HOLD UP YOUR LIGHTUP Photos by Karl DemerPhotos Karl Demer S TORY ON PAGESTORY 3 SOUNDS OF BLACKNESSOUNDS Vol. 49 No. 37• The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • insightnews.comVol 49 No 37• The Journal For News, Business & The Arts • insightnews comSeptember 12, 2022 - September 18, 202212 2022 18 2022 INSIGHT NEWS IS AUDITED BY THE ALLIANCE FOR AUDITED MEDIA TO PROVIDE OUR ADVERTISER PARTNERS WITH THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF MEDIA AS SURANCE.I N S I G H T N E W S I S A U D I T E D B Y T H E A L L I A N C E F O R A U D I T E D M E D I A T O P R O V I D E O U R A D V E R T I S E R P A R T N E R S W I T H T H E H I G H E S T L E V E L O F M E D I A A S S U R A N C E Insight News News
Page 2 • September 12 2022 September 18 202212, 2022 - 18, 2022 • Insight News insightnews.com @2022 Target Brands, Inc.
get inspired by
HoustonCelebratingWhite’sHoustonstoryWhite
The Houston White for Target collection is an exciting collaboration that shows the importance and possibilities of working together to move culture forward. This collection is distinct, stylish, and inclusive to all. Houston believes your style is a celebration of who you are. When we celebrate passion and style from unique perspectives, we cultivate stronger Investingcommunities.inourselves,makes us all shine.
The gorgeous and gifted international jazz singer, the late Doris Hines who shared the stage with the likes of Ellington, Fitzgerald, Washington, and Vaughn and was often called ‘The Satin Doll.’ She always left audiences spellbound, said Al McFarlane. “It seemed like everything changed when she entered the room,”. “When she spoke or performed, it was always a spiritual experience,” said her son, Gary Hines, founder and leader of Minnesota’s own Grammy award winning Sounds of Blackness. “Mom was indeed an unstoppable force of nature. I suppose it was those Jamaican roots mixed with a New York attitude that made her revered for her smooth vocals and as a fearless warrior fighting for justice for people of color.” In the fifties and sixties, the Twin Cities was a jazz Mecca. Doris Hines was sometimes booked for weeks selling out every night or held over for months. She fell in love with the metropolis, and moved her six children from Yonkers, NY when Gary, her youngest, was 12. Gary Hines describes moving from his multicultural Yonkers neighborhood where most whites had dark hair, and coming to Minnesota where everybody was blonde. It was like coming to another planet.|” he said. “I was asking, where are the Italians, the Cubans, and Puerto Ricans? Where were all the Black folks? What we did find was a small, yet very dynamic and vital Black community, especially musically, with R&B groups rivaling any Motown stars. There were blues artists like Jimmy Jam’s dad, the great Cornbread Harris; gospel artists including Thelma Buckner and Willie Hale; and Prince’s dad who was a prolific writer and musician. I think the small numbers actually made people cleave to each other rather than just being absorbed by the majority culture. We had roots. We knew our history from our parents and our Black teachers. Earl Bowman and Bruce Williams and a few other Black teachers were teaching the true history in the Twin Cities,” Hines said.“In those early years in Yonkers, I witnessed the protests and saw the picketers outside of Woolworths. They could take Black folks’ money, but not serve them equally. And then around four or five, I became involved in music because music was always attached to the movement. There was so much going on in Yonkers, in the churches and community centers, and in our homes and even safely on the streets. My brothers and I were the Black drum corps, paying tribute to the first Black man to die in World War I. He was from Yonkers. It was all part of our enrichment. We brought all those blessed memories with us to the Twin Cities,” he said. Speaking recently on The Conversation with Al McFarlane, on KFAI FM 90.3, Hines said that the Sounds of Blackness genius is found in our African lineage and deeply rooted in the motherland some 6,000 miles away. It is a connection to antiquity which emerges from within a powerful Africana way of knowing. It is where the musical leader lives and walks and writes and now gives to the next generation, some of whom are the offspring of the original members from 50 years ago. Guided by elders like educator Dr. Mahmoud El-Kati Sounds of Blackness beginnings at Macalester College in St. Paul, the group set out to be more thate just a singing group or just a band. El Kati’s instruction:
“Being in situations over my lifetime where I have been the first or only woman or Black person and breaking what I call not just glass ceilings, but concrete ceilings and breaking through” has prepared her to deliver on this promise of more equitable services, Williams said. She plans to bring this uniquely American institution’s focus back to the communities, listening to individuals to shape solutions to their problems with the help of United Way’s considerable resources. In 2020, the organization gave more than $168 million in grants.
WILLIAMS 6 By
Sounds of Blackness Gary Hines
Oklahoma City forward Chet Holmgren, the No. 2 pick in this year’s NBA draft, will miss the 2022-23 season with a right foot injury. The 7-footer was hurt while playing in a pro-am game last weekend in Seattle, near where he starred last season for Gonzaga, and the Thunder announced Thursday that he sustained a Lisfranc injury. Video appeared to show Holmgren was hurt on a play while defending a LeBron James drive to the basket on a fast break.
photo/Jeff Swinger
“My vision for United Way Worldwide is to create equitable solutions in communities,” Williams said, adding that people experiencing problems should have a voice in Black August uplifted as alternative Black History Month
Holmgren, the No. 2 pick in the NBA draft, will miss the 2022-23 season because of a right foot injury, the Oklahoma City Thunder announced Thursday, Aug. 25, 2022.
insightnews.com Insight News • September 12 2022 September 18 202212, 2022 - September 18, 2022 • Page 3
By Cliff Brunt AP Sports Writer By Thalia AssociatedBeatyPress
Williams has kept a low public profile in her first year, opting for a listening tour of United Way affiliates around the world and reexamining the organization’s commitments and priorities.
Presti said Holmgren will have surgery to repair the ruptured tendon on a date that hasn’t been determined and he expects Holmgren to be ready for the 2023-24 season.
photo/Andrew Harnik United Way CEO Angela Williams poses for a portrait in Alexandria, Va., Friday, Aug. 26, 2022. As the first Black leader of United Way Worldwide, the former Air Force attorney and former head of Easterseals feels she is ready to lead the organization, once known for its blockbuster workplace giving fundraisers, into its next era.
Angela Williams’ first year as United Way Worldwide’s president and CEO has been marked with challenges: rising inflation, the war in Ukraine driving increased demand for charitable services, and the need to rebuild public trust in her organization. As the first Black leader of United Way Worldwide, the former Air Force attorney and former head of Easterseals feels she is ready to lead the organization, once known for its blockbuster workplace giving fundraisers, into its next era.
, 2022 September 18, 2022- 2022 I N S I G H T N E W S I S A U D I T E D B Y T H E A L L I A N C E F O R A U D I T E D M E D I A T O P R O V I D E O U R A D V E R T I S E R P A R T N E R S W I T H T H E H I G H E S T L E V E L O F M E D I A A S S U R A N C EINSIGHT NEWS IS AUDITED BY THE ALLIANCE FOR AUDITED MEDIA TO PROVIDE OUR ADVERTISER PARTNERS WITH THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF MEDIA AS SURANCE. BivalentI2H booster recommendedPAGE 6 FreeNewsjob skills trainingPAGEprogram 7
His injury is a significant blow for a franchise that has not won a playoff series since Kevin Durant left for Golden State in 2016 and has had two straight losing seasons. Holmgren averaged 14.1 points and 9.9 rebounds last season for Gonzaga and was fourth in the nation with 3.7 blocked shots per game. He had a strong summer league performance, giving Thunder fans hope that the team’s potential superstar of the future soon would be making a difference. “He was just having a monster summer,” Presti said. “He’s been playing with tons of NBA players over the course of the summer and getting better and better and better. In this case, we are just going to have to wait a little bit longer for his presence to actually take the floor for us.” Presti has no issue with Holmgren having participated in the Pro Am event and said such games and venues are approved by the league. The game, which also featured Celtics All-Star Jayson Tatum, had to be stopped because of the floor conditions, though that didn’t appear to cause Holmgren’s injury. “Guys are playing all over the place all the time, everywhere,” Presti said. “If you have players that love to play, they are going to play
| Associated Press Insight NewsInsight NewsVol 49 No 37• The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • insightnews comVol. 49 No. 37• The Journal For Business & The Arts • insightnews.comSeptember 12 12,
The annual commemorations have been embraced by activists in the global Black Lives Matter movement, many of whom draw inspiration from freedom fighters like Jackson and his contemporaries. “It’s important to do this now because a lot of people who were on the radical scene during that time period, relatives and non-relatives, who are like blood relatives, are entering their golden years,” said Jonathan Jackson, 51, of Fair Hill, Maryland. George Jackson was 18 when he was arrested for robbing a gas station in Los Angeles in 1960. He was convicted and given an indeterminate sentence of one year to life and spent the next decade at California’s Soledad and San Quentin prisons, much of it in solitary confinement. While incarcerated, Jackson began studying the words of revolutionary theoreticians such as Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin, who advocated class awareness, challenging institutions and overturning capitalism through revolution. Founding leaders of the Panthers, including Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, were also inspired by Marx, Lenin and Chinese Communist leader Mao Tse-tung. Jackson became a leader in the prisoner rights movement. His letters from prison to loved ones and supporters were compiled in the bestselling books “Soledad Brother” and “Blood in My Eye.” Inspired by his words and frustrated with his situation, George’s younger brother, Jonathan, initiated a takeover at the Marin County Superior Court in California in 1970. He freed three inmates and held several courthouse staff hostage, in an attempt
For Jonathan Peter Jackson, a direct relative of two prominent members of the Black Panther Party, revolutionary thought and family history have always been intertwined, particularly in August. That’s the month in 1971 when his uncle, the famed Panther George Jackson, was killed during an uprising at San Quentin State Prison in California. A revolutionary whose words resonated inside and out of the prison walls, he was a published author, activist and radical thought leader. To many, February is the month dedicated to celebrating Black Americans’ contributions to a country where they were once enslaved. But Black History Month has an alternative: It’s called Black August. First celebrated in 1979, Black August was created to commemorate Jackson’s fight for Black liberation. Fifty-one years since his death, Black August is now a monthlong awareness campaign and celebration dedicated to Black freedom fighters, revolutionaries, radicals and political prisoners, both living and deceased.
Thunder No. 2 pick Holmgren to miss season with foot injury Way Worldwide CEO: Deliver on equity promise
HOLMGREN 8JACKSON 6 United
“Long-term prognosis is obviously very positive for this,” Presti said. “We’ve consulted with three of the top foot specialists in the country. Everybody is in agreement that this is kind of like a wrong place, wrong time situation and he’s going to make a full recovery.”
Oklahoma City Thunder forward Chet Holmgren (7) runs the court against the Memphis Grizzlies during an NBA summer league basketball game Wednesday, July 6, 2022, in Salt Lake City.
photo_Robert Klein Black Panthers stand guard on Aug. 28, 1971, in Oakland, Calif., while the hearse carrying the body of George Jackson was brought to St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church. First celebrated in 1979, Black August was originally created to commemorate Jackson’s fight for Black liberation. Fifty one years since his death, Black August is now a month-long awareness campaign and celebration dedicated to Black American freedom fighters, revolutionaries, radicals and political prisoners, both living and deceased. Almaz Abedje 2022
Columnist By Brenda Lyle-Gray SOB 6
Sounds of Blackness channels ancient Africa In the tradition...
Page 4 • September 12 2022 September 18 202212, 2022 - 18, 2022 • Insight News insightnews.com It’s the season of big tickets, big games and, hopefully, big wins. Like up to $10.2 million in total cash prizes big. You have a 2nd Chance to go big at mnlottery.com where you can win season tickets, an away game trip for 4, and more! So go big today. MNL202200030 V k ngs22 Print 10 625x21 ndd 1 8/12/22 4:03 PM
insightnews.com Insight News • September 12 2022 September 18 202212, 2022 - September 18, 2022• Page 5
well as against newer Omicron variants that are Updatedcirculating.COVID-19 boosters can both help restore protection that has decreasedsince previous vaccination and provide broader protection against newer variants. The COVID-19 vaccines and the updated booster are safe and help protect people from getting very sick with COVID-19.People can get COVID-19 vaccines, including updated boosters, at the same visit as other vaccines, such as flu vaccine.Even if you’ve already had COVID-19, you should get vaccinated.CDC recommends everyone get and stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccination. This meansAgeeveryone:6months through 4 years should get all COVID-19 primary series doses. Age 5 years and older should get all COVID-19 primary series doses, plus the most recent booster dose recommended for them. Where to get a bivalent booster There are several options for where to get a bivalent booster.Check with your regular health care provider or local pharmacy to see if appointments are Minnesotansavailable. can make appointments at the state-run vaccination site at the Mall of America now: mn?registration_type=general_my.primary.health/r/decc_vax_sitethealsotype=general_public.health/r/vaxmn?registration_https://my.primary.Minnesotanscanmakeappointmentsatstate-runvaccinationinDuluthnow:https:// public. More information on appointments at staterun vaccination sites in St. Paul Midway, Rochester, and Moorhead will be coming soon. Use the state’s Find Vaccine Locations map to find vaccine providers near you— providers will update their information as appointments are available. Check for vaccine appointments at Vaccines. gov, where you can search for appointments by vaccine type (e.g., Pfizer).Watch for vaccination clinics being offered at other community locations around Minnesota.
Jesús Chucho Garcia Mestre Yoji Senna DaBahia Columnist Brenda Lyle-Gray Book Review Editor W.D. Foster-Graham Content & Production Manager Sunny Thongthi Yang ManagerDistribution/Facilities
George was killed on Aug. 21, 1971, during a prison uprising. Inmates at San Quentin prison began formally commemorating his death in 1979, and from there, Black August was born.
The software, which United Way Worldwide had the exclusive right to resell, competes with other programs that allow employees to donate from their paycheck to the charity of their choice (not just United Way) and to find volunteer opportunities.
The maelstrom that Williams stepped into also includes a large outlay of cash initiated under her predecessor as part of a partnership with Salesforce to create a software product, Philanthropy Cloud. United Way Worldwide’s tax filings show it paid more than $40 million between 2017 and 2020 to the company and a related contractor.
I bet you guys are going to do a song about all this. But do me a favor. Don’t make it a happy song!” He promised her that wouldn’t happen. Just as soon as he spoke those words, he literally heard the words of Fannie Lou Hammer saying ‘Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired. Leaving the rally a little early, Hines immediately went home. For the next couple of nights, Fannie Lou talked to him as if she sat right beside him. “For now, and for the future, we continue to create. We continue to sing. We continue to entertain. We continue to inspire. Our new release, “Hold Up Your Light” was written by Carrie Harrington, one of our veteran members, our choreographer, and a very talented writer. She’s the first voice you hear on the song ‘Optimistic’. We just finished an Afrobeat remix of the song. Brother Maurice Joshua out of Chicago did an amazing job. Jamecia Bennett and her daughter have a great song entitled ‘You’re Gonna Win’ and that will take us into next year. People are asking for our Christmas show that has been missing for the last couple years, so that’s a possibility, as well.”
Insight 2 Health
Asked whether she thought the investment was worth the cost, Williams said it was a good start but that technology was a means to an end and not a solution by itself. “My team and I are in the process of reevaluating a number of investments as part of a larger effort to right the ship and ensure that United Way Worldwide is sustainable and impactful for years to come,” Williams said.
Charles Royston Receptionist Lue B. Lampley Intern Naomi Thomson Photography Uchechukwu Iroegbu
Page 6 • September 12 2022 September 18 202212, 2022 - 18, 2022• Insight News insightnews.com
Lou Michaels Roy Lewis - Washington D.C. Artist Donald Walker Contact Us: Insight News, Inc. Marcus Garvey House 1815 Bryant Ave. N. Minneapolis. 55411 Ph.: (612) 588-1313 Fax: (612) 588-2031 Member: North,HouseInterests,changesPostmaster:(NNPA)PublishersNationalAssociationMinnesotaConsortiumMulticulturalMinnesotaMedia(MMMC)Newspaper(MNA)NewspaperAssociationSendaddresstoMcFarlaneMediaMarcusGarvey1815BryantAvenueMinneapolis, www.insightnews.com
UNC Health Talk/Getty Images
INSIGHT NEWS
Bivalent booster recommended
Insight News is published weekly, every Monday by McFarlane Media Interests. Editor-In-Chief Al McFarlane Publisher Batala-Ra McFarlane Associate Editor & Associate Publisher B.P. Ford Culture EducationandEditor Dr. Irma McClaurin, PhD. Associate AfrodescendientesEditors
Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit com/hub/philanthropy.https://apnews.Thisstory first published on August 29, 2022, erroneously reported that three former United Way Worldwide employees told The Associated Press that a law firm hired by the organization did not contact them during the course of its investigation into allegations of sexual bias and harassment. The former employees spoke to The Chronicle of Philanthropy, not The Associated Press.
WilliamsWilliams From 3
“Be a cultural institution”! And that they have indeed become.“We all learned so much from the Professor that really influenced our music,” Hines said. “Africa is called The Motherland implying birth. It is Africa, not Europe, that gave birth to our music. Even in the diaspora, centuries removed from the continent, we find our roots in Africa. From the work songs, the field hollers, and the rain shouts, our ancestors were exceptionally creative. And as the great Quincy Jones reminds us, from Bebop to Hip hop, African prose to rhythm in the drums and the holy dance in churches, it all began in the Motherland eons ago.” There is ancestral energy always flowing through the Sounds of Blackness. “We must acknowledge, embrace, and take pride in the astounding strength and foresight of our forebearers,’ Hines said. “We will continue the musical art form we have shaped and executed with what W.E. B. DuBois coined as ‘The Souls of Black Folk’. Sometimes our souls shake in rhythms and melodies and words. I look up and see and hear syncopation and poly-rhythms that are purely African.” The affinity for Africa is also borne from personal experience for Hinds and the Sounds. “When we visited Ghana, the minute we reached the last step off the plane, we were greeted with voices saying, ‘Welcome Home.’ We all cried like babies. But aside from all the festivities, there was our visit to Elmina Slave Castle, the Dungeons, and the Door of No Return. The ancestors were there, and they spoke to us without a doubt,” he said Hines said at Elmina, as they walked to their bus, God placed the master Nigerian drummer, Babatunde Olatunji right there walking towards them. Olatunji remembered Hines as Bryant Middle School student leader who defied school rules and came to Minneapolis’s Central High School to see Olatunji perform.Nowadult and band leader on tour in |Africa, Hines said it was amazing that Olatunji named the incident of their crossing paths earlier when Hines was a junior high school student in HinesMinneapolis.said the 20 or more Sounds of Blackness members joined hands with others in a big circle on the Atlantic Ocean beach and Olatunji led them in a prayer of reconnection and restoration for the children ‘lost at sea’. It was indeed a spiritfilled experience holding true to that old adage that we are not spiritual beings having human experiences as much as we are human beings having spiritual experiences, Hines said. “Here’s another time when the Spirit took over in a manner so obvious that I will never forget,” Hines said. “George Floyd was murdered five blocks from where we rehearse at the Sabathani Community Center. He was murdered on a Monday and the next night was the first rally. Of course, I cancelled our normal Tuesday vocal rehearsal. Although the media downplayed the thousands of people who packed 38th and Chicago, it was so packed that no one could fall. Above the crowd, I heard this voice above the rest. A young white girl carrying a ‘Black Lives Matter’ sign recognized me and yelled out, “Hey, Mr. Sound of Blackness! You guys are one of my favorite groups.
SOB From 3 solving them. United Way’s national 211 call line connecting people to services has seen an increase in requests in the last couple of months, with people needing help accessing food, paying their utility bills or rent, and finding housing, she said. “I feel this real sense of urgency,” Williams told The Associated Press in an interview. “Whether it’s government, whether it’s the nonprofit sector, whether it’s philanthropy, foundations, individuals — we have to come together because there is so much pressing need.” Williams took over United Way Worldwide after three former employees accused it of tolerating a culture of sexism and misconduct and retaliating against them for speaking out. An outside investigation commissioned by the organization found in February 2021 there was no evidence of “actionable harassment, discrimination, or retaliation.” The three women who filed complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission told The Chronicle of Philanthropy at the time that the law firm conducting the investigation had not contacted them. The organization’s CEO Brian Gallagher resigned shortly after. During the Second World War, local United Ways consolidated their hold over workplace giving, by allowing employees to donate a portion of their paycheck automatically to the organization. The United Way would then regrant the pooled funds to local human service nonprofits like the YMCA or Salvation Army. The model initially served a number of constituencies. It consolidated charitable requests directed to corporations and created a new group of middle-class donors who felt positively about giving to organizations that supported others in the place they lived. But starting in the 1970s, several forces challenged workplace giving and United Way’s dominance as a distributor of large amounts of funding. The nature of work began to change, with the decline of large manufacturing employers and a transition to service work. That decline was compounded by growing social movements for civil rights, women’s rights and the protection of the environment, for example, creating new communities that donors identified with and wanted to support. “From that point on, the United Way has struggled to get as much money and to stay relevant as this kind of centralized, trusted entity between donors and the charitable recipients,” said Emily Barman, a professor of sociology at Loyola University Chicago, who wrote a book about the organization. To adapt, local United Ways, which pay membership dues to United Way Worldwide but are incorporated as separate nonprofits, sought to reduce their overhead and many chose to fund a smaller number of key partners instead of giving smaller amounts to a larger number of nonprofits. Laurie Paarlberg, who studies community foundations at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University, said affiliates also looked to governments and foundations for funding while others tried to establish endowments, solicit larger gifts from long-term donors and create giving circles around identities groups. “The United Way has now been buffeted by a whole storm of connecting events that have influenced their role in their community, their revenue generation and then ultimately, their perceived legitimacy,” Paarlberg said.
to demand the release of his brother and two other inmates, known as the Soledad Brothers, who were accused of killing a correctional officer. Jonathan was killed as he tried to escape, although it’s disputed whether he was killed in a courtroom shootout or fatally shot while driving away with hostages.
“I certainly wish that more people knew about George’s writings (and) knew about my father’s sacrifice on that fateful day in August,” said Jonathan Jackson, who wrote the foreword to “Soledad Brother” in the early ‘90s, shortly after graduating from college. Monifa Bandele, a leader in the Movement for Black Lives, a national coalition of BLM groups, says Black August is about learning the vast history of Black revolutionary leaders. That includes figures such as Nat Turner, who is famous for leading a slave rebellion on a southern Virginia plantation in August 1831, and Marcus Garvey, the leader of the Pan-Africanism movement and born in August 1887. It includes events such as the Haitian Revolution in 1791 and the March on Washington in 1963, both taking place in the month of August. “This idea that there was this one narrow way that Black people resisted oppression is really a myth that is dispelled by Black August,” said Bandele, who is also a member
Another change Williams made was recruiting a new leadership team that she called one of the most diverse in the sector and an important element in the organization’s focus on equity. She also convened an advisory council of leaders from local affiliates, meant to give them a direct line to her leadership team. Despite its recent issues, United Ways retain the trust of many corporations and of local governments, Williams said. When Congress allocated emergency funds for rental assistance to localities during the pandemic, mayors often turned to the local affiliate, Williams said. “They called the United Way because they knew we had the mechanism for granting funds. They knew we had call centers. We had the ability to screen people, do the intake. We knew how to be a referral service,” she said. “So as that trusted advisor and partner, that’s a unique role we play,” she said.
JacksonJackson From 3From JACKSON 8 People age 12 and older are now recommended to get an updated bivalent booster dose at least 2 months after their last COVID-19 shot. That means the bivalent booster may be given after a person’s primary series or after their last booster shot. The updated Pfizer booster is authorized for people age 12 and older. The updated Moderna booster is authorized for people age 18 and older. Everyone who is eligible—including those who are moderately or thattheboosterofrecommendedimmunocompromised—areseverelytoreceive1dosetheupdatedvaccine.TheupdatedbivalenthelpsprotectagainstoriginalCOVID-19strainhasbeeninthevaccinesas
“When Gary Hines has joined the ancestors and all the kind things have been said, the cultural institution will live on,” Gary Hines said. “We’ve contacted Fannie Lou Hamer’s estate and have acknowledged to her granddaughter, Cookie Hamer that we will be sharing a portion of the proceeds of the song with them and with the George Floyd Scholarship Foundation. We don’t just talk the talk. We want to walk the talk. Fannie Lou passed it on to me that night and I must pay it forward. She made that very clear.”
information:
By Dr. Talaya L. Tolefree
Grandma Sankofa’s House
By: W.D. Foster-Graham Book Review Editor For Ray 651-325-5408
insightnews.com Insight News • September 12 2022 September 18 202212, 2022 - September 18, 2022• Page 7
Grandma Sankofa’s House SharingOurStories
We’ve all watched or heard about at some point the craziness, crime, and violence taking place in our city, not to mention the country, as it pertains to African Americans. With a new school year beginning, it is imperative to fortify our children with the Restorative Practices taught in Dr. Talaya Tolefree’s children’s book, Grandma Sankofa’s House. Nia and Savannah are BFF’s, enjoying playtime while Nia shares the details of her last visit to Grandma Sankofa. As she shares her story with Savannah, we learn about her Talking Piece, the object each child has that is special, that she brought to share with Grandma Sankofa and the children in the neighborhood who came for the visit to Grandma’s intoofthelisteninteractive,RestorativeGrandmaCircle.Sankofa’sPracticesareastheotherchildrenaseachchildsharesinCircle,usingtheprocessesbodycheck,breathing,howbestillandquiet,gentlenessspeaking,eyecontact,and connection through empathy. With the Talking Piece, Nia shares why it is special to her. The children learn the values of Love and Listen, as well as this lesson: “Be a good friend, love and listen until the end.” I am inspired by Dr. Tolefree’s Circle and the way it teaches us about building relationships, respect, values, and the kind of friendships that last a lifetime. In this day and age, it’s never too soon to teach our children these values with positive reinforcement. As we know, children take their cues from the adults around them. The excitement that the children have for attending Grandma Sankofa’s Circle is infectious, as is the connection with their elders. At the end of the book, she provides a list of words for children to learn and put into practice, not only to value themselves, but to value others. I also give a hat tip to Joyeela Neogi for her beautiful illustrations.Since we of African descent come from an oral tradition, this brought me back to the days when my son was a baby, and I read him a story every night before bedtime. Before long, he was asking me to read him stories. Along with Dr. Tolefree, I encourage you to become a storyteller to a child. Grandma Sankofa’s House is available through Amazon and the Minnesota Black Authors Expo website. Thank you for a wonderful book. Going forward, let’s continue to Love and Listen.
Urban League and Goodwill Easter Seals have formed a collaboration to offer a unique 10-week program called Business Professional Pathways! The program prepares participants for immediate employment in a variety of professions. Virtual classes are two hours a day, 9 a.m.-11 a.m. The next training session begins Sept. 19. Registration is open through Monday, Sept. 12.
Richardson at
or email rrichardson@ultcmn.org Free job skills training program Free Produce • Community Resources LOCATION: Parking Lot at Plymouth & Oliver 9:30 am until supplies run out | rain or shine FRESH FOOD FRIDAYSFREE MAY 13 & 27 JUNE 10 & 24 JULY 8 & 22 AUGUST 12 & 26 SEPTEMBER 9 & 23 612-767-9500 • www.northpointhealth.org For more information about the COVID-19 vaccine, please visit www.northpointhealth.org/coronavirus-updates Harvesting the Fruit of Our Ancestors come grow with us. Who climate change conversations When from 12:00pm - 5:00pm Where A Gathering Place for God’s Grace 2210 Emerson Ave N Why In the wake of the Covid pandemic, Frank Giustra s Modern Farmer and Kimbal Musk’s Big Green joined forces to create The Million Gardens Movement. Michael Chaney, Project Sweetie Pie founder, was nominated for their Ultimate Garden Party award and won! Contact For more information please reach out to: Jahliah Holloman Caring is Culture LLC 612-772-9879 Michael Chaney Project Sweetie Pie 763-227-4881 Cost Please contact Michael Chaney to arrange hosting a booth. $75 for a local agency information booth $50 for a vendor booth All are welcome What climate conversatio seed + tree giveaway information booths vendor booths youthmusicactivitiesfood Saturday September 25th from - 5:00pm The Celestial Garden: A Place for God’s Grace by QUI NGUYEN original music by SHANE RETTIG directed by MINA MORITA Now – October 16 612.377.2224 / guthrietheater.org Vietgone A love-and-war comedy
The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts presents Nachito Herrera and the Havana Jazz All Stars on Saturday, Sept. 24. This will be the Minnesota jazz icon’s third time performing at the Ordway. This year’s show will kick off the Ordway’s 20222023 season and is part of the Ordway PresentsNachitoseries.Herrera and the Havana Jazz All Stars will be introduced by Twins Hall of Famer and Cuban native Tony Oliva “Performers like Nachito Herrera make you feel the music inside your soul, playing both original and wellknown songs that give you the uncontrollable urge to dance in your seat,” said Ordway Vice President of Programming and Education Dayna Martinez. “He will bring the sounds of Havana to Saint Paul, and we are thrilled that his exhilarating show will set the stage for our 2022-2023 season.” Ignacio “Nachito” Herrera is a hot classic Cuban piano Latin jazz performer who started his career at just 12 years old. He later joined the famed “Cubanismo” as the lead pianist, arranger and musical director. Herrera has played at many of the world’s finest concert halls and prestigious jazz festivals, and he has received many awards. including Emmy and Grammy Awards.Herrera has been playing with his own band, as well as with different projects and orchestras, including the Minnesota Orchestra, The Wayzata Symphony Orchestra (Marlene Pauley, Music Director), Youth Symphony, Metropolitan Orchestra, Cuban National Symphony, Naples Philharmonic Orchestra, Chippewa Valley Symphony, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Big Band, and many “Minnesota-basedothers. jazz pianist Nachito Herrera is the perfect start to our 20222023 Ordway Presents lineup, and we can’t wait for the energy and joy his artistry will bring to our guests,” said Ordway President and CEO Chris Harrington. “As we honor Hispanic Heritage month, we are pleased to welcome two Cuban natives, Nachito Herrera and Tony Oliva, to the Ordway stage and celebrate the history, culture and contributions of Hispanic Americans.” Tony Oliva, former right fielder for the Minnesota Twins, will welcome and present Herrera. Olivia was born in Pinar del Río, Cuba, and came to the United States in 1961 to play baseball for the Minnesota Twins. Oliva retired from baseball in 1976 with a career .304 batting average, 1,917 total hits, 329 doubles, 220 home runs and 947 RBI. He was named to the American League All-Star team in eight straight seasons (196471), and most recently was inducted to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in 2022. Tickets start at $37 and can be purchased online at Ordway.org, by phone at 651224-4222 or in-person at the Ordway ticket office one hour prior to the show.
basketball. Every time you step on a basketball court, something like this could happen. It could happen in a game. It could happen in a practice. It could happen in a scrimmage. ... It’s just part of it.” Presti said the injury won’t prompt the Thunder to give up and tank for a better position in the 2023 draft, as some fans have suggested. “We just have to focus on what we can control, and I think that we have a group of guys that will continually get better for quite a long time,” he said. “But we’re still scaling the mountain in the Western Conference, and we have to see where that goes. We come into every season the same way since 2008, which is we have to wait to see how the season unfolds.” Skeptics pointed to Holmgren’s slender build as a liability and a reason he perhaps should not have been drafted so early. The year offers him time to add to his 195-pound frame, among other things. “He’s going to get better just by getting stronger, just by seeing things differently, just by learning the NBA,” Presti said. “All that’s going to be happening. He’s going to be able to shoot. He’s going to be able to do a lot of things with the ball.” A high draft pick having to sit out his first NBA season isn’t unprecedented, and in some cases it hasn’t stopped players from reaching All-Star or even MVP-caliber levels. Ben Simmons went No. 1 overall in 2016 and missed the following season with a foot injury. Blake Griffin was the top pick in 2009 but had to sit while recovering from a knee injury, as was the case with No. 1 selection Greg Oden in 2007. Reigning NBA scoring champion Joel Embiid was the No. 3 pick in 2014 and missed his first two seasons with foot issues. Nerlens Noel was the No. 6 selection in 2013 and missed what would have been his first season with a knee problem, and Michael Porter Jr. was the 14th pick in the 2018 draft and missed the ensuing season with a back injury. It even happened previously to the Thunder franchise: Nick Collison was the No. 12 pick in the 2003 draft by Seattle, unable to play that following season with shoulder issues. Collison went on to spend his entire career with the Thunder, getting his No. 4 jersey retired — the first such honor bestowed by the team in the Oklahoma City era — and remains part of the team’s front office. There have been other instances of lottery picks missing what could have been their rookie years, including Jonas Valanciunas — the No. 5 selection in 2011 — not being able to join the Toronto Raptors until a year later because of his contract status with his European team at the time. Dario Saric and Ricky Rubio were lottery picks who played with their overseas clubs for two more years before coming to the NBA. Presti isn’t worried about Holmgren long term and believes his drive will allow him to handle the recovery process well. “I think he’s wellpositioned to do a good job with it,” Presti said. “There’s going to be some tough times now, don’t get me wrong, but he’s got what it takes and he’ll be ready when he’s ready to come back. I think he’ll be a force.” AP Basketball Writers Brian Mahoney and Tim Reynolds contributed to this report.
Cuban star power at the Ordway Nachito at Ordway
HolmgrenHolmgren From 3 oppression is really a myth that is dispelled by Black August,” said Bandele, who is also a member of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, a group that raises awareness of political prisoners. “And what we saw happen after the 1970s is that it grew outside of the (prison) walls because, as people who were incarcerated came home to their families and communities, they began to do community celebrations of Black August,” she added. The ways of honoring this month also come in various forms and have evolved over the years. Some take part in fasting, while others use this time to study the ways of their predecessors. Weekly event series are also common during Black August, from reading groups to open mic nights. Sankofa, a Blackowned cultural center and coffee shop in Washington that has served the D.C. community for nearly 25 years, wraps up a weekly open mic night in honor of Black August on Friday. The event has drawn local residents of all ages, many who have shared stories, read poetry and performed songs with the theme of rebellion. “This month is all about resistance and celebrating our political prisoners and using all of the faculties that we have to free people who are in prison, let me say, unjustly,” emcee Ayinde Sekou said to the crowd during a recent event at Sankofa. Jonathan Jackson, George’s nephew, also believes that there are largely systemic reasons as to why Black August, and his family history specifically, are not widely taught.
As one of 17 cities selected to become an urban farm demonstration site by the USDA, Project Sweetie Pie has selected 3 dispersed garden sites to reflect the vast diversity, scope, and long term rewards that come with urban farming/local food production. The People’s Garden Initiative is the jewel in the urban farming movement’s tiara, and blueprint for the proliferation of urban farms and gardens across North Minneapolis and beyond. Keeping with the tradition of the Victory Gardens of the Twentieth Century, Project Sweetie Pie is inviting as many to the table as possible, for community health, morale and sustainability. “North Minneapolis is indeed going green, and we invite you to be a part of the transformation.,” says Michael Chaney, Project Sweetie Pie organizer. Neighbors are invited to Join speakers, artists and healers to honor our community’s emerging urban farmers and help determine the course of urban farming efforts in the future. The Celestial Garden gathering at 2210 Emerson avenue North, , will also welcome guests from beyond the neighborhood. Project Sweetie Pie is still seeking partners, sponsors, vendors and volunteers to facilitate this event, and bring more opportunities and services to the community. “Big things have small beginnings, and locallydriven urban farms and gardens are local solutions with global impact, advancing environmental justice in North Minneapolis and providing environmental and public health benefits that include fighting climate change, providing secure and healthy food to marginalized communities, offering public green spaces, and growing local leaders,” Chaney said. For more information: Michael Chaney of Project Sweetie Pie - 763 227 4881 - Jahliahmvchane@aim.comHollomanof Caring is Culture LLC - 612 722 9879 - KieranJahliahh@yahoo.comMorrisof Twin Cities Community Land Trust - 612 501 4175organizer@TCALT.org
“It’s difficult sometimes for radicals who were not assassinated, per se, to enter into the popular discourse,” he said. “George and Jonathan were never victims. They took action, and they were killed taking that action, and sometimes that’s very difficult to understand for people who will accept a politicalJacksonassassination.”hopesto honor his father’s and uncle’s legacy through documenting the knowledge of elders from that era, as a means of continuing the fight. “We need to get those testimonies. … We need to understand what happened, so that we can improve on what they did. I think now is as good a time as any to get that done,” he said. Associated Press writers Aaron Morrison and Terry Tang contributed to this report. Almaz Abedje, a native of the D.C. area, is a member of AP’s Video Newsgathering team. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/almazabedje.https://
Music, conversation and celebration Harvesting the Fruits of Our Ancestors: The People’s Garden Courtesy of Project Sweetie Pie dakotacooks.com612.332.5299 1010 Nicollet Mall Minneapolis, MN THE STANDARDSNEW Loved Local Legends THE RAYMONDW/COWBOYSBELFASTGWENIFER Van Morrison & Beyond BILLY PRINE & THE PRINE TIME BAND W/ SCARLET EGAN Songs of John Prine RIDERS IN THE SKY Classic Country Revue CHEF SPOTLIGHT No Cover Mondays feat. TheofThree:Pick-a-RibTheMusicBennyGoodmanDakotaPresents: THE MANHATTAN TRANSFER W/ DIVA JAZZ ORCHESTRA 50th Anniversary & Farewell Tour MCCRAVENMAKAYA Alchemical PercussionistJazz BLKBOK Hip-HopClassicalPiano LARRY MCCRAY Rustbelt Blues Guitar Slinger PIETA BROWN & DAVID HUCKFELT Singer-SongwritersIndie-FolkSuperlative BILLY COBHAM BAND Jazz DrumFusionTitan SEP 30 OCT 1 SEP 28 SEP 24 OCT STATEMONDAYS4THEATRE • OCT 12 TICKETS: Hennepin Theatre Trust 612.339.7007 OCT 2 SEP 29 SEP 25 OCT 5 SEP 27
From 6
Page 8 • September 12 2022 September 18 202212, 2022 - 18, 2022 • Insight News insightnews.com
Jackson