2040 hurts minority businesses

BY NASRO ABSHIR My name is Nasro Abshir. I am the founder and owner of Family First Choice Childcare. My mom and I used to have two childcare locations—one in the Phillips neighborhood and the other in Loring Park. While commercial displacement has been talked about as a “concern” for…

Continue reading

Poems by Demetrios Trifiatis

OUR FIGHT Clouds of doubt hovered over our heads They multiplied and grew to mistrust That brewed to a storm of anger Which unleashed its rage In thunder of words and Lightning of gestures In a while, The exhausted tempest subsided, Clouds dissipated, The sun of trust hesitantly appeared It…

Continue reading

Willie Murphy died

BY JOHN KOLSTAD Willie Murphy, longtime leader and pinnacle of the Twin Cities blues and R&B community has died at age 75. Willie is hailed as a Legend, and it certainly is true. I heard a fan once tell him that he was a legend and he replied, “yah, everyone…

Continue reading

Trump’s fake troop withdrawal

BY WYATT MILLER, FOR THE MINNEAPOLIS PEACE ACTION COALITION The administration’s announcement and subsequent backtracking reveals an attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of a war-weary public. President Trump’s announcement in December that he would withdraw U.S. troops from Syria and Afghanistan was met with confusion and criticism…

Continue reading

No to engagement—Yes to shared power

BY ARTHUR T. HIMMELMAN Engagement invites people to the table Shared power gets people what they want to eat A poster during the mass uprising in France in 1968 read, “You participate, she participates, I participate, they decide.” Malcolm X: “Just because you invite me to the table does not…

Continue reading

A celebration of life

A celebration of life service for John Karrigan was held Saturday, Jan. 19, at Calvary Lutheran Church, 3901 Chicago Ave. S. in Minneapolis. John’s longtime partner, Bonnie Rae, wrote this: John R. Karrigan passed away peacefully on Jan. 11, 2019, at the age of 74, after a 10-month battle with…

Continue reading

No to engagement—Yes to shared power

BY ARTHUR HIMMELMAN Engagement invites people to the table Shared power gets people what they want to eat A wall poster during the mass uprising in France in 1968 read, “You participate, she participates, I participate, they decide.” Malcolm X: “Just because you invite me to the table does not…

Continue reading

resistance persistence: Resist even more

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE There was a flurry of interesting and useful events in December, but I was not able to squeeze a resistance persistence article into the paper to tell you of them. The one that still sticks with me was put on by an organization called No More…

Continue reading

Toxic greenwashing

BY ELINA KOLSTAD The Minneapolis 2040 Plan is not just an example of government greenwashing; its supporters have also created a toxic atmosphere in our city that negatively impacts future efforts to achieve true climate justice. I don’t own a car. My husband and I sold our car three years…

Continue reading

Dealing might accomplish goals of war

BY RICHARD TAYLOR In 2017, Trump threatened North Korea with “fire and fury.” Kim Jong-un promised to “tame the mentally deranged U.S. dotard with fire.” By June 2018, they were holding hands. What happened? Events followed Trump’s default negotiating style set down long before he became president. He tells us…

Continue reading

A helping hand

AUTUMN CHMIELEWSKI, MHA, MA, SOUTHSIDE COMMUNITY HEALTH SERVICES Geraldine Cereceda has helped thousands of people gain access to healthcare services over the past 18 years. She is passionate about connecting underserved and marginalized populations because she knows what it’s like to delay care out of fear of the high costs…

Continue reading

Alondra: We thought you were on our side

BY ED FELIEN What happened? A little over three years ago, on Sept. 30, 2015, you held a big community meeting with more than a hundred people at Plaza Verde to talk about the dangers of gentrification. You told Ryan Williams-Virden from the Twin City Daily Planet, “Gentrification is a…

Continue reading

The Jews

BY TONY BOUZA The very word conjures a freighted emotional frisson we barely dare acknowledge or express. Watching “Thurgood,” a biopic on the Supreme Court Justice and the NAACP, inspired me to think of the role of Jews in America. They arrived at the Lower East Side of Manhattan and…

Continue reading

Statutes help address employment discrimination

BY LYNN BALFOUR Anyone who has applied for employment by a Minnesota government entity (city, county, state) has the legal right to ask the employer for personnel data on the final candidates for that job and the employer is required to respond by providing such information or citing why the…

Continue reading