“If being Black wasn’t bad enough, try being Black and Republican.” Charges of Discrimination filed against Minneapolis Television Network (MTN) with the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights
Please, let the “deprogramming” begin.
(Video brought to you by Machosauce Productions. All rights reserved.)
On Tuesday, February 24, 2009, V-Media General Manager and MTN Board candidate Don Allen filed a claim of discrimination with the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights against Minneapolis Television Network. (Case #09-05532-BD-1A)
The claim reads:
“Complainant, Allen an African American man, alleges the Respondent, Minneapolis Television Network (MTN) that around July 2008 he met with Respondent Executive Director Pam Colby. Complainant alleges that in the meeting Ms. Colby refused to do business with Complainant because he is an African American Republican, and because he is affiliated with the Republican Party. Complainant alleges that he spoke with the Chairman of the Board of Directors for Respondent and that in that conversation it was suggested that Complainant be given appropriate consideration for the Board of Directors position. Complainant alleges that the person who populated the vacant Board position was under qualified compared to Complainant.
The Complainant charges and believes he has received disparate treatment in the area of business based on race and political affiliation in violation of Minneapolis Civil Rights Ordinance 139.40 (1)(3).”
This incident started last year when I approached MTN to look at possible new funding streams with outreach and private sector engagement that has not taken place at MTN in the last 5 years.
At MTN’s Board meeting and November 13, 2008, Board Chair Marido Huber stated (quote taken from the minutes) “…board members should look for people to fill upcoming board openings. People with fundraising, marketing, and advertising skills are especially needed.”
At that same Board meeting the minutes also read, “Don Allen of Twin City Business is interested in helping MTN do fundraising and build capacity. They offer to help guide web donations to MTN. Cost would include an upfront fee and then a percentage. Vose suggested that there might be competition issues with Comcast. Huber suggested that Allen send a proposal to MTN.”
In a good faith effort I approached MTN again because they were planning their 25th Anniversary Celebration and Fundraiser. A no-charge, I presented one of my firm’s clients to them to hold the event with only food costs which were priced at $1000.00. The alternative for the event would have cost MTN over $5000.00, not to mention the fee for press and promotion the network received.
In the July 2009 meeting, Pam Colby, Executive Director of MTN asked who my firm has worked with. Naming some GOP-related collaborations, Ms. Colby looked at me and said, “This meetings over! Because of the people you’re affiliated with we can’t do business and you’re a Republican!”
At a recent gathering of local commercial film artists, Ms. Colby approached me and said, “Why do you hate Obama?” My response was, “I don’t hate President Obama, and I’m just not on that page with how I see things.”
MTN began operation in 1984 with a mission to provide access to television broadcast equipment and to cable television channels for the diverse community. MTN’s mission centers on empowering communities to bring their own unique voices to cable television. It is committed to freedom of speech for all. MTN enables all citizens to exercise this freedom by providing basic television production training, and by airing all work that is created community producers on its cable channels.
With this said, MTN has been a gaping wound for the City of Minneapolis’ budget for the last five years, lacking creative installments, no new funding streams and limited capacity-building efforts within the local community. The station has not had a major public promotional campaign since Pam Colby has been its executive director and C. John Harrison has represented Cable & Multimedia Services for the City of Minneapolis.
Both past and current Boards have been passive and do not have the skill set for leadership, or to build capacity and engage the private sector as it pertains to the offering of services and soliciting underwriting and sponsorships for the network. The rationale for this was their ongoing “tip-toeing” around Comcast and stating they didn’t want to compete. Stating that MTN competes with Comcast is like comparing KMOJ to B96 – there are benefits to using both. One is a commercial radio station with a reach of more than a 65% in the ethnic/minority populations of Minneapolis; the other is a public, non-profit station with good reach and some unique opportunities. Hence, there’s no direct competition between Comcast and MTN.
My chance to assist and work MTN was shattered when C. John Harrison, Manager, Cable & Multimedia Services for the City of Minneapolis sent the email and said that I was not recommended for the board position because I didn’t “stand-out?” This has been heard one time to many when you’re Black, educated and aggressive. The fear of Ms. Colby and Mr. Harrison is that a positive change would come to MTN and they would lose control. So together they formed a “firewall” against little ole me to stop the appointment for the MTN Board. This is not the first time the MTN has refused “sound business practices” by someone in the multi-media community.
Last night (2/24/09) at the Minneapolis Park Board Headquarters which hosted a meeting for the community to talk about the state’s budget cuts, I approached Mayor R.T. Rybak and informed him about MTN discretion and his reply was, “I’m concerned about some of the things that are said on the air there – but it’s a separate entity.”
MTN’s process leaves out many key factors required for building a community television network. An example of a successful community television network is Colorado Public Television (KBDI-TV/12), which is a unique civic resource that began broadcasting in 1980 as one of the country’s first alternative public television services. During its first quarter-century, KBDI has grown to be a significant media voice in Colorado and a distinct model for community-oriented public television nationwide. Relying on the KBDI model, MTN could provide community news and information that is consistent with the voice and concerns of the community, while becoming a creditable source of information for Minneapolis.
Non-profits and IRS designated 501(c)3’s (tax exempt) are very clear on actions of partisanship. It is required by Law that not-for-profit organizations like MTN that have a variety of programming do business and allow programming from all walks of life or political views. In 2008 during the Congressional campaigns in Minneapolis several local non-profits crossed the line in showing partisanship to DFL incumbents and the people who represent them. In the case of MTN, if you keep doing the same thing with the same results nothing will ever change. What I offered was “breathing room” and chance with board unity to move beyond dependency of the City of Minneapolis.
With three channels, 16, 17 and 75, MTN could be a force to reckon with in Minneapolis…but don’t tell that to a Republican!
Community organizing: What the GOP and north Minneapolis can learn from the Obama Campaign
If you don't know how, it's okay to ask. Look were it got Community Organizer Mr. Obama.
Commentary by Donald W.R. Allen,II
On Thursday, February 19, 2009 I was invited to Macy’s first Black History Month Celebration, which took place on the second floor between the men’s suits and shoes. The highlight of this event was a panel discussion hosted by a north Minneapolis newspaper publisher. Panel members included the University of Minnesota’s Trent Tucker; IAMMOODY.com’s Richard Moody; Women Venture’s Tene Wells; (former) Judge Pamela Alexander; City Council Members Ralph Remington and Don Samuels and others.
I am discussing this event because panelists were asked to reflect not on Black history, but on the Obama inauguration, what it means to have a Black president and other “skewed” questions that in my opinion don’t reflect the struggle or ongoing uphill battle we still encounter in the United States as a people of color. Every day I hear Black people say: “Yes, we have a Black president, things are okay now.” But that’s not the case.
President Obama did not descend from a cloud in the sky and wave his magic wand and chant: “All of your troubles now will disappear.” But listening to people, you would think that Obama’s election was the prelude to the Second Coming of Christ.
I am not against President Barack Obama; I think electing a Black man as President of the United States is the best thing that has happened for our nation. Having a Black man hold the highest position in office has provided our nation, as well as the world, the opportunity to see a positive image of a Black man who is educated, married to a Black woman and raising a family. This image is in direct contrast to the barrage of images that have come to reflect the Black male, family and culture.
Also, the election of President Obama sheds light on the practices of my party, the Republican Party, which tend to reinforce the old, white male practices. I hate to be the one to tell the GOP that old, white and male is dead. As a matter of fact, the Republican Party brand is antiquated. In order to compete with the progressive practices of the Obama campaign, the GOP must develop a more effective way to engage the community; in other words, the GOP must become inclusive.
I encourage the GOP to adopt President Obama’s election campaign strategies. If anyone has read some of the President’s earlier writings, you will see a pattern of community engagement that focuses on organizing and mobilizing people. During his years as a community organizer, the President was savvy enough to realize that to accomplish a goal, he had to bring together all of the appropriate people who had the necessary skills to get the job done. There were no hand outs. Here in the Twin Cities, local Black “self-appointed” leaders have tossed the ball to President Obama saying, “Obama’s going to give us some of that Stimulus money.” Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but President Obama is not going to “give” you shit!
President Obama ran into some of the same problems as a community organizer in Chicago that we face here in Minneapolis. For example, when organizing Black people at the community level, you often find a few who position themselves in an attempt just to “get the money” and ultimately exclude the true stakeholders in the community. Evidence of this “positioning” occurred in 2008 during community discussions with the University of Minnesota/Urban Research and Outreach Center (UROC) and other State funded projects. (I am very thankful that representatives from the U of M were able to see through the information they were presented and work in a more pro-active, open, transparent atmosphere).
Organizing Black people at the community level is one of the most difficult challenges for north Minneapolis. The people gathered in the room aren’t a true representation of the community’s make-up. The young Black woman who didn’t graduate from high school and is unemployed with three children won’t be in the room. Additionally, the young man recently released from prison and desperately seeking employment won’t be in the room. Although these two types of individuals are members of our community, they won’t have a place in the room because they will have been excluded and overlooked intentionally. As a result, community outreach efforts are sabotaged.
During the panel discussion, the newspaper publisher informed potential clients that his organization can deliver (“sell out”) the Black community for a dollar amount. Those of us in professional media/marketing and public relations know for a fact that in Minneapolis/St. Paul a single newspaper cannot and will not reach the diverse Black and African populations that exist in the Twin Cities. Moreover, it’s imperative that corporations (such as Macy’s) look beyond the rhetoric to realize that there are a number of minority-ethnic media outlets that are capable of meeting their advertising/marketing goal; not just one media outlet has this capability.
To be successful at community outreach/organizing, you must include every single one of our community members. Local outreach coordinators must show “unconditional understanding, compassion and caring” to assist the underserved percentage of the community by installing “Take Ownership 2.0.”
Community outreach performed at the non-profit levels never takes off nor reaches the heights it should for one or both of the following reasons:
- No line item for advertising and marketing.
- The agency has become an institution unto itself, promoting outreach to staff for participation. (This happens on many occasions and continues in 2009 at north Minneapolis non-profit social service agencies).
President Obama and his election campaign recognized and implemented effective community organizing strategies, which successfully mobilized an entire nation. If you happened to peek into the “War Room” in Chicago during his election campaign, you saw nothing but White faces on phones and computers, getting his talking points “pinged” throughout the world. Moreover, the campaign was very selective about who was seen with Candidate Barack Obama in public, as well as who appeared in photo opportunities. But their outreach efforts included everyone! They engaged the student on the college campus as well as the elderly man at home; they included the single mom and her children; they included Hispanics, blacks, whites, and gay and straight people. Obama’s election campaign — unlike the Republican Party or outreach efforts in north Minneapolis — relied on the key element of mass inclusion and the philosophy of “Take Ownership 2.0,” giving people from all walks of life the opportunity to act as representatives of Barak Obama’s presidential election campaign.
To receive more information on “Take Ownership 2.0,” a strategic community engagement plan that gets results, send a request for information to info@ibnn.org.
Foreclosure Crisis creates “Black Market” in North Minneapolis
Foreclosures in North Minneapolis
In a continuing investigative report about the various levels of corruption in North Minneapolis that involve programs associated with the foreclosure crisis as it pertains to the deconstruction/demolition of homes; use of re-entry program personnel; and non-profit training programs that promote “we can get men and women back to work have created a new “Black Market” in Minneapolis.
North Minneapolis re-entry programs and the lack of supervision have lead to a cash-cow of economic stimuli for those involved in the deconstruction/demolition of foreclosed houses in the Twin Cities metro area, more specifically, North Minneapolis.
In 2007 and 2008 over 1400 homes went into foreclosure in some cases homeowners were forced to leave life-long family valuables and a long time heirlooms that have been passed on from one generation to the next. It’s a sign of a faltering economy and families having to uproot and leave without their belongings. The housing foreclosure crisis has many levels of negative process which create a spiraling makeup of chaos and greed.
Families relocated to homeless shelters or with other families and friends found it impossible to take what they had accumulated over the years and store belongings until a better opportunity for housing and a peaceful life came about. In North Minneapolis, one of the areas hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis, local community agencies did not understand to help a family might mean to assist them in warehousing life-long assets in a safe facility until the situation changed. Rather than looking at the crisis as an opportunity to assist families in North Minneapolis, local agencies hired consultants and firms from outside of the community to “talk” to homeowners about how they got to this point. With no clear thought process or creativity by local agencies, millions of dollars were wasted in paying salaries for professionals that did not live in 55411 or 55405 which left families no option but to leave homes and possessions in the foreclosed homes.
Stoves, refrigerators, radios, televisions, CD player, jewelry, furniture, clothes, stained glass windows and other items can be purchased in North Minneapolis without even looking. Several days ago, Mattie (not her real name), went to a local store on Penn Avenue North to purchase some milk and bread. When she left the store, there were 3 men asking her if she needed a CD player, television or other household items that the men had on sale in their truck. She asked, “Is it hot?” The men replied, “No – we do construction and tear down houses. This was just stuff that the people left behind.” When asked, the men offered no business cards, but stated they were with a “program.”
Before we get into what’s happening, IBNN would like to make it very clear that it is important to have jobs available for men and women getting out of prison. Our concern is that the programs available (in the real world it’s called jobs) will not create wealth and independence, or a pension with benefits. The re-entry programs must be re-tooled now to provide a “level playing field” for re-entry personnel. The current system pipelines dollars to non-profit programs that build capacity for the “programs” not the “people.” The most common excuse used is that felons can’t get jobs in the mainstream market. For the most part, that’s true. If the funding streams change to focus on business benefiting from hiring ex-offenders, our flow charts show an increase in employment across the board. Research shows that in most cases, an ex-offender goes back to the community where he/she lived; was arrested at or did the crime. Opportunity should be transparent and available.
If the same dollars non-profit organizations got for prisoner re-entry programs in North Minneapolis were given to “Company XYZ” with the stipulation or community benefit agreement (CBA) that Company XYZ would hire a minimum of 5-10 program “re-entry” participants* per year, full benefits and union initiation fee paid – and the only activity the non-profit programs would have is monthly meetings to get “feedback” on how everything is going for participants. This would put business and the “process” of business back in focus. (*Trained at local vocational school or OIC)
By reformatting the process, dollars received by the City and State could go directly to business creating “true” economic stimuli for people returning to communities that otherwise would not get any opportunity other than being in a local non-profit “program” with no chance to build capacity for the future and families.
With the current North Minneapolis programs boasting that they can put 1000+ people to work with Green Collar jobs and forming coalitions to get in line for possible stimulus dollars, my questions for these poverty pimps would be, “People in Minneapolis’ poor neighborhoods have needed jobs for years – what makes you think things will be different when you bring the same people to the table that have sat dormant for the last 10 years?”
Programs that pipeline re-entry personnel into home deconstruction projects, property management positions and other related property issues do not have the proper supervisors or basic process set up to deal with the element of the ongoing sales and distribution of items unsecured out of foreclosed homes.
It’s funny that a group of North Minneapolis non-profit point people say they can deliver work to the community in 2009 – but take a look at the history of North Minneapolis…didn’t the community need work before 2009?
Rich, Black, Flunking
“Cal Professor John Ogbu thinks he knows why rich black kids are failing in school. Nobody wants to hear it.”
By Susan Goldsmith (Re-printed with permission of East Bay Express News by Nate Seltenrich, Clubs Editor/Editorial Coordinator East Bay Express, 1335 Stanford Ave., Suite 100 / Emeryville, CA 94608 – 510.879.3773 (02/2009). Visit East Bay Express News at www.eastbayexpress.com for more fine articles.
The black parents wanted an explanation. Doctors, lawyers, judges, and insurance brokers, many had come to the upscale Cleveland suburb of Shaker Heights specifically because of its stellar school district. They expected their children to succeed academically, but most were performing poorly. African-American students were lagging far behind their white classmates in every measure of academic success: grade-point average, standardized test scores, and enrollment in advanced-placement courses. On average, black students earned a 1.9 GPA while their white counterparts held down an average of 3.45. Other indicators were equally dismal. It made no sense.
John Ogbu has been compared to Clarence Thomas, denounced by the Urban League, and criticized in The New York Times.
When these depressing statistics were published in a high school newspaper in mid-1997, black parents were troubled by the news and upset that the newspaper had exposed the problem in such a public way. Seeking guidance, one parent called a prominent authority on minority academic achievement.
UC Berkeley Anthropology Professor John Ogbu had spent decades studying how the members of different ethnic groups perform academically. He’d studied student coping strategies at inner-city schools in Washington, DC. He’d looked at African Americans and Latinos in Oakland and Stockton and examined how they compare to racial and ethnic minorities in India, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, and Britain. His research often focused on why some groups are more successful than others.
But Ogbu couldn’t help his caller. He explained that he was a researcher — not an educator — and that he had no ideas about how to increase the academic performance of students in a district he hadn’t yet studied. A few weeks later, he got his chance. A group of parents hungry for solutions convinced the school district to join with them and formally invite the black anthropologist to visit Shaker Heights. Their discussions prompted Ogbu to propose a research project to figure out just what was happening. The district agreed to finance the study, and parents offered him unlimited access to their children and their homes.
Read the full story at HERE.
With required procedures discarded “Socialist” Hennepin County Commissioners keep City Council Member Don Samuels and Minneapolis’ 5th Ward in the dark
“Ward 5 City Councilman Don Samuels answers, ‘I was not informed’ when asked about the demolition dollars that went to The Network versus business and the removal of an RFP process. Non-Profits have never been able to build capacity for under served communities, especially in North Minneapolis. The City of Minneapolis has once again bypassed “business” and put dollars into organizations that write their Executive Directors and Presidents a big check while the community suffers. Giving dollars to non-profits will never create wealth and independence for North Minneapolis residents or anyone else. Local small business contractors have met with Summit Academy OIC and point person from H.I.R.E Minnesota and report that the organization is “unresponsive” to business.
The City of Minneapolis has “kangarooed” a resolution that has denied minority ethnic contractors the opportunity to actively bid on demolition contracts for foreclosed properties in area codes 55411 and 55405 – North Minneapolis. The dollars have been earmarked for Sentence for Service, The Network for Better Futures and other non-profit organizations bypassing the opportunity for business to build capacity.
To add insult to injury, the City of Minneapolis has muted all Affirmative Action requirements from State funds received – which sends a clear message that you can’t beat the cost of re-entry labor as it pertains to the deconstruction of foreclosed homes in North Minneapolis. Read the full story HERE. This is not the first time the Black community has had this “sneak attack.”
In 2008 the following Resolution (Resolution 08-2151) was offered by Commissioner Opat and seconded by Commissioner Stenglein; It reads, “BE IT RESOLVED, that the County Administrator be authorized to negotiate an Agreement with the City of Minneapolis, in an amount not to exceed $1,250,000, for the purpose of demolishing no fewer than 50 boarded and abandoned houses; that following review and approval by the County Attorney’s Office, the Chair of the Board be authorized to sign the Agreement on behalf of Hennepin County; and that the Controller be authorized to disburse funds as directed; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the activities funded by this initiative will target properties whose demolition will improve neighborhood livability and increase public safety; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that $500,000 from the Environmental Response Fund be appropriated for environmental assessment and cleanup activities; that $500,000 from Contingency be appropriated for demolition work; and that $250,000 from the Solid Waste Enterprise Fund be appropriated for the transport and disposal of waste; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the houses be demolished by December 31, 2008 and all final site activities be completed by June 30, 2009; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Agreement provide for reimbursement to the City for expenses accrued for these activities after the execution of the Agreement and prior to June 30, 2009; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Agreement specify that $17,500, which is 70 percent of the average cost for assessment, cleanup, demolition, and disposal, be assessed on each property, repayable to Hennepin County and deposited equally into its Contingency fund and Environmental Response Fund; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Agreement require the City to submit a report to the County Board at the termination of the Agreement identifying the results of this initiative, including the number and locations of the houses demolished…”
Ward 5 Council member-the incumbent DFL endorsed City Council member, who has no real opposition in the 2009 City Council race has stated the he was unaware of the changes in city policy. But he was aware that the City of Minneapolis would use $1.7 million (they receive) to pay back to the $1.25 to the county from the federal funds which leads to some questionable practices by Minneapolis’ City government.
Commissioner McLaughlin moved to amend the second resolving clause of the Dorfman amendment to insert The Network after SES, seconded by Commissioner Opat.
These questions still go unanswered:
- Why did the City of Minneapolis “mute” the Affirmative Action requirements?
- What is the position of the City of Minneapolis – Department of Civil Rights? (Other than silence?)
- How come the Hennepin County Commissioners added The Network?
- Why wasn’t an RFP put out to business for demolition contracts?
- What is the relationship with H.I.R.E Minnesota, The Network and the City of Minneapolis?
- If the re-entry program participants aren’t making the money, who is?
- When will the Hennepin County Attorney’s office look into possible violations of the RICO Act and Conflict of Interests? (There appear to be many.)
There are some very interesting players involved in Resolution 08-2151 that include lobbyist for “The Network” who also is the wife of a Hennepin County Commissioner with some possible conflicts of interest as it pertains to The Network and H.I.R.E Minnesota.
In a request for information sent to The Network to further explain “professional services,” and what the non-profit does, all that was sent back was a list of the January 2009 board of directors that reads like a who’s who in the non-profit sector in North Minneapolis. Including Summit Academy OIC’s/H.I.R.E. MN’s Louis King and NorthPoint’s Stella Whitney-West (need I say more?).
The 2007 IRS 990’s for The Network states that the organization offers rehabilitation services for offenders. With several undercover interviews with the re-entry program participants it is shocking what is happening within the organization. One participant has a heavy restitution to pay and works virtually for nothing and says, “This is not how I’d imagined it to be, I’d do better on the streets.”
In a closer look at the organizations 990’s shows the executive director: Steve Thomas made $154,583** in 2007 and that $212, 247.00 was used for professional services, yet they don’t have a website or top-of-mind presence in the community. Our first question to The Network is how many re-entry clients made significant dollars to develop a foundation to get back into society?
The second piece to this unsolved puzzle is the organization called H.I.R.E. Minnesota, who boasts a membership of organizations like Summit Academy OIC (where The Network is housed), Will Steger Foundation, African American Men Project (a referral service), Alliance for Metropolitan Stability, American Indian OIC, Asian American Press, Catholic Charities Office for Social Justice, Environmental Justice Advocates of Minnesota, Family & Children’s Service, Green Water Energy, House Green, Insight News-(Media outlet?), ISAIAH, Lutheran Coalition for Public Policy in Minnesota, LVY Investments, Minnesota Baptist Convention, Minnesota Multicultural Media Consortium, Minnesota OIC State Council, MBTV, The Public Policy Project-(Who has yet to come up with public policy for economic stimuli in North Minneapolis), Stairstep Foundation-(the secret foundation), Urban Embassy, and the Women’s Environmental Institute.
If you look carefully into the above list of organizations, some do great work – others are up to their old tricks; “Hands out, no one fed.” In the next few weeks we will uncover the steps the City of Minneapolis took to pipeline dollars to non-profits while taking a closer look at the H.I.R.E. Minnesota organization.
It seems that again the needs of the few outweigh the needs of the many.
**Check out any organization IRS 990’s at www.guidestar.com.
A member of the community “comments” about the Minneapolis Urban League
In 2008 it was, "Yes we can!" In 2009, "What it be?" Help needed!
The following article was sent to IBNN in response to the story “Minnesota Department of Education needs to take a closer look at service providers for SES Title I after school tutoring “outreach” for failing African-American children and other children of color”. (Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this comment are views and opinions we fully agree with!)
The person who wrote the comment goes by the name of “Silence Dogood”
“…Since when does any African American person that lives on the North side of Minneapolis, not one of the insiders “born here / raised here”, good old boy network of the Urban League even deal with the Urban League in Minneapolis. They are unfortunately only about themselves not about the community.
This is one of the organizations that could not even keep a grocery store or corner store in the area for impoverished families to have a “little” convenience and relief. It is weird they closed Snow Foods Grocery store stating there was drug trafficking in the parking lot…..the PARKING LOT IS ATTACHED TO THE MINNEAPOLIS POLICE DEPARTMENT BUILDING FOR THE 4TH PRECINCT!
The Urban League has lost grants and money before for miss-allocation of monies how they keep getting them, ruining it for minority organizations with integrity is unbeknown to many. The Urban League along with other self-proclaimed African American Community Leaders, only arrive on the scene if the television cameras are present. How many of them actually live in the community anyway? Too many of them do not! But they want to speak for the community….? No not really, they only want to get in where they can fit in to get Mammon, the money, and then take it back out into their nice suburban communities.
Everyone knows why there is so much poverty in any urban city area. Black professionals make it and forget where they came from….and do not want to look at it again.
Then there are those who are carpet-baggers, they sling into the community as though they are there to help, but instead they rape more resources out or away from the community then blame the community members for not accessing resources that were never made readily available. There is not accountability for outcomes promised in these “grants” or monies given to help the impoverished communities.
Now that we are seeing reverse suburban flight, there is nothing new under the sun, the impoverished people are being relocated or dislocated, made homeless, as their homes that were miss-financed are being sold to suburbanites for a mere pittance of what the home owners were told they had to pay for it along with a ten-thousand dollar grant to fix up the property. Isn’t it amazing the HUD monies that were allocated for the neighborhoods, the North side monies only made it into the hands of friends of friends of Urban League workers? The only way the monies would be released to anyone else in the community is IF the situation was deemed an emergency, no furnace etc.
Where was the Urban League while this was going on? Were they even aware? No – of course not. It was not affecting their neighborhoods?
How many of their children attend their school?
I bet none.
Back on Uncle Sam’s Plantation
By Star Parker, Guest Contributor
The story of Star Parker is a stunning chronicle of how she left the seductive life of drugs, crime, abortions and welfare abuse through the power of the Gospel to become a leading advocate for the family. She is at the forefront of the Christian conservative movement to motivate and lead others away from the lies of the culture to a life full of grace and truth.
Star Parker is the founder and president of CURE, the Coalition on Urban Renewal & Education, a 501c3 non-profit think tank that provides a national voice of reason on issues of race and poverty – in the media, inner city neighborhoods, and public policy.
In addition to heading CURE, and its network of inner city clergy nationwide, Star is a syndicated columnist for Scripps Howard News Service, offering weekly op-eds to more than 400 newspapers worldwide.
As a social policy consultant, Star Parker gives regular testimony before the United States Congress, and is a national expert on major television and radio shows across the country. Currently, Star is a regular commentator on C-Span, MSNBC, and FOX News. She has debated Jesse Jackson on BET; fought for school choice on Larry King Live; and defended welfare reform on the Oprah Winfrey Show.
Her story begins….Six years ago I wrote a book called “Uncle Sam’s Plantation.” I wrote the book to tell my own story of what I saw living inside the welfare state and my own transformation out of it.
I said in that book that indeed there are two Americas. A poor America on socialism and a wealthy America on capitalism.
I talked about government programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training (JOBS), Emergency Assistance to Needy Families with Children (EANF), Section 8 Housing, and Food Stamps.
A vast sea of perhaps well intentioned government programs, all initially set into motion in the 1960’s, that were going to lift the nation’s poor out of poverty.
A benevolent Uncle Sam welcomed mostly poor black Americans onto the government plantation. Those who accepted the invitation switched mindsets from “How do I take care of myself?” to “What do I have to do to stay on the plantation?”
Instead of solving economic problems, government welfare socialism created monstrous moral and spiritual problems. The kind of problems that are inevitable when individuals turn responsibility for their lives over to others.
The legacy of American socialism is our blighted inner cities, dysfunctional inner city schools, and broken black families.
Through God’s grace, I found my way out. It was then that I understood what freedom meant and how great this country is.
I had the privilege of working on welfare reform in 1996, passed by a Republican congress and signed into law by a Democrat president. A few years after enactment, welfare roles were down fifty percent.
I thought we were on the road to moving socialism out of our poor black communities and replacing it with wealth producing American capitalism.
But, incredibly, we are going in the opposite direction.
Instead of poor America on socialism becoming more like rich American on capitalism, rich America on capitalism is becoming like poor America on socialism.
Uncle Sam has welcomed our banks onto the plantation and they have said, “Thank you, Suh.”
Now, instead of thinking about what creative things need to be done to serve customers, they are thinking about what they have to tell Massah in order to get their cash.
There is some kind of irony that this is all happening under our first black president on the 200th anniversary of the birthday of Abraham Lincoln.
Worse, socialism seems to be the element of our new young president. And maybe even more troubling, our corporate executives seem happy to move onto the plantation.
In an op-ed on the opinion page of the Washington Post, Mr. Obama is clear that the goal of his trillion dollar spending plan is much more than short term economic stimulus.
“This plan is more than a prescription for short-term spending-it’s a strategy for America’s long-term growth and opportunity in areas such as renewable energy, health care, and education.”
Perhaps more incredibly, Obama seems to think that government taking over an economy is a new idea. Or that massive growth in government can take place “with unprecedented transparency and accountability.” Yes, sir, we heard it from Jimmy Carter when he created the Department of Energy, the Synfuels Corporation, and the Department of Education.
Or how about the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 — The War on Poverty — which President Johnson said “…does not merely expand old programs or improve what is already being done. It charts a new course. It strikes at the causes, not just the consequences of poverty.”
Trillions of dollars later, black poverty is the same. But black families are not, with triple the incidence of single parent homes and out of wedlock births.
It’s not complicated. Americans can accept Barack Obama’s invitation to move onto the plantation. Or they can choose personal responsibility and freedom.
Does anyone really need to think about what the choice should be?
Read more articles by Star Parker by visiting www.townhall.com or click HERE to go directly to her other submissions.
The “Re-Planting” of North Minneapolis: The City of Minneapolis sends a clear message, “Affirmative Action…who cares?”
The slow death of Black business and organizations in north Minneapolis.
While Black “self-appointed” leaders who have been fighting between one and another over dollars the City of Minneapolis received from the State to address the foreclosure crisis and jocking for position as the “group” or “program” that can take north Minneapolis to the next level, the City of Minneapolis has quietly “removed” the Affirmative-Action requirements from the current round of dollars (demolition contracts) to ensure that while these Negros are fighting between themselves they also will not directly receive any of the dollars tagged for 55411 and 55405 (areas hit the hardest by the housing crisis). Furthermore, the money has already been tagged and the useless uproar by the city’s premiere poverty pimps falls on deaf ears. With the City of Minneapolis setting the goals for Affirmative Action to ZERO (See letter from the City Attorney’s office below), what’s the next move to “re-plant” north Minneapolis with new people that don’t look like us? Secondly, how will “self-appointed” Black leaders “stop, look and listen” – but furthermore, “understand process?” (Chasing “green jobs” will not create wealth for the community.”)
And again we ask, “Where is Congressman Keith Ellison?” If there’s an Israeli flag to burn on the Minnesota State Capitol steps, he’s there! Rep. Ellison, who quietly signed off on $70 Million in earmarks in 2008 with other elected representatives overlooked the fact that no dollars went directly to Black organizations. What about taking care of business in your own back yard? (More to come soon with shocking photos!)
The following email was sent to Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak from Springboard Development Foundation’s founder in regards to the City of Minneapolis’ receipt of the $1.7 million dollars and the City’s lack of inclusion as it pertains to the Affirmative Action goals being removed:
Mayor Rybak,
Per information provided by city officials and the Star Tribune, the Greater Metropolitan Housing Corporation (GMHC) has been sanctioned as the distributor of millions of dollars provided by the city, state, and federal government to address housing and/or the foreclosure crisis in the city of Minneapolis.
“Is this a Halliburton type relationship?” For example GMHC is the only one deemed qualified so they are awarded contracts without bid.
Does GMHC as a contractor of the city have to follow the same laws as any contractor who does work for the city of Minneapolis?
This relationship appears to be in violation of the R.I.C.O. laws. Government entities are also subject to R.I.C.O.
For example, the demolition contract of $1.7 million was awarded with the stipulations that all city requirements for Affirmative Actions and Sub Contractors were muted. Government entities are also subject to R.I.C.O.
Springboard Economic Development Corporation is asking for inclusion and all funds awarded to GMHC and the demolition contractors for the foreclosure crisis not be taken from the $5.6 million awarded to the city of Minneapolis from the state and or the federal government.” (Email sent by Lennie Chism, Executive Director/Founder of Springboard Development Foundation to Mayor R.T. Rybak, City of Minneapolis)
To further explain the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (commonly referred to as RICO Act or RICO), is described as, a person who is a member of an enterprise that has committed any two of 35 crimes—27 federal crimes and 8 state crimes—within a 10-year period can be charged with racketeering. Those found guilty of racketeering can be fined up to $25,000 and/or sentenced to 20 years in prison per racketeering count. In addition, the racketeer must forfeit all ill-gotten gains and interest in any business gained through a pattern of “racketeering activity.” RICO also permits a private individual harmed by the actions of such an enterprise to file a civil suit; if successful, the individual can collect treble damages.
It is alleged that the City of Minneapolis has violated the RICO Act by the handling process of dollars tagged for the foreclosure demolition projects by removing the Affirmative Action requirements that simply refers to policies that take gender, race, or ethnicity into account in an attempt to promote equal opportunity. This affects not only African American business in Minneapolis, but the City’s action also excludes businesses and organizations run by Woman, Hispanics-Latinos, Asians, Hmong’s, Somali and other minority-ethnic groups.
The email to Mayor Rybak’s office sent a clear signal that was answered by the following response from the City Attorney’s office dated January 23, 2009:
Dear Mr. Chism:
I have been asked to respond to your recent inquiries regarding the awarding of bundled demolition contracts by the City of Minneapolis as part of the ongoing initiative to address the foreclosure crisis. To this end, I have consulted with representatives from the Civil Rights and Finance Departments, as well as the Small and Underutilized Business Program. I can relay to you the following information regarding the altogether appropriate awarding of the referenced demolition contracts:
- Late last year the City of Minneapolis received substantial grant funding through The Neighborhood Stabilization Program administered by the United States
- Department of Housing and Urban Development. This funding is contingent upon a number of factors and requires recipients to act rapidly in its utilization.
- Because of the extraordinary number of rush demolitions required to take place according to expedited schedules and mandatory deadlines tied to the provisionof the grant funding, staff made the business decision to bundle numerous demolitions together for bid in order to take advantage of significant economies of scale.
- The nature of the demolition work associated with this funding is such that very few subcontracting opportunities exist in that residential demolition contractors generally perform the entire scope of the required work.
- In accord with the requirements of the Small and Underutilized Business Enterprise Program (see Minneapolis Code of Ordinances Ch. 423), specific program participation goals for the utilization of small, minority and women-owned businesses are set on a contract-by-contract basis. Such goals are based upon the qualifications and availability of certified businesses as we!! As the potential for participatory opportunities, such as identified subcontracting opportunities associated with a given project.
- Based on the above-referenced factors, and because the city may not require contractors to subcontract work that they normally complete themselves, the program goals for the bundled demolition contracts were set at zero.
- The Greater Minneapolis Housing Corporation (GMHC) was not and is not a party to the bundled demolition contracts.
You may contact the city’s Small and Underutilized Business Program at (612) 673-2272 with any further questions. (This letter was the legal response from the City of Minneapolis sent by Assistant City Attorney Joel M. Fussy to Mr. Chism).
The City of Minneapolis has looked into why this has happened and Minneapolis City Council members have been questioned about why this heinous act of exclusion has taken place – one of the best answers from a City Council member that we feel sums up the whole situation was, “I didn’t know.”
This is not an isolated incident. There are other violations of “equal opportunity” as it pertains to the distribution of wealth, education and housing occurring on a daily basis in the City of Minneapolis.
In 2009, several Minneapolis City Council members come up for re-election. The current Mayor of Minneapolis is up for re-election also. The groups of minority-ethnic people of Minneapolis that have been excluded from these opportunities of economic stimuli just happen to be the “Majority.” This is your opportunity to change the faces of Minneapolis government, to elect individuals that actually represent your concerns, actions and the future of your businesses along with the education of your children.
What will you decide? Will tomorrow include you?
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder Newspaper’s Guiding Light and Matriarch passes away at 87
The Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder is Minnesota’s oldest African-American newspaper and the oldest Black business in the State of Minnesota. MSR has been published for the last 75 years and is Minnesota’s #1 source of News and Information for the minority-ethnic community.
Launa Quincy Newman, the guiding light of this newspaper for more than 30 years, passed away on Tuesday, February 3, at the age of 87. Without her strength, perception and single-minded dedication to continuing the mission of her husband, founding publisher and editor Cecil E. Newman, the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder would very likely not exist today.
The newspaper’s staff, writers and readers join Mrs. Newman’s devoted family and many friends in mourning her loss.
Launa Newman was born in Topeka, Kansas, on December 30, 1921, the second child of four born to Gilber Quincy and his wife Ethel. Launa’s father owned a tailor business. When she was two, the family relocated to Des Moines, Iowa, where Gilber established his tailoring and cleaning business on State Street.
Newman grew up in Des Moines, eventually attending business school and meeting and marrying her first husband, Wallace O’Neal Jackman. Two children were born of this union, Norma Jean Williams and Wallace “Jack” Jackman.
Newman moved to Minneapolis in 1958, where nine years later, in 1967, she married her second husband, Cecil Earl Newman. Newman had founded his two newspapers, the Minneapolis Spokesman and the St. Paul Recorder, in 1934. By the time he and Launa were married, Newman had become a prominent leader among Black Minnesotans, active on corporate boards and in political circles as well as publishing the leading Black newspapers.
“I wanted to help him in his business,” Mrs. Newman recalled of those days. “My father was a successful businessman in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, before it was popular for Blacks to be in business. “I knew what it meant to be a small businessman. I knew the problems and sacrifices involved.”
Newman told her husband, “I am impressed by your stamina and dedication, and by the fact that you want to help so many people with so little pay in return for yourself.” Cecil was dedicated to serving the community as a leader and newspaperman. Launa recognized and respected his commitment and did what she could to provide support and economize on the home front.
Eventually Newman felt called to do more. “I recognized his need for help, and I knew that he could not afford to hire new people at that time. I started working the circulation area and later helped by relieving him of some of the tedious telephone contact work he had to do. Then I got into the management area, reorganizing the staff and office procedures into a system that remains successful for the paper.”
Cecil was often too preoccupied with his editorial duties to attend to management details. Launa compensated for that deficiency with her own direct, no-nonsense style: “There was a job that had to be done, and there was only one way to do it — the complete way. The right way.”
Newman spent seven years as the newspapers’ office manager and Cecil Newman’s business confidant before his death in 1976. “It was easy to work with Newman because he was my very best friend,” she recalled. “And because he was my best friend, it was quite easy for him to be my husband.”
Cecil E. Newman passed away on February 2, 1976, and Launa inherited the business. She had little time to deal with the trauma of Cecil’s loss before confronting the company’s books: “It was a financial shock. I had to let staff go and utilize all the free help I could get from family and friends who were already closely associated with the paper under Newman’s direction.”
Among those let go were longtime employees who operated the typesetting and printing departments for 20 years based on the by-then obsolete practice of hot-metal composition. Modernizing production from the old composition system to the offset printing system was one of Newman’s earliest challenges as she set out to prove those wrong who doubted she could keep the newspapers alive. “I am not a successful businesswoman, yet,” she said back then, “but I am learning.”
What helped Newman through those difficult times was her strong faith. “I believe in prayer. I believe it was the prayers of the many people around me that made it possible for me to continue the paper. I walked surrounded by faith and hope. There were times when I felt that nothing could hurt me.”
Under Newman’s guidance, the newspapers remained a vital, influential force in the community. For a time, Cecil Newman’s son Oscar Newman served as co-publisher and chief editor. Norma Jean Williams and Wallace Jackman increasingly assumed responsibilities for the company, seeing it through another technical evolution to the computerized publishing system now in place, remodeling the facility to accommodate more staff, and merging the two newspapers into a single publication, the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.
Williams and Jackman became co-publishers of the newspaper as Mrs. Newman delegated greater authority to them, freeing her up for more community work and time to enjoy her friends. She served on the board of the Minneapolis Boy’s Club, was affiliated with the Hennepin County Service Organization, and worked with the Courage Center. She was a member of the Minneapolis Women’s Club and involved in as many as six bridge clubs at a time. Mrs. Newman remained active with many other civic and social organizations and entertained a wide circle of friends and acquaintances.
Tracey Williams, who worked at the newspapers as a child, also became more active with the business, eventually becoming president and CEO. In 2007, Newman sold the business to granddaughter Tracey and officially retired from direct involvement. Even in retirement, however, she kept a close eye on the newspaper and did not hesitate to notify her co-publishers, CEO and editor when something was amiss and needed immediate attention.
Spokesman-Recorder Senior Contributing Writer Matthew Little was on the scene to observe Mrs. Newman’s assumption of the publishing duties after her husband’s death.
“The history of the Spokesman and Recorder newspapers is synonymous with the history of African Americans in the state of Minnesota,” Little said. “Not only have they documented and archived the Black presence and mobility in the state, but over the years they have played a central advocacy role in African American progress.
“When their founder and legendary leader, Cecil E. Newman, passed on, fears were raised among many that it would mark the end of the publications and the progressive community status it had engendered. But Mrs. Launa Newman was determined to keep alive the legacy created by her deceased husband.
“She not only preserved the publications and their position in the community, but she expanded it,” said Little. “In so doing, she quietly and unobtrusively established a legacy of her own.”
In the 32 years since the death of her husband, the newspaper, under the direction of Mrs. Newman and with the support of family and staff, has successfully carried on the tradition of its founder.
The Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder remains the state’s oldest African American publication and the oldest surviving Black business in Minnesota.
In addition to her proud record of persistence in the face of adversity, Launa Newman leaves as her legacy a large and loving family. She is the mother of two, the grandmother of nine, the great-grandmother of 21, and the great-great-grandmother of three children.
Crying Out to the Wrong Power?
On last week a group of clergy and concerned point people from the eclamentical community gathered last week and again today (Saturday, June 13, 2009 at Kellogg Square 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.) to discuss a proposed plan to “revamp” the religious community, more specifically, the Black church. This group included local politicians representing their faith rather than their office, Minneapolis City Council persons and some of the old guard that have not realized they have become obsolete, ineffective and have not figured out that, “Times are changing.”
Again the “usual suspects” are in-play with a local area Foundation pushing this mission.
The story below is an example of what has happened not just in Houston, but all across the United States when this group continues “Crying out to the wrong power.”
By Rev. M.L. Johnson, D.Min. Theology
On January 6 of this year, the Houston Chronicle and local TV media reported that a group of Houston area pastors came together for a press conference to declare to the world that they were utterly helpless and were in need of a greater power to stop the black-on-black crimes that are tearing apart the community of Sunnyside. The delegation represented the 300-member Houston Ministers Against Crime movement, and they assembled themselves before the public to demand that city officials create an expert panel to address escalating violence among black youth. “We’re crying out for help from our elected officials,” said one minister. “We’re going to scream this from the roof,” said another.
However, there is something very telling about these actions in light of the great declaration the church’s founder which was “…upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Jesus spoke of the church having unimaginable power and ability—the entity that these leaders suppose to represent! Though we may exhibit stellar pulpit performances and spout great Scriptural verses like “I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me,” the public plea shows a sign of weakness and utter despair. Or could it be safe to say that the church has lost its savour, meaning that it has lost its effectiveness and ability to influence those around it?
The cry of the pastors for government help stands as irrefutable evidence of how far the leadership has strayed from the spiritual foundation of being rooted in the basic principles of traditional Biblical doctrine. Question: What can the city council and government do to force or even convince young black men to cease committing such heartless violence, not just against black people, but people in general? The laws are already in the books!
And remember, government’s duty is to “punish the wicked and protect the innocent, bring justice to the offender and encouragement to the law-abiding.” So this means that many segments of the Christian community have it all wrong! Government’s primary responsibility is actually removing the wicked and disobedient from civilized society in hopes of changing them—it is not government’s responsibility to raise them! In fact, government functions best where its duties truly reside, and many of the things the preachers are crying so loudly about stem from the government’s attempt to handle those things best minded by the church! In fact, much of the tragedy the black communities suffer from is the collateral damage stemming from liberal alliances and an unquestioning devotion to a political party system that profit from the very misery they lament.
The dependence upon government solutions has been the plague of the church, which has withdrawn step-by-step from its responsibility of shaping the culture. It is for this very reason we have many of our problems. With government doing all it can to remove God from every aspect of society, how can church leaders depend upon it to solve issues related to the spiritual condition of people? For the leaders of the church—the only physical, visible representation of the kingdom of heaven on earth to declare this dependency upon a lesser authority illustrates the spiritual poverty in our pulpits! The immense political power has raised a generation that no longer looks to God, but to our city halls, state capitols and ultimately Washington, D.C. Is there not a word from the Lord? Perhaps a display of unity, fasting and prayer would open greater wisdom in finding solutions.
IBNNNEW- Apology to the North Minneapolis Community. We don’t have leaders, we have self-appointed spokespersons Donald Allen
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