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Insight News

June 1, 2020 - June 7, 2020

Vol. 47 No. 22• The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • insightnews.com

DEMANDING

JUSTICE

Protesting the killing of George Floyd Uche Iroegbu

Page 2 • June 1, 2020 - June 7, 2020 • Insight News

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Insight News • June 1, 2020 - June 7, 2020 • Page 3 WINNER: 2020 T YPOGRAPHY & DESIGN, 1ST PLACE, PHOTOGRAPHY (PORTRAIT & PERSONALIT Y), 1ST PLACE, WEBSITE, 3RD PLACE

Insight News June 1, 2020 - June 7, 2020

Vol. 47 No. 22• The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • insightnews.com

Uche Iroegbu

On Tuesday evening, protesters gathered for a peaceful rally to demand justice for George Floyd who was killed while in police custody Monday afternoon.

Reflections on persistence, resilience

The death of George Floyd and the Covid-19

Wade in the water

crisis offer a glimpse into our future

Prepare for a long hot summer Robin Caldwell, Staff Writer “The time between Memorial Day and Labor Day is considered ‘summer’ for most people. For Black people, this is when the Amy Coopers of the world show up in the park and Black men like George Floyd can’t breathe. The disregard for Black Lives was terrible before Covid-19.”

The prescient words of Macalester College professor and award-winning author Miriam “Duchess” Harris are a reminder that fun will be a reward for what potentially will be one of the hottest summers of restrictions and racial discord African Americans in the Twin Cities will have ever experienced.

Social distancing in the midst of social and societal discord. She also reminds us, “the first time Black people were terrorized in the North, (en masse) was the ’Red Summer’ of 1919. This came

on the heels of the ‘Spanish’ Flu of 1918.”

As Black people in Minneapolis-St. Paul are dealing with the invisible enemy of a pandemic that affects us in disportionate numbers, there is the question of what will potentially kill us first - a disease or an unchanged police response to minor and trumped-up offenses. If the history of ‘Red Summer’ repeats itself, then chances are, it will be both.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellis said, “The issue of police-community relations has been a point of controversy and pain for the whole of American history. It involves centuries of trauma. In the past several years alone, almost every part of Minnesota has lived through a fatal encounter with law enforcement.

George Floyd’s death raises that trauma yet again for so many people.”

CALDWELL 4

By Dr. Sylvia Bartley

Uche Iroegbu

Protesters tear gassed at 3rd Precint.

As he was being killed, George Floyd begged for his life

Legislators call for investigation;

Family seeks prosecution of 4 fired police officers George Floyd’s family members say they want the four officers at the scene charged with murder. “They were supposed to be there to serve and to protect and I didn’t see a single one of them lift a finger to do anything to help while he was begging for his life.

Not one of them tried to

I2H

North Memorial Health opens walk-up COVID-19 testing location

PAGE 5

do anything to help him,” Tera Brown, Floyd’s cousin, told CNN’s Don Lemon on Tuesday.

“They need to be charged with murder because what they did was murder,” Brown said. “And almost the whole world

FLOYD 4

That will never be your son! Calling for his mother as a police officer presses his knee in his neck. That will never be your brother, struggling to breathe as a police officer presses his knee in his neck. That will never be your husband bleeding and unconscious on the ground as the police officer continues to press his knee into his neck for nine minutes in broad daylight, in full view of a bystander filming his actions.

What more do you need?

What is murder? Why did he feel so confident he could act in this egregious manner in public, in full view of a video camera?

How long do we have to endure such inhumane treatment?

One thing I do know, we are

Dr. Sylvia Bartley the descendants of strong Africans who survived the unimaginable. Our ancestors suffered the unimaginable so we can be where we are today. They must be screaming at us right now to continue to ‘wade in the water’ for one more day. It may not feel like we have made progress, it may not feel like we have come very

BARTLEY 6

News

Blackness cannot be given or taken away!

PAGE 6

Page 4 • June 1, 2020 - June 7, 2020 • Insight News

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New Hennepin County Library director appointed The Hennepin County Board appointed Chad Helton to serve as director of the Hennepin County Library, effective August 24, 2020.

This appointment follows an extensive national recruitment effort and recommendations by the county administrator

and

Library Board.

Helton was director of branch libraries for the City of Los Angeles, managing 72 branch libraries while building partnerships with staff and community stakeholders.

Helton is experienced

in project management, policy creation and implementation, budget management, library operations, collection management through analytics, copyright compliance, reference, e-resources, collaboration and leadership, county officials said.

Hennepin County Library

African Americans and COVID-19: The numbers don’t add up

By Robin Caldwell Staff Writer Ibram X. Kendi, director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University, wrote for The Atlantic, “Two weeks ago, Dad likened me to John the Baptist, a voice crying out in the wilderness for racial data on the pandemic. I had to remind him that, unlike John, I was not crying out alone.

Senator Elizabeth Warren, Representative Ayanna Pressley, and a quintet of Black doctors at the University of Virginia had also raised the alarm.” Kendi noted that as of April 1, few “states, counties, hospitals, or private labs had released the racial demographics of the people who had been tested for, infected with, hospitalized with, or killed by COVID-19.”

Through a collaboration with The Atlantic, Kendi and the ARPC have created a COVID Racial Data Tracker a part of The Atlantic’s COVID Tracking Project, which has the goal of tracking, analyzing, and regularly updating racial data on the pandemic within the United States.

As Kendi and others around the country try to make sense of data found using COVID zip code maps and the tracking project, the local news in most urban centers confirm what most African Americans already know: We can contract the coronavirus and we can die from the coronavirus. On Friday, April 10, the city of St. Louis released information about their only COVID-related deaths: All

13 individuals to succumb to the virus were African American.

According to the Associated Press, “Of the victims whose demographic data was publicly shared by officials — nearly 3,300 of the nation’s 13,000 deaths thus far — about 42% were Black, according to an Associated Press analysis. African Americans account for roughly 21% of the total population in the areas covered by the analysis.”

In a state like Louisiana, the disparity is frighteningly evident. As of April 8, of the 512 deaths related to COVID, over 70% of those deaths were African American.

African Americans represent 32 percent of the state’s population.

Michigan’s Black population represents 14% of the state’s people yet more than half of the deaths associated with COVID were Black.

The numbers are not adding up and public health officials are pressed to examine why so many African Americans are dying during the pandemic. The Centers for Disease Protection and Control finally released racial data for March hospitalizations in 14 states that showed a third of patients were Black, and the White House has thrust the surgeon general, Jerome Michael Adams, out in front of the issue. Adams chided African Americans for risky behavior (smoking, drinking, drugs and dancing the hoochie coo) that he seems to believe is at the heart of COVID spreading in our communities. Like the current tone-deaf administration, his plea to clean up our acts for our

Ibram X. Kendi grannies and kin fell on angry ears.

Again, the numbers are not adding up, yet they make all the sense in the world to Bakari Sellers who wrote in an op-ed for CNN, “Failing to address the persisting

Caldwell

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 Associate Editor Afrodescendientes Carmen Robles Associate Editor Nigeria & West Africa Chief Folarin Ero-Phillips Director of Content & Production Patricia Weaver Content & Production Coordinator Sunny Thongthi Yang Distribution/Facilities Manager Jamal Mohamed Receptionist Lue B. Lampley Intern Kelvin Kuria

Contributing Writers Maya Beecham Nadvia Davis Fred Easter Abeni Hill Inell Rosario Latisha Townsend Artika Tyner Toki Wright Photography V. Rivera Garcia Uchechukwu Iroegbu Rebecca Rabb Artist Donald Walker Contact Us: Insight News, Inc. Marcus Garvey House 1815 Bryant Ave. N. Minneapolis., MN 55411 Ph.: (612) 588-1313 Fax: (612) 588-2031 Member: Minnesota Multicultural Media Consortium (MMMC), Midwest Black Publishers Coalition, Inc. (MBPCI), National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) Postmaster: Send address changes to McFarlane Media Interests, Marcus Garvey House 1815 Bryant Avenue North, Minneapolis,

From 3 Adding to the pain and trauma is isolation.

George Floyd died alone in Hennepin County Medical Center after being pinned down by - for at least five minutes former MPD officer Derek Chauvin’s knee in his neck. MPD called it a “Medical Incident During Police Interaction.” Video released on Tuesday and more on Wednesday would call it “excessive force” and Floyd’s tears would confirm the assessment. Just like

Floyd From 3 has witnessed that because somebody was gracious enough to record it.”

“They need to pay for what they did,” she said.

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Tina Smith (D-MN) yesterday sent a letter to Attorney General William Barr calling for a thorough investigation into the events that led to the fatal arrest of George Floyd on Memorial Day. On Monday, Minneapolis police officers responded to a call from Cup Foods reporting an

racial disparities is not only perpetuating racism, but also a surefire way for history to repeat itself years from now.”

In his op-ed, Sellers spells out the qualitative issues that support the numbers such as poverty, food insecurity, health issues such as upper respiratory

problems, diabetes, and high blood pressure (conditions that weaken the immune system and make an individual prone to contracting the virus), hospital closures in rural areas and a lack of reliable healthcare options.

History is repeating and we only need to look as

far back as Katrina, Tuskegee, and other national tragedies to point a finger right at the source.

Racism. This current crisis is either going to be another stain in American history or a case study of a people fighting for a right to live and winning that fight.

other patients, Floyd did not have a close relative nearby due to the restrictions posed by the pandemic. Unlike other patients, Floyd had his death declared as an act of police duty.

Mayor Jacob Frey noted in his presser, “Being Black in America should not be a death sentence. For five minutes, we watched a white officer press his knee into a Black man’s neck. Five minutes.This officer failed in the most basic, human sense.”

In 1919, Black soldiers returning from World War I were relegated to Army duty burying the dead bodies of African Americans who had

died from the “Spanish Flu.” The common belief was that our dead bodies would infect handlers. At the same time, their service overseas was ignored though in the name of God and Country they fought a visible enemy as well as racism within their own ranks. They returned home to more of the same: an unseen enemy called the flu and the seen enemy called racism that showed itself in white mob attacks on innocent Black communities nationwide, especially in the Midwest. The reasons for some of those attacks varied but were not limited to “reckless eyeballing” white women, attacking white

women and children, talking back to a white man, and theft. Some of those attacks were aided by the police.

People failed in the most basic, human sense. “Red Summer” was hot and there was blood in the streets.

Black blood.

May 25, 2020.

Memorial Day, Minneapolis.

There was blood in the streets. George Floyd’s blood.

Summer officially begins on June 20. In Dr. Harris’ prophetic words, “History tells us what the next three months could look like.”

alleged forgery attempt.

The responding officers were later caught on video kneeling on Floyd’s neck as Floyd pleaded and several bystanders also pleaded for his life. According to family attorney Ben Crump, the officer sustained the mortal maneuver for over nine minutes. Appearing lifeless, Floyd was taken by ambulance to the Hennepin County Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

Surveillance camera video from a neighboring business shows Floyd being led away from a vehicle in handcuffs under arrest prior his death.

Floyd was sitting in a SUV with two other people

when officers arrested, handcuffed and made him sit against a wall across the street from Cup Foods, at 38th and Chicago in South Minneapolis. Officers then moved Floyd to near the front of the grocery store, where spectator videos show him pinned to the ground next to the squad car, with a policeman’s knee on his neck.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the officer was wrong in using this method to restrain Floyd.

“The technique that was used is not permitted; is not a technique that our officers get trained in on,” he said.

“And our Chief has been very clear on that piece.

There is no reason to apply

that kind of pressure with a knee to someone’s neck.”

Frey said he supported the police department’s decision to fire the four officers. He offered his condolences to Floyd’s family, adding that what the video shows was “utterly messed up.”

“For five minutes, we watched as a white officer pressed his knee to the neck of a Black man,” Frey said. “When you hear someone calling for help, you are supposed to help.

This officer failed in the most basic human sense.”

The mayor said being Black in America should not be a death sentence.

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Insight News • June 1, 2020 - June 7, 2020 • Page 5

Insight 2 Health

Stopping the spread of misinformation amid the coronavirus crisis

By The World staff Misinformation can undermine critical public health efforts around the world to counter the coronavirus pandemic. Worse, amplified by social media, misinformation has the potential to fuel false conspiracy theories.

Twitter recently announced plans to add labels and warning messages on some tweets with disputed or misleading information about COVID-19 as part of a new approach to misinformation that will eventually extend to other topics.

The company said that depending on the propensity for harm and type of misleading

information in the tweet, warnings may also be added to say the tweet conflicts with guidance from public health experts before a user views it.

Facebook, which recently reported a sharp increase in the number of posts it removed for promoting violence and hate speech across its apps, has also put warning labels on about millions of pieces of content related to COVID-19, after taking the unusually aggressive step of banning harmful misinformation about the new coronavirus at the start of the pandemic.

“We have a good sense that these warning labels work. Ninety-five percent of the time that someone sees content

with a label, they don›t click through to view that content,” Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg told reporters on a press call.

Social media sites are under pressure to combat misinformation that has spread on their platforms about the coronavirus pandemic.

Such false claims have ranged from bogus cures to misinformation linking the virus with conspiracy theories about high-profile figures, such as Microsoft cofounder-turned-philanthropist, Bill Gates, or about 5G mobile phone technology.

Reuters contributed to this report

North Memorial Health opens walk-up COVID-19 testing location

(Robbinsdale, MN – May 26, 2020) North Memorial Health announces the opening of a walk-up COVID- 19 testing location to aid in keeping our community safe and healthy during the pandemic. The testing site is located at 4414 Humboldt Ave N., Minneapolis and will be open to the public. Testing will be available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., except for holidays.

To qualify for testing, you must be experiencing at least one COVID-19 symptom such as fever, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing.

You do not need a doctor referral to visit the testing site.

Here are some instructions to prepare and complete your COVID-19 test: Upon arrival

When arriving on site please call the scheduling hotline to pre-register for testing. After registering, you will follow signs for

testing. Please maintain social distancing while waiting for testing.

During testing

The site will be operated by clinical staff who will swab your nose.

The sample is then put into a sterile container to be sent for testing. You will receive an after-visit summary card with follow-up information.

After testing

Test results will be available within7 days.

You will receive your results through MyChart. Please do not call your providers office,

or North Memorial Health’s operator as they will not be able to get you your results.

About North Memorial Health

At North Memorial Health, we are on a mission to change healthcare. We’re delivering unmatched customer service and empowering our customers throughout the Twin Cities to achieve their best health. North Memorial Health provides access to high-quality, lowcost care throughout the Twin Cities through its medical

transportation services and two hospitals – North Memorial Health Hospital and Maple Grove Hospital. North Memorial Health Clinics which include primary care, specialty care and hospice are part of a joint venture with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota that is transforming the healthcare experience for consumers.

Across the North Memorial Health system, 900+ doctors and 5,000+ team members are dedicated to delivering a more connected experience for our customers.

fresh • local • organic Your neighborhood source for local and organic foods and wellness products

2823 E. Franklin Ave. | Minneapolis & 317 E. 38th St. | Minneapolis w w w.seward.coop

Page 6 • June 1, 2020 - June 7, 2020 • Insight News

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Two national studies reveal that spending was more about necessity and liquidity than consumer goods and services

How have African Americans spent their Stimulus money?

If you believe that stimulus money was spent frivolously, then think again. The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University has been tracking stimulus spending and their data paints a different picture of who spent the money and how the money was spent.

Kellogg’s researchers have provided early answers to stimulus spending based on realtime transaction-level spending data. According to their researchers, stimulus recipients are parting with their money quickly. On average, Americans spent roughly a third of the government-issued funds within 10 days of receiving it.

The unique nature of the pandemic has led to even more unique ways in which people are spending. In 2008, when the last stimulus act issued payments to citizens, money was spent on big purchases, like cars but in 2020, spending appears to be focused on the necessities like groceries, gasoline, rent and keeping bills manageable.

Covid-19 disrupted the national workforce abruptly making immediate survival the catalyst in choosing how money is being siphoned into local and regional economies.

The study demonstrates that how people spent the money depended more on liquidity (savings and checking account balances)

than income. The more money participants had as a cushion the least inclined they were to spend and spend fast.

“People with the highest amounts of cash on hand—$3,000 or more in their checking accounts—had no response to the appearance of their stimulus check. On the other hand, those who maintained accounts with $500

or less spent almost half of the deposits—44.5 cents per every dollar—within 10 days.”

By stark contrast, an Axios poll revealed that stimulus check recipients were apt to save their money. Axios’ data also revealed some differences in behavior by race and ethnicity: Black respondents’ top choice — 49% compared to 26% of all those surveyed

— was to pay off debt, while more Hispanics planned to pay for food and basic household needs (40% vs 25%), as did respondents earning less than $50,000 (35%).

According to Axios, 16% of Black and 5% of Hispanic respondents said they had not spent their money as of yet but planned to compared to 21% of White respondents.

The outcome of both research studies reflect a focus on supplementing missed income versus spending that invigorates the economy. Both Axios and Kellogg researchers believe that another round of CARES Act money as well as increased unemployment funding could possibly help the economy.

Economists would agree as more people are

becoming conscious of their necessities and financial security during the pandemic.

To learn more about the Kellogg study, read Here’s How Americans Are Spending Their Stimulus Checks. Details about the Axios poll can be found by reading Americans are choosing to save, not spend, their stimulus checks.

Blackness cannot be given or taken away!

By: James Trice, CEO of Public Policy Project Peace!

Of My Mind www.ppp-ejcc.com/category/peace-of-my-mind/ I was offended but not surprised by the comment made by Former Vice President and 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden. During an interview with host Charlamagne Tha God on the Breakfast Club, a popular Black radio program Friday, May 22, Biden, speaking to Black people, said: “if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for Trump or me, then you ain’t Black.”

When I heard the comments made by Joe Biden, vice president to the first Black U.S. president, I said to myself, here we go again. Some white people who are allowed entrance into our (Black) space get too familiar and begin to think (mistakenly so) they now are somehow, “Black.” They presume to now know us so well that they have the right to speak to us the way we communicate with each other. Also, I know of no other people whose ethnicity is questioned based on the way they vote. Why is Blackness questioned?

I see little difference between the statement made by Donald Trump, when he said to Black people, “what do you have to lose” if we vote for him.

And Biden’s statement that “you ain’t Black” if Black people don’t vote for him. The most significant difference I see when I read both statements is that Trump’s comments questions our loyalty, not our Blackness.

Bartley From 3 far, but we really have. Yes, I’m finding it hard to be optimistic and to have hope for our future. It’s beyond frustrating. When I don’t have an answer and I’m filled with a sense of hopeless I have no choice but to do one thing – look internally for healing and guidance from a source greater than me. My faith is being tested.

Our faith is being tested.

It’s understandable that we want to give up. However, there is always a reminder of our purpose and the work we need to do in this

Biden’s comments question our Blackness and our loyalty.

Which is worse?

These statements speak to the profound disrespect these white people have for Black people and trivialize the Black struggle. They believe Blackness is a fad, a fashion statement, something “cool” to mimic, or a Halloween costume which anyone can wear and remove whenever they choose.

The modern minstrel, Rachel Dolezal, a white woman from Montana, masquerades as a Black woman and insists that she is Black while acknowledging she was biologically born white.

This is the epitome of insane!

Politically speaking, Biden’s comments also suggest that Black people are a captured electorate. Black people have overwhelmingly voted for the Democratic party since 1936.

Blacks had voted primarily for the republican party after the end of the civil war in 1865. For 84 years, the democratic party (DFL) have come to expect the Black vote to win elections. So, I can understand to a certain degree the point Biden was trying to make about the choice we have in the 2020 race for president. Do Black people elect him or re-elect Donald Trump for president?

We either choose to vote to re-elect Donald Trump, a racist, anti-Black, white supremacist, fascist, oligarch who, even as president, has doubled down on his stance that members of the wrongly accused central park five, (five teenage boys, 4 Black and 1 Latino) are still guilty of the 1989 rape of a white woman in New York and should be put to death. Or, we elect Joe Biden, who served two

lifetime. There is a reason why we are on this earth in abundance and in perpetuity.

Over the weekend during a retreat for Black women, Jamela Pettiford beautifully sang her rendition of “Wade in the Water.” She sang from her soul, her heart and her guts. She was immersed in the moment; you could feel her pain. She sang our pain, our sorrow, our truth, our anguish as we live through generation after generation after generation with the same condition of injustice, poverty and struggle. Jamela’s deep spiritual voice took us there, stirring us to a past life of our ancestors, into our history and into our struggle. That place that reminded us the tactics they used then are still the tactics they are using now to control our minds. As I listened to Jamela, I

terms as vice president under the country’s first Black president, Barack Obama. And who served as a U.S. senator of Delaware for nearly four decades. Biden also had a crucial role in the passage of the 1994 crime bill that mandated harsher sentences for crimes that disproportionally affect Black people.

Based on the information mentioned above, why would Black people reelect someone who is antiBlack and an overt racist over a person who will fight for issues affecting Black people?

However, when Donald Trump said Black people have “nothing to lose” by voting for him, he touched a sensitive nerve in the Black electorate’s

soul. Trump was pointing out the fact that glaring racial disparities continue to exist, and suggests that no significant change has happened for Black people under DFL-led local, state, and national leadership.

To be clear, the two major political parties are disregardful of issues facing Black people, yet they expect our vote.

Part of the problem is that Black people has not forced white DFL candidates to fight for our vote even when the opposition is anti-Black and an overt racist. We tend to assume that they have our back. The Democratic candidate believes that Black people have no other choices but to vote DFL

when it comes to fighting for our interests. They think it’s unnecessary to spend money to campaign for our support. (it’s quite possible Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 presidential election to Donald Trump because she failed to campaign in the critical states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, where she was favored to win.)

After being elected, some of these Democratically elected officials don’t feel it necessary to push hard for policies that affect Black people.

Now Back to Bidens’ comment. An ultimate act of white supremacy is when a white person, no matter their relationship to Black people assume they have the right to

determine who is or isn’t Black.

Blackness is not something to be given; neither can it be taken.

Blackness is an ethnicity, not a political ideology. Blackness cannot be defined or determined by our political views or party affiliation. Black people, like all ethnic groups, are not a monolith. Often, we differ significantly on issues that have the most severe impact. This doesn’t mean we aren’t Black.

I agree that it is against my interest to vote for an anti-Black racist. I also contend that to vote for a white person who dares to challenge my ethnicity (Blackness) if I didn’t vote for him/her, is also against my interest.

Both Biden’s and Trump’s comments are necessarily the same to Black people – they both say I am better for Black people than the other guy or better yet. I’m not as bad for Black people as the other guy, so vote for me.

There remain deep racial inequities rooted in the soil of America. Implicit negative biases are pervasive and disproportionately affect the lives of Black people. In states where liberals and progressives are the majority, Black people still face high rates of discrimination and racism. Let’s be crystal clear; the difference between the major political parties, GOP and DFL are like the different sides of the same coin.

Black people have always had to choose between the devil and Satan, who will cause the least harm to Black people.

Don’t conflate Black political affiliation with Black ethnicity.

literally felt like I was watching my ancestors wade through the water driven by the knowledge that their descendants will live a better life. Our ancestors stayed the course, wading through the water for their children, for us!

From generation to generation the baton was passed through the waters. Unfortunately, we still have the need to wade, to a safe place, and pray for our freedom, our rights and our humanity.

When are we going to stop wading through the water and reach a solid ground anchored in peace, justice and equity for us all? I hope sometime in my children lifetime. It requires all of us to band together and maximize our collective impact. It’s time for those Black folks who distance themselves from Black issues to open their eyes and see the

reality of our situation. It’s time for those who feel their voices don’t matter to speak up and speak their truth. It’s time for all of us to step up, to build on our ancestors’ legacy and take necessary action. We must help change the narrative, drive for systemic change and be part of the solution. Vote, run for office, complete the 2020 census, organize, give back to our community irrespective of status or standing in the community.

Write to your elected officials, attorneys general, police chief and mayors. Hold them accountable for their staff, demand justice and resources that helps a community thrive.

And don’t stop wading in the water until the job is done.

As for God, he didn’t create this mess, it’s all man made. God has carried us

through this mess. He carried our ancestors through the waters and carried generations through for us to be in abundance today. I do believe if it wasn’t for God our savior and creator, we would not have survived the unimaginable.

God’s love is the only thing that gives us the strength to carry on even through our darkest hour, such as this hour.

As I write this, my eyes well up, my throat is dry and sore. My heart. My aching heart beats faster, deeper and louder.

When will it stop and what must we do to make it stop? What can I do within my power to make a meaningful difference?

It seems never ending. I must continue to cling on to hope.

We must continue to cling onto hope and onto God loves. HE created us in HIS likeness for a reason. We are beautiful strong

people, rising as we carry the cross on our shoulders as we wade through the water to freedom, equity and justice.

There will come a day when it will stop being our sons, our brothers and husbands. There will come a day when it will stop being our sisters, daughters and loved ones. There will come a day when we will live in our beautiful bodies without fear of retribution for just being us.

My heart, thoughts and prayers are with the Floyd and Avery family. May their souls rest in peace in the divine arms of the Lord. May justice prevail for both families.

Dr. Sylvia Bartley a Senior Global Director for the Medtronic Foundation is well known for her community work in the Twin Cities and her voice on KMOJ radio.

Vice President Joe Biden

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Insight News • June 1, 2020 - June 7, 2020 • Page 7

Screenshot from video of Denyce Graves performing with Voices of Tomorrow at the 2016 inauguration of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

New Digital Humanities Project Highlights the Significance of James Weldon Johnson’s “Lift Every Voice and Sing”

Singing the Nation Into Being Dr. Sonya Donaldson, an associate professor of English at New Jersey City University has launched a new digital humanities project, Singing the Nation Into Being, a video collection featuring seventy-five performances and creative narratives of James Weldon Johnson’s “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” The project officially launched May 13, 2020.

Known popularly

as the “Negro National Anthem” and “The Black National Anthem,” the song was written in1900 and was originally performed that year by a chorus of 500 schoolchildren at the Stanton School in Jacksonville, Fl., where Johnson served as principal. Since then, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” has come to hold particular resonance for African Americans and those in the

Diaspora. The collection tells a story of struggle, creativity, and community.

Calling the collection “an ephemeral archive,” Donaldson notes that such videos, typically seen as having limited use or value, can point us to other kinds of histories that highlight the complexities of Black life in the U.S.A. and beyond. Singing the Nation Into Being features performers—celebrities,

church choirs, musical groups, and individuals—as well as mashups, creative visual narratives crafted to tell the stories of Black American experiences.

Donaldson notes, “In this moment, one in which we are forced to confront our own fragility, our own ephemerality as (potentially) disappearing bodies amid a global pandemic, [this project] impels us toward a

reassessment of our individual and communal practices and makes apparent the ways we might reclaim and reshape community.”

The aim of this project is to make visible the many ways that Black people tell their own stories and enact other forms of knowledge through song, performance, creative composition, mashups, and engaged commentary.

phto/shirleyskitchencabinet.org

While the state’s Human Rights Act already prohibits discrimination based on race, discrimination of someone wearing their hair in a culturally-appropriate manner – like braids, dreadlocks, or twists – is not. The CROWN Act would extend this protection to many areas of law covered by the Minnesota Human Rights Act, including public services and accommodations, education, housing and employment.

A second phase of the project will include analysis of metadata and the creation of a “memory project,” in which the public will be invited to share their memories of singing or listening to “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” The project was developed through a grant from Virginia Humanities; additional support was provided by the University of Virginia’s Scholars’ Lab.

photo/matthewcherry.com

The issue received increased attention when Matthew Cherry, director of the film “Hair Love,” urged all 50 states to adopt the measure during his acceptance speech following the film’s victory at this year’s Oscars.

Minnesota House passes Rep. Rena Moran’s ‘CROWN Act’ prohibiting discrimination based on hairstyle Today, the Minnesota House of Representatives approved the CROWN (Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair) Act, authored by Rep. Rena Moran (DFL – Saint Paul), which would add a provision to the Minnesota Human Rights Act to explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of hair appearance and texture.

“The CROWN Act will empower future generations to not be ashamed of how their hair looks or worry about what people in powerful positions might think of it, but instead give them the opportunity to fully embrace their heritage,” Moran said.

“All Black Minnesotans should be proud of their heritage, which is reflected in their

natural hairstyles. No one should be forced to change their natural hair just to conform to antiquated norms and standards, or unjust policies at school or work.

The CROWN Act will end this in our state, and I’m grateful for the support of community members who helped this legislation get passed today,” said Moran.

While the state’s Human Rights Act already prohibits discrimination based on race, discrimination of someone wearing their hair in a culturallyappropriate manner – like braids, dreadlocks, or twists – is not. The CROWN Act would extend this protection to many areas of law covered by the Minnesota Human Rights Act, including public services and

Rep. Rena Moran (DFL-Saint Paul) accommodations, education, housing and employment.

The issue received increased attention when Matthew Cherry, director

photo/File

of the film “Hair Love,” urged all 50 states to adopt the measure during his acceptance speech following the film’s victory at this

year’s Oscars. The film is a 7 minute animated short film that centers around the relationship between an African-American father, Stephen, his daughter, Zuri and her hair. This story was born out of seeing a lack of representation in mainstream animated projects, and also wanting to promote hair love among young men and women of color.

Minnesota has been home to discrimination on the basis of hairstyle, too.

During a committee hearing about the legislation earlier this session, Department of Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero noted an instance of an employer changing their hair policy and subsequently firing several workers who didn’t comply.

A settlement which resulted

in the workers regaining their jobs was later reached.

According to Dove’s CROWN Coalition Research Study, 80 percent of African Americans are likely to change their natural hair to meet employer expectations.

Fifty percent of African American women feel likely to be dismissed from work – or know someone who has been – for not following their employer’s grooming policy.

California, New Jersey and New York have already enacted similar measures.

Video of the House Floor session will be available on the House Public Information Services’ YouTube Channel. The legislation now goes to the Minnesota Senate for consideration.

Page 8 • June 1, 2020 - June 7, 2020 • Insight News

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WAYS TO EXPLORE

WATCH STORIED VIDEOS EOS Watch videos about African an Americans who made history, including Dr. Harold H. Brown, a native of North Minneapolis who began his military career at Historic Fort Snelling and became a member of the elite Tuskegee Airmen. Explore at mnhs.org/storied.

SATURDAYS at the MUSEUMɨ Storytellers, Activities and Fun! Minnesota African American Heritage Museum and Gallery

Hear a collection of interviews capturing the lives and experiences of longtime residents of St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood, home to a vibrant African American community in the early 1900s. Listen at z.mnhs.org/rohp.

M

on

tg o

me

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HEAR THE PEOPLE OF RONDO

Debbi

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1256 Penn Ave No, Minneapolis, MN 55411, 4th Floor

Saturday mornings from 10 - 11:30am Hear Stories Read or Great Storytelling!

Engage in coordinated activities and just have Fun!

Local Children’s Book Authors and Storytellers! Treats! www.maahmg.org

READ COMMUNITY HISTORY Slavery’s Reach: Southern Slaveholders in the North Star State, by Christopher P. Lehman, $18.95. Winner of this year’s Minnesota Book Award for Minnesota Nonfiction!

Contact us at: info@maahmg.org

Become a member!

All Are Welcome.

See us at

Free Admission.

____________________________________________________________________________ "The Children's Reading Circle is partially supported by The Givens Foundation for African American Literature through operating support funding from Target. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund."

They Played for the Love of the Game: Untold Stories of Black Baseball in Minnesota,

by Frank M. White, $19.95.

Find these and more books at mnhs.org/shop.

______________________________________________________________________________________

The MAAHMG is a fully qualified 501c3 nonprofit organization based in Minnesota.

EXPLORE HISTORY EVERY DAY AT MNHS.ORG

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