Issue # 497
TH E
AF R IC A N
NOVEMBER 22-28,2021
C OM MU NIT Y
www.mshale.com
NE W S PAP E R
NOT YOUR AVERAGE AMERICAN MAYOR How Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott’s African upbringing helped him deal with the fallout from police killing of Daunte Wright.
PHOTO: JASMINE WEBBER/MSHALE
BY EDWIN OKONG’O PAGE 6
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Minnesota to open COVID-19 booster shots to all adults
Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm receives a booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at the Cub Foods in North Minneapolis Photo: Office of Governor Tim Walz
By Bethel Gessesse Mshale In response to surging coronavirus cases even among the fully vaccinated due to waning immunity, Minnesota health officials were set to recommend all adults get vaccine boosters starting Friday, November 19 as this edition prepared to go to press, even if federal regulators don’t do so by then.
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The Food and Drug Administration is expected to approve Pfizer boosters for all U.S. adults before an advisory panel meets Friday, November 19 which is the first step before final approval by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Minnesota Department of Health data show that 39 percent of cases, 32 percent of hospitalizations and 45 percent of deaths were people who were fully vaccinated with most of them being among older people who got vaccinated earlier. Minnesota will be following Arkansas, California, Colorado, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York and West Virginia which have already opened booster vaccines to all adults. Minnesota health commissioner Janet Malcom during a press briefing said Minnesota is second in ranking among the states for vaccine booster administration with 715,000 of the more than 3 million fully-vaccinated Minnesota adults.
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Guest Commentary by Jose Marquez
Ensuring racial equity by expanding internet access With protests having erupted in cities across the country over police violence targeting Black men and women, the civil rights and social justice movements have shot to forefront of U.S. politics in a way not seen since the 1960s. While much of the conversation rightly has centered on police brutality and the role law enforcement plays in American society, communities of color also are discriminated against in numerous other ways. Many Black Americans, Latinos and other people of color are given substandard educational opportunities, lack avenues to workforce training and advancement and, arguably most important in today’s tech-driven world, face a dearth of access to reliable, affordable broadband internet. Congress made a good first step in ameliorating this dire situation when it passed President Biden’s infrastructure bill, but the $65 billion allocation in broadband for all is hardly enough to close the digital divide. The gap in digital access is particularly wide in communities of color, where one in three families with children lack a high-speed internet connection at home — a rate of disconnection more than 50 percent higher than that of white families. The problem is exacerbated in areas across the South from Atlanta to Houston where 35 percent of Black adults lack any access to broadband at home. Lawmakers need to make sure that they include a broadband policy that guarantees no American is stranded on the wrong side of the digital divide. The private sector is already doing this with a little-known but ambitious effort like the Southern Communities Initiative. It is seeking to address the socioeconomic challenges that African Americans face throughout the region. And among the goals of this partnership is to expand broadband access across six metro areas throughout the South: Atlanta, Birmingham, Charlotte, Houston, Memphis, and New Orleans. The effort has the backing of some of the most powerful individuals in corporate America, including PayPal CEO Dan Schulman, Vista CEO Robert F. Smith and BCG CEO Rich Lesser. We are not too late to bridge the digital divide, and the Southern Communities
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Staff Writers: Kari Mugo, Bethel Gessesse, Cynthia Simba
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Initiative will almost certainly play an important role in helping accomplish that in communities like my hometown of Atlanta. But this important work cannot be left to private individuals and organizations alone. Lawmakers must do their part to ensure that high-speed internet is available and affordable to every American, no matter where in the country they live. While policymakers in Washington have focused on getting broadband access to rural areas, we must also make sure that urban areas are not overlooked. Census data has shown that while there are approximately 5 million rural households without broadband access, this problem is three times as large in urban areas—with around 15 million urban or metro households without broadband. Affordable and ubiquitous access to high-speed internet, however, is just the starting point. We also must expand access to the hardware and software people need to take full advantage of all the internet has to offer and maintain an ecosystem of digital educators, repair workers, designers and other tech specialists who can keep improvements going long into the future. Guaranteeing that all Americans have broadband access would not only help close the digital divide but would also give the United States an edge in global competitiveness as it would bring millions of people more fully into the digital economy. One study from last year found that only about 30 percent of African Americans had access to broadband compared with about 60 percent of whites. There is a broad consensus from civil rights leaders to corporate heads to policymakers inside the Washington Beltway that broadband access is a right of every American. Lawmakers must take note and ensure that all Americans have the ability to log on. Jose Marquez is the national President and CEO of TechLatino: Latinos in Information Sciences and Technology Association (LISTA). He wrote this for the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), the federation of more than 200 Black community newspapers
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Kenyan university signs agreement to expand partnership with Minnesota institution By Cynthia Simba Mshale
The largest university in southwestern Kenya has signed a partnership agreement that will strengthen its relationship with yet another Minnesotan institution. Representatives from Kisii University and Minnesota State University, Mankato, signed a letter of intent at a dinner on Nov. 9. The new agreement is an expanded memorandum of understanding (MOU) the two institutions signed in 2019 to collaborate mainly in the field of education, and has been “both positive and productive”, according to the letter of intent. It seeks to expand the current relationship to include “exchange of students, faculty, and ideas as well as curricular connections.” “We value our partnership and seek to identify additional areas of potential collaboration to fulfill our mutual mission of bringing opportunity for social mobility, access to educational excellence, and betterment for communities,” said Dr. Brain Martensen, the interim provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Mankato. The agreement was signed at Mankato, during a dinner hosting Kisii University Vice Chancellor Prof. John Akama, and Prof. Alfred Shitandi, the deputy vice chancellor of academic research and student affairs, who is also the registrar of research and extension. In addition to enhancing learning, analytical problem-solving skills, and interest in global issues, international exchange programs help students understand, accept, and value other people through cultural immersion and language learning, according to the World Education Program. The relationship between the two universities began through the Minnesota Kenyans International Development
Kisii University and Minnesota State University, Mankato on Tuesday, November 9, 2021 signed an expanded memorandum of understanding to strengthen an existing partnership. Pictured after the signing in Mankato, Minnesota is Kisii University Vice Chancellor Prof. John Akama (left) and Dr. Brian Martensen, Interim Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Minnesota State University, Mankato Photo: Courtesy Minnesota State University, Mankato
Association (MKIDA), an organization founded in 2003 to assist newly-arrived Kenyans transition smoothly into their adopted home, according to Dr. Gerald Nyachae Ondimu, its chairman. It later expanded its scope to incorporate more services, including providing immigrants from the east African country with opportunities to give back to the communities they came from through education. “In 2008, the board was re-evaluating its priorities in terms of policy and direction the organization was intending to go,” Ondimu said. “One among other things we identified was how we can give back to the community we originally came from.” Dr. David Kimori, MKIDA’s vice chair,
who is also a professor at Mankato, was instrumental in initiating the partnership between the two universities. “I had been working with MKIDA for some time and felt it was a good opportunity as a faculty member to introduce Mankato and MKIDA,” he said. In 2018, Kimori made a presentation before Mankato’s Global Education Advisory Council to promote a partnership between the two universities. In 2019, Kisii University signed an MOU with Mankato’s College of Education, which trains educators. The following year, students from Mankato travelled to Kenya and spent four and a half weeks teaching at Kisii University. Kimori,
whose
research
on teacher education and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) curriculum, said he was pleased to see the relationship flourishing. “I’m happy to see young people really interacting and exchanging ideas internationally,” he said. Dr. Elizabeth Finsness, the director of field and international experience at Mankato’s College of Education, was among the faculty members who accompanied the first cohort of students to Kisii University. “It was amazing,” she said. “They had amazing attention from the faculty at
focuses
MOU on Pg. 5
On it.
Ending racial injustice requires all of us to work together and take real action. What can you do to help? Educate yourself about the history of American racism, privilege and what it means to be anti-racist. Educate yourself
about the history of American racism, privilege and what it means to be anti-racist.
Commit to actions that challenge injustice and make everyone feel like they belong, such as challenging biased or racist language when you hear it. Vote in national and local elections to ensure your elected officials share your vision of public safety. Donate to organizations, campaigns and initiatives who are committed to racial justice.
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MOU from Pg. 4 Kisii.” The new agreement extends opportunities for collaboration to all colleges at both universities. It also provides the option for students of both institutions to complete up to two years of study abroad. Shitandi, the Kisii University deputy vice chancellor, said he hoped more schools at both universities would take advantage of the partnership. “We also hope to have this continuation for the staff and student exchange,” he said. MKIDA’s ties to Kisii University goes back more than a decade. The organization also helped start a relationship with the University of Minnesota and the Kenyan institution. “The relationship with Kisii [University] really began back in 2009, when Kenyans living in Minnesota approached the University [of Minnesota],” said Dr. John Vreyens, the director of Global Initiatives, a program of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities Extension that collaborates with various international organizations. But the relationship couldn’t have happened without the backing of Dr. Robert J. Jones, a former senior vice president for system academic administration at the University of Minnesota, who is now the chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It was Jones, whose office was also in charge of public engagement, equity and diversity, and Extension Service, who made sure that once the initial contact between the universities was made, it progressed to the partnership it is today.
Kisii University and Minnesota State University, Mankato on Tuesday, November 9, 2021 signed an expanded memorandum of understanding to strengthen an existing partnership. Pictured after the signing in Mankato, Minnesota is (l to r) Prof. Alfred Shitandi, Kisii University; Dr. Gerald Nyachae Ondimu, MKIDA; Dr. Brian Martensen, MSU-Mankato; Prof. John Akama, Kisii University; Dr. Anne Dahlman, MSU-Mankato; Dr. David Kimori, MSU-Mankato and MKIDA. Photo: Courtesy Minnesota State University, Mankato
In 2012, Jones sent a delegation from the University of Minnesota, which included the Associate Vice President and Dean of International Programs Meredith McQuid, and Beverly R. Durgan, the dean of extension and professor of weed science, visited Kisii University. Following the visit, a delegation of representatives from Kisii University, which included Akama and Shitandi, visited the University of Minnesota. Shortly after, the two institutions signed a memorandum of understanding. Since the signing of the document, a wide array of academic exchanges has taken place.
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In 2014, for example, a team of professors from the University of Minnesota’s Law school visited Kisii University and later established a new law school. MKIDA partnered with Thomson Reuters, the Canadian publisher of textbooks, to stock Kisii University Law School’s library through an arrangement with Books for Africa. Students from Kisii University have also been able to participate in year-long work-based learning at the University of Minnesota’s School of Agriculture. Akama, the vice chancellor, said students have returned home more confident and eager to engage with their professors. “The
students
who
come
here,
when they go back, they’re kind of transformed,” he said. “You find that they are more interactive, and they appear to be more confident.” Through their cooperation, the two universities also created a program that works with women farmers of leafy vegetables in the southwestern Kenya region. The program was launched with the help of a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Scientific Cooperation and Research Program, and has worked with more than 200 farmers, according to Vreyens, the Global Initiatives director.
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How Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott used lessons from his African childhood to handle fallout from police killing of Daunte Wright By Edwin Okong’o Mshale When 18-year-old Mike Elliott went to Brooklyn Center City Hall for a permit to hold a carwash fundraiser for his high school prom, he did not know that was his first step to making history as the city’s first Black mayor. “I remember that day very vividly,” says Elliott, during a recent interview in the council chambers at City Hall. It was Elliott’s first time ever visit to City Hall, and his first introduction to how local government functions. “The fact that I – a young person – was able to walk into City Hall and get what I had come for was fascinating,” he says. Elliott was intrigued because that was not how government worked in Liberia, his birthplace, which he fled for the United States as a refugee when he was 11 years old. Even though as a child he had family members who worked in government in Liberian, he did not feel welcome at government offices. “In Liberia, the government was something that happened over there in that building, and the executive mansion,” he says. “You were not welcome to just walk up there.” After high school, Elliott went to study at Hamline University in St. Paul. He graduated with a B.A. in international management, with a minor in political science. He went into entrepreneurship and founded a tutoring company called Fastforward Education. A year after graduation, he was hired to develop the Brooklyns Youth Council, a joint program of Brooklyn Center and neighboring Brooklyn Park that gives youths opportunities for input in the decisionmaking process. As he learned more about the functions of city government, Elliott began to think that there was a need for change in Brooklyn Center to reflect the growing diversity of the suburban city of 33,000, located north of Minneapolis, on the west bank of the Mississippi River. And he couldn’t think of anyone better to lead that transformation. “I thought I was the right person to be mayor of Brooklyn Center because I brought some unique perspectives and skillsets that would be beneficial in leading the city to where it needed to go,” he says. He entered the mayor’s race in 2014, but lost by only 145 votes. Elliott, however, says his first campaign was major success because it galvanized African immigrants and other people of color who didn’t even know they had the power to influence local politics. “Sometimes when you are trying to drive a nail home, you have to hammer it more than once,” he says. “We learned important lessons that we could apply in the next campaign.”
Mike Elliott, the Mayor of Brooklyn Center stands near protesters and signals for police to not shoot rubber bullets at them shortly after he talked to protesters as protests over police killing of Daunte Wright continue in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, U.S., on April 13, 2021. Photo: Christopher Mark Juhn/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Indeed, four years after his first run, Elliot applied those lessons and struck the nail right on the head. In 2018, the people of Brooklyn Center made history by electing him as the first Black and person of color to lead the city. As their population in Minnesota continues to grow, African immigrants are increasingly coming together to elect members of their community to represent them in government. Over the last few elections, several African-born Minnesotans have been elected to seats in small suburban cities like Brooklyn Center, the Minnesota state legislature, and of course to Capitol Hill, in the case of Rep. Ilhan Omar, who in 2020 was overwhelmingly re-elected to a second term to represent Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. Whereas those newlyelected to high-profile offices like the U.S. Congress have their parties and caucuses to help them settle, newcomers to local governments often find themselves without mentors when they begin their terms. Wynfred Russell, who like Elliott was born in Liberia and came to the United States as a refugee, was elected in 2018 as a councilmember to represent the West District of Brooklyn Park, a city of 86,000. Mshale catches up with him at a coffee shop on a Monday afternoon, as he prepares for a city council meeting scheduled later that evening. He says he remembers being “lost” during his first days in office. “I realized very quickly that there is a difference between campaigning, or being an advocate, and governing,” he says.
The challenges of lack of mentorship have brought African-born elected officials closer, often consulting each other, Russell says. On his first day in office, for example, he remembers receiving a call from Richard Paul, a Sudanese-born refugee, who had been elected to the city council in nearby Blaine. “Richard Paul called me and said, ‘Man, I don’t know what I am supposed to do,’” Russell says. “But I was in the same situation.”
are minority-majority cities, with 55% and 67% of their populations being people of color, respectively. According to 2020 U.S. Census data, people who identify themselves as Black or African American make up 29% in Brooklyn Center, and 29.1% in Brooklyn Park, making them the single largest minority group. African immigrants call the two cities “Little Africa.” Now community leaders are trying to rally people to make sure local governments reflect their population.
Russell says that one of the reasons African immigrants find themselves isolated when they get elected is that white people, who have historically occupied positions of power, do not know how to handle those like him who are challenging the status quo and breaking barriers. He also thinks there are some who see newcomers like him as threat.
Like Russell, Elliott found himself with similar challenges of trying to fit in when became mayor.
“We didn’t get elected because Minnesota is nice,” he says. “We got elected because it’s changing, and the people of our community want to be at the table. That scares some folks. They are not going to give up power easily and help mentor us.”
It also didn’t help Elliott’s transition that when he was sworn in, Brooklyn Center’s charter limited the mayor’s power to ceremonial roles, opting to place the responsibility of running the city in the hands of a city manager. In fact, Elliott didn’t even have office space at City Hall.
Indeed, Minnesota is changing, especially in the areas surrounding the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. More than 125,000 people living in Minnesota were born in Africa, according to Migration Policy Institute. About 83,000 of them were born in eastern Africa, mostly Somalis who came to the United States as refugees. There are an estimated 35,000 Liberians in the state, according to International Institute of Minnesota. Both Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center
But all that changed on April 11, 2021.
“Because the bureaucracy does not reflect the diversity of the community, it makes it harder for people who attempt to bring a different perspective to the government,” he explains.
On that day, Elliott says he was taking an afternoon walk in the park. He received a message notification on his phone. He doesn’t remember if it was a voicemail, or text message. It could have been an email. But one thing that is clear is that the contents of that message forever Mayor on Pg. 7
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intractable problems.”
Mayor from Pg. 6 changed his job as mayor of Brooklyn Center. “Initially there, wasn’t an indication that, Brooklyn Center police had shot someone,” Elliott says. “It was just that there was a shooting.” It wasn’t until after he called a member of his staff that the magnitude of the shooting became apparent to the mayor. A Brooklyn Center police officer had shot and killed an unarmed Black man during a minor traffic stop. The officer was later identified as Kim Potter, a 26-year veteran of the police department. She claimed she accidently shot 22-year-old Daunte Wright because she mistook her handgun for a taser. The place and timing of the shooting couldn’t have been worse for Elliott and Brooklyn Center. The site of Wright’s killing was a mere a 15-miute drive from where a year earlier Derek Chauvin, a Minneapolis Police Department officer murdered George Floyd, another unarmed Black man. The killing sparked months of national protests against police brutality. At the time Potter killed Wright, Chauvin’s trial for the murder of Floyd was taking place only 10 miles from Brooklyn Center. Elliott knew it was only a matter of time before protesters descended on his city. He needed to come up with a plan to protect lives and property. “I knew that we were facing an important moment in our history,” Elliot says. “We needed to act in a way that didn’t make the problem worse – to start to lay the groundwork for how these situations should be responded to in a way that honors the humanity of the people who are mostly affected by these seemingly
Elliott’s swift action following the shooting might have saved the city from the wrath of protesters. He was quick to condemn the killing of Wright, when other mayors might have delayed. “I followed what I thought was the right thing to do,” he explains. On the day after the shooting, the City Council voted to give Elliott more power to lead the city’s response to the crisis. He fired the city manager. He took command of the police department, and accepted resignations of the police chief, and the officer who killed Wright. He released footage from the shooting. And he ordered the police to stop using rubber bullets and teargas on protesters. When asked whether he thought of the consequences of his actions – given that other mayors who have faced similar problems have moved much slower – he pauses for a while before answering. “In my mind, there was no contradiction between what is fundamentally right and humane,” he says. “I thought that gassing human beings was wrong when the Nazis did it. It was wrong enough to be banned in war internationally. So, if soldiers fighting to kill each other are not allowed to gas each other, why should civilians, who are not trained to defend themselves, be gassed? It’s just wrong on every single level.” Perhaps the most important thing Elliott did is how he handled protesters. He went out to the streets himself to persuade them to be peaceful. He set up listening sessions but did not want to have them at City Hall. It is a mediation technique he says he learned from his childhood in Liberia. Instead of the people going to the chief’s office for community meetings, the
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Huldah Momanyi-Hiltsley with her daughter during her campaign launch for the Minnesota State Senate on Thursday, September 16, 2021. Photo: Richard Ooga/Mshale
chief traveled to them and held meetings in various villages. Elliott held one of the city council meetings outside, in front of the police station where protests were.
“It was not us, sitting up high on the dais, but getting down, walking, and Mayor on Pg. 8
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Mshale - The African Community Newspaper Mayor from Pg. 7
going into the community under the tree, if you will, where people are,” he says. “We wanted them to talk to us and have us listen to what their concerns were, and what they wanted to see different.” What came out of those listening sessions has made Brooklyn Center a model of how to deal with issues of police reform. The City Council passed the Daunte Wright and Kobe DimockHeisler Community Safety and Violence Prevention Resolution. (Dimock-Heisler was also killed by Brooklyn Center police). In September, Brooklyn Center changed its policy to require police officers to issue citations and release people accused of misdemeanors and gross misdemeanors, instead of arresting them. The policy does not apply to felonies, or offenses that involve guns. “We’ve seen too often, these minor infractions lead to deadly interactions with the police,” Elliott says. “So, that was our way of decreasing the possibilities that something very minor can lead to police shooting and killing someone.” Huldah Momanyi-Hiltsley, a resident of Brooklyn Center and the president of Mwanyagetinge, the largest organization of Kenyans in Minnesota, says the creative way Elliott has managed the fallout from Wright’s shooting shows that African immigrants in elected office can be very instrumental in solving the problems of their communities. “We bring a different perspective in terms of our experiences, and it adds to this fabric of what America is,” she says. “That experience comes through the different, unique cultures that we bring
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along.” Momanyi-Hiltsley recently launched her 2022 campaign for the Minnesota State Senate to represent District 40, which covers Brooklyn Center and parts of Brooklyn Park. She says the time has come for African immigrants to flex their muscles and get involved in leadership. But do to so, they must begin thinking of the United States as their permanent home, instead of as a country belonging only to those born here. “I came here when I was nine, so I have this passion for Kenya and our people there, but as time has gone by, I’ve realized that, yes, it’s good to have that passion, but we have to be engaged here as well,” Momanyi-Hiltsley says. She says she began to look at America as home three years ago when she gave birth to her daughter. “That’s when I realized that all of this passion that I have for Kenya is great, but my kid is growing up here,” she says. “So, I need to invest here. I need to engage here more than I have in the past. That’s what drove me to a lot of the decisions in terms of leadership and community involvement that I’ve made in the last couple of years – to participate in the politics of where I live, where I work, and where my child is growing up.” However, Momanyi-Hiltsley acknowledges that changing that mindset will not easy, as African immigrants still have strong bonds to their countries of birth. Russell agrees. “We never really unpacked,” he says, with a laughter. “Most of us still have our suitcases packed, waiting decades for the day we shall return to Africa. But we need to realize that instability in Africa has
Wynfred Russell at the Brooklyn Park City Council chambers shortly after taking the oath of office on Monday, Janury 7, 2019. Photo: Bethel Gessesse/Mshale
killed our dream of returning and begin building our lives here, where we are raising our children.” All three leaders say that although energizing African immigrants to vote on Election Day is challenging, getting them engaged to help their representatives address the problems they were elected to address is more difficult. For example, Russell says African immigrants are missing from boards that make important decisions but don’t require elections. “Decisions are being made without us,” Russell says. “Remember, if you don’t have a chair at the table, you are on the table; you are the menu. We get so focused the politics of Washington, D.C., when most policies affecting us are made by cities and counties. President Biden cannot reform the police force, for example. That’s the city council’s job.
Folks need to understand that.” Elliott says generally people lose enthusiasm once elections are over, though it’s more noticeable that African immigrants are missing from key policy discussions in cities where they have significant population. But he says leaders like him cannot afford to give up, and must come up with culturally appropriate ways to get their communities engaged. “Government buildings can be very intimidating,” he says. “There are people in our community who get shocked when they see that I don’t walk around surrounded by group of people. We have to be creative to ease their fear of government. We have to go to the people and make them comfortable so they can come to us and help us do what they sent us here for.”
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Religion Attorney Kevin Gough: No more `Black pastors’ in court for Arbery case By Russ Bynum Associated Press BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — An attorney for one of the white men standing trial in the death of Ahmaud Arbery told the judge Thursday he doesn’t want “any more Black pastors” in the courtroom after the Rev. Al Sharpton sat with the slain man’s family. Kevin Gough represents William “Roddie” Bryan, who along with father and son Greg and Travis McMichael is charged with murder and other crimes in Arbery’s Feb. 23, 2020, killing. The 25-year-old Black man was chased and fatally shot after the defendants spotted him running in their neighborhood outside the Georgia port city of Brunswick. Gough told Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley that he was concerned Sharpton’s presence in court Wednesday was an attempt to intimidate the disproportionately white jury hearing the case. The jury was not in the courtroom when he made the remarks. “Obviously there’s only so many pastors they can have,” Gough said. “And if their pastor’s Al Sharpton right now that’s fine, but then that’s it. We don’t want any more Black pastors coming in here ... sit-
ting with the victim’s family, trying to influence the jurors in this case.” Jason Sheffield, one of Travis McMichael’s lawyers, told the judge he didn’t notice any distractions caused by Sharpton, who sat in the back row of the courtroom gallery wearing a mask. Gough said he didn’t realize Sharpton had been there until after court had adjourned for the day. “You weren’t even aware of it until later?” the judge said. “I’m not sure what we’re doing.” Sharpton held a prayer vigil and news conference outside the Glynn County courthouse Wednesday afternoon to show support for Arbery’s family. Afterward he joined Arbery’s parents and their lawyers to listen to portions of the trial testimony. Sharpton said in a statement that Gough’s remarks showed “arrogant insensitivity.” “I respect the defense attorney doing his job,” Sharpton said, “but this is beyond defending your client, it is insulting the family of the victim.”
The Reverend Al Sharpton of the National Action Network holds a news conference at the Glynn County courthouse during the trial of Greg McMichael and his son, Travis McMichael, and a neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021, in Brunswick, Ga. The three are charged with the February 2020 slaying of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery. Photo: Lewis M. Levine/AP
Jury selection ended last week with prosecutors objecting to the final jury of 11 whites and one Black juror. The judge agreed there appeared to be “intentional discrimination” in the exclusion of Black potential jurors, but said Georgia law limited his authority to intervene.
missed before the trial began for medical reasons. Fifteen total panelists are hearing the trial — 12 jurors plus three alternates. The judge has not given the races of the alternate jurors, and they were not asked to state their race in open court.
One juror, a white woman, was disHappy from Pg. 10 ballad. Hibak Iman, 24, based in Melbourne, Australia, told BuzzFeed News that the song’s multilingual part helped it go viral. “Somalis are just main characters,” Iman said. “We are such a supportive ethnic group of people. We constantly hype each other up, so we were obsessed with the song, and our energy is infectious so other people became obsessed too.” Nimco loves watching people engage with Somali culture through her song. “I love seeing people sing in our language,” she said. “I have seen all the covers. I have seen the ones by the white boys singing my song. I have seen the Asian girls. I have been watching all of them.” Growing up, Nimco used to listen mainly to Somali women, such as Khadra Daahir, Sahra Axmed, and Saynab Cige, she said. She first got into music as a child playing guitar and always wanted to perform but waited until she was married with children. Now she sometimes performs with her musician husband. “When you’re young in Somali culture, when someone gets into performing music, we tell them to sit down because they’re too young,” Nimco said. “We tell them it’s ceeb. We tell them to stop.” In 2015, she began her music career, posting songs on YouTube and performing locally. The now-viral video of her performance was recorded in June 2017, when she
performed for a show being broadcast for Eid on Kenya-based Somali channel RTV. She said she’s now performed the song on almost all Somali TV channels in the years since. After it recently gained traction on TikTok, people have mainly been streaming the song on YouTube and via unauthorized uploads on Spotify. Collectively those uploads have received more than 500,000 listens, none of which will count toward Nimco’s official streaming numbers. The official version of “Isii Nafta” was made available on streaming platforms this week, after Nimco signed with Polydor. BuzzFeed News understands that her team is working on removing the unauthorized uploads. Now Nimco said since the hit went viral, she can’t go out without being recognized, so she makes sure to always have a face covering on that leaves her unidentifiable. “Wallahi, my phone doesn’t rest,” she said. She said people call her simply to congratulate her or to let her know there are different companies looking to get in touch with her. “People are sharing their happiness for me, with me,” she said. When asked what was next for her, Nimco said she is taking everything stepby-step. “You’re somewhere else every day,” she said. “I want to go further in my career, do more performances. Move forward, work hard.” And she had a message for her supporters, whose success she said she is praying for: “One love.”
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November 22 - 28, 2021 Issue 497
Art & Entertainment
The Somali Artist Behind The TikTok Hit “I Love You More Than My Life” By Ikran Dahir BuzzFeed In the last month, millions of people on TikTok fell in love with a song usually played at Somali weddings, popularizing the track so much it landed artist Nimco Happy a distribution deal. The song is called “Isii Nafta,” which means “give me life,” but it is more widely known by its catchy lyrics “I love you more than my life.” Speaking exclusively to BuzzFeed News from Mogadishu, Nimco said she found out two and a half weeks ago that her song had gone viral after she was tracked down by Polydor Records, a subsidiary of Universal.
Nimco Happy (middle) says her phone has not stopped ringing.
“Wallahi, I felt happy, elated,” she said. “I can’t describe it in words, but I felt overjoyed. I felt like the world had finally recognized me. That I’m known internationally.”
“I am so happy to be here and have gotten so far,” Nimco said. “That I can be here with a Somali name, with my Somalinimo.”
Cardi B posted a video of herself and her sister dancing to it on Thursday, Drake commented “this song so hard” on a meme page, and Bella Hadid reposted a video of Nimco performing, surrounded by smiling dancing police officers.
This isn’t the first time the five-year-old song has gone viral. Two years ago, it became a hit with people in East Africa, thanks to its hook where Nimco sings “I love you” in four languages: Somali, English, Arabic, and Swahili.
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
That led to a meme of people saying they can say “I love you” in multiple languages. Nimco said she can confidently speak Somali and Swahili well, and can speak only a little bit of English and Arabic. In recent weeks, Nimco has been watching and keeping up with all the TikTok trends that use her song and said she cannot choose a favorite. “I can’t pick one. I want to say thank you. I want to
Photo: YouTube Screengrab
thank all of them,” she said. The happy nature of “Isii Nafta” has united people across the globe, with the song being played at parties, and celebrities like Trevor Noah joining in on the fun. One TikToker created a satirical video, singing the tune as if it were an indie Happy on Pg. 9
Mshale - The African Community Newspaper
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November 22 - 28 2021 Issue 497
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.
JOIN THE MOVEMENT
VISIT GTCUW.ORG TO LEARN MORE
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You
+ Fair Housing
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November 22 - 28, 2021 Issue 497
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.