Growing up on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation, Michelle Goose listened to aunts and uncles and her father, who spoke Ojibwe “enough to spark my interest in it.” Today, she has a degree in American Indian Studies with an emphasis on Ojibwe language from the University of Minnesota, and she is a passionate advocate for the revitalization of language. Continue reading
Ojibwe & Dakota: Protecting Minnesota’s vanishing first languages
Filed under Uncategorized
Heated contest ahead for St. Paul school board
UPDATED 1/30 – St. Paul will elect four out of seven school board members this fall, and the election season promises to be lively. Three of the incumbents are running, and at least nine other people have talked about challenging them. The first step comes at February 3 precinct caucuses. Issues include: Continue reading
Filed under Uncategorized
Birmingham to Bloomington
What lessons does Dr. King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail have for the city attorney in Bloomington? Take a look at my recent article in Al Jazeera:
Today’s civil disobedience continues MLK’s legacy
When protest targets injustice, public officials, police and prosecutors make choices about where they stand. Prosecutors can exercise their discretion to charge or not to charge, to seek a token sentence of community service or to try to hammer protesters with the full weight of available penalties.
Filed under Uncategorized
Free speech goes to jail
© alexskopje – Fotolia.com
If the first casualty of war is truth, the second is freedom to speak. Since the massacre at Charlie Hebdo, government repression of political speech has accelerated, and so have attacks on Muslims.
France arrested at least 54 people for “glorifying” or “defending” terrorism in the week after Charlie Hebdo — none of whom were even alleged to be connected to the attacks. Continue reading
Filed under human rights
Selma: the movie and the movement, then and now
Screen shot from Selma Movie Glory lyrics video, showing marchers on Edmund Pettus Bridge – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEFRPLM0nEA
Selma, the movie, makes a powerful and inspiring call to action. Without glossing over divisions in the civil rights movement in the 1960s, Selma focuses on courage and commitment, and connects the movement then to the movement now. Continue reading
Filed under human rights
Refugees left adrift on ghost ships
During the first week of January, two more ships were abandoned by their crews, leaving hundreds of migrants stranded at sea, reports NPR. The ships carry anywhere from 400 to 800 people. Continue reading
Filed under Uncategorized
Immigration battles: Drivers licenses for all
Photo from Facebook page of One License, One State Coalition https://www.facebook.com/unestadounalicencia
Minnesota’s One State, One License coalition got an early start, rallying at the legislature on the session’s opening day. The coalition wants all Minnesota residents, regardless of immigration status, to be able to take the driver’s license test and qualify for a license. They also want all licenses to look the same, without special marking for immigrants’ licenses. Continue reading
Filed under immigration
St. Paul Notes: Once in a lifetime
UAW mural at Ford Plant by Jonathan Haynes, used under Creative Commons license
The Ford plant’s departure leaves St. Paul with 125 acres of prime land on the Mississippi River. That’s an opportunity to build what St. Paul is calling a 21st Century Community, a “livable, mixed use neighborhood that looks to the future with clean technologies and high quality design for energy, buildings and infrastructure.” In an online forum, the city is asking for feedback as planning proceeds. The questions posed: Continue reading
Filed under Uncategorized
Answering my mother’s question about Charlie Hebdo
Photo by by Joroen Bosman, published under Creative Commons license
“But should they really publish such things?”
I want to say that’s the wrong question, but it’s not. I want to say that the question about Charlie Hebdo today is not whether they should publish such things, but whether they should be killed for publishing such things, or any things. The answer to the latter question, of course, is easy and clear.
My mother’s question, however is a different question, and the answer to her question is more complicated, bogged down in the distinctions between freedom and propriety and morality and legality, confused also by understanding what “things” Charlie Hebdo or any satirical publication has targets and why, past, present and future. Her question is worth serious consideration, especially by those of us who write, who publish, and who advocate for our political beliefs. Continue reading
Filed under Uncategorized
Seed dreams in the dead of winter
During the coldest week of the year, I’m looking at luscious red tomatoes on the cover of a recently-arrived 2015 seed catalog. Ever since I was a kid, seed catalogs have arrived in the depth of winter, filled with hope, promising that vegetables and fruit and flowers will roll around again. In deepest winter, a farmer’s fancy turns to spring. Continue reading
Filed under Uncategorized
Mary Turck