Telling lies about immigrants, and especially about Muslim refugees, fosters racism, xenophobia and persecution. With social media, lies spread rapidly and their sources quickly become diffused and anonymized, avoiding all responsibility. A new German website offers a counter to the nasty-rumor problem, but a lasting solution requires each of us to respond, exercising personal integrity and responsibility on social media. Continue reading
Filed under immigration, media, race, religion
Photo of Minneapolis march by Fibonacci Blue, published under Creative Commons license
Instead of protecting citizens, the grand jury system now shields abuse of police power.
On Jan. 6, a Texas grand jury indicted the state trooper who arrested Sandra Bland last July for perjury in filing his arrest report but not for his treatment of Bland. The Chicago-area woman was pulled over for not signaling a lane change and later found dead in her jail cell. In December, the grand jury declined to hold anyone responsible for Bland’s death. Continue reading
Filed under human rights, police and crime, race
Like Twins players, Eureka drivers star on trading cards. The back of Kirk Frauenhelm’s card reveals that he’s an avid gardener, has been driving for Eureka since 2010 and has picked up almost 10 million pounds of recycling. That’s an old card, so he’s well over the 10-million-pound mark now. Luckner Clerveus started just last year, and boasts only a little more than a million pounds picked up. Continue reading
Filed under environment, St. Paul Notes, work
Photo by David Wilson, used under Creative Commons license.
Nearly 50 years ago, fresh off the farm, I walked my almost-17-year-old self into the Cabrini-Green housing projects in Chicago. Cabrini-Green became my first urban experience, the first place I learned about neighborhood and community and belonging in a city. Other people called the projects “dangerous” or “the notorious Cabrini-Green projects.” For me, they became the place that I learned to dance, worked on political campaigns, sang in the church choir, tutored children, and kissed a boy for the first time. Continue reading
Filed under housing
“Jessica is a young mom, who lived in foster care most of her teen years. She has two young children, both in diapers and is separated from the father of her children because of his drug and alcohol use. He recently went through treatment. Jessica was on maternity leave when she separated from him, and lost her job when she found herself the sole caregiver for the two young children.”
For now, Jessica relies on MFIP and SNAP — more commonly known as welfare and food stamps. Each month, she and her children get $532 in MFIP benefits and $473 in SNAP benefits, which can be used only for food. Continue reading
Filed under children
Twenty-some years ago, my kids tested with high lead levels. Ron and I were shocked and horrified. Before our oldest was born, we had tested the paint in the house – no lead. Tested the water – no lead. Tested for radon – no radon. Tested for every single thing we could think of, and everything came back safe. And now our children had high lead levels. Continue reading
Filed under children, environment
Image by 401(k)2012, published under Creative Commons license.
You are where you live — or at least that’s the implication of common U.S. code words like “the wrong side of the tracks” and now the use of “Section 8” as a racial slur. Increasingly, poor people who have been priced out of housing are also being pushed out of rent-subsidized housing. A combination of racism and prejudice against poor people lead many private landlords to refuse to rent to people who use federal rental assistance, commonly known as Section 8 vouchers. At the same time, new federal policies encourage government agencies that own and manage low-income housing to turn it over to private developers. Continue reading
Bernie Beermann called in to talk to me after one of my Wednesday morning KFAI Morning Blend news discussions, and I met him in a parking lot for an interview.
I was heading to the locker room in the gym at 6 a.m. when the phone in my pocket rang. “Sorry, I didn’t want to wake you up,” Bernie-the-cabdriver said. “I was just going to leave a message.” The message was good news: South St. Paul had passed some amendments to the city’s rental ordinance, but not the per-block restrictions on rentals that had been proposed. Continue reading
Cover image of SPLC report – https://www.splcenter.org/20160128/families-fear-atlanta-immigration-raids
No warrants, no consent, no lawyers — that’s the story told by the Southern Poverty Law Center’s first-person report on raids targeting Central American mothers and children in January.
Here’s part of Ana Silvia’s story: Continue reading
Filed under immigration
Image via Fotolia: #80127845 | Author: vostal
St. Paul has 19 licensed residential trash haulers. I’m sure they are all good, but I’d rather not see and hear different trucks rumbling through our alley five days a week. A study by Wilder Research and another by the Macalester Groveland Community Council find that most St. Paul residents agree, and many trash haulers would also like to see a more organized, rational system. The Mac-Groveland study ended up recommending that “haulers contract with the City through a consortium to develop a more efficient trash collection system which will benefit all of us, including the small and local haulers whom we seek to support. “ Continue reading
Filed under St. Paul Notes
Mary Turck