Issue # 505
TH E
AF R IC A N
JANUARY 17-23,2022
C OM MU NIT Y
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NE W S PAP E R
MINNEAPOLIS MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL ARE SWORN IN Council for first time in history is majority people of color
PHOTO: ELIZABETH FLORES
STAFF REPORT PAGE 6
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January 17 - 23, 2022 Issue 505
presents
Brooklyn Park City Council East District
In-person Live Candidate Forum January 20, 2022 | 6:30pm – 8:00pm Confirmed Participating Candidates:
Abraham Bah
Xp Lee
Benjamin Osemenam
LaDawn Severin
Livestream the forum on Facebook: facebook.com/MshaleNews facebook.com/3HMONGTVNEWS facebook.com/INSIGHT-NEWS-145233765561468 facebook.com/SOMTVMN facebook.com/groups/BrooklynParkHighlights
Moderated by Cynthia Simba, Mshale Reporter
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Guest Commentary by Roger Caldwell
2022 will be a great year for Blacks and people of color in America With the election of President Biden and Vice President Harris, they have quickly delivered for the American people, while helping our country recover from a pandemic, and an economic crisis. It is very easy for the Republicans to talk about what the Biden team has done wrong, but with the passing of the American Rescue Plan, and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, their first year in office has been extremely successful. These two pieces of legislation will rebuild the economy and put money in the pockets of hard-working American families. Many businesses received stipends from the government, and many Americans were able to keep their businesses in the black and afloat. The American Rescue Plan was passed in March 2021, and it provided stimulus aid for families, state, local areas, and Tribal nations. Many have forgotten the $1,400 stimulus check every family got for each family member and the expanded tax credit for each child. President Biden and the Democrats delivered big for America, but everyone has appeared to have forgotten, especially the Republicans. The economy under President Biden is doing extremely well, and the Democrats must blow their horn loud and clear. “Today, America is the only leading economy in the world where household incomes and the economy as a whole are stronger than they were before the pandemic, even accounting for price increases,” says President Biden. When Americans look at the president’s cabinet there is a diversity of people of color, which is an accurate representation of the country. This is the first reason that in 2022 Blacks and people of color will operate and grow successfully: because the economic track record is the strongest in 50 years. When leadership reflects people of color, America is in a better place for opportunity and progressive ideas for Black people. Whether you’re looking forward to them, or dreading them, the midterm elections will take place in November 2022. There will be more Blacks and people of color running for office than ever before in the history of America, and there will be more millions in circulation, than ever before. In Florida, Val Deming’s campaign will raise over $60 million dollars and other races
Join the Mshale Text Club: Text AFRICA to 24587 or follow us onTwitter.com/Mshale Community News, updated daily on Mshale. com © 1995-2022 Mshale Communications, Inc. Mshale – The African Community Newspaper Editorial & Corporate Office: 2 E Franklin Ave., Suite 1 Minneapolis, MN 55404 Mailing Address: P.O.BOX 80071, Minneapolis, MN 55408 Tel: 612-454-5648 Email: mshale@mshale.com www.mshale.com President & Publisher: Tom Gitaa Contributing Editor: Edwin Okong’o Staff Writers: Kari Mugo, Bethel Gessesse, Cynthia Simba Contributing Writers: Susan Budig Design & Layout: Staff Photographers: Richard Ooga, Bethel Gessesse Distribution: Bluebird
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of color will raise between 10 to 50 million dollars. The opportunity for Black public relations companies, campaign jobs, the Black Media, will be tremendous, with an opportunity to make millions of dollars. In entertainment Black companies will be given more opportunities to grow their companies and make millions of dollars in 2022. Black professional sports figures, which are making millions of dollars already, will start investing their money with other Black sports and entertainment millionaires and build major corporations, which will operate nationally and internationally. As Blacks in America build major corporations, they will start to invest their money in Africa –The motherland. 2022 will be an exceptional year for Blacks and Africans on many different levels, and the opportunities will expand and grow exponentially. Buying Black in 2022 will become a grassroots campaign for Blacks in America, and the fight for social, racial, and economic equity will bring Black organization and communities together. Young Black college students will take leaderships roles in political campaigns and will create change. 2022 will be a transformational year for Blacks and people of color, and we will create a new order with the national protection of voting rights, and labor reforms. Vice President Harris as the first woman and the first woman of color in that office, will create new political power, and empower workers to take collective action in the workplace. Finally, the Black Family will come together, because we are only as great as the Black family is together. So now pick up the phone, resolve family issues, and remember to Love… The author is a National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) news contributor. NNPA is a trade association of the more than 200 Black-owned community newspapers from around the United States.
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January 17 - 23, 2022 Issue 505
Sorrow, grief shatter Bronx community after deadly fire By Bobby Caina Calvan, Robert Bumsted and Noreen Nasir Associated Press
Sorrow welled across a Bronx community Monday, a day after a fire and choking smoke engulfed a high-rise apartment building and claimed the lives of 17 people, eight of them children. As survivors recalled the frantic chaos of their escape, bereft family and friends of those who perished coped with shock, disbelief and pain. “Some people don’t even know that their loved ones are gone,” said Fathia Touray, speaking to The Associated Press from her home in the United Arab Emirates. Her mother and siblings lived on the building’s third floor, where the fire started. One sister was rushed to a hospital, but is now in stable condition. The rest of her immediate family escaped. Mayor Eric Adams said Monday morning that several people were still in critical condition after a malfunctioning space heater sparked the city’s deadliest fire in three decades. Renee Howard, 68, became emotional as she spoke about the lives lost. “I’ve never experienced such devastation. My neighbors died,
People prepares donations at Gambian Youth Organization near the apartment building in the Bronx on Monday, Jan. 10, 2022, in New York. Doctors are working to save the lives of several people gravely injured when smoke from a fire knocked them out or trapped them in their apartments in the New York City high-rise building. Photo: Yuki Iwamura/AP
children died — I don’t understand, I don’t understand,” she said as she broke into sobs.
“I don’t remember all their names right now,” she said, before rattling off a few, including one boy who she described as having “such beautiful angelic eyes.” All those lives, she said, were “snatched away in a second.” She joined other residents, surviving family and strangers alike in prayer Monday to console the grieving. At Masjid-ur-Rahmah, a mosque just a few blocks from the apartment building, more than two dozen people came together in solidarity. Many of those who pray at the mosque live in the building. About a dozen women wept inside the mosque, mourning the loss of three young children in the fire. Members of the congregation weren’t sure about whether the children’s parents’ survived, and many family members feared the worst. “To God we belong and to God we return,” said the mosque’s imam, Musa Kabba, who urged
congregants to be patient while awaiting news about loved ones. Many who lived at the apartment complex had formed a closeknit community, and soon word spread about who might have died amid the smoke and fire. “I’m so sorry for the people that lost their children and their mothers because we all are one. And for this to happen, it’s horrible,” said Tysena Jacobs, a building resident. Mahamadou Toure struggled to find the words outside a hospital emergency room, hours after the fire took the life of his 5-year-old daughter and her teenage brother. “Right now my heart is very …,” Toure tried to tell the Daily News, before composing himself. “It’s OK. I give it to God,” he continued. Neighborhood residents, Johanna Bellevue among them, donated clothes and other necessities to survivors. “Baby clothes, baby food, books, jackets, sneakers, whatever I can,” Bellevue said. “I can’t do much but what I have.”
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At an assistance center set up at Monroe College, Stefan Beauvogui and his wife went through rooms of clothes and household goods. Beauvogui has lived in the building for about seven years, he said. He and his wife were in their apartment on the 4th floor along with their 6- and 9-year-old sons when his wife smelled smoke Sunday morning, he said. His family were waiting Monday
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Fire from Pg. 4 to be let back into their apartment to see the extent of damage. Meanwhile, The Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City launched a relief fund to aid displaced residents. “The city stands ready to give impacted families all the support they need,” Adams said. Many of those displaced were immigrants from the West African nation of Gambia.
Firefighters work outside an apartment building after a fire in the Bronx, Sunday, Jan. 9, 2022, in New York.
Emergency personnel respond to a high rise fire at 333 East 181 Street, Sunday, Jan. 9, 2022, in the Bronx borough of New York. Photo: Lloyd Mitchell
“This is a very close-knit community,” said Touray, who lived in the building herself for many years and has kept close contact with family and friends in the United States despite moving to the United Arab Emirates. Her family moved to the building nearly four decades ago. Soon, others from Gambia, some from the same village as her own, would arrive. Over
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the years, they formed a community in one enclave of the Bronx. “These are working class, firstgeneration immigrant families surviving,” she said, “and just trying to thrive in the U.S.” “We’ve lost a lot of close family friends,” said Touray, who said she expected to fly back to the United States to be with family.
Photo: Yuki Iwamura/AP
___ Associated Press writers David Porter and Deepti Hajela and news researcher Rhonda Shafner contributed to this story.
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January 17 - 23, 2022 Issue 505
Historic inauguration in Minneapolis Mshale Staff Report Pool Photos by Elizabeth Flores Minneapolis held a low-key but historic inauguration for its new City Council on Monday, January 10, 2022. The ceremony featured newly re-elected Mayor Jacob Frey, City Council Members and members of the Board of Taxation and Estimates. It was an historic occasion as for the first time in the history of Minneapolis, people of color are the majority in the 13-member council. Eight of the 13 members are people of color. Council members in a historic move elected Andrea Jenkins as the council president, becoming the first openly transgender Black woman to take the post. Jenkins represents Ward 8 where George Floyd was murdered by former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin.
Mayor Jacob Frey gives his inaugural speech after he took the oath of office during the Minneapolis inaugural ceremony Monday, Jan. 10, 2022 at the Minneapolis Convention Center in Minneapolis, Minn.
From left, Council Member Robin Wonsley Worlobah, Council Vice President Linea Palmisano, Council Member Emily Koski.
New City Council members recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
New City Council members take their oath of office.
Minneapolis Fire Chief Bryan Tyner and Minneapolis Interim Police Chief Amelia Huffman led Mayor Jacob Frey and city council members to the inaugural ceremony.
Samantha “Sam” Pree-Stinson is sworn in as a new Board of Estimate & Taxation Member.
Council Member Robin Wonsley Worlobah hugs Council Member LaTrisha Vetaw after they took the oath of office.
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Top African immigrant in Minnesota state government departing to join Biden administration By Tom Gitaa Mshale After three years leading Gov. Walz’s efforts in providing resources and training to Minnesota workers and businesses as deputy commissioner in the state’s economic development agency, Hamse Warfa announced his departure Monday following his appointment by President Biden to serve as a senior adviser in the U.S. State Department. Since 2019 when he was appointed to the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) by Gov. Walz, Warfa has been the highestranking official in the executive branch of government born in Africa. He was a volunteer on Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign as an economic policy committee member. Speaking to Mshale after the announcement from the governor’s office, Warfa said he will be relocating to Washington in about two weeks. In his new role as senior adviser at the State Department, Warfa will focus on civilian security, democracy and human rights. Originally from Somalia where he fled the civil war, Warfa said his lived experience under authoritarianism as a child “taught me things could get worse quite rapidly.” As deputy commissioner at DEED,
Hamse Warfa delivering the keynote address at Mshale’s annual African Awards Gala on Saturday, October 12, 2019 at the Target corporate headquarters in Minneapolis. It was announced on Monday, January 10, 2022 that the deputy commissioner at the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development has been appointed by President Biden to serve as a senior adviser at the State Department. Photo: Oladipupo Sule for Mshale
Warfa is credited with advocating for the largest job bill in state history and providing workforce training to more youth and adults. His boss, DEED Commissioner Steve Grove, in a statement described Warfa as an extraordinary leader under whose leadership “new workforce training programs were established to support African immigrants, increase Black workers in Tech and provide free online training open to all Minnesotan adults during the height of the pandemic.”
In a joint statement Gov. Tim Walz and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan described Warfa’s work in their administration as “transformational” and expressed gratitude for his service to the state and “his commitment to building an equitable economy that works for everyone.” The two went on to say that “he approaches his work with a clear mission to ensure that the most impacted
individuals and communities are centered in decision-making.” Commissioner Grove signaled that Warfa’s work and legacy will continue to benefit the state. “He brought true passion to his work, and I know he’ll bring that same heart to Washington as he fights for democracy around the world,” Grove said in his statement.
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January 17 - 23, 2022 Issue 505
Proof of COVID vaccination or negative test required to enter bars and restaurants in Minneapolis and St. Paul By Bethel Gessesse Mshale To address the surging omicron COVID that is hitting Minnesota, the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul on Wednesday issued new rules for those visiting bars and restaurants and other community venues. To enter these establishments for indoor dining or drinking, one will need to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative test. The negative test has to be less than 72 hours. Locations that provide takeout service only are exempt. Children under 2 are also exempt from these requirements as they cannot be tested for COVID-19. The new rules take effect in both cities on Jan. 19 and Jan. 26 for ticketed events. It applies to indoor restaurant spaces, coffee shops, cafes, bars, sports venues, entertainment venues, and conventions. One can show proof of their vaccination by presenting their physical vaccination card or a photo of the same. Minnesota’s Docket app is also acceptable. Exceptions apply to athletes, performers and supporting staff (such as coaches, trainers, road crew) competing or performing at any space of public accommodation; K-12 and early childcare settings; hospitals; congregate care facilities or other residential or healthcare facilities; locations that provide takeout
Starting January 19, 2022 one will need to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative test to enter a bar or restaurant for indoor dining in the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, mayors of the two cities announced on Jan. 12, 2022. Photo: Shutterstock
service only; food or drink as part of a religious practice; outdoor spaces; grocery stores, convenience stores and other establishments that primarily sell food and other articles for offsite use except in seated dining areas within those stores; and soup kitchens and other sites serving vulnerable populations (e.g., People Serving People).
St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey made the announcement together during a virtual press conference. “This is a critical next step to avoid closures, we want to stay open, and we need to stay safer,” said Mayor Frey. “While this is a tool no one ever wants
to have to use, amid these ongoing concerns that we hear from public health professionals and amid the staggering increases we’ve experienced” in COVID cases, “we must continue to leverage every tool we have available,” Carter said. “Only by working together can we all help prevent the spread of COVID, conquer this together and keep our economy moving forward together.”
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January 17-23, 2022 Issue 505
Religion Muslims in interfaith bonds are proliferating. Imams willing to marry them are not. By Sara Badalini Religion News Service When Faiqa Cheema and Jeff Beale were planning their September 2021 wedding, it was important to Cheema that it include elements of the traditional ceremony of her Muslim faith, while also being meaningful for her husband, who was raised Baptist. The couple’s path to their dream interfaith wedding turned out to be more complicated than they expected. While such unions are increasingly common, Muslim clergy have long frowned on marrying outside Islam, and Cheema and Beale struggled to find an imam who would officiate, much less adapt the Islamic ceremony, known as a nikah, to recognize Beale. Many imams refused to marry them, Cheema said, because their bond is “against Islamic teaching and was a sin.” Beale was told to consider converting to Islam. “It’s not something that I wanted for him,” Cheema said. Their search only came to an end when Cheema ran into the Instagram profile of Imam Imaad Sayeed. The founder of The London Nikah, a 10-year-old marriage
agency that is now based in New Jersey, Sayeed has officiated some 250 Muslim interfaith weddings in the past five years, marrying couples from around the world. Sayeed’s busy schedule, he said, is the result of being one of the few imams willing to conform the nikah to demographic reality. According to a 2015 Pew Research Center survey, 79% of U.S. Muslims who are married or living with a partner are with someone of the same religion. That leaves 21%, presumably, in interfaith relationships. The rules about intermarriage favor men, according to Imam Abdullah bin Hamid Ali, head of the Islamic Law program at Zaytuna College, a Muslim liberal arts school in Berkeley, California. Ali said the Quran is clear that men are allowed to marry non-Muslim women as long as their brides are “People of the Book” — Christians or Jews, both of whom recognize Abraham as their spiritual forefather, as Muslims do. A Muslim woman, however, cannot marry a non-Muslim man unless he converts. Whether the conversion is sincere or
a matter of convenience, Ali said, is a question between the person and God. “If he converts because he really desires to be with his wife, we don’t know, we only know his testimony of faith, which is indicative of his conversion.” Another interfaith couple whom Sayeed married via a big-screen Zoom call last year said they, too, had consulted other imams who expected the husband’s conversion.
Muslim tradition and culture as well.” Interfaith couples married by Sayeed say he has a knack for creating ceremonies that feel “natural,” “intimate” and “inclusive” and praised the way he blended their cultures. Anybody can conduct a nikah ceremony, and historically, the most knowledgable person within the community — not necessarily an imam
Sayeed, who thinks the Quran’s rules for marriage are open to other interpretations, sums up his attitude with the logic of love. “I believe that two people coming together and leading a life of commitment and love is a beautiful thing,” Sayeed said. “And why would God not bless that?” “I don’t require anyone to convert, because conversion is something that happens from the heart,” he said. “We have to stay true to who we are, and I also don’t want to ostracize these couples from Islam,” Sayeed said. Muslims for Progressive Values, a nonprofit organization, founded its Marriage Celebrancy division, offering wedding celebrations for couples with diverse religious backgrounds, in 2006 and claims on its website that its practices are “deeply rooted in both Islamic and democratic principles.” In 2020, MPV’s network of officiants celebrated about 75 weddings in the U.S. and, with partner organizations, another 20 in Canada, the U.K. and Europe. Ani Zonneveld, founder and president of MPV, said that the way marriage is interpreted in Islam today is “cultural,” and it’s not prescribed in the Quran. While men are clearly limited to marrying within Abrahamic religions, women are advised to marry “believers,” Zonneveld said, but the term is ambiguous. Zonneveld said there is also evidence of mixed-faith marriages in the hadith, the commentaries on the Quran and Muhammad’s teachings. Several Muslim faith leaders warned that Zonneveld’s scholarship is outside the mainstream. Fifteen years ago, when MPV first started celebrating nikahs, interfaith weddings were as quiet as they were rare. “When it did occur, it would be a backyard wedding at the non-Muslim parents’ home,” Zonneveld said, with a supportive Muslim sibling or two in attendance. “Now,” she said, “interfaith weddings are large and extravagant, from a family-only event of 20 to a wedding in Cancun.” Occasionally, couples will require a joint service with the clergy of another faith, adjusting the readings and some of the structural elements. The procedure is easier with members of Abrahamic traditions but more challenging for Muslim-Hindu couples, Zonneveld said, as the structure of the Hindu wedding is more elaborate. “If the service I conduct is the only marriage service the couple has,” Zonneveld said, “then I make it a point to include the non-
Imam Imaad Sayeed. Video screengrab
— performs it, Sayeed explained. But the fact that Sayeed is a traditionally trained imam who has the Quran memorized helps some families accept the validity of an interfaith nikah. This is particularly true for parents of a woman who may be marrying a non-Muslim, Sayeed said. Still, progress is halting. A woman from Boston who recently got married to a non-Muslim man said that, while “nobody protested her choice” and her family was “very nice” about the wedding, none of them showed up except for her brother and her friends, who were all very supportive. Cheema, who said she grew up in “a very conservative Muslim household in Pakistan,” said they faced some resistance from her family. She said her parents still have a hard time accepting her relationship with Beale. But they attended the ceremony, and they enjoyed meeting Sayeed. Cheema and Beale are now adopting each other’s religious habits. “We’re very open-minded about each other’s faith,” Cheema said. They celebrate Christmas and fast together for Ramadan, and when Cheema teaches Arabic to her two children by a previous relationship, he shows curiosity about it. Sometimes they even pray together. “You can have a relationship like ours,” Cheema said. “You can still thrive and maintain your own faith and have your own identity.”
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January 17 - 23, 2022 Issue 505
Art & Entertainment
Review: ‘Wahala’ is a solid, slow-burn, page-turning mystery By Alicia Rancilio Associated Press The African word “wahala,” used commonly in Nigeria, means trouble and that’s just what happens when three Anglo-Nigerian best friends in their 30s add a fourth woman to the mix. Boo, Simi and Ronke are longtime friends living in London. Boo is married with a young daughter, frustrated with the responsibility of being a mother, easily annoyed by her doting, cheerful husband, and then guilt-ridden for those feelings. Simi has a long distance marriage because her husband lives in New York. He’s keen to have a baby sooner over later and Simi doesn’t feel ready. And then there’s the loveable, generous Ronke. She’ll drop everything at a hat to support her friends. Ronke has a boyfriend, Kayode, who seems to return Ronke’s affection — but he also tends to disappoint her a lot, or leave her guessing. She puts on a front that she’s completely comfortable in the relationship and excited by their future, but her friends are skeptical about whether it will last. The book opens with the girls meeting
This cover image released by William Morrow and Custom House shows “Wahala” by Nikki May courtesy of Amazon.
for a lunch (minus Boo, who is watching her daughter — and she’s bitter about it) and Simi has brought her old childhood friend, Isobel. She’s wealthy, wellconnected, confident and inserts herself into their friend group whether they like
His first football season, Isaiah told us, ‘Wear a jersey with my name on it. I want everyone to know you’re here for me.’ Darnell and Denna, adopted 16-year-old Isaiah LEARN ABOUT ADOPTING A TEEN YO U C A N ’ T I M AG I N E T H E R E WA R D
A D O P T U S K I D S . O R G
it or not. This isn’t a trope of women as catty or unwelcoming to a newcomer — Isobel just seems to zero-in on each woman’s insecurities and make them a little bit
worse. Throughout the book she chips away at these women’s lives before they realize what’s happening. It’s a slow burn, to learn Isobel’s true motives, but worth the read to find out. Wahala, indeed.
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January 17-23, 2022 Issue 505
Unite to Fuel Change We live in a world where divisions and poverty affect everyone but when we unite as changemakers we can create a community where all people thrive.
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+ Fair Housing
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January 17 - 23, 2022 Issue 505
A Better Community
The solution to housing discrimination starts with you. If you have been trying to buy or rent a house or apartment and you believe your rights have been violated, contact HUD or your local fair housing center. The Fair Housing Act prohibits housing discrimination because of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, familial status or disability.
Fair Housing Is Your Right. Use It. Visit www.hud.gov/fairhousing or call the HUD Hotline 1-800-669-9777 (English/Español) 1-800-927-9275 (TTY)
SCAN HERE FOR MORE INFO A public service message from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in partnership with the National Fair Housing Alliance. The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status or disability. For more information, visit www.hud.gov/fairhousing.