The Death of North Minneapolis…
Alisha will never know what it is like to attend college or to pledge a sorority. She will never marry and have children or see her grandchildren. The death of this young girl represents a lot more than a continued rise in violence. It represents the over-all catastrophic failure by those “self appointed” leaders who have condemned their own “reflections,” the youth of north Minneapolis. Poverty Pimps march to the tune of the all mighty dollar. This would be okay if dollars were reaching the community – but no, they organize for finance, not for “the least of thee.”
17-year-old Alisha ‘LeLe’ Neeley, was laid to rest on Saturday, March 6, 2010.
Editorial by Donald W.R. Allen, II – editor in chief/IBNN and USA Radical Black
“I couldn’t stay in the church for long. Looking at the young girl laying in a casket dead, no future, no tomorrow, just a memory of a day and time imagining what she would do tomorrow if she were alive. Earlier I watched as 187 people (I counted), mostly youth marched down Broadway Avenue to the church. One question I had…Why was MADDADS still in the parking lot of Cub Foods putting on a show when everyone had left?”
As of today, no suspects have been arrested in the death of Alisha Neeley. This continued trend of shootings and murders grow in North Minneapolis, and around the metro area. The death of Ms. Neeley represents more than we realize. This is the third death in less than 3-years where north Minneapolis (female) teenagers are killed by random acts of violence.
For the last three years, community leaders and north Minneapolis politicians have promised jobs, economic development and a chance for the youth of north Minneapolis to have a better chance for success. What has happened is a self-serving process of “give me the money” to pay the people who work in my building, “screw the community.” Perpetual north Minneapolis non-profit stupidity. (Just ask the Peace Foundation when they have ever hired 20 people from the north Minneapolis community.)
What has happened is north Minneapolis? Read more
The Repetitive Exploitation of Black Minnesota: Here we go again…
African-American Men Project; Prostate Screenings; HIV/AIDS; Breast Cancer Screenings; Dairy Queen;Tires Plus; Siyeza, Inc; NRRC; Synergy…
“Good intentions have funded projects with the same point people that continue to fail Black Minnesota. When will Black Minnesota get tired of the blatant Exploitation of their Community?” ~Don Allen
By Donald W.R. Allen, II – Editor in Chief/IBNN
Several years ago, St. Paul Pioneer Press journalist David Hawley wrote a story titled “Minneapolis: Study Details Problems Facing City’s Black Men,” dated January 24, 2002.
The story details, the results of a two-year study in which Hawley stated the outlook for African-American men in Minneapolis is grim. In the article Hawley wrote: “If you’re an African-American man ages 18 to 30, the odds are roughly 50-50 that you live in one of the city’s poorest, most crime-ridden neighborhoods and that a single mother reared you. There’s also about a 50-50 chance that you didn’t finished high school and only a slightly lesser chance that you will be arrested in the next year, most likely for a minor offense. If you are arrested, the odds are greater than 50-50 that you will be charged again within the next two years.”
In response to Hawley’s “grim” article, Gary L. Cunningham, the former Director of NorthPoint Health and Wellness and the overseer of the African-American Men Project, an organization that once had the power and respect of the community to make meaningful change, but has now has been reduced to a glorified referral service, had only one thing to say, “This report deals with what people call “wicked problems’ in our society.”
Wicked problems” are still not solved today – even by the people who identified them 8 years ago despite an incredible amount of funding and resources. Read more
The Dream Deficit: Social Justice Incompetence
By Donald W.R. Allen,II – Editor in Chief, Independent Business News Network
With the recent changes at local non-profit, social service agencies in north Minneapolis, you would think they had a little more to offer the community…with more eyes on north Minneapolis than ever, is it too late to correct the fledgling strategic plans of non-profits like the “Minneapolis Urban League?”
Would Ella Baker* or Fannie Lou Hammer** worry about their paychecks during the movement? Do we even remember the work they did, for no pay, while risking their lives or did a grant drive Huey Newton to be a Black Panther?
The movement has been appropriated and pimped and many could argue that the “Souls of Black Folk” were better off before the movement than after the movement. Would Bob Moses not build a Freedom School if he did not get the funding?
Are non-profits an adequate replacement for social justice work? If we recognize that to keep the funding the status quo must continue there is not much an incentive for social change. Or do they serve as a hierarchy within the communities to discourage assimilation, widen disparities and maintain the status quo to keep the cash cow? We need to ask ourselves, are so called leaders doing this work for the money or the principles?
The cultural imperialism of many non-profits that they are the only ones that can liberate, how different is that than the paternalism of the slave owner? Not much. It just hurts those in the liberal community to see that they need an oppressed class to continue working.
Until we have equal education from teachers that look beyond an African American student as at risk to their own ignorance and prejudice – how can we have an African American President and Congressman and have the statistics and the quality of life for African Americans are below the poverty level? 
That is inherently evil, and must be addressed.
There is no paycheck in social justice and we must be weary of those who want to make a buck liberating their people.
*Ella Josephine Baker-December 13, 1903 – December 13, 1986 was a leading African American civil rights and human rights activist beginning in the 1930s. She was a behind-the-scenes activist whose career spanned over five decades. She worked alongside some of the most famous civil rights leaders of the twentieth century, including: W. E. B. Du Bois, Thurgood Marshall, A. Philip Randolph, and Martin Luther King Jr. She also mentored such then young civil rights stalwarts as Diane Nash, Stokely Carmichael, Rosa Parks and Bob Moses.
**Fannie Lou Townsend on October 6, 1917 – March 14, 1977) was an American voting rights activist and civil rights leader. She was instrumental in organizing Mississippi Freedom Summer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and later became the Vice-Chair of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, attending the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in that capacity. Her plain-spoken manner and fervent belief in the Biblical righteousness of her cause gained her a reputation as an electrifying speaker and constant champion of civil rights.
Sacred Trust..Exploiting the Dream
We have had too many examples in history to not think that we too are immune to totalitarianism. If a leader feels too grand to be questioned, something is rotten in Denmark. The quality of life for African Americans in Minneapolis has declined under their watch, they are responsible. It is a harsh truth, but being a leader also carries the responsibility of ownership of bad choices, or benign neglect. It was better before they positioned themselves as leaders. No one wants to talk about that.
The irony is that poverty pimps use fear as a way to maintain power doing little to change the lives of the most vulnerable the very people they claim to protect. It is their funding, their mortgage and car payment that they are worried about.
Just because those particular African American individuals do not get the funding, does not mean that African Americans will not be served. Crying wolf and white guilt are completely useless tools to end injustice and poverty. They are counter intuitive, and actually do more to alienate than heal the wounds of racism.
If we are expected to have a healthy democracy we are expected to have a free exchange of ideas and have transparency for donations that is contributed in good faith to help the group specified in the grant, not just to keep the funding going. That is inherently evil. I am sure there are many other people and projects that could us the funding in a more productive and moral manner. I believe that their worth is measured by the harvest.
Airing out of dirty laundry is a painful process, but the only way we can change is to acknowledge what is not working and not do it again. I am sure there are many quiet leaders and organizations that have proven programs that exist on a hope and a prayer get the money. The leaders that are too shy or busy to be holding their hands out are usually the ones we most want to support.
The same old tired leadership has been in power my entire life we have given them a chance. The sacred trust of who tends to the tradition of social justice has been so frayed, that we must examine as a community without fear. The current players have had ample time to produce results are not making the grade it is time to question authority. Could you have the same track record and keep your job?
IBNNNEW- North Minneapolis: NAACP President “Uncovers” two of the North side seven and an estimated $4 million dollars Donald Allen
- Apology to the North Minneapolis Community. We don’t have leaders, we have self-appointed spokespersons Donald Allen
- 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
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