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March 14, 2022 - March 20, 2022
Vol. 49 No. 11• The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • insightnews.com
BLACKFACE
Hennepin Comissioner Irene Fernando demands:
Fire employees, supervisors
Pattern of racism among management and employees at Hennepin Healthcare
Multiple photos have surfaced of two Hennepin Healthcare employees, including the current EMS Deputy Chief and a paramedic, in blackface. One of these photos may have been taken at an event hosted or sanctioned by Hennepin EMS, said Hennepin County Commissioner, Irene Fernando, who represents North Minneapolis and Northwest suburbs. She called the employees’ conduct abhorrent. “Dressing in blackface and treating race, ethnicity, or culture as a costume is degrading, extremely racist, and cannot be tolerated. The employees in the photos should be fired, and supervisors who were aware of this misconduct should be disciplined and removed from leadership positions.” Fernando said in a March 2 statement. Fernando also said a “Hennepin Healthcare doctor continued to train law enforcement on Excited Delirium after explicit instructions to end training on the topic. This is unacceptable and a direct violation of an organizational directive. Excited Delirium is a controversial diagnosis that is not recognized by the American Medical Association. It is clear that this diagnosis is rooted in systemic racism and has been used to
justify the assault and murder of victims of police violence, particularly Black, Indigenous, and people of color. The doctor who conducted this training should be fired for his actions, and supervisors who were aware of his misconduct should be disciplined and removed from leadership positions.” Fernando said Hennepin County has declared racism a public health crisis, and that it is against Hennepin’s mission to engage in or encourage racist behavior. “We cannot tolerate conduct, especially from employees in leadership, that is in direct violation of those ideas and goals, she said. “Hennepin Healthcare management received information on this misconduct weeks ago — it is appalling that no one has faced consequences to date.” Fernando joined the Hennepin Healthcare Board in 2020. Hennepin Healthcare Board adoped Health Equity as an organizational value and told staff leadership to actively address systemic racism. The lack of or slow management reaction to the incident represent a harmful pattern that damages community trust, Fernando said. She said the incidents are part of a long series of racist incidents and practices by Hennepin Healthcare employees and leadership. “It is clear that racism is deeply rooted within the organization and must be addressed directly through systemic changes in both the policy and leadership of Hennepin Healthcare,” Fernando said.
Courageous Whistle blower: The photos, featuring EMS Deputy Chief Amber Brown with a current and former paramedic, arrived in the inboxes of Hennepin Healthcare leadership officials Feb. 15. The e-mail said one of the images was taken at a Hennepin EMS event. “These are the kind of people on your payroll,” said the e-mail. “Now imagine the conversations happening around the time clock.” The e-mail said EMS management was aware of the photos, noting another EMS deputy chief, Mike LeVake, had “liked” one of the images on Facebook. And Brown is in a leadership role “for God’s sake,” the message said. The photos would “not help Hennepin’s already stained image,” the e-mail concluded. Brown, LeVake and the paramedic did not respond to requests for comments. The hospital system was already managing a crisis. The morning they received the e-mail, Hennepin’s leadership members appeared in a Star Tribune article apologizing for another employee and promising to address internal racism.
Black Feminist work finds a home at UMass By Saliha Bayrak, Assistant News Editor March 1, 2022 This article was originally published in the Massachusetts Daily Collegian (https:// dailycollegian.com/2022/03/ black-feminist-work-finds-ahome-at-umass/) and republished with permission from the author. Saliha Bayrak is an assistant news editor at the Massachusetts Daily Collegian. Editor’s Note: Irma McClaurin is a long-time columnist for Insight News, 2015 winner of Black Press in America award for column writing, and currently the Culture and Education Editor. “I don’t want to see any more books about ‘Hidden Figures,’ I want us to be visible and heard” Irma McClaurin does not consider herself an archivist, but she understands the power in preserving Black history, especially after the decades-long efforts to erase it. Initially moved by a desire to preserve her own personal documents and academic work, McClaurin sought to create the Irma McClaurin Black Feminist Archive (BFA), which now reside in the University of Massachusetts W.E.B. Dubois Library with the Robert S. Cox Special Collections and University Archives Research Center (SCUA). The legacy project then became a mission to document the presence of other Black women. “History is told through archives, if we’re not in the archives, then our history doesn’t become part of that American narrative,” McClaurin said. “So having a dedicated archive means we will not be forgotten.” The collection stands as a dedicated archival space for the contributions of Black women and includes McClaurin’s own work and items, as well as that of other
Black feminist anthropologists like Carolyn Martin Shaw. The boxes with McClaurin’s work are a compilation of her academic and personal life and include anything from personal letters, grant approvals, magazines on Black art, copies of poems, papers, books, and flyers collected through time, to a binder labeled “global Black feminism” and a course syllabus with “pizza party” scribbled into the class schedule. “The materiality of our lives, and our whole lives, not just me as an academic, but as a mother, as a poet, you know, as a community contributor, all of that gets preserved in a way,” said McClaurin on her vision for the archive. McClaurin is an anthropologist who looks at inequality at the intersections of gender, race, class and ethnicity. She is also a poet and has had a robust career in academia, having served as the first female president of Shaw University among many other roles. “Many Black women of my generation, we were some of the first to go into predominantly white institutions. And I think about the fact that if something happened to me, my family would come in and look around this room that’s got folders and files and boxes. And they’d say, we just need to clean up this stuff,” McClaurin said. Before McClaurin was recognized as a “Distinguished Alumni” and the collection was announced in 2016, McClaurin spoke with the late Robert Cox, who was the head of the SCUA at the time, to present her vision in the early steps of its actualization. “I had someone at the library who understood the importance of it, and who supported me in sort of developing that vision,” said McClaurin on Cox. Along with the “Irma McClaurin Papers” and the “Carolyn Martin Shaw Papers,” the archives also include hundreds
Photo courtesy of Irma McClaurin
Irma McClaurin, PhD of rich photos that McClaurin has taken over the years, featuring trailblazers like Toni Cade Bambara and James Baldwin. McClaurin is continuing to collect work and hopes for the BFA to be an expansive yet concentrated resource for those who are looking to tell the “fuller” story of the United States and the world. She also sees is it as an antidote to the burying or often too late unearthing of the contributions of Black women. “I don’t want to see any more books about ‘Hidden Figures,’ I want us to be visible and heard,” McClaurin said. Carolyn Martin Shaw also sees the documentation of her career as a reflection of social change, explaining that you get to “see a person engaging in ideas, how those have changed over time, and how that may or may not have been reflected in their lives,” through the archives. Shaw is an anthropologist whose academic work focuses on African women in Zimbabwe and Kenya, often looking at the social values around virginity, purity and the impacts of colonialism on race, gender and class. When McClaurin began seeking individuals who were interested in preserving their
work in the BFA, Shaw reached out to McClaurin, and together they began going through Shaw’s materials. Through 10 boxes, the archives include her unpublished and published works, coursework from her time as a teacher, and personal items such as photographs. For Shaw, the personal items included capture “what it means to live and work as a Black feminist in the United States.” “So the archives, personally, for me, was a wonderful moment for me to reflect on what I’ve done, and to be able to figure out what it is I’d like to share,” Shaw said. She also spoke to the general importance of the archives to “get a sense of what was the range and diversity of Black feminism” and to fill the hole that its absence would have created in our understanding of history. Shaw’s time in graduate school and career as an academic began in the 1960s, a time when “studying women wasn’t something you wanted to do if you wanted to be taken seriously as a scholar,” Shaw said. However, the great expanse of her work covers the powerful contributions of women, their notions of themselves, and their efforts to push back against social and cultural norms. Their
dreams, aspirations, desires and their display of power that are often viewed as “illegitimate” and may often be overlooked by anthropologists. It was the experience of observing the women’s experiences in towns and villages in Zimbabwe and Kenya that made Shaw a feminist as the movement gained momentum, she explains, and made her realize that “women’s powers are so often unrecognized in anthropology, and unrecognized in their own societies.” Shaw often aims to look at what is lost and gained in the interaction of colonialism and feminism. Through her field work in Zimbabwe, she observed in what was once a heavily family bounded society, women began to make greater contact with other women in their region through the means of new institutions such as school, churches and women groups after colonialism, and began understanding themselves as a class of women. “Colonialism in itself is an oppressive system, but we are human beings and we have resilience…[we have to] ask the question about what under awful circumstances, what can people make of it?” McClaurin’s work in anthropology began with her researching the suicide of the Black journalist Leanita McClain, looking at identity formation and the factors that shaped her death. Her work has also focused on the women of Belize, attempting to understand “What are all the components that go into shaping us to become women in a society? How are we complicit in our own subordination? How do we challenge it?” McClaurin has an MFA in English as well as a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Massachusetts and has served in various administrative roles. McClaurin’s roots at the University, the activist atmosphere and the existing archives at the school all
shaped her decision in considering UMass as a home for the BFA. Danielle Kovacs, the curator of collections at the SCUA, spoke on the value of having documents of social change present at the University. “UMass as a university itself has a long history of protests and demonstrations of students engaging in social change. And so, it feels very fitting to us that those collections which, even if they’re not specifically related to the history of UMass, would be part of our archives,” Kovacs said. Kovacs also spoke on the wide audience that the SCUA has the hopes of reaching with their different collections of archives. “Our hope is that we’re not just appealing to academics and scholars, but that we’re appealing to our undergraduate students, we’re appealing to community members who want to engage with these stories, we’re appealing to young students in elementary school, middle school and high school who only know about history in history books without ever really interacting with the primary sources of those original documents,” she said. The BFA is still in its early stages of development, and McClaurin is in the process of working with other’s interested in preserving their work. She ultimately hopes to have a BFA center in the future. “I see my archive, as very much being on the forefront of making sure that that material is preserved, and then presented and made available to anyone, not just academics, but community people,” McClaurin said. “My goal is to make this the largest archive of its kind in the world, where people will want to come, and they will want to put their stuff in it. But they will also want to use it as a resource to tell a story.” Saliha Bayrak can be reached at sbayrak@umass. edu and followed on Twitter @ salihabayrak_.
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Vol. 49 No. 11• The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • insightnews.com
Omar reelection campaign casts Samuels challenge as “round 2” by status quo
Samuels to try to unseat Omar
Photo by Uche Iroegbu
In Minneapolis strike, teachers say kids aren’t all right By Amy Forliti Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Teachers in Minneapolis say they’ve noticed more kids with anxiety and depression. One school counselor says she’s seen more fights and drug use. Some kids tell parents they’re frustrated — because learning stops when teachers have to deal with disruptive students in class. Increased mental health services for students in Minneapolis, where the problems of the COVID-19 pandemic were compounded by the trauma of George Floyd’s killing, is a key issue for the more than 4,500 educators and support staff who were on strike for a second day Wednesday.
“These kids have been through hell,” said Erika Brask, who has a daughter in the district. And of the teachers, she said: “What we have expected of them is not sustainable.” “Because there’s not enough mental health support in schools the teachers have to deal with it, and the kids are the ones who suffer,” she said. The union is seeking reduced caseloads for special education teachers, school psychologists, social workers and counselors. It’s also seeking increased reserves of special education aides and others to help teachers. Ben Polk, a special education aide, said he deals with understaffing every day. Polk said he is typically assigned to assist two
to three students in a classroom with “very high behavioral needs.” Because there aren’t enough aides to help other students who need support, he often winds up helping six or seven in a classroom of 35. “That’s not possible for one person to do,” he said. “It’s crowded, everyone suffers. … It’s too intense an environment for the teacher to really do their job and the kids to get the education they’re entitled to.” Superintendent Ed Graff has acknowledged children and teachers need more mental health support. The district said it is spending some of nearly $90 million in federal COVID-19-relief funding on mental health. But Graff has said
the teachers’ requests — which also include higher wages — would cost roughly $166 million annually beyond what’s currently budgeted. He said the district has a $26 million budget shortfall for next year. “We have all these priorities that we want to have happen. And we don’t have the resources. And someone’s got to be able to say, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t do it,’” Graff has said. At least 2,000 Minneapolis teachers, staffers and supporters bundled up for a rally outside the state Capitol on Wednesday. Speakers demanded that the state tap its $9.25 billion surplus to increase school funding. Kelsey Clark, a school
Former Minneapolis City Council Member and Minneapolis Public Schools Board Director Don Samuels will challenge incumbent Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-5) in August’s DFL primary. In a fundraising appeal following Samuels’ announcement, Omar’ election campaign said, “Back in 2020, our primary challenger and ultraconservative groups spent millions of dollars to try to defeat Ilhan — all because her work toward a brighter future threatened the status quo they fought so hard to defend.” “Now, the status quo is back for round two. Our new opponent has proven himself as someone who would rather maintain the status quo than fight for bold, progressive change,” Omar’s campaign said. In his announcement, Samuels said, “The stakes have never been higher. Our city, our nation, and our world are threatened by devastating economic disparities, the catastrophic effects of climate change, and a sustained attack on democracy here at home and abroad. While Rep. Omar and I share similar views on many
Ballotpedia
Minneapolis Public Schools Board Director Don Samuels
issues, I believe this moment calls for a different approach to leadership–one that seeks to build a united coalition able to achieve greater progress
OMAR VS SAMUELS 4
STRIKE 4
In Selma, foot soldier’s kin boosts youth voting rights role
Charles Caldwell
Charles Caldwell, the Artist himself
By Aaron Morrison, Associated Press For longer than Elliott Smith can recall, annual commemorations of the historic voting rights marches from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, doubled as family reunions. He first attended as a newborn. At Selma’s iconic Edmund Pettus Bridge where demonstrators were stopped, tear gassed and brutally beaten by state troopers on the fateful “Bloody Sunday” in 1965, Smith’s great-aunt, the late Amelia Boynton Robinson, pushed him across in a stroller during the 30th commemoration. “I consider myself a movement baby,” he told The Associated Press. Twenty years later, Smith would switch roles with Boynton Robinson, the Selma voting rights strategist and civil rights movement matriarch: Mere months before she died, Smith guided his great-aunt’s wheelchair across the bridge during the 50-year commemoration of the march she helped lead. Now, at 27, Smith himself is in Selma leading a multiracial delegation of millennial and Gen Z activists
Wikipedia
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-5)
Columnist
By Brenda Lyle-Gray
The Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. who intend to reshape the ongoing voting rights debate around their generations’ access to political power and socioeconomic justice. “If our national narrative is just focused solely on voting rights and an attack on Black people, then our message is too narrow. We are missing it,” he said, previewing a message he intended to share in Selma. Tens of millions of young Americans will have become eligible to vote between the 2016 general
election and the upcoming midterm election, which Smith sees as an opportunity to reenergize civic engagement among young adults and pay homage to his great-aunt. “We have to expand our framing and always tie the struggle for the right to vote to the struggle of a low wage worker not getting a living wage,” added Smith, co-director of student and youth engagement for the Poor People’s Campaign, a revival of the Rev. Martin Luther King
Education
Grants, scholarships proposed to prepare underrepresented student teachers of color
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Jr.’s economic justice campaign. Along with the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow PUSH Coalition and the Transformative Justice Network, Smith planned another reenactment of the 1965 marches on Monday. The group will take on an 11-mile (18-kilometer) stretch of the original route toward Montgomery. Marchers from other groups are expected to take their own stretches
SELMA 4
The power of art is that it can connect us to one another, and to larger truths about what it means to be alive and what it means to be human. Daniel Levitin What a beautiful love song artist extraordinaire Charles Caldwell dedicates to his partner in life, Ancinetta, his talented children, grandchildren, and other extended members, as a father-figure for those desiring to change the direction of their lives, and a prayer of thanksgiving for the gift of art that began for him at a young age. “I was a sixyear-old little country boy from Arkansas whose parents were brave enough to pick up stakes and move to the North side of Minneapolis. To my
recollection, there were no other creative visual artist blood line relatives. I was also physically little when I began to exhibit my work at the age of 14, and it was difficult convincing people that I was ‘the artist himself.’” Fortunately, when Caldwell started school, art was important. He could always feel the surge of creative power and confidence every time he picked up a paint brush or a pencil. It became an instinct, a place he gravitated to. Often, he would stay after school where tools and supplies were accessible, and he was encouraged to let his visions flow. “And although I have managed for decades to take this gift and support my growing family, I take nothing for granted. Time is even more valuable now. My skill level has improved because I’ve done the work so many times, but I know at any time precision can become shaky,” he says. “For the past two years, it’s been hard trying to
CALDWELL 5
I2H
Proposed Board to focus on nursing home workforce standards
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Business
Bipartisan coalition of AGs concerned for safety and well-being of children
Ellison joins nationwide investigation into TikTok’s impact on young people Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced today that he has joined a nationwide investigation into TikTok for providing and promoting its social-media platform to children and young adults while use is associated with physical and mental-health harms. He is part of a nationwide coalition of attorneys general who are examining whether the company violated state consumer protection laws that put the public at risk. “My job is to help Minnesotans of all ages live with
dignity, safety, and respect. This is why I’ve joined a bipartisan, nationwide investigation into TikTok about its impact on younger users,” Attorney General Ellison said. “While I cannot provide detail about an active investigation, we will look into the harms that using TikTok may cause young users, and what TikTok knew about those harms.” The investigation is focused, among other things, on the techniques TikTok utilized to boost engagement among young users, including increasing
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison
the duration of time spent on the platform and frequency of engagement with the platform. AG Ellison has previously expressed concern about the negative impacts of social media platforms on the youngest Minnesotans. In May 2021, Attorney General Ellison joined a bipartisan coalition of 44 attorneys general in urging Facebook to abandon its plans to launch a version of Instagram for children under 13. In November 2021, Attorney General Ellison joined attorneys general from across the country
in announcing an investigation into Meta Platforms, Inc., formerly known as Facebook, for providing and promoting Instagram to children. Leading the TikTok investigation is a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general from California, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Vermont. They are joined by a broad group of attorneys general from across the country, including Attorney General Ellison.
Sports betting bill gets out of the gate with first committee approval By Margaret Stevens Since a 2018 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, 32 states have authorized some form of sports betting, including the four states that border Minnesota. If bipartisanship is a barometer, odds are that could change. HF778 would allow persons at least age 18 to bet on sports, using mobile or brickand-mortar options. The bill was approved, as amended, 14-4 by the House Commerce Finance and Policy Committee last Tuesday and sent to the House State Government Finance and Elections Committee where it is scheduled to be heard March 15. “This legislation will bring about the most significant change to Minnesota’s gaming laws in many years,” Rep.
Strike From 3 counselor at South High School and a member of the bargaining team, said her school has five counselors, each with a caseload of about 300 to 350 students — a ratio she said was lower than most. She said having a mental health support team — including social workers and
Omar vs Samuels From 3
Zack Stephenson (DFL-Coon Rapids), the bill sponsor, said in a statement. “State lawmakers in the Minnesota House have crafted a thoughtful bill based on respectful consultation with sovereign tribal nations, professional sports teams, experts in problem gaming, and many other stakeholders. This is the year we get sports betting done in Minnesota.” The fact that Minnesota doesn’t have legal sports betting doesn’t mean sports betting isn’t happening, Stephenson said. There is a robust black market. “What this bill is about is creating a legal marketplace that will displace that black market and in doing so, provide consumer protection, ensure the integrity of the game and limit money laundering and other illegal activity,” he said.
Sports betting would be permitted at tribal casinos or on mobile apps licensed to tribal entities. Tax revenue from mobile gaming would go to three specific areas. A portion would go to enforcement, ensuring gaming is fair and doesn’t affect events on the field; 40% would go to the Department of Human Services to address problem gambling; and 40% to youth sports with special emphasis on areas with high levels of juvenile crime. Testifiers and some committee members expressed concern about the mobile option for 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds because studies have shown sports betting and online betting are more related to problem gambling. They are especially addictive to young gamblers,
said Ryan Hamilton, government relations associate with the Minnesota Catholic Conference. This bill effectively puts a bookie in every living room, dorm room and in the pocket of every high school senior, he said. Rep. Jordan Rasmusson (R-Fergus Falls) unsuccessfully offered two amendments. One would require an in-person component to mobile apps, the other would increase the minimum age for mobile gaming to 21 to match almost every other state. “This is a commonsense protection that the vast majority of other states have adopted to help prevent problem gambling, especially for young adults,” Rasmusson said. Stephenson shared the concern, but said he was worried about young adults gambling on the black market
psychologists — is vital for all schools. “Over this year and the past few years there have been so many things in the world -- the pandemic that is still happening, us going to distance learning,” said Clark, whose school is near the site of Floyd’s murder. “There have been so many deaths due to racial incidents, due to COVID, that have just had a traumatic impact on students.” She said she has seen
rising cases of anxiety and depression, more violence and more drug use. Two weeks ago, she was the first adult called to help after a student passed out due to drugs. Another student came to her office and broke down, saying they couldn’t concentrate due to anxiety and stress. “In the past our mental health team would do presentations and do gradelevel assemblies about different things, whether it’s consent or
for everyone,” said Samuels. “Too many D.C.
politicians find their success through the division and purity politics that have defined our era, and, unfortunately in this case, Rep. Omar’s position was quite literally ‘my way or the highway,’ a position that fails
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Selma From 3
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of the route throughout the week and reach the capital city for a rally on Friday. For decades, march commemorations were faithfully attended by the stalwart foot soldiers of the movement. They nudged their nieces, nephews, children and grandchildren to carry the cause beyond the bridge. But as the commemorations became a standard photo op for elected officials and candidates to shore up their civil rights bona fides, young people’s historic place and presence in the movement was obscured. “The most popular memory today of the movement is one that’s largely led by
Photo by Paul Battaglia
Rep. Zack Stephenson speaks during a March 7 press conference on his bill, HF778, which would legalize sports betting in Minnesota. Also attending are Rep. Pat Garofalo, from left, Rep. Carlie Kotyza-Witthuhn and Rep. Tony Jurgens. rather than in a legal, regulated one. He hopes to have time to build in safeguards as the bill goes to additional committees. Sponsored by Sen.
Roger Chamberlain (R-Lino Lakes), the companion, SF574, awaits action by the Senate State Government Finance and Policy and Elections Committee.
offering resources,” she said. “We haven’t been able to do things in that way. The last assembly we did try and have, a fight broke out.” She said a lower counselor-to-student ratio would allow staff to head off potential problems. Brask said her elementary-age daughter has anxiety and sensory processing disorder that can make it hard for her to concentrate if it’s noisy. Sometimes she’ll fidget,
and sometimes she just becomes overwhelmed and can shut down. Her daughter often needs extra support, she said. She worked out a plan for her daughter to have a standing time to see the school social worker, but the meeting sometimes doesn’t happen if the social worker has to deal with a crisis, Brask said. And when students are disruptive in class, it can affect her daughter — but the teachers take the brunt of it, she
said.
to recognize the tremendous infrastructural needs of our community,” said Samuels. Omar’s campaign, without saying his name, called Samuels “conservative Democrat” whose
announcement is” kicking off what’s bound to be an expensive primary battle.” “He was one of the most vocal opponents of a ballot amendment in Minneapolis that would have established a
public safety system rooted in compassion, humanity and love, and delivering true justice. We can’t let him win and put a stop to all our work for progress,” the Omar appeal wrote.
older Black intellectuals and activists, and that’s a convenient memory, but it’s not fully accurate,” said John Giggie, an associate professor of history at the University of Alabama and director of the Summersell Center for the Study of the South. Whether it’s civil rights history in Selma, Montgomery, Birmingham or tiny Greensboro, nearly every part of the Alabama racial justice movement depended on the willingness of people as young as high schoolers to take risks and make sacrifices, Giggie said. “How have we not served the younger generation well? By not insisting that, when you look back, you need to see yourse lf in this movement,” he added.In January, lawmakers in Washington failed to meet a deadline civil rights leaders had set for passing federal voting rights legislation following a wave of proposals in conservative-leaning states to curb access to early voting, eliminate same-day voter registration, limit mailin vote casting and decrease the number of ballot drop boxes used in pandemic-era elections, among other effects. That wave was driven, in part, by false claims from former President Donald Trump and other Republican leaders of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, between the start of 2021 and mid-January of this year, lawmakers in 27 states introduced, pre-filed or carried over 250 pieces of legislation
that the center described as voter suppression measures. With midterm elections approaching this fall and narrow Democratic control of the House and Senate on the line, some fear the window of opportunity has nearly closed to beat back state-level voter suppression. And with stakes so high, advocates see this year’s Selma commemoration as a crucial rallying point. Smith, who organized campus voter registration drives while a student at Virginia’s Radford University, said he sees the inaction in Washington as an insult to the memory of all who bled on the bridge in Selma 57 years ago. Boynton Robinson, one of the first Black women to successfully register to vote in the 1930s Jim Crow South, spent decades organizing and attempting to register Black people to vote in towns controlled by segregationist white leaders. Her efforts culminated in the 1965 marches, to which she invited King, hoping he would help nationalize the voting rights struggle. On March 7, 1965, before King could arrive in Selma, state troopers and members of the Dallas County sheriff’s posse stopped demonstrators at the foot of the Pettus bridge. A trooper bashed the head of John Lewis, the late congressman who was then a student activist, during the fracas that left dozens injured. Boynton Robinson recounted to her great-nephew how she’d been struck, once in the arm and once in the head,
leaving her on the ground gasping for air as the local sheriff stood by refusing to offer aid. Gruesome images of the violence spurred passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Until nearly a decade ago, the federal legislation required U.S. Department of Justice lawyers to review voting law changes in states with histories of racial discrimination. The Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in Holder v. Shelby County — an Alabama jurisdiction — removed that requirement, which critics say cleared the way for a nationwide spate of regressive voting laws. “With all the voter suppression tactics happening, it’s so clear that what our ancestors were talking about in the ‘60s is still relevant today,” Smith told the AP. The Rev. William Barber II, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, said he had initially turned down an invitation to speak at Sunday’s event, insisting Smith speak in his place. Ultimately, Barber delivered portions of Smith’s prepared remarks with the 27-year-old’s blessing. “At Elliott’s age, King was leading the Montgomery bus boycott,” Barber told the AP. “We shouldn’t have people waiting until they’re 40 and 50 to take up leadership in the movement. His generation needs to speak. They are the people not of tomorrow, but of right now.” Aaron Morrison, a national writer on the AP’s Race and Ethnicity team, reported from New York. Follow him on Twitter: https://www.twitter. com/aaronlmorrison.
“Unless they have kids in the district and know what is going on, people have no idea how hard these teachers work to compensate for the lack of support they receive from the district,” she said. Associated Press writers Steve Karnowski and Doug Glass contributed from Minneapolis.
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Insight News • March 14, 2022 - March 20, 2022 • Page 5
Education Ethnic studies program would promote diversity, inclusivity By Pratik Joshi Supporters say an ethnic studies program in Minnesota schools would enhance educational outcomes by better engaging students, and would help students develop a sense of belonging and appreciate diverse cultural nuances to succeed in an increasing global world. Others say the socalled “critical race theory” would do more harm than good. “More than a third of students in Minnesota schools are students of color, but Minnesota classrooms have not kept pace with the growing diversity of our student population,” Rep. Cedrick Frazier (DFL-New Hope) told the House Education Finance Committee Tuesday. He sponsors HF3434 that would incorporate ethnic studies into social studies graduation requirements, require the Department of Education to adopt ethnic studies standards, and establish a task force to advise the department on ethnic studies standards and curriculum. “All students deserve to see themselves in their classrooms — their own cultures, communities, and histories — including in their curriculum,” Frazier said. As amended, the bill was laid over for possible omnibus bill inclusion. Its companion, SF3557, sponsored by Sen. Mary Kunesh (DFL-New Brighton), awaits action by the Senate Education Finance and Policy Committee. “We don’t have to go
far to learn about each other,” said Michelle Chang, lead organizer for education policy with the Coalition of Asian American Leaders. The bill would help students cultivate knowledge of self while learning about others around them and, she said, the focus on the experiences of people of different ethnic backgrounds will help students develop critical thinking skill empowering them to be agents of change. Peter Rachleff, co-executive director of the East Side Freedom Library, highlighted the role of various immigrant communities in shaping Minnesota’s economic, political, and cultural development over centuries. “If we do not pay attention to these diverse experiences, we cannot understand how we became who we are nor how we could become who we would like to be.” “Ethnic Studies enables all students to better understand the rich heritage, culture, and history of the land upon which we live, told from multiple and diverse perspectives,” wrote Danyika Leonard, policy director at Education Evolving. Walter Greason, history professor at Macalester College, sees ethnic studies as a tool of empowerment for local communities. “Education too often is envisioned as a way to focus on training people to comply with authority. Ethnic studies places the students’ voices and their choices at the center of education as a process of liberation.” The Minnesota Family
Rep. Cedrick Frazier Council agrees that ethnic history, including racism, should be taught, but not as proposed. “As defined in the bill, ethnic studies ‘means the critical and interdisciplinary study of race, ethnicity, and indigeneity with a focus on the
experiences and perspectives of people of color within and beyond the United States.’ In other words, the study of history would be through the lens of critical theory, also referred to as critical race theory,” wrote Rebecca Delahunt, associate director of public policy.
“… The Minnesota legislature should be drafting legislation that protects the rights of all students, rather than legislation that directs schools to create policies demanding different but not equal treatment. All high schoolers must be taught that their classmates are equals.
History should be taught in an unbiased fashion that encourages students to appreciate heritage while acknowledging the ways in which our ancestors have fallen short of founding ideals, inspiring students to collaboratively live up to those ideals.”
Grants, scholarships proposed to prepare underrepresented student teachers of color “Black students face significant more debt,” Mogelson said, adding that many drop out
By Pratik Joshi Two higher education programs were created by the Legislature in 2021 to increase the diversity of Minnesota’s teacher workforce. Before the subsequent school year is complete more money is being sought. Rep. Heather Keeler (DFL-Moorhead), sponsors HF3917 that would provide an additional $8.5 million in fiscal year 2023 for the aspiring teachers of color scholarship pilot program. Its current appropriation is $1.5 million. The bill would also appropriate an additional $1.5 million to underrepresented student teacher grant program in fiscal year 2023 and increase its base amount moving forward to $2.625 million from $1.125 million It was laid over Tuesday by the House Higher Education Finance and Policy Committee for possible omnibus bill inclusion. Its companion, SF3714, sponsored by Sen. Jason Rarick (R-Pine City), awaits action by the Senate Higher Education Finance and Policy Committee. Supporters say Minnesota can help overcome the lack of racial, cultural, and
Caldwell From 3 get to the beauty of something through transparency in ugliness. How does an artist take all the negatives and try to clean them up? But then I reached the point where I had to start protecting myself, my heart, mind, and soul. I had to capture the connection even in the struggles of current times. This grieving process has been like a chain. There have been so many links added. The war is the most recent. I must visualize the content and remain adamant in projecting hope, pride, and love in the finished products after completing layers of processes. I am seizing the moment with my health and this space of time, so far from my youth.” For the Caldwell family, art is most of the family business as creativity simply overflows. The matriarch of the
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linguistic diversity in its teaching force by providing grants and scholarships to underrepresented student teachers of color, and open doors to higher education for minorities putting them on a pathway to success in life. Often student teachers of color face barriers, including financial ones that need removing, Keeler said. Grants and scholarships would support hundreds of Black, Indigenous, and people of color teacher candidates already in preparation pathways to finish their licensure programs and become teachers. Paul Spies, cofounder of the Coalition to Increase Teachers of Color and American Indian Teachers in Minnesota, said 38% of Minnesota students are students of color, but only 7% of teachers. The state’s acute
achievement gap is related to the severe shortage of those teachers, he said. The problem often is to attract, prepare and retain teachers from underrepresented communities, and it becomes an issue for providing equitable education, he said. “If students today had equitable access to Black, Indigenous, people of color teachers, there would be approximately 22,000 Black, Indigenous, people of color teachers,” he said. “There are 3,000 Black, Indigenous, people of color teachers.” Student teachers can sometimes become anxious when they deal with program costs and debts, said Laura Mogelson, legislative liaison for the Minnesota Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.
Caldwell family is the founder and CEO of a new youth nonprofit, Northside Culture. Son Kenneth, and daughter Nakesha have carved their own niche in the industry. Father and son have teamed up on several murals. In an interview last week on Conversations with Al McFarlane, Caldwell and McFarlane both described how the results of their creations, journalistically and artistically, seem to sometimes jump off the page with an energy of their own. It’s like the pieces talk to them and they are satisfied with the message from stories and thoughts that form the richness of their lives, missives they hope consumers to scholars will appreciate. McFarlane said, “It’s hard to be creative sometimes when we don’t know what tomorrow will bring. As a writer, I, too, suffer because of uncertainty. But we have a sense of mission not to fail ourselves or our children and the generations after them.
It’s worth the endeavor to pave the way as we try to live by example. We cannot take this opportunity for granted.” Exploring the wonders, sorrows, and joys of life in every portrait, Caldwell’s natural talent was nurtured by a mother who let him draw, an art teacher that told him he was an artist, and a community that supported his art. His work has often been compared to African American social realist artist, Charles White, and also to Norman Rockwell. Let us give our children the same kind of encouragement to enhance their choices. McFarlane said he often talks about a Caldwell painting which features his grandson holding a set of paint brushes in his small hands. “It is powerful,” McFarlane said. “It’s like he is holding the world in his hands, a reflection of his responsibility to the legacy of his family and the art world they have established in a place they have always lived.”
of the teachers’ program because they’re worried about missed income during student teaching.
Financial support would help fix the systematic shortages, she said.
Page 6 • March 14, 2022 - March 20, 2022 • Insight News
Insight 2 Health
House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler
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Proposed Board to focus on nursing home workforce standards By Mike Cook Julius Nyakundi has been caring for some of the state’s most vulnerable population as a nursing assistant since 2004. Outside of the Mission Nursing Home, he’s spent much time at home in a room by himself the past two years, so as not to risk his family to COVID-19 he may have acquired in the highrisk working environment. And he still makes less than people starting at a fast-food joint. “Why risk so much for a job that pays so little?” he said. His testimony came in support of a proposed new government entity that could oversee people whose profession includes caring for some of Minnesota’s elderly. Sponsored by House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler
(DFL-Golden Valley), HF3405 calls for a Minnesota Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board to create and oversee industry workforce standards. Approved on an 8-4 party-line vote last Tuesday by the House Labor, Industry, Veterans and Military Affairs Finance and Policy Committee, its next stop is the House Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Committee. It has no Senate companion. The nine-member board would be comprised of commissioners of the Health, Human Services and Labor departments or their designee and six members appointed by the governor: three representing nursing home employers or employer organizations and three who represent nursing home workers or worker organizations. “It is the most
important work in our society to care for the vulnerable and we pay them like it is the least important work,” Winkler said. “… Without giving workers a seat at the table to negotiate, to have a voice, to set standards, which this bill offers, they will be left behind. That is the history of our economy for the last generation. Workers who don’t have power because they’re not part of a union or they’re not highly educated and specialized get left behind.” Among its duties, the board would be charged with establishing minimum nursing home employment standards, establish curriculum requirements for training and certify who can provide necessary training to nursing home workers. Retaliation by nursing home employers
against workers for certain conduct would be prohibited and notices would need to be posted informing workers of their rights and obligations under the minimum nursing home employment standards. The Department of Labor and Industry would be charged with standard enforcement and investigate alleged violations. The state already regulates some working conditions — setting a minimum wage, banning child labor or requiring unemployment insurance — and Winkler said “there is no reason” setting such employment conditions could not be delegated to a board for a specific economic sector. “This is another example of using a statewide hammer to fix a few problems,” said Rep. Matt Bliss (R-Pennington).
“We need to increase the funding to these places.” Toby Pearson is the vice president of advocacy for Care Providers of Minnesota. Noting 65-70% of long-term care facilities could not cover expenses for more than a month if the state missed a payment, he wonders where providers who are already “circling the drain” would find funds that could be needed. He said state law is another enemy to these operators. “Rate equalization basically says that you can’t charge private pay any more than what Medicaid pays. Medicaid is set in the statute,” Pearson said. “This means a nursing home provider, unlike most businesses, cannot simply raise their rate and charge people more in order to pay more to their employees.”
He rhetorically asked what would happen if the board says wages need to be raised, but legislative funding does not ensue. “Ultimately it appears this proposal is seeking to allow a negotiation with several terms of a statewide contract with no accountability for what happens if it diminishes access, meaning it closes a bunch of nursing homes, or no ability to pay for the terms they determine if they say you should pay more,” Pearson said. “Potentially, this is a recipe for disaster for access to the seniors who we serve.” “More money from the state will help, but, more importantly, empowering workers helps the most,” said Winkler.
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Insight News • March 14, 2022 - March 20, 2022 • Page 7
Aesthetically It Unapologetically Anxious Me: Confessions, Stories and Musings of a Haitian American Girl Sharing Our Stories
By: W.D. Foster-Graham Book Review Editor By Josette “Jo” Ciceron It’s not about the circumstances in our lives, for we all have them; it’s how we respond to them. I have stated that if we don’t share our stories, who will? This is Women’s History Month, and our stories continually make history, as does this week’s biography Unapologetically Anxious Me: Confessions, Stories and Musings of a Haitian American Girl by author/creator and activist Josette “Jo” Ciceron. Ciceron is proud of her Haitian heritage and culture; after all, Haiti became the first independent African nation in the world in 1804, contrary to what some history books would have us believe. However, raised by her immigrant parents in Fort Myers, Florida, she was not blind to their faults when it came to parenting, which involved stringent rules and enduring abuse, both emotional and physical. She grew up wanting to do whatever it took to please her parents and win their love and approval, which she never did; in their eyes, only perfection was acceptable. At 27, she found the strength to break away from her controlling, manipulative parents when they tried to come between her and
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Josette “Jo” Ciceron husband Lanau. Generational trauma is real, and Ciceron powerfully illustrates through her writing how the unresolved childhood trauma of her parents was passed down when it came to mental health issues, and how the cultural attitude of silence on this subject damages people. She also reminds us about the importance of being mindful of the messages we give our children. Taking the steps of strength through therapy and facing her Dark Passenger head on was inspiring, encouraging us to talk about our issues, the first step to breaking that “generational curse.” A lover of journalism and storytelling, Ciceron’s writing is vivid. An African proverb says, “Until the lion tells his side of the story, the hunt will always glorify the hunter.” Her writings in dealing with the racism and discrimination in Alexandria, Minnesota as an
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adult bear this out. Equally, if not more vivid, is her love story with her husband Lanau and their two children. Despite their challenges, the bond between these soulmates is stronger than ever. Ciceron is the associate editor of a woman’s publication, Definite Woman Magazine and host of the YouTube series Voices Talk Show (an entity of The Inclusion Network of Alexandria). She also hosts the podcast Unapologetically Anxious Me via Apple Podcast and Spotify. Her book is available via Amazon. Thank you, Jo, for sharing your unique and powerful story of how you have navigated this landscape we call life as a Haitian American woman, and of your activism. We are richer because of it. And yes, I am a fan of The Golden Girls, too.
March 19, 20 Tickets on Sale Now Legends @ the Capri presents Beyond Legends Rainbow, a beautiful evening of music offering audiences a moment to pause and pay tribute to the musical stylings and lives well-lived by Jeanne Arland Peterson, Irv Williams, Debbie Duncan and Yolande Bruce. General admission tickets are $25 or $20 each for groups of 10 or more and are available at capri.simpletix.com or by calling 612-643-2024. Walk-in tickets at the door, as available, are $30. “Through the years, all four of these artists graced our Legends stage at the Capri,” said Dennis Spears,
Artistic Director, “and for good reason: each was a true legend in their own right.” Pianist and music director Adi Yeshaya will be joined by Gwen Matthews and Dennis Spears on vocals, Jason Peterson DeLaire (currently touring with Michael Bolton) on vocals and saxophone, Billy Peterson on bass, and Nathan Norman on drums. You’ll hear a marvelous mix of our four celebrated musicians’ favorite songs, righteously performed in their honor. Fill the new Capri with love! And come early. The expanded, renovated Capri has a larger lobby for gathering ‘n greeting; wine, beer and nonalcoholic beverages for sale, and
a new exhibit in our art gallery for your viewing pleasure. More information: thecapri.org. The Capri requires all guests to present proof of either full COVID-19 vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test result taken within 72 hours prior to attending an event, along with a photo ID. Masks are required at all indoor events at the Capri as well. Please note that we are evaluating our policy in light of new CDC guidelines and the improving COVID situation in our community. Any updates to our policy will be posted on our social media pages and at thecapri.org/covid.
Top Four Reasons to Get Your COVID-19 Vaccine
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The Beatles: “Six Strings, Many Visions”
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1. It works!
No one wants to be sick, and COVID-19 can make even young, healthy people really sick. The vaccine is safe and works really well at preventing young people DJH and older from getting sick.
2. No more quarantine!
You won’t have to miss school, sports, or other activities if you are exposed to someone who has COVID-19 (as long as you don’t have symptoms and are fully vaccinated with both doses).
3. Less COVID-19 testing!
Skip the swab up the nose or spitting in a tube! You won’t have to get tested as frequently if you’re vaccinated.
4. 9DFFLQH VLGH HIIHFWV DUHQ W WKDW EDG!
Feeling a little crummy for a day or two after the shot is normal, and it goes away. It just means your body is gearing up to fight COVID in the future.
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MN All-Star Guitar Summit
MAR 29
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Cyrille Aimée Charismatic French Vocals
An Evening with Michael Feinstein
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Beyond Legends Rainbow: A Tribute to Jeanne Arland Peterson, Irv Williams, Debbie Duncan and Yolande Bruce
Let’s get back to the things we love! School, sports, hanging out with friends, and spending time with family. If you are or older, get vaccinated!
Ambassador of the Great American Songbook
1010 Nicollet Mall Minneapolis, MN
Minnesota Department of Health | health.mn.gov | 651-201-5000 | 625 Robert Street North PO Box 64975, St. Paul, MN 55164-0975 Contact health.communications@state.mn.us to request an alternate format. _
Page 8 • March 14, 2022 - March 20, 2022 • Insight News
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