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“Pimp ain’t easy when someone else is holding on to the money.” LOL!
“Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the Boogeyman is that he sometimes becomes a convenient tool for legitimate advocates who tire of honest & respectable negotiations. Just bringing the Boogeyman to a meeting is sometimes enough to turn a victim into a benefactor. The Boogeyman’s presence is loaded with this/her message…if you don’t want your meeting to get wrecked, your personal foibles on the streets or your values besmirched, concede now! The Boogeyman is the suicide bomber that keeps on ticking. He is a terrorist. His/her handlers blind themselves to the fact that they are involved in serious moral compromise.” ~Minneapolis City Councilman Don Samuels Ward 5
Prince’s Love or Money:
Fast Tube by Casper
by Donald W.R. Allen, II – Editor in Chief/The Independent Business News Network
Minneapolis, MN (IBNN/Education & Politics/June 14, 2012)…It’s not too often I have to change my opinion – but after Thursday nights meeting, in north Minneapolis, I’ve seen it all.
Ms. Samuels, now I understand what the Boogeyman is and what “they” look like in north Minneapolis.
Dear Ms. Samuels – I’m writing this open letter to publically apologize for not trusting you and your agency in the handling of the grant for $28 million dollars targeted for early childhood development.
As you know, there are individuals in the community – some that smile in your face, who very are upset NAZ received the grant. Tonight I attended the meeting – but left early because of the same usual suspects and same talking points about jobs on the Vikings stadium, economic development in the community and other items that seemed way “out of touch” with reality.
This meeting was an attempt to form a power play against NAZ and the political structure surrounding the Northside Achievement Zone and it’s employees. If someone looked at the facts, this meeting would have never happened. Also what I found extremely disturbing was the fact that Minnesota Department of Education Commissioner Brenda Corselleus sat on a 7-member panel, which I can hypothesize showed support of this particular clown show. Also on the panel was a representative from the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, an organization that must be brought to it’s knee’s and shut down so that children of color can learn in the public schools across the Twin Cities.
The facts are: $28 million over 5-years is not enough to solve the challenges in early childhood education; K-12 retention; suspension and expulsions, Black children at the bottom, or even making sure that “every child” graduates and moves in to the realm of high learning. The challenge today is the people – or affectionately known as “the Boogeyman.”
But let’s look at the situation of education from a psychological perspective. We must define normal and abnormal. Is it really abnormal for Blacks and other children of color to fail in public schools – or is it normal? Based on the social-economic conditions in neighborhoods heavily populated by children of color and the low expectations by middle-class White teachers, and administrations that have missed the mark on “training the trainers,” its normal for current conditions that present themselves in the revolving door of failure. To change, or shift the paradigms, the parents of these children must have an immediate change in their economic plight, followed by education opportunities not currently available to them. Observation, research and a number of pilot programs must be created not only for the children – but also the parents.
The meeting last night to address the Northside Achievement Zone’s grant of $28 million dollars, without a representative from NAZ to answer questions send a clear signal this meeting was political and monetary. This had nothing to do with education or corrected disparities in Minneapolis’ Black community. Simply put, this meeting was a direct attack on NAZ.
