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April 25 25,, 2022 - May 1, 2022

Vol. 49 No. 17• The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • insightnews.com

Lou Michaels/ Insight News photo

L to R: Carl Anthony Towns, Asmee Bible-Spicer, Lamar Witt, and Charles Johnson

For Sojourner Truth Academy

TOWNS DELIVERS

Lou Michaels/ Insight News photo

Carl Anthony Towns

Sojourner Truth Academy (SJT), a pre-K to 8th Grade charter school located at 3820 Emerson Avenue North in Minneapolis, last month cut the ribbon on its refurbished basketball court gymnasium, courtesy of Timberwolves NBA superstar Carl Anthony Towns and the 2K Foundations.

Created to support underserved communities across the nation by refurbishing basketball courts in neighborhoods

that need them the most, 2K Foundations also provides essential technology upgrades in local community centers that enable STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education programming for youth.

Julie Guy, SJT Academy Executive Director said she got a call from someone saying they had someone interested in refurbishing the school gymnasium. “I thought it was a spam call at first,” she

said. “Sure enough, the 2K Foundations was partnering with Carl Anthony Towns in a program they called Tune-up to Play, where they connect sports figures in communities with organizations to do something good in the community.”

“The outcome was this beautiful space that the kids and the community will be able to use for years and years to come,” Guy said.

Lou Michaels/Insight News photo

L to R: Thy’leihna Hill, Dez’Anay Jones, Aiyana Gray, Londyn Hudson, Amirriha Washington, Q’Monte Rose, A’lajiah Campbell, Healvenli Reynolds, Olivia Gilkey and Skyy Phillips

Page 2 • April 25, 2022 - May 1, 2022 • Insight News

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Insight News • April 25, 2022 - May 1, 2022 • Page 3

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April 25 25,, 2022 - May 1, 2022

Vol. 49 No. 17• The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • insightnews.com

NeNe Leakes sues alleging racism on ‘Real Housewives’

By Andrew Dalton, AP Entertainment Writer

A photo/Jim Mone_AP

A man walks down Lake Street March 22, 2021, in Minneapolis. The street, which was the focus of much violence during the protests that followed George Floyd’s death in police custody, has been a beacon for immigrants for more than a century.

LEAD program will empower Lake Street corridor residents to reduce police interactions

GreenLight Fund launches community safety initiative leading $1.4M investment The GreenLight Fund Twin Cities (GLFTC) last week announced a multi-year investment in Let Everyone Advance with Dignity (LEAD). Alongside a coalition of funders and a commitment from Minneapolis leaders, LEAD will use a community-involved approach to reduce police interactions for low-level offenses in the Lake Street corridor.

“Thanks to GreenLight Twin Cities, Minneapolis now has a publicprivate partnership that offers the prospect of real change,” said Thomson Reuters Vice President for Strategic Partnerships and Alliances and former Minneapolis Mayor, Sharon Sayles Belton. “GreenLight has an excellent track record of selecting effective programs in other cities. Given the thorough process through which they identified LEAD and the benefits we believe it will have in Minneapolis, Thomson Reuters is pleased and proud

to support this new initiative.”

LEAD, a project of Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, is a public health approach to community safety that diverts individuals cycling in and out of the legal system into a long-term case management model of care. Utilizing a harm reduction platform to improve outcomes, LEAD’s unique, collaborative implementation structure brings a cross section of community leaders and neighborhood residents and business owners together in partnership with case managers.

Their common goal is to decrease recidivism and improve stability for residents facing challenges with non-violent behaviors often criminalized.

Simone HardemanJones, executive director of GLFTC and a former Obama Administration staffer, knows the Lake Street corridor well.

She grew up near there and said, “It’s a hub of entrepreneurship and culture built and sustained

by Black, Indigenous, LatinX and immigrant communities.”

While leading GreenLight’s selection process to address unmet needs and remove barriers, she explained, “We spoke with a cross-section of people who consistently shared that improvements in public safety through fewer unnecessary police interactions could make a real difference.”

GreenLight Twin Cities led a comprehensive process, partnering with leaders and residents across the community, to identify and scale a proven program to meet unmet needs and remove barriers to inclusive prosperity in the area. With community safety identified as a priority for positive change, GreenLight identified LEAD, a program effectively addressing community safety in Seattle and 70 other cities across the country.

GreenLight Twin Cities brought together a coalition of partners and funders, who will support

Dr. Bravada Garrett Akinsanya, founder and CEO of the African American Child Wellness Institute (AACWI), and cohost of Conversations with Al McFarlane’s ‘Healing Circle’ always reminds guests, viewers, and listeners before the show theme is introduced how we have arrived in the moment of convening and connecting.

On last Friday’s program, she opened with, “We must acknowledge that we reside on the stolen land of our Lakota brothers and sisters.

African ancestry joins in soul and heart spiritual connections with our indigenous brethren as an opportunity for a true day of reckoning is upon us. It is ancient tradition that work be discussed, and action decided upon in a circle with the center being a place of power where everyone has a voice. The Talking Stick, symbolizing community and trust, originated from five Native American

the implementation of LEAD. Serving up to 50 participants in its first year and scaling to additional neighborhoods across the Twin Cities, goals include reaching 200+ participants, lowering recidivism by 50%, increasing social supports by 35% and improving relationships with residents, law enforcement, and business

GREENLIGHT 4

Twitter

Imam Makram El-Amin

Dr. Bravada Garrett Akinsanya

IDVAAC

Dr. Oliver Williams free air, we have here today among us in this circle thought

Education

Reduce, recycle, repurpose

PAGE 5

personality and actor whose legal name is Linnethia Monique Leakes, spent seven seasons as one of the central stars of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” between 2008 and 2020.

It alleges that during the first season, which aired in 2008, the cast was planning to attend a barbecue,

LEAKES 4

Simone Hardeman-Jones, Executive Director, GreenLight Fund Twin Cities

Connecting Spirits tribes. It is passed around a group as multiple people speak in turn. Full attention is given to the person who is speaking.”

Continuing in tradition, the Creator is praised in multiple ways. “We honor those who are on their way to the Creator. We honor our ancestors because they are closest to God. We honor our elders because they are closest to the ancestors. We honor each other because we are more spirit than we are containers.”

Recognizing the sacred nature of the upcoming Holy Week weekend at the time, Dr. B., as she is affectionately called, pours the libation of water representing how we are all connected.

“In Yoruba tradition, we pay homage to those who have paved the way for us by calling out the names of those who worked, prayed, and dreamed our way into existence.

We stand here, the embodiment of centuries of hopes and dreams. We say Ashe (a-shay), meaning ‘thank you’ when we say their names. Just think, when people couldn’t breathe

photo/Rich Fury_Invision/AP

FILE - NeNe Leakes arrives at the NBCUniversal Golden Globes afterparty at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Jan. 8, 2017, in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Former star of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” Leakes sued the companies behind the show on Wednesday, Aril 20, 2022, alleging that they fostered and tolerated a hostile and racist work environment.

photo/Rubinstein Photo_Sara Rubinstein

The Healing Circle

By Brenda Lyle-Gray Columnist

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Former star of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” NeNe Leakes sued the companies behind the show on Wednesday, alleging that they fostered and tolerated a hostile and racist work environment.

The lawsuit filed in federal court in Atlanta says Leakes, who is Black, complained to executives about years of racist remarks from fellow housewife Kim Zolciak-Biermann, who is white, but that only Leakes suffered consequences.

It names as defendants NBCUniversal, Bravo, production companies True Entertainment and Truly Original, executives from the companies and “Housewives” executive producer Andy Cohen, but not Zolciak-Biermann.

“NBC, Bravo and True foster a corporate and workplace culture in which raciallyinsensitive and inappropriate behavior is tolerated – if not, encouraged,” the suit says.

Emails sent to representatives of the defendants and ZolciakBiermann seeking comment were not immediately returned.

Leakes, 54, a TV

Facebook

Ayi Kwei Armah

HEALING 4

The Conversations

Twin Cities triggered a national uprising Columnist

By Brenda Lyle-Gray In June of 2020, right after the globally televised street execution of George Floyd, journalist Sara Holder (Bloomberg Citylab) wrote a powerfully informative piece, especially for a columnist living in the mountains of Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was entitled, “Why This Started in Minneapolis: There’s a reason why the Twin Cities triggered a national uprising.”

On the first page of the article was a photo of police in riot gear marching down Plymouth Avenue during riots in North Minneapolis. The year was 1967. 55 years later, the aftermath of the murder of an unarmed Black man brought about worldwide outrage, and yet a Black man in Grand Rapids, Michigan was recently shot in the head while penned down by a police officer.

Holder said that Minneapolis stood out as the site where it all began. “The city’s history of disparate

policing, and the ways racism and division molded its physical landscape might help to understand why. Minneapolis is at once considered one of the most livable cities in the country, and one with some of the greatest racial disparities in housing, income, and education.

There’s a dissonance, locals say, between its progressive rhetoric and the reality of how people of different races experience completely different cities. This local paradox is a microcosm of the statewide ‘Minnesota Paradox’, a term coined by University of Minnesota economist Samuel L. Myers Jr., to highlight the often-ignored inequality that defines the region.”

Holder cites five experts in the fields of local Minneapolis and Minnesota state history and politics to highlight the racial and cultural divide in a jarring history explaining the paradox of the have and have nots.

“This paradox goes to the very founding of the state: the colonization and the displacement of Lakota and Ojibwe,” said Daniel Bergin, documentary filmmaker for Twin Cities PBS. “Regarding the African

TWIN CITIES 5

I2H

National Minority Health Month highlights vaccination awareness

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Business

Spring construction season has arrived

METRO Green Line extension construction update Construction work across the METRO Green Line Extension project corridor has begun to ramp up with the arrival of favorable weather. Sites that were quiet during the winter have now become active.

From station construction and rail work in Eden Prairie, to bridge and tunnel construction in Minneapolis, the 2022 construction season is going to be a busy one. Expect crews working and moving materials throughout the corridor as this year’s construction season gets fully underway.

Work on the Kenilworth LRT tunnel in Minneapolis continues. Workers are removing concrete curing

blankets on the roof of the tunnel structure. Following the completion of the concrete work, soil will be backfilled over the tunnel burying it, and eventually allowing the Kenilworth Trail to be reconstructed on top of it.

Minneapolis construction updates:  Kenilworth LRT tunnel excavation has resumed.

Excavation will proceed north toward Cedar Lake Parkway.

The long-term closure of Cedar Lake Parkway is anticipated to begin this spring. This closure is needed to construct the portion of the Kenilworth LRT tunnel that extends under Cedar Lake Parkway.

Stadium Village station Metro Green Line 

Sheeting at the Cedar Lake Channel is expected to continue for the next two weeks while crews advance pedestrian

Wikipedia

bridge construction.

The temporary alignment for the South Cedar Lake Trail near the West Lake



Street bridge has shifted to accommodate hauling traffic through the rail corridor.  Pumps and generators will run overnight periodically in various parts of the construction corridor, especially at the Kenilworth LRT tunnel site. Pumps are used to manage water, and generators are used to power the pumps.  Work is currently paused on the construction of the secant wall.  Border Avenue reconstruction has been postponed and will not be construction this season.  Construction near Bryn Mawr Station is continuing with excavation and pile

installation for the pedestrian bridge. Retaining wall work on the bluff south of Wayzata Boulevard and Penn Avenue continues.  Minor traffic impacts may occur on Wayzata Avenue near the intersection of Penn Avenue due to staged equipment.  Glenwood Avenue between Lyndale Avenue North and North 12th Street remains closed. See Minneapolis detour map  Bridge pier work near North 7th Street and North 6th Avenue continues. Pile driving is complete, crews are working on bridge pier construction. There is a temporary lane closure on eastbound North 6th Avenue.

Governor Walz signs three bills into law Governor Tim Walz recently signed three bills into law as passed by the Minnesota Legislature.

The Governor’s bill signing included: Chapter 45, SF

GreenLight From 3 owners over the next 4 years.

Naija Morris-Frazier,

Leakes From 3 and housewife Kim ZolciakBiermann, responded to the idea with “words to the effect of: ‘I don’t want to sit around with NeNe and eat chicken.’” The suit says the statement “perpetuated an offensive stereotype about African-Americans.”

The suit says in 2012

Healing From 3

2736 establishesing a juvenile guardianship process for atrisk youth ages 18 to 21 to help ensure that they receive the resources necessary for their health, safety, and education.

Chapter 46, HF 2819 provides increased civil penalties

to incentivize responsible snowmobile and off-highway vehicle riding and increases penalties for certain violations, including trespassing.

Chapter 48, HF 3620 allows licensed residential building contractors to install

used manufactured homes and affix installation seals (labels secured to the outside of the homes) to used manufactured homes, streamlining the home manufacturing process to help shorten installation delays and lower installation costs.

director of LEAD’s National Support Bureau, has partnered with over 70 cities across the country to launch LEAD. “Every person deserves to have their humanity seen, and we know this program works’’ said Najja. “In Seattle, where LEAD

began, 58% of participants were less likely to be arrested and twice as likely to be sheltered.

We are excited to support the launch of LEAD Minneapolis during such a critical time.”

LEAD’s local implementation will include

a Policy Coordinating Group made up of community and civil rights leaders, law enforcement, business owners, and city officials. The Minneapolis City Attorney’s office is committed to playing a role, said Jim Rowader, sharing,

“Like Minneapolis, many communities around the country are seeking ways to improve public safety. LEAD provides us with the opportunity to operate outside of the court system and to engage individuals within the community in a unique and

different way. We are committed to providing services and support to help make LEAD a success.”

For more information, visit greenlightfund.org/twincities

during the fifth season, ZolciakBiermann made “racially offensive and stereotypical” comments about the new home of housewife Kandi Burruss, calling her neighborhood a “ghetto” and perpetuating a racial stereotype in an offensive comment about whether Burruss needed a swimming pool.

That same year, the suit says, Zolciak-Biermann used the N-word to refer to Leakes and other of the housewives after a dispute with them, the suit alleges. It also alleges Zolciak-

Biermann falsely implied that Leakes used drugs and called her home a “roach nest.”

The suit says after Leakes complaints to the executives overseeing the show, they “did not terminate their relationship with ZolciakBiermann, nor take any other meaningful action to put an end to her racially-offensive behavior,” and if anything rewarded her by giving her her own spinoff show.

“From the day the series began filming, NeNe was the target of systemic racism from

co-star Kim Zolciak-Biermann, which was tolerated by Bravo executive producer Andy Cohen and other executives,” Leakes’ lawyer David deRubertis said in a statement.

Joe Habachy, another Leakes’ attorney, said via email that “not a day goes by that NeNe doesn’t wake up with an onslaught of overwhelming emotions as a direct result of these unfortunate and avoidable occurrences.”

The lawsuit alleges that her complaints of racism

led in part to Leakes being forced off the show in 2020 before its 13th season.

The suit says Leakes’ negotiations for the season came as the Black Lives Matter movement was gaining major momentum, with Leakes a vocal supporter.

Executives sought to sideline Leakes from talking about the cause, keeping her off early episodes in which the housewives would address BLM, the suit alleges.

“As the Black Lives

Matter movement swept our nation, Mrs. Leakes — Bravo’s historically most successful Black female talent — should have been embraced by NBC, Bravo, and True,” the suit says.

“Instead, NBC, Bravo, and True forced her out of the ‘house she built,’ denying her a regular role.”

The suit alleges that the defendants’ actions violate federal employment and antidiscrimination law, and it seeks monetary damages to be determined at trial.

leaders, teachers, writers, and healers, all speaking our truth.

That’s the power of being here at this moment - A Supreme Divine being.

Miracles.

Redemption. Recovery. Peace.

Love.

Dr. Oliver Williams, Executive Director for the Institute of Domestic Abuse in the African American Community, and a Professor of Social Work at the University of Minnesota marvels at the work of his friend, Dr. Elizabeth Horn in South Africa.

He said Horn works with nine different faiths.

“In traveling to Cape town, Johannesburg, and Durbin, I was able to interact with faith leaders from different faiths in each of these cities and to see the work they are doing.

Some even have domestic abuse and child neglect ministries.

A close friend of the late Bishop Desmond Tutu, Horn has connections with the Anglican, two different sects of Islam, Hindu, traditional African spirituality,

Judaism, and Christian faithbased organizations. All are committed to improving the outcomes in their communities, especially disrupting the issues of violence,” Williams said. “ Personally, I wonder if there is a call out there, somewhere, for people to examine how religion has changed and how youth are no longer accepting the hypocrisy in it all. But also, how there are good people of all hues and backgrounds who believe and are doing the work to reach out to those who need helping hands and connecting spirits,” he said Minneapolis City Council recently passed an ordinance allowing Mosques to play the traditional call to prayer severely times a day over loudspeakers, in the same way Christian church bells inform the aural soundscape of neighborhoods on a daily

basis. Imam Makram El-Amin announced earlier in the week on Conversations with Al McFarlane, that Masjid An-Nur, which he serves as Imam, will soon grace the community with the daily calls to prayer.

Iman Makram, who said his parents legally changed their names to the Arabic “ElAmin” family name when he and his siblings were children, explained that on a daily basis at home, his parents taught the children that the true meaning and purpose of Islam is the pursuit of freedom, justice, and equality. I For Ghanaian writer, Ayi Kwei Armah, in his book, ‘The Way of Companions’, he describes “the fundamental difference between faith-based world views and those that are knowledge-based, and opened to change ‘since the basic elements of such views

are human knowledge and intelligence, those components that are changing all the time.”

“A knowledge-based world does not simply recognize change as part of reality. It welcomes change. It is the way travelers on the ancient pre-dynastic African path of knowledge - the way of Maat - became adaptable, reliant on experimentation and testing, and committed only to accuracy, balance and justice. For those who accept this ideology, they are free to shift their purpose in life from arresting change to finding out what changes are most reasonable and desirable and how best to achieve them.

Adherence is free to admit previous error when the new facts invalidate old perceptions.

Faith-based practices are generally hostile to change.”

Dr. B, reflecting on the once every three decades confluence of celebrations of the three branches of the Abrahamic faith traditions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, said faith traditions illuminate a sense of community. She challenges us to turn up the volume on the good parts of our spirits with ‘healing hands and connecting spirits,’ as her grandmother used to always say, with plain ole’ lovin’ and random acts of kindness.

INSIGHT NEWS www.insightnews.com

Insight News is published weekly, every Monday by McFarlane Media Interests.

Editor-In-Chief Al McFarlane Publisher Batala-Ra McFarlane Associate Editor & Associate Publisher B.P. Ford Culture and Education Editor Dr. Irma McClaurin, PhD. Associate Editor Afrodescendientes Carmen Robles Associate Editor Nigeria & West Africa Chief Folarin Ero-Phillips Columnist Brenda Lyle-Gray Book Review Editor W.D. Foster-Graham Director of Content & Production Patricia Weaver Content & Production Manager Sunny Thongthi Yang Distribution/Facilities Manager Jamal Mohamed Receptionist Lue B. Lampley

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Let’s Work Together for a Better Highway 252/I-94 PUBLIC OPEN HOUSES Join one of the City-Specific Public Open Houses

Attention North Minneapolis!

Thursday, April 28 from 5:30 to 7pm at Shiloh Temple, 1201 W. Broadway Ave., Minneapolis, MN 54511

Attention Brooklyn Center!

Tuesday, April 26 from 5:30 to 7pm at Lutheran Church of the Master, 1200 69th Ave. N., Brooklyn Center, MN 55430

Attention Brooklyn Park!

Tuesday, May 3 from 5:30 to 7pm at Ebenezer Community Church 9200 W. Broadway Ave., Brooklyn Park, MN 55445

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Insight News • April 25, 2022 - May 1, 2022 • Page 5

Education

Fall Into You: A Season For Love Sharing Our Stories

By: W.D. Foster-Graham Book Review Editor Fall Into You by Georgina “Gigi” Kiersten I love a great story where I can root for the underdog. In the genre of romance, often there are obstacles to overcome on the road to love. The biggest ones are the messages, beliefs, and self-talk we have internalized, which makes for a powerful

victory and a happily-ever-after.

Such is the case with Georgina “Gigi” Kiersten’s Fall Into You: A Season For Love.

Imari Haines is a 30-year-old, bisexual Black woman who left a mess in Houston to settle in the town of Appeley, Texas. She has made her share of mistakes in her life. Her most recent was three months ago, when she realized that marrying her fiancé Todd would be just that.

Unfortunately, when she broke up with him, she did so by jilting him at the altar.

She has been beaten down, and the biggest antagonist in the piece is her mother. I tell you, she is toxic-with-acapital-T. Nothing Imani ever did pleased the woman—her

Georgina “Gigi” Kiersten

career as a graphic designer, her grades in school, her sexuality, her wardrobe, her weight, you name it. Even when her mother “sacrificed” for Imari, it always came with strings attached, and

those strings were as strong as the guilt she heaped upon her daughter.

As it turns out, Imari is blessed to have a BFF in out-and-proud artist Zephyr, a brotha who is supportive while he tells it like it is. In addition, the community of Appeley itself is far more welcoming and accepting than she realized.

During the town’s apple festival, she literally runs into Cassidy Martinez, her Afro-Latina childhood best friend who is now a successful businesswoman. The smoking hot chemistry between them is undeniable. With a little help from her friends, will Imari conquer the demons that have had their feet on the neck of her self-worth and take a chance on having the love she truly deserves?

As I mentioned previously, I was rooting for Imari and Cassidy, and I loved the character of Zephyr; it’s important to have good friends in our lives and surround ourselves with people who uplift and value us. Kiersten also illustrates the reality that it is necessary to

remove toxic people from our lives for the sake of our mental, spiritual, and emotional health— even relatives.

At the end of the day, this love story was as much a victory for Imari herself as it was for the love match between her and Cassidy.

Kiersten is a nonbinary independent author (pronouns they/them), a graphic designer by trade, and parent of five kids and two dogs. She specializes in Black LGBTQ romance and erotica. Look for Fall Into You on Amazon, as well as her additional work under the name Rian Fox. Thank you, Gigi, for your unique and amazing voice in the world of Romancelandia.

Black Love wins again!

Reduce, recycle, repurpose

In observance of Earth Month Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity’s two ReStore Outlets are working to reduce waste, help the environment and create funds to support Habitat’s work in our local community.

Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity brings people together to create, preserve, and promote affordable homeownership and advance racial equity in housing.

Since 1985, more than 1,500 families have partnered with Twin Cities Habitat to unlock the transformational power of homeownership. Twin Cities Habitat is one of the highestregarded Habitat for Humanity affiliates nationwide.

The stores are located at 510 County Road D West in New Brighton and 2700 Minnehaha Ave. in Minneapolis.

ReStore Outlets are celebrating Earth Month by reducing waste by encouraging people to donate used goods

Twin Cities From 3 American, there were two constitutions: one that made a statement against slavey.

Another that didn’t,” said Bergin Augsburg University professor, William D. Green spoke of the riot that broke out in Minneapolis in 1860 after abolitionists brought a slave woman to court and freed her. “For the next four or five months, neighbors in Minneapolis walked the streets with loaded weapons waiting for their neighbors to provoke them.

When the Confederates attacked Fort Sumter and started the Civil War, Minnesota would be the first state to send volunteers into the Union army averting a racial crisis,” he said.

After the war, Green said, “A third attempt resulted in the ratification of the 15th Amendment extending voting rights to Black men, the legislature passed a law threatening to withhold federal funding if schools continued to segregate based on race, and for the first time, Blacks began to serve on juries. After these political breakthroughs were in place, a few public accommodations laws banning discrimination and segregation were passed, but these laws meant nothing to white shopkeepers and owners of restaurants.”

The Holder article said policymakers and the body politic lived in parallel worlds with regard to race relations.

It appears to still be the case, although one must admit some progress has been made. The Black population was small, not enough to test the social customs that permitted segregation to continue and discrimination to exist. It is possible for white people to have no contacts at all with Blacks unless they have kids in the schools or at the universities, in the military, or in prison, the article said.

St. Catherine University English literature professor, Taiyon Coleman, talked about the undercurrent of Minnesota niceness, which she referred to as very ‘homogenized’.

“There are

to the store; by recycling, encouraging people to buy used goods and keeping tons of building materials and home furnishings out of landfills; and by repurposing by encouraging Do it Yourself Projects.

“Our customers and donors tend to have a social purpose beyond donating or buying goods,” said Robin Henrichsen, ReStore Director.

“They want items with value to go to someone who can use it and ReStore can make that happen. The best part is that proceeds from ReStore help build five affordable homes within the Twin Cities. It’s environmentally friendly and a lot of good comes out of the process.”

The statistics: • The two Twin Cities stores are on track to receive 22,000 donations this fiscal year (July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022). Since

2015, the New Brighton store has had nearly 68,000 drop-off donations; the Minneapolis store has had 27,700 since opening in September 2016.

• ReStore trucks have picked up 22,400 donations since 2015; they are on track to have another record setting year.

• 65,000 customers shopped at the two stores this fiscal year.

• The ReStore Outlets expect to keep over three and a half million pounds of used items out of landfills this year; and more than 13.5 million pounds over the past five years. This includes leftover building materials from construction and remodeling, some of the biggest contributors to landfill waste.

ReStore Home Improvement Outlets are open to the public and sell new and likenew furniture, appliances, and building materials at discounted prices. The inventory comes from donations from individuals

Confederate flags everywhere, even if you can’t see them,” Coleman said. “You see that in housing, education, employment, net wealth, and incarceration. The state has the largest racial disparities in the nation. It’s frustrating!”

“I have all the degrees, all the things that U.S.A. society has said I need to have in order to access citizenship, but it’s never enough. That still never protects you. It’s what the paradox is.

You’ve achieved all this, and you have these things, but it doesn’t make you safe. Even with my privilege, I still don’t have access to that. I would argue this is how segregation works in Minneapolis or Minnesota. It reinscribes the racial stereotypes because it keeps peaceful people isolated. Chauvin couldn’t have gotten away with what he did if we didn’t have a culture that perpetuated that type of action and made it possible,” Coleman said.

In 1946, Minneapolis was labeled the ‘anti-Semitism capital of the U.S.’,wrote Kirsten Delegard, co-founder of Mapping Prejudice which tracked racial housing covenants.

“The city had a profound reputation for intolerance, and there was a very powerful group that brutally repressed all labor organized labor. A newly elected young mayor, Hubert Humphrey would make a career out of trying to change the racial climate of Minneapolis.

He launches a sociological experiment with a group of Black sociologists wanting Minnesotans to do a self-audit of their own feelings and attitudes about race. There was a passing reference to at least 40% of the city’s population had been restricted by racial covenants that restricted land to be sold or occupied by anyone who wasn’t white.”

When some Black people manage to buy a home or move into affordable housing, says Shannon Smith Jones, executive director of Hope Community, a nonprofit affordable housing organization, green spaces look different in North Minneapolis than they do in other parts of the city.

“Even up until recently when they started investing in inner city parks, there were huge disparities in what parks look like on the Northside vs. Southwest Minneapolis. There’s been a value laid in the infrastructures that have allowed for those that succeed and those who don’t to be held along racial lines,” she said.

Bergin said, “Redlining implemented by the Federal Housing Authority during the Depression was and continues to be clearly based on racial profiling. A geography of intolerance was created which made it hard for African Americans to find a place to live, let alone purchase land, and amass wealth.”

“There’s the paradox again,” he said.

Apathy cannot be the mantra for our people nationwide and globally. As often as we might feel our plight is hopeless because our fight has continued for so long and sometimes gets even harder, we cannot throw in the towel.

We must step up our efforts at the voting polls and at the sides of our children as they attempt to find relevance in their academic studies. We must help them along the way with a social, and emotional structure establishing the framework for happiness and success even in a messy world.

I continue to call for a quiet revolution of soul searching and prayer.

(free truck pickup) and companies. The materials are sold to the public at discounted prices. Every dollar raised from sales goes into building homes and supporting local families to buy their first home. ReStore staff members are assisted by hundreds of volunteers each year; volunteer opportunities are back to pre-pandemic levels.

“We’re proud of the work of our ReStore staff during this difficult year,” said Chris Coleman, President and CEO of Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity. “They provide a great community service, help protect the environment, and make a significant contribution to our mission of creating, preserving, and promoting homeownership in the Twin Cities.”

Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity ReStore is seeking volunteers for their New Brighton and Minneapolis home improvement outlets now.

restore.tchabitat.org

More information on how to sign up: https://restore.tchabitat. org/blog/lend-a-hand-at-restore.

“Volunteers are the lifeblood of ReStore,” said Jill Carmody, Restore Manager.

“We are excited to expand our volunteer team. Consistent volunteers help our stores because they can dive deeper into the workings of our stores, become self-directed, and learn what our greatest needs are at the moment. It is incredibly helpful to have volunteers who

can see what needs to be done on a busy day and get it done.”

Information on shopping at donating safely at ReStore during the pandemic: Shop safely at ReStore: https://restore.tchabitat.org/ blog/shopping-during-covid Donate safely to ReStore: https://restore.tchabitat.org/ blog/donate-furniture-goodscovid For more information: www.tchabitat.org.

WE ARE

HIRING PART TIME

DISTRIBUTION ROUTE DRIVER

One to two days per week. $15 per hour.

Valid driver's license required.

Call to apply 612-695-0417

Page 6 • April 25, 2022 - May 1, 2022 • Insight News

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Insight 2 Health

photo/adamkaz

The 2022 NMHM theme is “Give Your Community a Boost!” to increase the Black Communities COVID-19 vaccination rates, including booster shots.

National Minority Health Month highlights vaccination awareness

By Brandi Phillips, Contributing Writer April is National Minority Health Month (NMHM). This month is a great time for wellness professionals and the community at large, to raise awareness about health disparities that continue to affect people from racial and ethnic minority groups.

Professionals can encourage action through health education, early detection, and control of disease complications.

The 2022 NMHM theme is “Give Your Community

a Boost!” to increase the Black Communities COVID-19 vaccination rates, including booster shots.

Currently, vaccinations are one of the strongest tools available to end the COVID-19 pandemic which has disproportionately affected communities of color. One reason vaccinations numbers in the Black community are so is mistrust in the US system of care.

Celebrated every year in April, National Minority Health Month:  Builds awareness about the disproportionate burden of premature death and

illness in people from racial and ethnic minority groups.  Encourages action through health education, early detection and control of disease complications.

The Twin Cities has many people who are committed to improving the health and wellness of the African American community. Jasmine Tane’t Boudah is a holistic maternal health practitioner; Tammie Lynn Richardson teaches physical health and nutrition; Marlon Moore teaches mental, physical, financial, and nutritional health; Alysha Price

MICK STERLING PRESENTS ELTONSONGS Hits of Elton John & Bernie Taupin

ROBBIE FULKS BLUEGRASS BAND Americana Songwriting Giant

APR 27

APR 28

JENNIFER GRIMM SINGS JUDY GARLAND Classic Jazz Vocals

ALAN DOYLE Iconic Canadian Rocker

APR 29

APR 30 – MAY 1

JOHN RAYMOND + THE KIND FOLK QUARTET Melodic Modern Sounds

NATE SMITH + KINFOLK Bold Modern Sounds

MAY 2

MAY 3–4

AN INTIMATE EVENING OF SONGS & STORIES W/ SUZANNE VEGA Art-Pop Pioneer

MUSICIANS FOR UKRAINE Orkestar Bez Ime Ukrainian Village Band Slovczech

MAY 5

MAY 6

JANIVA MAGNESS W/ ANNIE MACK Soul-Stirring Blues Music

OVER THE RHINE Ethereal and Earthy Harmonies

MAY 7

MAY 8

DARRELL SCOTT Superlative Roots Songsmith

STRONGER THAN PRIDE: THE PASSIONATE SONGS OF SADE FEAT. CATE FIERRO

MAY 9 612.332.5299 dakotacooks.com

MAY 10 1010 Nicollet Mall Minneapolis, MN

teaches healthy coparenting; Andre McNeal teaches healthy life skills; Kenya McKnight Ahad and teaches financial health to the Black community and Anissa Nicole Keyes provides mental and emotional health services to support restoration journeys to sound health, resilience, and hope.

According to the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, the origin of National Minority Health Month is in the 1915 establishment of National Negro Health Week by Booker T. Washington. In 2002, National

Minority Health Month received support from the U.S. Congress with a concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 388) that “a National Minority Health and Health Disparities Month should be established to promote educational efforts on the health problems currently facing minorities and other health disparity populations.” The resolution encouraged “all health organizations and Americans to conduct appropriate programs and activities to promote healthfulness in minority and other health disparity communities.”

Before National Minority Health Month is over, research a Black Wellness professional in your neighborhood and support their products and services, because these products and services support you.

Brandi D. Phillips BS, MBA is a freelance health and wellness writer, self-care and mindset expert/educator, mother of two, and life partner. If you have any questions about this article, feel free to contact her at wellifethreesixty@gmail.com.

To Protect Yourself and Others from Covid-19 If you feel sick...

CHECK YOUR SYMPTOMS

START WEARING A MASK

GET TESTED

STAY HOME IF YOU TEST POSITIVE

GET VACCINATED For more information, visit northpointhealth.org/ coronavirus-updates

Scan this QR code for more vaccine information

insightnews.com

Insight News • April 25, 2022 - May 1, 2022 • Page 7

Aesthetically It

Women Unite to Win 2022 Sharing Our Stories

By: W.D. Foster-Graham As we all know, history was made when Ketanji Brown Jackson became the first Black woman confirmed for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court bench, where her unique skill set and qualifications will make a difference in the conversations among the justices. Last Friday, I had the great pleasure to meet and break bread with the honorees of this year’s upcoming 14th Annual Women Unite to Win Women’s Appreciation luncheon, hosted by the National Empowerment Group, Inc. and Team USA Mortgage (Brooklyn Park).

This year, WUTW is recognizing the following women for their contributions to empower our community.

The honorees are selected by the community, be they in the fields of nonprofit, for-profit, community work, etc.: Nekima Levy Armstrong (Activist, Civil Rights Attorney, Exec. Dir. of the Wayfinder Foundation) Valerie Castile (Founder/CEO of the Philandro Castile Relief Foundation) De’Monica Flye (D’Flye Consulting LLC) Dorothy BarnesGriswold (CEO/Exec. Dir. of the Minnesota COPE Program) Angela Harrelson, RN (George Floyd’s aunt, civil

rights leader, author, mental health care nurse)

Dr. Ella Gates Mahmoud (President/CEO of

SEED, Inc.) Marea

Perry

(President/Founder of Secrets2Truths/Pain2Power)

Kelly Robinson, RN (Former President of Black Nurses Rock Twin Cities) Leslie E. Redmond, Esq./MBA (Founder of Don’t Complain Activate, Former President of Mpls. NAACP) Eliza Wesley (“The Gate Keeper” of George Floyd Square) JoAnn Hughes (President of Concerned Citizens for Justice) During the evening, the honorees and I were treated to a lesson in line dancing by NEG’s own Alvena Richburg and J MOST, founder of the WUTW programs. As we ate and shared our stories among ourselves and the WUTW team, I felt a deep, abiding respect for the positive energy and the power in that space. In giving people their flowers while they are here, for all they have done according to their purpose, this year’s honorees richly deserve an abundance of flowers for the queens they are.

For an afternoon of empowering words and speakers, song, steppers, and appreciation, the luncheon will begin at 10:45 a.m. on Saturday, June 4 at Hilton Hotel, Mpls/St. Paul Airport Mall of America Minnesota Valley Ballroom 3800 American Boulevard East Bloomington, MN 55425 Please contact J. MOST at (612) 237-5118 regarding reservations and any questions. In the meantime, let’s show our support and celebrate with these amazing women!

Page 8 • April 25, 2022 - May 1, 2022 • Insight News

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