WINNER: 2020 T YPOGRAPHY & DESIGN, 1ST PLACE, PHOTOGRAPHY (PORTRAIT & PERSONALIT Y), 1ST PLACE, WEBSITE, 3RD PLACE
Insight News
June 29, 2020 - July 5, 2020
Vol. 47 No. 26• The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • insightnews.com
MORE ON FAMILIES FIGHT FOR JUSTICE ON PAGE 2
Photo by Uche Iroegbu
Page 2 • June 29, 2020 - July 5, 2020 • Insight News
insightnews.com
Photos courtesy by Toshira Garraway
At the time Paul Schnell of the St. Paul police and the head of the investigation said it was unclear what exactly caused Teigen’s death, but they were not investigating the case as a homicide. The police report stated that “the injury played some level of involvement from the crash.”
Jaffort Smith was shot and killed by Saint Paul police in 2016.
Kobe Heisker, who was living with Autism, was killed by Brooklyn Park police in 2019.
When families fight for justice without media spotlight By Jo Erickson, Contributing Writer George Floyd’s death is a symbol of hope to 20 family members who didn’t receive justice when their loved ones were killed by police. Videos of Ahmaud Arbery’s and George Floyd’s brutal deaths sparked outrage. But what happens when there isn’t a video circulating on social media. Several Black families in Minnesota are fighting for criminal justice, there is no media attention, no protest or sustained community outrage. It’s just them against the police and the criminal justice system. “George Floyd is one of hundreds that have been killed by police. Justin Teigen, my son’s father, is one of them and I am sad to say there are so many more hidden stories like my own out there,” said Toshira Garraway. Garraway has endured 11 years of grief, heartache and pain, but through it all she will not give up on the belief that she will get justice. She was just 23-years-old when Teigen was killed. Now she has two lives: the life before his death where she dreamed of buying
a house and they had plans for more children. And the life after his death where every waking moment is a battle for justice, and everything that is close to her is just another reminder of him. Her son Justin Jr is now 14 and looks exactly like his father. Justin Teigen, who was 24-years-old at the time, was stopped by Saint Paul police in the Midway Shopping Center on University Ave. Officers said that he crashed his car, ran off and crawled into a dumpster. His broken, battered and bruised body was found six hours later at Allied recycling plant in Inver Grove Heights. At the time Paul Schnell of the Saint Paul Police Department and the head of the investigation said it was unclear what exactly caused Teigen’s death, but they were not investigating the case as a homicide. The police report stated that “the injury played some level of involvement from the crash.” In the case of Jamar Clark and Philando Castile the words of the officers were given more weight than the words of the eye witness. Garraway believes that Saint Paul police discounted the passengers’ statements, they described Justin running, being chased by
an officer and two squad cars. They claimed when he left the car he didn’t have injuries and there was surveillance footage from Walmart showing Teigen running and police in pursuit. But that’s all. “All we know he has an encounter with Saint Paul police and after that he ends up dead in a dumpster,” Garraway said. Dakota County medical examiner Lindsey Thomas concluded that Teigen died from “asphyxia due to mechanical compression in a recycling truck.” The report states that Teigen was “in a position in the truck where he was unable to breathe adequately.” Contributing factors in Teigen’s death, the death certificate states, were acute alcohol intoxication and a minor head injury from a recent car crash. Once hearing this Garraway had more questions which were met with a wall of silence. The police refused to investigate it further, the case was closed. “We wanted answers because things weren’t adding up. We wanted to know why his body was completely destroyed like this. He didn’t look like a person who suffocated, the body
was black with bruises and that’s when the harassment started,” said Garraway. Garraway said that the police visited her house several times. “They would sit outside my home, watch my son play outside, they followed me around, they would roll their windows down and wave at me cos they wanted me to know that they knew who I was. And at that time I was a 23-year-old and so afraid. I am still afraid.” This year, Garraway started a support group called Families Supporting Families Against Police Violence which helps 20 families cope with the loss of loved ones in fatal police encounters. Having lived this experience she is helping other families cope. She explains that often these families don’t have anyone that can help. “In normal cases the police send you to the Victim Support Unit and its Reparations Board will help with funeral costs, if the victim has children they will help with that. That only applies if a regular civilian on the street murders your loved one. But if law enforcement kills your loved one then it’s presumed that your loved one did something wrong which ended his or her life . So many families will not qualify
for any of these services,” said Garraway. Garraway is raising money to help families with funeral costs, car payments, groceries and help for children. She also recognizes the mental stress of losing loved ones. “We don’t have any mental health services specific to this kind of trauma. When the police kill your loved one it’s a whole different ball game than when someone on the street murders your loved one,” she said. The families are also talking to legislators about extending statute of limitations so that they can re-open cases. Last week they met with Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and this week they intend to protest outside the Governor’s Mansion. “We want someone to fight for our people. We need people who can choose a side. I am not talking about a side where it is white versus Black or politics versus community this is about choosing right over wrong. And then doing the right thing,” said Garraway. There have been 195 fatal police encounters since 2002 and 27 cases involving the fatal shooting of unarmed men: Dominic Felder, 27, James Cobb
Jr, Lorenzo Doby 28, Anthony Williams 28, Christopher Burns 44, Mark Hendonson 19, Philando Castile 32, David Smith 28 and disabled, Marus Golden 24, Jamar Clark 24, Courtney Williams 15-year old high school student with a toy gun and George Floyd were all Black unarmed men. But there has only been one family that has received justice. Justine Ruszczyk, a white yoga instructor, was killed by former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor who is serving time. Garraway wants this to change, she is critical of the criminal justice system and legislators who are making police reform a priority. “These legislators won’t allow us a seat at the table. How can they come up with solutions to policing without us? It is disrespectful and hurtful considering what we are already going through,” she said. Garraway continues to ask legislators to extend statutes of limitation on her case so that she can get a fair investigation and answers. “I’m doing this for him. No human being deserves to die in a dumpster,” she said.
Part 1 of 2
Fractured skulls, lost eyes: Police often break own rules using ‘rubber bullets’ By Liz Szabo and Jay Hancock and Kevin McCoy, USA TODAY and Donovan Slack, USA TODAY and Dennis Wagner, USA TODAY Megan Matthews thought she was dying. “I thought my head was blown off,” said Matthews, 22, who was hit in the eye with a sponge-tipped projectile fired by law enforcement at a May 29 protest in Denver. “Everything was dark. I couldn’t see.” Matthews, a softspoken art major who lives with her mother, had gone to the demonstration against police brutality carrying bandages, water bottles and milk so she could provide first aid to protesters. “I couldn’t really grasp how bad my injury was,” said Matthews, who sustained injuries including a broken nose, fractured facial bones and multiple lacerations on her face. “So much blood was pouring out. I was wearing a mask, and the whole mask was filling up with blood. I was trying to breathe through it. I kept telling myself, ‘Don’t stop breathing.’” Three weeks later, Matthew is struggling with her vision and her doctor says she may never completely heal. Others fared far worse. In a joint investigation into law enforcement actions at protests across the country after George Floyd’s death in police custody, KHN and USA TODAY found that some officers appear to have violated their department’s own rules when they fired “less lethal” projectiles at protesters who were for the most part peacefully assembled. Critics have assailed those tactics as civil rights and First Amendment violations, and three federal judges have ordered temporary restrictions on their use. At least 60 protesters
Kerem Yucel/AFP via www.khn.org
Uche Iroegbu
Leslie Furcron’s lawyer, Dante Pride
Leslie Furcron was placed in a medically induced coma after being shot between the eyes with a “bean bag” round in La Mesa, California. sustained serious head injuries, including a broken jaw, traumatic brain injuries and blindness, based on news reports, interviews with victims and witnesses and a list compiled by Scott Reynhout, a Los Angeles researcher. Photos and videos posted on social media show protesters with large bruises or deep gashes on the throat, hands, arms, legs, chest, rib cage and stomach, all caused by what law enforcement calls “kinetic impact projectiles” and bystanders call “rubber bullets.” “Less lethal” projectiles fired by police are seriously injuring people At least 20 people have suffered severe eye injuries, including seven people who lost an eye, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Photographer Linda Tirado, 37, lost an eye after being hit by a foam projectile in Minneapolis. Brandon Saenz, 26, lost an eye and several teeth after being hit with a “sponge round” in Dallas. Leslie Furcron, 59, was placed in a medically induced coma after she was shot between the eyes with a “bean bag” round in La Mesa, California.
A police officer aims a projectile weapon at protesters who gathered in a call for justice for George Floyd following his death, outside the 3rd Police Precinct on May 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. - The family of an African American man killed by Minneapolis police while handcuffed in custody demanded Wednesday that the officers be charged with murder. After a night of angry protests over the death of George Floyd, with law enforcement firing tear gas and rubber bullets in the northern US city, his sister Bridgett Floyd demanded the arrest of the four white police officers involved in his death. Twenty-seven-yearold Derrick Sanderlin helped defuse a confrontation at a protest in San Jose, California, on May 29. While he was trying to protect a young woman from police, he was hit with a projectile that ruptured a testicle and, his doctor said, may leave him infertile. With terms like “foam,” “sponge” and “bean bag,” the projectiles may sound harmless. They’re not. “On day one of training, they tell you, ‘Don’t shoot anywhere near the head or neck,’” said Charlie Mesloh, a certified instructor on the use of police projectiles and a professor at Northern Michigan University. “That’s considered deadly force.” Floyd’s death sparked the nation’s most widespread street protests in decades, drawing a massive response from police dressed in riot gear. Although many large metropolitan police departments own these projectiles, they had never before been used on a national scale, Mesloh said. Witnesses say law enforcement in several major cities used less-lethal projectiles
against nonviolent protesters, shot into crowds, aimed at faces and fired at close range — each of which can run counter to policies. Police have said they fired these weapons to protect themselves and property in chaotic, dangerous scenes. These projectiles, intended to incapacitate violent aggressors without killing them, have evolved from the rubber bullets developed in the 1970s by the British military to quell uprisings in Northern Ireland. They are designed to travel more slowly than bullets, with blunt tips meant to cause pain but not intended to penetrate the body. They come in many forms, including cylindrical wooden blocks, bullet-shaped plastic missiles tipped with stiff sponge or foam, fabric sacks filled with metal birdshot, and pepper-spray balls, which are about the size of a paintball and contain the active chemical in pepper spray.
toilet-paper roll; others can be fired from shotguns. They can cause devastating injuries. A study published in 2017 in the medical journal BMJ Open found that 3% of people hit by projectiles worldwide died. Fifteen percent of the 1,984 people studied were permanently injured. “Given the inherent inaccuracy” of the projectiles and the risk of serious injury, death and misuse, the authors concluded they “do not appear to be an appropriate means of force in crowd-control settings.” Yet manufacturers continue to market them on their websites for that purpose. Defense Technology says its “eXact iMpact” sponge projectile is “used for crowd control, patrol and tactical applications.” PepperBall says the uses for its projectiles include “anti-riot” and “crowd control.” Security Devices International describes its “blunt impact projectiles” like weapons of war, saying they’re “designed for military, peacekeeping, homeland security, law enforcement, correctional services and private sector security.” It adds, “they are ideal for crowd control.” The companies did not respond to requests for comment.
Pepper-spray balls spread chemical irritant on impact Some are fired by special launchers with muzzles the diameter of a cardboard
Sponge rounds are tipped with stiff foam There are no national standards for police use of less-lethal projectiles and no
comprehensive data on their use, said Brian Higgins, an adjunct professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. So the nation’s more than 18,000 law enforcement agencies establish their own rules for when they should be used, who’s allowed to fire them and how to hold their officers accountable. Many police departments don’t require officers to document their use of projectiles, Higgins said, making it difficult to know how often they’re used. Denver’s policy says officers should use projectiles only on a “combative or physically resistive person whose conduct rises at least to the level of active aggression,” to prevent others from being harmed, or to “incapacitate a suicidal person who cannot be safely controlled with other force.” Denver also forbids officers from targeting the “head, eyes, throat, neck, breasts of a female, genitalia or spinal column” of a suspect “unless deadly force is warranted.” Matthews said she was standing 5 feet from other peaceful protesters at the Denver demonstration and nowhere near anyone rowdy. She suspects her shooting was no accident. “Either they targeted her face or they fired indiscriminately at the crowd,” said Ross Ziev, Matthews’ lawyer. “Either way, that poses a tremendous safety hazard.”
insightnews.com
Insight News • June 29, 2020 - July 5, 2020 • Page 3 WINNER: 2020 T YPOGRAPHY & DESIGN, 1ST PLACE, PHOTOGRAPHY (PORTRAIT & PERSONALIT Y), 1ST PLACE, WEBSITE, 3RD PLACE
Insight News June 29, 2020 - July 5, 2020
Vol. 47 No. 26• The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • insightnews.com
Governor Tim Walz Declares Juneteenth Freedom Day in Minnesota, calls on legislature to establish state holiday Governor Tim Walz issued a proclamation to officially recognize June 19, 2020 as Juneteenth Freedom Day in the State of Minnesota to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States. Governor Walz is also calling on the legislature to work with community to establish a state holiday recognizing Juneteenth. “Juneteenth marks our country’s second Independence Day, celebrating freedom and justice and emphasizing education, achievement, and tolerance,” reads Governor Walz’s proclamation. “We must do everything in our power to come together to deconstruct generations of systemic racism in our state so that every person in Minnesota – Black, Indigenous, Brown, and White – can be safe and thrive.” “It took more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed for
Uche Iroegbu
Protestors demanded justice for George Floyd outside of the Third Precinct in Minneapolis on Tuesday, May 26.
Police Reform: news of freedom to reach enslaved African-Americans in Texas,” said Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan. “Juneteenth is both a celebration and a reminder that justice does not come in one action nor is it quick. It is the work we must never stop doing.” The proclamation
notes the significance of this year’s Juneteenth Freedom Day, as Minnesota grapples with the state’s racial injustices during the 100th commemoration of the lynching of Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson, and Isaac McGhie on June 15, 1920 in Duluth, and the killing of George Floyd on May 25, 2020.
The Minnesota Legislature would need to pass legislation to establish Juneteenth as a state holiday. The Governor is asking the state legislative leaders to work with the community to draft and advance a bill that he could sign into law.
Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza finds hope in global protests over George Floyd’s death By Gail Berkley, The Sun Reporter For Black Lives Matter cofounder Alicia Garza the global outpouring of protests and activism following the murder of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody has been heartening and makes her hopeful for the future. At the same time, she said, “It’s bittersweet that it takes someone being murdered on camera to get to the point of conversation that we’re in.” “I was horrified,” Garza said of viewing the video of Floyd’s life being taken by a white police officer with his knee on Floyd’s neck. “Every time a Black person is murdered by police there is something disturbing about it. Just the callousness of it; and him calling for his mother. There’s just so much in there that’s horrifying. It’s just a brutal reminder of how Black lives don’t matter in this country.” Garza, of Oakland, is Strategy and Partnerships Director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance and
“I was horrified,” Alicia Garza said of viewing the video of Floyd’s life being taken by a white police officer with his knee on Floyd’s neck. “Every time a Black person is murdered by police there is something disturbing about it.” She added, said in this case, “just the callousness of it; and him calling for his mother. There’s just so much in there that’s horrifying. It’s just a brutal reminder of how Black lives don’t matter in this country.” Principal at the Black Futures Lab. Seeing Black Lives Matter (BLM) signs held by protestors in all 50 states, including in many small towns with few Black residents, Garza said, “It’s humbling to see it and to have been a small part of it.” She is heartened that people are awakening. Garza said she is also pleased that many celebrities who have large platforms are
using them to push for change. She said the Black Futures Lab has a strategy for helping celebrities to use their platforms for the movement. “When they use their platforms to activate people, it’s an important way to save our democracy. It makes us active and engaged participants.” “I got to take over Selena Gomez’ Instagram last week. It was awesome,” said Garza.
She said people are really hungry for information. “We’ve been doing a lot of work and talk about what’s going on. When folk like Selena do that, it engages people in issues of our time. I plan to work with her through this election cycle.” Garza said she will also be taking over Lady Gaga’s social media in the coming week. “We’re really focused on transferring this energy into political power.” She said it’s important to change the people who are making the rules and those who aren’t enforcing the rules. She cited as an example the election in Georgia last week where voters in predominantly Black areas waited hours to vote. Movement for Black Lives is not just about police violence. It’s about how Black lives are devalued. Black Lives Matter is for an opportunity for us to recognize and uphold the right to humanity and dignity for Black people. She said Black people also have to work “to remove the negatives we’ve internalized about ourselves.”
Rearranging the dishes in the cabinet while the house is on fire By James Trice, Founder & CEO of Public Policy Project Merriam-Webster defines reform as an amendment of what is defective, vicious, corrupt, or depraved. It defines transform to make a thorough or dramatic change in form. Something altogether new. A significant change in form, nature, or function. Again, we have another Black man murdered by the police. Rayshad Brooks, a 27-year-old Black man, was killed by an Altana, GA police officer in a Wendy’s parking lot Friday, June 12, 2020. The killing of Brooks comes just eighteen days after the brutal lynching of 46-year-old George Floyd on Memorial Day, May 25, 2020, also a Black man by Minneapolis police. The Floyd slaying has resulted in worldwide protests and days of demonstrations against
racism and police brutality on Black lives. Protesters shout the demand for justice, accountability, transparency, and change. Like so many more Black men and women who have been murdered by police – Mike Brown, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Philando Castile, Jamar Clark, Laquan McDonald, Breonna Taylor, Michelle Lee Shirley, Aiyana Stanley Jones, Tanisha Anderson, Atatiana Jefferson, Charleena Lyles, Devon Baily, Elijah McClain and Stephon Clark, to name a few – the murders of Floyd and Brooks evoked anger, outrage, and shouts of “no justice, no peace” as a rallying cry for Black people. After each police murder of a Black man, woman or child, conversations about ‘police reform’ always follows and continues for weeks and even months. The demand for change in policing is vociferous. And promises of police reform
POLICE 5
www.theconversation.com
Former slaves harvesting for their own profit.
Land loss has plagued Black America since emancipation – is GARZA 4 it time to look again at ‘Black ownership? DEED announces $60M in grants available for small businesses commons’ and collective Juneteenth, marking the date By Julian Agyeman, Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning, Tufts University and Kofi Boone Professor of Landscape Architecture, College of Design, North Carolina State University
demonstrating financial hardships due to COVID-19 Jo Erickson, Contributing Writer Governor Tim Walz announced today that The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) is now accepting applications for its Small Business Relief Grants Program which was approved by the Minnesota State Legislature and signed by Walz on June 16, 2020. Applications will be accepted until 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 2. This program will make available $10,000 grants to Minnesotan-owned and operated businesses that can demonstrate financial hardship as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. A total of $60.3
million is available for grant awards which will be selected through a computer-generated, randomized selection process. Awards will be disbursed and administered by qualified local and regionally based nonprofit organizations. Grant funds received by individual businesses shall be used for working capital to support payroll expenses, rent, mortgage payments, utility bills, and other similar expenses that occur or have occurred since March 1, 2020, in the regular course of business. These are grants and no repayment will be required. To qualify, an applicant must: Be a private for-profit business that has a permanent physical location in Minnesota. Be majority owned by a permanent resident of
www.scalefactor.com
Minnesota. Be in good standing with the Minnesota Secretary of State and the Minnesota Department of Revenue as of March 1, 2020. Employ the equivalent of 50 or fewer full-time workers. Be able to demonstrate financial hardship as a result of
News
Ayo Olagbaju joins Insight News for summer internship
PAGE 5
the COVID-19 outbreak. Home-based businesses - except for licensed child care providers - are not eligible. Businesses that received funding under the Small Business Emergency Loan Program (SBEL) are not eligible for this
DEED 4
Underlying the recent unrest sweeping U.S. cities over police brutality is a fundamental inequity in wealth, land and power that has circumscribed Black lives since the end of slavery in the U.S. The “40 acres and a mule” promised to formerly enslaved Africans never came to pass. There was no redistribution of land, no reparations for the wealth extracted from stolen land by stolen labor. June 19 is celebrated by Black Americans as
in 1865 that former slaves were informed of their freedom, albeit two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Coming this year at a time of protest over the continued police killing of Black people, it provides an opportunity to look back at how Black Americans were deprived of land ownership and the economic power that it brings. An expanded concept of the “Black commons” – based on shared economic, cultural and digital resources as well as land – could act as one means of redress. As professors in urban planning and landscape architecture, our research suggests that such a concept could be a part of undoing the racist legacy of chattel slavery by encouraging economic development and creating communal wealth. Land grab The
proportion
of
BLACK COMMONS 5
I2H
Fatigue related to age and commonly associated diseases
PAGE 6
Page 4 • June 29, 2020 - July 5, 2020 • Insight News
insightnews.com
Black workers more likely to face retaliation for raising coronavirus concerns By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia As more corporations jump into the fray, offering statements of support for African Americans in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd and the ensuing protests, a new study reveals that many companies’ actual policies and practices contradict their public statements. With just a small amount of research, shortterm marketing and public relations positioning using words proclaiming empathy, understanding and support of Black causes can too often be found to be in direct contrast of long-term human resources dictates. A survey by the National Employment Law Project (NELP) about working conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic confirms that corporate America has treated Black workers categorically worse than White workers during the pandemic. African Americans were twice as likely to answer “Yes,” or “Maybe,” when asked if they or anyone at their company had been punished for raising COVID-19 safety concerns. The survey found that Black workers were roughly twice as likely to have been retaliated against by their employers for speaking up about health concerns and requesting time off work. For instance, Amazon fired Black and brown workers who have organized to demand more substantial health and safety protections. Thousands of Instacart workers, many of whom are women of color, are reportedly waiting for
iStockphoto_NNPA
Thirty-nine percent of workers surveyed reported that they had either raised concerns to their employer and did not receive a satisfactory response or did not out of fear of retaliation. Meanwhile, only 18 percent of White workers found themselves in the same position. face masks and hand sanitizer promised months ago. Three out of four Black workers who took the survey said they showed up to work during the pandemic even though they believed they might have been seriously risking their health or the health of family members. Less than half of White workers said they had done the same. “Our results suggest that virus transmission in the workplace may be exacerbated by employer repression and that the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black communities may be related to greater exposure of
Black workers to repressive workplace environments,” the study’s authors wrote. “While Black workers at any given worksite tend to be treated worse than their white counterparts, the study’s authors suggest that Black workers, as a whole, tend to work in more repressive environments than White workers,” noted vice.com. The higher likelihood of retaliation that Black workers face means fewer of them feel safe reporting concerns or have had their concerns addressed. The survey found that Black Workers were more than twice as likely to have unresolved concerns about
coronavirus at their workplace than their White counterparts. Thirty-nine percent of workers surveyed reported that they had either raised concerns to their employer and did not receive a satisfactory response or did not out of fear of retaliation. Meanwhile, only 18 percent of White workers found themselves in the same position. “This is saddening to hear and somewhat unsurprising. I can’t believe the world we live in. Still, as I have lived in it for a great number of years, I am actually thankful that such practices are coming to light now,” Andrew Taylor, the director of the Net Lawman.
This firm provides legal document templates and lawrelated services to individuals and businesses who are looking for an alternative to using a traditional firm of lawyers. “My thoughts on this study pushed me to ask about the segregation of employment and where these people are working. Obviously, we must focus on the roles Black workers are in to make changes from here.” Amit Raj said he was working part-time as a pharmacist earlier this year when he raised concerns. “As we were working within an office within a warehouse where there were
almost no changes to working practice despite the pandemic. Since we were deemed an ‘essential service,’ we were also not allowed to work from home,” Raj stated in an email. “Despite bringing this up on many occasions and management being aware, I was first just ignored. And was soon demoted from an assistant manager position,” he said. “However, the reason given for the demotion was that my part-time hours were not allowing me to manage effectively. I have now decided to place my focus on my digital marketing business.” Raj has since founded Amit Digital Marketing. Talia Fox, the CEO of KUSI Training, a global transformational leadership development firm, said in an email that the study concerns her mostly because of her two sons who have to work in the current environment. “I have two sons and wear three hats, mother, Black woman, leadership strategist. If I am honest, I am afraid, afraid of the challenges my two young Black men will face in the world,” Fox noted via email. “When my fear settles, it turns to anger, and I wonder why people are not doing anything. I want to blame someone, anyone for the injustices in the world,” Fox noted. “Then, my anger leads me to look in the mirror. What do I have to give? What is my role in this? I am a leadership strategist and an educator. I have seen knowledge, understanding, and strategy, and implementation transform businesses and inspire people to drive and lead change, which anchors my hope that a better future is possible for my two Black men.”
Comcast extends free Internet Essentials offer Comcast has extended their offer to provide 60 days of free internet service to new, eligible customers through the company’s Internet Essentials program. Originally set to expire on June 30, the free offer will now be available through the end of this year. As a reminder, Internet Essentials offers lowcost, high-speed Internet service for $9.95 a month plus tax, along with multiple options to access free digital skills training in print, online, and in person. In addition, customers have
the option to purchase a lowcost Internet-ready computer. Interested applicants can go to www.internetessentials. com using any web-connected device, including mobile phones. In March, Comcast announced that eligible new customers would receive 60 days of Internet Essentials service without charge as a way to help deal with the challenges of COVID-19. Comcast recently expanded Internet Essentials
INSIGHT NEWS www.insightnews.com
eligibility to include all lowincome families, including seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities. “Now more than ever, connectivity has become a vital tool for families to access educational resources for students, important news and information about their community and the world, telehealth applications, or to stay in touch with family and friends,” said Dana Strong, president of XFinity Consumer Services, the division of Comcast overseeing Internet Essentials. Since August 2011, Internet Essentials has connected more than two million low-income households to the Internet, serving approximately eight million people. Internet Essentials
Garza Insight News is published weekly, every Monday by McFarlane Media Interests. Editor-In-Chief Al McFarlane Publisher Batala-Ra McFarlane Associate Editor & Associate Publisher B.P. Ford Culture and Education Editor Dr. Irma McClaurin Associate Editor Afrodescendientes Carmen Robles Associate Editor Nigeria & West Africa Chief Folarin Ero-Phillips Director of Content & Production Patricia Weaver Content & Production Coordinator Sunny Thongthi Yang Distribution/Facilities Manager Jamal Mohamed Receptionist Lue B. Lampley Intern Kelvin Kuria
Contributing Writers Maya Beecham Nadvia Davis Fred Easter Abeni Hill Inell Rosario Latisha Townsend Artika Tyner Toki Wright Photography V. Rivera Garcia Uchechukwu Iroegbu Rebecca Rabb Artist Donald Walker 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,
From 3 “For people who are not Black, there’s also work to do,” said Garza. She said it’s not only about changing the rules, but also about a culture shift. “That’s what I think we’re seeing now. It’s going to take all of us staying committed.” Garza said the millions joining protests following the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Auberry and Breonna Taylor were sparked by, “a powder keg waiting to happen.” “People are mad about a lot of stuff. We’re all tender right now. It’s an election
DEED From 3 program. However, businesses that received funding through the various Small Business Administration emergency loan programs are still eligible for this program. In making awards, there are minimum set asides for various targeted groups and categories of businesses. 50% of funds will be
is structured in partnership between Comcast and tens of thousands of school districts, libraries, elected officials, and nonprofit community partners. For individuals and organizations interested in becoming a partner, please visit: https://partner. internetessentials.com to order free collateral materials that will also be shipped free of charge. Applicants can go to: www.internetessentials. com using any web-connected device, including mobile phones. The accessible website also includes the option to video chat with customer service agents in American Sign Language. In addition, there are two dedicated phone numbers 1-855-846-8376 for English and 1-855-765-6995 for Spanish.
Since August 2011, Internet Essentials has connected more than two million low-income households to the Internet, serving approximately eight million people.
year. We find ourselves in a global pandemic. The lack of human touch… and being able to gather. Because of that we also have the expansion of an economic crisis. Not only are people trying to stay healthy, they’re trying to pay their bills. “What we can all agree on is that policing is not serving the people that they’re supposed to serve,” said Garza. “When we’re afraid of the police that’s not serving. Whenever I see tanks, rubber bullets, and tear gas being used — We pay for that. Are we keeping people safe? We’ve been defunding the Black community for a long time.” “Defund the Police” is a controversial slogan that has been held by some protestors. Garza said that slogan comes
from the Movement for Black Lives, a coalition that includes BLM. “This work is something many organizations have been doing for many years,” she said. “It’s really about getting a handle on how we’re spending our money,” said Garza citing the fact that education funds have been cut, the postal service is near bankrupt, and thousands of homeless are living on the streets. “We’re using police to deal with the homeless. You don’t send a nurse to deal with a drug cartel,” Garza said. “We did the largest survey of Black America in 2018 — The Black Census Project. The overwhelming majority said in the past six months they’d had a negative experience with the police,” said
available for businesses based in Greater Minnesota. 50% of funds will be available for businesses based in the 7-county metro area (Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, and Washington counties). A minimum amount of funds must be awarded as follows: $18 million for businesses with six or fewer full-time workers. $10 million for minority business enterprises. $2.5 million for
businesses that are majority owned and operated by veterans. $2.5 million for businesses that are majority owned and operated by women. $2.5 million for operators of indoor retail and food markets with an ethnic cultural emphasis. DEED will host webinars with information about the Minnesota Small Business Relief Grants. Once registered, a reminder email will be sent in the morning with event information.
Garza. She said what she supports is “limiting the size, scope and role police play in our communities. Police also need consequences when harm is enacted. Police unions are a huge, huge issue. They block transparency for officers.” Speaking of another campaign that’s getting national attention Project Zero’s “8 that Can’t Wait,” Garza cautioned, “We have to be wary of things that are a quick fix.” She said, “8 Can’t Wait doesn’t deal with the real issue here, nobody should be above the law.” “Public safety is not about bloated police budgets. It’s about expanding the safety net for Black people,” she concluded.
Information
session
dates: June 24 - 3:00 - 4:00 p.m. June 25 - 7:00 - 8:00 p.m. June 26 - 4:00 - 5:00 p.m. June 11:00 a.m. June p.m. June 11:00 a.m. June p.m.
27 - 10:00 28 - 3:00 - 4:00 29 - 10:00 30 - 7:00 - 8:00
insightnews.com
Insight News • June 29, 2020 - July 5, 2020 • Page 5
Ayo Olagbaju joins Insight News for summer internship Insight News welcomes Ayo Olagbaju as this summer’s Editorial Intern. Olagbaju’s internship is funded via a partnership between Insight and Twin Cities Black Journalists (TCBJ). Olagbaju graduated from Patrick Henry High School last month, and said she is “eager to work in this position, and see what I can accomplish and contribute.” The past few months have been unpredictable said Olagbaju. “Just a few months ago, I was looking forward to all of the memories that I’d
make with my friends during the last quarter of high school. Then, once the pandemic was announced, all of that changed. The situation felt like something straight out of a movie-- not even real. Yet as time passed, I somewhat adjusted to the new ‘normal.’ Then, after the killing of George Floyd right here in Minnesota, the entire energy shifted once again. It was heavy and heartbreaking, but it also inspired me and many others to activate in some form and contribute to making a change,” she said.
Olagbaju said despite this season being untraditional, she has found pockets of joy and things to look forward to. “My schedule slowed down, allowing more time to spend with myself and my family! I started looking forward to what my life may look like during the next few months, especially when I start my college journey,” she said. In the Fall, Olagbaju will attend Howard University, where she will major in journalism. She has participated in ThreeSixty Journalism while in high school. She said
this experience gave her the opportunity to explore writing, interviewing, and more. “I am most interested and excited about being able to use my voice to tell different types of stories. I believe journalists have a unique responsibility that shapes the narrative of our world, and I’d love to see where that takes me,” said Olagbaju. Twin Cities Black Journalists (TCBJ) is the Minnesota chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists.
Ayo Olabaju
Ayo Olabaju is recent Patrick Henry High School graduate. She will attend Howard University in Washington, DC in the Fall.
Q & A: Minnesota Senator Tina Smith at George Floyd Memorial Service
The face of systemic racism and police violence Insight: I know you’re about to attend the memorial for George Floyd. What’s on your mind right now? What are you thinking? Senator Smith: Well, I’m thinking first about how in some ways this is a funeral that is like any funeral, in the sense that the people that loved George Floyd, that knew him, are coming together to celebrate his life and to talk about what they loved about him. And I’ve come to understand how loved he was by so many people, especially his family. But this is also so much bigger than just one person. And in this moment, there is an opportunity for us to look in the face the systemic racism and police violence that is a scourge on our community and communities all over the country. We can look and see how that connects to the racism in all of the other systems in our country, including in education and healthcare. And we can commit ourselves to a new sense
Police From 3 and policy changes are made by decision-makers, lawenforcement leaders, and elected officials. However, even when changes happen, very few police officers are held criminally accountable for killing Black people. Many times, the county attorney, district attorney general, or police chief publicly announces that no charges will result from the murder of Black life by a police officer. Of the few that get indicted, many are later acquitted, found not guilty, or, if found guilty, receive minor punishments for their crime. Why do we only talk about “police reform” when Black people are killed by police -often with impunity? The conversation about “reform” only happens during community unrest and uprisings in cities around the country demanding change and shouts of Black Lives Matter soon after a murder
Black Commons From 3 the United States under Black ownership has actually shrunk over the last 100 years or so. At their peak in 1910, African American farmers made up around 14% of all U.S. farmers, owning 16 to 19 million acres of land. By 2012, Black Americans represented just 1.6% of the farming community, owning 3.6 million acres of land. Another study shows a 98% decline in Black farmers between 1920, and 1997. This contrasts sharply with an increase in acres owned by white farmers over the same period. In a 1998 report, the U.S. Department of Agriculture ascribed this decline to a long and “well-documented” history of discrimination against Black farmers, ranging from New Deal and USDA discriminatory practices dating from the 1930s to 1950s-era exclusion from legal, title and loan resources. Discriminatory practices have also affected who owns property as well as land. In 2017, the racial home ownership gap was at its highest level for 50 years, with 79.1% of white Americans owning a home compared to 41.8% of Black Americans. This gap is even larger than it was when racist housing practices such as redlining, which denied Black
of purpose, but not just purpose, but action. So I think there is an important moment here to move forward with decisiveness on what we know we need to do so that the police department in Minneapolis and police departments around the country are truly protecting, defending all of the people, including black and brown people that run from police departments and run from police officers rather than looking to them for safety. Insight: Do you think that feeling is shared across the State of Minnesota? At the neighborhood and community levels there is skepticism. People are saying we’ve been here before. How do you convince people that this time can be different? Senator Smith: We have been here before. A couple of days ago I spoke with Philando’s mother, Valerie Castile about her sense of heartbreak. We are all here together on this issue. We
Senator Tina Smith
registry of police officers who have abused their powers and who have oppressed black and brown communities, so that they can’t move from one department to another. We need to change the rules that protect police officers from unreasonable use of force. And we can do that. We know how to do that. We need to permanently ban the practices that some departments use, including our own Minneapolis Police Department, that damage and kill people. And those are the steps that I am ready to take, that I am intending to take next week, working with my colleagues, Cory Booker and Kamala Harris and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus who are ready to move forward. Insight: And how do we apply criminal justice reform and accountability solutions to other areas where there are structural flaws that disadvantage Black people? Senator Smith: We have systemic racism
and inequity. Then you have the tragedy of the COVID epidemic, which is decimating black and brown communities, both economically and from a health perspective. And then the tragedy of this murder of George Floyd. We have to specifically think about and then get resources to the communities that are disproportionately affected. So here’s one example. There is lots of work going into preparing a vaccine so that we can finally put an end to COVID. This might take a while, but we need to be ready now to make sure that that vaccine gets first to communities that are disproportionately affected; first to essential workers who put themselves and their families in harm’s way. That’s one tangible example of how we can take the moment of the COVID epidemic and direct our resources specifically to African-American communities, indigenous communities that have been most directly.
cannot let that happen again. Our country cannot survive. Our country cannot survive another turning of the page in a moment like this. If you look around the state and around the country and around the world you can see people are galvanized by this.
But we can’t waste that? We have to use that to get action and change. As go back to Washington on Monday, I’m going to work on, specific, tangible things. It’s not like we don’t know what to do. We know what to do. We need a national
has occurred. When the visible protest stops the conversation about change and reform stops, and we go back to the status quo. Some changes in police procedure and policy reforms have happened. Some of these changes include police body-worn cameras. Bodyworn cameras are attached to an officer’s clothing or other parts of the body. The purpose is to capture video and audio recordings of the policeinvolved activities such as arrests and officer-involved shootings. The August 9, 2014 murder of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African American youth by a Ferguson, Missouri police officer and the subsequent non-incitement of officer Darren Wilson intensified the debate on police reform and sparked the demand for the expanded use body-worn cameras as a way of police transparency and accountability particularly during an officer-involved shooting. I, along with others, fought and lobbied elected officials to pass laws requiring body cameras. Body cameras are ‘a’ strategy to challenge
unjust police practices and a significant step toward police accountability. However, bodyworn cameras are by no means a perfect solution. In many of the names mentioned above of Black people murdered by police, the officers were wearing body cameras yet were not charged or were charged but later acquitted of killing Black people. Other police reform policies and measures include an end to Stop-and-Frisk. A 2013 decision by a federal judge in New York condemning stop-and-frisk tactics that disproportionately targeted Black and brown people. Thousands of innocent Black men and women were subjected to harassing and humiliating searches by police. Despite the condemnation of stop-andfrisk and the promise of lawenforcement officials to stop using the tactic, Black and brown people were still being arrested and detained by police for no reason other than the color of their skin. Civilian Oversite Boards are a process that
allows for non-police private community members to provide input on citizens’ complaints of police misconduct and excessive use of force. For civilian review boards to be effective, they need to be independent of law enforcement and the mayors’ office. The limitation with Civilian review Boards is that they focus on individual complaints rather than broader issues of policing policies and procedures. Olugbenga Ajilore of the Center for American Progress said: “civilian oversight boards are not a catch-all solution to the excessive police force, but they can help to hold police accountable and reduce instances of the unnecessary use of force.” More police reform policy and procedural changes include - residency requirements of officers to reside in the city they serve and protect. Deescalation methods which help officers defuse an encounter and reduce the level of intensity of an encounter. Eliminating chokeholds as a technique to control civilian suspects. Police officers required to carry liability insurance to exclude tax payer’s
liability when a civil penalty is demanded in the case of police officer misconduct. Independent investigator assigned to criminal complaints against officers. Etc. To reform and transform the way policing is done in Black and brown communities is a good step at eliminating the excessive use of police force on Black lives. But, very few officers are held accountable for their actions. Reformative and transformative police procedural and policy changes alone have not and cannot end police brutality against Black lives. The core of the problem is the deeply embedded and extremely pervasive antiBlack sentiment throughout every aspect of America, including law-enforcement. Many police officers possess deeply rooted in anti-Black stereotypes. The first step in solving the problem is the willingness to acknowledge and address the issue of systemic racism in policing. Clarence Edwards, formerly the first African American chief of police for Montgomery County, Maryland,
said, “Race continues to influence how people of African descent in the United States are treated by law enforcement. Racism has been a systemic feature of American society since this nation’s inception. Acknowledgment of the role of implicit and overt biases have historically played in creating disparate law enforcement practices, and the resulting frictions between African American and the police is a reality that should be immediately addressed”. Structural racism and the false doctrine of white supremacy are what fuels and sustain the police brutality of Black people. Unless white supremacist ideology is killed -by white people - we are merely rearranging the dishes in the cabinet while the house is on fire. You can read more by checking out the Peace! Of My Mind Blog at: www.ppp-ejcc. com/category/peace-of-mymind/
residents mortgages to buy, or loans to renovate, property were legal. The lack of ownership is crucial to understanding the crippling economic disparity that has hollowed out the Black middle class and continues to plague Black America – making it harder to accrue wealth and pass it on to future generations. A 2017 report found that the median net worth for non-immigrant Black American households in the greater Boston region was just US$8, but for whites it was $247,500. This was due to “general housing and lending discrimination through restrictive covenants, redlining and other lending practices.” Nationally, between 1983 and 2013, median Black household wealth decreased by 75% to $1,700 while median white household wealth increased 14% to $116,800.
African folklore and foodways – growing yams, cassava and sweet potatoes. Plots were often called “yam grounds,” so important was this staple food. The connection between food, land, power and cultural survival was subversive in its nature. By appropriating physical space to support collective growing practices within the brutal constraints of slavery, Black people also demonstrated the need for common, shared mental space to enable their survival and resistance. Herbalism, medicine and midwifery, and other African American healing practices were seen as acts of resistance that were “intimately tied to religion and community,” according to historian Sharla M. Fett. With the end of slavery, these plots disappeared. The principles of collective land ownership evolved in post-slavery Black America. It was central to civil rights organizer Fannie Lou Hamer’s Freedom Farms, a cooperative model designed to deliver economic justice to the poorest Black farmers in the American South. In Hamer’s view, the fight for justice in the face of oppression required a measure of independence that could be achieved through owning land and providing resources for the community. This idea of a Black commons as a means of economic empowerment
formed a focus of W.E.B. DuBois’ 1907 “Economic Co-operation Among Negro Americans.” DuBois believed that the extreme segregation of the Jim Crow era made it necessary toground economic empowerment in the cultural bonds between Black people and that this could be achieved through cooperative ownership.
the center proposed to adopt a community land trust structure “to serve as a national vehicle to amass purchased and gifted lands in a Black commons with the specific purpose of facilitating low-cost access for Black Americans hitherto without such access.” Meanwhile, shared equity housing schemes and community land trusts continue to grow, helping Black families own property, advance racial and economic justice and mitigate displacement resulting from gentrification.
crowdsourced funding to build community spaces in inner city areas of Indianapolis and encourage collective economic development that echoes the Black commons of years past. The long history of racism in the United States has held back Black Americans for generations. But the current soul searching over this legacy is also an unrivaled opportunity to look again at the idea of collective Black action and ownership, using it to create a community and economy that goes beyond just ownership of land for wealth’s sake. Professor Julian Agyeman centers his research on critical explorations of the complex and embodied relations between humans and the urban environment, whether mediated by governments or social movement organizations, and their effects on public policy and planning processes and outcomes, particularly in relation to notions of justice and equity. Professor Kofi Boone focuses on the changing nature of communities, and developing tools for enhanced community engagement and design. Through scholarship, teaching, and extension service, Professor Boone works in the landscape context of environmental justice, and his research includes the use of new media as a means of increasing community input in design and planning processes. This article originally appeared in The Conversation.
Freedom farms Land ownership today could look very different. The idea of collective ownership has a long history in the United States. Even during slavery, a piece of ground was granted by slave masters for enslaved African subsistence farming. The Jamaican social theorist Sylvia Wynter called this land “the plot.” Wynter has explained how that these parcels of land were transformed into communal areas where slaves could establish their own social order, sustain traditional
Credit unions and co-ops The accumulation of wealth was not the only desired consequence of a Black commons. In 1967, social critic Harold Cruse argued for a “new institutionalism” that would create a “new dynamic synthesis of politics, economics, and culture.” In his view, economic ventures needed to be grounded in the greater aspirations of Black communities – politically, culturally and economically. This could be achieved through a Black commons. As the political economist Jessica Gordon Nembhardhas noted in reference to Black credit unions and mutual aid funds, “African Americans, as well as other people of color and low-income people, have benefited greatly from cooperative ownership and democratic economic participation throughout the nation’s history.” The nonprofit Schumacher Center for a New Economics is working to rejuvenate the idea of Black commons. In a 2018 statement,
Digital commons The disproportionate effects of the coronavirus pandemic and unrest over police brutality have highlighted deeply embedded structural racism. Organizations such as Black Lives Matter and the Movement for Black Lives are demonstrating a renewed vigor around collective action and a blueprint for how this can be achieved in a digital age. At the same time, Black Americans are also forging a cultural commons through events such as DJ D-Nice’s Club Quarantine – a hugely popular online dance party. Club Quarantine’s success indicates the potential for using online platforms to facilitate community building, pointing toward future economic cooperation. That’s what organizations like Urban Patch are trying to do. The nonprofit group uses
Page 6 • June 29, 2020 - July 5, 2020 • Insight News
Insight 2 Health
insightnews.com
Fatigue related to age and commonly associated diseases David Levine feels tired — a lot — and laments how he rarely makes it to the end of a movie. The 68-year-old Manhattan journalist has a pretty good idea why: A night in the sleep lab showed he had borderline sleep apnea. “But certain medications I take, especially Lipitor, make me even more tired,” he says. “I went off it for two months, and I felt a lot better.” Levine is in good company. Research suggests that fatigue (or anergia, in medical lingo) runs as high as 50 percent in people 65 and older, compared with rates in the general population, which range from 10 to 25 percent. Yet “fatigue is not a natural consequence of aging,” says Barbara Resnick, co-
director of the Biology and Behavior Across the Lifespan Organized Research Center at the University of Maryland School of Nursing. “It’s more related to the changes that occur due to age and commonly associated diseases.” Fatigue is common when you’re fighting any kind of illness, from infections to autoimmune disorders. Some treatments, such as chemotherapy, are notoriously exhausting. And, of course, fatigue is also a symptom of COVID-19, although it’s usually accompanied by more telling signs like fever and chills, even in minor cases of the disease caused by the coronavirus. Beyond that, “all of us feel tired some of the
time,” says Suzanne Salamon, M.D., assistant professor of geriatric medicine and primary care at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. “Usually, it goes away, either with sleep or time.” But if unexplained fatigue continues for more than a few weeks, it’s time to figure out what’s causing it. Here are some of the likely suspects (keep in mind, though, that more than one culprit may be responsible).
Your medications are sapping your energy “Older adults take a lot of medications, and a lot of those medications tend to make people feel tired,” explains Brenda Windemuth, director of the Adult Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Program at the University of Maryland School of Nursing. Chief among these: certain antidepressants, antianxiety drugs, sedatives, antihistamines, steroids, and blood pressure and cholesterol medications. Antipsychotics, pain meds, seizure drugs and chemotherapy also stir up trouble. Others, like diuretics, contribute to exhaustion by disturbing your sleep. “Not all drugs cause the same effects in all people,” Salamon says. “If a person has started a new medicine and they notice fatigue, they should report this to the doctor. Sometimes just moving the drug to the evening or lowering the dose can help, but sometimes you need to change to a different medicine.” She recommends always bringing all your medicines — prescription and over the counter — to your office visits so your doctor can check doses and duplicates. Levine was able to take a lower dose of his cholesterol drug and still get its benefits. Although he still feels somewhat tired, he’s decided to stay on it. “The trade-off is worth it,” he says. “I’m a tennis
player and I don’t want to drop dead on the court.”
Your sleep hygiene may need improvement Many people simply aren’t getting enough slumber and are paying the price the next day. Poor sleep habits are often to blame. If you’re lying in bed and can’t fall asleep, Resnick advises, get up and do something until you feel tired, and then go back and try again. “The other really big mistake people make is that they expect to lie around all day and then be able to sleep at night,” she observes. “You only want to spend time in bed when it’s sleep time. Some people like to control the world from their bed.” Other advice: Maintain a regular sleep pattern, and avoid alcohol at night. Consider keeping a sleep diary to help you identify factors — foods, drinks, medicines — that may be keeping you from solid slumber. Keep in mind that as you get older you may not require the seven to nine hours you used to, Windemuth says. Obstructive sleep apnea is another culprit. Patients experience as many as 30 awakenings an hour when the soft tissues of the throat relax and obstruct the airway during sleep; as a result, they feel exhausted the next day. Loud snoring is a clue. Spending the night in a sleep lab can confirm the diagnosis. The standard treatment, a continuous positive air pressure (CPAP) machine, involves wearing a mask over the nose to force air into the throat and keep the airways open. You’re missing key nutrients People over 50 are more likely to experience nutrient deficiencies — especially vitamins B12 and D, iron and folic acid — that cause fatigue. If your doctor suspects a
Jose Luis Pelaez Inc_GETTY IMAGES
Many people simply aren’t getting enough slumber and are paying the price the next day. Poor sleep habits are often to blame. deficiency, she’ll send you for a blood test, and you may need a supplement. You’re anemic This means that your blood has too few red cells or those cells have too little hemoglobin, which transports oxygen through the bloodstream. The result: fatigue. A simple blood test provides a diagnosis, after which your physician will investigate possible reasons for the anemia and may put you on iron pills. There are three main reasons older adults become anemic. Kidney disease is one. If your kidneys are not working properly, they may not be able to help your body make the red blood cells it needs. “It can also be due to blood loss from somewhere, usually along the gastrointestinal tract,” Resnick says, “or it’s in the bone marrow, which could be due to a malignancy.” You have a heart or pulmonary problem Cardiac issues — including heart failure, coronary artery disease, valvular heart disease, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) — are among the most common causes of
fatigue in older people. Heart disease can cause the heart to pump blood less efficiently and fluid to build up in the lungs. This, in turn, results in shortness of breath and less oxygen supply to the heart and lungs. So be sure to follow doctor’s orders when it comes to treatment. You’re anxious or depressed “Depression, being alone and other psychosocial issues are a huge factor in older people,” Windemuth says. “People are losing friends and spouses. They’re being uprooted from their homes or going into assisted living. That can lead to fatigue.” Antidepressantmedications are sometimes the answer. “We also encourage people to go out, become more involved and find things that they really enjoy doing,” Windemuth adds. Paradoxically, exercise can make a huge difference. “The best thing for fatigue is physical activity — no matter what the underlying problem,” Resnick says. “The goal should be 30 minutes daily of moderate-level activity.” Playing tennis has been a lifesaver for Levine, helping him to keep up his energy level. “If I exercise in the afternoon, I feel better,” he says.
fresh • local • organic Your neighborhood source for local and organic foods and wellness products
2823 E. Franklin Ave. | Minneapolis & 317 E. 38th St. | Minneapolis w w w.seward.coop
insightnews.com
Insight News • June 29, 2020 - July 5, 2020 • Page 7
Page 8 • June 29, 2020 - July 5, 2020 • Insight News
insightnews.com
REVEL AVILA® salutes Juneteenth’s unique history with something red By Errol Salamon, Postdoctoral Teaching Associate in Journalism, University of Minnesota
Kadir Nelson, The New Yorker and photographer Dr. Jungmiwha Bullock]
George Floyd and Philando Castile featured on the June 22 cover of The New Yorker magazine Minneapolis (and Houston) residents George Floyd and Philando Castile have been immortalized on the June 22 cover of The New Yorker magazine. The cover art was painted by Caldecott Medalwinning painter and author Kadir Nelson in a work titled “Say Their Names.” Floyd’s body serves as a backdrop, displaying the faces of Castile (over his left shoulder), Sandra Bland, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and other bBlack Americans who have died in police custody or were the victims of violence at the hands of whites over a period of 400 years. The lone exception would be Rosa Parks. Accompanying the print publication’s cover art and story is an online interactive
version that enables readers to hover an image to learn more about the people depicted and the ways in which they suffered. The entry for George Floyd reads, “Floyd, forty-six, was killed by a Minneapolis police officer on May 25, 2020, after the officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. The officer, who was fired, has been charged with second-degree murder.” Castile’s entry states, “Castile, thirty-two, was fatally shot during a traffic stop on July 6, 2016, by a police officer from St. Anthony, Minnesota. The officer was acquitted of all charges.” In a Washington Post article on the cover, Nelson described his work as a “memorial to all of the African Americans who were and continue to be victimized by the
long shadow cast by racism in America and around the globe.” He added that the “weighted portrait of George Floyd” provides “a visual context of historical institutionalized racism and discrimination against African Americans.” “Say Their names” is not Nelson’s first cover for The New Yorker. The studio artist and children’s book illustrator’s portrait of Henrietta Lacks was recently jointly acquired by The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery and the National Museum of African American History and Culture. In a statement on his Facebook page, Nelson notes that prints of “Say Their Name” will not be for sale.
LOST INCOME DUE TO COVID-19? Ramsey County residents may be eligible for assistance to: Help pay past due rent. Pay for a damage deposit. Help stop foreclosure. Assist with utility payments.
One of the primary rules of celebrating Juneteenth is that you must eat and/or drink something red to honor the blood shed by enslaved Africans. Eating red food can come in many forms from red beans and rice, red velvet cake and fruit like watermelon, strawberries and raspberries. But you really need a red drink to make it official. The first freed people celebrating “Jubilee” in Galveston created a hibiscus punch made from a combination of tea from the plant’s leaves and cane sugar or agave. It was already a staple in many of their diets as both food and medicine, but for celebratory reasons, hibiscus tea punch was the goto. Aromatic and refreshing, it was a nod to both West African bissap and Caribbean sorrel. Hibiscus plants were to be found throughout Galveston and the enslaved people never needed permission to enjoy it. As the years progressed and Jubilee evolved into Juneteenth in concert with the rest of Texas, the red drink evolved. Sarsaparilla and carbonated strawberryflavored beverages were easier to purchase and more of a treat for younger people over the decades. However, hibiscus punch is reemerging as a favored Juneteenth drink either with or without alcohol. And that leads us to this unique heritage blend of both history and libation. Alongside many of the African enslaved were laborers of Mexican heritage. Early accounts of Jubilee
Revel Avila’s Chipotle Hibiscus Margarita is a hat tip to heritage and history. Created by award-winning mixologist Zachariah Parks for Revel, this margarita can be served without the Avila as a punch. and Juneteenth celebrations include the joint revelry of two very distinct cultures brought together under the unique circumstance of slavery. Revel Avila’s Chipotle Hibiscus Margarita is a hat tip to heritage and history. Created by award-winning mixologist Zachariah Parks for Revel, this margarita can be served without the avila as a punch. Chipotle
Hibiscus Syrup Chipotle Hibiscus Syrup: Make a 1:1 Simple Syrup with Evaporated Sugar Cane then stir in a handful
of dried hibiscus flowers and half that amount of dried chipotle peppers. Refrigerate overnight then strain out the flowers and peppers. 1 oz Revel Blanco 1 oz fresh lime ¾ oz Chipotle Hibiscus Syrup Garnish: Lime peel *Build in tin, shake with ice, double strain into double old fashioned glass over a large cube. Enjoy freedom, celebrate heritage and drink something red. Happy Juneteenth.
SATURDAYS at the MUSEUMɨ Storytellers, Activities and Fun! Minnesota African American Heritage Museum and Gallery 1256 Penn Ave No, Minneapolis, MN 55411, 4th Floor
Saturday mornings from 10 - 11:30am Hear Stories Read or Great Storytelling! Engage in coordinated activities and just have Fun!
Local Children’s Book Authors and Storytellers! Treats! www.maahmg.org
Contact us at: info@maahmg.org
Become a member!
All Are Welcome.
See us at
Free Admission.
____________________________________________________________________________ "The Children's Reading Circle is partially supported by The Givens Foundation for African American Literature through operating support funding from Target. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund."
651-266-4884 ramseycounty.us/EmergencyAssistance ______________________________________________________________________________________
The MAAHMG is a fully qualified 501c3 nonprofit organization based in Minnesota.