Insight ::: 03.20.2023

DIESEL HEART

The world premiere of Diesel Heart is playing at History Theatre, 30 E. 10th Street, St. Paul, now through-April 2, 2023.

A play by Brian Grandison, Diesel Heart is inspired by Melvin Carter Jr.’s “graphic, honest, no-holdsbarred” autobiography Diesel Heart. The adaptation to the stage leaves audiences crying and laughing with joy.

Directed by Warren C. Bowles, Diesel Heart, is the story of a leader who created a powerful family legacy by standing up for what is right, even in the face of adversity. Melvin Whitfield Carter Jr., father of the current and St. Paul’s first Black mayor, is a true son of Rondo. He grew up in the Rondo neighborhood in the 1950s and ‘60s. As a student, he struggled in the classroom and on the streets. As a young man, he enlisted in the US Navy and was stationed in Morocco where he used his skill inside the boxing ring to win matches and earn self-respect. After his return home, he joined the St. Paul Police Department as an affirmative action hire where

he continued to fight crime and battle racism on the streets and within the police department. His stories and perspective on life are joyfilled and passionate. From his father’s example, he became and continues to this day, a steady and constant presence in the community, in the city that spawned and nurtured him.

From his mother he inherited a spirit that doesn’t back down or walk away from the fight to seek justice. Carter’s story illustrates that the journey we take to find our voice is never clean or straightforward. “The process of working with Melvin was fun and educational and it’s impossible to see or think about the city of St. Paul the same way.

Beyond being knowledgeable and having a specific and unique take on life and family and community, Melvin has a huge heart. His personal roots go deep but a lot of his relationships cut deeply, as well. And he still nurtures those friendships that go back several generations,” said Grandison, a long-time friend of the Carter family and History Theatre playwright. The cast features

Mikell Sapp as Melvin Carter, Jr. (Parks); Pearce Bunting (Radio Man, Parks), Ron Collier (Not for Sale), Peyton Dixon (Runestone! and Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story), Darius Dotch (Parks), Camryn King, Eric Knutson (Not for Sale), Ninchai Nok-Chiclana,

meets

appreciation

We celebrate the commitment of our employees with initiatives like Sharing Success, which awarded 96% of colleagues additional compensation this year, nearly all in stock. This is the sixth time teammates received this award, totaling more than $4 billion.

We are committed to being a Great Place to Work for our teammates in the Twin Cities and around the globe. This includes providing leading benefits, minimum wage at $22/hr on track to $25/hr by 2025 and opportunities to build a career with us. These are key reasons we’ve been named America’s Most JUST Company.

Lucas Giambelluca President, Bank of America Twin Cities

What would you like the power to do?®

After a nationwide search History Theatre has named Richard D. Thompson as the fourth Artistic Director in its 44-year history.

“On behalf of the Board of Directors, I am pleased to announce that Richard D. Thompson has been selected to lead History Theatre as the next Artistic Director,” said Board President John Sebastian.

“Richard is a visionary theatre professional, an advocate for inclusivity in the arts, and a respected member of the Minnesota theatre community. He brings a depth of experience to this critical role for our theatre and the Board was most impressed with his passion for our mission and vision for our theatre’s future. I look forward to History Theatre’s growth under his artistic leadership.”

Thompson has more than 30 years of experience as a director, administrator,

choreographer, dramaturg, educator, and performer.

Thompson’s vision seeks to build on History Theatre’s important legacy of creating new and existing work while exploring the history of Minnesota, the Midwest, and the diverse American experience. He will continue telling well-known and untold stories while amplifying unheard voices and welcoming everyone to the audience.

“I am honored and humbled to be chosen to lead History Theatre into its next chapter by building on the theatre’s legacy of success to continue to make it a vital and celebrated part of the lives of the people of Minnesota. History Theatre’s mission speaks directly to my heart and my talents. I appreciate the company’s passion for bringing historical events and iconic figures to life in ways that

touch our hearts and move us to action. History at its essence is about our shared stories, ideas, hopes and dreams and creating theatre that draws on our collective past allows us to reflect our world and illuminate our present in ways that enlighten, educate, and entertain our audiences,” said Thompson.

Thompson is familiar with History Theatre, having worked on various projects over the past 25 years, and has been the Producing and Directing Associate for the past year. His History Theatre director credits include The Meeting (199192), The Brotherhood (199596), Summer in the Shadows (2001-02), Joe (2003-04), Nellie (2012-13), and Not in our Neighborhood! (2021-22).

“In the time I’ve been associated with History Theatre, I’ve truly come to treasure the amazing work and

the spectacular community of theatre professionals who have built and sustained It. I look forward to working in my new role with the talented staff and artists who have worked with History Theatre in the past, as well as engaging new and emerging artists from the theatre community.” Thompson added. Thompson brings a wealth of experience from the Twin Cities community and beyond. He worked as the Managing Director and Associate Producer for Penumbra Theatre, where he directed The Last Minstrel Show; he directed, a national tour of Treemonisha for the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra; directed Into the Woods, Jr. and Sundiata: The Lion King for The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. In addition, he has

THOMPSON 4

Why SVB and Signature Bank failed so fast – and the US banking crisis isn’t over yet

By Vidhura S. Tennekoon Assistant Professor of Economics, Indiana University

Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank failed with enormous speed – so quickly that they could be textbook cases of classic bank runs, in which too many depositors withdraw their funds from a bank at the same time. The failures at SVB and Signature were two of the three biggest in U.S. banking history, following the collapse of Washington Mutual in 2008.

How could this happen when the banking industry has been sitting on record levels of excess reserves – or the amount of cash held beyond what regulators require?

While the most common type of risk faced by a commercial bank is a jump in loan defaults – known as credit risk – that’s not what is happening here. As an economist who has expertise in banking, I believe it boils down to two other big risks every

lender faces: interest rate risk and liquidity risk.

Interest rate risk

A bank faces interest rate risk when the rates increase rapidly within a shorter period.

That’s exactly what has happened in the U.S. since March 2022. The Federal Reserve has been aggressively raising rates – 4.5 percentage points so far – in a bid to tame soaring inflation. As a result, the yield on debt has jumped at a commensurate rate.

The yield on oneyear U.S. government Treasury notes hit a 17-year high of 5.25% in March 2023, up from less than 0.5% at the beginning of 2022. Yields on 30-year Treasurys have climbed almost 2 percentage points.

As yields on a security go up, its price goes down. And so such a rapid rise in rates in so short a time caused the market value of previously issued debt – whether corporate bonds or government Treasury bills – to plunge, especially for longer-dated debt.

For example, a 2

After 27 years of transformational theatre, Brosius is the longest serving Artistic Director in CTC’s 58-year history

Peter Brosius to depart

Children’s Theatre Company at the end of the 23-24 season

Children’s Theatre Company (CTC) announced that Peter Brosius, Artistic Director has decided to depart CTC on June 30, 2024, at the end of the 202324 Season. His artistic vision has transformed the theatre into the nation’s leading theatre that serves a multi-generational Brosius took the helm of CTC in 1997 and during his tenure, has produced more than 187 productions, championed more than 70 new works from commission to fully developed works on the stage, served more than 5 million children and community members, founded innovative educational programming, and championed equity, diversity and inclusion orts to eliminate barriers to participation for those underrepresented in theatre.

Brosius’ passion and respect for young people has been at the core of CTC’s mission to educate, challenge, and inspire young people and their communities through extraordinary theatre

Championing new works and building the canon of plays that center young people has been at the heart of Brosius’ artistic vision. More than 70 new plays and musicals have been commissioned, developed, and premiered at CTC by more than 100 writers including Cheryl West, Nilo Cruz, Naomi Iizuka, Larissa FastHorse, Itamar Moses, Jerome Hairston, Barry Kornhauser, Lloyd Suh, Will

Brittney Griner and gender pay inequality: The saga continues

Culture and Education

Editor

By Irma McClaurin, PhD

It is fitting that I continue to talk about Brittney Griner as we move through Women’s History Month.

Anne Wilbur, right, and Jessika Harville enter a Silicon Valley Bank in Palo Alto, Calif., on Monday, March 13, 2023. The federal government intervened Sunday to secure funds for depositors to withdraw from Silicon Valley Bank after the banks collapse. Wilbur and Harville waited in line before the bank opened to withdraw funds for Wilbur Properties.

percentage point gain in a 30-year bond’s yield can cause its market value to plunge by around 32%.

SVB, as Silicon Valley Bank is known, had a massive share of its assets – 55% – invested in fixedincome securities, such as U.S. government bonds.

Of course, interest rate risk leading to a drop in market value of a security is not a huge problem as long as the owner can hold onto it until maturity, at which point it can collect its original face value

But for me, the saga continues and I am here to say to Brittney Griner, and to the world, unequivocally, that it ain’t over until it’s over, and, believe me—it ain’t over.

The Griner saga continues. In addition to becoming the poster child and advocate for bringing other U.S. prisoners home from Russia and overseas, Griner must now champion an even bigger battle on her homefront: the reality of gender pay inequality for women athletes in the WNBA and beyond.

Gender Sports Pay Inequality and Overseas

Second Jobs

Let’s face the facts— Griner was playing in Russia every year for a decade simply because her WNBA pay as a top woman athlete was inadequate. She did NOT make a “livable wage” according to the standards of athletic pay scales. How shameful for the American sports industry that in the 21st Century, and after almost three decades of Title IX, gender pay inequality still presists.

Indeed, while Griner seems clearly happy to play for the Phoenix Mercury team at the quoted $165,000, which may be the best the team can do (https://www.foxnews. com/sports/mercury-postfirst-video-brittney-grineruniform-re-signing-wnba-star ), in my humble opinion, it is simply NOT GOOD

BROSIUS 4

photo/Benjamin Fanjoy

Author’s screenshot

historytheatre

Richard D. Thompson

Dan Norman Peter Brosius

Drastic increase in Kia, Hyundai vehicle thefts posing an ongoing threat to public safety Attorney General Ellison launches civil investigation of Kia and Hyundai

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced this week that he has launched a civil investigation into Kia and Hyundai’s sale of vehicles to Minnesota consumers that lacked industry-standard, antitheft technology. As part of this investigation, earlier today, the Attorney General’s Office served civil investigative demands on Kia and Hyundai, which require them to produce documents and answer questions under oath.

The purpose of the investigation is to gather information to determine whether Kia and Hyundai—through their actions or inactions—have violated Minnesota’s consumer protection and public nuisance laws.

“The drastic increase in Kia and Hyundai vehicle thefts is continuing to threaten public safety and do serious harm to our communities,”

Ellison said Tuesday afternoon during a press conference.

“With this investigation, we will follow where the facts lead us and will continue to use all the tools of the law to help keep Minnesotans safe.”

Until recently, Kia and Hyundai did not include anti-theft “engine-immobilizer”

technology in many of their vehicles sold throughout the United States, including in Minnesota. An engine immobilizer prevents a vehicle’s engine from starting without using the vehicle’s authorized “smart” key that stores an electronic security code. By failing to equip their vehicles with this anti-theft technology, Kia and Hyundai lagged behind industry standards. According to one report, in 2015, only 26% of the vehicles Kia and Hyundai sold in the United States were equipped with engine immobilizer technology. In comparison, 96% of the vehicles sold by all other competitors were equipped with this anti-theft technology. Criminals and car thieves have learned about the lack of anti-theft technology in many of Kia and Hyundai’s vehicles, as well as the quick and simple way the vehicles’ ignition cylinder can be exploited, and the ignition switch started. This has led to a drastic increase of Kia and Hyundai vehicle thefts throughout the nation, including in Minnesota. Reported thefts of Kia and Hyundai vehicles in 2022 increased by 836% in

Minneapolis, and 611% in St. Paul from 2021 rates. Some vehicles have even been stolen multiple times in the same year.

These stolen vehicles have been used in the furtherance of violent crimes in Minnesota and have been involved in numerous traffic collisions, some of which have been fatal. In Minneapolis alone, in 2022, Kia and Hyundai vehicle thefts were tied to:

Five homicides;

 13 shootings;

 36 robberies; and

 265 motor vehicle accidents. These public safety incidents that have caused substantial and serious harm to communities across the state. In December 2022, a 14-yearold boy lost his life after getting into a single-vehicle crash that involved a stolen Kia.

The announcement follows a letter from Ellison and Saint Paul Mayor Melvin Carter and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey pressing Kia and Hyundai for an immediate safety recall to stem the rise of thefts of Kia and Hyundai vehicles. These thefts are posing an increasing harm to public safety.

Karnowski

Minnesota Democratic Attorney General Keith Ellison speaks at a news conference at the State Capitol in St. Paul, Minn., Monday, Feb. 6, 2023.

Generally, the Attorney General’s Office does not announce or talk publicly about its civil investigations. But this matter directly impacts the public safety of Minnesota’s communities, and the law permits the Attorney General’s Office to promote public safety by informing the public of this investigation.

Ellison urges

Peterson

A Kia which was damaged after being stolen is seen at an auto repair shop in Milwaukee on Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021. Automakers Hyundai and Kia are offering software updates for millions of their vehicles that are missing a “key” anti-theft device, an issue that was exploited on social media and led to rampant theft of the cars. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023 that the software updates the theft alarm software logic to extend the length of the alarm sound from 30 seconds to one minute and requires the key to be in the ignition switch to turn the vehicle on.

risk of theft of their Kia or Hyundai vehicles to submit a complaint

Vincent Carlo DeLusia: Educator, mentor

Vincent Carlo DeLusia, 79, Minneapolis, an educator and mentor, was a teacher by heart and storyteller by nature. He died peacefully on January 5, 2023. He was preceded in death by his parents, Lenore and Frederico, and sister, Lenore. His mother, a nurse, instilled the value of education, the principles of health and safety, and the recognition of quality in a well-constructed garment. His Trinidadian father, a former merchant marine, nurtured a global perspective, learning, appreciation of diversity, and the people-skills of entrepreneurial negotiations.

DeLusia learned storytelling and humor from his elders, sitting on the front porches and stoops of his Morris Park neighborhood in the Bronx with its diversity of Italian, Jewish, Irish, and African American families. He contracted polio in childhood during the 1948-1952 epidemic and worked hard throughout the rest of his life to maintain his fitness.

He graduated from

Thompson

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Cardinal Hayes High School for Young Men (as did Regis Philbin, George Carlin, and Martin Scorsese), where he excelled and became a lifelong learner and responsible citizen.

During the 1960’s, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Fordham University and two Master degrees from Columbia University, including an MBA; attended the renowned March on Washington, made famous for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech; as well as many civil rights meetings with historical figures most of us only read about. All of this made DeLusia part of the world history he continued to study and teach throughout his lifetime.

In 1973, Minneapolis community leader, Theartrice (T) Williams, connected through a friend, encouraged DeLusia to make a move to Minneapolis with his MBA degree. He braved the westward journey from New York and started his career at General Mills and then International Multifoods.

Within a few years he left the business world to work at

worked for Children’s Theatre Company, Illusion Theater, Jon Hassler Theater, Virginia Opera, Playwrights’ Center, and Mixed Blood Theatre Company.

Thompson will work in partnership with Managing

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the University of Minnesota as an administrator in the Education Career Development Office from 1975-1983. T. Williams then hired him as assistant director in the housing division of the Minneapolis Community Development Agency. He later started his own consulting business DeLon Associates, using his degrees in International Affairs, History,

Director Karen Mueller to build on a solid foundation of artistic and organizational health. “Navigating the future of a performing arts organization in our world today is a challenge. I look forward to collaborating with Rick in his new role as Artistic Director. His understanding and passion for history, his commitment to artistic excellence and his dedication to equity at all levels will be invaluable as we move ahead into our next chapter,” Mueller said.

Brosius

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Power, Liz Duffy Adams, Carlos Murillo, Kia Corthron, Philip Dawkins, and Greg Banks. A major new initiative, Generation Now, is a partnership between CTC and Penumbra, Latino Theatre Company, Mai Yi, and Native Voices at the Autry to commission and develop 16 new plays and musicals by Black, Indigenous, AAPI and Latinx writers for a multigenerational audience. These new works will have a life for years to come. He also introduced preschool programming to CTC and both commissioned original works and brought in extraordinary preschool productions from across the globe. CTC has also become a major presenter of acclaimed international productions from Europe, Africa, and Asia.

“I have loved every moment of my time here. I couldn’t be prouder of this team and the work we do every day. It has been an honor and a privilege to be an advocate for young people, for their intelligence, their dignity, and their agency. I have been filled with endless joy and hope for the future by their enthusiasm and their optimism,” says Peter Brosius. “I have had the great good fortune of working with brilliant artists who brought

and Business, which led him to adjunct teaching at Minneapolis Community College, eventually becoming full time faculty teaching some business courses but primarily history courses until his retirement. His life was dedicated to promoting education as a ticket to rise both personally and professionally. An awarded member of the Minnesota Alliance of Black School Educator and the Sons of Bransford, he mentored countless students at during his twenty-plus years at Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC). His storytelling and ability to connect with his students was remarkable. He understood food could be a great inclusive denominator and his annual international potluck project was always well received. Vincent also developed and advised the “Heroes Club” at MCTC, for helping to build character and leadership skills in African American students. He did further outreach though Mankato State University’s

Earlier this year

Artistic Director Ron Peluso announced his plan to step down at the end of December 2022.

Per the Board of Directors’ succession plan, History Theatre formed a Search Committee comprised of Board members, key staff, and input from artists from the Twin Cities theater community and began a national search for his replacement. Hiring Orion Search Group to lead the search process, the committee met with several candidates, focused not only on

their whole hearts and talents to this work. The staff and board at CTC are all so deeply committed to our mission and to truly making a difference in the lives of our community. It has been a pleasure to work with my partners in leadership and most recently it has been a joy to move this theatre forward with Kim Motes.” Under Brosius’ leadership, CTC moved A Year with Frog and Toad to Broadway and is the only theatre in Minnesota to have a show nominated for three Tony Awards. CTC also received the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre in 2003 and was named the #1 children’s theatre by Time Magazine.

Additionally, during Brosius’ tenure, CTC more than doubled its annual budget from $6 to $13 million, grew its endowment from $2 to $12 million and expanded its physical space with a $30 million expansion in 2005 adding the Cargill Stage, the McGuire Education Center, and production shops. Today, CTC is one of top 25 regional theatre companies in the country and the largest children’s theatre in North America. During Brosius tenure, CTC has created partnerships with leading commercial producers such as Bob Boyett, Kevin McCollum, Warner Brothers Theatrical and Universal Theatrical as well as with Seuss Enterprises and Sesame Workshop to bring new musicals to the CTC stage. He

Pan-African conference, presentations at Hamline University, and programming at Penumbra Theatre Company that promoted the history and culture of African Americans–all with a youth focus. His generosity for supporting his students’ success and spirit was significant and unparalleled.

In additional to education, he appreciated great food and dining experiences, with special affection for Christos and Cov. Music was a cherished part of DeLusia’s life, from taking drum and guitar lessons, to listening to Cuban rhythms. He enjoyed nights at the Dakota Jazz Club, or just singing a variety of songs— from folk tunes to Doo Wop— learned on the front stoops of the old neighborhood. He was fond of drives around town and in the country, and found many interests from dogs, birds, flower gardens, baking (as a Minnesota State Fair ribbon winner), reading about a variety of subjects including Celtic Studies, and having long conversations sitting on a bench

their artistic experience but also their passion for the mission and their artistic vision for the theatre before recommending a candidate to the full Board. The Board was unanimous in its support of the Search Committee’s recommendation.

“History Theatre is an unparalleled community treasure and serving as its Artistic Director will be a pleasure and an honor. The hours I’ve spent within its walls have deepened a conviction I’ve held since I first started reading history as

has elevated CTC’s national mission and has been focused on extending the life of the work on CTC’s stages to other theatres across the country and globe. Over the past 26 years, CTC has toured more than 11 productions across the United States and took Seedfolks to South Africa.

CTC has transferred productions to and co-produced productions with the Alliance Theatre, Arena Stage, the Old Globe, the New Victory, Seattle Children’s Theatre, Chicago Children’s Theatre, and many others. He developed CTC’s Plays for New Audiences which now represents more than 300 plays and licenses the work to theatres across the globe. CTC’s education programs now serve more than 70,000 students through Theatre Arts Training, Student Matinees, and innovative curriculum in schools such as Neighborhood Bridges and Creative Play Workshops to build critical literacy and emotional literacy skills in students. A new, immersive model has been developed with Bethune Elementary in North Minneapolis where CTC teaching artists are in 100% of the classrooms.

CTC’s commitment to ensuring that there are no barriers to participation has been at the heart of Brosius’ deep commitment to community and resulted in the ACT One programs focused on BIPOC communities, the LGBTQIAP+ community, those who have

on a sunny day. He served as a tour guide at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, for the African and Pacific Island collections, and served with the Restorative Justice Action Committee, to support and shift the choices and circumstances of others to a more positive and hopeful future. His lifelong legacy impacts the world through his students and their ability to pay-it-forward and help future generations rise through education and opportunities. He is survived by his wife, Jeanene; nephew, Neil; niece, Angelique; great nieces and nephews; and cousin, Connie. He will be deeply missed by family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, and former students. Perhaps each of us can sit on our porch, or a park bench and sing a little song. He will be listening. A celebration of Vincent’s life will be held at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Sunday, March 26, 2023 at 11 am to 2 pm. Interment of Vincent’s ashes, alongside his mother and father, will take place in New York City.

a kid: that a sense of the past is essential to all storytelling – and, ultimately, to all human thriving,” Thompson said. Thompson will start Jan 10, 2023, continuing his work of producing the RAW STAGES: New Works Festival January 18-22, 2023, and will direct the final production of the 2022-23 Season, The Defeat of Jesse James, a new musical by Jeffrey Hatcher and Chan Poling this spring.

disabilities and different abilities, and those who are socio-economically challenged. As an example, the ACT Pass program annually provides more than 12,000 tickets to families for $5 and scholarships for theatre training classes. CTC has engaged with more than 150 community organizations to provide access to theatre.

Through developing productions like Korzcak’s Children, Snapshot Silhouette, I Come From Arizona, Bina’s Six Apples, and Something Happened in our Town Children’s Theatre Company became a place for deep community conversations and finding common ground.

Peter Brosius is the recipient of TCG’s Alan Schneider Directors’ Award, the American Alliance for Theatre and Education’s Sara Spencer Artistic Achievement Award, and the 2013 Ivey Award for Best Director and two best production Ivey Awards in 2013 and 2016. He has served on the boards of the Playwrights Center, Theatre Communications Group , ASSITEJ /USA and worked to develop the Minnesota Theatre Alliance and the Twin Cities Large Cultural Organizations Forum.

“Peter’s visionary artistic excellence, devotion to our community, advocacy for justice and equity, and passion for our audience permeates throughout the vast body of work

Vincent Carlo DeLusia

photo/Angela

photo/Steve

Opinion: A historic vote and the tools it gave us

By Ben Jealous Executive Director,

Vice President Kamala Harris is sure to be remembered every March in Women’s History Month as the first woman and the first person of color to serve our nation in that position. As notable as those two facts are, she may grow to be known just as much for a single vote in the Senate that helped save the planet.

Last August, she broke the 50-50 deadlock between Democrats and Republicans in the Senate to pass the Inflation Reduction Act. That historic package, along with

the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that Harris had crisscrossed the country in 2021 to build support for, give us a once-in-a-generation chance to protect the climate and build a cleaner, fairer economy. Both laws bear Harris’ mark. For example, the two packages provide billions to replace diesel school buses with electric ones and an additional tax credit for purchases that counties and cities make on their own. As a senator, Harris repeatedly sponsored bills to electrify the nation’s school buses. Similarly, she championed proposals to help recovery in low-income communities that bear a disproportionate burden of pollution and climate; the IRA

includes $60 billion directed to help those places. Harris’ role inside and outside Washington on environmental issues isn’t surprising. When she was elected San Francisco’s district attorney 20 years ago, she started one of the first environmental justice units in a prosecutor’s office. When she moved on to be California’s attorney general, she fought to protect the state from fossil fuel interests, winning tens of millions in civil settlements and a criminal indictment against the pipeline company responsible for an oil spill off Santa Barbara, as well as suing the federal government to block fracking off the coast. It’s a path others have been

able to follow in the years since (Columbia University keeps a database of attorneys general’s environmental actions now).

It’s a concern that runs deep. Like I did, Harris grew up in environmentally conscious northern California in a household deeply involved in the civil rights movement. She learned early that conservation was a good thing, so much so that she has joked she couldn’t understand as a youngster why people she knew said conservatives were bad. The Biden-Harris administration has provided leadership. With Congress, they’ve given us the tools to clean up pollution, to boost communities’ resilience to

climate related natural disasters like wildfires, and to create good jobs in clean manufacturing across the country in unprecedented ways. Through the infrastructure and inflation reduction packages, the United States can spend more than double protecting Earth than we spent putting astronauts on the moon.

“I think we all understand we have to be solutions driven. And the solutions are at hand,” Harris said at a climate summit earlier this month. “We need to make up for some lost time, no doubt. This is going to have an exponential impact on where we need to go.”

It’s time for the rest

of us to pick up those tools and build. There are powerful interests that would be more than happy to let the inertia that allows people and places to be treated as disposable continue indefinitely. Our planet can’t afford that, and we have to marshal a movement to prevent it.

Ben Jealous is executive director of the Sierra Club. He is a professor of practice at the University of Pennsylvania and author of “Never Forget Our People Were Always Free,” published in January.

WE ARE BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS TO CARE THROUGH COMMUNITY CONNECTION.

The newly-established M Health Fairview Center for Community Health Equity advances community wellbeing through innovation and trusted partnerships that address social factors influencing health.

The M Health Fairview Center for Community Health Equity builds on our long-standing work alongside the communities we serve to tackle racial disparities in health outcomes. Together, we’re applying equity-centered, culturally responsive solutions to some of the biggest challenges people face in being healthy.

Want more details? Go here.

Sierra Club

photo/Rebecca Blackwell

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the Aspen Ideas: Climate conference, Wednesday, March 8, 2023, in Miami Beach, Fla. The conference is co-hosted by the Aspen Institute and the City of Miami Beach.

Ben Jealous, Executive Director, Sierra Club

By: W.D. Foster-Graham Book Review Editor

SAM AND THE INCREDIBLE AFRICAN AND AMERICAN FOOD FIGHT

By Shannon Gibney

I recently wrote a

2. That the Governor hold his appointed State Commissioners and the state departments they lead accountable for measurable and reportable processes and strategies to eliminate disparities that exist in and that are supported by policies and procedures of state governance.

3. That the Minnesota Legislature prioritize intentional solution making that can occur when Legislators, Committee Chairs and Committees engage Minnesota’s Black community at the table of decision.

review about cultural differences between African Americans and those who are Africanborn, from the perspective of an African-born man who has also lived in the U.S. Shannon Gibney’s children’s book, Sam and the Incredible African and American Food Fight, illustrates this in the context of a family. 6-year-old Sam and his younger sister Connah sit at the crossroads of two different cultures. Their mother is an African American from Minnesota, and their father and aunt are African-born from Liberia. When it came to meals, their differences have been playing out at the dinner table, since his mother, his father, and his aunt insist on eating only the food from their own respective cultures.

Not wanting to hurt anyone’s feelings, Sam has been eating both meals. However, he has been paying a price for this, since his stomach can only accommodate so much food, and the adults won’t budge from their beliefs.

Sam wonders why there has to be such a contest over food, with him and Connah caught in the middle. Finally, Sam and his stomach come up with a plan to end the conflict. Will it work?

homes to start their firms. This is a huge disadvantage to Black folks in Minnesota because of the home ownership gap. Further, the report stated that minority owned businesses experience higher loan denial probabilities and pay higher interest rates than white-owned businesses even after controlling for differences in credit-worthiness, and other factors. Limited access to investment capital in its many forms is inextricably linked to systemic discrimination in lending, housing, and employment. It cripples Black business development.

2. Employment

Invest now in creating employment opportunities for the Black community

In an article published by the Urban Institute, the issue of Black employment was addressed.

It stated that, “while many are heralding the drop in the national Black male unemployment rate, which recently fell below 10 percent for the first time in seven years, joblessness remains much higher in many poor African American communities. It stated that for many low-income Black men, finding and keeping work is a constant struggle, never far from their minds. Black job applicants might not even make it into the queue if they have had an encounter with the criminal justice system. Helping Black folks secure steady employment at decent wages will require resources to break down the institutional barriers that separate people from decent job opportunities and to enable Black people to build the skills needed for well-paying jobs

3. Public Safety

Invest now in Public Safety in the Black community.

Public safety exists to protect citizens, organizations, and communities by preventing them from being in danger and guarding their well-being. Abraham Maslow defined safety in his famous “Hierarchy of Human Needs“. He said that to function as a society public safety is needed. He said this safety goes beyond just physical safety but also safety when it comes to health, money, possessions, and family. Less we forget, there’s an Emotional Impact on Public Safety. When folks feel unsafe, it could have major effects on individuals, their loved ones, and the community they live in. Violence has been way to prevalent in the inner cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Playgrounds are unsafe, the streets are unsafe, and the shopping malls are unsafe.

4. Housing Invest now in multiple housing options for the Black community to close the home ownership gap.

Multiple housing options are an important part of any community. It provides a safe and affordable place for people to live and can help reduce poverty and homelessness. However, there are many challenges associated with providing low-income housing, such as limited resources, high demand, and the need to ensure that the housing is safe and secure. Minneapolis has one of the widest homeownership gaps in the country between whites and Blacks.

5. Education Invest now in ensuring that our Black students are educated at the same level as White students. Dr. Sinclair Grey lll stated that education is without a doubt crucial to the success of our students competing for jobs. Quality education that enforces and reinforces math, science, writing, and cognitive thinking will separate those who desire a prosperous future from those who are simply content with getting by. Yet, in Minnesota, reading test scores for Black students are over 20 points below state average and math test scores are 20 points below state average. Minnesota ranks 50th in the nation for Black students who graduate on time. Minnesota has one of the worst college-readiness gaps in the nation by race and ethnicity – only 25% of Black students are prepared for college. Thus, Black students who attend college must take significantly more remedial courses than their peers as their starting point.

6. Health & Wellness Invest now in efforts that will impact the health and wellness of the Black community. The Black community is faced with escalating social, economic, and life-style problems, which threaten the life and well-being of current and future generations of Black people in crisis proportion. The rising number of deaths due to heart disease and stroke, homicide and accidents related to substance abuse, AIDS, cancer, and infant mortality are among the leading culprits. They interfere with prospects of longevity and contribute to joblessness, poverty, and homelessness and further complicate the crisis in the Black community. The magnitude of the problems dictates the need for support from the Minnesota State Legislature.

7. Policy Each member of the legislature, regardless of political affiliation, is involved in setting public policy. These policies should reflect the will of the people and is carried out by those elected to vote. Because of conflicting interests and capacities, some policies have disenfranchised the Black community. There is therefore a need for coherence of interest/capacities in an attempt to pass policies that reflect the needs of the Black community.

I appreciate the way Gibney illustrated cultural differences from the viewpoint of a child. As adults, we can become so entrenched in a belief that “our way is the only way” that we miss out on opportunities to learn from another culture. In resolving this dinner struggle, Sam became the adult in the situation, ultimately teaching his parents and his aunt that the foods are simply different; one is not better than the other.

In our day-today lives, this book begs the question: how often do we take the opportunity to broaden our horizons, especially with the diversity of the African diaspora? Contrary to beliefs, it isn’t monolithic, and broadening benefits not only ourselves, but our children and grandchildren as well.

A Bush author and McKnight Writing Fellow, Gibney is also a Minnesota Book Award winner, teaching writing at Minneapolis College. The beautiful illustrations are courtesy of Charly Palmer, who studied art and design at the American Academy of Art and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Sam and the Incredible African and American Food Fight will be available through the University of Minnesota Press this year.

Every time another national “quality of life” is broadcast or published about the best places to live in the U.S., Minnesota and the Twin Cities always rank at or near the top. The Atlantic’s Derek Thompson once referred to this as the miracle of Minneapolis.” Likewise, every time those lists are parsed out further, the state and the metro fall all the way to the bottom when it comes to quality of life measures for Black people, or, what some have called the “Two Minnesotas.” But to ensure that all those in our state have the opportunity to thrive, we cannot forget about the communities that have been systematically abused, persistently underrepresented, and long underserved. Minnesota is now the seventh (7th) worst state in the country for Blacks to live. This dubious recognition alongside the May 2020 murder of George Floyd has brought the State into an era of racial reckoning and has put racial inequity at the center of the national conversation, and Minnesota on the racial map. Today Black folks are more than twice as likely as their white counterparts to live below the poverty line. Additionally, the typical Black household earns just 63 cents for every dollar a typical white household earns, and African American workers are more than twice as likely to be unemployed as white workers.

Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, 24/7 Wall St. created an index to measure socioeconomic disparities between Black and white Americans to identify the worst states for Black Americans. High on the list of cities that have extremely troubling disparities is Minneapolis-St. Paul. Minnesota’s urban core boast these disturbing rates:

• Black population: 290,210 (8.2% of total)

• Black median income: $36,127 (44.0% of white income)

• Unemployment: 9.2% (Black); 3.2% (white)

• Homeownership rate: 25.2% (Black); 75.5% (white)

• Black poverty rate of 28.3% in the metro area, 5.9% (white)

• Black medium household earn $36,127 a year — the median income among white area households is $82,118.

The profound racial wealth gaps for Blacks in Minnesota is structural, as they are across the United States. Structural racism is inherent in intersecting and overlapping institutions, policies, practices, ideas, and behaviors that give resources, rights, and power to white people while denying them to others. The roots of racial wealth gaps can be traced back centuries through racialized public and private policies and practices, which fueled economic boosts to white families that allowed for intergenerational wealth transfers and created barriers to Black families.

Past discrimination and injustices accumulate and build across generations, making it hard for communities that have been harmed to catch up. As one example, the losses from unpaid wages and lost inheritances to Black descendants is estimated at around $20 trillion today. The NAACP Twin Cities 2019 Economic Inclusion Plan states: “There are two Minnesota’s, one white, one Black – separate and unequal.”

Data from the 2019 Prosperity Now Scorecard shows that 40% of Americans are liquid asset poor—meaning they do not have enough in savings to make ends meet at the poverty level for three months ($6,275 for a family of four in 2018). This problem is even more stark when disaggregated by race. 31.7% of white households are liquid-asset poor compared to over 62% of Black households.

Recent trends in Hennepin and Ramsey Counties are moving in the wrong direction. The share of Black families who own a home has declined from 31 percent in 2000 to 21 percent in 2018. The racial homeownership gap in the Twin Cities is the highest in the nation and has only widened over the past two decades, especially in neighborhoods where investors have acquired hundreds of single-family homes to now use as rentals, according to a June 2021 report from the Urban Institute.

In the inspiring words of Toni Morrison, “If there is a book you want to read, and it hasn’t been written yet, then you must be the one to write it.” Thank you so much for writing this one, Shannon. Well done!

Shannon Gibney

Helping Black households exchange leases for mortgages the goal of House bill

About three out of four Black households rent. The reverse is true for white households.

HF918 intends to close this racial gap in homeownership.

“Owning a home addresses the need of safe, secure and dignified housing,” said Rep. Esther Agbaje (DFL-Mpls), the bill sponsor. “We know it leads to improvements in education, economic stability and health.”

Held over Wednesday by the House Housing Finance and Policy Committee for possible omnibus bill inclusion, the bill seeks to increase homeownership opportunities for underserved communities of color with a onetime $10 million appropriation in fiscal year 2024 to Build Wealth Minnesota.

Additionally, the bill would quadruple the organization’s fiscal year 2023

Brosius

From 4

appropriation from $500,000 to $2 million for a family stabilization plan program. Costs could cover budget and debt counseling, outreach and financial literacy education.

We have been working to help families get comprehensive financial education and build wealth through homeownership, said executive director David McGee.

Rochelle Washington, a first-generation homeowner, joined the program to help with her credit score, then at 545.

“Now I am proud to say I that I have a credit score of 791,” she said.

A recipient of Section 8 housing vouchers for over 20 years, Washington said the program saved her from being homeless and she has happily resided in her own home for more than a year.

The nonprofit’s 9000 Equities fund would attempt to reduce the wealth equity and homeownership gap between

accomplished in his remarkable career, says Board Chair Silvia Perez. “Peter’s legacy in theatre for young audiences is unparalleled impacting arts at a local, national and international level, but even more impressive

liquidity risk.

Liquidity risk

Liquidity risk is the risk that a bank won’t be able to meet its obligations when they come due without incurring losses.

Black and white households by 15% in the Twin Cities metropolitan area and finance 9,000 new homeowners over five to seven years.

A targeted loan pool would offer affordable first mortgages or equivalent financing opportunities.

Rep. Brian Johnson (R-Cambridge) believes the targeted bill is not equal because it would single out the Black community while “leaving out everybody else in the state of Minnesota.”

If there’s a program that improves homeownership in the Black community, I don’t understand how that becomes a problem, said Rep. Hodan Hassan (DFL-Mpls).

When there is a fire in one home, we don’t wait until everyone else catches fire to put it out, she said while noting the bill specifies “underserved communities of color,” not exclusively the Black community.

is his positive imprint in millions of minds exposed to his work at CTC.”

Managing Director Kimberly Motes states “Peter Brosius’ passionate pursuit of CTC’s mission has led to

$1.8 billion. The drain on equity capital led the lender to try to raise over $2 billion in new capital. The call to raise equity sent shockwaves to SVB’s customers, who were losing confidence in the bank and rushed to withdraw cash.

without realizing any loss. The unrealized loss stays hidden on the bank’s balance sheet and disappears over time.

But if the owner has to sell the security before its maturity at a time when the market value is lower than face value, the unrealized loss becomes an actual loss.

That’s exactly what SVB had to do earlier this year as its customers, dealing with their own cash shortfalls, began withdrawing their deposits – while even higher interest rates were expected. This bring us to

For example, if you spend US$150,000 of your savings to buy a house and down the road you need some or all of that money to deal with another emergency, you’re experiencing a consequence of liquidity risk. A large chunk of your money is now tied up in the house, which is not easily exchangeable for cash.

Customers of SVB were withdrawing their deposits beyond what it could pay using its cash reserves, and so to help meet its obligations the bank decided to sell $21 billion of its securities portfolio at a loss of

A bank run like this can cause even a healthy bank to go bankrupt in a matter days, especially now in the digital age.

In part this is because many of SVB’s customers had deposits well above the $250,000 insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. – and so they knew their money might not be safe if the bank were to fail. Roughly 88% of deposits at SVB were uninsured.

Signature faced a similar problem, as SVB’s collapse prompted many of its customers to withdraw their

Rochelle Washington testifies before House lawmakers March 8 in support of a bill sponsored by

right, to provide a fund to increase homeownership opportunities in underserved communities.

exceptional productions filled with excellence and heart, innovative educational and community programming, and a drive to ensure that every child and family have the opportunity to participate, belong, and create

deposits out of a similar concern over liquidity risk. About 90% of its deposits were uninsured. Systemic risk?

All banks face interest rate risk today on some of their holdings because of the Fed’s rate-hiking campaign. This has resulted in $620 billion in unrealized losses on bank balance sheets as of December 2022. But most banks are unlikely to have significant liquidity risk. While SVB and Signature were complying with regulatory requirements, the composition of their assets was not in line with industry averages.

Signature had just over 5% of its assets in cash and SVB had 7%, compared with the industry average

at CTC. Peter’s dedication, boundless energy, and enormous vision is inspiring. It has been such a joy to work alongside him the last seven years to advance this powerful and important mission.”

of 13%. In addition, SVB’s 55% of assets in fixed-income securities compares with the industry average of 24%.

The U.S. government’s decision to backstop all deposits of SVB and Signature regardless of their size should make it less likely that banks with less cash and more securities on their books will face a liquidity shortfall because of massive withdrawals driven by sudden panic.

However, with over $1 trillion of bank deposits currently uninsured, I believe that the banking crisis is far from over.

Vidhura S Tennekoon is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis. Vidhura earned his BSc degree in Engineering from the University of Peradeniya

The CTC Board of Directors has hired Management Consultants for the Arts to conduct the search for the next Artistic Director who will begin on July 1, 2024.

and an MBA from the University of Colombo in Sri Lanka where he is originally from. He earned an MSc degree in Economics and Econometrics with Distinction from the University of Nottingham, UK. During 2008 to 2012, Vidhura attended Washington State University and received a PhD in economics. Before joining IUPUI in 2014, Vidhura worked at the Departments of Economics of the University of Oklahoma and Eastern Washington University where he taught several undergraduate and graduate economics courses. He also has professional experience as a central banker. The article appeared originally on The Conversation and is republished under a Creative Commons license.

photo/Andrew VonBank

Rep. Esther Agbaje,

ENOUGH.

What is the message we send to the world about sports in one of the most economically advanced democratic countries in the world when women athletes are paid so much less than men that they must hire out labor out overseas to survive?

While today’s professional men athletes receive multiple year contracts worth millions AND can expect to get paid handsomely for sponsoring products (Dairy Queen, Subway—to name a few businesses that immediately come to mind), women rarely appear in such marketing endorsement, and when they do, their compensation is far less than the men on the same commercials.

No Joke, the Numbers Speak for Themselves

If you take Griner’s salary of $165,000 and add more zeros, the gender pay disparities are startling and jump out at you.

According to Hoop Salaries (NBA Salaries | HoopsHype ) by teams, men basketball players presently earn 1000 (yep one thousand) times more than Griner will make this year.

They also are guaranteed multiple year contracts, whereas she has only a guarantee of one year!

Where isthe decency and equality in this fact?

Moreover, many athletes earn beyond these reported salaries with endorsements and sponsorships rarely available for Black women in particular. But these outside jobs increasingly come with accountability.

What I consider to be Griner’s inadequate athletic

compensation stems from cultural beliefs and practices rooted in America’s history of enslaving Black people, the abuse of women in general and especially Black women, and this country’s historic annihilation of Indigenous people.

These racialized and gendered practices are historic and emanate from White Supremacy undergirded by patriarchal, male-centered beliefs that non-white people are subhuman and that women, who gave birth to them, are “the weaker sex” and “secondclass citizens.”

In effect, the inequality that exists today formally and informally, in individual behavior, in historic laws, and institutional policies and practices, are based upon a flaw logic that white men are superior to anyone who walks this earth. This fallacy is at the heart of the race concept, the practices of racism, sexism, White Supremacy, Jim Crow, segregation, anti-Blackness, anti-Black police violence, and more. All were created to ensure the sustainability of these beliefs.

America Owes Brittney

Griner

Griner does not have cushy reserves from billiondollar endorsements like professional athletes. She is not Stephen Curry, Michael Jordan, or LeBron James, and certainly not SKanye once had –and lost. .

The path for Black women athletes has been a troubled one. They have had to endure body and hair shaming. Links to article about Rutgers basketball players For sure, Griner deserves “hazard pay” from the United States government. After all, her case got caught in a global political chess game between Russia, the United States, and the Ukraine war.

To me, it seemed that U.S. Department of State highjacked Griner’s case in

order to gain the release of Paul Whelan, imprisoned for espionage, after they had botched his release in an earlier exchange. (hyperlink) While the spotlight on Griner opened up new possibilities for America to redeem itself in the Whelan case—it also exposed the reality of a Black person’s story once again being decentered and sacrificed to save a white person. History repeats itself.

Much Deserved Honor for Griner: NAACP Image Award Accolades Griner’s appearance (sans her signature dreadlock and with wife Cheryl) at the NAACP ((https://www. theroot.com/brittney-cherellegriner-make-emotionalappearance-at-1850163383), speaks to how her story has inspired so many nationally and globally. The moving standing ovation she received

from the star-studded audience was well deserved. Largely, because Griner has not positioned herself not as a victim, but as a champion and voice for other Americans wrongfully detained (https://www.npr. org/2023/02/26/1159587297/ brittney-griner-naacp-imageawards-wrongful-detentions ). Given the road she has chosen—to be a voice for the voiceless—Griner deserves compensation. But this is not the only battle she needs to must fight; she has to use her voice and experiences to bring attention to the urgent need for gender pay equality in sports and that should be in the forefront. It is long overdue.

©2023 Irma McClaurin Irma McClaurin (https://linktr.ee/dr.irma / https://twitter.com/ mcclaurintweets) is Insight News’ Culture and Education Editor, a columnist, and

a commentator on “The Conversation With Al McFarlane” (https://bit.ly/ TCWAM). A past president of Shaw University and former Associate VP at the University of Minnesota and founding ED of UROC, this activist anthropologist was named “Best in the Nation Columnist” by the Black Press of America in 2015. She is a recipient of the 2021 American

Anthropological Association’s Engaged Anthropology Award and is an award-winning writer as well as a former Fulbright Specialist. A collection of her columns, JustSpeak: Reflections on Race, Culture & Politics in America, is forthcoming in 2023 and she is working on a book-length manuscript entitled “Lifting Zora Neale Hurston from the Shadows of Anthropology.

612.377.2224 guthrietheater.org

Born With Teeth

Now – April 2

Tickets start at $20 for select performances.

A quick-witted faceoff

Fresh from its critically acclaimed world premiere at the Alley Theatre, Born With Teeth cleverly imagines a backbar meeting between two writing greats: Kit Marlowe and William Shakespeare.

VICTOR WOOTEN & THE WOOTEN BROTHERS Groundbreaking Jazz Funk

KIRK WHALUM Soulful Smooth Sax Star

THOMASINA

PETRUS SINGS LADY DAY The Best of Billie & Me

BENNY GREENSOLO Hard Bop

by LIZ DUFFY ADAMS directed by ROB MELROSE

The Guthrie Theater presents an Alley Theatre production of