair rates on phone calls will help to promote strong families and safe communities.

Visit www.phonejustice.org to find out how you can take action by supporting prison phone justice reform efforts.

insightnews.com

Sequestration is not the best solution The National Coalition of 100 Black Women (NCBW) is concerned about this national “sequester” that went into effect on March 1, 2013. “Sequestration is not the solution,” said NCBW national president M. Delois Strum.

Sequestration is a set of automatic across the board spending cuts put into law by the Budget Control Act to apply pressure on Congress to come up with a longer term plan for deficit reduction.

However, “sequestration as a strategy will not effectively reduce the national deficit or effectively address our country’s financial issues,” said Sherese Brewington-Carr, NCBW public policy liaison. “Regrettably it will reduce human potential and adversely impact all communities, particularly African American and other communities of color. These communities already continue to struggle during this country’s

cuts to Title I that will reduce early education opportunities for our most vulnerable citizens and our country’s greatest hope for the future -- our children. We regard education as a basic civil right and foundation for early childhood development,” said Strum.

M. Delois Strum (NCBW) economic recovery,” she said.

According to Strum, “our constituency, who currently has one of the highest unemployment rates, will be subjected to additional job loss, loss of revenue and salary earnings due to furloughs and layoffs and, in the case of unemployment insurance, will face reductions at approximately $400.00 per person.”

“We are aware of expected

According to official testimony and letters from all impacted government agency cabinet heads and secretaries to the U. S. Committee on Appropriations, cuts will apply to the Employment and Training budgets, Workforce Investment Acts, Wagner- Peyser funds and the Office of Job Corps that provide much needed job training to develop America’s workforce.

The Department of Justice will experience personnel cuts that could impact safety, as well as cuts to Violence Prevention and Protection programs for women and to Public Health Centers that provide much needed

community based healthcare, resulting in less services for the sick.

“Our leaders failed to avert this sequestration catastrophe, but they can still reach a compromise going forward,” said Strum. “There must be other solutions and we must individually and collectively insist that our national leaders work together to find those alternative solutions that do not punish our most vulnerable citizens,” she said.

The National Coalition of 100 Black Women is an advocacy group for African American women. With sixtythree chartered chapters across the country and a core mission focus in the areas of Health, Education, and Economic Empowerment through our strategic alliances and partnerships, we are intentional about positively impacting the lives of our constituents: African American women and girls.

Black women assert their agenda on Capitol Hill and at the White House during Women of Power Summit Washington, DC - Women of power from ten states will celebrate International Women’s History Month with a bang, converging on the nation’s capitol to visit elected officials reminding them that Black women who voted in record numbers expect our leaders to stop the partisan politics and pass legislation that creates good paying jobs with livable wages, increases small business opportunities for women, reduces gun violence in our communities, and invest in our children’s education.

The visits to Capitol Hill and the White House are part of the Black Women’s Roundtable (BWR) National Women of Power Summit taking place March 12- 14 at the National Education Association’s Headquarters, 1201 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC. Themed “Amplifying the Voices of Women and Girls in the Digital Age,” keynote speakers will

Susan L. Taylor include Dr. Suzan Johnson Cook, the U.S. AmbassadorAt-Large for International Religious Freedom, U. S. State Department and Susan L. Taylor, founder and president, National CARES Mentoring Movement and editor-in-chief emerita, Essence magazine.

“We’re coming together to in the nation’s capitol leverage our vote,” said Melanie L. Campbell, convener Black Women’s Roundtable and president of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation. “In 2012 Black women were the highest vote for President Obama and the margin of victory for many in the U. S. Congress. We want to tell our elected officials what we want - which includes ending sequestration now and becoming a functional government working in the interest of the people.”

The first day of the conference is Public Policy Day so BWR delegates will visit legislators and attend a briefing with representatives from congress and the Federal Communications Commission.

Invited congress members include: Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Rep.Yvette Clarke(DNY), Rep. Nancy Pelosi (DCA), Rep.John Boehner(R-OH) and Rep. Donna M. Christensen

(D- U.S. Virgin Islands). Later in the day the group will go to the White House for a Public Policy Briefing. Sharhonda Knott Lawson of Chicago Black Women’s Roundtable will also speak on gun violence reform.

Friday, Civic Engagement and Global Empowerment Day, opens with faith and social justice prayer breakfast and roundtable discussion. Other roundtable topics to include: labor, education and social justice; voting rights and social justice; women and girls, health and wellness empowerment; business, education and economic empowerment; and global empowerment and sustainability.

Saturday March 16 is Community Day and will be held at Shiloh Baptist Church, 1500 9th Street, NW in DC from 11:00 am - 5:00 pm. Community Day family-oriented activities include a Love You More!

Health & Wellness Walk, a Healthy, Wealthy and Wise Health Fair and Mini-Expo, girls tech camp, and group exercises.

Community Day is free to the public.

Made possible by Verizon Foundation, National Education Association, United Healthcare Plans, American Postal Workers Union, National Urban League and other sponsors, the BWR National Summit will

feature workshops on healthy living, equal pay, financial planning, mental health and entrepreneurship. Skills-building sessions will train organizers on utilizing new technology, mentoring, issue organizing and special enrichment sessions for girls & teens.

Diane Babineaux, International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers; Chanelle Hardy, National Urban League; Nicole Lee, TransAfrica Forum; Rev. Marcia Dyson, Women’s Global Initiative; Meshelle Forman Shields, author and comedian; Lauren Darensbourgh, President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition; and Clayola Brown, A. Philip Randolph Institute, are among the diverse offering of panelists and speakers.

Black Women’s Roundtable is an intergenerational network of The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, a nonprofit, non-partisan organization dedicated to increasing civic engagement in Black and underserved communities.

BWR brings together diverse women to motivate Black women to engage in all levels of civil society. BWR Summit registration is $40. For more information or to register visit www.ncbcp.org or call (202) 659-4929.

Let’s RESET education in Minnesota and create schools where every student succeeds.

Learn how at:

RESETEDUCATION.ORG

insightnews.com

Insight News • March 11 - March 17, 2013 • Page 3

EDUCATION Early childhood education: What does culture have to do with it?

and communities together. That intergenerational learning is “the very fabric of human society,” she said.

She recounted anecdotes of people she has met who have made great socioeconomic leaps

from one generation to another.

For example, one young Hmong woman who was valedictorian of her class had a grandmother who was uneducated. A California woman was a widow, a farm laborer who immigrated from

Mexico, and lived in a small house next to a huge strawberry field. She had six children, two who graduated from college, two who were in college, and two who were in high school and doing very well. “What did she know about social and emotional intelligence?” Emarita asked. And while these types of stories are not uncommon, she said, they are framed as anomalies.

As part of their work with the Wilder Foundation, Emarita and Richard Chase held dialogues within cultural communities, talking to groups such as Hmong, Anishinabe, Norwegian, Swedish, Somali and Laotian groups. “We wanted to find out how family systems operated,” she said.

“What was important to them?”

They found people wanted their children to grow up to be good people, with a sense of right and wrong, and to grow up to contribute to their society, family and community. They also wanted their children to have a positive sense of themselves, and connect well to their community and social networks. They wanted their children to value their culture and community. For example, people living in small towns wanted their children to know that not everything of value comes from cities. “There’s interesting commonalities between small towns and culturally specific groups in urban areas,” Emarita noted.

“In no way is it meant to imply participants did not value formal education,” she said. “Participants were taking a longer, broader holistic view. They weren’t viewing children through third grade reading scores and math scores. This is not an either/or choice.”

Early childhood education has become a hot topic, with both President Obama and Governor

right of parents to determine how many children they can have. In urban areas, couples are permitted to have one child and can apply to have a second if each parent was an only child. The policy is more relaxed in rural areas where couples can have a second child if the first one was a girl. Each person in a couple who violates China’s population control policy must pay a “social compensation fee,” which can be as high as 10 times a person’s annual income.

Some provinces have regulations that require women who violate the family-planning policy to abort their pregnancies.

The other provinces insist on unspecified “remedial measures,” which in most cases leads to an abortion. Even with its strict population control, China is expected to grow to 1.4 billion people by 2020.

Of China’s current 1.3 billion people, 91.51 percent are Han. There are 55 ethnic minorities that total 110 million or 8.49 percent of the population, according to the State Ethnic Affairs Commission.

A book titled, The Ethnic Groups of China by Wu Shimin listed 18 ethnic minority groups with a population exceeding 1 million: Mongolian, Hui, Tibetan, Uyghur, Miao, Yi, Zhuang, Bouyei, Korean, Manchu, Dong, Yao, Bai, Tujia, Hani, Kazak, Dai and Li. Government officials note with pride that in an effort to integrate ethnic minorities into Chinese society, they have what amounts to an affirmative action program. But the 2011 State Department annual report on human rights notes, “Most minority groups resided in areas they traditionally inhabited.

Government policy calls for members of recognized minorities to receive preferential treatment in birth planning, university admissions, access to loans, and employment. However, the substance and implementation of ethnic minority policies remained poor, and discrimination against minorities remained widespread.”

Although a communist country, laws on the books in China provide a remarkable array of individual and group freedoms, including freedom of speech, freedom of association, operation of a free press and the right to a public trial before an independent judiciary.

In practice, however, those “freedoms” quickly disappear when the state makes a broad claim of “subversion of state power” or contend an action goes against “the interests of the state,” according to the U.S. State Department.

By definition, communist and democratic systems of government are fundamentally different. And there is also sharp difference in how citizens in China and the U.S. view their respective governments.

Chen Xuelian, director of the Social Survey Research Office at the China Center for Comparative Politics and Economics, said: “According to surveys, the U.S.

people believe more or trust their local government more than the central government. In China, the public trusts the central government more than the local

By Sheila Regan TC Daily Planet How do varying cultural backgrounds affect the need for and the value of early education?

What we’re missing, said Betty Emarita at a February 8 forum on early childhood education, is data driven discussions. While there’s data on community trauma, “there’s little data on family strengths, especially in low income communities.”

Betty Emarita grew up in a tiny village in North Carolina, which had a combined elementary, junior high and high school. It was a very poor area, and the African Americans living in the community were mostly farming as sharecroppers. “Most girls dropped out of school by the eighth grade,” she said.

Emarita’s mother was the youngest of a blended family of 18. Emarita’s grandmother and grandfather each had six children before they formed a family together, and then had six more. Emarita talked about the intricacies of her large family.

On her mother’s side, education was important but school didn’t necessarily have anything to do with that. Laws were considered suggestions, and she learned to think outside of the box, or that there wasn’t any box. On her father’s side, if you didn’t talk about your accomplishments, you were ignorant.

Emarita drew on her own experience as well as her research work with the Wilder Foundation, which focuses on family and community knowledge systems in discussing culture and early childhood education. She talked about intergenerational learning, which provides continuity and social cohesion that holds families

China From 1 love history, it was great to be able to walk through so many of the sites I have read about –the Great Wall of China, the Terracotta Soldiers, the harbor in Shanghai where Chiang Kai-shek’s army escaped to Taiwan as Mao’s forces chased them down.”

Carl Murphy, a 31-year-old Black businessman from Atlanta, speaks fluent Mandarin, is coowner of a Shanghai nightclub, and operates a business with a close friend from Atlanta that assists U.S. entrepreneurs looking to do business in China.

“In major cities, you can eat foreign food every day, if you wish, live in the same areas as other foreigners, go to all Englishspeaking venues, and watch international news,” he said.

“There are some foreigners I know who have been in China for almost 10 years and don’t speak the local language. Yet, many of their children are fluent. Some of them prefer to live in local housing, go to local Chinese restaurants every day and even befriend and date or marry Shanghai residents. It’s definitely a personal decision.”

Miles away from Shanghai, rural communities reflect another world.

“In 2006, it took about 40 minutes traveling by car beyond the Mu Tian Yu Great Wall visiting site west of Beijing to find yourself back a hundred years to a time and place where crops are harvested by hand and milled with a donkey,” said Lynne Coleman, a native of Lewiston, Idaho. “People have no indoor plumbing, the whole family sleeps on one kong (a concrete, horizontal chimney that provides some heat in the very cold winters) and three-room houses are heated with wood fires fueled by sticks gathered by hand and carried on the backs of residents.”

Many Chinese are moving away from such rural trappings to relocate to the city, where the per capita disposable income is more than four times that of rural communities.

“There are so many construction sites in Beijing, Shanghai and all over than when I was here before,” said Julia Wilson, whose company organizes tours to China, Brazil and other countries to help improve the image of African Americans abroad. “They are building so many apartments because you have so many rural people moving to the city for jobs. They have no place for these people to live.”

To slow China’s burgeoning population, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has adopted a one-child policy that restricts the

PhotoXpress

Dayton pushing for increased funding. This comes as a relief for many educators, who have been saying for years that children’s needs must be addressed before kindergarten, with study after study showing the positive effects of quality early childhood care and education. But how we judge what constitutes “quality?” And how we address specific needs of communities of different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds?

I put the question out to social media prior to the February 8 early childhood education forum, the first in a series of three forums sponsored by the Committee on the Achievement Gap. Responses explored the question of early childhood education across cultures.

Prachee Mukherjee sent in a link to an article from The Future of Children, which surveys research on early education in different countries. Mukherjee also raised a point about cultural differences: “I have re-learned that many traditional cultures do not seek out pre-school because they want to maximize those years for parent-child bonding, or mother-child bonding,” she wrote. “For immigrant cultures it also becomes a way to immerse the child longer in their mother tongues.”

Patti Loftus, from Blake School, suggested the text Beyond Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care, by Peter Moss, Gunilla Dahlberg and Alan Pence, and provided an excerpt from an article by Dahlberg and Moss, which they say addresses not the management of quality, but the “very concept itself.”

They argue that quality is “neither natural nor neutral” and treat evaluation “as primarily political rather than technical.”

Emarita’s speech, and the

contributions of people made through social media struck a chord for me. Though I don’t have children myself, sometimes I get suspicious that the emphasis on preschool education seems to undervalue what parents (and their family networks) can offer their children. Part of me thinks that for very young children, it’s better for them to be at home rather than a daycare facility (although I agree that pre-school is important.)

I do see how two and threeyear-old children might benefit from being in a social setting with focused care by an adult.

My sister, who’s a teacher, chose daycare both because she wanted to go back to work, and because she felt her children would be more stimulated in a daycare environment then they would at home. When I taught dance classes for three-year-olds, I saw that after just a few classes, they were talking and being more social.

On the other hand, different families will have different needs and goals. Each family has to balance different factors, such as work, the desire to teach young children the family’s own cultural traditions and access to quality preschool programs.

This is the first of a series of articles I’m writing about Early Education. In the coming weeks, I’ll also be writing about how much day care workers and preschool teachers get paid, ratings systems for Minnesota’s Parent Aware program, and looking into the “catch-up” effect for students who don’t receive early education.

Please write in if you would like to share your thoughts about early childhood education, either in writing or in a conversation with me. I can be reached at Sheila@ tcdailyplanet.net.

government.”

Jiang Haishan, vice president of the China Executive Leadership Academy Pudong in Shanghai, said: “In your politics, in western

philosophy, government is absolutely evil. You keep watch

CHINA TURN TO 5

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Page 4 • March 11 - March 17, 2013 • Insight News

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BUSINESS Workday reorganization: Start with goals each day Plan Your Career

By Julie Desmond julie@insightnews.com Pick up any paper and you’ll see news about some company’s reorganization.

Businesses reorganize as a matter of course. They get leaner, they rein in loose ends, they identify opportunities and they move forward toward something better for the business and for

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 Production Intern Miki Noland Distribution/Facilities Manager Jamal Mohamed Receptionist Lue B. Lampley Staff Writer Ivan B. Phifer Contributing Writers Cordie Aziz Harry Colbert, Jr. Julie Desmond Fred Easter Oshana Himot Timothy Houston Alaina L. Lewis Photography Suluki Fardan 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) Postmaster: Send address changes to McFarlane Media Interests, Marcus Garvey House 1815 Bryant Avenue North, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55411.

its shareholders and customers.

Why not take a cue from the big wigs and reorganize yourself?

With a nod toward books like The Four Day Work Week and a wink at my sales friend who comes in at 9:30, leaves by 3 and makes as much money as anyone, I launched a monthlong experiment. It worked for me, so it might work for you, too.

Start with goals. Most people wake up Monday morning with either the joy or dread of having a general idea of what they want to accomplish during the work week. By writing down those goals, you can clearly see that you will never reach the end of the list by Friday afternoon. Or will you?

Break down the goals. If you need to have three project meetings this week, when will you have those? Block out the

time on your calendar, and then make those appointments. If you need to make fifty phone

your calendar and keep these appointments with yourself.

How will you know you’ve

Once you know how you will accomplish everything, there’s no end to what you can accomplish calls this week, that’s ten per day. When will you make those calls? Block out the time on

hit your goals? You’ll look at your scorecard. Just for a week, track your activity. A scorecard

can be as simple as checkmarks on a task list or it can be more elaborate. I put boxes behind my written goals: for three meetings, three boxes. Instead of checking them off, I wrote a couple letters to remind myself of who the meeting was with, to avoid taking credit for the same meeting twice.

Cushions help.

With a five day week ahead of me, I wedged my goals into four days (50 calls per week would be 12.5 per day). Ever get called into meetings or projects unexpectedly?

Rather than worry about reaching the finish line, I had worked in some breathing room. By Tuesday afternoon, I had reached my Wednesday afternoon goal, and an unplanned meeting became an opportunity rather than a distraction.

Remember, you are not a

hamster on a wheel. You are an organized professional reaching the goals you’ve laid out for yourself. If you want to sell five widgets this week, that’s an average of one per day. If you sell three on Monday, you only have to sell two more to hit your goal. Don’t put off until Friday what you can do today; do take Friday off if your efficiency gets you to the bottom line faster than usual. Or spend Friday raising the bar, setting new goals for yourself. Once you know how you will accomplish everything, there’s no end to what you can accomplish. You just need to get reorganized.

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

Tara Spann joins Diversity Information Resources board Diversity Information Resources (DIR) appointed new board member, Tara Spann, during the annual Board of Directors meeting in February, 2013.

Spann is responsible for the strategy and execution of supplier diversity for BristolMyers Squibb. She oversees the integration of supplier diversity into the strategic category management process and is the lead for the supplier diversity strategic imperative supporting a transformation of the enterprisewide program. Spann reports into the Global Procurement Center of Excellence.

Prior to joining BristolMyers Squibb, Spann led the development and management of diversity initiatives for Staples, Inc. as the Executive Director of Diversity Initiatives reporting directly to the President of North American Delivery. She

Tara Spann oversaw the development and execution of strategic alliances

DIR

that significantly advanced sales and helped Staples Advantage customers reach their supplier diversity purchasing goals.

Additionally, she supported the advancement of Staples as a great place to work with a diverse and talented workforce.

During a career at Harvard University, Spann served as Senior Software Licensing Negotiator, negotiating the terms and conditions of enterprise licensing software contracts. She was also the Contract Manager of Harvard University’s procurement management department, where she was responsible for managing the University’s minority procurement program, government compliance regulations and audits for purchasing as well as implementing strategic vendor alliances.

Spann is a graduate of Northeastern University in Electrical Engineering and Suffolk University Law School in Boston, Massachusetts.

About Diversity Information Resources (DIR) Founded in 1968, DIR is a not-forprofit corporation headquartered in Minneapolis, MN. DIR partners with SupplierGATEWAY™ to power its online data management portal. DIR is proud to be the only data management and publishing organization focused exclusively on developing and supporting supplier diversity programs. DIR advances supplier diversity initiatives through comprehensive, flexible solutions, superior technology, personal service and the proven expertise to help corporations build the best possible supplier diversity programs.

Our exceptional products (seminars and publications) and services support both corporations and suppliers, facilitating the advancement of corporate diversity as a whole.

More information at www. diversityinforesources.com.

Sandwich generation eligible for tax relief for supporting parents More than 1 in 3 baby boomers is actively helping support a parent and 1 in 4 is supporting their adult children. Members of the “sandwich generation” – those supporting their parents and their own children – may be able to claim the up to $3,800 qualifying relative exemption for supporting their parents and adult children.

Generally, the eligible taxpayer must provide more than

50 percent of the financial support for eligible expenses such as food, lodging, clothing, education, medical and dental care, recreation and transportation.

However, non-relative qualifying dependents also may allow supporters to claim expenses associated with their care, if they live with the taxpayer all year and meet other qualifications. And, the children claimed do not have to

be blood relatives, but they must live with the taxpayer for more than half the year and meet other qualifications.

Contact the Lisa Patterson at 816-305-4421 or lisa.patterson@ hrblock.com to talk with an H&R Block tax professional about understanding how taxpayers can claim dependents of all ages and other tax breaks they might be entitled.

MUL

educated populations as a state, the need for deliberate intervention to spur secondary enrollment, completion, and credential attainment to increase employability for students of color, is apparent.”

Says Dr. Anita Davis Defoe, Chief Program Integration

Officer of the Minneapolis Urban League.

According to forecasts

by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce, 70% of jobs in Minnesota will require some level of post-secondary education by 2018. The state ranks 5th in the nation for jobs that will require a Bachelor’s Degree and 48th in projected jobs available for high school drop-outs - all indications that some measure of postsecondary education will be vital. “We need to make sure we provide a range of educational opportunities for people,” says Senator Champion. “This program is another tool to help some of our most vulnerable citizens set out on a path to prosperity.”

“This is an intentional effort by the Minneapolis Urban League to break the cycle of generational poverty and socio-economic disparities impacting our community, says Scott Gray, President and CEO of the Minneapolis Urban League. “This measure will convert those who’ve fallen through the cracks into contributing, tax-paying citizens able to care for their families.”

In an issued statement, Senator Hayden says he ‘applauds the work the Minneapolis Urban League is doing to help our young people transition from school to becoming productive, contributing members of the community.’ The bill has been referred to the Education Policy Committee for a hearing. If approved, the program would launch Spring 2014.

From 1 in college or haven’t identified a career.

“While Minnesota boasts one of the most highly-

insightnews.com

Insight News • March 11 - March 17, 2013 • Page 5

AESTHETICS Ronnie Baker Brooks returns to the Minnesota Music Cafe The Minnesota Music Cafe, 499 Payne Ave., St. Paul, announced the return of “The Visionary Guitarist “ from Chicago, Ronnie Baker Brooks.

Baker Brooks will bring his band to The Minnesota Music Cafe on Thursday, Mar. 21.

Doors open at 6 p.m. and tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door.

As the son of blues legend Lonnie Brooks, Baker Brooks grew up steeped in American music tradition. He came of age watching the fieriest guitar players and most soulful singers of a previous era express their deepest feelings through their music. He knows the transcendent release at the heart of soul, blues and rock.

As in the Olympic tradition, when the torch gets passed on, the idea is to keep it burning, while at the same time move it forward. It’s a fitting image for Baker Brooks. Not only does he sing with soulful fire and play with a white-hot intensity; he’s also carrying the torch from the previous generation of soul and

Ronnie Baker Brooks

blues greats and moving the music into the future.

“I grew up among the best of the best,” said Baker Brooks.

“Every time I play, I feel like I’ve got to do it with the authenticity and passion that I saw in guys like Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, B.B. King and my father. But I also have to put my twist on it.

None of those guys repeated what came before them.”

Baker Brooks’ twist involves fusing blues-rock with deep soul and modern hip-hop vocals and funk rhythms. Working with legendary producer Jellybean Johnson, Baker Brooks takes roots sounds and transforms them into something that spans the ages. He draws on the choppy, hip-shaking rhythms of funk, the emotional truth of soul and the forcefulness of rock to bring a distinctive dimension to his groundbreaking sound.

“I wanted to do something that would bring young people to the blues, and then give them the real hard core thing at the same time,” said Baker Brooks. “When I grew up, all my friends listened

to rap and funk, and I listened to the blues. So I heard their music and they heard mine. I think we both saw some connection between them. I like that line in the movie “Hustle & Flow” when they say this new rap song ain’t nothing but ‘Backdoor Man’ written for modern streets. It’s a hip-hop world right now, but I want to bring a little blues to the party.”

Baker Brooks has earned his spot on the front lines. He spent a dozen years backing his father, watching how the master entertainer drew enthusiastic responses night after night. For years, Baker Brooks put to use his lessons learned on stage every night, opening his father’s show to great response. With his father’s blessing, he left the band to strike out on his own shortly after releasing his own debut album, “Golddigger” in 1998.

“Golddigger” won Best New Blues Album in 1998 from Real Blues Magazine.

Like his father before him, Baker Brooks became a Chicago blues mainstay, playing regularly

in Chicago area clubs. After the release of his second album, 2001’s “Take Me Witcha,” he hit the road for what turned out to be a seemingly non-stop threeyear tour, picking up devoted new fans all along the way. And while he hadn’t planned to take five years between recordings, he wanted to do it right. The fusion blues man made up for lost time by packing as many tunes as possible on “The Torch,” which was released in 2006. The Boston Herald declared that “The Torch” is, “ferocious and unrelenting and may be the year’s best blues album.”

When Baker Brooks’ music was exposed to younger listeners it has proven to be a welcome introduction.

The Minnesota Music Cafe will be jumping on Thursday, Mar. 21 when this virtuosic guitarist and his band take the stage to perform their unique brand of blues music. For more information or for advanced tickets, call (651) 776-4699 or visit www.minnesotamusiccafe. com.

Fashion and flowers at Macy’s fresh look for spring. Indulge in sips, hors d’oeuvres and music while shopping.

Jamie Krell Macy’s Five Essentials Fashion Show with style correspondent, Jamie Krell March 14 – 6pm – Macy’s Downtown Minneapolis, 3rd Floor, Oval Room Preview the season’s trends

China From 3 on that necessary evil. In China, for over 2,000 years, government has the responsibility to take care of the people – government is good. Traditionally in China, government is like parents.

Parents have the responsibility to take care of their children. But at the same time, parents have the authority to discipline them.”

In addition to a reverence for the central government, Chinese have an unshakable respect for the family, a carefully structured unit where children learn their role and are taught respect for authority and where the father’s word is final and not subject to challenge.

“China is where familylevel decisions and sacrifices are made, based on the good of the family and not what is best for the individual,” explained Lynne Coleman, the American educator who spent nearly a decade in China. “The worst crime for ordinary people is bringing shame on the family.”

Children are taught at an early age that they must care for their parents when they grow old.

Government officials invariably

and let Jamie Krell, Style & TV correspondent for the Today show, E! and EXTRA share the five Spring Essentials that can take anyone’s wardrobe from drab to fab! Be sure to stop by the eye & lip bar to create a

dye their hair black because of the widespread belief that people with white hair should be cared for in the sunset of their life and not do heavy work.

The government does the heavy and intrusive work of closely monitoring its citizens..

“Authorities monitored telephone conversations, fax transmissions, e-mail, text messaging, and Internet communications,” the U.S. State Department human rights report stated.

“Authorities opened and censored domestic and international mail. Security services routinely monitored and entered residences and offices to gain access to computers, telephones, and fax machines.”

A.J. Liebling, the caustic press critic, is famous for saying, “Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.” In China, all print and broadcast media is stateowned. Consequently, the State Department says, Chinese media is used “to propagate government views and [Communist Party] ideology.”

Zhu Yinghuang, former editor-in-chief of the Englishlanguage China Daily, disagrees.

“The philosophical thinking is different between Chinese and people in the U.S.,” he

Macy’s Flower Show® – “The Painted Garden” March 24 through April 7 – Macy’s Downtown Minneapolis, 8th Floor, Auditorium Macy’s Flower Show® has delighted generations of floral aficionados with over-the-top presentations of sumptuous gardens that showcase millions of live flowers, plants and trees from around the globe.

Born of many terrains, the Macy’s Flower Show’s most dazzling magic trick is the coaxing of the disparate flora to bloom in unison despite their various internal climatic DNA. Expertly landscaped in a variety of ways, the said. “Chinese don’t believe in absolute press freedom. All media has to be responsible. We have our boss and we listen to our boss. That doesn’t mean that the boss intervenes in the daily operation of the newspaper.”

Sometimes that’s exactly what happens.

The “boss” boldly intervened when the Southern Weekly, a newspaper in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, ran a New Year’s editorial calling for greater respect for constitutional rights in China, which was quickly rewritten

by Tuo Zhen, the Communist Party’s top propaganda official in the province. The replacement editorial in the newspaper, also known as Southern Weekend, praised the party’s policies.

The censorship touched off a newsroom strike and rare public protests in China.

Even foreign publications can’t escape the government’s watchful eye.

When the New York Times ran a story last October disclosing that Prime Minister Wen Jiabao’s family had amassed $2.7 billion, Internet access to the story in China was quickly blocked.

Social media, including Facebook and Twitter, are blocked in China for various reasons, including

Macy’s Flower Show takes route in unexpected settings.

This spring a floral wonderland of multicolored jeweled splendor takes root at the annual Macy’s Flower Show®.

This year, the majesty of Asia will come to life via the brilliant

the ability to be used as antigovernment organizing tools.

Despite media censorship and ironclad government control, some foreigners sending email to China have been able to slip content critical of the government past the legions of censors. And despite a reluctance to speak out publicly, citizens often criticize their government in small, private settings.

Chinese are quick to note some positive aspects of their government.

“This country reserves seats for certain minorities at all levels of government,” said Alexander Tzang, former deputy president of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and special adviser to the China-United States Exchange Foundation. “We have reserved seats for non-Communists, for females, for minorities and so on.

They are guaranteed seats. They don’t come by elections. That’s not really democracy. But if you look at it from another angle, is it better to have minority voices being heard more vividly? It is much more equitable representation.”

Many are hoping that Xi Jimping, the new general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, will keep his pledge to promote a more open society, including following China’s 1982

colors, aroma and textures of flora in The Painted Garden.

This year’s Macy’s Flower Show, titled ‘The Painted Garden,’ takes its inspiration from the Middle Asian region, most notably India.

The vast display reflects the elaborate architecture, lavish formal gardens, intense jewel tones and lively spice market colors so typical of that part of the world. Set to welcome spectators into the radiant splendor this year is the show’s stunning multicolored 10-foot tall Painted Elephant. Planted in brilliant hues via thousands of live flowers, the Elephant centerpiece will sport grand ornamentation in the ceremonial style of India.

In addition to serving as the official celebration for the start of the spring season,

Macy’s Flower Show will also showcase some of the nation’s most renowned floral and entertaining designers. These décor wizards will bring to life a rotating Flower Show favorite – the Bouquet of the Day. The one-of-kind creations are stunning centerpieces that each conveys the personal style of the designer. Whether traditional, contemporary or abstract, these limited-time floral masterpieces are always a highlight of the show. The Macy’s Flower Show is also the perfect backdrop for two weeks of in-store special events, including fashion shows, cooking demonstrations and celebrity appearances that will delight floral fanatics while celebrating the rejuvenating power of the season.

Constitution.

Xi, who was elevated several months ago along with six new members of the Standing Committee of the Central Committee Political Bureau, said: “The CPC should be able to put up with sharp criticism, correct mistakes if it has committed them and avoid them if it has not.”

Until that becomes a reality in China, as long as citizens and foreigners stay away from the sensitive topics of Taiwan, Tibet, the Falun Gong religious sect and criticism of the Communist Party of China, they can live what is considered a normal life in China.

“What I enjoy most about China is the open-mindedness of people,” said Carl Murphy, the Atlanta native now living in Shanghai. “The ironic thing is Chinese people are portrayed as a bit robotic and not being freethinkers. The funny thing is that after living here, I can say the same thing about Americans, which was displayed worldwide for everyone to see during the presidential election.”

Craig Trygstad said, “In cities like Shanghai, Guangzhou,

Tianjin or Chongqing, there is an energy and work ethic that is hard to miss. I sometimes felt like that energy – which you see in small furniture factories, in tailor shops and felt in bustling markets – is how you define capitalism. And that is when I would forget that we were in a Communist country.”

(This 4-part series is the outgrowth of a week-long African American Media Leaders Mission to China sponsored by the China-United States Exchange Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose goal is to foster a better understanding between the people of China and the United States. Neither the foundation nor government officials in China had any input in these stories or saw them prior to publication. The 7-member U.S. media delegation was led by Cloves Campbell, Jr., publisher of the Arizona Informant and chairman of the National Newspaper Publishers Association. The trip included visits to Beijing, Xi’an and Shanghai.)

Page 6 • March 11 - March 17, 2013 • Insight News

insightnews.com

FULL CIRCLE Overcoming the fear of being alone Man Talk

By Timothy Houston Loneliness is a harmful condition that can be caused by the fear of being alone, and / or an unhealthy view of self.

Loneliness is a negative state because it equals you minus the other. It suggests that you are less when others are not present. It makes you dependent on other people instead of using

your time alone to work on yourself. This is an indication that you may be placing greater importance on others than yourself. Relationship with other is a byproduct of “self,” and as a result, strengthening your self, strengthens your relationships.

Men and women view extended time alone differently.

Men often see time alone as an opportunity to do the things they like. They go hunting, fishing, or on any other outings that will allow them time to get away.

Women have a different view on this. They see time alone as being absent from the ones they love. Under no circumstance do they want to be by themselves.

These women feel incomplete when the significant people in their life are not around. The fear of loneliness is one of the reasons some women allow themselves to be with men who are unhealthy for them.

Overcoming the fear of loneliness begins when people change the value they place on themselves. You must purposely and deliberately choose relationships that add value to you. If a woman is with someone that does not add value to her (Mr. Wrong), she is missing out on the opportunity to meet Mr. Right. Also, this temporary relationship does not allow her the time alone needed to discover the real

self-value that comes from reflecting within. Whenever a woman settles for less, she ends up lessening herself. This is the end result of the fear of loneliness.

Overcoming the fear of being alone is complete when you turn loneliness into aloneness. Aloneness is power and freedom. When there is no significant other, when there is quiet time, you have the power to develop yourself, to become greater. All your energy and effort, the time and energy that you might otherwise have to expend on other people can be concentrated on you. Time alone allows you the opportunity to gain the knowledge that will

show you how to attract those that will add positive value to who you are.

“Aloneness is the presence of oneself. Aloneness is very positive. It is a presence, overflowing presence. You are so full of presence that you can fill the whole universe with your presence and there is no need for anybody.” Osho - The Discipline of Transcendence Volume 1, Chapter 2 No more loneliness! This is a matter of choosing your perspective. Going forward, change the way you look at time alone, and turn loneliness into aloneness. This will be a great benefit to you because you are most powerful when your

energy is not used up caring for others. Because of the Godgiven power within, you do not need anyone to make you whole. God has declared you to be all together beautiful and fearfully and wonderfully made.

Never settle for less. This is the true knowledge of self and the power you get from being alone with Him. Timothy Houston is an author, minister, and motivational speaker who is committed to guiding positive life changes in families and communities.

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

Part 2: A great migration of our own Minnesota Black Chamber of Commerce

By Leah Hargett A Black History Month speech delivered at the West Broadway Business and Area Coalition Black History Month Breakfast, 2013 By the time the 1960’s had arrived, what really made Black folks mad was that most African Americans were relegated to the secondclass status Al McFarlane was talking about in the interview.

As an example, right down the street where the old SumnerOlson Public Housing units used to be, over 50 percent of all adults who lived in the Sumner Olson public housing projects were working. It’s just that they were stuck in jobs working as dishwashers, doormen, or in sewing factories making minimum wage that was raised to $1.00 an hour in 1967.

So yes, the 1960’s in North Minneapolis was a turbulent

and storied time. It was this period that really should give us all pause.

I believe the 1960’s in north Minneapolis are very instructive about where Black people have been as it relates to Black businesses, Black employment, and Black life in general. And I believe the 1960’s are very relevant as to where we are—and where we all may choose to go—as people who care about and love our community.

And so, here we are, in 2013, some 122 years after Black people began the Great Migration seeking the land that flowed with milk and honey and some 46 years after things blew up across the nation and right here in north Minneapolis when Black folks realized there was really very little milk and very little honey to be had.

Well, what has changed?

What is different today? North Minneapolis is still standing.

Gone are the many Jewish businesses that lined the streets.

North Minneapolis is still dotted with some Black businesses. Pigley Wigley’s has been replaced by Cub Foods.

And many Black folks are either still working

minimum wage, are underemployed, or unemployed.

What has really changed?

Well, let me first answer that question by saying one thing that has changed is that you are here- the West Broadway Business and Area Coalition is here - in this

• How do we ensure that once people are living among us in the 21st Century, they are able to find outlets to become educated, work in good jobs at good wages, own their own businesses, and be powered by inspiration and motivation

concentrate as much on a diversity of new and dynamic ideas as we do on the diversity of skin color; • A Great Migration in our heads as we gently reject calling bad or average ideas good ideas; • A Great Migration in our

I believe we can reach our mutual goals of building a better community for our families, for our neighbors, and for ourselves by having another Great Migration. Not one where we travel a great distance by carriage, bus or train; but instead a Great Migration where we travel afar using our minds. room, over 100 businesses strong, committed to making life better for those people who were born here, migrated here, traveled here, or just plain landed here with no other place to go. You’re here trying to make a better life for your family and the families that will come after you. And you’re here, having already made a dynamic difference improving our cityscape, as it relates to building businesses in north Minneapolis, keeping the doors of existing businesses open, and dreaming into reality a better day when there is nobody under-employed or unemployed among us.

In my opinion, the real questions today, and during this Black History Month, are: • How do we honor those people who came to Minnesota during the Great Migration, leaving so much of their history behind, seeking a better life for themselves and their families?

instead of the fear, anger, and rage that plagued the 1960’s?

• How do we ensure that nobody feels like a secondclass citizen in our midst?

• And how do we create a future that includes milk and honey, where human dignity and the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness exist for all people, no matter where they are from, who find themselves standing in our midst?

Friends, I believe we can reach our mutual goals of building a better community for our families, for our neighbors, and for ourselves by having another Great Migration. Not one where we travel a great distance by carriage, bus or train; but instead a Great Migration where we travel afar using our minds.

• A Great Migration in our minds where we

homes as we push our children to reject the soft bigotry of low expectations, instead telling our children they can own a business, not just work at a business; • A Great Migration in our schools as we stop lying to our young people telling them they don’t have to learn the King’s English, or how to do basic math and Algebra; • A Great Migration on our streets as we seek to tap the many talents of our young people or nudge forward the people who may be temporarily lost among us; • And, a Great Migration in our resolve to reject the language of “us vs. them” wherever it rears its ugly head, instead finding new and better ways we can all work together.

At the Minnesota Black Chamber of Commerce, we are committed to standing with the West Broadway

Business and Area Coalition for the long-haul until our mutual work is done.

This year, the Chamber will continue to work to strengthen African American and other small businesses on three main fronts: Working to create financial capital for new and existing businesses, working to ensure that Minnesota Black families have as much business background as possible, and working to ensure that we have a ready and willing reserve of talented, educated, and skilled human capital.

We will continue to traverse the State Capitol hallways and offices lifting up the importance of small businesses and the impact they have on inner cities; and we will encourage entrepreneurship in our families, in our churches, in our schools and at every corner and turn.

We will work to ensure that our entrepreneurs are aware of transformative technology and how to apply it to a global market. Most of all, we will work toward creating thousands of jobs and to increase personal wealth among folks who have been here for a short time or a long time. I invite each of you to stand with the Chamber in all the work we do.

In closing, I ask you to continue to encourage each person you meet to take a Great Migration of their own by reaching for the stars, realizing their hopes and dreams, building their skills and using their talents. I thank those people who came here decades before us who were committed to building a better life. I thank those warriors of the 1960’s on whose great, strong and broad shoulders we stand.

Note: Read entire essay online at www.insightnews. com

insightnews.com

Insight News • March 11 - March 17, 2013 • Page 7

An old song still resonates: ‘Is it because I’m Black?’

By Krissy Clark, Special to the NNPA from Marketplace Wealth and Poverty Desk This month, Chicago soul singer Syl Johnson releases a new album, and at age 76 his music is as powerful as ever.

But this story isn’t about his new songs. It’s about an old one, and what it means today.

The song in question is a question in itself: “Is It Because I’m Black?” is the title. Johnson recorded it in 1968. In the song, he asks— himself? his listeners?—this: You see, I heard somebody say one time ‘you can make it, if you try.’ And some of us, we’re trying so hard….Oh, something is holding me back.

Is it because I’m Black?

Those were pretty provocative lyrics for a Black pop singer in 1968, even if we can look back and probably agree the answer to his question was — at least in those days — ‘Yes.’ But today the world is different. We have a Black president in his second term, and some people point to him and argue it is proof we now live in a “post-racial” society.

So does a question and a song like “Is It Because I’m

Photo by Krissy Clark / Marketplace

Syl Johnson sitting in front of gold records from artists and groups who sampled his music.

Black?” still connect to today?

That is the question that led me to Syl Johnson’s front gate.

When he came down to let me in, he burst out of his door, singing.

Johnson lives in the same Chicago neighborhood where he grew up in the 1940s and 50s, known as Bronzeville, after the

color of many residents’ skin.

He spent much of his youth in public housing, but now he lives in a handsome two-story home that he built a few years ago — although, he jokes, the Wu Tang Clan actually built it, after he sued them and a bunch of hip-hop groups for sampling his songs without credit.

“Financed this house thanks to RZA,” he laughs. “They paid me real good.”

There are guitars and gold records and a Grammy nomination covering Johnson’s walls. And he’s the first to say that ultimately, being Black did not hold him back. But that doesn’t mean he thinks we

live in a world where race is irrelevant.

“It matters,” says Johnson.

“It just means you’ve got to work harder.”

As a young man, to help his family make ends meet, Johnson dropped out of high school and started working — washing dishes, driving trucks, leading a band on the side. When he finally made it in the music business, and put the racial contradictions of the American Dream to song, his dreams were starting come true.

By the 1980s, Johnson took a break from a successful music career, and invested the money he’d made to start a seafood restaurant on the South Side of Chicago called Solomon’s Fishery — named after his dad. He says, making it — in business or in music – takes hard work and perseverance, but something else too.

“You write a song, you better have a song like ‘Is It Because I’m Black?’ A beautiful subject matter,” he says. ”A business, the same.

You better have a good idea.”

In Johnson’s case, the idea for his restaurant came from an unlikely place: a rumor circulating around his neighborhood back then that Church’s Chicken restaurants had an ingredient

that sterilized Black men.

Johnson explains that people stopped going to Church’s, and “Boom! There were boardedup Church’s everywhere in the Black neighborhoods all across the country. So I had the free opportunity to get the Church’s Chickens — for little or nothing.”

After buying up some of the empty storefronts and converting them to fish joints, business took off. In a few years, Syl Johnson was employing more than 100 people, and had started one of the first Black-owned national restaurant franchises in the country.

“You can make it if you try,” Johnson says, looking back on his restaurant business.

“Some of us Black people tried hard to make it, and we did. We excelled,” he says.

Of course with a success story like Johnson’s, or President Obama’s, some Americans wonder if an old song like “Is It Because I’m Black?” still makes sense.

“Oftentimes, the answer can still be yes,” says Mary Pattillo, a sociologist at Northwestern University. She says Johnson’s achievements are inspiring, but “the progress of a small component of the

JOHNSON TURN TO 8

Rosa Parks honored by Congress with full-length statue

By Maya Rhodan, NNPA Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON (NNPA) – As Black History Month came to a close, a Civil Rights icon made history once again in the halls of the U.S. Capitol.

Last month, in ceremony hosted by President Obama and members of Congress, Rosa Parks became the first Black woman to have her fulllength likeness depicted in the National Statuary Hall.

The statue of Parks, which stands at 9-feet tall, depicts the Civil Rights icon seated and clutching her purse to commemorate her refusal to move to the back of a Montgomery, Ala. bus, sparking the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955 that lasted more than a year.

During his speech, President Obama told the story of Parks’ encounter with the bus driver on Dec. 1, 1955 which led to the boycott.

Parks had been kicked off the bus by the same driver twelve years prior for entering through the front door when the back was two crowded.

“He grabbed her sleeve and he pushed her off the bus. It made her mad enough, she would recall, that she avoided riding his bus for a while,” President Obama said. “And when they met again that winter evening in 1955, Rosa Parks would not be pushed.”

Later, when Parks refused to move from her seat, even after

Rosa Parks has a new home the bus driver who had kicked her off the bus 12 years before threatened, and later delivered on his promise, to have her arrested, she remained.

“Some schoolchildren are taught that Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat because her feet were tired,” then Sen. Obama remarked at Rosa Parks’ funeral in 2005. “ Our nation’s schoolbooks are only getting it half right. She once said: “The only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”

For 385 days, Black people across Montgomery boycotted the bus system until it was desegregated; a feat President Obama said last Wednesday led to “the entire edifice of segregation” beginning to tumble like the “ancient walls of Jericho.”

Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga), who grew up in Troy, Ala., only 40 miles from Montgomery, did not meet Parks until he was a student at Fisk University.

“I was only 15 years old during the Montgomery bus

boycott,” Lewis said. “But I, like everyone else I knew in Alabama, had a deep admiration and respect for Rosa Parks because of her dignity, her courage and her integrity.”

President Obama referred to

Parks as a woman who “defied the odds and defied injustice.”

Although known for sparking the bus boycott, Parks’ activism extended far beyond refusing to be removed from her seat. Parks was an eternal activist who served in her local NAACP, and worked with Congressman John Conyers of Michigan from 1965-1988.

At 74, Parks opened the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development, an organization that educates and trains disadvantaged youth for employment. Twelve years later President Clinton honored an 86-year-old Parks with a Congressional Gold Medal.

“Rosa Parks held no elected office.

She possessed no fortune; lived her life far from the formal seats of power. And yet today, she takes her rightful place among those who’ve

shaped this nation’s course,” President Obama said during the ceremony.

Parks, whose casket became the first of an African American to lie in the Capitol Rotunda when she died in 2005 at age 92, now stands among 100 of the most notable leaders in our nation’s history.

“Rosa Parks’ singular act of disobedience launched a movement. The tired feet of those who walked the dusty roads of Montgomery helped a nation see that to which it had once been blind,” President Obama said during the unveiling. “It is because of these men and women that I stand here today. It is because of them that our children grow up in a land more free and more fair; a land truer to its founding creed.”

The icon would have

turned 100 on Feb. 4, joins the likenesses of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Sojourner Truth in the hall of more than 180 pieces of art that celebrate men and women who are “illustrious for their historic renown.”

Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), the current chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, released a statement on the unveiling praising Parks for her “dedication to ensuring no human being is treated like a second class citizen.”

She added, “I am grateful to Mrs. Parks for her contributions to our country. As the statue of Mrs. Parks will remind every person who walks through the halls of the U.S. Capitol, the sacrifices and the fight to secure civil rights in this country are far from over.”

Page 8 • March 11 - March 17, 2013 • Insight News

insightnews.com

LIFESTYLE Trending…

Ford innovates with social media advertising campaign Building on the groundbreaking social engagement program that launched the Ford Fiesta in the U.S. in 2009, Ford now plans to introduce its new 2014 Fiesta through an innovative ad campaign created entirely by consumers.

To tell the new car’s story, Ford announced that it is seeking 100 social influencers, who – through a mix of paid media, social media and experiential events – will convey the unique personality and attributes of

PUZZLES

Johnson From 7 Black community needs to be put in the context of some really unfortunate developments.”

Pattillo points to the fact that half of the African Americans who are born poor, stay poor, compared to just a

Yang From 1 Girls Club since she was eight, said Diana Adamson, branch director of the Boys and Girls Club of Mount Airy.

As a refugee of Thailand,

car that doesn’t sacrifice on performance – it truly has its own personality. That personality will come through in the stories and experiences of real people.”

Ford will partner with nationally prominent television, entertainment and sports events including American Idol and X Games, legendary music festival Bonnaroo, and other media and entertainment hubs where agents will be at the center of the action.

Ford was the first automaker to truly introduce vehicles

the new 2014 Ford Fiesta in an entirely different way. Ford made the announcement at the Social Media Week convention in New York.

“Fiesta was designed to reflect the individuality of the customer, so we feel the marketing efforts should give the reins to the people who will be driving it,” says Jim Farley, Ford Motor Company executive vice president of Global Marketing, Sales and Service and Lincoln. “We have a fuelefficient, tech-savvy and stylish

through social media and now, the evolution of the Fiesta Movement takes the use of social channels for reveal to an entirely new level. Building on the success of the initial launch, Ford will give the agents a new Fiesta, then step back and let them do what they do best: Entertain their followers. As a result, the voice of this exciting new car will come straight from the people – making this the Blue Oval’s first completely usergenerated campaign.

March Madness ANSWERS TURN TO 10

ACROSS 1. Old Toyota model 6. Priestly garb 9. “Yes, ____!”

13. Shrek and Fiona, e.g.

14. Neither 15. “Dancing with the Stars” number 16. Country alliances 17. ___-Wan Kenobi 18. Potter enemy 19. *Sweet number 21. *Some fill out more than one 23. Mork’s planet 24. Kind of moss 25. Company that loves logistics 28. *The shot clock measures how much you have 30. Loose Hawaiian unbelted dress 35. Stanislavski’s rifle, e.g.

37. Persian backgammon 39. Open disrespect 40. Musician’s time to shine 41. Assumption taken for granted 43. Lincoln ____ 44. Kindle download 46. Senegal’s neighbor 47. Toward the lee 48. Electric car maker, pl.

50. Living quarters 52. Short for abstract syntax tree 53. Cher goes by one of these 55. Refrigerator sound 57. For spicing things up 61. *Ultimate NCAA tournament destination 65. Diver’s lung 66. Yes move 68. One who tries 69. Ups the stakes 70. *A shot below the line is worth this 71. Washer setting 72. R in RIP 73. He is 74. “The Second Coming” poet

DOWN 1. Boohoos 2. Tangerine and grapefruit hybrid 3. In the next month 4. Right-hand page 5. Declare with confidence 6. Shakespeare’s “at another time” 7. Tennis shot 8. Grease one’s palms 9. Painter ____ Chagall 10. Every which way 11. Competent 12. Grain in “The House That Jack Built” 15. Facebook ______ 20. Augmenting 22. *VCU fans, “___ Nation” 24. Diffuse 25. *16 seed over 1 seed, e.g.

26. Investigate thoroughly 27. Arias, e.g.

29. Permanently disfigure 31. *Championship record-holder 32. Cabbage 33. Prods 34. Not fixed or appointed 36. *This one is not for swimming 38. Sub station 42. *Many teams start season with “Mid_____ Madness” 45. *Last year’s runner-up 49. Cul de ___ 51. Oppressively hot and humid 54. *NCAA’s Big Dance occurs in the third one 56. Donny’s singing sister 57. Peter the Great, e.g.

58. High school breakout 59. Goes with ifs and ands 60. Drive a getaway car, e.g.

61. Fusses 62. Fashion house founder Ricci 63. Reason to cram 64. Aphrodite’s lover 67. Be obliged to pay

third of whites, and that Black unemployment is twice as high as white unemployment, and median incomes are 40 percent lower.

Pattillo says these bleak statistics can be driven by a number of things — unconscious racial bias in the labor market, disproportionately high incarceration rates among

Black men in the prime of their earning lives, and disinvestment in Black neighborhoods.

The effects of many of those forces are in full view if you go to the neighborhood near Racine and South 81st Street in Chicago, where Syl Johnson’s first Solomon’s Fishery was located, before it folded in the ’90s.

Now, it’s an empty lot among many.

But people still remember what used to be. “It was some good fish,” says Chris Johnson, who lives in the neighborhood.

“They should have kept it around.”

One of the few places still open in the neighborhood is a liquor store, where the clerk works in a bulletproof

glass box. Otis Wise, who had just stopped in for an energy drink, remembers Solomon’s Fishery, too. I tell him the guy who owned it was a singer who wrote a song called “Is It Because I’m Black?” and ask what he thinks of that idea.

“I do not use race to make an excuse for anything ,” Wise says. “All opportunity is open for everyone.”

Then he looks around and adds that some people live in neighborhoods like this one — where opportunities are a little harder to find.

For more stories from the Marketplace Wealth and Poverty Desk visit www. marketplace.org/wealthpoverty

Yang sought out the Boys and Girls Club not to long after moving to America. After watching children play across the street from her home, she decided to venture over with friends to what happened to be the local club of Mount Airy.

After years as a member, Yang joined Youth Job Corp the

summer before her senior year of high school as part of the St. Paul Parks and Recreation program.

From there she became a junior staff member of her Mount Airy club. This opportunity allowed her to gain work experience at a place she loves.

Adamson said Yang’s dedication to the club went beyond what was asked of her.

She always goes above and beyond, helping out after hours and even coming in on days when she was not scheduled to work, said Adamson.

Yang’s hard work was recognized regularly at the club when she was often named Youth of the Month. Adamson said this work ethic inspired staff members to nominate Yang for club Youth of the Year, which then allowed her to compete for

Twin Cities Youth of the Year, followed by state and regional competitions, where she was named Midwest Youth of the Year.

By being chosen to represent the Midwest region of the organization, Yang was afforded the opportunity to meet President Barack Obama.

“He’s very supportive of youth,” said Yang of President Obama.

With the president’s support, Yang said the Boys and Girls Club should be able to develop a national teen advisory committee that will advocate for programs that provide youth with tools needed to lead successful futures.

Besides having the opportunity to meet with President Obama, Yang met

other youth leaders representing their regions of the Boys and Girls Club of America. Though they had never met, Yang said they all had a special connection due to their similar backgrounds and love for the organization.

“Apart from the Youth of the Year, I learned a lot about family with the Boys and Girls Club,” said Yang.

The leadership skills she learned from the Boys and Girls Club has not only helped her in school but in life. When Yang went to South Korea, she said what she learned helped her to balance learning the Korean culture with being Hmong and American.

Yang also received a scholarship from Tupperware, which has paid for some of her college education. Yang

currently attends school an hour away at the College of Saint Benedict, but always makes an effort to help out with the Boys and Girls Club when she has time.

“Whenever I do go back to the cities I do my best to go and help out and volunteer,” said Yang.

“It (Boys and Girls Club) has always been apart of her life,” said Adamson.

After college, Yang plans to work with a non-profit that focuses on children, but right now she is deciding between political science and communications for her major.

“I think I will continue to promote the message of thinking big,” said Yang. “You must believe in yourself to see your full potential.”

insightnews.com

Insight News • March 11 - March 17, 2013 • Page 9

COMMENTARY Mrs. Rosa Parks: Before and after the bus Child Watch

By Marian Wright Edelman Our minds fasten on that single moment on the bus — Mrs. Parks alone in that seat, clutching her purse, staring out a window, waiting to be arrested. That moment tells us something about how change happens, or doesn’t happen . . . We so often spend our lives as if in a fog, accepting injustice, rationalizing inequity, tolerating the intolerable. Like the bus driver, but also like the passengers on the bus, we see the way things are — children hungry in a land of plenty, entire neighborhoods ravaged by violence, families hobbled by job loss or illness — and we make excuses for inaction, and we say to ourselves, that’s not my responsibility, there’s nothing I can do. Rosa Parks tells us there’s always something we can do. She tells us that we all have responsibilities, to ourselves and to one another.

She reminds us that this is how change happens — not mainly through the exploits of the famous and the powerful, but through the countless acts of often anonymous courage

and kindness and fellow feeling and responsibility that continually, stubbornly, expand our conception of justice — our conception of what is possible.

President Obama spoke these moving and right words at the February 27 unveiling of the beautiful new statue of Mrs. Rosa Parks in the United States Capitol’s Statuary Hall — the first Black woman so honored. The ceremony also included eloquent remarks from Congressional leaders and a stirring performance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” by the military choir that was a tribute to this bright North Star to freedom.

Mrs. Parks, like Harriet Tubman before her, lit our nation’s way.

The president’s words were a needed reminder that Mrs. Parks was just one very bright star in a constellation of sacrificial Black and White stars who pushed and pulled our nation forward on the long stony road of struggle, activism, and sacrifice that began generations before her birth in Tuskegee, Ala. 100 years ago. So many Americans keep looking for the next Dr. King or Mrs. Parks to come and solve our problems and save us from our own responsibility to act. But Mrs. Parks and Dr. King were always part of a much larger whole. On the particular day in December 1955 when she refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery city bus, she was one of a trained cohort of civil

rights leadership in the city who had been putting the community infrastructure in place waiting for the right spark to ignite the needed anti-Jim Crow movement time in Montgomery. Jeanne Theoharis’s new biography The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks (and other recent books) is now shedding extra light on the fact that there was much more to Mrs. Parks than the story of

nor long suffering, and had been fighting for equality and justice years before December 1955. In fact, like most Black people raised under Southern segregation, Jim Crow, and injustice, Mrs. Parks resented them from the day she was born.

Before her arrest Mrs. Parks had served as the secretary of the Montgomery branch of the National Association for the

Mrs. Parks was just one very bright star in a constellation of sacrificial Black and White stars

the quiet seamstress who one day was just so tired she finally decided to sit down.

In reality, Mrs. Parks was not only a seamstress but a respected local activist; was willing to work without a spotlight but was not meek or quiet; and did not spontaneously act out of the blue just because she felt tired. Mrs. Parks was neither complacent

Advancement of Colored People (N.A.A.C.P.) for more than 10 years. As part of her work with the N.A.A.C.P., she investigated cases of violence and sexual assault against Black women, including Recy Taylor, a married Black mother who was walking home from church when she was abducted at gunpoint and gang-raped by a group of six

white men in Abbeville, Ala. in 1944. In response, Mrs. Parks helped found the Committee for Equal Justice for Mrs. Recy Taylor that attracted nationwide support, action that the Chicago Defender called the “strongest campaign for equal justice to be seen in a decade.” Although Mrs. Taylor’s attackers had admitted their guilt to local authorities, they were not convicted of the crime or punished—and Mrs. Parks was not done fighting injustice.

Nor was she alone. In all of her battles before and after her own arrest, Mrs. Parks was part of a coordinated movement of others sharing the same goal.

The summer before her arrest she attended Highlander Folk School near Knoxville, Tenn., a training center for activism in civil rights and workers’ rights.

Immediately after her arrest, Mrs. Parks was supported by N.A.A.C.P. colleagues, including E.D. Nixon and others in Montgomery actively watching for the right moment to act.

Alabama State College professor and Women’s Political Council President Jo Ann Robinson was one of the key unsung heroines who were the backbones of most civil rights struggles who waited and watched for the right incident and opportunity and were prepared to help seize the moment and propel it into a larger movement.

Although many people think

of Dr. King as the leader of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, it’s important to remember that Dr. King did not establish or spark that movement or most campaigns that developed into major movements across the South. He responded to the demands of the communities whose cups boiled over and was able to embody and communicate their hopes and dreams. In fact, when the Montgomery movement began, the community needed someone to be out in front.

As the youngest and newest preacher in town, Dr. King was the top candidate because he had the least baggage. So he rose to the occasion and responded to and eloquently articulated the movement already in place.

As it happened, the Montgomery Bus Boycott quickly showcased Dr. King’s enormous God-given ability as a leader and spokesperson with enormous courage. But what took place in Montgomery was repeated in Selma, Birmingham, and elsewhere and in the sit-in and Freedom Rider movements: Dr. King did not start those local movements himself either, but used his powerful eloquence and moral voice and willingness to go to jail with local people to amplify those movements already in process led by extraordinary

EDELMAN TURN TO 10

Onion’s apology is not accepted Opinion

By Julianne Malveaux In the midst of the Academy Awards drama on Sunday, February 24, one of the Onion’s writers (we don’t know who he is – I doubt a “she” would have stooped so low), described the lovely and talented child Quvenzhané Wallace with a filthy word that took her all the way out of her name.

Using a very crude word for female genatalia, the Onion writer observed that she was a c***. Excuse me! Blessedly hundreds of people shared their outrage in the electronic media so forcefully that the Onion’s CEO, Steve Hannah, apologized.

But somehow sorry doesn’t always make it right. In my letter to the Onion, I’ve asked for reparations, or an effort to repair the harm

that was done. I’m sharing my statement and hope you, too, will share it with the “leaders” of The Onion. Until officials of The Onion respond, I think it wholly appropriate to withhold support from them. As Dr. King once said, “to cooperate with evil is to be evil.” To besmirch a child, whether you are a satirical publication or not, is nothing but evil. My letter: Dear Mr. Hannah: While your apology for the vile statement made by your staff regarding the wonderful and talented Quvenzhané Wallis is duly noted, it is an insufficient response to the heinous insult lobbed at a 9-year-old girl; additionally, the community of women and African American women in particular.

Your apology is received, but not accepted. You must mitigate the damage that your comments caused, not only for Quvenzhané, but also for the women who, reveling in her success, were damaged by the sucker punch we experienced when your writer found it acceptable to describe

a 9-year-old girl in a crude term for genitalia, a term that most adult women would Your apology might be more readily received if, 1 - The disciple, though the offensive writer, was detailed and their name revealed so that they can be monitored for their gendered racism in the future.

2 - Your company made amends to both Quvenzhané and the community that supports her by; 3 - Offering the organizations that monitor gender and racial discrimination a financial contribution. My suggesting is that you direct at least $50,000 each to The Black Women’s Roundtable, The National Organization for Women, and the National Council of Negro Women. Additionally, I would suggest that you offer $50,000 to the charity of Quvenzhané’s choice.

Meeting with representatives of African American and women’s organizations in Washington DC on a date that is mutually agreeable, but no later than March 31, 2013 to discuss

the though process behind this insult and the ways that future occurrences will be prevented.

Share information on the number of women and people of color on your staff, and share the ways that they impact editorial decisions.

4 - Your company provides scholarship opportunities to African American women students at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to indicate that you do not see young women in the disparaging ways, but as scholars. There are two HBCUs that are women’s institutions, Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, North Carolina, and Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. At least one scholarship for each of these institutions would be an effective way to apologize.

5 - Your company provides speakers to the colleges that will have you to, at no fee to the colleges, explain the difference between satire and offense.

To notify interested colleges, it is my suggestion that your company take out a full page

Black American’s never-ending challenge

By Lee A. Daniels NNPA Columnist Within a matter of days late last month, four controversies erupted that acutely underscore the crux of Black Americans continuing challenge in this land.

In one, Emory University President James W. Wagner seemed to suggest that the bargaining among the delegates at the Constitutional Convention that produced the infamous threefifths clause of the Constitution was a model of the value of compromise.

In the second, the February 21st Bloomberg Businessweek magazine cover had a drawing, above the title, “The Great American Housing Rebound,” consisting of caricatures of grinning Black and Hispanic Americans cavorting in a house stuffed with dollar bills – suggesting that minority homeowners were gaming the mortgage system. Five years ago, conservatives made similar charges in trying to pin most of the blame for the collapse of the nation’s housing bubble on Black and Hispanic borrowers.

The third controversy involved Dov Hikind, a prominent politician in Brooklyn, N.Y. who “corked up” in blackface, sunglasses and a wild Afro wig, as “a Black basketball player,” to celebrate the Jewish festival of Purim. Before the volume of rebukes forced him to make an insincere apology,

Hikind claimed that any criticism of his behavior was “political correctness to the absurd.”

Finally, and most importantly, on February 27t the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a challenge to the most important provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the foundation of Blacks’ political advancement since the 1960s. The case was brought by officials of Shelby County, Alabama.

There they are: One controversy that recalled the bargain the Founders made to insure the creation of the United States – which also insured that their own fortunes and the economic power of the fledgling nation would be built by continuing to exploit Africans and African Americans as slave labor. Two others which show that profoundly racist views of Blacks and other people of color still grip some individual Whites who should know better. And, last – the, apparently, neverending effort of some individuals and entities in America to deny Black Americans democracy’s fundamental marker of citizenship: the right to vote.

Of the four, the voting rights case — Shelby County v. Holder – is the most laden with a bitter irony. For one thing, Congress in 2006 re-authorized the Act by a vote of 98-0 in the Senate and 390-33 in the House of Representatives after extensive testimony made it clear that many of the jurisdictions covered by the Act, especially those in

the South with long histories of concerted efforts to deny their Black residents access to the ballot in the Jim Crow decades, were still using such tactics as denying petitions for early voting, or reducing the hours for early voting, or moving polling stations to locations likely to reduce Blacks’ turnout, and so on.

For another, just four years ago, the Supreme Court turned back a challenge to the Act in a case from Texas.

But in that case the justices sidestepped ruling whether the Act’s key provision – its Section 5 clause – was constitutional.

That clause requires jurisdictions covered by the Act to get permission from the Justice Department or a special federal court before changing voting procedures.

Now, many analysts think the court’s conservative majority will strike it down.

Certainly, Justice Antonin Scalia made it clear that is his intent. During the oral arguments, he called the Act a “racial entitlement” program and dismissed the overwhelming 2006 Congressional vote to renew it as racial pandering. It’s a point of view that a century and a half ago formed the foundation of the racist attack to destroy Reconstruction.

There’s another bitter irony to the Shelby case. The debate in the court comes amid a continuing blizzard of laws and regulations in at least 38 states since President Obama’s 2008

election to try to suppress the vote of Blacks and other Democraticleaning voting blocs. Those efforts, widely publicized and attacked by civil rights and other groups, had just the opposite effect on Election Day 2012.

They produced record-breaking turnouts of Black, Hispanic and Asian-American voters that signaled a deeper maturation of these groups’ electoral power – and the growing peril shadowing the Republican Party’s ability to contest future presidential elections.

That’s the broader framework encompassing the Shelby County case. It continues the historical pattern of America’s struggle over race and the meaning of democracy. Every “proof” Black Americans forge that shows they, too, can claim the “unalienable rights” the Constitution declared belong to all human beings has always provoked a fierce reaction from those Whites who’ve staked their status and identity on excluding them.

Yes, the United States is a long way from the evil bargain James W. Wagner foolishly cited as an example of a “good” compromise. But we’re also a long way from the racial Promised Land some people foolishly think is just around the corner.

Lee A. Daniels is a longtime journalist based in New York City. His most recent book is Last Chance: The Political Threat to Black America.

advertisement in Diverse Issues in Higher Education to both reprint your apology and offer the opportunity for your staff to meet on colleges.

Please note that, as a former president of an HBCU focused on women, I was repelled by your writer’s comments.

Taking them down and then apologizing is the simple way out for this offense. I call upon you to take proactive action to redress this wrong.

Let me also note that I have no invested interest in any of the organizations I have mentioned here (except that I am President Emerita of Bennett College for Women, and my association with young women makes this all the more offensive).

I am asking friends and colleagues to withdraw any support to The Onion until your apology is enhanced by action. I am also asking all women’s and African American organizations to join my insistence that your apology is insufficient.

I do look forward to your response.

If you agree with me, please forward this column or your own letter to Chairman David Schafer (davidkschafer@gmail. com); President and CEO Steve Hannah (shannah@theonion. com) COO Mike McAvoy (mmcavoy@theonion.com) publicfeedback@theonion. com (312) 751-0503 Fax 312751-4137 #200, 212 Superior St, Chicago, IL – 60611 If anyone from Chicago is reading, perhaps you could organize a picket outside their office! Sorry doesn’t always make it right.

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 • March 11 - March 17, 2013 • Insight News

insightnews.com

COMMUNITY Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office expands community outreach efforts The Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office has created a new Community Engagement Team to expand outreach efforts in diverse communities and directly address public safety concerns of the residents.

The Community Engagement Team will enhance the community policing program that was launched several years ago. The team is comprised of three Sheriff’s Office personnel who will meet with community groups and provide public safety instruction. Team members also provide training to members of law enforcement about working with diverse communities.

“I am extremely proud of what we have already accomplished at the Sheriff’s Office in an effort to build trust among diverse communities,” said Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek, “I am confident that we will create new partnerships and positive results now that additional personnel will conduct outreach to more residents throughout the

Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office

L-R: Abdi Mohamed, Deputy Betsy Aune and Sergeant Derwin Ellis county.”

In recent months, the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office Somali Elders Council

was created as a result of the community outreach program.

In additional, One Day Citizen Academies were organized for

Calendar • Classifieds

Classified Sales Representative Insight News is looking for a Classified Sales Representative to start immediately.

This is a part-time position perfect for a college student or someone looking for supplemental income. Candidate must be a motivated self-starter with the desire to grow the business. Candidate must be focused, must have the ability to work under deadlines and to meet or exceed set sales goals. Responsibilities include calling and emailing new clients and following up with past clients for classified sales. Please e-mail cover letter and resume to batalara@insightnews.com.

Please: No walk-ins and NO phone calls.

Senior Project Coordinator and Project Coordinator The City of Minneapolis seeks two economic development professionals (Senior Project Coordinator and Project Coordinator) to recruit business investment to Minneapolis and facilitate the expansion of existing Minneapolis businesses. This staff position is also responsible for managing assigned real estate development projects and various public financing programs and assisting private investors in the development of property for commercial use.

For a complete job description and a list of all job requirements including minimum qualifications for each position applicants are encouraged to review the job announcement online at www.minneapolismn.gov/jobs. Applications will be accepted until April 5, 2013.

Edelman From 9 local people such as Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth in Birmingham and the incredible Black children of Birmingham who stood up to fire hoses and police dogs and filled Birmingham’s jails

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.

with child energy, courage, and determination to be free. Photos of these children under attack circulated around the globe led President Kennedy to submit what became the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to Congress and Birmingham’s white power structure to agree to end Jim Crow in Birmingham’s public facilities.

Phone: 612.588.1313

The Givens Foundation for African American Literature is presenting Givens Black Books: March Book Discussion Events as part of its Community Reading Campaign. Master storyteller Nothando Zulu this month leads free, public events celebrating the literary contributions of historical novelist Jewell Parker Rhodes.

Mar. 12, 4:00p Sumner Library Youth. Book: Ninth Ward Mar. 13, 6:00p Black Men & Women Reading . Book: Douglass’ Women, UROC Rm 107

Mar. 20, 6:00p Pillsbury Oak Park Center. Book: Douglass’ Women Mar. 23, 2:00p Sumner Library . Book: Magic City Mar. 25, 6:30p Merriam Park Library Youth . Book: Ninth Ward Mar. 30, 1:00p Magers & Quinn with NdCad . Book: Ninth Ward Free books available at events while supplies last.

Visit www.givens.org/ programs/givens-blackbooks.php to see the full listing of events, get maps & directions and for more information.

Jewell Parker Rhodes

reflective retiree, defiant stock broker, questioning housewife, proud mason and many more. Admission:

Freewill donation what-you-can. Lake United Methodist is located at 4901

Today, too many wouldbe movement leaders simply want to be Dr. King or Mrs. Rosa Parks: they want the glory and privilege of leadership without the burdens or sacrifice and sustained hard work.

Movements are not built from the top down by powerful leaders but percolate from the bottom up from people who share common

grievances. Nor are they the result of individuals acting alone, although the courageous actions of one individual can provide a powerful defining symbolic spark—just as with the image of the dignified and proud Mrs. Parks sitting on that bus and refusing to move.

But if Jo Ann Robinson had not been watchful and ready with a mimeograph machine to run off 30,000 flyers to circulate to Montgomery’s Black community about Mrs. Parks and calling for a bus boycott, and had not pushed her Dexter Avenue Church’s young pastor into the forefront, who knows what might have happened? So we can and should be enormously inspired by Mrs. Parks at that moment. But we should be equally inspired and informed by all the work she and others did behind the scenes before and after that day, and by all of the other women and men whose names we’ll never know who worked to end racial injustice before and after December 1, 1955. Their individual and collective decisions to stand up for themselves and one another created the Montgomery movement—and the Montgomery Movement changed America’s conception of what was just and possible.

It is past time for another transforming movement in America today to challenge rampant and morally obscene wealth and income inequality in our nation and the materialism, militarism, poverty, and racism Dr. King warned could destroy us. We have come a very long way towards honoring the Declaration of Independence’s affirmation that “all men are created equal with certain inalienable rights” and overcoming some of the effects of the huge birth defects of slavery, Native American genocide, and the exclusion of women and non-propertied white men from equal footing in our new nation. But we must continue to move forward until a level playing field is a reality and

resist those who seek to move us backwards into a second post-

Be a Child’s Voice in Court!

We need people who care about children caught in our child protection system. Consider becoming a volunteer child advocate for kids. Help children remain in safe & stable families. Free training & support are provided.

Trainings begin in March and April PLEASE CALL FOR AN INFORMATION PACKET Ramsey County (651) 266-5270

VOLUNTEER GUARDIAN AD LITEM PROGRAMS

Sheriff’s Office. In recognition for his community work, he was recognized with service awards from the Cedar Riverside Youth Council and Ka Joog, a Somali youth group. Also, he has provided instruction on best practices in community outreach to several international law enforcement delegations including groups from Canada, Norway, Denmark, and Italy.

Abdi Mohamed grew up in Somalia and he now works as a Community Outreach Liaison on the Sheriff’s Office Community Engagement Team.

He is passionate about serving the needs of the Somali-American community in Hennepin County.

Deputy Betsy Aune is enthusiastic about teaching youth groups about the topics of crime prevention and career opportunities in law enforcement.

In addition, Deputy Aune will lead the Sheriff’s Office outreach efforts in the Latino community.

Email: info@insightnews.com

show’s characters informs and entertains with a slice of life that will rouse every working person: a tired millworker,

ABUSED, NEGLECTED, AND MAYBE AWAY FROM HOME…

Hennepin County (612) 348-6824

Fax: 612.588.2031

Givens Black Books: March Book Discussion Events

EVENTS WORKING – The Musical Mar. 8-10, 15-17 The Lake Harriet Players present WORKING – The Musical at the Lake Harriet United Methodist Church in Minneapolis Friday through Sunday, March 8-10 and 15-17, Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:00 pm Saturday and Sunday afternoons at 2:00 pm. WORKING – The Musical features the soulful, honest and sometimes desperate lives of everyday working folks. Based on the best-selling book by Studs Terkel, each of the

several different multicultural communities.

During the academies, residents are invited to meet with deputies and tour

Sheriff’s Office facilities in order to provide insight into the daily work of law enforcement.

The work performed by the Community Engagement Team is known as “community oriented policing,” which is a law enforcement philosophy that has been proven to be a highly-effective way to promote crime prevention.

Collaborative partnerships between law enforcement and the residents help to develop proactive solutions to problems and increase trust.

With a focus on diverse communities, the Community Engagement Team will address the concerns of residents, nonprofit groups, service providers, private businesses, educators, and others.

The Community Engagement Team includes: Sergeant Derwin Ellis leads the Sheriff’s Office Community Engagement Team and has worked in community outreach for the past three years at the

-

payHarriet Church Chowen

Ave. So., Minneapolis, MN 55410. For more information: lakeharrietplayers.org, or call 612-926-7645.

A Presentation and Book Signing with Vincent Stanley Mar. 11 Patagonia Presents: The Responsible Company, What We’ve Learned From Patagonia’s First 40 Years.

Yvon Chouinard, founder and owner of Patagonia, and Vincent Stanley, the company’s long-time chief storyteller, draw on their 40 years’ experience and knowledge of current efforts by other companies to articulate the elements of responsible business for our time on Monday, March 11th at Patagonia St. Paul, 1648 Grand Ave. St. Paul, MN 55105. Doors Open at 6:30pm, event at 7pm. This event is FREE. Food and beverages provided by Meadow Bakery & Café. Ample time will be allowed for questions and dialogue. Copies of the book will be available for purchase.

For more information: 651698-1703.

EDELMAN TURN TO 11

Answers From 8

Reconstruction era through voter

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Insight News • March 11 - March 17, 2013 • Page 11

HEALTH Add spice to enhance flavor and your health inflammation. Turmeric is widely available in grocery stores. Uses for turmeric: add to chicken and rice dishes to give a beautiful yellow color (adding some cinnamon or curry powder can balance out the flavor). Turmeric tea can also be a way to get a concentrated dose of turmeric.

(See my website for recipe.)

Our Health

By Nicole Winbush MD Spices can be a great way to improve the taste of food and increase food’s health benefits.

Flavors provided by spices can decrease the use of salt and fat in dishes without compromising taste. Spices can also be a rich source of nutrients and trace minerals that we may be missing in other areas of our diet. Many spices are thought to have properties that can improve health and function in a wide variety of ways. While all of these effects may not have been proven in rigorously conducted scientific studies, they do have the wisdom of hundreds (if not thousands) of years of traditional use. The food we eat and the spices we add really can be some of our best medicine.

With some basic knowledge you can start utilizing the benefits of a little added spice today. Let’s get started.

What are spices?

Spices and herbs are terms that are often used interchangeably.

Herbs commonly refer to the leaves of plants. Spices usually come from other parts of plants or trees (e.g. roots, stems and seeds) that can be harvested and often dried for use in cooking, teas and traditional medicines. Examples of common herbs include: oregano, parsley, rosemary and thyme. Some commonly used spices are: ginger, cinnamon and cayenne. They can be dried and then bottled. This is the form that many of us are familiar with from our spice cabinet. However, some spices can also be purchased (or in some cases grown) and used fresh.

When used fresh, they often have

A few notes about using spices.

As with most food products, quality and freshness matters.

Spices often sit on supermarket shelves and in our spice cabinets for years before being used. Over time, they can lose their flavor and their potent health effects. The ideal shelf life for whole herbs (e.g. peppercorns, cinnamon sticks) is usually 2 years. For ground spices the ideal shelf life is 6 months. So use some spice and use it often. I hope you found this information helpful and I would love to hear from you. What ways have you tried using spices to add flavor to food and enhance your health?

The food we eat and the spices we add really can be some of our best medicine. more powerful flavor and may be more likely to retain more of their health promoting properties.

Ginger - Ginger is a root used in food preparation throughout the world and available in powdered form and fresh in most grocery stores. Ginger has a strong spicy flavor that is even more powerful when used in its fresh form. It has documented benefits in aiding in digestion and is often used as a tea to help control nausea. It has a warming quality that makes it a very good addition to winter soups, stews and vegetable dishes.

Ways to use ginger: some fresh root chopped up and boiled in water makes a great tea (and helps digestion), pieces of fresh minced root added to stewed meat recipes, carrots, mashed sweet potatoes or squash dishes.

Garlic. Garlic is the strongly flavored bulb of a plant that is

closely related to the onion. Garlic has traditionally been used to help fight off infections and to increase circulation.

Modern health claims have suggested that garlic may lower cholesterol, prevent infections like the common cold and help lower blood sugar.

Research in these areas has not been able to clearly prove these claims. Nonetheless, garlic when added to dishes provides a strong flavor, and can be especially helpful in aiding in the digestion of hearty meat dishes. Ways to use garlic: fresh garlic chopped or minced and added liberally to meat dishes and sautéed vegetables and mashed potatoes. When cooking, sauté the garlic and onions first to soften their flavor before adding other foods.

Cayenne. Cayenne is a powder and is made from dried chili peppers. Just a little can provide quite a bit of heat. Skin creams

made of capsaicin (one of the chemical ingredients in cayenne peppers that provide the heat) have been used for years to treat joint pain. Cayenne increases blood flow (think about the rising sensation of heat you get when eating spicy food). There is substantial evidence that this increase in blood flow to the stomach caused by eating spicy foods may actually protect against stomach ulcers. In addition, cayenne can be a great treatment for nasal congestion (think how much your nose runs when eating spicy food). It is a very rich source of Vitamin A and Vitamin C and antioxidants that if used consistently may play a role in supporting immune health. Ways to use cayenne: in hot lemon tea with a small bit of cayenne to clear nasal congestion, added to eggs or beans or anywhere else you need a bit of spice.

PhotoXpress

Turmeric. Turmeric is a brightly colored orange powder that is made from the dried root of a plant that is related to ginger.

It is commonly used in South Asian and Middle Eastern cooking. Even if these cuisines are not to your taste, most of us will have encountered turmeric as the yellow/orange spice that gives mustard its bright color.

Turmeric and one of its chemical components curcurmin has been associated with a long line of potential health benefits. Studies have demonstrated that curcurmin may improve inflammatory conditions as varied as arthritis, psoriasis, and inflammatory bowel disease. Populations of people that eat a lot of turmeric also have very low rates of Alzheimer’s disease and scientists think that turmeric may play a role in this. It is reasonable to think that adding turmeric liberally to foods may support health by decreasing

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 qualified 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.

Minnesota Energy Tips

Sealing air leaks the best way to conserve energy

By Minnesota Department of Commerce Air that leaks through the ceiling, walls, foundation, and other areas—known as air infiltration—is a significant source of heating and cooling losses in a home—up to one third in a typical house. Stopping

Caucus From 1 you initiate to link residents to opportunities that create good jobs, improve transportation access and build assets? How will you implement and engage residents to access jobs, obtain transportation equity and build family assets?

Strike From 1 we do not employ the individuals involved in (the protest),” said Snyder. “At Target, we are committed to maintaining the highest standards of ethical business practices and we expect our vendors to do the same.”

According to Snyder, though stores are locked overnight, workers can exit the building in case of emergency.

“Each store is equipped with well-marked fire exits

Edelman From 10 suppression, mass incarceration, failing schools, absent jobs, and rampant poverty. This will require committed and prepared marathoners like Mrs. Parks, not sprinters or self-marketers seeking momentary glory in our 10-second attention span media-driven culture. Movement building is a complex and long term struggle that must be

air leaks is the best way to conserve energy, save money, and increase comfort.

Typically, air infiltration causes drafts and a chilly feeling near windows and doors and in basements. Adjusting your thermostat will not stop the drafts, but sealing hidden cracks and openings will. By stopping air leaks, you will stay warmer in the winter and cooler in

the summer, use less fuel, and reduce your utility bills. It will also help prevent ice dams.

Before building science demonstrated the role that air leaks play in energy loss, most people assumed that insulation was enough to stop heat flow through a building. Although insulation slows heat transfer, it is easily compromised by air flow, whether driven by outside

wind conditions or convection currents within the building.

The only way to stop this air movement—and associated heat loss—is by eliminating the holes between the inside of the house and the outside. Therefore, sealing air leaks must be part of any insulation job. Air sealing can be done by any qualified insulation contractor.

The process of sealing

air leaks requires a careful inspection of your home—via a home energy assessment using infrared camera scans to locate air leaks—and some inexpensive weather-stripping, caulking, and filler materials. Wires, pipes, and ducts that enter the attic must have caulking or foam sealant applied. Doors and windows need tight weather-stripping and caulking, and wall penetrations

(faucets, wires) need to be sealed or caulked, too. And sealing joints in duct work with approved foil tape or mastic can increase the efficiency of your heating and cooling systems.

For more information on sealing air leaks, check out pages 7-18 of the Division of Energy Resources’ “Home Envelope” energy guide.

2. The African American Community wants to know what is your commitment to being accountable to ensure an economic benefit to the residents of the city creating equity. How will you ensure the recirculation of dollars within the cities’ neighborhoods?

Specifically the achievement of a high ratio of investment dollars to jobs created benefiting the African American community.

And likewise a ratio for investments in Black businesses? What and

how would you accomplish this?

within the city administration, departments, and commission appointments.

American neighborhoods?

Ward 4 1. Barb Johnson 2. Kris Brogan

4. What commitment will you make to recruitment and advocacy for the employment of qualified African Americans in management positions

and all individuals who work in our stores, whether they are employed by Target or a vendor, are given a tour of Target where all exits are identified,” said Snyder.

Brian Payne of Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha (CTUL), which translates to the Center of Workers United in the Struggle, said Target is well aware of the plight of workers cleaning its stores, but chooses to do nothing.

“Target’s CEO has the power with one phone call to change things,” said Payne.

“Target is skirting the issue.”

According to Payne, Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel received $19.7 million in compensation in 2011, while some of the janitors are paid $7.25 an hour, and often work for more than 70 hours a week without being paid overtime.

Payne said cleaning companies often force workers to sign “ghost” timecards to avoid paying overtime.

Protesting alongside striking workers were members of CTUL, TakeAction Minnesota, SEIU Local 26, Minnesotans for a Fair Economy and ISAIAH.

pursued with both urgency and persistence and a critical mass of citizens must step up to the plate and stay there until real change happens.

The German playwright Bertolt Brecht said: “There are those who struggle for a day and they are good. There are those who struggle for a year and they are better. There are those who struggle all their lives. These are the indispensable ones.” Mrs. Rosa Parks was an indispensable one who struggled all of her life for freedom and justice as did countless unknown Black

citizens. So let us not just celebrate her example and that of the young preacher leader and people of Montgomery, let’s follow their example.

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

3. How would you remedy the lack of quality sustainable neighborhood infrastructure in the predominantly African American neighborhoods of north, northeast and south Minneapolis?

5. What assurances would you commit to the elevation of the Civil Rights Department’s authority, so that equity is achieved and basic civil rights are honored and protected?

6. How would you reverse the ongoing and pending transportation disparities that continue to prevail in African

Mayoral Candidates 1. Betsy Hodges 2. Jackie Cherryhomes 3. Grant Haas 4. Don Samuels 5. Mark Andrew 6. Gary Schiff City Council Wards of Interest Ward 3 1. Diane Hofstede 2. Jacob Frey

Ward 5 1. Brett Buckner 2. Ian Alexander 3. Blong Yang Ward 6 1. Robert Lilligren 2. Abdi Warsame Ward 8 Elizabeth Glidden

Page 12 • March 11 - March 17, 2013 • Insight News

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