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Insight News May 27, 2019 - June 2, 2019

Vol. 46 No. 21• The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • insightnews.com

The power of legacy

Gertrude Matemba-Mutasa is new executive director for Phyllis Wheatley Community Center, a pillar institution for Minnesota’s Black community.

Photo by Uche Iroegbu/ui.photographic

Page 2 • May 27, 2019 - June 2, 2019 • Insight News

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Remembering Rondo

By Maya Beecham Contributing Writer Melvin Smith met and married his purpose in 1968 within three months.

Her name then was Rose JoAnn Beecham. They had something in common.

They are both from the historic Black Rondo Neighborhood of St. Paul, by way of other cities. In 1963, Smith, in his early twenties, moved to Rondo from Sandtown, Okla., the state’s first Black settlement now known as Doffing Neighborhood.

Beecham moved with her family to Rondo as a young girl in 1950 from Kansas City. They met on a blind date. However, it was what Smith learned about Beecham, after they became more acquainted, that captured his heart.

Behind her quiet demeanor she possessed a mastery of art that spoke to his soul, and awakened the inner artist lying dormant in him.

“When I met my wife, she told me she did art. I was looking at her artwork and looking at her, and that gave my life purpose. When I saw her artwork and thought of me being an artist too that gave me purpose and that’s why I knew I wanted to marry her,” said Smith.

Their first encounter turned into a 52-year journey of life, love, marriage and art.

They invite the public to view a part of their journey through visual art. From June 7 – Sept. 8 Melvin and Rose Smith (Beecham) will display their memories of life in Rondo through the exhibit “Rose and Melvin Smith: Remembering Rondo” at Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum on the West Bank of the University of Minnesota, 333 E. River Pkwy.

“Rondo is a magical place,” said Melvin Smith, “all Minnesotans know that. It’s a place where Gordon Parks, Rose J. Smith, Melvin R. Smith were inspired to do art. It’s where Dave Winfield learned how to hit the long ball. It’s the place where Roy Wilkins fashioned

his ideas about race. It’s a magical place. We’re Rondo artists.”

Both Melvin and Rose Smith became deeply engaged in art in different ways. Melvin Smith, who is known for his work in sculpture and collage, received his first major recognition as an artist by being the first African American in the history of his high school to become a Scholastic Art Award Gold Key recipient. After high school he pursued other careers including journalism, security, model agency photography and serving as a tennis coach at St. Paul Academy and Summit School, and, according to Melvin Smith, personally teaching St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, III how to play tennis.

Rose Smith became engaged in art during her primary years. She began drawing in a 2nd grade class when a teacher took notice of her rendering of a sheep and declared it the best drawing of a sheep she had seen. After that she took off with art. Later she won art awards at Marshall Junior High in 9th grade, and at Mechanics Arts High School in 12th grade. “(Creating art) relaxes me and takes me to a different world while I am doing it,” said Rose Smith. “The ‘Remembering Rondo’ exhibit took me back to the time we lived on those streets and went to the different stores and how it’s changed now.

We wanted to let people know what it was like when we were there.”

Together the Smiths have traveled the country displaying their art.

“When we got married, we decided life is what you do every day and not what you plan to do later. So, we acted out our life right there. The first thing we decided was that we were going to follow the journey of a lost tribe of African Americans in art. That’s what all of this is about following their journey,” said Melvin.

They began by doing local traveling exhibitions, exhibits in corporate headquarter offices, an exhibit at United Theological Seminary of the

Artists: Melvin R. Smith and Rose J. Smith Twin Cities and an exhibit in New Ulm, Minn. to name a few.

Some of their art pieces have become a part of permanent collections at the Weisman Art Museum, Minnesota Historical Society, Oklahoma State Collection, Roxane and Steve Gudeman Collection, the Travelers Insurance Collection and Fred Jones Jr. Museum Collection. Additionally, Melvin Smith created a 40-foot “Walking Warrior” sculpture – one side representing a female and the other side representing a male – that has been installed for 25 years in the Western Sculpture Park where Smith said the African American community started in St. Paul on Marion Street. Nationally they’ve exhibited at the historic Southside Community Art

Center (Chicago), The Studio Museum in Harlem (New York), Chicago State University, the Fred Jones, Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma, and their own project, the now defunct Oklahoma Museum of African American Art. “One of the things that characterized our artwork and who we are is we first did artwork about other places and then we thought about where we are from and the historic significance … so we wanted to do (artwork about) Rondo,” said Melvin Smith The Smiths also want to recognize Rondo for what they consider the neighborhoods significant standing in American history. Melvin said, “Rondo is bigger than one city. The reason

America should remember Rondo is integration happened; true integration. Even before it was deemed by law to be integrated.

Rondo was integrated before the Civil war, so that made it a special place that America should remember. We want (Rondo) to get recognition for what it gave to America, integration as Roy Wilkins talked about in his book ‘Standing Fast.’”

While the Smiths’ art speaks of critical moments in history, and significant memories of family, community and society as a whole, it also speaks for them as individuals.

“We are intuitive artists,” said Melvin Smith. “We do stuff from our subconscious … our joint art statement is we contend that visual artists are

ports that have been sworn to tell the truth. Therefore, each exhibition that we do or each piece of artwork that we create is like a song for our souls. It is a song composed by contemplation, expressed through silence, folded in truth, repeated in dreams, understood in love, hid and awakened and sung in our hearts. That’s what art is to us.

It’s never been about money for us. This is very important to us.”

For more information on “Rose and Melvin Smith: Remembering Rondo” at Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum visit www.wam.umn.edu/calendar/ rose-and-melvin-smith-remembering-rondo.

Maya Beecham is the niece of Rose Smith (Beecham)

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Insight News • May 27, 2019 - June 2, 2019 • Page 3

Insight News WINNER: 2018 NNPA MERIT AWARDS: 3RD PLACE BES T COLUMN WRITING

May 27, 2019 - June 2, 2019

WINNER: 2019 GENERAL EXCELLENCE, 3RD PLACE, COLUMN WRITING, 2ND PLACE

Vol. 46 No. 21• The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • insightnews.com

PWCC hosts Juneteenth 2019 celebration at Bethune Park

Wheatley legacy leadership role continues to evolve

By Harry Colbert, Jr. Managing Editor harry@insightnews.com Phyllis Wheatley Community Center in North Minneapolis seeks to continue its 95 years of service to community, now under the direction of Gertrude Matemba-Mutasa.

Matemba-Mutasa took over as executive director for the center this past August.

Phyllis Wheatley, a legacy institution in the Twin Cities, was originally established as a settlement house for Black women who had migrated to the area in hopes of finding employment and in search of a better life for them and their families. The Wheatley, as some called it, also housed Black students from the University of Minnesota who were not permitted to live on campus, as well as Black dignitaries and entertainers who, due to segregation, could not stay in white hotels. Some who enjoyed the comforts of The Wheatley included W.E.B. Dubois, Marian Anderson, Langston Hughes, A. Phillip Randolph, Ethel Waters, Paul Robeson and others.

“We were established

to meet the needs of the community, and as the needs have evolved, we have evolved,” said Matemba-Mutasa during a recent Facebook Live sit-down with Al McFarlane, Insight News editor-in-chief.

That evolution has included running a childcare and learning center, a program for men with a history of violence who are working to gain skills to resolve conflict non-violently in their lives and a program that provides ongoing support and legal advocacy for women who have been victims of domestic violence. The childcare center was established in 1929 and, according to Matemba-Mutasa, it has the highest standard of rating in childcare from the state.

“We’re also working with our adults to make good decisions; to build strong relationships and to show them the way to economic selfsufficiency,” said the director.

“Whatever you come to Phyllis Wheatley for, we are in a position to connect you with other community resources so we can take care of you as a whole person.”

The center is also host site for the annual Minneapolis Juneteenth celebration.

Juneteenth is widely

Uche Iroegbu/ui.photographic

Gertrude Matemba-Mutasa, executive director, Phyllis Wheatley Community Center

regarded as the celebration of Black independence in the U.S. The name derives from a mashup of June and 19th, the date in 1865 Blacks in Galveston, Texas – the last to be notified – were emancipated. Though most slaves were freed, the official end to slavery didn’t occur until December of 1865.

The Twin Cites celebration of Juneteenth takes place June 15 from 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. at the park connected to Phyllis Wheatley, Bethune Park, 1304 North 10th Ave. The celebration is an all ages event and free to the public. This year’s featured entertainment is ‘90s R&B mainstay, Christopher Williams, singer of the No. 1 hit, “I’m Dreamin’” and “Talk to Myself.” In addition to entertainment, Juneteenth will feature food, vendors and a variety of family activities.

Matemba-Mutasa’s interview with Insight News is available online at www. insightnews.com/multimedia/ conversations-with-al-mcfarlane-gertrude-matemba-mutasa/youtube_ec43e006-6de011e9-bb2a-63de2c595d65.html.

Insight News is a media partner of this year’s Juneteenth celebration.

Sharmarke Issa named board chair at Minneapolis Public Housing Authority Issa grew up in Minneapolis Public Housing after coming to the United States as a refugee from Kenya at age 11 Sharmarke Issa was confirmed by the Minneapolis City Council to chair Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (MPHA).

Issa is the first immigrant and first East African to serve as chair of the MPHA Board of Commissioners. He is also the first Somali immigrant in the country to lead a public housing agency’s governing board.

“Having grown up in in Minneapolis public housing after coming to our city as a refugee, Sharmarke’s story of success highlights public housing as vital asset in Minneapolis,” said Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. “Sharmarke’s life experience and background in urban planning are especially

Sharmarke Issa important to MPHA’s mission. At a time when the federal government continues to shortchange housing funding, he will be a skilled steward of our public housing infrastructure who understands and centers the needs of residents.”

“I congratulate Sharmarke for his appointment to

chair of the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority Board of Commissioners and I thank the previous Chair for all of his work,” said Councilmember Abdi Warsame (Ward 6). “Public housing is an integral part of our city’s affordable housing stock. I have a deep attachment to those that live in public hous-

ing. They are my constituents, my friends and my family. I know Sharmarke will be a strong advocate on behalf of those that live in public housing, and is committed to keeping Minneapolis public housing, public.”

“I believe that everyone has a fundamental human right to housing, which ensures access to a safe, secure, habitable, and affordable home,” said Issa. “I’m truly humbled by the mayor’s appointment and look forward to working with my colleagues on the MPHA board to guarantee that all of our residents can exercise this right to live in security, peace, and dignity.”

Issa grew up in Minneapolis Public Housing after coming to the United States as a refugee at age 11.

Approximately onethird of Minneapolis Public Housing residents are members of the East-African community.

Issa received both his bachelor’s degree and a master’s in urban planning from Minnesota State University in Mankato.

Sen. Tina Smith says too many children in federal housing still at risk of lead exposure Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) is leading a Senate effort to reduce the risk children who live in federally subsidized housing are exposed to due to lead.

Smith, along with several Senate colleagues introduced the “Lead-Safe Housing for Kids Act,” to require the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to adopt prevention measures and update rules to protect children from lead exposure.

“A family should never have to choose between affordable housing and their chil-

Sen. Tina Smith dren’s safety,” said Smith. “Yet our current housing policies put children at risk for lead poison-

I2H

NorthPoint: Expanding on a 50-year legacy of community service

PAGE 4

ing by failing to properly screen for lead in advance, and by punishing families who choose to move out of unsafe housing. We know that any lead exposure is too much for children, and this bill ensures that our housing laws protect them and their families.”

In 1978, the United States banned lead-based paint from being used in housing. However, Smith said thousands of units of federally subsidized housing in Minnesota were built prior to that year, potentially putting thousands of Minnesota chil-

dren at risk of lead exposure.

Smith said that since the enactment of federal lead policies in the 1990’, lead poisoning rates have fallen dramatically, but lead poisoning risks continue to disproportionally impact minority children who live in federally subsidized housing because of outdated and ineffective federal laws and regulations.

The problem can be costly. Left unaddressed, lead poisoning can cause irreversible and long-term health, neurologi-

LEAD 7

Harry Colbert, Jr.

Looking up to Karl-Anthony Towns, both literally and figuratively, Hamza Abdi (right), 16, gets words of wisdom from the Timberwolves star center.

Timberwolves offer teens recipe to success with visit to Cookie Cart

By Harry Colbert, Jr. Managing Editor harry@insightnews.com So, what did Minnesota Timberwolves Head Coach Ryan Saunders do to celebrate the announcement he’d officially been named coach of the team … he went out for cookies.

He wasn’t alone in his May 21 cookie run and his venture wasn’t to just any bakery, but to Cookie Cart, 1119 W. Broadway Ave., North Minne-

apolis. Saunders and several of his players, including star center Karl-Anthony Towns stopped by the North Minneapolis bakery to meet with teen employees, pass along words of encouragement and advice and to make, decorate and package cookies.

Earlier in the day it was made official that Saunders, 33, would take over as head coach of the NBA team once coached by his father, the revered Flip Saunders. Ryan Saunders had been the team’s interim

TIMBERWOLVES 6

St. Paul HRA to hold quarterly update on Housing Trust Fund The St. Paul Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA) is discussing implementation strategies for the city’s new $71 million Housing Trust Fund.

In December 2018, the St. Paul City Council approved a one-time $10 million and annual $2 million investment into a Housing Trust

Fund, for total housing investments of over $71 million. The Housing Trust Fund was developed by St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter to produce, preserve, and protect housing affordability for the city’s residents. The contributions of flexible city

FUND 6

AS

News

Virginia educator wins 2019 National Teacher of the Year

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Soul Lao: On making the case for Lao food in Minnesota

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Page 4 • May 27, 2019 - June 2, 2019 • Insight News

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Insight 2 Health NorthPoint: Expanding on a 50-year legacy of community service

By Harry Colbert, Jr. Managing Editor harry@insightnews.com The transformation of the corners of Penn and Plymouth Avenues in North Minneapolis is continuing with one of the community anchors, NorthPoint Health & Wellness, expanding.

While much of the current location at 1313 Penn Ave. N. is under construction … demolition crews have already torn down the north end of the NorthPoint clinic and the former site of Estes Funeral Home has also been reduced to rubble … NorthPoint is still providing much needed care to residents; just as it has been for the past 50 years.

An exhibit inside the new executive offices across the street at 1256 Penn Ave. N. chronicles history of NorthPoint. Born Pilot City, NorthPoint began as an allencompassing service institution, providing social services, mental health care and a food shelf … services still provided by the staff at NorthPoint. The creation came out of a President Lyndon B. Johnson initiative to serve low-income and disenfranchised communities in the United States. Pilot City was one of 13 to be born out of the federal program.

Mariann Beard-Goss has been there from the beginning.

Beard-Goss first came to NorthPoint, then Pilot City, as a dental patient in

Part of the exhibit chronicling the 50-year history of Pilot City/ NorthPoint. The exhibit features an early edition of Insight News.

Photos Harry Colbert, Jr.

The new location of the NorthPoint food shelf at 1835 Penn Ave. N. in Minneapolis.

1969. Now she is a volunteer with the agency, working as a greeter and assisting in the facility’s computer lab.

Speaking fondly of NorthPoint, Beard-Goss said, “It’s our community resource.

We would be lost if we didn’t have the many things offered here.”

Beard-Goss said when Pilot City first opened it provided furniture and even tools to area residents.

“And we’ve always had a food shelf,” said Beard-Goss.

That food shelf now has a new home, a few blocks north on Penn and Golden Valley Road at the location of the former Wirth Co-op, 1835 Penn Ave. N., which shut its doors last year. The food shelf

The rubble of the former Estes Funeral Home will soon be cleared to make way for the expansion of NorthPoint Health & Wellness Center. is open to the public Monday – Thursday 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Those receiving SNAP or MN Sure are also offered the opportunity to benefit from the

food shelf on Fridays from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

In addition to the food shelf, every other Friday – the next being this Fri-

V.J. Smith, founder of Mad Dads, volunteering at the NorthPoint biweekly food giveaway at UROC, 2001 Plymouth Ave. N. day (May 31) – on the UROC parking lot at 2101 Plymouth Ave. N., NorthPoint is offering free healthy foods for area residents. That food giveaway takes place at 8 a.m. and goes until supplies are exhausted.

“NorthPoint is not a building or an institution, it’s part of the community,” said Juan Jackson, board chair for NorthPoint. “And as the community has evolved, so too has NorthPoint.”

Attorney General Ellison sues to protect Minnesotans from discrimination in health care Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has joined a coalition of 23 states and local governments in filing a lawsuit against a Trump Administration rule that would compel Minnesota to, “grant to individual health providers the categorical right to deny lawful and medically necessary treatment, services, and information to patients, based on the provider’s own personal views.”

The federal lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York, seeks to prevent a Final Rule issued by the Trump Administration’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from going into effect. The suit follows a comment letter that Minnesota and a coalition of states submitted in March 2018, when the rule was first proposed, urging that the rule be withdrawn.

“No one should be able to deny anyone else legal, medically-necessary care based solely on their own personal beliefs. No one,” Ellison said.

“It’s a fundamental betrayal of everyone’s right to live with dignity, safety, and respect. The Trump Administration wants to take that right away from Minnesotans. I’m stepping in to protect Minnesotans when the federal government won’t.”

Under the rule, HHS would have sole discretion to determine whether a state has complied with the mandate to allow discrimination. If HHS were to determine that Minnesota or any of the many agencies and nonprofits that the state contracts with to deliver healthcare services had not allowed businesses or providers to discriminate solely on the basis of their personal beliefs, the federal government could terminate funding that supports Minnesotans’ health. This could include Medicaid, the Children’s

Attorney General Keith Ellison Health Insurance Program, HIV/AIDS and STD treatment and prevention, and substanceabuse and mental-health treatment, among many others.

Ellison said the consequences of the rule would fall particularly hard on women, people of color, lowincome people and LGBTQ patients, who already confront discrimination and other restrictions in obtaining affordable, high-quality health care.

The lawsuit Ellison joined alleges the Final Rule, which will take effect in July 2019, would undermine the delivery of healthcare by giving a wide range of healthcare institutions and individuals a right to refuse care, based on the provider’s own personal views. The rule expands the number of providers eligible to make such refusals, ranging from ambulance drivers and emergency-room doctors to receptionists and customer-service representatives at insurance companies. Ellison contends the rule makes this right absolute and categorical, and no matter what reasonable steps a health

provider or employer makes to accommodate the views of an objecting individual, if that individual rejects a proposed accommodation, a provider or employer is left with no recourse.

For example, under the rule, Ellison said a hospital could not inquire, prior to hiring a nurse, if he or she objected to administering a measles vaccination – even if this was a core duty of the job in the middle of an outbreak of the disease or an emergency room doctor could refuse to assist a woman who arrived with a ruptured ectopic pregnancy, even if the woman’s life was in jeopardy. The lawsuit filed contends the rule would also allow businesses, including employers, to object to providing insurance coverage for procedures they consider objectionable, and allow individual health care personnel to object to informing patients about their medical options or referring them to providers of those options.

The lawsuit argues this expansion of refusal rights, and the “draconian threat,” as Ellison put it, of termination of federal funds, violates the federal Administrative Procedures Act and the Spending Clause and separation of powers principles in the U.S. Constitution.

A copy of the complaint is available on the website of New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Attorney General Ellison is joined in filing the lawsuit with the original plaintiff, New York, and the states of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin, the City of New York, the City of Chicago and Cook County, Illinois.

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Insight News • May 27, 2019 - June 2, 2019 • Page 5

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Page 6 • May 27, 2019 - June 2, 2019 • Insight News

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Virginia educator wins 2019 National Teacher of the Year

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Contributor Rodney Robinson, a 19-year teaching veteran who became a teacher to honor his mother and who struggled to receive an education after being denied one as a child due to segregation and poverty in rural Virginia, was named the 2019 National Teacher of the Year by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO).

Robinson, who teaches at Virgie Binford Education Center, which is a school inside the Richmond Juvenile Justice Center, was commended by CCSSO for creating “a positive school culture by empowering his students – many of whom have experienced trauma – to become civically-minded social advocates who use their skills and voices to affect physical and policy changes at their school and in their communities.”

Robinson told the National Education Association that he

looks forward to helping lead a conversation about the students whom he calls “the most vulnerable in society” and how the nation can address the school-toprison-pipeline that has pushed too many kids out of school.

“This year, I hope to be the voice for my students and all students who feel unseen, unheard, unappreciated and undervalued in America,” Robinson said.

In 2015, Robinson started teaching at Virgie Binford Education Center in an effort to better understand the schoolto-prison pipeline. His classroom is a collaborative partnership between himself and his students and is anchored in him providing a civic centered education that promotes socialemotional growth, Robinson said. He uses the knowledge he has gained from his students to develop alternative programs to prevent students from entering the school-to-prison pipeline.

Published three times by Yale University, Robinson has received numerous awards for his accomplishments in and out

Timberwolves

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From 3 coach, taking over midseason in the 2017-2018 campaign. The younger Saunders said spending time with the youth at Cookie Cart was just as important as his press conference earlier in the day officially naming him coach.

“Being here is a testament to the character in this locker room that six players in the offseason on a Tuesday at 4 p.m. would come to be here with these kids,” said Saunders, while filling a box with freshly baked sugar cookies. “It’s a testament to our commitment to this community. We want to be well-rounded on the court and off the court as well.”

Towns said the team owes so much to the fans that it

Fund From 3 dollars along with federal and state financing tools is intended to address the current crisis of housing affordability in St. Paul.

Current issues facing the St. Paul housing market include increasing costs of labor and materials limiting new construction, housing costs rising at a quicker pace than average incomes, and significant racial disparities in homeownership.

“Safe, secure, and affordable housing is critical to ensure all our residents can achieve stable and prosperous lives,” said Carter. “I applaud the collaborative leadership

National Teacher of the Year, Rodney Robinson. of the classroom, most notably the R.E.B. Award for Teaching Excellence. He is a member of Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney’s Education Compact

is only right to be visible within the community.

“It’s awesome to be in this community; the community give us so much. Because of the fans we’re able to succeed and we’re honored to be able to give back,” said Towns.

Sixteen-year-old Hamza Abdi, a Cookie Cart employee, said meeting Towns and other members of the Timberwolves was a dream come true.

“For me to meet these players; they’re superstars and it’s my dream to meet them,” said Abdi. “My dream is to become like them and I love getting to talk to them and learn from them.”

Started in 1988 as a means to keep teens away from gangs and violence by nun Sister Jean Thuerau, Cookie Cart employees teens ages 15-18 and offers leadership training in addition to a paycheck for an estimated 200 youth.

of our HRA, and city departments for committing to discover innovative approaches to invest in St. Paul’s future.”

The Housing Trust Fund strategy identifies five key objectives to address housing issues: meeting the needs of those with the lowest incomes by increasing supply, investing in preserving affordability of existing homes, exploring innovative approaches to meeting housing needs, building wealth for residents and communities and, promoting fair access housing for all. The strategy builds upon the 2017 findings of the St. Paul Fair Housing Working Group, as refined by community engagement during the City’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan process and Carter’s “Voices of Our Community and Imagine

Receptionist Lue B. Lampley

Photography David Bradley V. Rivera Garcia Uchechukwu Iroegbu Rebecca Rabb Artist Donald Walker Contact Us: Insight News, Inc. Marcus Garvey House 1815 Bryant Ave. N. Minneapolis., MN 55411 Ph.: (612) 588-1313 Fax: (612) 588-2031 Member: Minnesota Multicultural Media Consortium (MMMC), Midwest Black Publishers Coalition, Inc. (MBPCI), National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) Postmaster: Send address changes to McFarlane Media Interests, Marcus Garvey House 1815 Bryant Avenue North, Minneapolis,

Harry Colbert, Jr.

Our City” listening sessions.

“Establishing the Housing Trust Fund will allow us to increase our creation and preservation of affordable housing access in St. Paul,” said HRA Chair Chris Tolbert.

“This will ensure that more families have access to stable housing, which will allow those families an opportunity to thrive in our community.”

Multiple city departments are collaborating to address housing needs in St. Paul. The team of housing professionals within the Department of Planning and Economic Development is focused on implementing investments with the Housing Trust Fund. PED’s housing staff collaborates with colleagues in the new Office of Financial

Hawthorne Neighborhood Council “Back to School Community Give-a-Way” In conjunction with National Night Out

Join HNC for this worthy cause to help our future leaders.

We will be collec ng NEW school supplies for grades K-12 between May 1st—July 31st to give families a li le extra support from HNC and the local businesses again this year.

Last year we collected over 200 backpacks.

Our goal is to make sure every child has a backpack, pencils, paper, pens, rulers, crayons, etc. when they go back to school. (Please bring or send all items to our office located at 2944 Emerson Ave. N)

Drop off site: HNC office—2944 Emerson Ave N. Unison Comfort Technologies-60 28th Ave N Discount Steel-216 N 27th Ave

The Give-a-Way will take place on: When: Tuesday August 6, 2019 Where: 2944 Emerson Ave N (HNC office) Time: 6:00p.m.—8:00p.m.

Call 612-529-6033 for more informa on!

“Child MUST be present to receive backpack. NO EXCEPTIONS!” Lite refreshments will be served!

underrepresented male teachers into the field of education.

Robinson has also worked with Pulitzer Award winning author James Foreman on devel-

Timberwolves forward Cam Reynolds (left) gets a lesson in cookie making from Cookie Cart employee LaShaye Walton, 15.

3rd Annual

Intern Kelvin Kuria Contributing Writers Maya Beecham Nadvia Davis Fred Easter Abeni Hill Timothy Houston Michelle Mitchum Inell Rosario Latisha Townsend Artika Tyner Toki Wright

Team, which includes politicians, educators, business leaders, and community leaders, and is working with city leaders and local colleges to recruit

oping curriculum units on race, class, and punishment as a part of the Yale Teacher’s Institute.

The 2019 Teacher of the Year, who earned a bachelor of arts in history from Virginia State University and a master’s in educational administration and supervision from Virginia Commonwealth University, has focused a great deal of his efforts on the need for mental health services in schools and singles out the stigma surrounding treatment.

As Teacher of the Year, CCSO officials said Robinson will have a heightened platform to advocate for the students who are being left behind by budget cuts and a system that emphasizes punitive discipline over preventative and rehabilitative measures.

“I want school counselors, I want conflict mediators, I want restorative justice, I want people to come in and actually work with the kids and not just put a kid in handcuffs whenever there is a minor disagreement,” Robinson said.

Empowerment, the Department of Safety and Inspections and Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity to ensure that all St. Paul residents have access to safe, affordable housing and economic opportunity.

In February, the HRA endorsed investments from the Housing Trust Fund into the new 4(d) Affordable Housing Incentive Program which preserves existing affordable housing by providing landlords with a small property tax credit. 104 applications for 721 units were received within the first two weeks of the program launch, including nearly 200 units serving households at or below 50 percent of area median income.

“Our greatest successes will be ahead of us,” said St. Paul Housing Director Kayla

Schuchman. “We have mapped out a course that responds to the needs of the people in our community. Through engagement, partnership, and creativity, we will deliver housing resources that will both help people in the current crisis and build upon and invest in the resources of our residents and communities for the future.”

In the next year, the Housing Trust Fund will explore different housing affordability models including a rent supplement pilot in partnership with St. Paul Public Schools, and investments in other models of sustained affordability and wealth building such as the Rondo Community Land Trust and targeted down-payment assistance programs.

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Insight News • May 27, 2019 - June 2, 2019 • Page 7

Transformation: Life and death of a known quantity

By Randall Bradley Architect The original Pilot City Health Center building is being demolished.

That means that it will no longer exist in real time. It won’t be here. It will be gone.

It will become a memory. It will become a part of the history of this community. Virtually all of the built reality that we know on this planet comes to the end of itself at some time.

We call this ending, death, or in this case demolition. The former life of this building becomes something that we will no longer interact with anymore.

Most of the built environment gets replaced. This fact is usually a question of when, not if.

The Neighborhood Center Pilot Program was built as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Poverty.”

There were 14 “Pilot” programs established throughout the nation in 1968. These multi-purpose neighborhood service centers offered childcare, healthcare, education, government services, community development, a crisis center, employment counseling and placement, elderly services and emergency social services.

In Minneapolis, the Beth El Synagogue (and this subsequent new addition) became the Pilot City Health Center, and began hosting the program in 1968.

Beth El Synagogue, designed by architects Liebenberg & Kaplan in the neoclassical architectural style, opened in 1926 and served its congregation until its final service in June of 1968. The addition was designed in 1968 by the office of Parker Klein Architects in the international style of architecture.

An innovative feature of this building was its column-free interior spaces. This was achieved through the use of structural

“Ts” (so named because of their visual T shaped profile). Structural Ts were a combination of the (vertical) web and the top flange only members (that are found in steel beams). These members are constructed of steel reinforcing bars and concrete, poured into a mold. That mold shapes the mixture of materials into the structural beams as you see them in their placement in this construction project (these structural beams can also configured as double TTs for some projects, but not this one).

While typically used in bridge and parking ramp construction, Ts were an early example of the transition from industrial construction to office building construction.

This was a pioneering architectural solution placed in our Northside community. The long spans achieved allowed for open interior office space.

The Pilot City Building (which later become NorthPoint Health and Well-

ness) was built by the James Leck Company. The Pilot City Building was a notable example of innovative architectural design and quality construction. This was a landmark building for our community.

It should be remembered by us all for a very long time.

The Pilot City Building has stood on this site at 1313 Penn Ave. N, Minneapolis, since 1974. The new medical center building was built and opened in 1992. These separate buildings operated under their names until 2004, when both were united under the present name of NorthPoint Health and Wellness Center.

The enviable success of NorthPoint is leading to its’ growth and expansion. The current Pilot City building is unable to be remodeled to accommodate the offices, equipment, and programs of this growth.

It is being removed so that the correct configuration can be built. As odd as it may seem,

Randall Bradley.

NorthPoint Health & Wellness undergoing its transformation and expansion along Penn and Plymouth Avenues North. the dust, dirt, noise, vibration and discomfort this demolition will bring, is fundamentally a birthing process. New will come forth. A much utilized, significant, health and wellness center will be expanded to serve us even better than it already does.

This new known quantity that we are going to receive, will be here for a long time into our futures. This is a superb component of the ongoing “transformation” of our community into a desirable place to live. It represents the new life we deserve.

Founder of Outdoor Afro calls on Congress to fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund Commentary by Rue Mapp, Outdoor Afro In a time of so much uncertainty and division, public lands are an invaluable resource to connect us to nature and each other.

The “Great Outdoors” have a way of neutralizing the “isms” that plague us – they bring people together who might not have the chance to spend time with each other, and help them double down on joy in stressful times.

As the impact of the recent government shutdown and years of underfunding continue to weigh on our national parks and public lands, it’s never been more important for us to protect the values they afford. Luckily, we now have reason to be optimistic about

Lead From 3 cal, and behavioral damage in children. Children with lead poisoning require ongoing medical treatment and special education services, and studies have demonstrated the profound impact of childhood lead poisoning on outcomes such as school graduation rates.

The proposed legislation would require more stringent risk assessments or to identify lead hazards before a family moves into a housing unit, allow families to relocate without losing housing assistance if lead is identified in a home and the landlord fails to control the hazard within 30 days and requiring landlords to disclose the presence of lead if found in the home.

Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Tim Scott (R-SC), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Todd Young (R-IN), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Tim Kaine (DVA) and Rob Portman (R-OH), joined Smith in introducing the May 21 legislation.

Rue Mapp

what the future may hold for our nation’s public lands.

The president recently signed into law public lands legislation that includes permanent reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF),

one of our nation’s oldest and most important conservation tools. This public lands package passed the House with 363 votes in favor, an incredible bipartisan support in this divided Congress.

There’s still one

more step, however, after this important victory.

LWCF must be permanently and fully funded to truly secure the future of the program, a responsibility that falls back to our members of Congress. In passing the public lands package, they’ve already demonstrated what bipartisan collaboration can yield. Now, it’s time to finish the great work they started and take the final step for the future of LWCF. This is an unparalleled opportunity to build on campaign promises related to environmental protection and outdoor access, because LWCF has played a key role in protecting America’s natural, historic and cultural landmarks for more than 50 years. Minnesota has been the recipient of more than $240 million in funding from LWCF since it was enacted.

This includes millions of dollars in funding for the Mississippi National River Recreation area in St. Paul, and the West 7th Community Center.

These investments enrich the city and improve the quality of life in Minnesota.

And St. Paul has the opportunity to bring the support of a crucial champion to the fight for increased funding for LWCF. Rep. Betty McCollum has an enormous role to play in ensuring that these dollars will continue to exist in much larger amounts for generations to come. As the chairwoman of the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee her voice is critical in seeing additional funding for LWCF become a reality.

LWCF wasn’t designed solely for otherworldly places we might feel like we can’t touch or exist in.

Yes, it protects the places we

see on paintings and postcards. But it also protects the places we teach our kids to ride bikes and play baseball. LWCF funding protects places like the local parks and community centers, including those in our cities.

I’m grateful that Congress made this a priority and aligned their votes with the majority of Americans who want the government to continue fully funding LWCF. Now, it is up to great leaders like Betty McCollum to ensure that we fund this incredibly successful program at the level it deserves and increase the appropriations level for LWCF in this year’s federal budget.

Rue Mapp is founder and CEO of Outdoor Afro, a national nonprofit celebrating and inspiring African-American connections and leadership in nature.

Page 8 • May 27, 2019 - June 2, 2019 • Insight News

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Soul Lao: On making the case for Lao food in Minnesota

By Aarohi Narain The jeow mak len explodes on the tongue in a scattering of spicy-sweet. Tiger’s eye fish sauce melds with mortar-andpestled bits of cilantro, chili, tomato, shallot, and garlic– a conspiracy of flavors bordering on fatal.

A generous daub of Soul Lao’s jeow can make almost anything taste good. And Eric Phothisanh and Sabrina Boualaphanh, 28-year-old co-owners of the food truck phenom, know it.

But the origin story of Soul Lao – and its Lao and proud provisions – is not an uncomplicated one. Initially, Phothisanh and Boualaphanh had planned to master Thai cuisine. Phothisanh’s father even ran a Thai restaurant in Washington state at the time.

But after refining their craft in the kitchens of Bangkok and

Eric Phothisanh (left), Sabrina Boualaphanh, and daughter, Willow, with the Soul Lao truck.

Chiang Mai, the two made their way to their ancestral homeland of Laos. There, they discovered

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“Sabrina’s great aunt, Dao asked us, ‘Why don’t you do Lao food? It’ll open your eyes to yourself and the world and create more ripples in the water.’”

Phothisanh said. “And we just went from there. Our focus shifted to making Lao food a staple.”

“We had been told that Thai food would do well, but Lao food can’t go that far,” Boualaphanh added. “Our food isn’t Instagram-ready. We use chicken feet and blood cubes. Our food is messy, it’s funky, it’s spicy.

We want to represent the underrepresented, and have people give this experience a chance.”

Even today, the limelight seems to elude Lao food. There are complex and interconnected reasons for this.

Thai and Lao cuisines bear marked similarities to one another because Laos and northeastern Thailand were once part of the same kingdom, so they share culinary influences and sensibilities. This has led to some well-meaning confusion, and foods with Lao roots and distinct variants – think papaya salad and larb – remain better known in their Thai avatars.

Moreover, Lao food has not benefited from the kind of clever marketing that catapulted Thai food to popularity. For its many mild and sweet curries, Thai fare presents a palatable option even

Top: A spread of naem khao (crispy coconut rice balls tossed with herbs and fermented pork sausage), sai oua (Lao pork sausage) and “Grandma’s” oyster wings.

Bottom: Co-owners Sabrina Boualaphanh (third from the left) and Eric Phothisanh (second from right) along with loved ones at Blackstack Brewery. for diners daunted by the “ethnic” and “exotic.”

So, while it’s true that most Americans hesitate when it comes to paying top dollar for it, Thai food has, at the very least, a venerable spot in the global hierarchy of taste. The same cannot quite be said for Lao food

… yet.

As the diasporas mature into their forties, Lao- and HmongAmerican activists and cultural producers have been writing the “Secret War” into history, and creating a new canon of art as

SOUL LAO 9

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Insight News • May 27, 2019 - June 2, 2019 • Page 9

Avant Garden returns this September featuring MC Lyte The Walker Art Center’s annual benefit and party, Avant Garden, returns Sept. 21 with hip-hop icon MC Lyte as special guest DJ. Hip-hop royalty, MC Lyte is the first female to perform hip-hop in the White House and first African-American female to serve as the president of the Los Angeles chapter of the Recording Academy (Grammy organization). A current member of the Board of Trustees of Dillard University, the Brooklyn rapperturned-DJ has had an extensive and illustrious career. Her first LP, “Lyte as a Rock,” released in 1988, was an immediate smash firmly placing her on the hiphop map with the breakout hit, “Paper Thin.” Lyte’s follow-up LP, “Eyes on This,” brought further acclaim with the hits “Cha, Cha, Cha,” “Cappucino” and “Stop, Look, Listen.” It was Lyte’s fourth LP, 1993’s “Ain’t No Other” that earned her biggest commercial hit, “Ruffneck.” Later collaborations with Xscape (“Keep on Keepin’ on”) and Brandy (“Wanna Be Down”) further endeared her with both hip-hop and R&B audiences.

Soul Lao From 8 intense and revelatory as it is playful.

Soul Lao, guided by the vision of Phothisanh and Boualaphanh and the foundation laid by #LaoFoodMovement, is just as much about breaking the silence and embracing a long invisible and stigmatized identity. Their medium of choice happens to be sticky rice.

“I don’t want her to forget our roots,” said Boulaphanh, gesturing towards the couple’s two-year-old daughter and tastetesting extraordinaire, Willow.

“A lot of Lao folks don’t want to talk about our history.

Stanley Clarke Award-winning Jazz Pioneer

Mindi Abair and The Boneshakers

Pop Jazz Saxophone Star

MC Lyte

CoCo and Breezy

MC Lyte is the first rap artist to perform at New York’s historic Carnegie Hall, the first female rapper to receive a gold single, the first female solo rapper nominated for a Grammy; and in 2006, MC Lyte became the first solo female rapper to be honored and inducted on “VH1›s HipHop Honors.”

MC Lyte is also the author of “Living in the Lyte: Lessons in Life, Love and Truth» and «Fusion: Bridging the Gap between the Civil Rights Movement and Hip-Hop,” a book she coauthored with NNPA president and CEO, the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Chavis, Jr. International stars, Minneapolis-born twins, Coco & Breezy

will also DJ. DJs and designers, the two became a global force, having designed eyewear worn

by Prince, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Demi Lovato, Nicki Minaj and Quavo. The twins have forged brand partnerships with American Express, H&M, Moet, Armani, Dior, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger and more.

Following the release of the 2018 single “Differences,” 2019 is off to a fast start for Ringing Bells, with a guest mix on Diplo’s Revolution on Sirius XM. Tickets for Avant Garden at the Walker Art Center, 725 Vineland Pl., are $125 and are on sale online at www.walkerart.org/calendar/2019/avant-garden-2019 or by calling (612)-375-7641.

This is a way for us to hold on to a piece of our roots,” Phothisanh chimed in. “We make the food we were raised on, what our grandparents made for us. This is soul food.”

Soul Lao’s food, while comforting and relaxed, is also incredibly labor-intensive to prepare. The pair source their ingredients locally and make everything from scratch. At Blackstack Brewery, where Soul Lao has found a spiritual connection of sorts, herb-forward Lao sausage, crispy pork-flecked rice and chicken wings keep winning, but they’re more than your standard boozy bites.

“I make the oyster wings for my grandma. We brine them, freeze them ourselves … it’s a long process. It makes me humble to know what my grandma

went through to feed us,” said Phothisanh.

Paired with the bright, limeinfused Lao IPA, a Blackstack x Soul Lao collaboration, the meal is more tonic than simple treat – it is inextricably tied to community and family. And Phothisanh and Boualaphanh aren’t afraid to charge diners exactly what that experience – sharing quality and flavor with friends and family – is worth.

“Just because we’re Asian immigrants doesn’t mean our food has to be cheap” said Boualaphanh, referencing “Fresh Off The Boat” writer Eddie Huang’s “No Coupons” speech. “We charge full price because it’s worth it.”

“If we weren’t doing it,” asserted Phothisanh with a grin, “you wouldn’t be getting it.”

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Page 10 • May 27, 2019 - June 2, 2019 • Insight News

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