MURDERAPOLIS – Code 4, No More
The recent shootings (and murders) in Minneapolis leave us to look at local politicians who boast they have “broken the backs” of local gangs and shut down gang violence. We know “crap” when we hear it!
By Donald W.R. Allen,II Editor in Chief-IBNN
Minneapolis politicians are incapable of telling something as trivial as the truth – much like the mainstream media outlets who “celebrate” the “celebrity” of certain political positions while bypassing journalistic integrity. Read more
KFAI-FM: WAVE Project – “Is a Spoonful of Integration enough for the rest of us?” Sunday, February 14, 2010 at 6 p.m.
“By listening and watching local media, you would think that Valentines Day was the only event going on in the month of February. With CNN’s special, featuring Soledad O’Brien’s “Black in America 2,” – a watered down version of what it’s like to be Black America is skewed for a White audience, it misses the mark at every turn. The issues for those who are forward thinkers are jobs, economic development and education. Tune in KFAI on Sunday for the real State of the Union about Black America.”
Minneapolis, MN Feb. 12 / IBNN/ — Tune in Sunday, February 14, 2010 to KFAI-FM Radio at 90.3FM (Minneapolis) & 106.7 (St. Paul), 6 p.m.-7 p.m. to KFAI’s Wave Project. This program will feature Springboard Economic Development Corporation’s CEO Lennie Chism; Don Allen, the editor and chief of The Independent Business News Network and USA Radical Black with along with Kelechi Jaavaid, better known as KJ the comedian, will be live on KFAI to discuss the topic “ Is a Spoonful of Integration enough for the rest of us? That is the remaining 37 Million African Americans in the United States.”
You can also tune in nationally by going to www.kfai.org for the live streaming broadcast.
On Sunday February 14, 2010, from 6-7 p.m. KFAI Radio 90.3 FM (Minneapolis) and 106.7 (St. Paul) will air an exclusive segment on race relations and generational progress produced by Lennie Chism, Executive Director of Springboard Economic Development Corporation. Chism’s program, titled A Spoonful of Integration is Not Enough for the Rest of Us explores the Civil Rights Movement through music pinpointing cultural anthems such as “We Shall Overcome” to Tupac’s “Ghetto Gospel” as indications of change.
Chism says, “My motivation was to get people to critically look at the 1947 integration of baseball and begin to ask whether integration helped. I wanted to show how integration was not as successful as people thought. Thanks to integration, The Negro League was completely dismantled by 1963, blacks went from running leagues and teams to just being players. Jobs and industry were lost because of integration for blacks. Hence, A Spoonful of Integration is Not Enough for the Rest of Us,” Chism explains. Chism adds, “However when you look at the music industry, that has been dominated by African-Americans for years, with absolutely no desire to integrate, there are countless success stories, hip-hop culture did not bow down, sell out nor attempt to assimilate.”
Chism believes the struggle for Civil Rights continues in the current day hip-hop movement. “I chose to end the segment with Tupac because he is one of the greatest street lobbyists ever,” explains Chism. “He spoke of another culture that the establishment would want to see removed. But in reality that culture became an industry that is creating jobs and a new wealthy class of African-Americans.”
Chism hopes multiple generations tune in for the special program, special guests include Donald Allen editor in chief of two international read controversial blogs and Kelechi Jaavid, local comedian to lighten the air.
Donald Allen, a blogger, Republican and outspoken critic of Minneapolis’ political processes and non-profit watchdog as it relates to communities of color and the delivery of services states, “This is an opportunity to mention names, agencies and politicians who for the most part are more celebrity-based then actually making sure the community is healed. This is an opportunity to let America know that agencies like the Minnesota Department of Transportation, Minneapolis Urban League and the NAACP have lost their mojo.”
Tune in on Sunday, the revolution continues.
Part Two – The Solution? Minnesota Department of Transportation – Executive Order 11246
By Donald W.R. Allen, II – Editor in Chief IBNN and USA Radical Black
“Taxes are collected in a non discriminatory manner. MNDOT discriminates when they only award contracts to White companies.”
From slavery to the civil rights movement “White Privilege” has sought to hide information in an effort to control, obstruct and delay deployment of “processes” put in place by overseers to avoid catastrophic failures, present and future.
One of the “processes” put in place to assist Transportation agencies across the United States in administering their respective DBE programs is Executive Order 11246. Again, MnDOT sidesteps the language of the order. Read more
Congressman Ellison – “Where are you?” National Urban League Writes National Leaders on Behalf of 27 Million Underemployed Americans!
Today at 11:35 a.m. on Facebook, the National Urban League delivered the following message:
The below letter outlining National Urban League’s plan for putting Americans back to work was sent to the following National Leaders:
Mr. Lawrence Summers, Director, National Economic Council
Honorable Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader, U.S. Senate
Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives
Honorable Barbara Lee, Chair, Congressional Black Caucus, U.S. House of Representatives
November 24, 2009
Dear National Leaders,
I am writing to you on behalf of the over 27 million underemployed Americans in desperate need of full-time employment. This includes not only the 
unemployed, but also the marginally attached and those working part-time for economic reasons, all of whom are struggling to make ends meet during these difficult economic times. As you are well aware, the news that in October, the national unemployment rate exceeded ten percent for the first time since the early 1980s was a sobering wake-up for the leadership of this country even to the point of soliciting a call for a Jobs Summit to be held after the Thanksgiving holiday. While I applaud the Administration for publicly acknowledging the gravity of our nation’s employment situation, I would add that double-digit unemployment has been a reality for communities of color since last summer –for African Americans since August, 2008 and for Latinos since February, 2009.
As President and CEO of the National Urban League, the nation’s oldest and largest community-based movement devoted to empowering African Americans to enter the economic and social mainstream, I have firsthand knowledge of the tremendous obstacles these families have been facing, not just since national unemployment reached 10.2% in October, but for over a year now. In fact, demand for workforce development, business development and housing counseling services through the Urban League’s more than 100 affiliates located in 35 cities and the District of Columbia increased by 74 percent between 2006 and 2008. Our local affiliates are on the front lines of this jobs crisis and witness the devastating impact it is having on the individuals and families that walk through their doors. In response, the National Urban League went on record last fall drawing attention to the deepening unemployment crisis in urban America and calling for a second stimulus plan that would invest directly in job creation and training for the very communities we interact with and serve every day.
It is now a year later, and I am again calling on our nation’s leaders to invest in a long overdue plan for putting urban America back to work that is targeted, temporary and timely. The National Urban League’s Plan for Putting Americans Back to Work meets these criteria. Targeted because it provides solutions for communities with the highest rates of unemployment and the long-term unemployed who often face the greatest barriers to getting a job the longer they are without one. Temporary in that the recommended investments require less than a three year commitment. Timely because the bulk of the plan involves direct job creation as a means of bringing recovery to those most in need more quickly.
Most economists agree that the pace of recovery will be slow. Yet, the individuals to which this plan is targeted are often the last to experience the effects of even a more rapid economic recovery. Therefore, the National Urban League’s Plan for Putting Americans Back to Work is a comprehensive six-point plan to make a direct investment of $168 billion over 2 years to address the most urgent needs of American families in economic crisis by investing in direct job creation, job training for the chronically unemployed, greater access to credit for small businesses and additional counseling relief for those caught in the backlog of the foreclosure process. The plan also proposes tax incentives for clean energy equipment manufacturers who employ individuals in the targeted communities. The plan proposes to do these things in the following ways:
1. Fund Direct Job Creation by offering financial support to cities, counties, states, universities, community colleges and non-profit community based organizations to hire the personnel necessary to provide critical services in communities across the nation. Eligibility for support will be based on local unemployment rates with a focus on the long-term unemployed. At least twice in American history, the government has responded to high rates of unemployment with investments in direct job creation – the 1935 Works Progress Administration, when nearly one-fourth of the labor force was out of work, and the Emergency Jobs and Unemployment Assistance Act of 1974, which established Title VI of CETA as a temporary countercyclical employment program at a time when unemployment was quickly approaching 9 percent. We propose an investment of $150 billion to create 3 million jobs, a number that represents only half of the current unemployed with a high school diploma or less.
2. Expand and Expedite the Small Business Administration’s Community Express Loan Program through a reduction of the interest rate to 1 percent targeted for those businesses located in areas where the local unemployment rate exceeds the state average. A ten-fold expansion of the program (from $1 billion to $10 billion) should make credit available to an additional 50,000 small businesses nationwide.
3. Create Green Empowerment Zones in areas where at least 50 percent of the population has an unemployment rate that is higher than the state average. Manufacturers of solar panels and wind turbines that open plants in high unemployment areas will, for a period of three years, be eligible for a zero federal income tax rate and a zero capital gains tax under the condition that they hire and retain, for a minimum of three years, at least half of their workforce from the local area.
4. Expand the Hiring of Housing Counselors Nationwide by investing $500 million to fund housing counseling agencies nationwide to help delinquent borrowers work with their loan servicers to secure more affordable mortgages. Over the past 18 months more than $400 million in federal funds have been invested by the Administration to help mitigate the mortgage crisis through housing counseling and, according to a recent report by the Urban Institute, borrowers facing foreclosure are 60% more likely to hold onto their homes if they receive counseling and receive loan modifications with average monthly payments $454 lower than those who did not see counselors.
5. Expand the Youth Summer Jobs Program for 2010 by investing $5-7 billion to employ 5 million teens. While the unemployment rate for African-American youth is over 40 percent, the employment population ratio makes clearer the desperate situation faced by many urban youth. Since the late 1990s, this number has declined from a high of 33 percent down to 15 percent, and labor force participation for this group is now at a record low of 26 percent. A critical factor in eliminating racial and socio-economic disparities in unemployment is providing a solid foundation upon which African American youth can build positive future labor market expectations and experiences.
6. Create 100 Urban Jobs Academies to Implement an Expansion of the Urban Youth Empowerment Program (UYEP) to employ and train the chronically unemployed. UYEP, a four year demonstration project created in partnership with the U.S. Department of Labor in 2004, is a youth career preparation initiative designed for at-risk, out-of-school, and adjudicated youth and young adults between the ages of 18 and 24. With 27 Urban League affiliate sites and a total of $29.3 million, the program served 3,900 youth, 65 percent of whom either had job placements (paying an average wage of $9.32/hour) or completed their high school diploma or GED. Two hundred participants were placed in postsecondary schools or college upon completion of their secondary education. Scaling this program up to 100 sites would more than triple the program at a cost of $108.5 million.
At a time of the year when we traditionally give thanks and prepare to share generously with those around us, the American people are both frustrated and disappointed. When the financial industry was hemorrhaging, there was great urgency in devising the TARP plan for its rescue. Despite the ambivalence of most Americans with regards to spending billions of dollars to bail out the very businesses they felt had previously taken advantage of them, they understood the need to take swift and deliberate action to avoid a major national, or even global, financial crisis. We ask that the same urgency be given to the people experiencing a personal financial crisis in cities throughout this country. Recognizing the tremendous amount of work that is required to implement a plan of this magnitude in the most efficient and beneficial manner, I make myself available to meet with you to discuss the ideas proposed herein.
Sincerely,
Marc H. Morial
President and Chief Executive Officer
National Urban League
MLK Breakfast Part II: Go ahead celebrate – while your having breakfast…2 Million Black Households WITH Children Face Hunger
Minneapolis, MN – Sources tell IBNN a group of “the usual suspects” are atempting to create and develop a CDC (Community Development Council) in north Minneapolis with a local Foundation.The problem is, the individuals tasked to head up this group have not had one successful long term buiness venture north Minneapolis.
Again the community is pimped, played and starved.
This isn’t even the tip of the iceberg….
1.8 million Black Households with children are food insecure – Black households with children experiencing very low food security up 92%
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (USDA) reported yesterday that almost one in four children living in the United States are food insecure. According to the 2009 report on Household Food Insecurity in the United States, there is a striking disparity in the prevalence of food insecurity among black children. Nearly two million black households with children were food insecure at least some time during the year, an increase of 25 percent over 2007. In 2008, there were 3.76 million non-Hispanic white households with children that were food insecure. The study also revealed that 146,000 black households with children — a 92 percent increase over 2007 — experienced very low food security, meaning that the food intake of one or more of the household children was reduced and their eating patterns were disrupted at times during the year because the household lacked money. Read more
Introducing USA Radical Black – the New “Brother” Blog of IBNN
By Kandis Style – Staff Journalist/IBNN
London, UK/Minneapolis, MN. – Nov. 12 / IBNN News/ – USA Radical Black is pleased to announce the launch of its controversial new web site www.usaradicalblack.com . The site is the result of the massive demand for information related to the American Black experience. Our goal is to provide our visitors with a virtual experience that is compelling and life altering and to inspire the marginalized, and voiceless.
“The virtual world can never match being present at a protest, or a rally; however, we strive to ignite a cyber movement “in real time” every day,” say Don Allen, Editor in Chief of IBNN and Minister of Information for USA Radical Black.
User can easily access archival and cross-referenced information and use our links and references for researching issues and forming their own opinions. The upgraded site also enables our online visitors and members an easy, instant, and secure way to register for programs, make donations, and purchase products from USA Radical Black online store.
The site allows our visitors to create individual profiles indicating specific topics of interest for communications and specialized website content. Users will also enjoy that their profiles will be securely saved for future transactions and can be updated at any time by logging in. Bookmarking and social media tags are also embedded throughout the site so that visitors can share USA Radical Black news and information with others on sites like Facebook, MySpace, and Del.icio.us.
In the future, expect to see live webcasts, high profile interviews, watch dog activities, and strategic alliances with progressive organizations that truly make a difference in people’s lives.
About USA Radical Black
“USA Radical Black – Truth to the People/Power to the People…Now!”
USA Radical Black was created by the Independent Business News Networks editor in chief Donald W.R. Allen, II to address disparities in Black and minority-ethnic leadership roles in the United States.
USA Radical Black also covers News and Information about Politics, Education, Money, Community, Religion, Race, Status and Class as it relates to us.
USA Radical Black is themed to be a “wake-up call” to people of color in the United States who have done the same thing the same way, creating insanity by electing the same party officials that have created problems over-and-over again while in the background tasking people they feel comfortable with to “solve” problems for pay and political favors.
We will explore the changing of the Black Church as it pertains to us as a people of color getting back to our roots with God, Family and Prosperity. Does a well funded Foundation or Social Service Agency have more power than GOD?
Join USA Radical Black for Truth to the People and Power to the People – if not now, when?
Minneapolis Police Taser non-combative man in the neck
Minneapolis, MN (November 3, 2009-IBNN)…Again the “cowboys” on the Minneapolis Police Department have gone too far.
Video given to WCCO-TV late Monday night shows a man with his hands on a squad car when an officer uses a Taser on his neck.
Attorney Albert Goins is suing the City of Minneapolis on behalf of his client, Rolando Ruiz. They’re asking for $75,000 and that the officer involved be reprimanded.
The video given to WCCO starts only seconds before the Taser is used on Ruiz, not what led up to the incident. But in that time, no struggle can be seen before the officer used his Taser on Ruiz. What is seen is Ruiz with his hands on the hood of the officer’s car.
The dash camera of the squad car was rolling when the officer approached Ruiz with Taser in hand. See Video by clicking on the photo.
Time to Declare “Peace” on Youth Violence. The National Urban League makes a statement?
It’s interesting that the National Urban League is starting to address disparities among the Black youth of America. The St. Louis Urban League in cue to receive over $15 million in Stimulus dollars – what has happened to the Minneapolis Urban League, who reported at Wednesdays Board meeting that the Greater Twin Cities United Way will drastically cut funding to the fledgling social service agency. The Minneapolis Urban League will be cutting several jobs today(10/30). To those hard working staff members who lost their jobs at a once thriving flagship social service agency, we wish you the best and hope “change” will come in the form of “process with solutions” at the Minneapolis Urban League.
“With a commitment to solutions and no ears to listen, the Minneapolis Urban League continues to troll in deep water with a boat to big to keep float.”
The message falling on deaf ears from Marc H. Morial – President and CEO, National Urban League
If you’re reading this in your local urban newspaper, you probably encountered at least one story about youth violence in your community before finding your way to this column. But wading through reports of violence in the news pales beside the daily real life experiences of many young people across this nation. According to a recently released Justice Department report, “More than 60 percent of the nation’s youth have been exposed to violence within the last year. Nearly 1 in 2 was physically assaulted at least once, with more than 1 in 10 injured in an assault.”
While incidents like the 1999 Columbine massacre which caused the deaths of 13 people or the 2007 Virginia Tech rampage which took the lives of 32 make international headlines, we are in the grips of a largely silent epidemic of youth violence that is endangering the lives of hundreds of thousands of children across this country every year.
A few weeks ago, the nation was riveted by a YouTube video of the senseless beating death of Derrion Albert, a Chicago high school honor student. Derrion was attacked on his way home from school as he innocently walked through a crowd of rival gang members. According to the New York Times, “Close to 70 students have been murdered [in Chicago] since the beginning of the 2007 school year.”
This level of violence is exceptional by any standard, but sadly, it is replicated at equally unacceptable levels in many of our major cities. As Attorney General Holder said during his recent visit to Chicago to address this issue, “Youth violence is not a Chicago problem any more than it is a black problem, a white problem or a Hispanic problem. It is an American problem.”
A problem this big calls all of us to action. In recent years, we declared “war” on drugs and “war” on terrorism. Today, I think it’s time we declare “peace” on youth violence. I was pleased that Holder and Education Secretary, Arne Duncan went to Chicago to begin what they called “a sustained national conversation” about youth violence in response to the Derrion Albert murder. Holder also announced a request for $24 million in next year’s budget for community-based prevention programs such as Ceasefire and Project Safe Neighborhoods. But stopping and preventing youth violence will take more than money. And it is about more than violence.
While young people who commit violent acts must ultimately be held accountable for their crimes, we cannot ignore the role that poverty, parenting, poor schools, guns, drugs, gangs and the lack of opportunity play in this on-going tragedy. We must invest both more money and more of ourselves in solving these problems if we want to dig out the roots of youth violence. As someone said to me recently, if we can find the votes and the money for a $700 billion bailout of Wall Street, we ought to be able to summon the will and the resources to save our kids.’
Has Minneapolis City Councilman Don Samuels lost his rabbit a** mind?
The Ward 5 Minneapolis City Council race has been; and continues to be one of strangest political races in Minneapolis’ history.
In this video, Councilman Don Samuels – in a room full of his north Minneapolis other-than minority-ethnic constituents talking about “cleaning up 
the north side.” Samuels goes on this rant and talks about the 24-hour Y and how great it is. He talks about the “stings” on Broadway businesses. This video is proof that Councilman Samuels is in need of a reality check.
IBNN’s question to CM Samuels is, “What happened to the community benefit agreement? How many people from north Minneapolis will get hired? Will this just be a mirror image of the Peace Foundation and Colorplast.
This Jamaican-American man’s rant in front of these White folks takes the Black people of north Minneapolis back to the Motherland where our own people sold us as slaves. In the United States, this politicians comment sends Americans (all), back to the days of “White only drinking fountains.”
(This posting is not an endorsement for any candidates running for Minneapolis City Council Ward 5 – but can be considered an alert for who to watch for…)
Minneapolis Public Schools continue to fail children of color – Public Hearing on Education to be held (10/22/09)
By Donald W.R. Allen,II – Editor in Chief IBNN (Comments are welcomed at info@ibnn.org or by clicking here.)
“Education is a process. If the focus of the process is on the wrong product (teachers, money) we get the wrong results. We need to set the standards for and focus on the kids like they do in prep schools. The goal should be a kid with all the tools to enter and succeed in college. Then he or she can choose if college is right for him or her”.
…John Sousa-Facebook
The video above features four of the brightest young Black children in the Public School System. By their answers, its clear that they are not being challenged.
L.J. 8; LaMonty 7; Davy 6 and little LaShieya 3 years-old. Their mother Shay, had this to say: “As a parent, I stayed up all night thinking about the answers my children gave. It may me think why don’t my children know about other choices and I have to remind them that they can be anything they want. Secondly, what are the schools teaching them. We have to look at the problems in our public schools immediately. If this is all the Minneapolis Public Schools has to offer Black children, its time the community come together and hold them in contempt for not teaching our children.”
Minneapolis, MN (October 16, 2009)…A Public Hearing on Education will be held on Thursday, October 22, 2009 from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Pierre Bottineau Library located at 55 Broadway St NE in Minneapolis.
This panel discussion will include community members and representatives from the Minneapolis Chapter of the NAACP and the African-American Community Alliance.
Fact: The Minneapolis Public School System is failing children of color.
The Star Tribune’s October 14th article “Minnesota Math Scores: good but not the best,” this article hints there is a glimmer of hope for the public school systems. However, after reading the article and looking at the Minnesota Department of Education’s website, you will see the test results for inner city schools continuing to decline.
While the Minnesota Department of Education has detailed the Functional Requirements for the 2009 No Child Left Behind – Adequate Yearly Progress Calculations with charts, graphs and statistics, inner city schools in Minneapolis and surrounding suburbs with large populations of children of color consistently do not make the grade.
Children of color should aspire to become doctors, lawyers and bankers. The reality is that children are not being mentored in the direction needed to facilitate those dreams. The public school system must be held accountable for the lack of nurturing an educational foundation that has bypassed children of color.
When we ask children of color, “What do want to be when you grow up?” We get answers like football and basketball players and the most sought after career, “Rapper.”
Something is very wrong with a child in the public schools wanting to be a Rapper.
On a funding note, this hearing will also address question to the Minneapolis Public Schools System like, “Where did the $8.6 million of SES (Supplemental Educational Services) dollars go? Where did the Compensatory Education Dollars go? Where did the Title I Behavior dollars go?
And where did the Referendum Dollars go?
More importantly, what happened to the $103,770.00 gifted to the Minneapolis Urban League for marketing SES after school tutoring programs? What happened to the “Covenant?”
Where is the report?
We only hope there is someone is there to answer the questions.
IBNN has sent several requests to the Minneapolis Public Schools Dan Lowenson to obtain information on the report.
No reply has been forwarded.
Join the African American Community Alliance, NAACP and concerned community members for the Hearing on Public Education.
For more information, contact Sarah Younus at sarah.younus@gmail.com for more information.
IBNNNEW- The Death of North Minneapolis… Donald Allen
- IBNN Exclusive Report: Youth with weapon attempts to enter funeral of Alisha “Lele” Neely (Captured on Film) Donald Allen
- WCCO 4 (CBS) Television fails in journalistic integrity with “edited and spliced” tape of the Minneapolis Police Beating of Ira Stafford…rating F- Donald Allen
- MURDERAPOLIS – Code 4, No More Donald Allen
- Minneapolis’ Star Tribune newspaper’s bias reporting causes defamatory speculation at Internet marketing firm (Updated) Donald Allen
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