Ali Shaheed Muhammad of Tribe Called Quest DJs Avant Garden Saturday at the Walker
aesthetically speaking
STORY ON PAGE 12 WINNER: 2016 NNPA MERIT AWARDS: 1ST PLACE COMMUNIT Y SERVICE, 3RD PLACE BEST USE OF PHOTOGRAPHS
Insight News November 14 - November 20, 2016
Vol. 43 No. 46• The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • insightnews.com
Ilhan Omar makes history In Minnesota’s only other statewide besides the presidential election, Justice Natalie Hudson retained her seat on the Supreme Court. Hudson, who was appointed by Gov. Mark Dayton to fill the seat once held by Justice Alan Page upon his mandatory retirement, defeated challenger Michelle MacDonald by a wide margin; 1,275,925 to 886,303. Hoping to make history in her own right, Reva Chamblis fell short in her bid to become Brooklyn Park’s first African-American city councilperson. Chamblis was bested by her Ward E opponent, Lisa Jacobson 6,453 to 4,838. In Burnsville, African-American candidate Robin Harris finished behind Dan Gustafson and Cara Schulz, who both earned seats on
The saying is all politics is local, and in a presidential race that has much of the country reeling, closer to home many are delighting in the fact that history was made with the election of Ilhan Omar to the state House. Omar, the DFL candidate in House District 60B, was elected by an overwhelming majority to serve in the Minnesota legislature besting Republican candidate Abdimalik Askar by nearly 12,000 votes. In doing so she becomes the first Somali-American to be elected to a state legislature. In a heavily Democratic district Omar’s General Election victory was considered a foregone conclusion, but still no less significant. In August Omar beat out Rep. Phyllis Kahn, who represented the district for 43 years.
the Burnsville City Council. In North Minneapolis Fue Lee – born in a refugee camp – proved to be another American immigration success story when voters in 59A selected him to represent them in the state House. Like Omar, Lee’s biggest challenge came in the August primaries when he upset Rep. Joe Mullery. Mullery represented the district since 1997. Kerry Jo Felder will serve on the Minneapolis Public Schools board, narrowly beating Kimberly Caprini for the District 2 seat, 10,636 votes to 10,435. Kim Ellison retained her at-large seat on the board, easily beating out challenger Doug Mann by more than 96,000 votes.
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David Bradley
Omar addresses supporters at her victory party on Nov. 8. Omar is the first Somali-American in the nation to be elected to a state house.
Police brutality topic on ‘Conversations’
Harry Colbert, Jr.
(Left to right) Jeffry Martin, president of the NAACP St. Paul Branch, Tyrone Terrill, president of the African-American Leadership Council and the Rev. Charles Gill, president of the St. Paul Black Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance; all guests on KFAI’s “Conversations with Al McFarlane,” discuss an incident of St. Paul police brutality with host Al McFarlane (far right).
Police brutality was the issue at hand this past Tuesday (Nov. 8) on “Conversations with Al McFarlane” on KFAI radio. While voting was an obvious topic with Nov. 8 being a historic presidential election, the issue closer to home was news that a St. Paul Police officer accused of brutality was no longer on the force. Hailed as a step in the right direction, St. Paul NAACP president Jeffry Martin along with Tyrone Terrill, president of the African-
American Leadership Council and the Rev. Charles Gill, president of the St. Paul Black Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance praised the actions of St. Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell in dismissing Brett Palkowitsch, a former St. Paul officer who was seen on police dashcam video repeatedly kicking 53-year-old Frank Baker as a police dog viciously chewed on Baker’s leg. The incident took place on June 24 but didn’t come to the public’s attention until Early November.
While the firing of Palkowitsch was seen as a favorable move, Martin called for action to be taken against all the officers on scene at the time of the assault, which according to Martin left Baker in the hospital for 14 days with severe leg injuries that required multiple surgeries and a collapsed lung. K-9 officer Brian Ficcadenti is currently on paid leave due to the incident. “He (Baker) basically got his leg ripped off. The bottom portion of his calf and Achilles
We’ve been here before and we gon’ be alright
Harry Colbert, Jr.
at the artists selection, it was apropos, as the night would end with all of us again in mourning over the death of an icon. This time it was America that died. As more polls closed and more election results came trickling in the volume on the TV was raised and the music was paused. Things just got real. State after state, electoral vote upon electoral vote was falling for him. The improbable was becoming the unstoppable. We were a room of highly educated individuals, yet all of us were struggling with simple math and geography. Hard
By Harry Colbert, Jr. Managing Editor Well, here we are. The question is where is here. On the night of the election I, with about 30 others, attended a watch party to view the presidential results. Early on the mood was uneasy; festive, but uneasy. The television was on CNN, but the sound was muted as we opted to listen to the music of Prince, Luther Vandross and Michael Jackson. Looking back
as we tried, we just couldn’t get the map to add up to 270 for Hillary Clinton. As it turns out, we weren’t the only ones having trouble with this supposedly simple equation. I like more than half the U.S. – and much of the world around us – am struggling to understand and more importantly, come to grips with what happened on Election Night 2016. I don’t know if I’ll ever fully understand. I’m hoping
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Emmy
Knight
Midwest Emmy induct first African-Americans into Silver Circle
Knight Foundation award VocalEssence Grant
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Trump win leads to racist incident at Maple Grove High
Moses Karngbaye, a student at Maple Grove High
The mood was tense during an election-night watch party at H. White Men’s Room in North Minneapolis.
tendon were basically chewed off by the dog,” said Martin. “And what about the two other officers who sat there and witnessed this? What about them? We want them to face some sort of action.” “This is not Montgomery, Ala. in the 1940s. You don’t put a dog on a human being like that,” said Terrill. “It’s gut-wrenching to watch that video. You don’t put a dog on a
A racist message written inside a bathroom at Maple Grove Senior High School has sparked both outrage and terror. The message of hate went up the day after Donald Trump’s Electoral College victory in the contest to become our nation’s next president. As many in the area– and throughout the world, as the photo quickly went viral on the Internet – saw, a vile and racist message was scrawled the day after the election inside of a bathroom at Maple Grove Senior High School. The message that used the N word, was full of hashtags such as #whitesonly and #gobacktoafrica and heavily alluded to the writer’s or writers’ support of Donald Trump, who the day earlier won the Electoral College vote setting him up to be the
nation’s next president. Within the toxic message were the words “Trump Train” along with the so-to-be president’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.” Upon seeing the message Insight News contacted officials in the ISD 279-Osseo Area Schools District to authenticate the viral posts. Officials confirmed that the incident did take place and said they are outraged. “The tweet you saw of a racist message scrawled in a school bathroom is real and we are horrified by it,” said Barbara Olson, community relations director of Osseo Schools. “It goes against everything we stand for, and it is completely contrary to our core values as a district and individual schools.” Olson said school leaders immediately launched an investigation into the incident, and said they will take swift and appropriate action based on the investigation findings. “(Officials) will work very hard to identify who did this horrible act and
to determine how they can support the students and staff who have been affected by it,” said Olson. Olson said the appalling message is not being seen as a prank and the administration recognizes the seriousness of what took place at Maple Grove High. “Every day, in all of our schools, we seek to provide a safe and respectful learning and working environment for every student and employee. Racist messages like the one found endanger the safety of our students and staff of color, and they create a climate that is not conducive to learning,” said Olson. “We are very concerned about our students, staff and families who have been affected by this incident. We want to assure every student and employee that we are committed to their safety and well-being.” The student who brought the racist graffiti to the attention of school officials said he is one of the one’s who doesn’t feel safe. Moses Karngbaye, a junior
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Proposal
Cinderella
Proposal: Immigrate to Mexico
‘Cinderella’ returns to Children’s Theatre Company
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