Insight News ::: 12.5.11

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Kwanzaa at the Capri

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INSIGHT NEWS December 5 - December 11, 2011 • MN Metro Vol. 37 No. 49 • The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • www.insightnews.com

The Nefilim “No Bullying Movement” By Alaina L. Lewis Contributing Writer As a teen, I remember rushing to the school yard after class to see if there would be another battle of the brawn between that current week’s arch rivals. Maybe they didn’t like the other’s hair, the color of their skin, the way they laughed, or even something less obvious and superficial, like the idea that they

Hakim Propes

Lil Savior (left) and Yung Sphinx

just didn’t like them at all. What seemed a ridiculous way to square off a disagreement and yet strangely innocent— when you consider that during my season fists spoke higher volumes than the latter days use of violent machinery, has now progressed into a plague of words that can literally kill, excessive violence, and pitting one soul against many for a deadly recipe.

NEFILIM TURN TO 11

$4 billion in Black purchasing power From retail to beauty shops, Minnesota’s African American community contributes more than $4 billion in purchasing power to the state’s overall business activity, according to Census data. Minorities and immigrant communities have been major contributors to Minnesota’s economy in recent years, St. Paul-based think tank Minnesota 2020’s latest report finds. African American business ownership grew five percent from 2002 to 2007, the Census shows. Those businesses generated $538 million in revenue, up 68.7 percent from $319 million in 2002. Overall, Minnesota’s minority firms had $5.8 billion in revenue and employed about 40,000 people, according to Concordia University’s Bruce Corrie, whose research MN2020’s report (Made in Minnesota 2011: Fertile Ground for Minority Opportunity) cites. From 2002 to 2007, revenue at minority-owned firms increased by 83 percent, compared to only 30 percent for all Minnesota firms.

Courtesy of Concordia University

Dr. Bruce Corrie

Courtesy of MN2020

Lee Egerstrom

“In these down economic times, public policy should be expansive enough to ensure we’re encouraging entrepreneurship in all communities and helping expand jobs and opportunities for all Minnesotans,” says Lee Egerstrom, Minnesota 2020

economic development policy fellow and report author. MN2020’s report recommends the following public policy steps to capitalize on this population growth’s potential for all Minnesota entrepreneurs. The Minnesota Legislature should invest in expanding the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) and its Small Business Development Centers. Greater cultural awareness and expertise would help with outreach and training for aspiring minority entrepreneurs. Minnesota’s Office of Tourism should develop a brochure guiding travelers who want to explore the state’s minority cultural venues and markets, similar to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s Minnesota Grown directory. The state should invest in identifying and building farm-totable opportunities for all smalland medium-scale farmers and ethnic growers to serve changing Minnesota demographics and buy local supporters.

Black entrepreneurship on the rise By Lea Hargett President, Minnesota Black Chamber of Commerce To identify the economics of employment inequities, we must first consider the significance of several related issues: the crisis of Black unemployment,

the increasing reliance on small business as a source of employment, the causes of racial disparities in business performance, and the positive impact of small business within our inner city. Crisis of Black Unemployment The issue of Black unemployment is not new

Education

Levy-Pounds named Outstanding Young Minnesotan

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and cannot be dismissed as specific to the current economic recession. Many, particularly African Americans, have raised this point so as to counter both colorblind accounts of the recession’s economic impact and assertions of postracialism after the presidential election of Barack Obama.

BUSINESS TURN TO 4

Health

Holidays and compulsive shopping

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Ilyaas Maow/Mogadishu Times

(L-R) Mohamed Bare, Somali Family Advancement Centre; Hashi Shafi, Executive Director of the Somali Action Alliance chairing the discussion and Abdirahman Hassan, Education Coordinator of the Somali Action Alliance.

Somali leaders address law enforcement issues By Abdiaziz Hassan Somali community leaders in Minnesota have recently agreed to form a working group that will engage with law enforcement agencies in an effort to reduce negative perceptions of both sides, promote better relationship with each other and rally this state’s new citizens to understand they are part of the wider American public where communities are not suspects of crimes committed by individuals. The mistrust between this community and the U. S. Law Enforcement departments has been a tough challenge for everybody until January this year when the Department of Homeland Security held the first meeting of roundtable discussions in Minneapolis. The executive director of Somali

Action Alliance, Hashi Shafi who describes that doubt as a barrier to peaceful coexistence said that it is important to engage direct talks that might lead to solutions. “The Law Enforcement are not here to harm anybody, they are here to protect the people. We want our community to understand their role and the reason we have them in this system” he said. “It’s important for this community to see themselves as part of the U. S. public.” Somali Action Alliance will convene sessions of the working group early December to explore engagement strategies, ongoing direct dialogue with law enforcement partners and create platforms to share information. Shafi said the outreach of the community and their partners has worked in Minnesota successfully. He hopes a replica

Plan Your Career

of this strategy might also work in major cities in Ohio and Washington State which have growing Somali-American population. Law enforcement officials from the Metro area who attended the round table discussion on community policing included U. S. Attorney of District of Minnesota, B. Todd Jones, and representatives of the Hennepin County Sheriff department, National Counter Terrorism Centre and FBI. The meeting reported that crimes went down and community satisfaction has significantly increased after months of talks. Abdirizak Farah, a policy advisor with the Department of Homeland Security, Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties said communities are

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Gone to Ghana Talking turkey

SOS: Under a deadline, under pressure

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