Insight ::: 11.4.19

WINNER: 2018 NNPA MERIT AWARDS: 3RD PLACE BES T COLUMN WRITING

WINNER: 2019 GENERAL EXCELLENCE, 3RD PLACE, COLUMN WRITING, 2ND PLACE

Insight News

November 4, 2019 - November 10, 2019

Vol. 46 No. 44• The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • insightnews.com

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE

JOHNNIE BAKER POST 291

AMERICAN LEGION In front from bottom left: Andrew Rose, Sr, American Legion Minnesota Division 5th District Commander, Wayne Glanton, Earby Chatham, 2nd row: Rev. Sam Reuben, and Elton Johnson, Commander, Johnnie Baker Post 291, 3rd row: Dale Lyons, Walter Bates and John Kinsey; Back row: Al McFarlane, Renee Day and Jerry Steele.

Harry Colbert, Jr.

STORY ON PAGE 5

Page 2 • November 4, 2019 - November 10, 2019 • Insight News

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Xiuhtezcatl, Astralblak and more to perform at benefit concert for Climate Generation A coalition of Minnesota artists are coming together to put a human face to climate change with music and storytelling.

Alongside 19-yearold climate activist and hip-hop artist Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, Band Together takes place Nov. 16 at O’Shaughnessy Auditorium, 2004 Randolph Ave. in St. Paul. The concert begins at 7 p.m. with an artist preparty starting at 5:30 p.m.

Other artists include Jeremy Messersmith, Aby Wolf, Lucy Michelle, Astralblak, Chastity Brown, Lazerbeak, Eric Mayson, Chris Koza and more. Each artist will perform and

Xiuhtezcatl Martinez

share their personal climate story, calling for attendees to connect with their own experiences of climate change.

Martinez brings an international, moral voice to the climate movement as he has been an activist since he was six years old. The indigenous rapper is a leading member of the Youth v. Gov. lawsuit against the federal government.

All proceeds will benefit Climate Generation, a nonprofit empowering individuals and their communities to engage in solutions to climate change.

Marcel Benson

Benson Watch Company launches latest collection on Macys.com BALTIMORE (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) – Benson watches are ready to purchase; just in time for the holiday season.

Marcel Benson, founder of the Benson Watch Company, and alumni of The Workshop at Macy’s, a vendor development program

created to mentor up-andcoming minority and womenowned businesses, announced that the latest collection of watches is available on The Workshop at Macy’s alumni sitelet on Macys.com. This partnership marks a significant achievement for the threeyear-old company and

brings the emerging AfricanAmerican designer closer to his vision that “time should be spent doing what you love.”

Benson Watches’ premier Cardinal Collection includes unisex timepieces featuring thin, sleek, and nuanced aesthetics. A major distinction is the color

precision on dials. The limited-edition timepieces showcase unique designs and include a customized engraving of Benson’s vision on the case back.

“I truly appreciate Macy’s for recognizing the value Benson Watches brings to consumers and providing

a larger platform in which to grow the brand,” said Benson.

“Macy’s has led the charge for diversity and inclusion within department stores and continues to give new designers like me the opportunity for exposure and elevation.”

The Workshop at Macy’s was developed by a

consortium from Macy’s and Babson College – a business school for entrepreneurship.

With more than 100 companies graduated to-date, The Workshop at Macy’s has created a pipeline for vendors such as Benson Watch Company to reach a larger audience.

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Insight News • November 4, 2019 - November 10, 2019 • Page 3

Insight News WINNER: 2018 NNPA MERIT AWARDS: 3RD PLACE BES T COLUMN WRITING

November 4, 2019 - November 10, 2019

WINNER: 2019 GENERAL EXCELLENCE, 3RD PLACE, COLUMN WRITING, 2ND PLACE

Vol. 46 No. 44• The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • insightnews.com

Police shootings of African-Americans: White ex-officer is working to change the culture

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia A police officer’s bullet shattered a window and fatally struck Atatiana Jefferson as she and her 8-year-old nephew played video games inside her Texas home.

Fort Worth Police Officer Aaron Dean, who never identified himself as a cop, and, without warning, fired into Jefferson’s window from outside the home, fatally striking the 28-year-old. Just a week earlier, ex-Dallas Police Officer Amber Guyger received a 10-year prison sentence for unlawfully entering the home of 28-year-old Botham Jean and murdering him. Guyger claimed she had worked a late shift, was tired, and entered an apartment she thought was her own. She said she mistook the successful accountant as an intruder.

Both Jefferson and Jean were Black. Dean and Guyger are white.

A study conducted earlier this year by researchers at three universities concluded that African-Americans are 2.5 times more likely to be killed by police than white people. Researchers found that police will kill roughly 1-in-1,000 Black boys and men during their lifetime.

For white boys and men, the rate is 39 out of 100,000.

In the aftermath of the

iStockphoto / NNPA

“Police shooting policies need to change, not only for minorities but for everyone,” said forensic psychiatrist and expert witness Dr. Carole Lieberman. killing of Jefferson, an attorney and former detective spoke with NNPA Newswire about police shootings. Because of the sensitive nature of his current assignment, we will refer to the former officer as Detective Jones.

Jones is working with several police departments to find better training solutions, primarily for situations when officers are interacting with individuals of color.

Detective Jones: “Among my friends who are police officers, I’m considered one of the more – let’s say liberal, as it were.

“I’m hoping we can bridge build and repair relations between my brothers and sisters of varying backgrounds. So, that’s where I’m coming from.

“From the police side of things, I’ve seen racist cops. Unfortunately, a lot

of that is because of what the job can do to people.

“But I think that the key to the current problems, aside from the racial issue, is what the police chief in Fort Worth said. He used the best possible words when he said we need to hire people with a servant’s heart, not people with a warrior’s heart.”

A

Soldier’s Mentality “When I went to the police academy, which was some time ago, a lot of people were coming back from Iraq, and they were looking for jobs.

These people were trained killers because they’re soldiers.

And, now you’re putting them not just (on the street) and giving them tactical soliderlooking gear. And, they feel like they’re back on patrol in frickin’ Ramallah or Bagdad.

“You know, when the soldiers are sent off to war, one of the ways that the government makes soldiers more effective is by dehumanizing them – calling them names like bugs.

It’s a good word to make to dehumanize them, and then they come home. And, it’s not hard for them to jump into things by taking back that concept and using it with minorities.

Whatever the minority may be in that community. The minority could be white people.

I know it’s not usually that, but it could be anybody. So then when they use that language that, you know, aggressive and derogatory language against minorities, it’s just what they were trained to do as soldiers.

“And, one of the things I can tell you from personal experience, and I mean, in the department that I was in when I started my law enforcement career in 1999, it was a small department. And there was only maybe one military guy in there. And he had all the knowledge and the tactical gear and everything. Scary.

“As soldiers kept returning home, that was easy pickings for police departments, you know, all over the country.

They are hiring all of the time.

“So, then the department starts getting, you know, an increasing number of ex-soldiers. And, now they’ve got their own culture. And,

SHOOTING 4

MDHR joins lawsuit protecting access to information on pay discrimination The Minnesota Department of Human Rights (MDHR) joined a nationwide coalition of government agencies, led by California, in support of a lawsuit seeking to protect the collection of demographic information critical to ensuring equal pay.

The lawsuit arose following a 2017 federal administration reversal of a program that would have required the collection of pay data from private employers with over 100 employees.

The information would be used as part of the effort to address the persistent wage gap between men, women, and people of color. In an amicus brief in National Women’s Law Center, et al. v. Office of Management and Budget, et al., the coalition explains how the information would be beneficial to government investigators and prosecutors working to tackle pay discrimination.

“When women, especially women of color, are paid less for doing the same job as men, it undermines our value as Minnesotans to treat everyone with dignity,” said Minnesota Department of Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero. “In joining this lawsuit, we recommit ourselves to equal pay for all Minnesotans. This data would help Minnesota businesses ensure their employees are being treated equally and help agencies like ours enforce anti-discrimination laws.”

Inequality in earnings between men, women and people of color is a widespread,

Minnesota Department of Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero persistent feature of the labor market. In 2016, women in Minnesota still only earned approximately 83 percent of what men earned. For women of color, the pay gap is worse.

Black and Native women earned approximately 59 percent of what white men earned and Latinas earned

approximately 54 percent of what white men earned in 2016.

Federal law directs the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to work with Fair Employment Practices Agencies (FEPA), like MDHR, to investigate and resolve claims of employment

News

Mothers of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner speak out against NYC menthol ban

PAGE 4

discrimination. In addition, federal law specifically provides for FEPAs to have the right to access certain information collected by the EEOC in relation to efforts to tackle employment discrimination. As a result, the agencies’ efforts to address pay discrimination are directly affected by the Federal Administration’s decision to halt the collection of crucial employment data.

In filing the amicus brief, MDHR joins the attorneys general of California, Delaware, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Virginia, Washington, and the District of Columbia. The coalition also includes state and local civil rights agencies. State civil rights agencies in the coalition include the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, Illinois Department of Human Rights, Maine Human Rights Commission, Maryland Commission on Civil Rights, Nevada Equal Rights Commission, Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, Rhode Island Commission for Human Rights, and Washington State Human Rights Commission. At the local level, the coalition includes the Baltimore Office of Civil Rights and Wage Enforcement, New York City Commission on Human Rights and Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations.

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter

Mayor Carter to host community meetings on public safety St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter announced three meetings for community members to join conversations about public safety in the city.

The meetings come following recent gun violence in St. Paul as the mayor considers proposing a supplemental public safety budget to the City Council.

“We will never accept violence as the norm.” said Carter. “Building the safe city we deserve will require new, proactive approaches to public safety, which must be built together.”

The public safety meetings are scheduled for Thursday (Nov. 7), 6:30 p.m.

- 8:00 p.m. at Central Baptist Church, 420 N. Roy St., Nov. 12, 6:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. at Rice Recreation Center, 1021 Marion St. and Nov. 16, 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. at Arlington Hills Community Center, 1200 Payne Ave. St. Paul is in the midst of a violent year with 26 homicides reported as of Oct. 29.

Last year the city experienced a drop in overall crime with 15 people losing life to homicide.

More information is available at www.stpaul.gov/ departments/mayors-office/ public-safety-communitymeetings.

John Conyers remembered for lifetime of service to the nation

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia Former U.S. Congressman John Conyers, whose 15-year fight to pass legislation that would make the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday a federal holiday, has died. He was 90.

The longtime Michigan Democrat represented what is now the state’s 13th Congressional District (which includes parts of western Detroit) for more than 50 years. Conyers resigned in 2017.

Conyers was born in Detroit in 1929. He was elected to Congress in 1965 and immediately became a forceful voice in the Civil Rights Movement, co-sponsoring the Voting Rights Act of that same year.

He was the first African-American to chair the powerful House Judiciary Committee and helped spearhead the 1994 Violence against Women Act. Conyers and 12 other African-American members of the House of Representatives founded the Congressional Black Caucus in 1971.

“We always knew where he stood on issues of equality and civil rights in the fight for the people,” Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who now represents Conyers’ district, tweeted.

“Sad to hear of the passing of former Congressman John Conyers,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton. “He worked with us on many civil rights cases as chair of the House Judiciary Committee and helped lead the fight for the Martin Luther King (Jr.) holiday.”

“Most of us from Michigan loved our congressman.

He was idolized and was absolutely an icon. Not only was he an icon of the Civil Rights Movement, but we looked to him for leadership. This is a massive loss. All of us in business, the clergy, the community, respected, admired and aspired to be like John Conyers,” said Hiram Jackson, president and CEO of Real Times Media.

“Congressman John Conyers decades ago held the first U.S. Congressional

United States Congress Official Photo / Wikimedia Commons

Former U.S. Congressman John Conyers hearings on racially-motivated police brutality; led the House Judiciary Hearings on criminal justice and prison reform in America; was co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus and was a leading congressional advocate for the freedom of Angela Davis, the Wilmington Ten, and all political prisoners in the United States,” remarked the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Chavis Jr., the president and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association. “Conyers was a constitutional scholar and political visionary whose longstanding vision for freedom, justice and equality was unparalleled in the Congress of the United States.

May God bless the freedomfighting memory and legacy of the Honorable John Conyers.”

The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) president & CEO David Hinson released a statement on the death Conyers: CBCF will be forever grateful for the immense legislative and social contributions made by Congressman Conyers throughout his more than 50 years of public service,” said Hinson. “His genuine concern for and fierce persistence in serving the concerns of African Americans and the nation are his legacy and our inspiration.

We join generations across the nation in expressing our deepest condolences to his family, friends, colleagues and constituents. May he rest well.”

AS

‘Marshall’ featured at First Thursday Films at North High

PAGE 7

Page 4 • November 4, 2019 - November 10, 2019 • Insight News

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Mothers of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner speak out against NYC menthol ban

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia New York City’s proposed ban on menthol cigarettes and e-flavored cigarettes and vapes has many critics calling for officials to reconsider.

Opponents of the ban fear that it would give police another reason to profile African-Americans.

“We urge you to carefully consider any bill that seeks to ban menthol cigarettes,” Gwendolyn Carr, the mother of Eric Garner, and Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin, wrote in a letter to New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson. “The majority – 80 percent – of Black smokers prefer menthol cigarettes. When you ban a product sold mostly in Black communities, you must consider the reality of what will happen to that very same

over-represented community in the criminal justice system.”

Just as much as anyone, Carr, and Fulton are aware of the deadly consequences of racial profiling.

Carr’s son Garner, a Black man, was accused of selling single cigarettes outside a store on Staten Island. New York Police Officer Daniel Pantaleo tackled and choked Garner as the 43-year-old Black man gasped, “I can’t breathe.”

Garner died a short time later.

Fulton’s son, Martin, was shot and killed in Sanford, Fla., by volunteer neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman, who had racially profiled the 17-year-old.

Carr and Fulton said they don’t encourage, support, or promote smoking; however, they said the bill as it stands would create a new market for loose cigarettes. They contend the law would introduce another version of the infamous stop-and-frisk policing in Black financially challenged communities.

“A ban will introduce or re-introduce many hard to employ young Black New Yorkers to the criminal justice system,” the mothers wrote.

“We do not want to take parents, sons, and daughters out of households for small infractions that carry financial obligations.”

The ban is certain to lead to more adversarial contact between law enforcement and the African-American community, said Major Neill Franklin, the executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition – or LEAP. “Here we are moving forward before we do a proper assessing of the potential outcome from this type of (law),” Franklin said.

The policy is especially bad in the Big Apple, where “we still with stop and frisk with people of color,” said Franklin, a more than 34-year law enforcement veteran of the Maryland State Police and Baltimore Police Department.

“So, here we are

Rachel Noerdlinger/National Action Network

“We urge you to carefully consider any bill that seeks to ban menthol cigarettes,” Gwendolyn Carr (left), the mother of Eric Garner; and Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin, wrote in a letter to New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson. proposing another policy that will put the police front and center in enforcing that policy, and it’s going to be enforced in communities of color. “Our poor and Black communities and this doesn’t make sense,” he said.

Further, a menthol ban would create criminal enterprises, and it would not help curb smoking, opponents of the measure told NNPA Newswire.

They argue that many would turn

to either buying from smugglers or using flavored vaping products, which New York City Council also seeks to prohibit.

“First and foremost, this has a disparate impact on communities of color. If allowed to go through, the policy would do more to damage police relations than it would help,” said Jiles Ship, president of the North New Jersey Chapter of the National Organization

of Blacks Law Enforcement Executives – or NOBLE. “It will also be an additional drain on resources that can be better utilized and this could create a pretext for law enforcement interaction that can eventually lead to encounters that results in the arrests of individuals who would feel that their civil rights are violated – and, I’m curious as to whether that aspect has been challenged or examined.”

TCBANND offers personal and professional development opportunities with upcoming event

By Nadvia Davis The Twin Cities Black Affinity group will host its fall biannual, Twin Cities Black Affinity

Network Development Day (TC BANDD), at the University of St. Thomas’ downtown Minneapolis campus this coming Saturday (Nov. 8).

More than 200plus professional people of

color are expected to gather and discuss this falls theme of Our Community, Our Story, Our Future, Let’s Build It. Professionals will explore how they can build relationships, develop themselves and build community by learning from their history. Attendees can expect to kick off the day with an opening panel discussion moderated by Greg Cunningham, chief diversity officer at US Bank.

“Greg is a huge activist for diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and is also very involved within the community,” said TC BANND board member Carla Robinson.”

Cunningham was nominated for an Ebony Power 100 award in 2018.

Members of the opening panel will include Kim Nelson, former senior vice president, External Relations at General Mills, Carleton Weatherby, vice president of Surgical Synergy Sales at Medtronic and Tawanna Black,

Shooting From 3

CEO and founder of the Center of Economic Inclusion.

Following the panel discussion, attendees will have the opportunity to participate in both a morning and midday breakout session. The morning breakout session options will be No Success without a Successor led by Ken Charles of US Bank and Your Responsibility to Give Back led by Ayo Idowu of Wells Fargo. The midday breakout

sessions will be Mentoring for Mutual Benefit led by Marcus Hill and Troylyne Womack of Best Buy and Serving on Boards led by Ron White of Target.

“Each session is carefully curated to provide additional value that attendees can take home and apply to their personal and professional development. Each speaker will bring their own flare to their presentations,” said board

member Jonathan Oliver, Jr. The day will wrap up with networking and afternoon sessions including breakout session on mental health awareness led by Brownell Mack from US Bank. Closing remarks will be given in the University of St. Thomas auditorium.

“As a board we decide the topics that we believe will be a fit with the theme, while being beneficial and interesting to our participants.

Board members then go back to their organizations to find subject matter experts that can successfully present on the topics. We then select the speakers from the suggestions presented by the board,” said Robinson.

TC BANDD 13’s agenda came from direct and survey feedback from previous attendees.

For more information or to register for this free event, visit www.tcbandd.squarespace. com.

within the department, they’ve almost created their own little thing. And the non-military cops see it, and they want to be part of it. So, they start to adopt the

attitude a little bit.”

by

Greg Cunningham, chief diversity officer at US Bank.

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 Managing Editor Harry Colbert, Jr. 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

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It

Starts at the Top “You know, here’s what it boils down to – the negative aspects of hiring are so much stronger than the positive aspects. If you hire bad apples, it’s so much worse than the good you get from hiring good apples.

“So, a lot of this focuses on hiring the right people. Because when there’s a hillbilly in the office, guess what? That is your department.

“On the other side, cops are continually being taunted, and sometimes there are those purposefully agitating elements from the community.

And it makes it difficult and sometimes impossible for them to do their job.

“I think when it comes to hiring, police departments need to pay more attention to bringing in people who are servants. They need to pay more attention to training officers.

“Another thing, when I was in the police academy, we were trained on how to figure out when to shoot someone as opposed to not shoot someone. That’s a considerable distinction right there.

“In my career, I had a situation where I would have been justified in shooting and killing someone. If I had done that in that particular situation, it would have been perfectly justifiable. But I also had a way out of it, and I got out of it. I didn’t have to kill anybody. The training would have said, kill, it’s the ABC’s. Pull out your gun and pull the trigger.”

Training Not One-Size-Fits-All “It’s not possible to train all departments across the country the same way. It’s not constitutional. It’s not practical.

The challenge is different from community to community.

“A national policy would not work as a state-bystate policy. And what happens is the communities end up electing their head law enforcement officer, unless they’re appointed

other elected officials. {The department should be a reflection of the sentiments of the community. If you’ve got a community that is mostly white and they don’t like Black people or vice versa, then that may well be reflected in the department for sure.”

Incompetent Law Enforcement Practices Adversely Impact Us All The overwhelming majority of Americans will never work for a police department or a law enforcement agency.

Yet, law enforcement impacts all of us in one way or another.

However, AfricanAmericans are disproportionately affected. So, everyone has a responsibility to do what we can to not only understand the culture(s) that influence police practices at the local level, but to also raise our voices as impacted citizens when we see problems.

The killing of unarmed African-Americans by officers that are sworn to serve and protect has reached epidemic proportions.

No citizen, regardless of race or background, should fear being killed by police when he or she is sitting innocently in their home, or in any other non-threatening situation.

“Police shooting policies need to change, not only for minorities but for everyone,” said forensic psychiatrist and expert witness Dr. Carole Lieberman. “It is shocking that police still aren’t trained more effectively to shoot to disarm and not to kill. Their go-to automatic response seems to be, shoot to kill – especially where it concerns minorities.

This is not only tragic for Black people and other minorities, but it is dangerous for the police themselves to cause these neighborhoods to become frightened and then act in a self-protective way which gets misinterpreted by the police. To shoot anyone in their own home should carry a severe penalty.”

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Members of the Johnnie Baker 291 Post of the American Legion reflect on their generations of service

By Harry Colbert, Jr. Managing Editor harry@insightnews.com They served out of a sense of duty … whether voluntary or mandated … but most importantly, they served with honor.

The members of the Johnnie Baker 291 Post of the American Legion gather monthly – almost exclusively – at the legion hall, 2038 W. Broadway Ave., Minneapolis.

However, the Oct. 24 meeting convened down the road at 1815 Bryant Ave. N., home to Insight News. The change in venue was to allow the members to talk candidly via a live-to-Facebook broadcast of the “Front Room Sessions” hosted by post member and Insight founder and editorin-chief Al McFarlane. Less about “war stories,” the members of the predominantly African-American post shared “life stories.”

“They (the U.S. Army) came and got me … I was drafted,” said World War II veteran Wayne Glanton.

Glanton said he was a student at Dunwoody (now College of Technology, then Technical Institute) studying engineering and drafting when in 1940 he was drafted.

A gifted student, Glanton ran into problems due to ethnicity almost immediately.

“When I got my orders they sent me to an allwhite outfit. When I showed up they asked what I was doing there and I showed them my orders and the guy called for the

Insight News • November 4, 2019 - November 10, 2019 • Page 5

Marc Cohn

“Walking in Memphis” Fame

Harry Colbert, Jr.

Jerry Steele, Dale Lyons and Al McFarlane live to Facebook Front Room Session from the Marcus Garvey House. captain,” recalled Glanton. “The captain came out and screamed, ‘This is a segregated unit’ and I asked, ‘Well, why did you send for me’ and the captain told me I scored in the top five percent of my class.”

Glanton was sent to an all-Black unit but he said there was resentment from white soldiers who had to learn their engineering skills from Black soldiers.

“Boy was I glad to be back home and not have to deal with that (mess),” said Glanton, talking about returning to civilian life.

At 97, Glanton is the oldest active member of the American Legion in Minnesota.

The Rev. Sam Reuben has conflicted emotions about his time in service.

Originally scheduled to be drafted in 1961, Rueben was allowed to finish college at Tuskegee Institute (now University). A week after he was set to join his active duty combat unit, but newly married, his wife was diagnosed with cancer and he was granted emergency leave.

“My unit left without me,” said Rueben. “Some of those guys I trained with I never saw again. I’m sure some of them got killed. My wife died; it was like bad luck and good luck at the same time. I think about it a lot.”

Elton Johnson, who served during the Vietnam War, told harrowing stories of his time in uniform.

“I was over in Vietnam and our planes we were in were getting shot at and it scared the (mess) out of me,” said Johnson, a commander of the post. “But

I was lucky; I was fortunate to come back home.”

Andrew Rose is also a commander of the Johnnie Baker post and served during the Vietnam War era. He said the post is a needed resource for veterans.

“We do a lot in the community, offering programs for middle and high school students and turkeys and things like that for the community, but most of all we’re here to provide support and services for our veterans,” said Rose.

Renee Day is one of those who benefitted from the Legion. Day is a Vietnam era veteran but didn’t serve in the war. Thus, he didn’t believe he was entitled to the benefits to which other soldiers were entitled. Because of that belief Day suffered through homelessness.

“I went in not knowing about benefits or anything. I was sending all my money back home to get my mother out of the projects,” said Day. “I don’t want to feel like I didn’t deserve what I received, so I didn’t know anything about different types of discharges. So I had this honorable discharge and didn’t know anything about what that offered to me. I was 30 years lost … out on the streets, but because of Johnnie Baker I’m receiving benefits … VA benefits and such. (Because of the Johnnie Baker post) I’m in the apartment I’m in today.”

To watch the full interview with members of the Johnnie Baker 291 Post go to www.facebook. com/145233765561468/ videos/627368784334348/.

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Insight 2 Health Be healthier throughout life with preventive care 

By North Memorial Health From heart disease to cancer, many of the top risk factors that lead to serious illness are preventable.

With routine prevention, they can be detected early, treated and even cured.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 100,000 lives each year could be saved if everyone received routine preventive care Don’t just see your doctor when you’re sick. Adults of all ages should get their health checked regularly with wellness exams throughout their life to avoid illness and detect problems early.

What’s

a wellness exam?

Every wellness visit is different. Your age, health and gender determine which tests or screenings you should have.

Your visit may include:



Checking your height and weight

~Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Listening to your heart and lung sounds  Scanning your body for suspicious moles or skin lesions  Checking your abdomen, thyroid glands and lymph nodes along with your ears and eyes for any chronic conditions  Screening your blood pressure and cholesterol  Screening for conditions including diabetes, obesity, heart disease, cancer and depression Colon cancer, heart disease and other medical issues in close relatives may alter the timing of screenings. You should routinely review your personal and family health history to see if anything has changed since your last visit. To view a preventative health schedule for your age and gender, check out the CDC’s Prevention Checklist.

A strong relationship with your doctor is essential to good health. Find your partner in health by calling (763) 581-2273 or go to northmemorial.com.

One-hundred thousand lives each year could be saved if everyone received routine preventive care.

SAGE provides cancer screenings for those in financial need

By Maya Beecham

At the age of 19 Benita Robinson lost her mother to terminal breast cancer.

Her mother was diagnosed at the age of 45 and died at the age of 46. Robinson at the time was a single mom navigating life. The tragic experience spurred her to become an advocate for AfricanAmerican women.

“I wanted to do something that gives something back to people. I want to be in the helping field where I offer people resources,” said Robinson.

“That’s when I went to college.

I was 35 when I went to college at Minneapolis Community and Technical College.”

Her journey from tragedy through education led her to a life calling of service.

Today at the age of 60 Robinson

serves as Health Program Representative with SAGE, Minnesota’s Cancer Screening Program at the Minnesota Department of Health. SAGE offers breast and cervical cancer screenings for women. To be eligible for the program women must be ages 40-64 or younger if they have family history of breast and cervical cancer, have no insurance, has insurance that doesn’t cover screenings or has a deductible or co-pay and has an income that is 250 percent of the federal poverty level.

According to the American Cancer Society, in 2019 an estimated 268,600 new cases of non-invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in women and 2,670 in men. The breast cancer death rate is the highest for African-American women at 28.4 deaths per 100,000. It is recommended that women at age 40 start taking the annual clinical breast exam

Benita Robinson (CBE), mammograms at age 40 and cervical cancer screenings start at age 21.

Breast cancer screenings provided by the Minnesota Department of Health SAGE

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program are free for all women and men who meet the eligibility requirements. The breast cancer screening provides a breast exam and a mammogram, and the cervical cancer screening provides a pap test and pelvic exam. Screenings take place at more than 450 locations across Minnesota, including clinics outside of the metro area. If it is determined that treatment is needed after the SAGE screening, uninsured participants may quality for Medical Assistance for Breast or Cervical Cancer to receive coverage. This service provides coverage for treatment of breast or cervical cancer, or, pre-cancer of the cervix.

“I want women in general to just take care of their

health, to put themselves as a priority. A lot of times we put everybody else in front of us. I really want to encourage people of color period to take care of yourself, get your screening get your physical,” said Robinson.

“There are programs out there that have resources. If some women don’t qualify for SAGE program we can find them a low cost mammogram. We try to help women navigate services and screenings they need. We try to get referrals to MNSure to help them get insurance.”

For more information on the SAGE program call (651) 556-0686 or (888) 643-2584, or visit www.health.state.mn.us/ diseases/cancer/sage/screening/ index.html.

insightnews.com

Insight News • November 4, 2019 - November 10, 2019 • Page 7

‘Marshall’ featured at First Thursday Films at North High The Film Society of Minneapolis St. Paul, in partnership with the Capri Theater and the Minnesota Historical Society, presents “Marshall” at 7 p.m.

Thursday (Nov. 7) at North Community High School, 1500 James Ave. N. in Minneapolis.

“Marshall” takes place in 1941, early in the career of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. In the film, Marshall (Chadwick Boseman), a rising star for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), is called to conservative Connecticut to defend a black chauffeur charged with sexual assault and the attempted murder of his white socialite employer. Muzzled by a segregationist court, Marshall partners with a courageous young Jewish lawyer, Samuel Friedman. Together they mount the defense in an environment of racism and anti-Semitism.

“The case proves more complex than either anticipates with unexpected twists and turns, even as it becomes a vital case that would define two careers as well as the fight for justice in America,” wrote Kenneth Chisholm.

Each First Thursday Films screening is followed by a discussion of the movie.

This month, Donald Lewis, cofounder of the Minneapolis law firm Nilan Johnson Lewis, will lead the conversation. Lewis earned his undergraduate degree in journalism at Northwestern University and his law degree at Harvard Law School.

The First Thursdays series continues with “Amazing Grace,” a documentary featuring Aretha Franklin, with conversation leader Jearlyn Steele on Dec. 5 and “Love Them First: Lessons from Lucy Laney Elementary” on Jan. 2.

North High serves as the alternate location for this film series while the Capri Theater is closed for

Chadwick Boseman

expansion and renovation. A map and directions to North High are available online at thecapritheater.org. Tickets to First Thursday Films are $5 and can be purchased in advance at www.mspfilm.org or at the door the night of the show.

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Page 8 • November 4, 2019 - November 10, 2019 • Insight News

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