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Tonight at North High School an interesting observation. Not one member of the north Minneapolis Black Church said anything – but neither did one of the candidates running for school board. Oops.

by Donald W.R. Allen, II – Editor in Chief/IBNN NEWS and USA Radical Black

"Yes Massa Mayor, I's can control them's Black folks on the north side. Can I's gets my room back in the Big House?"

Minneapolis, MN. (IBNN NEWS/October 18, 2010)…There is evil afoot in the Black community. Deals are being cut; alliances are being formed. The table of plenty has just gotten a huge infusion of cash.

The usual suspects are at the table again to collect there unfair share while the Black community of Minneapolis, especially the north side is once again thrown under the bus.

The events surrounding the proposed closing of a failing Minneapolis school, there is no sighting of Ward 5 Minneapolis City Councilman Don “Burn North High Down” Samuels.

The North High School crisis, is an opportunity for Ward 5 councilman Don Samuels to step up and prove to the citizens of North Minneapolis that he does actually breath air and is concerned about the outcome of the historic north Minneapolis high school.

The ultra-conservative, right-winger has not been sighted at any of the rallies to save North High and sources tell IBNN NEWS that Samuels prefers to be in the background on this particular battle with the Boogieman.

If you recall, the February 2007 article in the Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine titled, “The Great Black Hope?” said, “Don Samuels has more than a pulpit: He has a seat on the Minneapolis City Council representing its blackest precincts. While many in north Minneapolis and elsewhere see a combination of John McCain and Barack Obama—the Straight Talk Express leavened with the Audacity of Hope—others say Samuels is more like Al Sharpton in a mirror, a demagogue whose primary goal is to curry favor with whites.”

Even today (same article), Ron Edwards, co-chair of the Minneapolis Police Community Relations Council, says simply, “He has a problem with his affection for black people.”

Premier north Minneapolis clergyman Reverend Jerry McAfee of the North Side’s New Salem Missionary Baptist Church said, “He’s made the right moves for the white community, but he hasn’t courted the black community in masse in the same way. When you make the statements that you make—dang! Whether you meant it or not, it’s insulting. You tell that to some people like my grandmother, who was born on a plantation. Her twin brother was killed by one of the overseers. Talk about some big house and stuff, that ain’t appealing to them.”

The statement Reverend McAfee is speaking of is the statement that was brought up, but not said out loud tonight (10/18) at yet another “Save North High School Rally,” were the Minneapolis Public School Board showed up to listen to community members give comments, suggestions and vent about the proposed closing of North High School.

State Representative Bobby Joe Champion (58B), who eloquently said, “There was a statement made by the Ward 5 Councilman about North High. But no one came to the rescue of the North High; there weren’t any marketing campaigns to change the perception of North High School. North High and the community felt disrespected.”

Kale Severson, President of the North High School Alumni Association who co-chaired a meeting on Saturday, October 16th at Zion Baptist Church said, “I heard that Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and some city council members are in agreement with Superintendent Johnson’s recommendation. We already know what Don Samuels thinks.”

The proposed closing of North High School has become a full-fledged Frankenstein for Minneapolis Ward 5 city councilman Don Samuels, or Boogieman as he calls it.

Rather than jump into the hot coals and reverse years of doubt and mistrust by taking a proactive response and coming out on the side of the community, Samuels stays away.

I ask, “Is this Mr. Samuels’ Ghetto Gospel?”