Joe Selvaggio
BY ED FELIEN
I confess, I always kind of resented Joe Selvaggio.
My best friend for almost twenty years, Tony Bouza, always said that I was his second favorite hero.
I would ask him, “Who’s first?”
He would always answer, “Joe Selvaggio.”
But I had been publishing Southside Pride for 33 years, writing about the struggle for justice and equality—I would quietly reassure myself.
But Joe, on the other hand, started Project for Pride in Living more than fifty years ago. He trained thousands of minority kids from the inner city in the building trades. They built and rehabbed hundreds of affordable housing units in South Minneapolis. He was an ex-priest whose parish was the poor.
Joe Selvaggio (Photo/ finance-commerce.com)
I was busy talking the talk while Joe was busy walking the walk.
I think Tony also thought of himself as second-best to Joe, and he probably liked me for the same reason.
