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
North Minneapolis Politics: Bottineau Line-(Light Rail Transit), Dog and Pony shows not needed!
“A performance of epic proportions is great in theater. The question is, will this project provide jobs and economic stimulus to North Minneapolis?”
By Donald W.R. Allen, II – Editor in Chief of IBNN and USA Radical Black
On Thursday, January 28th, a meeting was held in North Minneapolis to talk about the Bottineau Line (Light Rail) and how it would affect the north Minneapolis community.
In a continuation of back-room-deals, sidebars with no forward thinking some community members wonder will this be another “ride-by” of economic opportunity that seems to keep missing Black people and Black business in north Minneapolis? With no establishment of a 40/40/40 Community Benefits Agreement (CBA), it seems that this is just another projects that will ride on the backs of the under served community with no real benefit other than train that goes through the “hood.”
Minnesota Public Radio (the Radio-Man) is suing the Metropolitan Council over a planned light rail project that would run trains by the station’s office in St. Paul. For the “technical” reasons, if the Light Rail runs anywhere near Broadway and Penn, will KMOJ-FM be able to sue for the same reasons…no.
It’s simple as Black and White, literally.
Since the passing of the Stimulus Bill over 3.3 million Americans have lost their jobs. In January 2010 over 20,000 have lost gainful employment.
In 2009, north Minneapolis leaders promised at least 1000 jobs for the community.
In the fall of 2009, a deafening silence fell from north Minneapolis’ “self-appointed leaders.” What happened to the millions of dollars in stimulus money from the Obama administration sent cleverly cloaked as something that will never trickle down to businesses, human services agencies and the people who need jobs now?
The presentation on Thursday night was another fine example of “lip-service” to see if local politicians can handle “the community.”
“What, no jobs again?” – says 51-year old Sam, who drives a taxi in Minneapolis for a local taxi company and lives in north Minneapolis, “It’s the same group of politicians always telling the community ‘the jobs and new projects are coming’ – and nothing ever develops. It’s like being super-glued to the edge of your seat with all of the suspense of a big screen production and no delivery of a plot. It’s funny, we fall for it ever time.”
Sam’s feelings on the matter of jobs to north Minneapolis reflects the feelings of many who are tired of the “sensationalism” and announcements of possible opportunities which for the most part never-ever make it to the average north Minneapolis resident. Those who do benefit are non-profit agencies and their employees tasked to study the “process of how.”
At Thursday nights meeting, Minnesota State Representative Bobby Jo Champion (58B) told the captive audience (after one
of his constituents posed a very good question about jobs in north Minneapolis along the proposed light rail), “We’re not here to talk about jobs!”
The United States has donated over $600 million to Haiti – an economic and infrastructure disaster zone, at what point does the Black community in north Minneapolis get any consideration – also an economic and infrastructure disaster zone.
At what point will it be about jobs, economic stimulus? When will Representative Champion’s committee address the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s lack of engaging minority contractors – or jobs? Champion, who sits on the states Transportation and Transit Policy and Oversight Division, who meet on Wednesdays at 1:00 p.m. in Room 5 of the State Office Building, has been, for the most part IBNN alleges, mute to the real needs of transit and transit options for his constituents in 58B – to include the compliance by Minnesota Department of Transportation.
We now have before us a proposed LRT line whose reason for existing is political rather than practical. It’s time for a reality check. Read more
Part 4: Affirmative Action is no “Action Jackson” at MnDOT
By Donald W.R. Allen,II – Editor in Chief/IBNN and USA Radical Black
Last week at MnDOT and internal email was sent to select employees at MnDOT regarding the recent stories posted on IBNN.
The email read: (Unedited):
From: Prescott, Mary (DOT)
Sent: Wednesday, January 06, 2010 10:47 AM
Re: Part 3 – Who signs off on 0% goals and 0% goals achieved at MnDOT?
FYI for internal use only – this will be discussed at the DBE and Workforce Development Collaborative Group meeting on Friday. Specifically, hopefully, 1) Lennie Chism bringing Donny Allen a newsperson who seemed only there looking for a story and he did not state that this is why he was there; and 2) it was agreed to “no surprises” at the last meeting and this has been the fourth surprise from Mr. Chism; ground roles for media and the hard work going forth with all the project teams.
Note: The email above is just another example of bigotry at MnDOT for the acting civil rights director to single out two Black men, asking questions about a 17 year trend of failure in an attempt to address, solve and recommend a plan of action. This top-of-mind attention is not wanted at MnDOT, hence, 1% in federally funded contracts to minority contractors.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation employee base is a “protected class” of the government workforce. They have the “Cadillac” of benefits that aren’t affected by the current economic status of non-government working-class Minnesotans. Read more
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.’
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.
…What the Hell brings MPR to West Broadway Avenue in North Minnneapolis? Minnesota Public Radio: Insight Public Journalism reaches out “back-asswards”
Recently Minnesota Public Radio’s Public Insight Journalism sent out a request to participants on their network to ask, “What brings you to West Broadway…or, what would?”
I find this very amusing due to the fact that Minnesota Public Radio’s Public Insight Journalism continues to ignore Blacks including successful measurable outcomes, especially in north Minneapolis.
If MPR was truly concerned about West Broadway, Black people or north Minneapolis in general – they would do a better job at reporting.
Maybe it would be best if they just stayed in their “glass castle” in downtown Saint Paul.
“Shame on you MPR!”
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