Insight ::: 10.03.2022

REIMAGINING

AUTHENTICITY AUTHENTICIT Y

Creating the U of M urban agenda

I began my contributions to the development of UROC.

By Irma McClaurin, PhD

I have been actively engaged in community engagement as an anthropologist and also as an administrator for decades. The opportunity to put into real practice what I had learned over time came in late 2007, when I assumed the roles as the Associate Vice President and Founding Executive Director of the University of Minnesota’s (UMN) first

Urban Research and Outreach Engagement-Center (UROC) (http://uroc.umn.edu ). UROC began as an “urban agenda,” and it became my responsibility (and my passion) to make transform it into an “urban vision for the 21st Century” of community engagement (An Urban Vision for the 21st Century (slideshare.net) .

This year (2022) marks the thirteenth (13th) year anniversary of the launch of UROC, a unique university research and engagement center based in the urban communities that comprise North Minneapolis. When UROC opened in 2009, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that the Northside community was in need of support. It was one of the most under-resourced areas of Minneapolis. And every time a major financial crisis hit, whether origins were nationally or locally, North Minneapolis suffered. There have been many changes and development since 2010, when I departed. NorthPoint Health and Wellness Center (https:// www.northpointhealth.org/ ) has expanded and brought an expansion of community health and wellness services into North Minneapolis as well as employment opportunities for many.

Difficult to believe that it was15 years ago that

I was hired because as an anthropologist, since 1991, I was deeply grounded in participatory research, rapid assessment approaches to data collecting, and other qualitative methods in which those being studied became part of the research process...i.e., co-creators.

My own ethics, as a woman and “native” anthropologist, required that I be intentional about my involvement in community-based research, and not make any assumptions. It also required that I suspend my power role as “expert.”

Prior to my arrival, there had been 2 1/2 years of conversations with North Minneapolis residents that had yielded little change and the community had protested.

Though the UniversityNorthside Partnership was formed (UNP) as a structure, trust was in short supply.

These were the conditions within which I had to work my team of two professional staff and one administrative assistant to build trust from the ground up. And we succeeded, because after meetings and conversations at monthly Community Affairs Meetings (https://uroc.umn. edu/about-us/our-people/ community-affairs-committee ), North Minneapolis residents were ready for action.

One reason the Northside community challenged the UMN’s plan was out of concern about the plans to conduct research (https:// mndaily.com/192688/news/ metro-state/some-north-sideresidents-wary-u-partnership/ ) that might involve children, often invoking the Tuskegee syphilis experiment as an example of how scientists and science could not be trusted.

They wanted to hold UMN, its students, and its faculty accountable for demonstrating the direct benefit of any research project to the community. As a result, the University-Northside Partnership was formed as a starting point, and a way to give the community a voice in the ongoing development of UROC.

By Azmera HammouriDavis, Founder

In a recent workshop with Dr. Irma McClaurin, who writes about “authentic” community engagement (https:// irmamcclaurin.com/communityengagement-specialist-dr-irmamcclaurin-speaks-on-authenticcommunity-engagement-atuniversity-of-rochester/), I have had a chance to reflect on what the concept means to me. In the context of my recent community engagement work, it encompasses how relationships are built, formed and sustained with intentionality and organically. This means that while the institutions and organizations we represent may have identified our work as mission-alignment, the

nature of our relationship with communities grows over time in ways that are not transactional; instead they center on human beings and their very real human needs.

In the past, typically, community engagement between an institution and

communities have been marked by distrust, extraction, and at its worst, exploitation.

(https://blockclubchicago. org/2022/08/11/riot-fest-firescontractor-after-disprespectfulmeeting-fuels-tensionsbetween-fest-organizersneighbors/ – Today, communities are keenly aware that the only interest that the institutions/ organizations may have in them is to benefit their own interests.

Also, in community engagement work, there is a very real power dynamic because large institutions/organizations have sizable endowments and endless resources to deploy on behalf of aligning the work with their mission in ways that benefit them primarily. In contrast, nonprofit community organizations (big or small) operate with smaller budgets. Every activity they engage in matters, and they have little

room to be flexible. Thus, they are suspicious of partnering with larger entities for fear their priorities will be less prominent. Nonetheless, it is possible to generate equity across such a power divide.

The University of Minnesota’s Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center (UROC) (https:// www.rochester.edu/) is one example of how universities and communities can join forces and learn to collaborate with equity and across power differentials. UROC is now in its 13th year; it opened in 2009, and has a variety of programs and initiatives that require community partnerships. Its history serves as an illustration of possibilities.

As I continue on my authentic community

Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this article was published as a 2021 blog: https://irmamcclaurin.com/ community-engagement-in-practice/

Courtesy of UROC

Courtesy of UROC

Irma McClaurin with UROC Architects: Alicia Belton, Urban Design Perspectives (https://www.urbandesignperspectives.com/aliciabelton) and Chuck Levin, Charles Levin Architects, http://www.charleslevinarchitects.com/.

Culture and Education Editor

Courtesy

Azmera Hammouri-Davis

Vota Azul: DFL Block Jam celebrates women candidates

the Vote’’ (GOTV) event in celebration of BIPOC women candidates running for o

ce.

Entitled Vota Azul: DFL Block Jam, the event features live music including

New Black City, Selah, DJ Keezy, and DJ Miss Brit; food trucks; prominent guest speakers; and voter registration initiatives.

Vota Azul: DFL Block

Jam takes place 3pm-6:30pm, October 11, 2022, at the parking lot of Maharaja’s, 205 7th St W, Saint Paul.

María Isa PérezHedges’ campaign promotes

engagement with local artists and cultural community endeavors. Movimiento DFL is a community caucus emphasizing the leadership of BIPOC organizers. María Isa

and Movimiento are co-hosting the event with the state party in support of the the state DFL ticket and women of color candidates in particular.

María Isa Pérez-Hedges, DFLendorsed candidate for House of Representatives District 65B, the Movimiento DFL Caucus, and the Minnesota DFL have announced a joint “Get out

ballotpedia

María Isa Pérez-Hedges, DFL-endorsed candidate for House of Representatives District 65B

Banker Dorothy Bridges to lead Meda

Banking leader Dorothy Bridges has joined Meda as interim CEO & President.

Bridges has worked in the banking industry more than 40 years, often with a focus on commercial and community development lending in minority, small business and development markets.

“Many know that my passion runs deep for helping Black and brown businesses start, grow, and prosper,” Bridges said. “I am honored to lead Meda at a time when the future is transforming.”

Bridges assumes the role from outgoing President and CEO Alfredo Martel, who has decided to transition after nearly 3 years to pursue new opportunities.

Martel was appointed Meda’s CEO in November 2019. He guided the organization through the pandemic, expanded lending capacity for Meda’s current and future clients, and expanded Meda’s presence in the Minneapolis and St. Paul community. He led important

In-person

talent and operational resources improvements which leave Meda very well poised to continue to fulfill its mission going forward, the organization said.

“Meda could not be in better hands. Dorothy Bridges brings a wealth of banking and executive leadership experience to her position as interim CEO,” said Sara Idle, Meda board member and chair, MEDA Governance Committee. “The board of directors looks forward to working with Mrs. Bridges. She has our support and that of the talented team at Meda.”

Bridges’ “passion for Meda’s mission is unmistakable and her decades’ worth of work in numerous financial institutions and capacities will be of immense value for the organization,” said Meda board member Jashan Eison:

Bridges is a former executive of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. As Senior Vice President, she led several divisions and her responsibilities included overseeing the bank’s

activities in government and media relations, internal and external communications, public outreach and community development, and the activities of the bank’s Center for Indian Country Development (CICD).

Prior to her role at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, Bridges served as President and CEO of City First Bank in Washington, D.C. and of Franklin National Bank in Minneapolis.

Bridges is a member of the U.S. Bancorp (USB) Board of Directors and serves as a member of the Risk Management Committee and as chair of Public Responsibility Committee. She also currently serves in leadership roles on the boards of the Greater Twin Cities United Way, the Minneapolis Parks Foundation and the University of Minnesota Foundation board of trustees.

Meda also announced that Keven Ambrus, vice president of finance and IT has been promoted to Chief Operations Officer.

voting now

By Steve Karnowski and Christina A. Cassidy Associated Press

In-person voting for the midterm elections opened Friday in Minnesota, South Dakota, Virginia and Wyoming, kicking off a six-week sprint to Election Day in a landscape that has changed much since the pandemic drove a shift to mail balloting in the 2020 presidential contest.

Twenty people voted in the first hour as Minneapolis opened its early voting center, taking advantage of generous rules that election officials credit with making Minnesota a perennial leader in voter turnout. First in when the doors opened was Conrad Zbikowski, a 29-year-old communications and digital consultant who said he has voted early since at least 2017.

“I like to vote early because you never know what might happen on Election Day,” said Zbikowski, displaying his civic pride with a T-shirt that bore the sailboat logo of the City of Lakes. “You might get sick, you might get COVID,

you might get in a car crash, there’s many things that can happen. But what you do have control over is being able to vote early and getting that ballot in.”

The start of in-person voting comes as the nation continues to grapple with the fallout from nearly two years of false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from former President Donald Trump due to widespread fraud and manipulation of voting machines. Those conspiracy theories, promoted by a constellation of Trump allies in the campaign, on social media and at conferences held across the country, have taken a toll on public confidence in U.S. elections.

They’ve also led to tightening of rules that govern mail ballots in several Republican-led states as well as an exodus of experienced election workers, who have faced an onslaught of harassment and threats since the 2020 election.

But nearly two years since that election, no evidence has emerged to suggest widespread fraud or manipulation while reviews in state after state have

upheld the results showing President Joe Biden won.

Saturday also is the deadline by which election officials must send ballots to their military and overseas voters. North Carolina started mailing out absentee ballots Sept. 9.

Early in-person voting is offered in 46 states and the District of Columbia, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. States may use different ways to describe it, with some calling

Ambrus joined Meda in March 2022 to lead Meda’s financial management strategy and influence Meda’s IT systems, workflow processes and strategic goals. His career has focused on analyzing and developing financial plans to implement change with specialties in budgeting, financial planning, operational modeling, forecasting, and IT management.

Meda operates a Community Development Fund Institution (CDFI) that provides capital to enable businesses to become sustainable enterprises and employers. Meda hosts the Minnesota Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) Business Center, which has been recognized by the MBDA as the top performing center four of the last six years. For more information, visit meda.net.

For information: 1256 Penn Ave. N, Suite 4800 Minneapolis, MN 55411 612332-6332/info@meda.net

Ellison reelection campaign raises #1.4 million

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison last week announced his campaign raised $849,240 this year, bringing the total cycle raise to $1,390,985 and reporting cash on hand of $922,618.

In a press release announcing funds raised so far Ellison reelection campaign said the Attorney General “is running for reelection to keep helping Minnesotans afford their lives and live with dignity, safety, and respect.”

“These numbers are a testament to the support and excitement for Attorney General Keith Ellison and his great work delivering for Minnesotans across the state,” said Ellison campaign manager Jeanne Stuart. “Minnesotans know that their rights are on the ballot this November and that Keith is the only candidate who is committed to protecting them. As MAGA Republicans get ready to spend millions to fear-monger and smear, we are confident in our path to ensure Keith’s re-election.”

Ellison also released

a new TV advertisement, “Prosecutors,” highlighting his work prosecuting violent crime and his relationships with County Attorneys across the state.

The campaign’s press statement said, “Keith Ellison is working hard as the people’s lawyer to take on the most serious and violent criminal cases for prosecutors across the state, protect Minnesotans from fraud and abuse, and protect families’ pocketbooks from price gouging and corporate bad actors.”

To learn more about the campaign visit KeithEllison. org.

it in-person absentee voting or advanced voting. In some cases, it mirrors Election Day voting with polling locations equipped with poll workers and voting machines. Elsewhere, it involves voters requesting, completing and submitting an absentee ballot in person at their local election office.

Early voting periods vary by state, with some offering as few as three days and others extending to 46 days. The

A Timeline in Context to the Racial Climate During the Time Patrick Henry School Was Established & Named in 1925 Researched and created by historian Susan Curnow Breedlove, 2016-2022 1736-1799 The Lifetime of Patrick Henry May 29, 1736-Patrick Henry born, son of a merchant. A poor student, his father sets him up with a store which fails. Marries at 18.

1763-Self-taught lawyer Henry sues Virginia’s church and parsonage established through Great Britain, wins the penny settlement, launching his political career.

1763-Henry wins a seat in House of Representatives March 20, 1775- Henry gives a well-known speech highlighting the phrase “Give me liberty, or give me death.” The phrase was not his; it came from the popular play Cato created in 1712 in Great Britain.

1775-Revolutionary War in U.S. 1776-1779 and 1784-1786-Henry is governor of Virginia.

1778-End of importation of enslaved to Virginia and four other states. Virginia had become a major source of internal slave trade and did not need or want importation as they benefited by selling slaves within the U.S. (Note: On the first day of January, 1808, a new Federal law made it illegal to import captive people from Africa into the United States. This date marks the end—the permanent, legal closure—of the trans-Atlantic slave trade into our country.)

1789-Henry plays an important part in the creation of the Second Amendment of the U.S. Bill of Rights that promises the right to keep and bear arms” in-order-to have a “a well-regulated militia.” The militia, in the South, was the police force to enforce slavery practices.

1787-United States Constitutional Convention (Henry not in attendance.)

June 17, 1788-Congress could, in a reporter’s paraphrase of Henry, “lay such heavy taxes on slaves, as would amount to emancipation and then the Southern States would be the only sufferers. . .”

June 24, 1888-In the case of war, Henry warned, “May Congress not say, that every black man must fight? Did we not see a little of

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison

Patrick Henry

Dorothy Bridges

photo/Nicole

The next stage was identifying a space to locate the first Urban Research and Outreach Center in North Minneapolis and involving community in every aspect of UROC’s development.

The University purchased a derelict 1970’s , 21,000 sf strip shopping center in North Minneapolis.

Space Matters

Without the architectural talents and support of the two lead architects, Alicia Belton of Urban Design Perspectives (Urban Design Perspectives) and Charles Levin of Charles Levin Architects (Charles Levin Architects), and the 15 member team they assembled that included public artist, Setiu Jones (McKnight Names Visual Artist Seitu Jones as 2017 Distinguished Artist - McKnight Foundation) , and Bob Close, an environmental landscaper (BOBCLOSESTUDIO. COM), along with the usual engineers, etc., UROC (http:// www.charleslevinarchitects. com/UROC.html ) would not be the special space it is today. It was even a finalist in the “Best of Real Estate Awards.” Stahl Construction (http://www.stahlconstruction. com/projects/urban-researchoutreach-center/ )also willingly participated in achieving UROC’s goal of 30 percent women and minority business enterprises (WMBE) subcontractors. In fact, at the end of the project, UROC had 38 percent of its subcontracts go to WMBE, proving that inclusion is possible with intentionality. UROC has an art gallery (https://uroc-d8.dev.umn.edu/ uroc-gallery in the reception area that showcases the work of community artists—including a tribute to Prince (https://uroc-d8. dev.umn.edu/node/316 ), smart classrooms open to community partners, and business hoteling space for start-ups.

The UROC website, unfortunately, does not currently contain all the background material it once had; but there is some documentation of UROC’s space (https://uroc.umn.edu/ news-events/living-promise).

UROC was initially conceived of as a “demonstration project” and so the original website once held all the archives of news coverage (positive & negative), examples of the Future’s Conference that deeply involved the Northside community in the development of UROC’s strategic plan (https:// journals.iupui.edu/index. php/muj/article/view/21376).

UROC represented a unique opportunity to build a community-based research center in an underserved community while practicing authentic community engagement. The community got to have input on the architectural plan and was actively involved in shaping the design of the renovated space, which was documented in a workshop entitled “Imagining Art and the New Landscape” (https://bit.ly/imaginingarturoc).

UROC was not the result of the University of Minnesota’s altruism but rather a direct result of community resistance, push back, and involvement. Early on, I had my UROC staff archive all documents, press releases, and news articles (bad or good) on the website so that visitors could understand the process of how we struggled to achieve the goals we finally reached, including the completed building renovation and a strategic plan to guide future work, both guided by community input.

Because of my own efforts in establishing the Irma McClaurin Black Feminist Archive (http://bit.ly/ blkfemarchive) at the University of Massachusetts, I have become aware of how important archives are in shaping authentic histories of people, communities, spaces/places, and giving voice to underrepresented individuals and groups.

The “UROC History” that once appeared on the website is no longer available online. Some parts of the old website are archived in the UMN Library using Time Machine,

which takes a snapshot of a website at particular moments in time. Hopefully, the history of the Northside community involvement in UROC’s stages of development will be restored on the active website. Their participation is an important part of UROC’s history. It was not altruism that motivated UMN to develop UROC, rather it was the campaign of outrage and pressure waged by the Northside community that was the catalyst to having a building in the community. The lesson to be gotten from this is that community engagement is messy, not linear, and takes time, financial investment, strong leadership, and partnerships, and this challenging process needs to be visible to all.

UROC and Me

After my departure in 2010 from UROC and subsequently from UMN, it would appear that vestiges of my involvement were erased, with only an occasional mention in publications. I am not honored in the portrait gallery, though I provided the leadership, in collaboration with the community, that spearheaded the development of UROC from the ground up. I oversaw the building renovation, developed the operations plan in collaboration with staff, and selected every wall color, carpet treatment, furniture, and I can even tell you how many HVACs are on UROC’s roof. I know the intimate details of the building’s wiring because I approved every single detail. Try as they might, it is hard to erase my contribution.

Upon completion, UROC was named a finalist in the “Best of Real Estate” Awards in 2009 because of its repurposing of a former business space—a derelict shopping center.

As the founding leader of UROc, I am proud of some the unique things I accomplished in a relatively short period of time. One achievement was serving as the coauthor of a $2.9M American Recovery and Reinvestment Grant (ARRA) from the Department of Commerce (University of Minnesota, community receive $2.9 million grant to help close digital divide in Twin Cities | News | insightnews.com ) to design a Broadband Access Program (https://sites.google. com/a/umn.edu/microsoft-andopen-office-training/what-isthe-broadband-access-project

) that included job creation.

To its credit, the University of Minnesota contributed $770,000. The beneficiaries were 11 community computer centers (not in schools or libraries, since these institutions are based in the community, but are not of the community).

A second accomplishment was bringing art into the mix by commissioning UROC’s first community-based permanent art collection consisting of DNA Art by then Minneapolis artist Lynn Fellman (https:// fellmanstudio.com/about/ ).

The project involved Fellman working with the community nonprofit Juxtaposition Arts (Juxtaposition Arts | Teen-Staffed Art & Design Center in N. Minneapolis ) and taking on two youth apprentices. She also collaborated with other community organizations to identify the individuals they wished to have included in the exhibit: “Genetic Ancestry: Diversity of a Community” (Genetic Ancestry DNA Portraits - Fellman Studio ).

Thirteen Years in the Making Even before UROC’s building renovations were completed, it was recognized as a model of sincere community outreach and engagement and was featured in the book The Road Half-Traveled: University Engagement at a Crossroads (https://staging. community-wealth.org/sites/ clone.community-wealth.org/ files/downloads/report-axelrothdubb.pdf) (see pp: 101-105).

However, as one Northside resident interviewed noted: “…There is a nice rapport happening with organizations working in [North Minneapolis] right now—community, city, university, philanthropic— this area hasn’t seen that type of commitment in a long time. But you can’t undo 40 years of neglect in a threeyear project. Only time will tell” (p. 105; my emphasis).

It is a decade since I left the University of Minnesota, and I have new found ways to continue to put into practice many of the community engagement lessons I learned. First and foremost, I have come to let go of the need to always center myself as “the expert.” I have learned to listen to the community, where ever I am, analyze the historical and cultural contexts of the places

where I work, and then figure out what action to take, in consultation with the community leaders. As a consultant, I ask myself “What do they really need that I can offer?”

Now 13 years later, on September 15, 2022, UROC is celebrating its Community Day, which will honor me alongside with other Executive Directors and staff since my departure in 2010. Some might say it’s a bit overdue, but recognition for good work is always welcomed and never too late.

Towards a Participatory Community Engagement Methodology

The participatory community engagement methodology is a process of unlearning my power and privilege as a researcher began when I conducted my first fieldwork in Belize, Central America in 1991. The data I collected was used to complete my dissertation that became the book, Women of Belize: Gender and Change in Central America (Women of Belize: Gender and Change in Central AmericaIrma McClaurin, PhD ), 2000 [1996] During that period of ethnographic fieldwork and participatory research and community engagement, I lived and worked with mostly rural women and came to realize that they understood their own subordination far better than I had anticipated. And, while they might not always take action, many had a deep awareness of the personal, economic, and social constraints under which they lived.

I gained this insight not by just dropping in (notebook & pen in hand) and “studying” them. Instead, I worked along with them as an equal (a seamstress), ate meals with their families, and hung out with them on the weekends dancing to the local punta, reggae, and some dance hall music. It became a standing joke among the women, “tap a pan, Irma dance.”

The process of becoming an “observant participant” prepared me for the community work at UROC. I approached it as an anthropologist would, telling people that I had one foot in the University and one foot in the community. Ironically, while I was able to cultivate some community critics into supporters, some of my strongest opposition came

from my university colleagues. Their desire to be “in control” and to always be “the expert” sometimes superseded any willingness to work with community people as equals and co-creators

Practicing Authentic Community Engagement Sometimes my support and advocacy for the community’s perspective and involvement was viewed as challenging the University. I was accused of “not watching” my boss’ back. And yet, despite the challenges, being able to translate the idea of UROC into a reality that would benefit the community was well worth the cost. I remain connected to the place/space of UROC, and to the people of North Minneapolis.

The first stage of my evolution was learning to recognize the difference between community engagement/public engagement and “authentic” community engagement. Often, academic scholars and administrators had a difficult time disengaging from their roles as experts and authority and positions of power to recognize that community members, who might not have the same level of education, certainly had valuable ideas to offer, could generate solutions, and as anthropologist John Gwaltney once observed in his seminal book, Drylongso, are involved in “theory building” every day.

Authentic community engagement is not easy.

According to “A Preliminary Matrix for Evaluating Reciprocity within Community/ University Partnerships, North Carolina Campus Compact, Feburary 12, 2008,” it requires a recognition that the two entities (in this case the University and the community) have a joint destiny, that the destinies of the institution and the community are intertwined, and that they must fully cooperate to achieve the desired outcome.

One of the general failures that turn supposed collaborations into consultancies is that the institutional representative often have meetings beforehand to plan their strategy. In doing so, they make decisions and form opinions about the outcomes before ever meeting the community. This places them in positions of power, who simply want the community to cosign or rubber

stamp what they have already decided, making their partners community consultants instead of community collaborators.

As difficult as it might be, both sides need to come to the situation at hand without an agenda, identify what the core issues are that can be agreed upon, and brainstorm solutions.

Trust is a process, and it will take time. I have found that going to the community instead of them coming to the university began to break down some of the “them” v. “us” mentality. Also beforehand, those with power have to be clear that they will give up something, and ask the hard question of how much are they willing to relinquish--at the end of the day, collaboration is all about compromise.

Authentic Community Engagement is my life’s work.

I have applied this approach to work as a Community Engagement Specialist for the planning phase of City of Durham NC’s Comprehensive Plan, the North Carolina Museum of Art, the Orange County (NC) Transit Plan, and the Town of Chapel Hill Gap Study and Analysis. What I have observed across all of these projects is similar to what I learned almost a decade ago working on UROC: underserved and marginal communities want to be heard and want to trust those who reach out to them. They simply want to be included and know that their contributions will yield results.

In 2019, I was involved in the development of an exhibit to honor women in Rochester, NY that was communitycurated (Home | RMSC Presents Changemakers). Ensuring that diverse communities are represented was one of the foundational pieces of my work as one of three Diversity and Inclusion Consultants. Because of the process they have undertaken, the Rochester Museum and Science Center (RMSC) is setting a new standard for how museums can become more inclusive in their programs an in how they engage with community. The exhibition, The Changemakers: Rochester Women Who Changed the World (https://youtu.be/TErJl3lnls8 ) opened in October, 2020. It was an extraordinary exhibition, but even more significant was the work that occurred behind the scenes to put into practice the principles of authentic community engagement. For my role as lead anthropologist and DEI Consultant (along with a Haudenosaunee and Latinx), I and the exhibit were awarded the 2021 national Engaged Anthropology Award (https:// www.americananthro.org/ ConnectWithAAA/Content. aspx?ItemNumber=25884 ) from the American Anthropological Association.

Proof Positive of UROC’s Success

Thirteen years after it opened, UROC is thriving and is uniquely situated as a successful sustainable community engagement example. I believe it stands as one of a few, if not the only, university research center that is based in an underserved community, and that was renovated specifically to provide programs and work with community partners. Another aspect of its uniqueness is that the current Executive Director, Makeda Zulu, is a Northside native daughter. What better proof of success. ©2022

Irma McClaurin Irma McClaurin (https://bit.ly/DrIrmawebsite/ @ mcclaurintweets) is the Culture and Education Editor for Insight News, an award-winning writer, activist anthropology, and Fulbright Specialist. She is the founder of the Irma McClaurin Black Feminist Archive at the University of Massachusetts; President of Irma McClaurin Solutions, a consulting business; past president of Shaw University; and a former Associate VP and the founding Executive Director of the first Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center (UROC) at University of Minnesota. Her book of essays Justspeak: Reflections on Race, Culture & Politics in America, is forthcoming in 2022, with a foreword by Al McFarlane, publisher of Insight News.

Courtesy of UROC

Top Right: Former UROC Exec Directors & Operations Manager:

L. Dr. Heidi Barajas, U of M Executive Vice President & Provost Rachel T.A. Croson, Dr. Geoffrey Maruyama, Dr. Irma McClaurin (founding ED), James De Sota. Wokie Freeman-Gbogba, & Makeda Zulu (present ED).

Courtesy of UROC Dr. Ima w/ Walter Chancellor, Jr., musician

engagement journey, three principles have become my guideposts. They are the result of my work as a community engagement specialist over time and the experiences of growing, nurturing and developing community-based relationships as a public diplomacy cultural ambassador of the U.S. Student Fulbright program in Brazil for Creative and Performing Arts research (https://us.fulbrightonline.

Voting

From 3

average is 23 days, according to the conference of legislatures.

This year, voting will unfold in a much different environment than two years ago, when the coronavirus prompted a major increase in the use of mail ballots as voters sought to avoid crowded polling places.

States adopted policies to promote mail voting, with a few states opting to send mail ballots to all registered voters and others expanding the use of drop boxes.

While some have made those changes permanent,

org/applicants/applicationcomponents/arts).

Below, I have articulated my RTA.

My Guiding Principles for Authentic Community Engagement

1. Respect for another’s culture. This principle is rooted in the awareness that to do this work well, we must have training and knowledge shaped by cultural competency. Without this element, it is impossible to meet the community members where they are at, actively listen, and communicate in words and actions that exude respect and appreciation. Respect is also a foundational block to build Trust.

others have rolled back them back. For instance, Georgia will have fewer drop boxes this year and has added ID requirements to mail ballots under legislation pushed by Republican state lawmakers.

In Wyoming, a steady stream of voters filed into the lone early polling place in Cheyenne, which offered a refuge from winds that toppled a “Vote Here” sign. About 60 people had voted there by midday, Laramie County Clerk Debra Lee said.

“It’s less people and we don’t have to worry,” said one early voter, Brent Dolence of Cheyenne. “Things move faster and you don’t have to wait so much.”

Unlike elsewhere in

2. Trust among Partners. This is cultivated by actions that demonstrate accountability. Accountability in action means taking the initiative to follow up and follow through on what one promises, in order to build trust. The principle of trust means that as a community builder, you must deliver on your promises. Often in this work I am reminded by community members that it’s important to, “Say what you mean, and mean what you say.”

Actions build trust over time and make sustainable partnerships possible.

3. Advocacy is the third and final principle in my authentic community

the U.S., poll workers in Laramie County haven’t been subjected to threats and harassment, Lee said, but they’ve received plenty of questions from voters about machines and the county’s lone ballot drop box.

“They’re really looking at things and asking questions,” Lee said. “In a good way. You know, wanting information. They’re curious.”

Minnesota’s ballot includes races for governor and other statewide offices, with control of the Legislature at stake, too.

Zbikowski declined to say for whom he voted. But he said he doesn’t take the right to vote for granted, given that his family came to America

engagement toolkit. I know that often I will find myself in rooms where the community is absent. In such instances, I have a responsibility to uphold their needs and represent them in a way that honors them, through advocacy.

Final Words I am aware that not everyone agrees with “authentic” community engagement, and that I may not receive support from all my colleagues and peers. For me, however, the heart of authentic community engagement is the desire to advocate on behalf of the community, deprioritize my own self-interests, and try to act

from Russia when it didn’t have free elections. As a parttime poll worker — he was off-duty Friday— he said he’s seen Minnesota’s safeguards firsthand and has full confidence in the integrity of the process.

Other early voters included first-timers Ronald Johnson and his wife, Judith Weyl, who voted on Election Day in 2020. They both said they voted a straight Democratic ticket.

“It just feels like this election is so important, life is so busy, I just wanted to have closure on this as quickly as possible,” Johnson said.

Johnson, a 74-yearold mental health counselor, said he wanted to support

in ways that are for them.

In following the above principles, I hope to be of better service.

© 2022 Azmera Hammouri-Davis Azmera HammouriDavis, MTS (http://www. azm-era.com) (aka the Poetic Theorist) is a Black-Palestinian American innovator, cultureshaper and change-maker who has worked at the intersection of arts education, innovation, and social justice for over a decade.

She is a Fulbright Creative and Performing Arts Research recipient, founder of the women-led multi-generational storytelling podcast Break

The Boxes Stories (https://

candidates who will preserve a Minnesota election system that he said has integrity.

He said he “absolutely” supports the state’s chief elections officer, Secretary of State Steve Simon, over GOP challenger Kim Crockett, who has called the 2020 election a “train wreck” and has advocated for a return to voting mostly on Election Day. Simon, in contrast, calls the 2020 election “fundamentally fair, honest, accurate and secure,” and defends the changes that he oversaw to make voting safer in the pandemic.

“We really care about protecting democracy,” said Weyl, 73.

Aaron Bommarito,

From 3

this in the last war?. . . acts of Assembly passed, that every slave would go to the army should be free. I see a great deal of the property of the people of Virginia in jeopardy, and their peace and tranquility gone away.”

1790-Henry presents opposition to Constitution for the U.S. Henry warns that if you “give up your rights to the

general government, then that government would have the terrible power to end slavery.” 1799-Henry dies of stomach cancer. Despite Henry’s opposition to the institution of slavery which he considered a “lamentable evil,” he was himself a slave owner leaving his 67 slaves to be divided between his wife and his six sons. As one of the slave owners with the most slaves in Virginia, he had written earlier, “I will not, I cannot justify (owning slaves),” but he was not conflicted enough to actually set anyone free. Pre-Civil War

1808- Jefferson signs act prohibiting African slave trade 1801 Haiti abolished slavery as Toussaint L’Overture and Dessalines lead vs. Napoleon with slogan “Freedom or Death” 1833-Great Britain abolishes slavery 1861-1865 U.S. Civil War

Period A Naval ship is named Patrick Henry with a Confederate flag which has printed on it “Liberty or Death”

1863 Emancipation Proclamation, slavery abolished in U.S.

1865-1877 Reconstruction Federal laws offered observable protection of civil rights for many former slaves and free blacks. 1867-Sleeper cars put on railroad by Pullman. Jim Crow Era 1877-1950s Early 1900s-largest single employer of Black men in U.S. was with railroad. First migration of African Americans to Minnesota. 1913-Establishment of African American community in Humboldt Heights of Camden with sale of property on 44th and Irving, James, and Knox sold by Thorpe Real Estate. Many of

the migrant men were employed as porters and families had large truck farms.

Climate of Racial Unrest and Discrimination in Early 1900s in Minnesota When Henry High School Was Established 1910-racial covenant on Minneapolis properties with racial restrictions on real estate. This is also a eugenics period. Eugenics is a social movement based on the belief that the genetic quality of the human race can be improved by the use of selective breeding.

spoti.fi/3UF0hcr), co-founding member of theKEEPERS global Hip Hop Collective, and was the first person offered the inaugural Africana Spirituality Chaplain role at Tufts University Multifaith Chaplaincy. Since 2014, Azmera has written, produced, directed and performed 5 full length visual poems and performed on over 200 stages across 7 cities in 4 countries and counting, addressing audiences from diverse backgrounds, ages, and faith-traditions. She currently works as a professional in Community Engagement and Partnerships.

a 48-year-old teacher who also said he voted a straight Democratic ticket, said he has no concerns about his votes being counted properly and has “absolute confidence in the system.” He said voting early was a spur-of-the moment decision. He just happened to be driving by the voting center and seized the moment.

“I dropped my two kids off at school, and the ‘Vote Here’ sign was the next thing I saw,” he said.

Cassidy reported from Atlanta. Associated Press reporter Mead Gruver contributed to this story from Cheyenne, Wyoming.

The eugenics movement was a belief that fostered racism, discrimination, abortion, and genocide. 1920-Ku Klux Klan resurgence in nation including Minnesota. KKK is known for its beliefs in white supremacy and white nationalism. They professed intolerance for Catholics, German and Jewish immigrants and Black workers who were relocating from the South. June 15, 1920-lunching of three Afro-American men in Duluth, Minnesota

Racists have always hated Black and Brown immigrants

infamous Chinese Exclusion Act and Immigration Reform Act of 1924, both of which severely restricted immigration according to race—and forbade immigration from Sub-Sahara Africa (read”Black” Africans) until 1965!

one’s home nation. So, if you happened to have parents who told the unedited truth, or if you attended a school with teachers who kept it real about historical racism, kudos to you for being “woke” long before that phrase was appropriated by simple cynics who try to use it as a diss.

While a well worn cliche, there is truth to the idiom that “history repeats itself;” for those watching current events while realizing that you have seen, read, or heard about mass hysteria regarding illegal immigrants before, trust me when I tell you that you’re not alone!

As a long time student and teacher of history, I know full well that the “ideals” of America have ALWAYS clashed with the “realities” of America!

You see, there was Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence that touted “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” while at the same time, “Massa” Jefferson and his fellow slave owners were denying life, liberty, and happiness for enslaved Blacks toiling right outside of his Monticello office and across the South.

Lest we forget the Statue of Liberty, christened with a bronze plaque featuring Emma Lazarus’s “The New Colossus” sonnet that aimed to beckon immigrants who were “tired, hungry, and yearning to be free”—all the while Congress was passing the

This past week, there has been much social media chatter about Ken Burns’s latest historical documentary, the “U.S. and the Holocaust,” one that takes a deep dive into America’s role in preventing Jews wishing to escape Nazi persecution in Europe from immigrating to the United States. For those who don’t have the time to read long tomes or treatises about this era, Burns does a masterful job in highlighting what most of us who majored in American history already knew—which is that our nation could have done so much more to help offset what would become the Holocaust by allowing mass access to Jewish refugees (and, during the war, by bombing railroads that led to Auschwitz, Treblinka, Sobibor, Buchenwald, Dachau, and the scores of German concentration camps where over six million Jews and four million Roma were murdered from 1941-1945).

Such pedantic and accurate history is rarely taught in elementary school social studies, or middle and high school history for one reason— history classes, by design, have often been tools for propaganda that inspires jingoism, which is defined as an almost cult like fealty and zeal towards

But if you are learning these facts for the first time via Ken Burns, Google, or even the Hobbservation Point and my Facebook posts, it is better late than never when it comes to seeing and understanding systemic racism in the form of anti-immigration hysteria!

More crucially, I must add that the political party or ideological bent of the racist doesn’t really matter when considering that, from Federalists to Whigs, from “Know Nothings” to Democrats and Republicans, that racists within the white race have despised non-whites equally in formal legal and political policy! You see, their racism was through “Manifest Destiny” and the Trail of Tears among Native Americans and Mexicans back then, while today it’s chants of “Build that Wall”—and pushes to siphon off the lucrative casino money that some Tribes use to offset their losses of land and wealth to the U.S.

When we listen to politicians like Republican former President Donald Trump whip up hysteria about “murderous Mexican criminals and drug dealers,” all the while ignoring his own Department

of Justice’s stats that, per capita, there are more white murderers, drug dealers, and drug users across America than any other race, a curious person should wonder ”why?”

When we see Border Patrol Agents under the Executive Branch authority of Democratic President Joe Biden whipping and using lassos to corral Haitian immigrants crossing the Rio Grande in 2021, all the while nearly 50,000 Ukrainian (read-white) immigrants were gaining access to the U.S. earlier this year, a curious person should wonder, ”why?”

When we see Republican Governors Ron Desantis (Florida), Greg Abbott (Texas), and Doug Ducey (Arizona) sending thousands of Central American immigrants by bus and airplane to Washington, D.C. and Massachussets, a curious person should wonder, ”why?”

To this writer, the “why” boils down to the following:

1. Many whites, including some whites who consider themselves allies of Black and Brown people, do not see Black and Brown people as equals worthy of respect, compassion, and dignity.

2. Most white racists fear the inevitable darkening of America, which is why immigration hysteria moves their masses—as does abolishing abortion because to those of this ilk, whites

need to have another baby boom to offset their population losses to “The Mexicans” and to “The Blacks” from “Sh*thole countries,” as former President Trump infamously declared to the delight of the racists among his base.

3. Racism has always moved the masses, whether it was white fears that the Chinese would take over the West Coast in the 1800’s; whether it was white fears that the Japanese would take over the West Coast in the 1940’s; whether it was white protestant fears that Jews and dark skinned (Catholic/Greek Orthodox) Southern Europeans would take over the East Coast in the 1930’s and 40’s, and today, when it is white fear that “the Mexicans, Venezeulans, Guatemalans, and Haitians” will take over the South in the 2020’s, all of these deplorable

thoughts stemmed (and stem) from a systemic racism bent.

Such a mindset is twisted, demented, evil, and totally opposite of what America claims to be on paper—and in boasts by politicians who preach “E Pluribus Unum,” translated as “From Many, one,» while they really mean “Sicut Unum,” or, “Just One”— with the “one” being whites (or white boot licking, “Yessa Massa” people of color).

Hobbservation Point is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Chuck Hobbs is a freelance journalist who won the 2010 Florida Bar Media Award and has been twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.

Early 1920s-Hatle writes that “for two years in the early 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan of Minneapolis paraded in downtown Robbinsdale. . . down Broadway from 42nd Avenue to a gravel pit near the old traffic circle.”

August 1921-KKK North Star No. 2 established in Minnesota meeting at Olivet Methodist Church on East 26th Street and at Foss Memorial Church at the corner of Fremont and 18th Avenue North September 26, 1922-The Northwestern Bulletin reports that a group of reportedly 3,000 people gathered outside the Minneapolis Auditorium for an address attacking “the Catholic religion, the Jews and Colored people.”

1923 (and1925)-The Twin Cities Urban League and the Minneapolis Urban League chapter were founded as private, nonprofit human service and advocacy organizations to serve the interests and concerns of low- and moderate-income African Americans.

1923-Charles Fremont Dight

helped found the Minnesota Eugenics Society. Eugenics was a movement to improve the human species by controlling hereditary factors in mating. In 1933 Dight sent a letter to Adolph Hitler commending him for his work.

1923-According to Hatle, the longtime Hennepin County sheriff Earl Brown of Brooklyn Center was initiated into the Klan at the Dyckman Hotel in downtown Minneapolis. Says Hatle, “As sheriff, Brown did nothing to stop Klan activities which included cross burnings on the hill across from today’s North Memorial Hospital’s parking lot in Robbinsdale.” (Brown’s initiation is not in his biography and is disputed by another scholar.)

August,1923-Gathering of KKK near Victory Memorial Drive. It was reported by the National Observer as “the largest class ever initiated at one time by any Klan in Minnesota.”

500 white-robed members of the Minneapolis Klan initiated 50 new members. The ceremony took place “in an amphitheater developed from an abandoned sand pit just outside the limits of Minneapolis off Liberty Highway between Minneapolis and Robbinsdale. Following the ritualistic work, a great

fiery cross blazed above the assemblage.

By 1923-Minnesota was home to a reported 51 chapters of the KKK with over 30,000 members, though many were not active October 31, 1923-The American Legion declares the Klan Un-American.

1924-The Country Club District of Edina was platted and built by Samuel Thorpe. By 1927, 200 houses and a golf course had been built. Occupants were strictly restricted to the “White or Caucasian race.” All restrictions were to expire on or before January 1, 1964, except the one regarding race, which was to remain in force forever.

October 17, 1924 Phyllis Wheatley Settlement House was established in North Minneapolis providing lodging services to African Americans including artists such as Marian Anderson and Paul Robeson who were not allowed to stay in Minneapolis hotels due to race restrictions. Such restrictions were placed for Black artists on concert and speaking tours in Duluth, also.

1925-A. Phillip Randolph organizes the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, one of the few opportunities for African American men to earn a “suitable living.” (See Jim Crow Era of this document.)

1924-1927-Directory of members of KKK kept. KKK active in Masons fraternity to which most Minneapolis leaders in industry and businesses belonged. Hatle states that belonging to a fraternity organization was a staple in the 1920s. The Klan modeled itself as a civic club for “superpatriots.”

August 1924- A gathering of KKK members in Faribault, Minnesota reportedly included

2,000 men and 500 women in full regalia with over 400 people initiated and/or nationalized.

August 9, 1924-Open air meetings to be held every Wed @8pm and Sundays @3pm to increase membership and sell more robes as announced in The National Observer.

1925-The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Minnesota filed articles of incorporation which stayed on the books until 1997.

June 30, 1925-School named Patrick Henry according to MPS board minutes, Director Lowell E. Jepson moved that the school be named after Henry. Jepson was president of Winkley Artificial Limb Company in business with his brother Franklin N. Jepson. They were active members of the Plymouth Masonic Hall on West Broadway and Emerson Avenue North and trustees of the Pilgrim Congregational Church on 14th and Lyndale North. Franklin was a member of the AOUW, the Ancient Order of United Workmen (AOUW), a fraternal organization whose constitution provided that only white persons were eligible for membership.

Primarily a politician, Lowell lived in and represented the north side on various boards and was state senator at one time. His membership in fraternal organizations other than the Masons is currently not known and is being researched. His reasons for suggesting the school be named after Henry is not in the school board minutes.

Patrick Henry School began as a middle school, becoming merged as a high school in 1937. January 10, 1926-A St. Louis Park church service interrupted by 25 KKK members garbed in full regalia except for masks, the leader standing before the pulpit and presenting $50 dollar bills to the minister before leaving.

1929-Real Estate mogul Sam Thorpe starts his racial restrictive housing covenants in Minneapolis.

Discriminatory Practices Continue in the 1930s 1934-Federal Housing Administration formally establishes redlining, 4 levels of housing created. Racial covenants did the work of Jim Crow in Minneapolis 1937-Patrick Henry Middle School became a combined high school and middle school. (In 1963 it was solely a high school.)

1940s-NAACP could breach housing covenants says U.S. Supreme Court 1948-All race-specific real estate covenants were invalidated by the U.S. Supreme Court. 1962-Minnesota legislation passed Fair Housing Bill 1968 and 1974-Federal Fair Housing Acts passed #ChangetheName! and Save the Name 2014-Student A. Jones (Class of 2014) writes story after learning of Patrick Henry’s position on enslavement from Dr. Sharon Price, one of his teachers, and it is posted in “On Their Shoulders,” an online journal created by Tom Murray for staff and students at PHHS to pay tribute to those who have gone before them to create a just society that promotes racial harmony.

Fall 2016-“Site Council Findings from Change the Name Proposal.” Article in North News and Facebook August, 2017-Committee of alumni and students formed to consider changing the name of PHHS and #Changethe Name! students meet weekly.

January, 2018-Interview with student S.Rankin (Class of 2018) posted on PHHS website.

March 11, 2018-Alumni and community gathering Save the Name group created.

May 17, 2018-PHHS Site Council meets @PHHS with gathering of estimated 200 individuals of community members, students, staff, and alumni, wherein the two groups #ChangetheName! and Save

the Name presenting their viewpoints and discuss whether or not to change the name of the school.

July 3, 2018-Beth Vang writes article for Camden Community News “Generations divided on changing or saving the name of Patrick Henry High School.”

2020-In the aftermath of the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis–Saint Paul, an advisory committee to the Minneapolis Public Schools unanimously approved a namechange process for the high school, with funding to rebrand the school at some point during the 2022-2023 school year.

June 30, 2020-Racism declared a public health crisis by Hennepin County

August 16, 2022-At the Minneapolis Board of Education meeting Director Caprini sponsored a unanimously approved resolution whereby “students, staff, and community members recognize the need for a school name that better represents the values of the community.”

August 17, 2022-“The MPS Board of Education took action Tuesday to begin a process to rename the city’s Patrick Henry High School. The resolution that passed unanimously is aimed at ending debate “about whether or not the name should be changed,” and directs the north Minneapolis school’s site council “to bring forward recommendations for a new school name.” Tim Nelson and MPR News

August 18, 2022-The school was directed to begin the school’s name change process of selecting a new name that better reflects the school’s values. The Henry Facebook site states, “This inclusive process will include researching new names, establishing educational lessons about the history of school names and surveying and, importantly, engaging our students, staff, and community about name awareness. . .” Facebook, PHHS site

Note: A list of sources is available upon request to smcbreedlove@gmail.com

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Hobb servation Point

By Chuck Hobbs

Border Agents brutalizing Haitian immigrants in 2021…

Insight 2 Health

likely to die of an overdose

By Brenda Lyle-Gray

Dr. Ronda Chakolis, a member of the Minnesota Pharmacy Board, is a Medication Therapy Management (MTM) pharmacist and a long-time resident of North Minneapolis. Over the past few months, she has been working in partnership with Clarence Jones and Hue-MAN, Inc. in an effort to help curtail the rising spiral of drug overdoses and fatalities mostly related to some form of synthetic fentanyl. The drug is an opioid 50 times the potency of heroin. Chakolis was appointed by Governor Walz in 2022 as a member of the Minnesota Department of Human Service Formulary Committee.

She said the very people that are affected the most are the ones excluded from trusted information, necessary medical attention, and resources available in order to save their lives and take them to the next level of recovery.

“The number of prescription opioids like hydrocodone and Percocet have dramatically decreased, but the number of opioid fatal overdoes have increased significantly as have non-fatal incidents,” said Chakolis. “COVID has caused two segments of the population, the elderly and younger people in the Black and Native American communities, to be more likely to die of an overdose.”

“As a pharmaceutical clinician, the beauty of the HueMAN partnership is that we go

where the people are. We want to hear what they have to say so we can then use our experience to frame a message they can understand and act upon by taking precautions. We need to have more conversations like we’re having right now,” Chakolis said at the September meeting of the Northside Urban Coalition.

She said recent training sessions have focused on the lifesaving drug Narcan and culturally specific recommendations like finding ways through social media to get the message across to the Somali communities and our youth.

“They might see something that looks like candy in bright colors not realizing that just enough of this potentially deadly drug fentanyl has been injected using a fine tip needle. to cause grave damage or death. People must know the danger. Body bags vs. greed and corruption,” she said.

Faiza Hassan, one of

Hue-MAN’s newest colleagues, is from East Africa. She has witnessed personally and has lived experiences with her family of fentanyl and other opioid abuses and addictions.

“I have been working with Hue-MAN to create culturally tailored and relevant workshops that will educate the community and provide interventions and resources especially for our youth and in historic marginalized communities,” she said.

“We are working on ways to bolster our efforts in publicizing our initiatives in a more cohesive and collaborative message through our city, county, and state partners,” said Suzanne Young, a project manager for Minneapolis Health Department. “One of the ways we’re doing that is with the settlement dollars that are coming down from Big Pharma.

Attorneys and other state and federal officials negotiated

those settlements and how they were going to be dispersed.” Young said that the response to the opioid crisis has shifted from heavy harm reduction to treatment. Approximately $10 million, $500,000 over an 18year period, and several other smaller settlements, will help support endeavors to save lives. “Pharmaceutical companies, producers, and suppliers are paying out billions, yet the harm they have caused far exceeds any financial compensation they can offer,” she said.

Minneapolis Health Department works to educate doctors educated on barriers that limit access to Medical Assisted Therapy (MAT). She said MAT is an ever-changing process and qualified individuals are learning at different levels of the spectrum. They must be proficient in how the medications work and how best to prescribe them so that a pipeline to longterm recovery can be created.

“In addressing the question as to how we will reach people and bridge the gaps of service delivery to those in the most need, part of the initiative is medication first,” said Dr. Dziwe Ntaba, an emergency medicine specialist at the UMN Medical Center.

“Fentanyl is a fast acting, highly addictive drug. People need assistance and a safe place to get off of it. It’s a process to go through the medical therapeutic induction. Because fentanyl is so potent and affects the brain, it’s more difficult to treat with medications. We won’t turn this epidemic around if we don’t start looking at this drug as a medical disease. Often, users have cravings and withdrawal and need medication to stabilize them. Therapy which is the next step has financial barriers. And if the patient can’t get the right treatment, they’re right back on the street to satisfy their cravings,” he said.

“Our partners at the health department are providing funding so that if someone doesn’t have insurance, the city will pay for buprenorphine as a pilot. Alternating suboxone with buprenorphine interchangeably will make patients less likely to have an overdose if they stop. That’s because of brain chemistry. But if they try and go cold turkey, their brain could adjust too quickly, and their tolerance level will go down,” he said.

“Even in areas where there is potential access with doctors that can prescribe the medication like me, it doesn’t mean that people are engaging in the care. The beauty of the two drugs, suboxone and buprenorphine, is that the combination of the two cuts the risk of fatalities 300%. Although the drug has been around for several decades, the medical system in the U.S. is just now figuring out how to use it to meet the needs of their patients. Up until five years ago, I didn’t understand that opiate use disorder was a medical disease,” said Dr. Dee.

“I thought it was more of a behavior lifestyle choice. I was often judgmental and condescending. I now know it’s like a diabetic needing insulin. We won’t break this epidemic cycle without prescription medication. And patients will have to take the time and energy to fill out the paperwork to qualify for MAT. Trust then becomes a natural by-product of wellness and healing. If the emergency room is the first point of contact, then the road to recovery will start there. When medical professionals learn more, they will perform with improved efficacy.”

Dr. Rhonda Chakolis

Columnist

Clarence Jones

Dr. Dziwe Ntaba

More Than a Fraction

Sharing Our Stories

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

More Than a Fraction By Kerri

Moseley-Hobbs

When I was in my senior year of college, we had the honor of a guest speaker who talked about oral traditions, griots, and our ancestry. We hung onto his every word. That speaker was Alex Haley, the author of Roots. For us the Black students on campus, it was a revelation.

Fast forward to today. We have more methods to trace our ancestry, such as Ancestry. com and the archives of the historical societies in the states, plus family records. And of course, since African cultures are steeped in oral tradition, we also have the stories that have been passed down from generation to generation. In

the spirit of the search for our ancestors, I bring you Kerri Mosely-Hobbs’ story, More Than a Fraction.

The saga begins in the early 19th century with Jack Fraction. His Yoruba name was Oyewole, which means “honor has come.” He had been brought over from Africa via the slave trade, and with him the traditions of his native tongue, the oral traditions of the tribe, and the ceremony of merriment. We learn about the lessons of survival Jack learns in this strange land, such as when the whites actively seek to suppress his use of his Yoruba language, one his son John only knows a few words of. Other oppressive means are used to enforce the sense of disenfranchisement.

However, Jack’s inner strength and spirit cannot be broken, and he and his partner Fanny pass this down to their descendants.

As the years roll by into the Civil War and Reconstruction, much of the story centers around three of John Fraction’s children-Thomas, Othello, and Virginia.

They eventually become soldiers in the Union army, with Thomas promoted to the rank of sergeant. Virginia gives us the perspective of the tightrope she walks while working on the Smithfield Plantation. The survival mode taught by Jack is there when it comes to whites, as evidenced by Thomas concealing his ability to read and write. Their former slaveowner, Robert Preston, represents the nemesis entrenched in the antebellum attitudes and racism familiar to so many Black people, yet there is that spine of steel and resilience in Thomas and his family that strives for a different fate for themselves and their children—one of freedom.

As the great-greatgreat-granddaughter of Thomas Fraction, Moseley-Hobbs gives an awesome testimony of where her family has been and the refusal to accept less than freedom, as shown in Thomas’ quiet but firm defiance of Robert Preston’s efforts to force him to return to Smithfield Plantation during Reconstruction. In addition, she illustrates the

complex relationships between white slaveowners and Black slaves, and the dilemma of those slaves who had no real concept of what freedom was when the Civil War ended.

From photographs, military documents, state and federal documents, and the stories handed down through her family, Moseley-Hobbs’ story carries a powerful legacy— knowing where one has come from, where one is, and where one is going as an African American. I acknowledge her for making those connections that have bridged centuries.

More Than a Fraction is available through Amazon and Barnes and Noble. To the Fraction family here in Minnesota as well as Virginia and other parts of the U.S., I share with you this quote from Maya Angelou:

“Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave I am the dream and the hope of the slave I rise I rise I rise.”

Viola Davis: The feeling of just being

By Elise Schenck, Contributor New Orleans Data News Weekly

In the age of MeToo and women raising their voices, this film is one that speaks to the moment, while looking back at the historical greatness of women.

On Sept. 16th Oscar and Emmy winner Viola Davis displayed her greatness on the big screen in the new film The Woman King. Davis stars as General Nanisca in the epic, which also features John Boyega, Lashana Lynch, and Thuso Mbedu. Also,

the film is being directed by Gina Price Bythwood, an African American woman, who is best known for the classic Love and Basketball

In the epic film, “The Woman King” tells the “remarkable story of the Agojie, the all-female unit of warriors who protected the African Kingdom of Dahomey in the 1800s with skills and a fierceness unlike anything the world has ever seen,” according to Sony Pictures.

In an age where many people from the African Diaspora are looking towards the Motherland in the spirit

Caregivers at the Polls

of Sankofa (looking back to move forward) many still feel pulled back to the continent, and the drumbeat that is the heart of the pull on the souls of those whose ancestors left the shores of Africa centuries ago. Today they are now rediscovering with immense pride its great history.

This is echoed by film’s star Viola Davis in a recent interview promoting the film, “I first went to Africa when I was 25, as student at Juilliard,” she explains. “[I went to] the Gambia because I was trying to find myself, to redefine myself. Not as an

artist, but as a Black woman. It was like I was screaming inside: ‘I know I’m more than what you’re telling me I am!’”

As have many because of the 1619 Project and a renaissance in appreciating Black Beauty and excellence, Davis says she has now traveled extensively across Africa, including to South Africa to make The Woman King, and each time she feels that same release. “Every single day it was as if I had meditated for five hours. I had absolutely no anxiety. I had no problem sleeping. It’s the feeling of just being.”

In Your Community

The Woman King