insight news ::: 8.1.11

EducationYouths develop skills for green economy

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Aesthetics(i am) Isis

CommentaryHow I spent (am spending) my summer

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Freedom From Fear AwardsWelder frees workers from Texas labor camps

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The Minnesota Legislature met in a Special Session on July 19 to pass the budget agreement reached by Governor Dayton and the Republican majority. The broad agreement was based on a past offer from Republicans that included $1.4 billion in revenue: $700 million from increasing the school shift and $700 million in appropriation bonds backed by future tobacco settlement money. State Representative Rena Moran (DFL – St. Paul) said she was disappointed in the fi nal budget agreement. “This Republican budget will set our state back by

begging, borrowing, and stealing to close the budget gap on the backs of middle class families,” Rep. Moran said. “I appreciate Governor Dayton’s hard work to end the shutdown, compromise and get people back to work. He has been a statesman and risen above politics and partisanship to do the best thing he could for Minnesotans. However, I simply could not support a Republican budget that steals from our children, and borrows against our future instead of making millionaires pay their fair share in taxes.” The K-12 Education Finance bill contained an increase in the school shift of $700 million. The bill also contained Rep. Moran’s provision allowing full-service school zones; these allow districts to create zones providing transportation to schools for students who would otherwise not be eligible for transportation, but she voted against the fi nal bill. “The Republican budget

borrows an additional $700 million from Minnesota school districts– essentially mortgaging our children’s future to balance our current defi cit,” Rep. Moran said. “We’re now stealing $2.3 billion total from our school children — with no way to pay it back. Using our schools as a piggy bank forces them to engage in short term borrowing themselves, which takes needed funds away from Minnesota classrooms.” The compromise version of the Health and Human Services bill saved Minnesotans from being thrown off their health care, but still contains deep cuts, especially for children. The bill cuts child care funding by over $26 million, including direct cuts to the Child Care Assistance Program, and cuts Children and Community Services Act grants by $22 million. “Despite protecting Minnesotans from losing health care, the compromise still hurts our children,” Rep. Moran

said. “These are deep cuts to a program that helps low-income families afford child care while parents are working, searching for employment or pursuing education that would lead them to a good job. Cuts to Children and Community Services grants are incredibly painful for children suffering from dependency, abuse, neglect, poverty and disabilities. We’re squeezing the life out of programs that children and families desperately rely on.” The compromise version of the Public Safety and Judiciary Finance bill contained smaller cuts than the conference committee report passed by Republicans, but was still marked by tough cuts to domestic violence prevention programs, abuse shelters, battered women services, victims of child sex abuse, at-risk youth, and sexual assault victims.

I visited the “Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Pharaohs” exhibit a short time ago, in St. Paul, and what I beheld was out of character for the great North Star state. King Tut, a black pharaoh, is depicted in the National Geographic (the convener of the exhibit) promotional materials as Caucasian. As a state institution, the Science Museum of Minnesota is a “steward of the public trust” and in that capacity it is expected that you (the institution) give the public the best for its tax dollars.

The Science Museum is proud to host Tutankhamun: The Golden King and The Great Pharaohs. This is the exhibition’s fi rst and only stop in Minnesota. It has reached across North America and features stunning objects from King Tut’s tomb, as well as from the tombs of some of the most important rulers throughout 2,000 years of ancient Egyptian history. Rev. Lester claims that our promotional materials contain artist’s renderings and artistic depictions of King Tut. This is not true.

GOP imposes beg-borrow-and-steal budgetReader questions King Tut image

US Rep. Keith Ellison (DFL-MN) is organizing his new ‘Make it in America’ agenda, aimed at rebuilding America’s manufacturing sector. Our manufacturing can be a source of national pride when businesses create good jobs for our nation’s workers. “America’s economy can only be made by our fellow Americans, when products are manufactured in America, creating living-wage jobs for American families,” Ellison says. Off-shoring has been a major contributing factor in our economic slowdown. It diminishes the operating

workforce here in the US. “This is more than just wage competition,” Ellison says. “Lawmakers need to hear from the people what the government can do to help businesses grow and compete.” American businesses should not chase lower international wages at the expense of innovation. Harry Moser, founder of ‘The Re-shoring Initiative’, agrees that we must be an innovation country and a manufacturing country. The Re-Shoring Initiative helps companies to better understand the full cost of off-shoring their operations overseas. They face the extra fi nancial burdens of natural disasters, political instability, declining value of the US dollar, soaring

oil prices, and other delivery problems. Moser says that there are many fi nancial benefi ts when companies re-shore their

operations to the US. “We are working to change the mindset for businesses to refl ect the fact that keeping operations local reduces the total cost of ownership,” he says. “Re-shoring is not only the best way to keep your own job, it will help eliminate the trade defi cit and to lower national unemployment.” E.J. Ajax and Sons Inc. is a third-generation progressive metal stamping contract-manufacturer located in Minneapolis. Ajax lays claim to fi fty full-time employees and made it to the US Chamber of Commerce’s ‘Top 50 Small American Businesses’ for 2011. E.J. Ajax, the company’s

Ellison: American businesses must grow and competeBy Lydia SchwartzContributing Writer

By Rena MoranState Rep. District 65A

CapitolReportBy Rev. Les Lester

Communications ChairSt. Paul, MN

By Kim Ramsden Co-Director of Communications and Public Relations, Science Museum of Minnesota

TUT 2 TURN TO 9TUT 1 TURN TO 2

National Geographic’s depiction of King Tutankhamun

MORAN TURN TO 3

ELLISON TURN TO 3

Congressman Keith Ellison

COMPLAINT RESPONSE

The Rondo Avenue community paid tribute to the legacy of leadership and service of the Retired Men’s Club by honoring the club members as Grand Marshalls of the 28th Annual Rondo Days Parade July 16th. The Rondo Days Parade and Festival is one of the largest gatherings of African-American people in Minnesota.

Rondo Our community at its fi nest

RONDO TURN TO 8

August 1 - August 7, 2011 • MN Metro Vol. 37 No. 31 • The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • www.insightnews.com

INSIGHT NEWSINSIGHT NEWS

Photos by Suluki FardanAbove: Dacia Durham, a founding member of Major Taylor

Bicycling Club of MN. MTBCMn is committed to increasing participation in bicycling for transportation and health

improvement. Their signature event, the Urban Bike Festival is held as part of the Rondo Celebration and they offer a

community ride, free bike checks and they give away approx 60 new bicycles to community families.

• August 1 - August 7, 2011 • Insight News insightnews.com

Instead, your relationship with National Geographic magazine and the National Geographic Society constitutes “institutional complicity,” in the racial context. I just returned from a visit to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Egypt and visited King

Tut’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Upper Egypt. And the depictions of the source material present him as he was, a black African. While amongst black intellectuals it has long been settled that indeed the progenitors of ancient Egypt were black folk, there seems to be a retrenchment among some corners of the mainstream community wishing to cling onto the pre-1970s paradigms of ancient Egypt—lily white pharaohs. Today, however, one can simply type “ancient Egyptians” into their Internet search engines and clearly see that they were black folk. The King Tut depiction bandied in exhibition brochures and the Rameses the Great depiction featured in the Omnitheater film production, at the museum, are indeed an atavistic nightmare for many African Americans and Africans throughout the Diaspora. And to make matters worse, a simple Internet search, now, of King Tut brings up a slew of pictures of the National Geographic depiction due to its ubiquitous press releases around the globe. In fact, it takes a lot of digging to find true likenesses of the pharaoh—one has to search for “tomb wall paintings” or such. Someone pointed out once the curious reality that “those who put blinders on the people turn around and chastise them for not being able to see.” Let that not be said about Minnesotans. Meanwhile, your replica display of the tomb wall painting, of Tutankhamun, which was accurate, ironically leads me to believe that indeed no malice was intended on the Minnesota Science Museum’s part. I suspect you’ve taken the easy way out, however, and capitulated to National Geographic’s status quo renderings. A Caucasian pharaoh on the brochures juxtaposed with an African pharaoh on the wall painting is contradictory and needs to be redressed in a very real way. Given the current achievement gap in our city and nation between black students and white students, it is imperative that we utilize teaching opportunities outside of the schools and traditional learning venues. We at the NAACP propose that the remainder of your advertising segmentation be dedicated to information depicting King Tut in his true likeness. The tomb wall painting of King Tut and the picture of him on his throne, with his wife Ankhesenamun, will work to educate youth and the general public in one well swath, via billboards and television. As an institution that receives public tax dollars we feel it is incumbent on the Minnesota Science Museum to initiate this corrective measure as a remedy to the current misinformation that is being depicted daily via the Omnitheater movie and the National Geographic derived King Tut. We trust that your intentions are honorable. However, the result of the current misinformation is contributing to the continued miseducation of masses of people. http://www.naacp-stpaul.org/Communications

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INSIGHT NEWSwww.insightnews.com

Insight News is publishedweekly, every Monday by McFarlane Media Interests.

Editor-In-ChiefAl McFarlane

CFOAdrianne Hamilton-Butler

Publisher Batala-Ra McFarlane

Associate Editor & Associate PublisherB.P. Ford

Vice President of Sales & MarketingSelene White

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Facilities Support / Assistant Producer, Conversations with Al McFarlaneBobby Rankin

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Staff WriterIvan B. Phifer

Contributing WritersMaya BeechamBrenda ColstonJulie DesmondS. HimieMarcia HumphreyAlaina L. LewisRyan T. ScottLydia SchwartzStacey Taylor

Photography Suluki FardanTobechi Tobechukwu

Contact Us:Insight News, Inc.Marcus Garvey House1815 Bryant Ave. N.Minneapolis., MN 55411Ph.: (612) 588-1313Fax: (612) 588-2031Member: Minnesota Multicultural Media Consortium (MMMC),Midwest Black Publishers Coalition, Inc. (MBPCI), National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA)

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insightnews.com Insight News • August 1 - August 7, 2011 •

BUSINESS

Think of the last big party you were invited to attend. The one where someone sent a Save the Date card out in advance, and then followed up with an invitation in an envelope with a stamp on it. What did that invitation look like? Did it provide a detailed agenda of everything that would take place during the party? Imagine that invitation: Please join us for a party in

honor of Joe’s birthday. Our party begins at fi ve, but Aunt Betty will be early and many of you will be quite late. By the time you arrive, the food will be cold and the drinks will be warm and Aunt Betty will have eaten half the cake, which is chocolate, by the way, with yellow frosting and little sprinkles on the top… Who would fi nish reading this invitation? Let alone attend? Your resume is an invitation, too. It is an invitation to a hiring manager to get to know you, to learn about your background and to realize you are someone he or she should be talking with. What to leave in? What to leave out? Just like the party-goers in our story can wait until

they arrive to fi nd out what color frosting is on the cake, so your hiring manager can wait until an interview to hear about your career in detail. Therefore, keep it simple: use your paper real estate wisely. An invitation includes date, time, place and the name of the host or hostess. Write your resume the same way, listing the key information you want someone to know. Include your name, your contact information, title of the job you want and a short description of each of your last few positions. To get someone’s attention, write your job title, the company you worked for, dates, and a short descriptive blurb about the company. After that, use three bullet points to entice the manager to

call you. Bullet number one: your primary duties on the job. Number two: any leadership responsibility you had there. This could include training new hires, or coordinating the company picnic. Finally, number three: a measurable success. Did you win an award or save the company millions of dollars? This is interesting stuff and it will draw positive attention. The purpose of a resume is to get an invitation to interview. Follow these simple steps and you’ll soon be the life of the (work) party.

Julie Desmond is a recruiter with Specialized Recruiting Group in Minneapolis, MN. Write to [email protected].

By Julie [email protected]

Plan Your Career

Your resume: An invitation to interview

VP and Co-Owner, understands the direct benefi ts of keeping employment local and that they have a tremendous fi nancial advantage to export their own products. He argues that “America can make money in three ways: technology, agriculture, and manufacturing. Everything else is just passing dollars”. Manufacturers are in the race of our lives in search of talent. Ajax is part of the ‘M-Powered’ program, which is dedicated to training entry- and incumbent-level workers for careers in precision metal forming.

Minnesota HIRED, Hennepin Technical College, the National Association of Manufacturers, and other trade associations are also involved with this public-private partnership. “If I can’t fi nd educated people to operate our machines,” Ajax says, “Then we won’t be able to buy those machines [from other manufacturers]. Collaboration and cooperation with competitors, partners, and educators has been the key to our success because have come to understand each others’ objectives.” Former MN State Sen. Tarryl Clark (DFL-St. Cloud) agrees that we need a comprehensive plan that utilizes Minnesota’s post-secondary schools as a key partner in the economic system to bring people back to work.

“We have to fi gure out how to harness all of the creativity and innovation into creating jobs. There is an interconnectedness with the community [because right now] people are just looking for any job,” Clark says. Clark recently joined a nationwide advocacy effort, the Blue Green Alliance, to maintain the jobs we have now, create new employment opportunities, and to ensure America leads the 21st century economy. This national partnership of labor unions and environmental organizations is dedicated to expanding the

number of jobs in a quality, green economy. “We can retool our current manufacturing industry to promote green power that is more effi cient, safer, better for the environment, and the bottom line,” Clark says. “Companies are looking at different packaging, reusing oil, better batteries and electricity storage, and green chemistry in plastics.” Dr. Lois Bollman, the VP of Academic and Student Affairs at Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC), agrees that higher education plays

an important role in ensuring that the US remains competitive internationally. MCTC initiatives and programs are designed to train entry-level workers for careers in technical trades and manufacturing. “We are, as are all community colleges,” Bollman says, “On the frontline of the state’s economic situation and on the development of economic opportunities. Our single goal is to provide more graduates who are ready to work.” Scott Olson, the Interim Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs at MN State Colleges & Universities, says

that he is excited to be a part of student innovations. “We act as a resource to employers and manufacturers because the number of young people who want these jobs is out there.” He says that 80% of graduates stay and work in Minnesota. When businesses off-shore jobs overseas and we fail to provide young people with the education they need, America’s economy suffers. These are jobs where you are treated with respect and work as part of a team. It’s time to ‘Make it in America.’

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“These are some of the most vulnerable people in our state and I can’t support cutting programs that could help protect them and improve their lives,” Rep. Moran said. “Overall, Minnesota loses with this budget. In 2 years we will face another massive defi cit while in the meantime middle-

class families will pay more and get less. My priority will continue to be working to build a prosperous Minnesota where all of us have the opportunity to succeed, not just the wealthy few. We will be a stronger Minnesota when we confront our challenges head on, invest in a world class education system, and put the interest of middle-class, working class Minnesotans fi rst.”

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PhotoXpress


EDUCATION

For the fourth year in a row, Summer of Solutions, a training program for young leaders in the green economy, is in session. This summer, about fi fty youth ages 14 to 30 have been learning about what it means to be Solutionaries; people who work with others to create green solutions in their communities, thereby fi nding a niche in which they can become green entrepreneurs. They are accomplishing

this by working on a variety of community projects that focus on sustainability in Minneapolis and St. Paul. These projects are divided into four categories: urban agriculture, green manufacturing, energy effi ciency, and sustainable transit. Organizations that the youths are working with include, but are not limited to; Concrete Beet Farm, Community Table, The Sibley Bike Depot, ARISE (Alliance to ReIndustrialize for

a Sustainable Economy), Our Power, Cooperative Energy Futures, YeaCorps, and Harrison Neighborhood Association Peace Garden. Participants in this program come from all walks of life; many are students, but all come with unique knowledge about the world around them that makes them an asset to the group. Because of this, the importance of each person’s voice is emphasized. Summer of Solutions 2011

session will be fi nishing up on August 13, 2011. Look for the Solutionaries in your neighborhood. They will be hosting and co-hosting a number of events. Participants will be doing outreach for projects at various community events. For more information about Summer of Solutions, please visit http://grandaspirations.org/twincities# or “like” us at http://www.facebook.com/#!/summerofsolutions.twincities.

Books For Africa (the St. Paul-based 501 c 3 non-profi t) announced that over the past 12 months with the completion of its fi scal year on June 30, 2010, approximately 1.9 million books valued at $22.2 million have been shipped to 21 African countries. In addition, 643 computers and 13 brand new law libraries were shipped to Africa during this same

time frame. This represents the most books that Books For Africa has ever shipped in a 12-month period. Books For Africa is the world’s largest shipper of donated books to the African continent. Since 1988, Books For Africa has shipped over 24 million high-quality text and library books to children and adults in 45 African countries.

Books for Africa is dedicated to collecting, sorting, shipping and distributing books to children in Africa. Its only goal: end the book famine in Africa. Kofi Annan, former U.N. Secretary-General, has said: “Books For Africa is a simple idea, but its impact is transformative. For us, literacy is quite simply the bridge from misery to hope.”

Open Cities Health Center (OCHC) is partnering with Goodwill-Easter Seals to offer free back-to-school checkups. Each child who receives a back-to-school checkup, known as a well child check, will receive free school supplies while the supply lasts. The event is open to the public and will be held on August 18 from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Goodwill-Easter Seals, 553 Fairview Avenue N., in St. Paul. Light refreshments will be served. “Making sure children have their back-to-school checkups is important and part of our public service at Open Cities Health Center,” said OCHC’s Programs Manager Melinda Donaway. “Many of our

patients are low-income and uninsured and so being able to offer the children free school supplies is a tremendous benefi t. We are very pleased to partner with Goodwill-Easter Seals, a cornerstone in our community, in hosting this back-to-school event.” Included in the exam are the following: • Weight, height, blood pressure, • temperature checks• Hearing screenings• Dental screenings• Eye screenings• Immunizations• Doctor visits To learn more about the back-to-school event call Melinda at (651) 290-9258.

Books For Africa shipped nearly 2 million books to African children in past year

Get a back-to-school checkup and receive free school supplies

Youths develop skills for the green economyElana Bulman

Kirsten Theden and Kyle Gename leading a session on the importance of biodiversity in the green economy.


AESTHETICS

It was a night of lights, camera, and Spoken Word at the Loft Literary Center on 10th and Washington as it opened the doors for Mshale, an African Community Newspaper/Organization, to celebrate its 15th Anniversary in print and love. The evening brought out an array of talented Spoken Word artists and singers, who throughout the night took turns belting out poetry and anecdotes that expressed everything from self-discovery to a overcoming of prejudices. Antoine Duke, Hersi the Poet, Tish Jones, and Fabulous Fe were among some of the highlights that evening. “I write poetry for the small things,” Antoine Duke tells Insight News. “I believe that’s the purpose of Spoken Word. You have the opportunity to bring a perspective of your life to a crowd of strangers who may not know what Spoken Word is. With that in mind, when you present yourself to them, it amplifi es your experience and their experience of you, and what you have to offer to the stage.” Also on deck for the festivities was (i am) Isis, a one-time writer here at Insight News, and a national sensation ala poetic prose and musical undertakings. This newly turned Brooklynite made a special trip back to her home away from home to be the main attraction for this sold-out event. “To be asked to perform here in Minnesota at this event was an honor and a joy,” Isis states. “I am very appreciative to everyone that came out to perform their own piece, and to see me perform mine. I am truly inspired by the talent that came forth.” Venturing through different modes of musical

expression is what makes Isis stand out amongst the others. Accompanied by a guitarist on the stage, Isis presented a new musical style to the audience that evening; a sound she likes to call Spoken Soul. At the very center, this newly ventured genre mimics the journey through Isis’ eclectic taste in music over the years. “As I began doing my poetry, I actually started out just trying to record a Spoken Word album.” Isis recalls. “I had it all planned out, but as I started listening to more and more music, what I was writing became more Rock. I grew up listening to everything, but what stuck with me was Rock. My album just evolved from the Spoken Word and transitioned into this heavy guitar and drum base infl uenced thing that still keeps the Spoken Word, but explores everything else around it.” Apart from breezing through her musical endeavors, Isis still maneuvers through journalism by working as the webmaster for Vibe Vixen Magazine, a subsidiary of the Vibe Magazine network. She credits her time at Insight News paper as a pivotal point in the journey of her writing. “I’m a writer by any way, shape, or form. It’s about expression to me. So to be able to tell stories, either through my poetry or while working for a community newspaper like Insight News and be able to tell the communities stories, is something that is deep for me,” she shares. Currently Isis is fi nishing up her debut album, ‘Amazingly Random’, while performing at different venues around New York City. Through her music and continued writing, she hopes to inspire, grow, and evolve as an artist. For more information on Isis: www.Iamisis.com

(i am) IsisBy Alaina L. LewisContributing Writer

Antoine Duke

Photos by Cyrstal ToatleyIsis

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HEALTH

A few days ago, I went to Sam’s Club to pick up some things. As I approached the building, I noticed two police squad cars parked in the fi re lane. I thought it was a bit strange because both cars had their lights off, yet they were illegally parked. As soon as I got my cart, I turned around and saw the police escorting a disheveled Caucasian sister (who was hand-cuffed) out of the door. I heard one customer say “The guy who was with her is still with another police offi cer.” I heard another customer say to a store clerk “I guess crime doesn’t pay!” To which the clerk replied: “Well, it sure paid yesterday because that same couple came into the store with a bad check using someone else’s identity and bought over $1000 worth of stuff.” Finally, I heard a little African American girl (who was around four years of age) look up at her mother and say: “Those people were stealing and that’s bad to steal….are they going to go to jail?” Her mother emphatically replied “Yes, baby, yes they are!” People shoplift mostly to get stuff so that they can sell it. While this “entrepreneurial spirit” is admirable, we, as a community need to make a more committed effort to not support criminal activities by buying those stolen or “hot products.” I must confess that while in my early twenties, I was guilty of buying hot pants, dresses and other clothes--with tags still on them, bootlegged tapes of the latest movies, or steaks from the local meat packing plant. I didn’t go looking for “hot items”…the hot items were looking for me! We all know them,--you know—LaQuesha, Ray-Ray and Pookie

them—always meeting you in parking lots or selling their goods at the beauty shop or the barber shop-right along with Ms. Wright from the church who sells plates! There are many possible theories for why people exhibit what we psychologist refer to as “anti-social” behaviors. Antisocial behaviors are often broken down into two components: the presence of antisocial (i.e., mean, rule-breaking, angry, aggressive, or disobedient) behavior and the absence of pro-social (i.e., communicative, affi rming, socially responsible, community-building, or cooperative) behavior. Most young children exhibit varying degrees of both pro-social and anti-social behaviors during their development. A problem develops only when the behaviors exists on a more widespread basis and occur at a frequency, duration and level that is outside that expected as a social norm for a person’s age. For example, the behavior of a three year old taking a piece of candy while mom is checking out of the grocery store is much more understandable in comparison to a case in which a thirteen year old engages in a similar action. Therefore, if children are not consistently taught to exhibit pro-social behaviors and are instead allowed to get away with anti-social behaviors, they are likely to learn that “crime does pay.” There is a transitional sequence from exhibiting oppositional defi ant behaviors in young children (not obeying rules) to conduct disorder (deliberate rule breaking) in adolescents to fi nally being labeled with an “Antisocial Personality Disorder” as an adult. According the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (which is universally used to identify personality problems), a person with an Antisocial Personality Disorder displays at least three of the following behaviors: (1) Fails to conform to social norms, as indicated by frequently performing illegal acts, and pursuing illegal occupations; (2) Is deceitful and

manipulative of others, often in order to obtain money, sex, or drugs, (3) Is impulsive, holding a succession of jobs or residences; (4) Is irritable or aggressive, engaging in physical fi ghts; (5) Exhibits reckless disregard for the safety of self or others, misusing motor vehicles, or playing with fi re or guns; (6) Is consistently irresponsible, failing to fi nd or sustain work or to pay bills and debts; and (7) Demonstrates lack of remorse for the harm his or her behavior causes others. Many of the existing explanations for why people

develop antisocial behaviors have included factors such as poor parenting, poverty, unemployment, peer pressure, learning disabilities, child abuse and the break down of the family system as being responsible for criminal involvement. Other theories have assumed that the causes of criminal behavior are due to a lack of discipline, morals, religious values and even a “crime gene.” In fact, an outrageous three-part paper entitled: “Genetics of Criminal and Anti-Social Behaviour” has been published. The paper relates that there are racial and ethnic differences in psychopathic or criminal personalities and that these differences are conceptualized as a continuously distributed trait, such that high values of the trait are present in Blacks and Native Americans, intermediate values in Hispanics, lower values in whites and the lowest values in East Asians. The paper further explains that racial and ethnic

differences also exist in a number of social phenomena such as crime, welfare dependency, and low rates of marriage—primarily because of our so-called low levels of intelligence, small brains, and genetic loadings for psychopathic personalities. All of these theories subscribe to what is known as the “causal model” of crime. The causal model is one which has an underlying assumption that there is a “cause”, something wrong inside or outside of the person which is the source of their criminal behavior and, if this cause can be identifi ed the person can be

cured. In his book, “The Psychology of Stealing,” Steven M. Houseworth, MA, describes the multiple “theories” of why people do mean things or take things that do not belong to them. He concludes that in the spectrum of human behavior we will have “takers”, “takers and givers” and “givers;” consequently, people from both good homes and bad homes commit crimes simply because they tend to be “takers.” While we recognize that the members of poor and multicultural communities are disproportionately represented in criminal justice systems, we also know that those groups are not the only ones who commit crimes. What we also know is that when poor and multicultural groups commit crimes, they pay a higher socio-cultural price for the crimes that they do commit. They are relegated to receiving harsher judicial outcomes and sentencing for their crimes. That is why nearly half of all prisoners in State and

Federal jurisdictions are African Americans; with almost 40% of the juveniles in legal custody being African Americans. And that is also why two percent of all children and almost seven percent of all African American children have a parent in prison. I once ran a “Parolee Support Group.” In the group, members were instructed to anonymously write down a thought, behavior or crime to which they have felt some shame. It soon became clear as we participated in the activity that people who are engaged in crime often have elaborate explanations for why they do what they do. Most of the time, crimes occurred in retaliation for pain suffered by other crimes or wrongs done against them in the past (either directly by their victims or by others). One man described an early pain in which his parents had bought him a brand new bike and it was stolen. When asked what he did in response to the loss, he said laughingly: “I went out and stole me another one!” Like the man in my group, there is often a clear disconnect between perpetrators’ behaviors and their awareness of how their behaviors may have hurt or impacted others. In fact, most occurrences for which the ex-cons described feeling shame were when they later made a connection between how their behaviors had actually hurt others. While the ex-cons in my group had worked hard at not caring about others, not showing emotions and looking out for “number one,” none of those behaviors fi t the value systems of multicultural communities. Most ethnic minority populations adhere to the values of “collectivism” which means that we see that we are connected to others. Gangs can proliferate because they can tap into that value system because there exist community vacuums in the area of connectedness to each other. Thus, the idea in changing criminal behavior really may rest in the restoration of community value

systems that promote connection and through the use of Dissonance Therapy. The underlying assumption of Dissonance Therapy is that if you can be successful at changing a person’s thinking, a change in her feelings and behaviors will follow. Dissonance Therapy is also based on the underlying assumption that people are in control of their actions, that developing empathy is crucial to the socialization process, that people can “unlearn” bad habits an learn new ones through a series of rewards and consequences, internally or externally imposed; that a person needs to experience enough shame and emotional discomfort over their decisions so that they will naturally begin to make different choices, and that most people are unwilling to cause injury to other people, if, they understand the injury. One researcher stated that mentally ill people make up but 5% of the United States’ population, but make up 14% of incarcerated individuals, most of whom receive minimal mental health treatment while in jail. In Minnesota, we have seen tremendous success in decreasing youth involvement in the criminal justice systems due to Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiatives (JDAI) programs. Consequently, over the years since JDAI programs have been enacted, there has been a 54 percent drop in the average daily population held in the detention centers. Though disparities continue to exist across ethnic groups, the life course for all children involved in these programs is greatly improved. Many of these initiatives involve youth in multi-systemic family therapy or support programs that decrease their risk factors for continued involvement in crime. At the same time, these programs increase their access to the “protective” factors necessary for success. The way kids look at the world changes when they have jobs, after school activities, loving trusted adults, and

Hot stuff and the psychology of stealing

By Dr. BraVada Garrett-Akinsanya, Ph.D., L.P.

Murua(Swahili for ‘Respect’)

HEALTH TURN TO 11

“... a person needs to experience enough shame and emotional

discomfort over their decisions so that they will naturally begin to

make different choices ...”


Synopsis: Lured by the promise of a well-paid job, an Indian guest worker soon found himself in a labor camp in Texas. This is part three in a six-part series profi ling winners of the Freedom From Fear Awards. With the proceeds from the sale of his parents’ home in India, loans from aunts and uncles, and the money he’d saved while working as a welder in the Middle East, Aby K. Raju was able to scrape together the $20,000 the job recruiter wanted from him in exchange for a job in the United States and a green card. The recruiter painted a rosy picture of life in the United States -- a well-paid job as a welder at the shipyard company Signal International, a shared apartment with three other workers, transportation to and from work and good food. Around 500 other welders and pipefi tters from all over India and Gulf countries were lured by the same recruitment fi rm with a similar promise. The offer was hard to pass up, and the men arrived in the United States in 2006 and 2007, fi lled with hope to make a comfortable living, which would allow them to bring over their families in a few years.

But shortly after their arrival, those hopes evaporated as they faced oppressive living conditions and other broken promises at the two Signal shipyards in Texas and Mississippi. Last month, Raju was recognized for overcoming extraordinary risks in helping the workers fi ght their way to freedom. He is one of this year’s 15 recipients of the Freedom From Fear Award, an honor given by the non-profi t group Public Interest Projects (PIP) to recognize accomplishments made on behalf of immigrants and refugees. Raju’s courage “inspired workers, civil rights leaders, labor movement leaders, members of Congress and the media into awareness and action,” noted a PIP press release. “We came with great hopes,” said Raju, now 34, and living in Macon, Ga., with his wife and 4-year-old child. “Those hopes were snatched away from us.” He was assigned to Signal’s Orange, Texas, shipyard, but only as a part-time worker, like many of his fellow Indian workers. They made signifi cantly less than their white colleagues. He and his Indian American colleagues were given housing in “labor camp-like” conditions, as he describes

it. They were packed in cabins, with 24 bunks and two bathrooms to a cabin. The company docked $1,050 a month toward rent from each employee’s paycheck. The canteen food was so salty and oily that most of the men “survived on frozen foods,” Raju said, noting that company offi cials paid no heed when they complained about the food or the housing. “We asked if we could rent apartments (on our own) near the shipyard, and they said we could but that they would still deduct $1,050 in rent,” Raju said.

Because their H 2B temporary work visas did not permit them to transfer to other companies, the men had no choice but to stick it out -- until Raju and a handful of his fellow workers began organizing in 2007, often under cover of darkness. “After work, we went from trailer to trailer and talked to other workers,” Raju said, noting: “Some of them were too scared to support us.” For most of the workers, going back to India was not an option because they had sold everything to come to the United States. Meanwhile,

Signal reneged on its promise to sponsor their green cards to get permanent residency. After several clandestine meetings, Raju and about 250 other workers took a leap of faith and escaped from the labor camps. For fi ve days, the men traveled by foot to New Orleans and then on to Washington, D.C., on a “satyagraha walk,” a la Mahatma Gandhi. Many of the workers began a 23-day hunger strike to demand redress and attract media attention. That got them a meeting with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) offi cials. But ICE “ganged up with Signal against us,” Raju said. Despite the threat of deportation hanging over their heads, Raju and his fellow workers never let up in their fi ght for justice. Raju became the fi rst H 2B worker to testify before Congress. “We didn’t want to keep quiet,” said Raju in a telephone interview from Georgia, where he is working as a welder. “We wanted to let the public know about ICE’s actions -- instead of helping us they were using scare tactics against us.” With free legal help from the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice, two years ago Raju and other members of the New Orleans-

based Alliance of Guest Workers for Dignity got the Obama administration to grant them legal status and allow them to be reunited with their families in the United States. Earlier this year, attorneys fi led a class action lawsuit on behalf of the workers from India, who were described in the lawsuit as victims of “human traffi cking” and organized crime -- claims that if proved would make it the largest traffi cking case in U.S. history, according to media reports. The civil suit alleges that a group of employers, immigration lawyers and labor recruiters in India, New Orleans, Texas and Mississippi conspired to deceive and exploit the workers in a multinational scam. No one in this case, however, has been charged with any crime. The fi rst Freedom from Fear Awards honors “ordinary people who have committed extraordinary acts of courage on behalf of immigrants and refugees -- individuals who have taken a risk, set an example, and inspired others to awareness or action.” The Freedom from Fear Award was created by philanthropic leaders Geri Mannion and Taryn Higashi and administered and produced by Public Interest Projects.

Freedom From Fear Awards

Welder frees workers from Texas labor campsBy Viji Sundaram New America Media

freedomfromfearaward.comAby K. Raju


The Festival celebrates the lives and times of the predominately African-American community that was centered in and around Rondo Avenue from the late 1920’s until the community was destroyed by the construction of I-94, said Jackie Cooper, Chair of the Rondo Avenue, Inc., Board of Directors She said, this year’s Rondo Days Festival theme: “Putting the U Back into CommUnity,” acknowledges that we each play an important role in making our community the best place we possibly can to live, work, raise our families, and educate our children. The Retired Men’s Club was founded over 50 years ago

at the Hallie Q. Brown center to celebrate overcoming the barriers and unwritten laws that African-American men faced in the various

occupations they pursued. In spite of the glass walls around them and the glass ceiling above them, the members of the club rejoiced

when they were able to fi nally retire. From that point on, “Have a Good Day”, became the club’s motto and guiding principle. The club’s membership included many overachievers and others who just took pride in whatever job they had and made it to retirement. The membership roster included luminaries like the Honorable Stephen L. Maxwell, Saint Paul’s fi rst African-American District Court Judge; James Griffi n, St. Paul’s Deputy Chief of Police; and Cap Wegginton, City of St. Paul Architect, along with musicians, porters, waiters, postmen, business owners and others. The club has met the second and fourth Thursdays of each month since inception and for over 50 years the membership has engaged in or hosted an

extraordinary number of member-only activities as well as events replenishing food shelves, sponsoring youth activities, Black history programs, and an annual Christmas Party. Rondo Avenue Festival 2011 won the Sustainable Saint Paul Award. The Rondo Days Festival was among 12 businesses, individuals and organizations that were recently recognized with a 2011 Sustainable Saint Paul Award. “These 12 recipients represent the best in sustainable initiatives during the past year,” said Mayor Chris Coleman. “I am proud to be giving these awards to individuals and organizations whose efforts continue to make St. Paul a national environmental leader.” The Sustainable Saint Paul Award highlights environmental stewardship in community

leadership initiatives. Mayor Coleman said such efforts further enhance the City’s quality of life and make Saint Paul the Most Livable City in America. The Rondo Avenue Festival won in the Youth Leadership Award category because of its efforts in 2010 to create the Waste-Free Rondo Partnership which included the Rondo Avenue Inc. Board of Directors, the Arts-Us project, Coolidge Hauling, Eureka Recycling, and the MN Pollution Control Agency. The organizations collaborated to create the “Collard Green Team,” a strategy to divert unnecessary waste by educating attendees of the Rondo Days events on the importance of recycling and protecting the environment. Dubbed the ”Waste-Free Rondo Partnership,” the fi rst-

RondoFrom 1

RONDO TURN TO 9

Suluki FardanMen of March

Bottom row: Otis Smith, George Dabis, Lawrence Brown, James Mann, Richard Mann, Phillip True. Middle: Jerry Ransom, Spencer Jackson, Melvin Carter, Gordon Kirk, Robert Gregory, Don Colbert.

Top: Dave Carr, Nick Khaliq, Charles Propps, Art Long, Maurice Hickman, Horace Collins, Ernest Sinkfi eld, Speed Rawlings.

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Contact us today for a tour and more information.

Hallie Q. Brown Community Center 270 N. Kent Street St. Paul, MN 55102 651-224-4601 www.hallieqbrown.org


COMMENTARY

Remember back in the day when we had to chronicle our “How I spent my summer” adventures at the start of every fresh new school year? Well, this week’s column is kind of a version of that as I share with you how I’m spending my summer with Nielsen. It’s pretty much how I’ve spent the last seven summers: traveling with my Nielsen colleagues across the country spreading the word about why you should care about

research and the impact it can have on your lives. Long before this column fi rst appeared in your paper we were in your cities talking with many of you face to face. Sharing how Nielsen measures and analyzes consumer purchases and online, mobile and media use in this country and around the world. We are here because here’s the thing – If it weren’t for people like you participating in Nielsen’s measurements, surveys and panels to provide that data – there would be no data. So, my summer work schedule is two-fold: First, I get to meet as many of you as I can (which is always fun), always trying to empower “us” with the knowledge that we are so powerful as consumers. With our $967 billion dollars of annual spending power, how and where we choose

to spend our hard-earned dollars counts big time. That number is projected to be $1.2 trillion by 2012. Second, I am proud that Nielsen is a very active part of the communities in which we do business. A few weeks ago, Nielsen was a proud sponsor of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) meeting in Chicago. I had the pleasure of speaking to the group and announcing Nielsen’s alliance with the NNPA, which makes it possible for me to “speak” with you right now. This week, I am In Los Angeles, as part of Nielsen’s sponsorship of the annual NAACP convention. We are hosting the Roy Wilkins youth luncheon because nothing is more important than educating and empowering our young people! (As the mother

of a teenaged son, I know this fi rsthand.) Right on the heels of the NAACP is the annual National Urban League convention in Boston, where again I, along with some of my colleagues will have direct interaction with other African Americans to help us understand and appreciate our power and infl uence. Now, if any of you listen to the Steve Harvey Morning Show or the Tom Joyner Morning Show (I’m a huge fan of both), then you know that Nielsen works with both to help in their respective community outreach efforts. This is our second year sponsoring Steve Harvey’s Hoodie Awards in Las Vegas, Nevada in August. I love the whole concept of the Hoodies, which is to celebrate those “unsung heroes” in our neighborhoods; the “real stars of

the community.” Nielsen’s role as a sponsor is to host an Interactive Expo. SHMS listeners also had the opportunity to win one of Nielsen’s 10 all-expense paid trips to the weekend-long event, which culminates in the highly-anticipated awards show. Then, we partner with the Tom Joyner Morning Show as a sponsor of the annual Tom Joyner Black Family Reunion in Orlando, Florida in September. Listeners of the TJMS have the opportunity to enter to win an all-expense paid trip for four. Nielsen will be featured at the Reunion with a booth, which is another fun opportunity to again engage us – the African American consumer. Also in September, Nielsen is again a sponsor of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Annual Legislative

Conference in Washington, DC. In addition to a booth where we can meet all of you, Nielsen has sponsored workshops and braintrusts addressing issues critical to the African American community. Other national sponsorships include 100 Black Men of America and the American Black Film Festival. I am proud of what Nielsen does and it is my honor to share with you in these columns all of the various Nielsen insights into our consumer behavior that I am privy to. Embrace your power, family! Hope I get to meet you this summer. Cheryl Pearson-McNeil is senior vice president of public affairs and government relations for Nielsen. For more information and studies go to www.nielsenwire.com

How I spent (am spending) my summer

By Cheryl Pearson-McNeil

DissectingDiversity

All the images associated with the marketing and promotion of this exhibit are photographs of objects found inside King Tut’s

tomb when it was discovered in 1922. All of our promotional materials, including brochures, feature photos of actual treasures that are on display inside the exhibition. The Science Museum’s King Tut exhibition does not contain a computer generated

model of how the Boy King may have looked during his lifetime. What Rev. Lester may be referring to is a scientifi c computer model likeness of King Tut developed by the National Geographic Society in 2005 and reprinted (above) in your open-letter story. This

computer model has not been on display anywhere since 2007 and was part of an entirely different King Tut exhibition hosted by the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. We invite discussion on the topic of King Tut’s African heritage, and encourage readers

to join us on Aug. 25 for our fi nal Thursday Night Lecture Series featuring one of the leading scholars on this topic, Dr. Molefi Asante, African American Studies Professor from Temple University. Dr. Asante will present “Tutankhamun, the Young

African King and His Family: Context and Reality.” Tickets for this lecture and discussion are $8 and can be purchased by calling our Box Offi ce at (651) 221-9444.

of-its kind festival effort sought to reduce environmental waste, by engaging community-based partners and volunteers to clean-up the Rondo Days parade route and festival grounds before and after the event. They also had a specifi c focus on diverting recyclables and compostable materials generated at the annual Senior Dinner, the festival and the parade The project organized neighbors to set out household recycling bins for public use during the parade. Major Taylor Bicycling Club of Minnesota has a 10 year relationship with the Rondo

Celebration that began as an appearance and then grew to a ride from South Minneapolis to the Festival Grounds and has become an event within the event. The Club’s Urban Bike Festival highlights the health benefi ts and the rediscovered utility of the bicycle. “There has been a signifi cant increase in bicycling for health and transportation and we are committed to increasing access, awareness and the opportunities for the African American community,” said Anthony Taylor, spokesperson for Major Taylor Bicycling Club. “With the Support of Bike Walk Twin Cities (BWTC) and REI, the outdoors lifestyle retailer, we are able to get information, maps and training to the community in one day. We have begun a tradition of giving

bikes away to community families and this year we were able to give away 60 bikes. We are amazed at the number of community members that want bikes for themselves or their children and this turns out to be an incredible gift to the community. We are also able to get over 100 helmets in the hands of kids to make biking safer,” Taylor said. “We awarded Walter Anderson and his Plymouth Christian Youth Center (PCYC) youths youth bikes that they will use as part of the personal development initiative. In August they will be embarking on a biking and camping trip along the Mississippi River,” he said. “We view the bike as a vehicle for change. We can support community health improvement and support community safety

and bring individuals and families together. The Rondo Days Festival represent the best that our communities have to offer,” he said. “There is a transportation revolution happening and this one is based on the bicycle, not the car. This transportation revolution will build community, increase engagement, and increase the health and well-being of our families and neighborhoods. Our goal is to be leaders in this paradigm shift,” Taylor said. The inspired engagement of the Major Taylor Bicycling Club was not unique, but rather refl ective of the broad-based community involvement and appreciation for the Rondo Days Festival, a celebratory institution. Chair person Cooper said businesses, agencies, entertainers,

politicians and residents discover and nurture common ground both in the Festival and in the planning of it as well. Cooper reported that all the food vendors ran out of food by about 3 or 4pm. “Selling out your complete inventory is a good problem to have, and this year’s food vendors all reported this to be their most successful Rondo Days Festival ever,” she said. Cooper praised the Men of March who, along with St. Paul Police, under direction of offi cer Tyrone Strickland, and Rondo security chief, former St. Paul police offi cer, Dennis Presley, Sr., helped residents maintain the sense of peaceful harmony and neighborly connection. She said Open Cities Health Center played a lead role in looking out for festival goers safety considering

the sweltering heat and humidity. An estimated 25-30,000 people attended this year’s Rondo Days Festival events, making the festival an opportunity of choice for area sponsors and supporters including, Comcast, Wells Fargo, AARP, Black Ministerial Alliance of Saint Paul, U-Care, Selby Wines and Spirits, KMOJ, KDWB, KFAI, Insight News/McFarlane Media, Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, Science Museum of Minnesota, Open Cities Health Center, Employment Ventures, Martin Luther King Center, St. Peter Claver Church, Mt. Olivet Baptist Church, St. Paul Fire Department, St. Paul Police Department, Ramsey County Sheriff’s Offi ce, Kim Coleman, City of St. Paul Parks and Recreation, ArtS-Us, and Golden Thyme Coffee.

Tut 2From 1

RondoFrom 8

S T A T E P O I N T CROSSWORD

THEME: COMIC BOOK HEROES

ACROSS1. Heidi’s shoe

6. *Superhero team, acr.9. *Attribute of Casper the Friendly Ghost13. Like color blue14. Old-fashioned over15. Elegant sitting room16. Based on number 817. Pigeon sound

18. Devoutly religious19. *___ Incredible ____21. Sent23. “Four score and seven years ____”24. Suite cleaner25. Beaver construction28. Tangerine and grapefruit hybrid30. Reason by deduction35. Prayer leader in mosque37. Electrically charged particles39. Relating to kidneys40. Cannonballs to cannon41. Do this before walking43. Lope de ____, Spanish playwright44. Wealthy man in the Orient46. Freight horse cart47. What Rumpelstiltskin did48. Relating to anode50. “All’s well that ____ well”52. Late Kennedy53. SAT, e.g.55. You owe who?57. Has paleness as symptom60. *America’s rank64. Tropical fruit65. Romanian money67. 1/100th of Finnish markka68. Mary-Kate or Ashley69. Hole punching tool

70. German surrealist Max71. Sixth month of civil year72. Ctrl+Alt+___73. Atkins and “Cabbage Soup,” e.g.

DOWN1. See him run2. Foot curve3. *Spiderman got his powers after one4. Nebraska’s largest city5. Popular language in India6. Opposite of geek in high school?7. “Anna Karenina” author8. Smell of baking bread, e.g.9. Jack and Jill went to fetch this10. Sunburn aid11. High in decibels12. Half the width of ems15. *It bit Peter Parker20. Reasonable judgment22. International help, e.g.24. Mosque’s distinctive feature25. *Wonder Woman’s name26. Capital of Jordan27. Cuban dance29. Master of castle31. Rpms32. Incompetent33. Lacking clarity34. African antelope

36. ____ ring, 1970s fad38. Tchaikovsky’s fowl42. Ancient kingdom in Anatolia45. *His butler is Alfred49. Hula girl’s fl ower51. Soaked54. Often tossed before eating56. Wombs57. “____ Lang Syne”

58. Space shuttle Atlantis owner59. Never without n60. Reject61. *Cast as Catwoman in upcoming Batman fl ick62. Of the present month63. Lice eggs64. India’s smallest state66. One of Bo Peep’s fl ock

Annual Day of Hope on Chicago Avenue - Aug 2Yearly event that brings together recipients and providers of chemical, fi nancial and mental health services in the Ventura Village neighborhood while celebrating the spirit of hope and recovery. Tues. Aug 2 11am-2pm. Between Franklin Ave. and East 18 St., Mpls.

Youth Peace Leaders Program - Aug 3Youth interested in a more peaceful and safe community are invited to be part of the Youth Peace Leaders program that kicks off on Wednesday, August 3 at 5:30 pm at Green Central Park,

and meets on Tuesdays for the rest of August (dinner included, meeting dates on Aug. 9, 16, 23 and 30). Students 11-18 will learn valuable confl ict resolution skills and earn a $100 stipend and Youth Peace Leader certifi cate. The pilot program last fall was a lot of fun! Interested students should email [email protected]

Inter-generational Can’n and Jam’n - Aug 3,10,17&24 New this year, parents and grandparents can join their kids and grandkids to harvest and cook from the garden side-by-side! Learn canning and preserving skills, and work together preparing healthful and tasty foods that are easy to make for all ages! Come with some food in your tummies and room to taste our creations. The camp begins at the JD Rivers Children’s Garden and ends at the Pavilion. The

camp costs $15 per person. Register atwww.minneapolisparks.org. Aug. 3,10,17&24 6-7:30pm.

Healthier Choices Taste Sampling Party - Aug 4Come and learn about a new and healthier way of life. Join us on Thur. Aug. 4 at 5pm. @ NWCT Northwest Community TV 6900 Winnetka Ave. N Brooklyn Park. 763-533-8196.

Afrifest 2011 - Aug. 6Bringing together diverse African, American, and Int’l vendors, musicians, entertainers, and cultural performers to the Twin Cities. This festival promotes education, showcases diversity, enlightens audiences, and brings together Africans, African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and other diverse cultures. Northview Junior High School - 5869 69th Ave. N. Brooklyn Park.

Noon-9pm. afrifest.org

God’s Overfl ow - Aug 6-14Minnesota Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Church of God In Christ celebrates 88 years of ministry @ North Central University 1401 Elliot Ave. S. Mpls. Service begin nightly with prayer @6pm and worship service @7pm. Special guests on Wed., Aug. 10 will be Bishop Brandon Porter from Tennessee and Fri., Aug. 12 will be Bishop J. Drew Sheard from Michigan. These services are open to the public. For more information, visit www.cogicmn.org.

African Music Workshop & Concert- Aug 6Feat. a discussion of Soukous music (Congolese rumba similar to Afro-Caribbean styles Soca and Calypso), demonstrations, private and group lessons, and a jam session where

participants can play with the band. Workshop led by members of Marimba Africa. Bring your instrument or voice. Amps, drums, mics, and keyboards provided, bring all other instruments, or voice. Sat., Aug. 6 1-3:30pm @ West Bank School of Music - 1813 S 6th St., Mpls. Followed by Marimba Africa in concert @ 7:30pm at Lake Harriet Bandshell in Mpls.

Powderhorn Art Fair - Aug 6-7Celebrates its 20th Anniversary this year, continuing its legacy of artistic expression and community engagement. Set in a pastoral, 66-acre city park, Powderhorn Art Fair features 184 local and national artists of varied disciplines, as well as a Community Showcase and Group Exhibitors from the Powderhorn area. - Sat. Aug. 6 10am-6pm & Sun. Aug. 7 10am-5pm @ Powderhorn Park, 3400 15th Ave. S. Mpls.


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Classifi eds/Calendar PHONE: 612.588.1313 FAX: 612.588.2031 EMAIL: [email protected]

Coffee Break

Children, like adults, need special support to recover from losses following a natural disaster. They may have lost

their home, their own personal treasures, a daily routine and friends who may have moved to another community.

To help children recover from the recent tornado, several churches along with Lutheran Social Service of MN will be offering a week-long day camp called Camp Noah fi lled with music, games and fun. Activities are designed to help children process their feelings and fears, develop resiliency and coping skills, make new friends and offer support. Camp Noah will serve kids from fi rst through sixth grade. All children are welcome. “Camp Noah provides children a safe and fun place to talk about the disaster,” explains Nancy Beers, director of

Camp Noah and Disaster Services for Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota.

“Children need to express their worries and often have learned to keep them to themselves because they can sense their parents are already stressed and they don’t want to burden them further. We bring fresh new ears to listen. By providing this camp, we also want to offer a break to parents who may be tending to rebuilding efforts, insurance concerns, or their own emotional recovery.” With a special curriculum developed specifi cally to help children recover from a disaster, Camp Noah invites children to share their stories and develop important resiliency skills such as self-esteem, problem-solving, stress management and preparedness for the future. Day camp activities include skits, music, outdoor recreation, puppets and crafts. Camp Noah was developed following the Midwest fl ood disaster in 1997 when the Red River overran sandbags and completely engulfed

Grand Forks, North Dakota and East Grand Forks, Minnesota—leaving 40,000 people to fl ee from their homes. The program is sponsored by Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota. Since 1997, Camp Noah has served thousands of children across the country. Camp Noah will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday at St. Olaf Lutheran (2901 Emerson Ave N), Salem Lutheran (4150 Dupont Ave N) and Jordan New Life (1922 25th Ave N) August 8 – 12. Cost is $10/child and registration assistance is available for those who need it. For more information or to register your child, call any of the three camp hosts: St. Olaf Lutheran Church, 2901 Emerson Ave N., Contact: Sue Quist at 612-529-7726; Salem Lutheran Church, 4150 Dupont Ave N., Contact: Pat Fish at 612-521-3644; Jordan New Life Community Church, 1922 25th Ave N., Contact: Redeemer Lutheran Church Offi ce at 612-374-4139.

CAMP NOAHhelp kids recover from disaster

LSS

By Ivan Phifer, Staff Writer

The Folwell Neighborhood Association, 7pm-9pm. Thursday August 4 at Farview Park, 2700 Lyndale Ave N., presents “In The Community” a meeting to discuss the RiverFIRST vision for Upper Riverfront Parks. Minneapolis Public Works staff has created a draft list of traffi c calming locations based upon the feedback of block club leaders along Emerson Avenue and now seeks community comment on the recommendations. Traffi c calming improvements would slow down motorists, improve pedestrian safety, and add greenery to the street. These changes would also pave the way for Emerson Avenue to be designated as a north-south bicycling route, connecting the Webber Parkway bike path with future bike lanes on Emerson and Fremont Avenues south of 33rd Avenue. The list will be

discussed at a community meeting 6:30pm Wednesday August 17 at, Webber Park Recreation Center, 4400 Dupont Ave N. For more information contact 4th Ward City Council Member Barbara Johnson at 612 673-2204 or Shaun Murphy at 612-333-2450. The Webber-Camden Neighborhood Organization has approved $50 stipends for 20 block events; for National Night Out activities in Webber-Camden neighborhood. It is on a fi rst come, fi rst-served basis. The event does have to be registered with the city and you will need to provide WCNO with your event registration number. Call 612-521-2100 for more information. McKinley Neighborhood Association Community signed a Purchase Agreement for $120,000 with the owners of Jerry’s Flower Shop at 3300 Lyndale Avenue North. The purchase was made possible with $25,000 in funding from the McKnight Foundation,

and a verbal commitment from the Pohlad Family Foundation for up to another $50,000 in funding, MNAC reports. The neighborhood would have to come up with the remaining $45,000, which will be pulled from NRP funds that are for acquisition/demolition /rehabilitation of vacant properties. McKinley is hoping to close on the property on or around August 31st and use it for headquarters, community meetings, events, classes and storage and cooling facilities for the produce grown on pocket farms. The building will be open for any and all residents. The Lowry Post Offi ce is on a list for possible closure. Persons concerned about possible closure should contact elected offi cials: City council emails are provided below:

[email protected]; [email protected];[email protected];

[email protected];[email protected]; [email protected];[email protected]; [email protected];[email protected]; [email protected];[email protected]; [email protected] [email protected]; [email protected]

On Saturday August 6 at 8:45pm, the Cleveland Neighborhood Association (CNA) presents Movie on the Parkway at Dowling Ave’ and Victory Memorial Parkway. This month’s feature presentation for Movie on the Parkway is Princess Bride. CNA holds monthly community development meetings each second Monday of the month. This month’s meeting will be held August 8 at 6:30pm at the CAN offi ce located at 3307 Penn Ave N, just south of Lucey Craft Laney School. Free produce is handed out every other Friday from 9am - noon at NorthPoint Health and Wellness Center parking lot, 1315 Penn Ave. North Dates:; August 5 & 19; September 2, 16

& 30. For More Information: Call 612-767-9197. National Night Out is 6-9pm Tuesday August 2 . Activities for Heritage Park Neighborhood Association include an information fair, Hennepin County Child & Teen Check-ups, Sumner Library, Summit Academy presentations and Talent Show. . The children’s zone features a jumphouse, infl atable climbing wall and slide, face painting, and fi eld games. Their will be a community cook out of hot dogs, chips and dairy queen treats at Sumner Field. Harrison Neighborhood Association (HNA) housing committee meets 6:30-7:30pm Thursday August 4, at the HNA offi ce, 503 Irving Ave N. HNA directors meet on a monthly basis to take action on committee work, review fi nance, and address issues affecting the community. The meetings take place each second Monday of the month. The upcoming meeting is on Monday August 8th from 6:30 to 8:30pm.

Send your neighborhood association or block club event to Ivan Phifer – [email protected]

Neighborhood beat...

Answers on page 11


Synopsis: Even in loss, the U.S. women’s soccer team thrilled the nation. Too bad this fabulous squad does not yet look like America.

CHICAGO -- What a thrill. What pride. What a show of skill and prowess by the U.S. women’s national soccer team in the 2011 Women’s World Cup even as they lost in penalty shots to Japan on Sunday. Too bad that this fabulous squad does not yet look like America. Wambach made magnifi cent header goals; Rapinoe, great centers; Boxx, streaking shots from outside the box. I cheered them along, as they deserved to be cheered, and relished their hard-fought battle on behalf of a nation. But my feelings were bittersweet. In a roster of 21 players, there are only two Latinas and no Blacks or Asians. In the team picture of bright, young, exuberant and inspiring faces, the hues and shades of an increasingly multicultural America are quite limited. There is something deeply amiss in the lack of diversity on both the women’s and men’s national soccer teams -- not only because one-third of the nation is missing in their composition, but because when we look at the age range of those who play soccer

professionally, the gap is even more striking: 40 percent of this age group are people of color. Given soccer’s popularity, particularly in the Latino community, the lack of diversity cannot be excused. While it can be said legitimately about golf, tennis, and swimming that the pipeline of diverse talent is signifi cantly limited given low participation numbers by minority children, the same cannot be said about this most populist of sports, futbol. Yes, golf, tennis, and swimming must fi nd ways to get more minorities involved, not only for the sake of these marginalized communities, but also for the sake of the vitality of these sports. By limiting the talent pool, is it any coincidence the United States has not dominated in golf or tennis in the past decade? Soccer has a huge built-in advantage over these other sports, even as the U.S. Tennis Association (USTA) signifi cantly steps up its efforts to introduce tennis to 10-year-old kids of color. But colleges, the U.S. soccer teams, and pro-soccer farm systems are bypassing the massive number of female and male players of color in soccer . As one looks at the player roster both in women’s and men’s soccer, how is it that diversity in this sport has been whitewashed? When I played varsity soccer at Northwestern University, I was the only Latino on the team -- and a walk-on from South America, not a Hispanic American --

and Floyd was the only Black. Granted, Northwestern’s student body was not especially diverse to begin with, but surely in the soccer subculture there should had been some sort of over-indexing of diversity. To increase the diversity of the U.S. teams -- not only be truly America’s team, but to ensure that U.S. teams remain competitive -- an all-out diversity effort must be launched. First, more minority children must be enrolled in the largest soccer youth programs. When I coached my daughter’s soccer team, the $100 fees were out of reach for many working-class Latino families. To the league’s credit, it began instituting a sliding-scale fee funded by local individuals and companies. But while this increased Latino participation a bit, the lack of relations between the white and Latino communities made it hard to spread word about the program. And even when more Latino kids did participate, coaches -- many new to the sport of soccer themselves -- did not know how to reconcile the differing expectations from Latino parents when practice schedules confl icted with work schedules at the family store or other business. The “no practice, no play” principle killed any nascent enthusiasm among working-class and immigrant kids and parents. The barriers to entry in the more competitive youth travel soccer leagues are even higher,

given the $1,000 fees and faraway road games that assume parents have cars and free weekends to schlep their cleat-clad kids. But the institutions that truly have no excuse for the lack of diversity on their soccer teams are colleges. Thousands of girls and boys nationwide are playing in soccer at their public middle and high schools. Here participation is free, school buses transport the teams to their matches, and immigrant parents have at least some working knowledge about school culture that they don’t have about para-organizations such as AYSO (American Youth Soccer Organization) and travel soccer. Title IX, which demanded the playing fi eld be evened out for collegiate women in terms of budgets, facilities and scholarships, is the No. 1 reason women’s sports in the U.S. have risen to the world-class caliber we saw in Sunday’s World Cup fi nals match. But as in corporate America, women’s gains in soccer have unfortunately ended up being white women’s’ gains, with Black, Latina, Asian, and Native American women conspicuously absent as benefi ciaries of powerfully important gender-diversity programs. To break through, we need U.S. Soccer, college soccer scouts and parents to shift their assumptions and behaviors. In machista societies like the Latino one, girls have to be seen as legitimately able to compete in sports for fun or career, just as

boys are. Scouts need to get comfortable going into the barrio and inner-city schools and to suburbs dominated by immigrants, just as football and basketball scouts started doing a generation ago. And U.S. Soccer can up the ante by insisting that its scouts and

coaches source greater diversity for players considered to be called on to wear the U.S. uniform. Because that uniform belongs to all of us. (http://newamericamedia.org/2011/07/us-womens-soccer-not-quite-americas-team.php)

SPORTS

SolutionsFrom 10 COMIC BOOK HEROES

U.S. women’s soccer: Not quite America’s team By Andres TapiaNew America Media

hope in their hearts. In fact, the Mayor’s BluePrint for Violence Prevention engages youth and adults on multiple systemic levels to successfully change their lives. So, as a community, I think it’s about time we did some cognitive reframing ourselves. By realizing that when we buy

stolen goods, we are reinforcing the notion that it is alright for someone to steal and hurt others. We need to create a discomfort with criminal behavior and experience some dissonance within ourselves by deciding to be pro-social in our decisions, with our money and our hearts. Only then, can we decrease crime and heal our community so that it is one that supports people in moving from the “jail track” to the “well track.”

BraVada Garrett-Akinsanya, Ph.D., L.P. is a Clinical Psychologist in private practice, serves as President of Brakins Consulting and Psychological Services, and is the Executive Director of the African American Child Wellness Institute. The mission of the African American Child Wellness Institute is to promote the psychological and spiritual liberation of children of African Descent by providing culturally specifi c mental health

services and by developing culture-based, holistic wellness resources, research and practices. Dr. Garrett-Akinsanya warns that this column should in no way be construed as constituting a therapeutic relationship through counseling or advice. To forward a comment about this article or to make an appointment, please contact Dr. Garrett-Akinsanya by email @ [email protected] or by telephone at 612-302-3140 or 763-522-0100.

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insight news ::: 8.1.11

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