November 19, 2020 - MN Spokesman-Recorder

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THE VOICE OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY SINCE 1934 November 19-25, 2020 Vol. 87 No. 16

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COVID-19 running wild in Minnesota prisons Containment efforts falling short

T

■See Prisons on page 5

Allina doubles down on equity commitment An interview with president and CEO of Allina Health Dr. Penny Wheeler The MSR decided to sit down with Dr Wheeler after learning about the role she and her organization played in helping to pull together 30 health service providers and stakeholders to make a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.

In the wake of the killing of George Floyd by police on Memorial Day the providers agreed to adhere to a set of principles that would help guide their efforts to be more diverse, equitable and inclusive.

you are leading a large corporation that is taking a long look at what it can do to increase its diversity?

Wheeler: I am a physician by background after practicing for 20 years at Abbott North-

Traditionally there have been terrible health inequities where health care is concerned. I was at the funeral of an African American who had died at 36 of heart disease about 10 years ago. The

“ I want this to be in everybody’s world in the forefront of everybody’s mind.”

western. I am surprised that I MSR: Give us a bit of informa- am leading the organization in tion about your background. What which I was born. I love being a in it led you to this moment where doctor.

person who was eulogizing him said that he felt erased by the health care system.

Ever since then that story

Health care providers commit to eliminate systemic racism Thirty MN health care providers have agreed to a set of principles that reflect their “ongoing commitment to address racial disparities and inequities.”

The following statement introduces these principles to the public “to demonstrate our collective commitment.” See also on this page an interview with Allina CEO Penny Wheeler, a catalyst in getting these principles adopted.

By Amudalat Ajasa Contributing writer he number of positive COVID-19 cases being reported in Minnesota has been breaking records, with the Minnesota Department of Health reporting 8,689 new cases and 35 new deaths as of November 14. The state has a cumulative total of 220,960 positive confirmed cases and growing.

Minnesota prisons have been affected as well. The high number of COVID-19 cases recently found in Minnesota prisons has raised questions about whether enough is being done by Department of Corrections (DOC) officials to curb the spread of the disease in their facilities.

According to the Minnesota DOC, they have documented 2,424 positive COVID-19 cases among the state’s prisoners as of Nov. 13. Of that statistic, 894 (37%) of the inmates have not recovered and 1542 (63%) have recovered. There have been three COVID-19-related deaths; one victim is currently awaiting an autopsy evaluation.

“We have a human rights disaster going on, and we have a Department of Corrections that is putting their head in the sand and saying that what they’ve done is enough,” said David Boehnke, an organizer with Twin Cities Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC).

IWOC has been working with the DOC since February advocating on behalf of the

“AS IT WAS SPOKEN ... LET US RECORD.”

Dr. Penny Wheeler has stuck with me. We are trying to do everything we can to eliminate health disparities and the systemic racism that they ■See Allina on page 5

Following months of critical conversations within organizations and community groups about how to deepen our commitment to a society in which the strength of our diversity is honored and celebrated, 30 providers have announced the creation of a joint commitment across health service providers and health care stakeholders throughout Minnesota to eliminate systemic racism and its negative impact on health and well-being.

With the recognition that eliminating racial disparities is essential to fulfill our collective mission to care for all in the most impactful way, our ongoing commitment to address racial disparities and inequities is based upon the following principles: • Re-examine our organizational policies with an equity lens and make any policy changes needed to promote equity and opportunity.

• Seek to understand different perspectives, experiences, and appropriately adapt our behaviors to improve culturally responsive care.

• Work to eliminate decisions that negatively impact underrepresented and underserved groups.

• Improve access to and consumer experience for all needed care services—primary, specialty care, and hospital care.

• Partner with policymakers, employers, and community advocates to remove the economic barriers to health equity.

• Continue to build pathways that support our patients in addressing their health-related social needs and provide connections to community resources.

• Commit to hiring locally and promoting Black, Indigenous, People of Color and other underrepresented and underserved people into leadership roles. We commit to be employers that hire, develop, retain and support a diverse workforce.

• Renew and expand our organizations’ commitment to providing anti-racism and implicit bias training for all leaders and staff.

• Advocate for increased funding for social needs, social services, and programs

that promote social justice.

• Advocate for investments that create innovative solutions to achieve enduring improvements in access, quality, and health outcomes for the communities we serve.

• Promote the inclusion of businesses owned by Black, Indigenous, People of Color and other underrepresented and underserved people when purchasing goods or services.

• Review any investment portfolio, assuring that we are invested in funds which align to our equity principles and values.

The principles are designed to demonstrate to the communities we serve our collective commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion; create an impetus for critical conversations about the role of the health care system in addressing racial inequities, and create an additional mechanism to hold ourselves accountable by sharing our commitments publicly.

The 30 organizations who have adopted the guiding principles and committed to addressing racial disparities and inequities are: Allina Health, Allina Health Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, CentraCare, Children’s Minnesota, CCM Health, Entira, Essentia Health, Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare, HealthPartners, Hennepin Healthcare, Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI), Medica, M Health Fairview, Minnesota Association of Community Health Centers, Minnesota Community Care, Minnesota Medical Association, MN Council of Health Plans, Minnesota Community Measurement, Natalis Counseling & Psychology Solutions, North Memorial Health, Nura Precision Pain Clinic, Planned Parenthood, Portico Healthnet, PrairieCare, PreferredOne, Southside Community Health Services, Stratis Health, UCare, and University of Minnesota Physicians.

The full statement has been abridged for brevity.

Crime spike ramps up debate over funding police

By Charles Hallman Contributing writer Minneapolis has seen an increase in violent crime, including gun violence, since this past summer. According to the most recent Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) data, violent crime is up over 20% citywide from last year, and nearly 40% more than two years ago.

The city’s Fourth Precinct has the highest number of crimes reported (1,552 or 32.9% of the city total), and gunfire activity is highest on the North Side ac-

and cries to “defund the police,” which some call controversial.

Others say it simply means to redirect some funds from law enforcement to other essential areas that could prevent crime and violence.

Five Minneapolis City Council members this summer publicly pledged for police reform, including establishing a new community safety department Courtesy of MGN that in essence would replace MPD. A new charter amendMany are pointing to the ment was proposed, which cording to the MPD “Shots fired” map. City homicides thus far crime spike with George Floyd’s Mayor Jacob Frey among others have doubled this year (62) over death on Memorial Day, subse- opposed because it would give quent protests and disturbances, more authority to the council and last year (34).

divert accountability from the mayor and police chief.

The proposal eventually failed to meet the deadline required to

“I am not going to point fingers at the leadership now.” put it on the November ballot for public vote.

MPD also reports that over 100 police officers have left the

force since May for various reasons, including retirement, leave of absence, and PTSD issues.

Earlier this year, several Minneapolis residents, including former city council member Don Samuels and Jordan Area Community Council Director Cathy Spann, filed suit against the City of Minneapolis, charging that MPD staffing has fallen below the minimum thresholds required by the city charter. A judge last month heard arguments from both sides and has up to 90 days to make a decision.

The MSR contacted Samuels, Spann, and MPD spokesman ■See Crime on page 5

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November 19-25, 2020

Biden/Harris announce COVID-19 advisors A week after winning a contentious and drawn-out election, on Monday, November 9, President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris launched a 13-member coronavirus advisory board.

The goal of the board is “to make operational the BidenHarris campaign plan to address COVID into a plan that the government can use,” said Senior Adviser Symone Sanders on CNN’s Sunday news show “State of the Union.”

On his transition website, President-elect Biden further explained, “The advisory board will help shape my approach to managing the surge in reported infections; ensuring vaccines are safe, effective, and distributed efficiently, equitably, and free; and protecting at-risk populations.”

The panel will be led by Dr. David Kessler, professor of pediatrics and epidemiology and biostatistics at UCSF; Dr. Vivek Murthy, a former U.S. surgeon general; and Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, associate professor of internal medicine, public health, and management at Yale University.

The panel will be composed of 13 members, including Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center of Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

A frequent guest on cable news shows, newly appoint-

MSR file photo

Dr. Michael Osterholm ed Osterholm offered a blunt and bleak outlook on CNBC. “What America has to understand is that we are about to enter COVID hell.

“We have not even come close to the peak and, as such, our hospitals are now being overrun,” he continued. “The next three to four months are going to be, by far, the darkest of the pandemic.”

Osterholm told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that he was impressed by the serious approach and tone of the Biden-Harris transition team.

He also offered an “Amen!” when told Dr. Tony Fauci said he had no plans of leaving his post as director of the Department of Health and Human Services. He has served under six U.S. presidents.

Biden, at the press briefing

Convention Center joins other free COVID test sites

with Vice President-elect Harris on Monday, also acknowledged that the nation is facing “a dark winter” as cases of COVID-19 cases continue to ratchet up in record numbers across the nation. To date, there are 10 million COVID-19 confirmed cases in America with over 230,000 dead.

“We are about to enter COVID hell.”

Biden also implored Americans to wear a mask and called for non-partisan unity in fighting the spread of the virus.

A bit of relief may be on the horizon, however. Pfizer announced promising news on the COVID-19 vaccine front.

The pharmaceutical giant stated early data suggests its vaccine is 90% effective in preventing COVID-19.

Signaling a further transition of power, President-elect Biden noted that Pfizer alerted him of the news last night: “Last night, my public health advisors were informed of this excellent news. I congratulate the brilliant women and men who helped produce this breakthrough and to give us such cause for hope,” Biden said in a statement.

But he also cautioned, “At the same time, it is also important to understand that the end of the battle against COVID-19 is still months away.”

In response to the steep increase in COVID-19 cases in the state, Gov. Tim Walz announced Monday morning the opening of a new testing site at the Minneapolis Convention Center. The site will offer saliva testing and operate seven days a week, from 12 pm to 7 pm on weekdays and 10 am to 4 pm on weekends. More testing sites are set to open throughout the state in the next two weeks.

“Over the last week, Minnesotans saw our COVID-19 positivity rate climb higher than ever before,” Walz said in a statement. “That’s why we’ve seen great demand for testing across the state, and today’s announcement brings us closer to getting the virus under control.”

Walz outlined how the sites will offer free-of-charge COVID-19 testing to anyone who wants one, regardless of whether they have symptoms or insurance.

Ten of the 11 additional testing sites include spaces operated by the Minnesota National Guard that are set to remain open until the end of the year.

Both saliva and nasal swab testing will be offered at these sites with specific locations yet to be announced. The sites are expected to be open five days a week.

On Monday, the Minnesota Health Department released figures showing 3,930 new

cases of the virus and 19 deaths.

Sunday’s confirmed cases for new infections were nearly 6,000.

“What’s happening in Minnesota right now is alarming,” said Minnesota Commissioner Jan Malcolm in a statement.

“We are seeing record numbers of new cases every few days.

And it’s because we’re falling behind the rapid spread of this virus.

“This is truly a statewide outbreak, and we encourage anyone who believes they may have been exposed to COVID-19 to visit one of these no-barrier testing sites,” stated Malcolm.

The governor’s announcement comes on the heels of a bit of good news on the coronavirus vaccine front, with Pfizer unveiling promising developments in its COVID-19 vaccine.

The Minneapolis Convention Center is located at 1301 2nd Ave. South in downtown Minneapolis. To be tested, enter on the west side of the building off 1st Avenue, then continue to exhibit room E. Free parking will be available and marked in nearby surface lots and parking ramps. Due to expected demand, testing will be available seven days a week, noon to 7 pm on weekdays and 10 am to 4 pm on weekends.

November 19-25, 2020

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COVID-19 trials protect human rights

To be safe for us, a vaccine must be tested with people like us of various populations as are represented in our community, and that includes Black people.

Most importantly, we want the Black community to be assured that when a vaccine becomes available, it has been tested with people like us. We cannot give people this assurance if our community does not participate.

When people ask me what they can do to help with the pandemic, this is one way they can help. Be a representative in this study and give a voice to our needs, our bodies, and our experiences.

many other vulnerable populations, have historically been involved in research against their will or without their consent.

Even now, the Black community has worse experiences and outcomes when seeking medical care compared to other populations. The trust of the Black community is needed now more than ever to address the global pandemic and how it’s affecting our community in greater numbers than other communities.

By Dr. Zeke McKinney Guest contributor COVID-19 continues to spread furiously across our community. But, there’s a glimmer of hope in the fight to curb this pandemic: vaccines.

In the greater Minneapolis area, there are two COVID-19 vaccine trials that are recruiting patients. One of them is through HealthPartners, and I’m a physician researcher who’s working on the trial. The other is through Allina Health.

I talk with people across the community, and I get a lot of questions about whether it’s safe to participate in these vaccine trials or other medical research.

It is critical to the success of the study to have Black participants involved to ensure the effectiveness and relevance of the vaccine to our community. My hope as a Black doctor is to have an honest dialog about the risks, benefits, and protections of getting involved in research.

The Black community has reasonable fears about engaging in research studies. African slaves in the United States, and

Overcoming the difficult past Because of the difficult history of how medical research has impacted Black communities, we seek to address those concerns by being transparent about our research and by being culturally sensitive in our approach to this study. It is important to note that modern medical research requires that participation be voluntary and with consent. Many layers of legal protection now exist to make human research as safe as possible.

Many of these protections stem from the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, in which Black men living with syphilis were offered free medical care to participate, but were unknowingly denied treatment for their disease even after it became widely available in the 1940s because researchers wanted to see the natural course of the disease. This inhumane experiment continued until 1972 when a researcher disclosed their concerns to a reporter.

The outcry after this study was made public led to Congressional hearings and the creation of the Belmont Report, which includes three basic principles to protect human rights in research: 1. Respect for persons—people who want to participate in

Courtesy of MGN research must be informed and able to make their own decisions.

2. Doing good (“beneficence”) — a study must aim for the most benefit with the least risk, while not doing harm to study participants.

3. Justice—the risks and benefits of research cannot be greater in one group than another.

Laws and regulations following the Belmont Report were established in 1981. This led to the creation of Institutional Review Boards (IRBs), which are independent groups of scientists or doctors within any research organization. These IRBs will review and monitor research at all stages to ensure human rights are being protected. The IRB must be consulted if a study is changed at all, or if any significant injury occurs.

Vulnerable populations, such as children or prisoners, are called out in research

regulations. These populations have heavy restrictions and protections for research because they are vulnerable to being convinced to participate. All research in these populations can only occur if the research benefits those populations directly.

Modern research violations have only rarely occurred—almost always when IRB regulations were not followed—and these have had major consequences for the researchers and institutions where the research was performed. There is an IRB at HealthPartners that oversees

the current vaccine study to protect human safety, and there have been no research violations in our institution to date.

For more information about the COVID-19 vaccine trial at HealthPartners, visit www.

HealthPartners.com/vaccinestudy.

Dr. Zeke McKinney practices clinical occupational and environmental medicine (OEM) for HealthPartners in St. Paul and St. Louis Park, MN, and he is Representation in research one of few clinicians in Minnematters sota who evaluates patients for Thinking about justice, environmental toxicologic expothis vaccine trial is aiming to sures. He is also a faculty physiinclude the populations most cian in the HealthPartners OEM at risk. This is not a study just Residency where he trained and in or on Black people. This an affiliate assistant professor study is targeted at those at the University of Minnesota with high-risk jobs, high-risk School of Public Health. diseases, and races/ethnicities most affected by the disease. We want to include the same percentage of people

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November 19-25, 2020

The Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder (MSR) welcomes and values commentary and feedback from the community. The articles found here are edited for clarity and/or space, but the opinions are the author’s own and do not reflect the views of the MSR.

Facing uncertainty, it’s important we remember to exercise compassion

Before Harris other Black women tried and failed

By Sharon Austin With Joe Biden’s projected presidential win over Donald Trump, Sen. Kamala Harris breaks three centuries-old barriers to become the nation’s first female vice president, first Black vice president and first Black female vice president. Harris is also of Indian descent, making the 2020 election a meaningful first for two communities of color.

Harris wasn’t the first Black female vice presidential aspirant in American history.

Charlotta Bass, an African American journalist and political activist from California, ran for vice president in 1948 with the Progressive Party.

Before she was Biden’s running mate, Harris was his opponent in the Democratic presidential primary. She is one of many Black American women to have aimed for the highest office in the land despite great odds.

the first Black woman to run for president, as a communist. Like many other African Americans born in the 1930s, Mitchell joined the Communist Party because of its emphasis on racial and gender equality. Black female communists fought Jim Crow, lynchings and unfair labor practices for men and women of all races.

Mitchell’s presidential campaign, which focused on civil rights and poverty, was probably doomed from the start. In 1968, many states didn’t allow communists on the ballot. Media outlets from the Boston Globe to the Chicago Tribune also discussed Mitchell’s “unsuitability” as a candidate because she was both Black and female. Mitchell received just 1,075 votes.

Other independent Black female presidential candidates include community organizer Margaret Wright, who ran on the People’s Party ticket in 1976, and Isabell Masters, a teacher who created her own third party called Looking Back and ran in 1984, 1992 and 2004.

In 1988, psychologist Lenora Fulani became the first woman and the first African American to appear on the ballot in all 50 states. Running as an independent, she received more votes for president in a U.S. election than any other female candidate before her. Teacher Monica Moorehead of the Workers World ticket ran for president in 1996, 2000 and 2016.

In 2008, the year Barack Obama was elected president, Cynthia McKinney, a former U.S. representative from Georgia, was a nominee of the Green Party. And in 2012, Peta Lindsay ran to unseat President Obama from the left, on the Party for Socialism and Liberation ticket.

Only one Black woman has ever pursued the Republican nomination: Angel Joy Charvis, a religious conservative from Florida, who wanted to use her 1999 candidacy to “to recruit a new breed of Republican.”

Hands that once picked cotton African Americans have faced many hurdles to achieving political power in the United States, among them slavery, Jim Crow and disenfranchisement.

Black women, in particular, have hit barrier upon barrier.

Women didn’t gain the right to vote in the U.S. until 1920, and even then Black people— women among them—still couldn’t vote in most of the South. In the 1960s, Black women helped organize the Civil Rights Movement but were kept out of leadership positions.

As the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. said in 1984 about the progress Black voters made last century, “Hands that once picked cotton will now pick a president.”

Today, Black female mayors lead several of the biggest U.S. cities, including Atlanta, Chicago and San Francisco.

Black women are police chiefs, gubernatorial candidates, and, in growing numbers, congresswomen.

Now, Black women, who once had no chance of even voting for president—much Unbought and unbossed Those Black female presiless being president—see one of their own a step away from dential candidates were little known. But as the first Black the Oval Office. female member of Congress, Shirley Chisholm had years ‘Unsuitable’ for the job?

Kamala Harris is a Demo- of experience in public ofcrat who served as Califor- fice and a national reputation nia’s attorney general and when she became the first later one of its senators. But, Black American and the first historically, most Black fe- woman to seek the Demomale presidential candidates cratic presidential nomination in 1972. Chisholm’s campaign have run as independents.

In 1968, 38-year-old Char- slogan was “Unbought and lene Mitchell of Ohio became Unbossed.”

Chisholm, who mostly paid for her campaign on her credit card, focused on civil rights and poverty.

She became the target of vehement sexism. One New York Times article from June 1972 described her appearance as, “[Not] beautiful. Her face is bony and angular, her nose wide and flat, her eyes small almost to beadiness, her neck and limbs scrawny. Her protruding teeth probably account in part for her noticeable lisp.”

Chisholm received little support from either Black or female voters and won not a single primary.

The Black women who followed in Chisholm’s footsteps from Congress to the Democratic presidential primary, including Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun and Harris herself, have seen little more success. Harris was among the first 2020 Democratic primary candidates to drop out, in December 2019.

Challenges for Black women Why did these candidacies and those of other Black women who aimed for high office fail?

In most cases America’s Black female presidential candidates haven’t made the ballot. Those who did had trouble raising funds.

Because their candidacies weren’t taken seriously by the media, they had trouble getting their messages heard.

Historically, Black female presidential candidates have received no real support from any segment of American voters, including African Americans and women. Generally, people—even those who might have been heartened by the idea that someone who looked like them could aspire to the White House—thought they couldn’t win.

As a two-term vice president who had a major role in governing under President Obama, Joe Biden knows what the office entails. In Harris, he selected a woman who not only helped him win the election but is also ready to govern.

November 2020 is a watershed year for African Americans, Asian Americans and women who’ve so long been excluded from so many aspects of politics.

Sharon Austin is professor of political science at the University of Florida. This editorial initially appeared in The Conversation

We are living in tremendously uncertain times.

At the time of this writing, the presidential election is still undecided. A few battleground states continue their efforts to count votes, even as legal challenges are being mounted to halt those efforts. We’re still not sure the final composition of the U.S. House and Senate as some of those races are also still too close to call. Our nation is, in some ways, collectively holding its breath.

The months and weeks leading to November 3 were filled with tension. The debates were marred by incivility. There were concerns about voting integrity and voter disenfranchisement.

Both sides fought hard for the votes they’ve received, at times vilifying their opposing parties.

Vandals destroyed political signs on both sides and there were multiple reports of voter intimidation efforts in the last few days of the campaigns.

On a more personal level, political affiliations have and continue to strain families and friendships, turning people against one another over their difference of opinion or belief.

There is no doubt that a lot is at stake in this election; the policy differences of each party have significant real-life implications for everyone. It was clear people

realized this from the record voter turnout in this election.

As if the election weren’t a significant enough source of anxiety, it comes at a time when the coronavirus pandemic continues unchecked. In recent weeks the positive case counts in many states have eclipsed the peaks set earlier this summer. For several weeks public health experts have been cautioning that the combination of cooling temperatures driving people indoors, the onset of flu season, and increased small gatherings over the upcoming holidays will lead to a significant increase in positive COVID-19 cases. The rolling seven-day average of positive cases seems to support this, with many states and the country overall breaking daily infection count records repeatedly.

What we risk losing sight of when faced with the data each day, is that those numbers aren’t just statistics, rather they are individual lives. Each of those numbers—a positive test, a hospitalization, a death—represent at least one person who has been negatively impacted by the virus.

As the virus spreads, there are concerns that more restrictive measures will need to be introduced to fight it as hospitals become overwhelmed with patients. This, too, increases our anxiety.

Policymakers and public health officials continue to advocate for caution, for continued mask-wearing and social distancing, for increased testing, for vigilance. At the same time they have the unenviable position of trying to determine a course of action that serves the greatest good for all. They must weigh the economic costs of restrictive policies versus the public health costs of this virus. All the while

they are also trying to strike an appropriate balance of advocacy versus mandate even as, seven months in, many people have grown weary of the changes the pandemic have wrought on our daily lives.

Between the election and the virus, it feels some days as though our lives have been put on pause.As we wait, we need to remember that we are each human. We are not our political affiliations, our zip codes, or our tax brackets. These labels serve to divide us at a time when we need to come together.

If we hope to heal any of the social and political divisions these past few years have brought to the surface, if we hope to successfully fight this pandemic, we need to try to find whatever common ground we can. As a country, we are facing what seem like gigantic challenges, but as a country we’ve risen to such occasions in the past.

Let’s start simply, by focusing on our humanity and practicing small acts of compassion and kindness towards one another every day. Let’s try to listen to one another, to share, to smile, to say “thank you” or ask how the people in our lives are doing as we move through our days.

Dr. Clarence Hightower is a visionary leader with more than 37 years of nonprofi experience in the Twin Cities. He is the current executive director of the Community Action Partnership of Hennepin County, one of the largest anti-poverty organizations in the area and the state’s largest Energy Assistance program. He welcomes reader responses to chightower@caphennepin.org.

Trump exposed America’s ‘deplorables’ Whites don’t.

As chief researcher, Jones created a “racism index” to identify bigotry.

Donald Trump taught America White evangelicals scored worst at a great lesson. He showed that this 78%, while irreligious Whites rated nation has a huge number of racist, 42%.

Jones told CNN: sexist, jingoist, gay-hating, Mus“President Trump, who has put lim-hating, Hispanic-hating bigWhite Supremacy front and center, ots—those Hillary Clinton called has brought these issues from just a “basket of deplorables.” Trump barely below the surface into plain attracted them by millions through view….

White Christians have inhis endless attacks on Blacks and other People of Color. Deplorables clung to him to the bitter end. Now that Trump is heading for eventual oblivion, where will they go?

Many of the deplorables are White evangelicals. Sociologist Robert Jones, head of the Public Religion Research Institute, says they are the most prejudiced group in herited a worldview that has Christians on top of other religions, men the United States.

In his latest book, “White Too over women, Whites over Blacks.”

Trump has been the champion Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity,” of the deplorables. He showed evJones asserts that White churches eryone how large their cohort is in have always been at the heart of America. Presumably, they won’t racism, helping lock it into the cul- vanish. Where will they go after ture. He says born-again Whites the “King of Deplorables” is gone? display bigotry in many different I hope they slink downward in shame. ways.

After any election, it’s easy For example, they are far more likely to shrug when White police to look back and count various kill unarmed Black men, dismiss- groups of voters who clinched vicing it as “isolated incidents.” And tory. For four decades, researchers they generally say the Confederate have confirmed how White evanflag is “more a symbol of southern gelicals secured Republican wins.

Now, in the wake of the Biden-Harpride than of racism.”

In contrast, young Americans ris triumph, it’s obvious that Demowho shun religion tend to feel crats couldn’t have won without greater compassion and under- Black votes, or Hispanic ones, or standing. They strongly agree labor union ones, etc.

Or “nones.” when PRRI interviewers recite this Educated, intelligent young statement: “Generations of slavery and discrimination have created adults who say their religion is conditions that make it difficult for “none” generally hold compassionBlacks to work their way out of the ate, progressive values: favoring lower class.” But fundamentalist women’s right to choose, supBy James A. Haught

porting gay marriage, advocating climate control, urging low-cost college, wanting universal medical care as a human right for all, backing sex education and the public “safety net” that protects less-privileged people, etc.

These liberals naturally lean to the Democratic Party and have become the largest faith group in its base. Unfortunately, they

“White Christians have inherited a worldview that has Christians on top of other religions, men over women, Whites over Blacks.” vote at lower rates—but several freethought organizations mobilized efforts to rouse their democratic instincts.

The VoteCast exit poll of the Associated Press on election day found that “nones” favored BidenHarris by a whopping margin of 72 percent to 26 percent. They were bold progressives. In contrast, White evangelicals chose Trump by an overwhelming 82 percent, the same as in 2016. Maybe they tipped some states to the GOP, causing early Democratic disappointment on election night. But religion has shriveled so much in America that they couldn’t tip the whole nation.

That’s my guess.

I hope research in the coming months will pinpoint how much “nones” were decisive in swinging the 2020 election.

James Haught writes commentary and is syndicated by PeaceVoice.

November 19-25, 2020

AllinA Continued from page 1 represent.

MSR: What motivated you to put the principles together found in your pledge for a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion [see sidebar] and to encourage others to sign on?

Wheeler: First of all, this has been a commitment for me personally and us organizationally for a long time. Eyes were wider opened about the disparities and systemic racism that existed after the terrible killing of George Floyd.

So I started to call on what others had done, like the Wilder Foundation. I was at a disparities leadership program out at Mass General and looked at principles they were raising up in Chicago.

And I thought, what if we could do that as a community and all of these organizations signed on to it.

It’s not [just] for words on paper, but if we could get them out in the public and people can say now you put those out there in public, but what have you done about them? If people could hold us publicly accountable to adhere to those principles, then I thought we could come at some terribly dark time in our community’s history and use it as a pivot point to something much better.

MSR: The last few months have been marked by reflection, listening and learning in the wake of George Floyd’s death. What have you learned?

Wheeler: We increasingly

Prisons Continued from page 1 inmates. “We are trying to do the best we can,” claimed Paul Schnell, DOC commissioner.

“There isn’t a single good answer.”

There are currently six state prisons in Minnesota with triple-digit COVID-19 cumulative numbers.

Lockdowns ineffective Rashad Ivy is one of the 37 inmates from Oak Park Heights Correctional Facility who contracted the novel coronavirus. “I was sick for four or five days before I realized I had COVID-19.

I was having chills and cold sweats, my nostrils were burning,” Ivy explained.

“They gave me nothing. They didn’t even give me advice when I had COVID,” said Hannabal Shaddai, an inmate at Oak Park Heights. “One day, a guard and a nurse came by and told me I tested positive for COVID-19, put a sticker on my door and put me in a different group.”

The high number of COVID-19 cases in the prisons has resulted in extended lockdowns.

Recent reports found that inmates at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in St. Cloud have been placed on lockdown after over 50% of inmates at the prison tested positive for COVID-19.

“When things are as extensive

Crime Continued from page 1 John Elder for comment, but at press time our requests have not been met.

Last week the city council voted 7-6 to pay nearly $500,000 to hire temporary police officers for MPD from the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office and Metro Transit from November 15 through December 31. A preliminary vote also was taken to increase the MPD budget by nearly a half million dollars for more recruits and $5 million for additional overtime as part of Mayor Frey’s pro-

learned that we have to accompany community and listen to community on this journey. We were going to do this big health care initiative in the Phillips, Powderhorn neighborhood. I remember an elder saying, “So you think health is the absence of disease?

We think health is a roof over our heads, it’s safety, it’s a job.”

The lesson there was listen and learn first. Then take action that’s meaningful to the entire community.

MSR: How do you address the health disparity that exists in the Black community?

Wheeler: We think we have basically four roles. We are a provider of care, we are an employer, we purchase services, and we can advocate for equity principles on those things. And we are actually a community member We look at our programs and we have a filter where we can, for example, look at our diabetes scores and say, well, guess what— those are for White people…

When you look at Indigenous people or Black people, we don’t have the same scores. So you work with community members to see how can we do things differently.

We thought how do we raise these difficult but meaningful conversations with everybody and do it in the best and most sensitive way. We look at why this conscious bias exists and what we can do about it.

MSR: Where does the idea come from that Black people have a higher threshold for pain?

Wheeler: I am sure it has some deep historical roots. The danger

of the stereotypes that exist for Black and Latinx People of Color are profound. We have been having listening circles with our providers and doctors of color, where they are not rated as highly by patients than others because of the color of their skin. There is bias on the patient side and the provider side.

Even doctors of color are not looked at fairly. Something that fosters trust is having a provider who you can see yourself in. It’s incumbent on us to increase the representation of Communities of Color in leadership and on the provider side. I am learning more about the history of racism like the redlining project a house I previously owned nobody of African American descent could have owned the house before 1965.

MSR: How do we make sure that the next pandemic that comes along does not disproportionately affect the health of Black people as has the COVID pandemic?

Wheeler: Health is not the absence of illness. It’s more holistic.

There are a lot of health-related social needs like access to food, access to housing, and access to jobs, and those kinds of things.

And those are born of systemic racism.

The way we keep a pandemic from disproportionately affecting one community over others is to get to the heart of the bias and systemic racism that exists, making health risk factors more likely in certain communities than others.

These principles are not [just] words on a piece paper. I

want people to come back five months or six months later and say, “What have you done? Show us the results of what you have done.”

MSR: We have read about Allina allowing its corporate space in South Minneapolis to be used by youth needing a break from distance learning at home. How did that come about?

Wheeler: We have over 80 first-to twelfth-graders in our vacated space. It started with Pastor Jon Robinson of St. Peters AME Church talking about the needs he was hearing from his members, and our community benefits person took this on.

Two small not-for-profits and one large nonprofit worked together. As far as I know, we are the first organization that didn’t just contribute money but contributed space.

MSR: How has Allina began making good on the commitment that it signed on to? What are your plans for increasing the diversity at Allina?

Wheeler: Things that get measured get done sometimes. We are looking at how are we closing the gap in health care disparities like the diabetes care, like the hospice care, on the provider side.

On the employer side, we have a very diverse employee base but they don’t always ascend to leadership positions. So we are looking at how do we give people greater opportunities, greater support, so we actually increase the numbers in our leadership team. Not only is it the right thing to do, it makes you perform better as an organization when

you have a more diverse leadership team. Whenever we have an open position, we are looking at diverse people for it.

On the purchaser side, we want to make sure that when we are building a facility that a lot of the contractors and services are done by minority-owned businesses.

MSR: How does Allina maintain a welcoming environment?

Wheeler: That’s an important thing, if you don’t have fertilized soil, you won’t have ways for people to grow and even want to stay. We are having deep conversations internally. I participated in two listening sessions with physicians of color in the last couple of weeks There is even bias built into the grading of doctors. We are doing that with our employee resource groups as well. A patient said something racist to an African American nurse in their presence. The doctor who was White said to the person that was racist what you just said I don’t know if you intended it that way but it came out very biased and that’s hurtful. I think it’s time we stand up for each other and don’t put the onus on the person who is affected to do that. That matters. We have to stand up for each other.

MSR: You said in the Community Conversation sponsored by St Peters AME Church that “As an organization we need to be really thoughtful about our diversity, equity and inclusion work—and we have to be relentless in implementing it.” How can you be relentless in implementing inclusion? What does that look like for you?

as they are, it can be that [the inmates] are out every other day to shower, sync their tablets, and make a couple quick phone calls to people,” Schnell said.

“We stayed in the room for a couple of days, and then they let us out for an hour to shower and use the phone,” Ivy confirmed.

“There were people in here with way worse symptoms than me and they just kept them in the room.”

The IWOC has been fighting against what they call “human rights violations” as a result of the lockdowns. “Locking people down creates all sorts of human rights violations,” Boehnke reiterated. “Being in extended lockdown, people aren’t getting showers, hot food, access to sanitary equipment, and people aren’t able to contact their families.”

higher [age wise], but they are at higher risk of being asymptomatic.”

With large numbers of people getting tested, labs in Minnesota are experiencing delays. “Let’s say we tested you on a Tuesday and we don’t get the results back until Friday. You’re going to show a level of positivity [in the prisons]… Who is exposed in the meantime becomes one of the big

predicted that two other factors are to blame for the spike in Minnesota’s prisons: the cold and the community. “I’m concerned that the airflow off the heating system is just blowing this particulate,” he said.

Minnesota experienced record-breaking snowfall near the end of October, which resulted in the heat within prisons being turned on early. “During the

ing system, COVID-19 could be spreading through the cells.

“If someone in the cell next to me coughed, then it’s only a matter of time before I do, because we are all sharing the same air,” Ivy confirmed.

To combat the spread of the virus through the ventilation system, the DOC has increased the amount of fresh air filtered into the heating system from its normal 9% to about 20%, Schnell explained. “We’ve upgraded our filters to the fullest extent possible to still have heat.”

According to Schnell, differences in cell doors among facilities could also play a part in the spread of COVID-19. Some of the older prisons have bar-lined doors that can enable the spread of COVID-19 compared to newer facilities with solid steel doors that allow for more quarantining.

“If someone in the cell next to me coughed, then it’s only a matter of time before I do, because we are all sharing the same air.”

5

Wheeler: It’s everything we do. We start by looking at things through a diversity and equity lens. You have to put it in the forefront and be intentional about it.

I want this to be in everybody’s world in the forefront of everybody’s mind. We don’t want to check the box and say we are OK. MSR: How will the community know that Penny Wheeler isn’t just talking and that her corporation has no intention on following through with her progressive and lofty goals in the area of diversity and inclusion?

Wheeler: You have to look at the actions that we take as an organization. We have taken many, but we have many more to take. How you know it’s not just talk is by holding us accountable to the principles we have signed on to.

MSR: You said in an interview a while back that a mentor of yours once said, “I think health care is more about love than anything else.” What do you think he meant by that?

Wheeler: In health care it’s about one person oftentimes dealing with the suffering of another and helping to help them feel whole. What would it take if we could do that for the whole community? Relieving the suffering of the whole community—that’s about love. It’s a big word, but it’s the right word for these times.

The full interview has been abridged for brevity.

said. “The DOC has the authority to release low risk and medically fragile prisoners…on a temporary basis until COVID-19 is over.”

Schnell claimed that if the legislature or the courts were willing to grant early release, he’d be willing to do it “all day long.”

Last month the Minnesota ACLU filed a class action lawsuit on the grounds that the DOC and Commissioner Schnell did not adequately protect incarcerated individuals from COVID-19 by failing to implement appropriate protocols to stop or slow virus transmission and denying medical release to high-risk individuals.

Nationally, several states have begun to reduce prison populations to limit the spread of COVID. New Jersey, for example, released 2,258 inmates earlier this month, the largest reduction of any state’s prison population.

Presently the DOC is working in conjunction with the Minnesota Department of Health on plans to mitigate the increase in COVID-19 cases. “We still need to do work so that the problem doesn’t get worse and so that the next several months isn’t a complete disaster in our prisons,” said Boehnke.

Prison super spreaders It’s not just the inmates that are seeing increases in COVID-19 numbers. Prison staff across Minnesota’s prisons are also seeing increasing positive cases.

Since the prisons have been on lockdown and in-person visits have been suspended, COVID-19 is entering Minnesota prisons with the people who are able to leave and return: correctional officers. “It is coming in with staff,” Schnell confessed.

“If you look at our staff, the risk is

challenges,” Schnell explained.

Both Ivy and Shaddai have said that correctional officers have told them that the pandemic is a “hoax.”

“They don’t take it seriously.

About 10 corrections officers have told me directly that COVID-19 was made to stop Donald Trump,” Ivy confirmed. “They don’t believe that it’s real, and when people think like that, when they leave [the prison] they aren’t social distancing or taking any form of precautions in the world because they don’t think it’s real.”

Apart from asymptomatic staff members bringing COVID-19 into prisons, Schnell

summer time the windows are open. Now all of a sudden the windows are closed, and we’re using a heating system that’s blowing air through these cells,” stated Schnell.

Inmates have noted the lack of air circulation within the prison during the pandemic.

“They found it fair to let the sick people out and then let [people who weren’t sick] out after them knowing that COVID-19 lingers in a building with bad ventilation and no open windows,” Shaddai explained.

Inmates aren’t mandated to wear masks within their cells.

As air is recycled and shared through the prison by the heat-

Early release a possible solution Most recently, the IWOC hosted a “Honk-In to Declare a COVID-19 Emergency in MN’s Prisons” event to put pressure on the Department of Health, Ombudsman Office, Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison to release inmates who have 18 months or less left on their sentences or are low risk and in medically fragile states.

Amudalat Ajasa welcomes reader “We want them to reduce their responses to aajasa@spokesmanpopulation enough so that they recorder.com. can social distance,” Boehnke

posed 2021 budget.

This action last week signaled to some that the council has backed away from their police reform demands in response to their constituents’ concerns over rising crime in their neighborhoods.

“I’m overall very disappointed” in last Friday’s vote, said Zola Richardson of Reclaim the Block. The organizer told the MSR, “I would really like to see those resources invested directly in the community, because it has been proven time and time again that police don’t solve anything.”

“The police force needs more help,” argued Bishop Richard Howell, whose Shi-

loh Temple International church is located on West Broadway in North Minneapolis. He told the MSR, “I stand with our chief [Medaria Arradondo]. He is asking for more help to build up his police force.”

Howell added that he’s afraid the combination of MPD officers’ departures amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in recent months is being taken advantage of by some. “I’m sure that the streets are understanding this lack of police on the street, so therefore I believe [those who are committing crimes] will continue their activity because who is going to stop

them,” noted the longtime Northside pastor.

Richardson nonetheless pointed out, “There are folks who believe that the physical presence of police makes them feel safer. That’s not true.”

“Without question,” continued Howell, “there is a lot more stress, unprecedented stress. Never have we seen anything like this [in our communities]… You can’t even calculate it. It’s uncalculable.”

Richardson said the “defunding the police” demands have been mischaracterized.

“I think defunding the police… [shows] how communities could invest in more hous-

ing opportunities, economic relief, and when people’s basic needs are met it solves so many problems.”

She fully supports “reallocating funds and investing directly into the community instead of hiring more officers. “I don’t think you can go wrong with that,” said Richardson.

Howell said that he refuses to blame city leaders for the crime spike. “I am not going to point fingers at the leadership now. We all like to blame somebody when something’s not right, but I think the leadership is trying to find the right pathway to bring resolution to these issues.”

“I think [last Friday’s] decision by the council…clearly [shows] who on the council moves with integrity and who doesn’t,” stressed Richardson.

“Who on the council is still rooted on radically imagining a safer city and the possibility of getting there, and who is still fixated and rooted in upholding an oppressive regime.”

Charles Hallman welcomes reader responses to challman@ spokesman-recorder.com.

6 November 19-25, 2020

Artwork honors George Floyd’s life, raises funds for nonprofit

By Dwight Hobbes Contributing writer George Floyd’s tragic death inspires a triumph as In Black Ink, Accession Projects, and celebrated, Minneapolis-based artist Harriet Bart collaborate on “Pleas/Please, 2020.”

“Since George Floyd’s death, the world has responded with outrage towards the systems," In Black Ink founding executive director Rehket Si-Asar said. "Many have gone further to seek out community organizations to lend support and donate funds.

“Because of the work In Black Ink has been missioned to do, we understood that we can never beg others to support this, but encourage them to see the value of it and then know that it must exist, hence lending their support,” Si-Asar said.

Accordingly, Ascension Projects has published “Pleas/ Please, 2020,” a limited-edition artwork by Bart, with 100% of the proceeds to benefit In Black Ink. In his last moments of life, Floyd said the word "please" over fifty times as he pleaded for a former Minneapolis police officer to release his knee from his neck so he could breathe.

Bart, moved by these pleas, cre-

Art piece that will be given as a gift to donors ated the artwork as a commemoration of Floyd’s life and as a collection of objects for contemplating the power of language.

“After the murder of George Floyd,” Bart noted, “it was inspiring to see masses of people, regardless of race, gender or generation come together under the banner of Black Lives Matter to demand change. It feels like we are in the midst of a cultural shift.

“As a visual artist, I know art can be a force for change.”

Bart continued. “I believe in the power of the written word [and] I often look to writers for inspiration. The edition ‘Pleas/ Please’ is part of my effort to support In Black Ink.” Bart is well-known for creating evocative content via object installations and artists' books.

Her work has been interna-

tionally exhibited with public art commissions in the United States, Japan, and Israel. She’s received fellowships from the Bush Foundation and McKnight Foundation and has been honored by the Minnesota State Arts Board. She also won three Minnesota Book Awards.

Accession Projects was established in January as an online launching platform for artists. Aaron Stempien, founder, stated, “In early June 2020, the Twin Cities—and the world— were starting to understand the gravity of George Floyd's murder. We were also at a very uncertain point of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Against this backdrop I wrote to Harriet Bart, ‘I've protested and donated and it still doesn't feel like an adequate contribution… I am now toy-

ing with the idea of publishing an edition of some kind, with proceeds going to charity.’

“In partnering with Harriet, my hope was that together we could make a bigger impact fighting injustice than either of us could on our own and, in the process, make human connections through the transformative power of art,” Stempien said. “Working with Harriet and Ink Black Ink has been a meaningful and poetic undertaking as all collaborators are

sive and encouraging to us. The coming together with Aaron from Accession Projects and Harriet was definitely a gift to In Black Ink and to the community.

“We love her representation of the ‘missing narratives’ and understand that she sees not just the problem, but part of the solution, which is to fill those voids of where we have been silenced with stories of who we are and were through her visual art.”

the world we hope others will see the work of In Black Ink as a vital part of changing the narrative about people of African descent locally and globally.”

This is all well and good, but social commitment doesn’t keep the lights on and these days organizations find themselves, more than ever, counting every dollar. “The uncertainty of [our] times,” Si-Asar said, “contributes to our vulnerability as an organization.”

Accordingly, since October 15, the public has supported the event, pitching in at the GiveMN site: www.givemn. org/story/Fsz8bf. The funding drive ends November 22, but late contributions are always welcome. An edition of Bart’s “Pleas/Please 2020” is a gift with a $100+ donation to In Black Ink (while supplies last).

For more information on In Black Ink, go to inblackink.org.

For more on “Pleas/Please Private tour by Harriet Bart for In Black Ink staff at the 2020,” go to www.accessionprojWeisman Museum ects.com/please-please2.

Photos courtesy of In Black Ink For more on Harriet Bart, go to www.harrietbart.com.

Si-Asar continued, “Aldeeply vested in publishing, equality, literacy, and creative though we are battling with the Dwight Hobbes welcomes readeffects and impact of COVID ers' responses to dhobbes@spokesexpression.”

Si-Asar recalled, “In meeting and the aftermath of the mur- man-recorder.com.

Harriet, her work of lending a der of George Floyd on the lives voice to the voiceless across all of people of African descent, communities was very impres- other marginalized people, and

Online gallery showcases artworks from People of Color Projects portray personal narratives, identity and societal issues The Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation (the Foundation) announced last week that artistic projects from “Art in This Present Moment,” a Foundation initiative supported by the McKnight Foundation, can now be viewed online. The online gallery showcases the art of members of Minnesota’s Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities across the state of Minnesota.

“We are honored to share the work of these talented artists,” said Eric J. Jolly, Ph.D., president and CEO of the Foundation.

“Historically, during challenging and turbulent times, artists have been on the forefront of expressing our community’s demand for change.

“Today, in the wake of COVID-19 and the aftermath of George Floyd’s tragic murder, Minnesota artists are continuing this tradition. It is imperative that we amplify their voices by supporting their work and, through

their work, foster understanding and healing during these challenging times.”

“Art in This Present Moment” features the work of 50 artists who worked in a range of disciplines over a six-week period.

Artists were selected by 12 Minnesota nonprofits. Each organization was granted $5,000 to support new or in-progress projects.

“The arts connect people,” said Lee Sheehy, interim president of the McKnight Foundation. “Support for artists, particularly those who build connections within and beyond BIPOC communities, is important as we strive to create a more equitable tomorrow. It is an honor to recognize and support these artists.”

The awarded artists and their projects include: • American Indian Housing Organization (AICHO) – A painted mural on a community center’s outdoor wall in Duluth’s Lincoln Park depicting Indigenous history through An-

ishinaabe symbolism by Moira Villiard and Michelle Defoe.

• Brownbody – A work-inprogress to score “Tracing Sacred Steps” by Thomasina and Charles Petrus, Tiyo Siyolo and composer Alex Shaw.

• Catalyst Arts – A collaborative Black/queer artists’ journey captured while traveling in an RV to follow their acting, writing and filmmaking dreams by Adja Gildersleve and Ashembaga Jaafaru.

• Don’t You Feel it Too? – Movement, conversation and personal transformation featuring three artists seeking to build community by Demetrius McClendon, Xiaolu Wang and Heather Peebles.

• Gizhiigin Arts Incubator – A collaboration of two artists— an Ojibwe basket maker and a fellow canvas artist—reflecting their shared artistic upbringing in the White Earth Nation by Clyde Estey, Jr. and Kent Estey.

• Indigenous Roots – In

Brownbody is one of 12 artists featured in “Art in This Present Moment.”

Courtesy of The Foundation partnership with Mischief Murals, a mural celebrating four Twin Cities multicultural women dancers painted in traditional regalia by Thomasina Topbear, Joy Slika, Holly (Miskitoos) Henning and Charles (Wanisin) Garcia, with student artists Simone Tinker, AF Kimble and Cheyenne Gill.

• Million Artist Movement – Two projects were created featuring a Power Tree square symbolizing the need to bring initiatives

together for liberation of Black people from artists who created the George Floyd vigil site; and, in support of the PI Growers Collective at Frogtown Farms, a living art installation based on food sovereignty created by Stephanie Watts, Alejandra C. (Tobar Alatriz), Malia Araki Burkart, Marie Michael, Mamkwe Ndosi, Miré Regulus and Signe V. Harriday.

• Monkeybear’s Harmolodic Workshop – A collaborative shadow puppet piece reflecting on stories from the uprising over George Floyd’s murder in the Twin Cities, created by Ty Chapman, Andrew Young, Rebekah Crisanta de Ybarra.

• Penumbra Theater – An original score for video written

by Haninibal Lokumbe, the company’s leading classical composer and jazz trumpeter, for a video tribute to George Floyd with contributing artists Brannen Temple, Reginald Carter, Jimmy Blazer, Colin Shook, Za’ Nia Sephra and Lou and Sarah Bellamy.

• Soomaal House of Art – A collective of creative work from four emerging Somali artists Khadijah Muse, Kaamil A. Haider, Mohamed Samatar and Mohamud Mumin • Truartspeaks – Krump, a street dance expressing emotions in a non-violent manner, was created and performed by artist Herb Johnson, III, and ceramicist Gabrielle Grier describes how her projects are filled with imagery, narrative and the essence of her identity.

• Walker West Music Academy – A song to bring empowerment and self-esteem while drawing people together by musician and Walker West instructor William E. Duncan.

For more info, and to view “Art in This Present Moment,” go to www.spmcf.org/art.

Information provided by Perception Ink.

Business Flower shop offers an oasis of scents, sights Bouquets By Carolyn

Black Business SPOTLIGHT hood at 920 Selby Ave. St. Paul.

The neighborhood has embraced her business and she’s thankful. “I’m so happy to be sitting on Bouquets By Carolyn (BBC) is this corner of Selby and Milton,” known as the first African Ameri- Smaller said. “I’m so happy to can woman-owned floral shop in be around the Black-owned busiSt. Paul. Shop owner Carolyn nesses.”

Smaller grew up in the historic Rondo neighborhood. Floral design sparked her interest when she attended a class with her friend.

“I did take a course over 30 years ago. I took it just for fun. I ended up loving it. I kept making flowers,” Smaller said.

She launched the full service According to Smaller, there wedding and floral shop in 1990.

“I used to be on Grand Ave. I was aren’t many Black-owned busithere for several years and they nesses around and support is asked me if I minded moving.” crucial. “The community needs She chose to move and continue Black businesses. Keep as many as we can. We need our own to her legacy.

Smaller initially began creat- survive.”

At BBC, everyone will find ing artificial floral arrangements.

Later on she expanded the a fragrant variety of beautiful product line and incorporated and couture flower arrangefresh flower bouquets. It was a ments. Smaller said, “My shop lucrative business move. She ex- is stocked with green plants, gifts, plained, “They started ordering flowers. Everything sells.” There right away. Customers helped are also rare and exotic flowers me sustain the business and kept available. She added, “I have all me alive. I have been very for- access to flowers. Birds of paratunate and blessed.” . Her fam- dise to oriental lily.”

Overall, there’s an array of ily has also been very supportive ever since she opened the first fresh flowers and one-of-a-kind gifts to choose from. Customers location.

In 2002, Bouquets by Carolyn have the option to order a single relocated to the Rondo neighbor- rose or an elaborate floral arBy Ashley Lauren Contributing writer

November 19-25, 2020

7

in an effort to create the most exquisite and eye-catching floral arrangements.

“Most rewarding aspect of business is that it’s still open,” Smaller said. “My customers like me being here.” She’s grateful that her customers are supportive and gracious. As a result, the business receives five-star reviews quite frequently. “I only send out fresh flowers, because you’re gonna hear from your customers,” Smaller said.

She added, “[It’s] really rewarding for me to be here. I hope I can last another five years.”

Like most small businesses, COVID-19 has impacted BBC. “At first I was keeping my door locked. They’d have to call and I’ll come to the door. Now my door is open—no mask, no service! I hear the pandemic is going to be worse and I can’t afford to “I’m so happy to be sitting on this corner of Selby and Milton.” get sick,” Smaller said. CustomPhoto by Ashley Lauren ers have been complying and anything.” showing a lot of support for her business.

She added, “I encourage cusDespite the coronavirus pandemic, business has ticked up in tomers to support Black busirecent months. “I was only doing nesses. It’s discouraging when four arrangements a day,” said you’re encouraged and then no Smaller, “but it went to 10 ar- one comes in. Stop in. I have gifts, rangements per day.” journals, aprons, pillows and tapCooperative economics has estry,” said Smaller. also helped BBC become successful. Smaller explained, “I For more info, go to www.boucouldn’t do it without the public. quetsbycarolyn.net or call 651-487They have really embraced me 8122. Store hours are Tuesdayright now. Because I’m a network Thursday, 10 am to 6 pm; Friday, 10 florist, I can send orders all over am to 5 pm and Saturday, 10 am to the United States.” Lately she’s 3 pm. been receiving and filling a lot of orders nationwide.

Ashley Lauren welcomes readers Smaller shared advice for up- responses to alauren@spokesmancoming entrepreneurs: “If you recorer.com. have a passion and want to open a business, take your time, look at what you really want to do.

Take your time, don’t rush into Photo courtesy of bouquetsbycarolyn.net

rangement. Delivery is available and orders must be at least $30.

Operating a floral business serves as an oasis and escape.

Smaller explained, “I keep from getting bored. I don’t like sitting at home. My husband passed a few years ago.” She added, “I do like arranging—that’s what kept me in business so long.”

Throughout the week, Smaller’s adult granddaughter helps out and fills orders. “I do have help. My granddaughter started when she was 11. Now she comes in every day of the week.

I couldn’t do it without her,” Smaller said. They work together

8 November 19-25, 2020

Social distancing not a problem for this restaurant Ted Cook’s 19th Hole BBQ

Black Business SPOTLIGHT

nity present itself?

MQ: I first [became associated with TC BBQ during the late 1980s] when I was hired part-time as a pitmaster to pay my way through college at the University of Minnesota. Then in 2001, I took [advantage of] an opportunity. [Quartey went into business for himself when he learned that TC BBQ was up for sale].

tions]. Plus, there will be less [customer] complaints if we provide quality products that taste right.

uct.

MSR: What is your best seller?

MQ: The pork ribs and rib tips are our top sellers, but we have a pretty good menu across the board.

MSR: Has your business been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and/or civil Recorder (MSR) caught up with

By Cathy Patterson unrest? owner Moses Quartey (MQ) for Contributing writer MQ: We now offer contactMSR: Do you own any other a Q&A session about his takefree deliveries or pick-ups out eatery and the lessons he’s businesses?

MQ: No, this is the only busi- through our continued partnerWhile many restaurants have learned during his nearly 20 ship with had to shift to take-out only de- years of experience as a small ness that I own.

Seamless [deliveries]. Otherlivery and curbside services to business owner. wise, it’s been business as usual, as our staff has always [maintained food safety, food handling, and sanitizing practices].

MSR: It seems like your business was tailor-made for these unusual times of social distancing.

MQ: That’s a fair statement.

MSR: What has been the most rewarding part of owning your business?

MQ: Waking up every day with job [security] because I can’t be fired.

MQ: Not to my knowledge.

MSR: What is the key to running a successful business for almost 20 years?

MQ: It’s important that I keep the standards of the original owner and hopefully make the [business] better than it was before I took over. Additionally, [building a loyal base of repeat customers] through word-ofmouth advertising.

MSR: What has been your biggest challenge in running your business?

MQ: Dealing with customers MSR: Did your business ex- sometimes gets to me, but I’ve perience any property damage been around long enough to during the weeks of protest and know that it’s different strokes rioting this past late May and for different folks. It’s all in how you handle customer [interacearly June?

MSR: What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs?

MQ: If your heart is not into it, don’t go into business. Running a business requires dedication and hard work. If you want your business to survive, you’ll need more than ownership and a [business] name. You cannot achieve success without putting in the time with hard work.

Cathy Patterson welcomes readers’ responses to cpatterson@spoksemanrecorder.com Ted Cook’s 19th Hole BBQ is located at 2814 E. 38th Street in South Minneapolis. For more info, call 612721-2023.

Obituary

Bruce Weston Sr.

Sunrise, March 29, 1951 — Sunset, November 13, 2020 MSR file photo safely remain open during the coronavirus, this hasn’t been the case for Ted Cook’s 19th Hole BBQ. The takeout-only restaurant found itself already wellsuited for the times. Originally established by Ted Cook, the eatery is known for its smoked barbeque and has been a staple in South Minneapolis for decades.

The Minnesota Spokesman-

MSR: Are you involved in the day-to-day business operations or do you prefer to work behind the scenes?

MQ: Every so often I work up front, but I prefer to work behind the scenes where I can oversee the [daily operations] to make sure that things get done and done right from the MSR: How did the opportu- [initial task] to the final prod-

MSR: What inspired you to become the owner of an established BBQ takeout restaurant?

MQ: I didn’t plan on owning a BBQ takeout restaurant someday, but I took advantage of an opportunity that presented itself at the right time.

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Bruce Andrew Weston Sr. of Minneapolis passed away Nov. 13, 2020 at the age of 69. He was preceded in death by mother Alice Sara White and father Robert Fisher; sisters Evelyn and Donna; aunt Ernestine, and cousin Missy. He is survived by his wife Gwen; daughters Tamika and Stephanie; sons Bruce, Darrell, and Jason; brother Dwayne; sisters Carmen, Eugenia Lynne, Teresa, Opal, and Cynthia; and many grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and cousins.

He was devoted and protective of family and friends. He was an excellent basketball player, pool player, and BBQ pit master. He loved bowling, fishing and camping. He was a Vikings and Chiefs fan. He attended Minneapolis Central High and culinary school. He was young at heart until the end.

He will be so missed by so many.

May he rest in peace!

Celebration of life will be held Saturday, Nov. 21, 1 pm at Estes Funeral Chapel, 2210 Plymouth Ave. North, Mpls., MN 55411. For virtual viewing go to estesfuneralchapel.com. Repast is at Hamel VFW, 1920 Hamel Road, Plymouth MN 55446.

Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder November 19, 2020

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Richard King Johnson

Sunrise, May 22, 1953 — Sunset, October 31, 2020 Richard King Johnson was born May 22, 1953 in Minneapolis to Dr. Thomas H. and Henrietta F. Johnson, Jr. In his youth, he was a member of St. Peters A.M.E Church Sunday School and the Youth Choir. At Washburn High School he was an athlete on the track team and the gymnastics team, graduating in 1971.

In 1975 he graduated from Morris Brown College in Atlanta, where he was a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. He attended the University of Kentucky Medical School. He was a passionate educator, often spending hours tutoring. In Los Angeles, CA. he taught middle and high school; he also taught at Morehouse College in Atlanta.

Richard was also an entrepreneur, focusing on educational ideas. He loved children, taking them to parks, museums and cultural events. He enjoyed genealogy, history, politics, reading, jazz, winter sports and baseball.

Richard passed away in Atlanta on Halloween 2020. He is in heaven having a spirited conversation with our mom and dad for as many hours as he would like. He was a beloved brother, uncle and a father-figure to his nephews and nieces. He was predeceased by his grandparents: Thomas H. (Iona) Johnson, Sr. of Crockett, TX. and Dr. Henry S. (Gertrude) Flagg of Tennille, GA.; and his parents: Dr. Thomas H. (Henrietta) Johnson, Jr. He is survived by his brothers and sisters: Thomas H. (Ivory) Johnson III of Irving, TX; Dr. Henry S. (Andrea) Johnson of Los Angeles, CA; Linda Johnson of Minneapolis; Sharon Johnson of Newark, NJ; and Beth (Charles) Balenger of Minneapolis; and by many nephews, nieces and cousins.

Richard Johnson virtual funeral: Saturday, November 21, 2020 at 1 pm CST https://zoom.us/j/91637394893?pwd=TDEramsvMG9zdm51YWhFRGlyWGFBUT09 Interment: May 22, 2021: Flagg Family Farm (Tennille, GA) Memorial preferences: Morris Brown Class of 1975 Washburn High School Class of 1971

Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder November 19, 2020

November 19-25, 2020

9

Thanksgiving community meals and deals If you’re grappling with food insecurity, you’re not alone. Due to the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, many people this year are looking for a little help to stay afloat. But there is help!

Below we’ve compiled a list of places to find community meals in the Twin Cities and beyond.

want the basket of food, you will be able to drive up and a basket will be placed in your car.

If you would like food and clothing, you will be able to park your car, go inside to pick out some clothing, and then drive around to pick up your basket. If you are coming inside, please know that masks will be required and there is a limited number of people allowed in the clothing room at one time.

For more info, go to bit.ly/ ThanksgivingRiverHeights

Thanksgiving for All Project The Ralph Reeder Food Shelf is giving away free turkeys with all the fixings throughout the entire month of November. To receive a tur- November 21 key, call the food shelf at 651Thanksgiving Dinner Pick-up 621-6280.

10 am - 1 pm @ 1301 10th Ave. N., Mpls.

November 19 The Phyllis Wheatley Community Center is hosting a Shiloh Cares Food Shelf Thanksgiving turkey distribuGrand Opening & Ribbontion at a drive-thru only event.

Cutting 10 am - 3 pm @ Shiloh Tem- Pre-registration is required. ple International Ministries, To register, contact Quanda M. Arch at quandaa@phyl1201 W. Broadway Mpls.

One hundred turkeys will liswheatley.org or call 612be given away on a first-come, 977-3261. first-served basis at the grand opening of the church’s Shi- NCBC Food Shelf Thanksgiving Box Giveaway loh Cares Food Shelf.

10 am - 2 pm, New CreFor more info, go to bit.ly/ ShilohCares or call 612-302- ation Baptist Church, 1414 E. 38th St., Mpls.

1463.

New Creation Baptist Church’s (NCBC) food shelf November 20 will be offering pre-packaged, grab-and-go Thanksgiving Thanksgiving Giveaway 2-9 pm @ River Heights boxes for community memVineyard, 6070 Cahill Ave. E., bers on a first-come, firstserved basis, while supplies Inver Grove Heights This annual giveaway will last.

For more info, visit Facelook a little different than in prior years. There will be two book.com/NCBCfoodshelf components to the event this year: a basket of food to make 1K Thanksgiving Giveaway 10 am - 4 pm @ 1220 Zane a Thanksgiving meal and also good used clothing. If you just Ave. N., Golden Valley

November 26 5th Annual Community Thanksgiving Meal 1-3 pm @ Fellowship Church, 707 Commerce Dr., Woodbury This event will offer a hot meal like in previous years, but instead of in-door dining, a grab-and-go model will be offered to community members due to the pandemic.

Registration is required to let organizers know how many meals are needed. Pick up your meal on Thanksgiving Day. For more info, go to https://bit.ly/LongfellowMeal Courtesy of MGN Bear Area Food Shelf, 1884 Whitaker St., White Bear Lake The Thanksgiving tradition Give A Gobble is back for another year of giving. This year’s food distribution will be held on two days: Monday, November 23 and Tues11th Annual Turkey Giveaway day, November 24 from 10 to 1 pm @ 2038 W. Broadway, 6:30 pm each day. Turkey and all the fixings for a healthy N., Mpls.

Tru Breed & Eternal Kingz Thanksgiving will be ready will once again give away for pick-up including a frozen free turkeys to community turkey along with the tradimembers. The giveaway gets tional sides, fresh produce underway at 1 pm until the and pie.

Sign up for the event by turkeys are gone. The event is sponsored by MN Freedom Nov. 24 at bit.ly/GiveAGobble2020 Fighters.

For more info, go to FaceNovember 26 book.com/TRUBREEDMC Yes, you read that right— Prism and One Minnesota are giving away 1,000 turkeys, complete with sides! This is a drive-thru pick-up event.

For more info, go to bit. ly/1KTurkeys

November 23 & 24 Give a Gobble Thanksgiving Food Distribution 10 am - 6:30 pm @ White

Moving from “Race” to “Culture” to “Creation”

Living in this world, we experience fragmentation, separation, and trauma. Engaging in paths toward social justice or political activism further fragments us as we attempt to create ‘systems’ change. We are learning all people have spiritual practices and resources to pull from their cultural communities that have the capacity to ground, guide, and anchor us as we perform our life’s work.

In September and October, the Cultural Wellness Center offered the training Cultural Self-Study: A Path to Moving from Race to Culture with over seventy participants with the support of ReCAST Minneapolis. Participants were part of Cultural Health & Wellness Directory and are cultural healers, practitioners, and clinicians. We live in a world where many people are having experiences of trauma, separation, and fragmentation. Training participants engaged in the process of cultural self-study that focuses on inner development. The purpose of this inner development is to produce knowledge and build community in order to create communities of healing that practice grounding spiritually and culturally.

These trainings were offered as a resource aimed at connecting the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color community to a network of culturally specific practitioners who provide mental health and healing services. The goals of the trainings are to promote cultural knowledge by partnering with cultural practitioners and clinicians who practice ways of healing from trauma. There is no charge for the training. These trainings were designed to increase the capacity of providers to understand stress and trauma and deepen their ability to foster healing and resiliency.

Cultural Self-Study: A Path to Moving from Race to Culture, explores two systems of thought: Western System of Thought Object Rationality Science Technology African System of Thought Spirituality Symbol Mythos Harmonium Participants engaged in a process of cultural self-study with an anchoring in African wisdom, inner development, empirical knowledge, community cohesion and generational continuity.

UPCOMING TRAINING (via ZOOM): December 3, 2020 For more information, please email INFO@CULTURALWELLNESSCENTER.ORG

Union Gospel Mission Thanksgiving Meal 11:30 am - 1:30 pm @ 435 University Ave. E., St. Paul The Mission plans to host

its annual Thanksgiving Day meal in the Chapel at the Men’s Campus. Safety measures will be in place. No RSVP required. All are welcome.

For more info, visit www. ugmtc.org.

J. Selby's 4th Annual Community Thanksgiving Meal 12- 4 pm @ J. Selby’s, 169 N. Victoria St., St. Paul Non-turkey eaters in the community can enjoy a free meal put on by vegan/vegetarian restaurant J. Selby’s— thanks to a donation from The Herbivorous Butcher. Food will be available for take-out only. Masks are required at pick-up.

For more info, visit bit.ly/ JShelbys

Community Dinner 3-6 pm @ Faith Deliverance Holiness Church, 1119 Morgan Ave. N., Mpls.

Start ANew, Faith Deliverance Holiness Church, Minnehaha Temple #129, Resource, To suggest or find more reJustice & Management and sources, visit msrewsonline.com.

Families of Color have joined forces to host a Thanksgiving dinner for the community. All are welcome to attend. Please remember to wear your mask.

Safety measures will be in place.

For more info, go to StartAnew MN.org or call 612389-0008.

From Display Ad Department/MN Spokesman-Recorder PHONE: 612-827-4021 FOR BILLING INQUIRIES & TEARSHEETS PLEASE CONTACT ACCOUNTING DEPT EMPLOYMENT DISPLAY SIZE: 3 COL X 9.5 INCHES = 28.5 RATE $42.00 PER COL. INCH TOTAL: $1197.00

Please proof, respond with email confirmation to display@spokesman-recorder.com.

10 November 19-25, 2020

BULLETIN

Celebrate family gatherings safely Stay at least 6 feet away from others who do not live with you • Remember that some people without symptoms may be able to spread COVID-19 or flu.

• Keeping 6 feet (about 2 arm lengths) from others is especially important for people who are at higher risk of getting very sick.

Traditional Thanksgiving gatherings with family and friends are fun but can increase the chances of getting or spreading COVID-19 or the flu. Follow these tips from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to make your Thanksgiving holiday safer.

The safest way to celebrate Thanksgiving this year is to celebrate with people in your household. If you do plan to spend

Wash your hands • W a s h hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.

• Keep hand sanitizer with Thanksgiving with people outside your household, take steps you and use it when you are unable to wash your hands. to make your celebration safer.

• Use hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.

Wear a mask • Wear a mask with two or more layers to stop the spread Attending a gathering Make your celebration safer. of COVID-19.

• Wear the mask over your In addition to following the nose and mouth and secure it steps that everyone can take to make Thanksgiving safer, take under your chin.

• Make sure the mask fits these additional steps while atsnugly against the sides of your tending a Thanksgiving gathering. face.

• Bring your own food, drinks, plates, cups, and utensils.

• Wear a mask, and safely store your mask while eating and drinking.

• Avoid going in and out of the areas where food is being prepared or handled, such as in the kitchen.

• Use single-use options, like salad dressing and condiment packets, and disposable items like food containers, plates, and utensils.

Hosting a Thanksgiving gathering If having guests to your home, be sure that people follow the steps that everyone can take to make Thanksgiving safer. Other steps you can take include: • Have a small outdoor meal with family and friends who live in your community.

• Limit the number of guests.

• Have conversations with guests ahead of time to set expectations for celebrating together.

• Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces and items between use.

• If celebrating indoors, make sure to open windows.

• Limit the number of people in food preparation areas.

• Have people share recipes and show their turkey, dressing, or other dishes they prepared.

Watch television and play games with people in your household • Watch Thanksgiving Day parades, sports, and movies at Thanksgiving travel Travel increases your chance home.

• Find a fun game to play. of getting and spreading COVID-19. Staying home is the best way to protect yourself and oth- Shopping • Shop online sales the day ers. after Thanksgiving and days If you do travel • Check travel restrictions leading up to the winter holidays. before you go.

• Use contactless services for • Get your flu shot before purchased items, like curbside you travel.

• Always wear a mask in pick-up.

• Shop in open air markets public settings and on public staying 6 feet away from others. transportation.

• Stay at least 6 feet apart from anyone who is not in your Other activities • Safely prepare traditional household.

• Wash your hands often or dishes and deliver them to family and neighbors in a way that use hand sanitizer.

• Avoid touching your mask, does not involve contact with others (for example, leave them eyes, nose, and mouth.

• Bring extra supplies, such on the porch).

• Participate in a gratitude as masks and hand sanitizer. activity, like writing down things you are grateful for and Consider other Thanksgiving sharing with your friends and activities • Host a virtual Thanksgiv- family. ing meal with friends and fam—Information and graphics proily who don’t live with you • Schedule a time to share a vided by the CDC. meal together virtually.

• Have guests bring their own food and drink.

• If sharing food, have one person serve food and use single-use options, like plastic utensils.

Hennepin County accepting applications for citizen advisory board

Greater Friendship Missionary Baptist Church

Worship Mount Olivet Missionary Baptist Church

Bethesda Baptist Church

Rev. Dr. Billy G. Russell, Sr. Pastor

Rev. Arthur Agnew, Pastor

Rev. James C. Thomas, Pastor

451 West Central

St. Paul, MN 55103 651-227-4444

Church School 9:30 am Morning Worship 8:00 & 10:45 am Prayer Service:

Wednesday 7 pm "Welcome to

Mt. Olivet Baptist Church"

At the Old Landmark 1118 So. 8th Street Mpls., MN 55404 612-332-5904

www.bethesdamnonline.com bethesdamn@prodigy.net Sunday Service Times: Early Morning Service 9 am Sunday School 10 am Sunday Worship 11:30 am Wednesday Prayer Meeting, 6 pm Adult Bible Class 7 pm Children's Bible Class 7 pm

2600 E. 38th Street Minneapolis, MN 55408 www.greatfriend.org Phone: 612.827.7928 Fax: 612.827.3587 info@greatfriend.org Sundays 8:00am Sunday School 9:30am Worship Service The Friendly Church Where Everybody Is Somebody

Pilgrim Baptist Church Rev. Doctor Charles Gill 732 W. Central Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 Sunday Worship Service: 9:45 AM Sunday School: 8:45 AM

Hennepin County Board is inviting community members to help shape policy by volunteering for citizen advisory board positions through its annual open appointment process.

Each fall, the board accepts applications from residents interested in volunteer service positions on advisory boards, commissions, councils and special task forces. Appointees advise commissioners and help set policy on a variety of topics. Appointments to these positions will be made during the first quarter of 2021.

Current openings ● Adult Mental Health Local Advisory Council – five vacancies ● Community Action Partnership (CAP) – two vacancies for local, elected officials ● County Extension Committee (University of Minnesota Extension) – one vacancy ● Library Board – three vacancies

● Lower Minnesota River Watershed District Board– two vacancies ● Minnehaha Creek Watershed District Board – two vacancies ● Mental Commitment Attorney Panel Advisory Board – one vacancy for citizen attorney ● Three Rivers Park District – one vacancy ● Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Board – six vacancies Application process ● Now through December 31 – apply at hennepin.us/advisoryboards. ● Starting January or February 2021 – the county board will conduct interviews. ● First quarter of 2021 – the county board will appoint volunteers to the positions.

–Information provided by Hennepin County.

November 19-25, 2020

Legals

Employment

STATE OF MINNESOTA COUNTY OF HENNEPIN

DISTRICT COURT FOURTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT

Court File Number 27-CV-20-13986 Case Type: Consumer Credit Contract Wings Financial Credit Union, successor of City-County Federal Credit Union by merger, Plaintiff, v.

SUMMONS Saed A. Abdi, Defendant.

THIS SUMMONS IS DIRECTED TO SAED A. ABDI. 1. YOU ARE BEING SUED. The Plaintiff has started a lawsuit against you.

The Plaintiff’s Complaint against you is attached to this Summons or is filed with the Court. Do not throw these papers away. They are official papers that affect your rights. You must respond to this lawsuit even though it may not yet be filed with the Court and there may be no court file number on this summons.

2. YOU MUST REPLY WITHIN 21 DAYS TO PROTECT YOUR RIGHTS. You must give or mail to the person who signed this summons a written response called an Answer within 21 days of the date on which you received this Summons. You must send a copy of your Answer to the person who signed this summons located at: Lee W. Mosher, Attorney for Plaintiff 1120 East 80th Street, Suite 111 Bloomington, Minnesota 55420.

3. YOU MUST RESPOND TO EACH CLAIM. The Answer is your written response to the Plaintiff’s Complaint. In your Answer you must state whether you agree or disagree with each paragraph of the Complaint. If you believe the Plaintiff should not be given everything asked for in the Complaint, you must say so in your Answer.

4. YOU WILL LOSE YOUR CASE IF YOU DO NOT SEND A WRITTEN RESPONSE TO THE COMPLAINT TO THE PERSON WHO SIGNED THIS SUMMONS. If you do not Answer within 21 days, you will lose this case. You will not get to tell your side of the story, and the Court may decide against you and award the Plaintiff everything asked for in the complaint. If you do not want to contest the claims stated in the complaint, you do not need to respond. A default judgment can then be entered against you for the relief requested in the complaint.

5. LEGAL ASSISTANCE. You may wish to get legal help from a lawyer.

If you do not have a lawyer, the Court Administrator may have information about places where you can get legal assistance. Even if you cannot get legal help, you must still provide a written Answer to protect your rights or you may lose the case.

6. ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION. The parties may agree to or be ordered to participate in an alternative dispute resolution process under Rule 114 of the Minnesota General Rules of Practice. You must still send your written response to the Complaint even if you expect to use alternative means of resolving this dispute.

THIS IS A COMMUNICATION FROM A DEBT COLLECTOR. Dated: October 29, 2020.

/s/ Lee W Mosher Lee W. Mosher Attorney License Number 007570X 1120 East 80th Street, Suite 111 Bloomington, MN 55420 Telephone 952-777-4253 Attorney for Plaintiff

From Classified STATE OF MINNESOTA OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE Department/MN Spokesman-Recorder Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 333

MINNESOTA SPOKESMAN-RECORDER 3744 4th Ave. South • Minneapolis, MN 55409 Phone: 612-827-4021 • Fax: 612-827-0577

Tracey Williams-DillarD

cecil e. NeWmaN

Publisher/CEO

Founder-Publisher 1934-1976

Wallace (Jack) JackmaN Co-Publisher Emeritus

l auNa Q. NeWmaN CEO/Publisher 1976-2000

Norma JeaN Williams Vice President Emeritus

Senior Editor Jerry Freeman

Account Representatives Cecilia Viel

Community Editor Mel Reeves

Contributing Writers

Digital Editor Paige Elliott

Dr. Deirdre Golden

Desktop Publisher Jennifer Cherrier

Dr. Clarence Hightower

Contributing Photographers

Abeni Hill

Onika Nicole Craven

Dwight Hobbes

Steve Floyd

Tiffany Johnson

Chris Juhn

Brandon Jones

Travis Lee

Dr. Charles E. Crutchfield III Aleezeh Hasan

Customer Service Representative Keisha Holmes Vice President of Strategic Planning John Jamison

Tony Kiene

Abdi Muhommed Monica Zorilla Sports Writers Larry Fitzgerald Charles Hallman Dr. Mitchell P. McDonald

Juliet Mitchell Khymyle Mims

MEMBER ASSOCIATIONS

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INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER last week was the first Division I conference to cancel all sports for the 2020-21 year. MEAC Continued from page 12 member Bethume-Cookman The HOF coach sadly pre- after its media day announced dicts this will eventually take a last month that the school was toll on the players. “We are going opting out of the 2020-21 athletic to see the effects [on] our young season because of the pandemic.

Bethume-Cookman AD people. I feel bad for them.”

“It’s drawn us closer” as a Lynn Thompson summed up team, said Georgetown WBB current concerns: “The sudden Coach James Howard on his COVID spikes have raised a ton team’s way of dealing with life of eyebrows.” in the age of COVID. Charles Hallman welcomes “I hope this is not the new normal,” added St. John MBB reader responses to challman@ spokesman-recorder.com.

Coach Mike Anderson.

So far normalcy in sports is far from returning. The Ivy League

The Mistletones

ASSUMED NAME:

PRINCIPAL612-827-4021 PLACE OF BUSINESS: 720 Washington Ave S PHONE:

Minneapolis MN 55415 United States

NAMEHOLDER(S): FOR BILLING Name: Address: INQUIRIES Christina Marlene Case 720 Washington Ave S Apt. 206 Minneapolis MN 55415 & TEARSHEETS United States PLEASE CONTACT If you submit an attachment, it will be incorporated into this document. If the ACCOUNTING attachment conflicts withDEPT the information specifically set forth in this document, this document supersedes the data referenced in the attachment.

SUMMONS By typing my name, I, the undersigned, certify that I am signing this document as the$200 person whose signature is required, or as agent of the FLAT RATE

person(s) whose signature would be required who has authorized me to sign this document on his/her behalf, or in both capacities. I further certify that I have completed all required fields, and that the information in this document is true and correct and in compliance with the applicable chapter of Minnesota Statutes. I understand that by signing this document I am subject to the penalties of perjury as set forth in Section 609.48 as if I had signed this document under oath.

SIGNED BY: Christina Marlene Case MAILING ADDRESS: 720 Washington Ave S Apt. 206 Minneapolis MN 55415 EMAIL FOR OFFICIAL NOTICES: cmcase33@gmail.com FILED 10/20/2020 11:59 PM

Steve Simon Secretary of State

Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder November 19 & 26, 2020

STATE OF MINNESOTA COUNTY OF HENNEPIN

DISTRICT COURT FOURTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT FAMILY COURT CASE TYPE: CUSTODY

In re the Custody of A.D.A. (DOB: 01/31/2003) Concepcion Alonzo Vail File No. 27-FA-20-5687 Petitioner, and Luciano Diaz Ramos SUMMONS Respondent.

THE STATE OF MINNESOTA TO THE ABOVE-NAMED RESPONDENT, LUCIANO DIAZ RAMOS, ADDRESS UNKNOWN: YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED AND REQUIRED to serve upon Petitioner’s attorney an answer to the Complaint which is herewith served upon you, within twenty (20) days after the service of this Summons upon you, exclusive of the day of service.

If you fail to do so, judgment by default will be taken against you for the relief demanded in the Paternity Complaint.

Dated: October 7, 2020

Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder November 19 & 26 and December 3, 2020

SOe

11

RANDEN, CHAKIROV & GROTKIN LLC Rebecca A. Randen, I.D. No. 396082 On behalf of Volunteer Lawyer's Network Kara Rieke, I.D. No. 339489 Volunteer Lawyer's Network 600 Nicollet Mall, Suite 390A Minneapolis, MN 55402 rebecca@rcglawoffice.com kara.rieke@vlnmn.org (612) 281-2151 (612) 752-6649 ATTORNEYS FOR PETITIONER

Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder November 12, 19, & 26, 2020

From Classified Executive Director Department/MN Spokesman-Recorder On behalf of our client, Plymouth Christian Youth Center PHONE: 612-827-4021 (PCYC), CohenTaylor Executive Search Services is conductFOR BILLING ing a retained executive search for its Executive Director. To INQUIRIES apply, please send your resume to PCYC@cohentaylor.com. & TEARSHEETS PLEASE CONTACT ACCOUNTING DEPT LEGAL ASSISTANT – HOUSING ASSUMED NAMELegal Aid. Mpls office. Info at Mid-Minnesota FLAT RATE $150.00 www.mylegalaid.org/employment.

2 WEEK RUN

PreP

just stopped,” Prioleau said.

Please proof, respond with email to dis play “Not sureconfirmation why that happened.” spokesman-recorder.com Then in March, a chance conContinued from page 12 versation at the girls’ state tournament with AAU Coach Tyler LSU. “It has been quite the journey,” Coley—whose daughter Kendsaid Lori Prioleau, Buford’s all Coley of St. Louis Park recentmother, who has been a mentor ly signed with the University of since Ugass started playing bas- Nebraska—changed everything.

We just got to talking,” Prioleketball for the Summit University Girls Athletics Association (SUG- au said. “Ty used his connections AA) AAU team as a sixth grader. to help put the word out. People “I’m so proud of her.” started showing interest again, To date, Ugass has had a ca- and here we are.” reer anyone would be proud of.

Now Ugass is getting ready to From Classified She started as a seventh grader play her final prep season at RosDepartment/MN at St. Paul Highland Park, where eville with new Coach Tanysha Spokesman-Recorder she averaged 7.3 points per game Scott, who leads an all-female Afthat season612-827-4021 and 12 in eighth rican American staff that includes PHONE: grade. assistants Ashley Ellis-Milan (St. Highland Park Coach Deb Paul Central, University of MinFOR BILLING Williams knew that Ugass could nesota) and Danielle Ellison INQUIRIES become a special player.

“I saw (St. Paul Central, St. Cloud State & TEARSHEETS her potential right away,” said University), Sadiqah Jihad (MinPLEASE CONTACT Williams, who was in attenneapolis South, Valley City State ACCOUNTING DEPT dance last Wednesday. “I’m not University), and former Augssurprised at where she is in her burg University standouts Azia SUMMONS career right now,” FLAT RATE $200 she continued. Wilson (DeLaSalle) and Camryn “I’m very happy for her.”

Speese (DeLaSalle).

After eighth grade, Ugass’ Scott graduated from DeLafamily moved, and she continued Salle in 2001 and went on to star her career at Roseville Senior. She at the University of Minnesotaaveraged nine points and 10.5 Duluth, leading her prep alma points respectively as a freshman mater to the Class 3A title in 2019. and sophomore, during which She expressed excitement about she reached the 1,000-point mark, the upcoming season with Ugass and had a breakout junior season leading the way. last year with 15 points and 11 re“Tamia has a tremendous skill bounds per game. set,” she said. “She has an opUgass most recently played portunity to have a great season.

AAU ball on a Minnesota Stars I’m looking forward to coachteam coached by Josh Hersch. ing her.”

Her career marks going into this season are 1,446 points and 1,235 Dr. Mitchell Palmer McDonrebounds. Even with those ac- ald welcomes reader responses to complishments, there were not mcdeezy05@gmail.com. many school showing interest.

“Minnesota and Wisconsin were showing interest and then

12

November 19-25, 2020

U.S. the biggest loser!

Fitz Beat Larry FitzgeraLd

I

t's not even close: The year 2020 will go down in history as one of the most turbulent ever. It’s the year we found out about the coronavirus in March that started a pandemic, our first since 1918. Our president, Donald Trump, ignored it although he knew about it in January. He has not only failed in leadership and destroyed our standing around the world; he also divided our country, wrecked the Republican Party, and fueled racism beyond normal.

He has most White people believing that minorities are the enemy. They are the reason that America is being taken away from the majority race by the mixing of races. Blacks, Mexicans and others are on a mission to be treated as equals. The only way to make America great again is to dominate the U.S. race war, build his wall in the South to close the borders to deny citizenship and to deport DACAs. All this after turning his back on the spread of COVID-19 by refusing to promote the importance of wearing masks and social distancing, even though he himself and his wife have had the virus. The White House has several staff members who have also tested positive. He's convincing his 84 million followers

on Twitter with lies and using the FOX Network to support him.

He has convinced more than 71 million Americans that the presidential election he lost to Joe Biden was stolen from him, and many if not most of them are supporting this distortion. He is challenging with false claims of voter fraud. He is building a revolt across the U.S. to support his refusal to surrender the White House.

He lost the election 306-232 in the Electoral College to Democrat Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the first Black/Asian woman vice president in American history. Again the Democratic Party used a mixed ticket to regain the presidency. Biden/Harris have 78,789,112 votes to Trump / Pence 73,012,320. That's almost a margin of six million votes.

Trump continues to make false claims of voter fraud and widespread cheating while he clings to believing he's the president for life. He's doing it while 245,000 Americans have died since March and now over 10,500,000 positive cases of COVID-19 with numbers surging all over the United States. The United States of America, thanks to Trump, has become the biggest loser.

Larry Fitzgerald is a longstanding contributing columnist at the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.

He can be heard weekday mornings on KMOJ Radio 89.9 FM at 8:25 am, on WDGY-AM 740 Monday and Friday at 9:10 am, and at www.

Gamedaygold.com. He also commentates on sports 7-8 pm on “Almanac” (TPT channel 2). Follow him on Twitter at FitzBeatSr. Larry welcomes reader responses to info@ larry-fitzgerald.com, or visit www.

Larry-Fitzgerald.com.

Potential 2020 NBA Draft picks ‘look awfully impressive’ 19-year-old. “Wiseman is like a 7-1 Chris Bosh-type player,” said Bilas.

• LaMelo Ball, 6’-6”, who played overseas after 2½ years of high school ball: “I like Ball because of his playmaking ability and his court vision,” said Kelser.

“The one thing he doesn’t do is shoot it. That’s got to improve,” added Bilas.

Given its checkered draft history, can Minnesota screw this one up?

“This is an exciting day for our franchise,” predicted Wolves President of Basketball Operations Gersson Rosas in an earlier conference call with reporters, including the MSR. “There’s a ton of diligence that we’re doing,” added Wolves Assistant Joe Branch GM Joe Branch.

Courtesy of Timberwolves Minnesota hired Branch in September 2019 after seven • Anthony Edwards, 6’5”, Georgia: “I think Anthony Edwards is the most talented player,” says Bilas. “The issue with Edwards is [his] understanding the game… He should be an outstanding defender and he has not been.” Kelser added, years as a players agent. This is “Put it in his hands and he can fill his first draft as a team executive, and we asked him to reflect on it. it up.”

• James Wiseman, 7’-1”, “It is very interesting to be on the Memphis: “You can’t deny the other side to see how thorough kid’s skills,” said Kelser of the our front office is in our evaluaadded, “There’s a lot of ‘I don’t knows’ included in the draft, or ‘I’m not sure.’ We can flip a coin on the top three and it could really be in any order, and you’re not going to scratch your head.”

The first three probable picks Wednesday, in any particular order, are:

T

he first-ever virtual NBA Draft is most likely history by the time you are reading this. Minnesota was expected to pick first for only the second time in franchise history on Wednesday Nov. 18.

Personally I stopped years ago following NBA drafts, directing instead my energies on WNBA drafts because the women’s names are more recognizable as opposed to the men.

But because this year’s draft is unique due to COVID-19, we asked folk to give us their predraft expert analysis.

“I don’t know if you can say there’s a clear-cut, standout, can’t-miss individual out there,” admitted Detroit Pistons Analyst Greg Kelser, himself a top NBA pick (fourth overall, 1979). “But there are some real good players.

They look awfully impressive.”

ESPN Analyst Jay Bilas, a 1986 fifth-round draft pick,

“Put it in his hands and he can fill it up.”

tion of players,” said Branch.

There also were several Minnesotans in this year’s draft. 6’-9” Daniel Oturu, who left Minnesota after two seasons, was projected as an early second-round pick.

Tre Jones (Apple Valley) also left Duke after his sophomore year. “Tre Jones will be taken in the top 20, top 25,” predicted Bilas. “He’ll be a really good NBA guard because he plays at both ends of the floor.”

Tyrell Terry (Minneapolis) opted for the draft after his freshman year at Stanford and is projected as a late first-round pick.

“The reason why I chose to leave [school early] was I’ve seen how much I improved since my freshman year in high school,” the De La Salle grad told the MSR, “and made tremendous jumps every year. The biggest thing that will make me successful is my shooting and my passing, but I think it’s my IQ and having a great ability to read the game [that] I think will bring a lot of success and allow me to read the game the right way.”

Charles Hallman welcomes reader responses to challman@ spokesman-recorder.com.

Ugass achieves goal, signs with LSU PreP Scene Dr. Mitchell PalMer McDonalD

Dee Buford made it clear that Roseville Senior High School student-athlete Tamia Ugass’ goal was to earn a Division I women’s basketball scholarship.

“It’s been her goal ever since she started playing,” said Buford, a volleyball and basketball standout at St. Paul Central and University of St. Thomas during the 2000s who has served as a mentor to the senior since she

was in sixth grade. “It was her goal from the beginning.”

The 6’3” forward reached her goal last Wednesday when she signed a National Letter of Intent to play basketball at Louisiana State University (LSU) with her friends, family and coaches looking on at the school where she has played the last three seasons.

LSU women’s basketball

coach Nikki Fargas was complimentary of Ugass in announcing the Tiger’s 2020 signing class last Thursday.

“Tamia will bring a strong presence in the paint with a solid mid-range game. She has great hands around the rim and can be a great finisher in our transition game."

One might wonder how Ugass ended up signing with

College hoops preview (we hope)

C. Vivian Stringer College basketball is set to start as early as next week, but many schools still don’t have their 2020-21 season schedules in place. “We are supposed to have games,” admitted Rutgers Coach C. Vivian Stringer during last week’s Big Ten WBB virtual media day. “But so many things have been happening. All of us are shaking our heads and don’t know.”

Minnesota’s 2020-21 schedule has yet been finalized.

“We’ve made it through this point,” Coach Lindsay Whalen said. “We are looking forward to the season, whatever that looks like. We’re thrilled that we are practicing.”

Due to life these days amidst a pandemic, the MSR recently attended several media days for the first time without leaving home, including the Big East and the Mid-Eastern Athletic

ed Delaware State MBB Coach Erik Skeeters.

Howard Coach Kenneth Blakeney, whose Bisons are picked to finish third, simply pointed out, “We’re a team coming off a 4-29 season. I don’t think the expectations are realistic. We have a young team of guys with a lot of potential and a lot of talent, but they never done it [at the collegiate level]."

Sports nonetheless are remarkably different these days due to COVID-19. “The number-one opponent in 2020-21 is COVID-19,” declared South Carolina State MBB Coach Murray Garvin.

Stringer reaffirmed that she, MSR file photo her coaches and her players had to quickly adjust to new routines Conference (MEAC), one of the due to health and safety connation’s top HBCU conferences cerns. “There’s few touching,” she explained. “I like to hug our that is celebrating its 50th year.

Big East Commissioner Val players, but we stand at a disAckerman said that the confer- tance. It seems so cold.

“I like to hug our players, but we stand at a distance. It seems so cold.” ence “will do our level best to present a season.”

Although he hasn’t yet played a college game, Howard 6’-11” freshman Makur Maker was the rave of this year’s MEAC joint MBB/WBB media day last month. He is the first five-star recruit to commit to an HBCU and is the only freshman on the all-league preseason first team.

“Maker coming into the league is a game changer for the conference and basketball,” not-

“We didn’t have a summer,” continued Stringer on the normal off-season of individual and small group skill development work that was put on hold due to the pandemic. Added to this, the players’ normal campus life has been turned upside down due to mandatory social distancing and on-line classes.

Their social life has been virtually nonexistent because few if any students are on campus.

■ See SOE on page 11

(l-r): Roseville Girls’ Basketball Coach Tanysha Scott, senior Tamia Ugass, assistant coach Danielle Ellison, and assistant coach Ashley Ellis-Milan Photo by Dee Buford ■ See Prep on page 11