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Insight News
March 2, 2020 - March 8, 2020
Vol. 47 No. 9• The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • insightnews.com
POLICY, COMMUNITY & ADVOCACY AFRICAN HERITAGE DAY ON THE HILL ELEVATES BLACK AGENDA, INTERESTS
The Council of Minnesotans of African America Heritage (CMAH) held its annual African Heritage Day on the Hill. CMAH Executive Director Justin Terrell and Policy Director Jasmine Carey spoke of their work with the Day on the Hill at the Minnesota State Capitol Rotunda, which took place Feb. 26. According to Terrell, capitol events help to encourage further support on issues important to AfricanAmericans throughout the state. He said the CMAH is about policy, community and advocacy and they plan on meeting with legislators about community-driven issues. “Our mission is to help our constituents participate and benefit on our own terms. I want to have a vehicle for our people to navigate the process at the capitol. We want to hear from all the black leaders in state government,” Terrell explained. CMAH’s capitol effort
Minnesotans of African America Heritage Executive Director, Justin Terrell
Policy Director Jasmine Carey will kick off discussions on public safety, African American Family Preservation Act, which deals with child protection, the opioid epidemic, and introduction of a bill called The CROWN Act. CROWN is an acronym which stands for Creating a Respectful and OpenWorld for Natural Hair (CROWN). The CROWN act is a bill that has gotten national and international attention as well as passage in many major state governments. According to Carey, the Crown Act seeks to halt discrimination on the basis of Black hair textures and styles in the workplace and in education. Terrell said along with certain bills, he wants to see more resources and dollars put into the African-American community to address the longstanding issues like the opioid epidemic. According to McFarlane, the backstory is that opioid use was assigned as a “deficient” character trait of in the Black culture in the days of heroin and morphine addiction, along with alcohol and marijuana. “I look at it like changing the stickers on the bottle. It is like when you call it dope, then all of a sudden, it’s a black people problem,” Terrell said. “When you call it opioids, then all of a sudden, we can do a taskforce and find 20 million dollars to respond to this crisis.” According to Terrell law enforcement officials have confided in him that drugs come from outside the community but “marinate” in places like
On the Hill 6