PRESORTED
STANDARD
October 13 - October 19, 2008 • MN Metro Vol. 33 No. 40• The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • www.insightnews.com
Voting e-mail a fraud
By Batala McFarlane
Publisher
batalara@insightnews.com
Warning: The e-mail warning
Obama supporters to not wear
campaign paraphernalia to the
polls on November 4, running the
risk of being turned away from
the polls is a fraud!
According to the Office of the
Minnesota Secretary of State, it is
illegal to knowingly deceive a
voter in Minnesota to keep them
from voting by providing
misinformation about: dates or
times for voting, polling place
Obama outpost
opens in the heart of Rondo
By Ryan T. Scott
ryan@insightnews.com
A critical campaign outpost for
Barack Obama’s Presidential
campaign opened at 924 Selby
Avenue in St. Paul earlier
this month, Sat.,
October 4. The
location lends
itself to several
highly important
voting groups
from the
University, Selby,
Summit, Grand
Ave., and Cathedral
Hill neighborhoods, all of
which compose the more properly
known Rondo neighborhood. The
intersection of Selby Ave. and
Milton St. is a community
business and social hub. The
Rondo-Obama office space was
Dr. John Finnegan, Jr., PhD. and Dr. Rhonda Jones-Webb, PhD.
power & identity
Media role in disparities reduction
Who defines problem, defines solution
Part two in a series
By Al McFarlane
Editor-In-Chief
al@insightnews.com
The September 22 edition of
"Conversations with Al
McFarlane" was broadcast live on
KFAI FM 90.3, from the 6th
National Conference on Quality
Health Care for Culturally Diverse
Populations in downtown
Minneapolis at the Marriott City
Center Hotel. My guests included
Dr. John Finnegan, Jr., PhD.,
professor and dean, School of
Public Health and Assistant Vice
President for Public Health at
University of Minnesota; Juan
Jackson, community activist,
educator and evaluator in Public
locations, voting procedures,
voting eligibility.
While Minnesota is one of 10
states that strictly prohibits
exposing buttons, stickers, shirts
and other campaign items at
voting locations, Minnesota
voters will not be prohibited from
voting should they appear with
such items. Instead, voters will be
asked to remove buttons, pens and
turn t-shirts inside out, but they
will not be turned away from the
voting location.
“You should not be blocked
from voting,” said Jonathan
Maurer-Jones Democracy
FRAUD TURN TO 5
donated by St. Paul Central
Alumnus, and former New York
Giants Superbowl Champion
Stacy Robinson.
The St. Paul Obama
Campaign office will be headed
by Nick Al’Aziz Muhammad.
Joining him Saturday
morning for the office
opening were St.
Paul Mayor Chris
Coleman, Ward 1
Councilmemeber
Melvin Carter III,
Ramsey County
Commissioner
Toni Carter and
neighborhood
residents. Also on hand
were Twin Cities hip-hop pillars,
and worldwide known rappers,
Brother Ali, Muja Messiah, and
St. Paul Slim.
OUTPOST TURN TO 5
Health; and Dr. Rhonda Jones-
Webb, PhD, assistant professor and
researcher in the University of
Minnesota School of Public Health.
Al McFarlane: I interviewed
Sudanese officials who talked
about wealth, power and identity.
How does the question of power
and identity come into decisions of
how to engage media? I reflect on
how we created the Minnesota
Multicultural Media Consortium in
1992. We called it the Minnesota
Minority Media Coalition. We
organized because we felt the state
of Minnesota was not responding
to our communities' need to get
accurate and credible information
about HIV/AIDS to our
communities. The general
information environment was
abuzz with misinformation that
HEALTH TURN TO 4
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
MINNEAPOLIS MN
PERMIT NO. 32468
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Patricia Crumley
named Humphrey
Institute Policy
Fellow
http://im.rediff.com PAGE 5
Sen. Barack Obama (L) Sen. John McCain during their second debate.
Polls rocketing for Obama,
but, could racism undermine Nov. 4?
By Hazel Trice Edney
Monday night that gave him
strong leads over Sen. John
A National CNN poll at the
conclusion of the debate –
NNPA Editor-in-Chief McCain in several key polls.
But, some political
which focused largely on the
economy - had 54 per cent of
WASHINGTON (NNPA) –Sen. observers say the polls may not voters saying Obama won the
Barack Obama has moved yet reflect a racial undercurrent debate, versus McCain at 30 per
another step closer to becoming among whites that could hurt cent. Likewise, a CBS poll Interview
America’s first Black president Obama’s election on November
4. OBAMA TURN TO 2 with Rob Brown, star
after an arguably bland debate
of new movie The
Express
PAGE 6
Professor wins
$25,000 Frederick
Douglass Book Prize
PAGE 7
Photo: Suluki Fardan Flying high
Diana Hawkins, a Comcast senior government affairs professional, and Minneapolis Urban League
board member, last week presented David Oguamanam, the interim president/CEO for the non-
paying less: Low-cost
travel
profit with a grant for $12,000
Comcast presents $12,000 grant PAGE 10
to the Minneapolis Urban League
Diana Hawkins, a Comcast — a program designed to educate crisis,” said Bill Wright, Comcast
senior government affairs homeowners about available senior vice president, Twin
professional, and Minneapolis services and resources to avoid Cities. “With over 2,000 local
Urban League board member, home foreclosure, is in employees, we know that
last week presented David recognition of Comcast’s sustainable home ownership
Oguamanam, the interim commitment to the communities plays a critical role in
president/CEO for the non-profit where its customers and maintaining our region’s vibrant
with a grant for $12,000. The employees live and work. Since quality of life.”
presentation was held at the its founding in 1999, the Comcast
Minneapolis Urban League’s Foundation has donated $50,000 For more information about the
Glover-Sudduth Center, 2100 in support of programs Minneapolis Urban League, visit New TCF Bank
Plymouth Avenue N., implemented locally in Comcast www.mul.org or call (612) 302- Stadium looking
Minneapolis. communities. 3100. The Minneapolis Urban
The $12,000 grant from the “Comcast is pleased to League is headquartered at the good
Comcast Foundation, which will support the Minneapolis Urban Glover-Sudduth Center, 2100
be used to support the Urban League in their efforts to help Plymouth Avenue North,
League’s Early Intervention and families and individuals in need Minneapolis, MN 55411. PAGE 12
Foreclosure Prevention Project during the current housing
Page 4 • October 13 - October 19 • Insight News
Egal Shidad: Stories of Somali Health employs folk tales to make message real
Egal Shidad: Stories of Somali
Health was awarded $225,000 by
New Routes to Community
Health, a program of the Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation and
the Benton Foundation designed
to improve the health of
immigrants in the United States
through media created by
immigrants.
There are eight total diverse
immigrant-led collaborations
across the United States splitting
$1.8 million total over three
years to create locally-focused
media and outreach campaigns
that speak directly to
immigrants’ health concerns at
the community level.
Here in Minneapolis and St.
Paul, Egal Shidad will use folk
tales and other cultural
Breast cancer awareness month: Increase your knowledge and reduce your risk
By National Cancer Institute
NNPA Special Commentary
Do you know someone affected
by breast cancer? Maybe an aunt,
sister, mother, or friend? If so,
you are not alone. One in eight
women born today will learn they
have breast cancer in their
lifetime, according to the National
Cancer Institute (NCI). This can
seem frightening as most people
still equate any cancer diagnosis
with a death sentence.
However, thanks to decades of
research, as of 2004, there were
over 10.8 million cancer survivors
across the United States, nearly a
quarter of whom are breast cancer
survivors. Despite progress, not
Health
From 1
dehumanized African people. We
demanded action and they
responded by engaging Black,
Asian, Latino and Native American
media to promote good science,
good information.
Here's how I described the
problem: We get the misery, they
get the money. Our communities
get misery, have misery and our
approaches to create a series of
stories on Somali health for
radio, television and classroom
use. Partners are the
Confederation of Somali
Community, ECHO Minnesota,
KFAI Community Radio and
Saint Paul Neighborhood
Network.
Egal Shidad is a project
strengthening Somali immigrant
families through video, radio and
English language learning stories
about healthy lives. Funded by
the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation and the Benton
Foundation, the Egal Shidad
Partners include Minnesota
Counties Research Foundation-
ECHO, Confederation of Somali
Community, Saint Paul
Neighborhood Network (SPNN),
all women are benefiting equally
from breast cancer research
advances. Sadly, over 40,000
people will lose their battle with
breast cancer this year. More
unsettling, a disproportionate part
of this number will be African
American women, who are more
likely to die from breast cancer
than any other racial group.
It doesn’t have to stay that
way. October is Breast Cancer
Awareness Month. Use it as
motivation to learn more about
breast cancer risk factors,
screenings, and treatment. The
more you know about how to
reduce your risk and make
informed decisions, the better
prepared you can be to confront
the disease and survive it.
One of the best places to turn
misery becomes a place where
other people -- and I'll be very
direct here, -- where "the
establishment" or white people
profit from studying and analyzing
but never solving.
My sense is until we are able to
be partners in the power and
decision making arena our
problems will never abate.
Dr. John Finnegan: You're
absolutely right. One of the things
you see emerging right now in
research universities and schools of
HEALTH
KFAI Community Radio
Minneapolis and Saint Paul, MN.
In all eight communities,
immigrant groups, media makers
and prominent community
institutions are working together
to produce original content in
immigrants’ first languages,
including Amharic, Chinese,
Creole, French, Lao, Somali,
Spanish, Swahili and
Vietnamese.
Grants were given to
collaborations in Atlanta,
Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles,
Minneapolis/St Paul, Oakland,
Philadelphia and San Francisco.
Using a wide range of media
such as television and radio
features, telenovelas, first person
narratives, live theater, the
Internet and social marketing
for answers is the National Cancer
Institute (NCI), the nation’s
cancer research agency. While
there is a lot of misinformation out
there on breast cancer, you can
always be sure that the
information from NCI is
comprehensive, accurate and up-
to-date.
On www.Cancer.gov, click on
“Breast Cancer” under the “Types
of Cancers” section or type
“Breast” in the search box. From
there, you’ll arrive at a Web page
with the information you need.
From breast cancer prevention
and screening to treatment and
clinical trials, everything is right
at your fingertips. You can access
a variety of helpful publications,
such as the popular “What You
Need to Know about Breast
public health, which is where I
come from, is very much a
different approach when we engage
with communities and I've been
engaging with communities.
I started working at the
University back in 1980. Too often
in the past, research universities
have done hit and run research in
communities. The intentions may
have been good, but the unintended
outcomes were bad. So you go in.
You raise expectations. People
engage with you. And then you're
done with your work and you leave
campaigns, New Routes projects
will map the often difficult
terrain of immigrant life in the
U.S.
“Immigrants are the new
leaders and pathfinders on the
route to the American Dream,”
said Beth Mastin, national
program director of New Routes.
“Our program recognizes the
challenges faced by immigrants,
but we also see the opportunities
they bring to renew our economy
with hard work and strengthen
our society with strong family
and community values. Using
today’s communications tools,
and building leadership through
collaboration with stakeholders,
New Routes helps these 21st
Century leaders create that
American Dream.”
Cancer” booklet. Not sure how to
find what you want? To chat
online with a Cancer Information
Service (CIS) specialist, who can
help you find the books, tools and
resources, just click on “Live Help
online chat” on www.cancer.gov.
If you prefer to get your
information via the telephone, dial
NCI’s toll-free Cancer
Information Service (CIS)
between the hours of 9:00 am and
4:30 pm local time at 1-800-4-
CANCER where an information
specialist will be waiting on the
other end of the line to talk with
you. CIS information specialists
have access to the most recent
information about cancer
treatment. They are skilled in
explaining medical information in
understandable terms. This
and there's nothing that stays in the
community. There's nothing that
really comes back to inform the
community with respect to its
ability to take control of its own
health.
Over the last 10 years, the
concept of community
participatory research has framed
things differently. This is not an
expert running into your
community, doing things to you.
This is forming partnerships with
experts, people that we have at the
University, in order to jointly build
the health of a community. In that
process we hope to learn some
things that we can then translate
into long-lasting impact on people's
lives. Now this is an emerging area
and please don't mistake me: I
don't say that we at Minnesota or
any school of public health have all
the answers or all the success. I do
think it's a fundamental change in
the way that we try to partner,
especially in public health, and
especially with the African
American community, which, as
you know, has the legacy of the
Tuskegee syphilis experiments.
You may be aware that the
University of Minnesota is building
a different partnership with the
Northside Community in
Minneapolis, for example. And it's
based on the principles of self-
actualization. These principles are
meant to enhance and build the
capacity of a community to be able
to have long-lasting and sustained
change rather than the sort of hit
and run of the past.
AM: Dr. Rhonda J. Jones-Webb,
how does this conversation fit into
what you know and what you are
learning as a researcher?
Media content created by the
eight projects will be housed at
www.newroutes.org and be
available for any community to
use. Additionally, the Web site
will serve as a resource for
multimedia, research and news
on the topic of immigrant
community health.
New Routes to Community
service is confidential and best of
all, free.
Take some time this month to
learn about clinical trials and
whether they are right for you.
Cancer clinical trials are designed
to answer questions about new
ways to treat, find, diagnose and
prevent cancer. To help eliminate
cancer health disparities, it is
important for us to understand
how the disease works in different
segments of the population. One
way to learn this information and
support new advances in
treatment for African-American
women is to improve the
representation of this population
in cancer clinical trials. Where can
you get more information? Get the
facts on clinical trials by visiting
the NCI’s clinical trials portal
Dr. Rhonda J. Jones-Webb: My
research has primarily focused on
alcohol issues. I've been
particularly interested in the role of
alcohol in the cultural environment
in explaining disparities in
homicide rates, particularly in
inner-city communities; and what
is the role of alcohol availability
and promotion, particularly in
inner city communities. The whole
issue of marketing and promotion
is a very important one for me.
One of the roles that ethnic media
can play is documenting media and
marketing efforts that might
actually contribute to health
disparities. As part of our Malt
Liquor and Homicide study, we did
observations of off-premise alcohol
outlets in inner-city neighborhoods
in about 10 cities across the
country. We found more malt
liquor ads on store fronts in areas
with higher concentrations of
African Americans and other
groups. I think one of the roles
ethnic media can play is raising
questions: Why such marketing
practices are more common in
certain neighborhoods and not in
others? And more importantly,
what can be done. I think the
ethnic media has a very important
role in kind of highlighting issues
that are affecting our communities.
AM: What are your general
observations about the power and
media? How has our society used
media to condition the public? I
think all of us have to agree that we
are all both beneficiaries and
victims of mass information
technology. Our lives are guided by
the images we see in movies and on
television. We relate to each other
through images we've gotten from
people like us on TV that allow us
http://insightnews.com
Health is funded through the
Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation’s Vulnerable
Populations portfolio. The
Benton Foundation and
MasComm Associates provide
direction and technical
assistance for the program.
page(http://www.cancer.gov/clini
caltrials).Breast cancer is the
number one cancer threat for
African-American women. Know
what you can do if it affects you or
a loved one by arming yourself
with the most accurate, most
complete information about breast
cancer from the National Cancer
Institute (NCI). These are free
resources that you can’t afford to
overlook.
The National Cancer Institute is
the nation’s cancer research
agency. For more information
about cancer research and
resources, visit www.cancer.gov
or call toll-free 1-800-4CANCER.
to pre-judge, to sort out how we
will interact with others. So how
do we become conscious and
conscientious in understanding this
technology, the science and art of
media, so we are taking advantage
of its capabilities rather than being
victims of it?
DJW: The role of media is a huge
one, particularly for our younger
generation who has been exposed
to so many different types of
media. I think one thing we can do
is kind of turn it around,
challenging and critiquing how
mainstream media covers certain
issues affecting our communities.
We hear a lot about health care
reform and how certain groups
don't have access to health care.
But what's less covered is the kind
of disparities in quality of care that
certain minority groups experience
once they get in the health care
system. We know there are
disparities in access to certain types
of medical procedures. I think the
ethnic media can play a role in
filling in those gaps and providing
an alternative perspective.
AM: Dr. Finnegan?
JF: Rhonda has really put her
finger on what I think is a key role
of the media. We think of it as a
place that we can get all kinds of
information, which of course is
right. But a really critical function
that the media have in our society,
whether it's the Wall Street Journal
or CBS or whether it's the local
community press, is setting the
agenda for important issues. Now
that can happen two ways. People
say, 'well the press don't necessarily
HEALTH TURN TO 9
http://insightnews.com
COMMUNITY CALENDAR
Send community events to us by:
email, ben@insightnews.com, by
fax: 612-588-2031, by phone: 612-
588-1313 or by mail: 1815 Bryant
Ave. N. Minneapolis, MN 55411,
Attn: Ben Williams. Free or low
cost events preferred. Visit
www.insightnews.com/community
.asp for more events.
Events
SafeJourney Support Group for
Women Who Have Experienced
Domestic Abuse
- Ongoing
Every Tuesday from 6:30 to 8:00
p.m. at North Memorial Medical
Center, 3300 Oakdale Ave. N.,
Robbinsdale. Free and confidential
(free parking also included). Pre-
registration is required. To register,
call (763) 520-2639
El-Amin Basketball Youth
League Signup
The league is for K-4th grade and
will run on Sundays at North
Community Highschool. Games
are Sundays starting November 16
thru February 8 2009. K-4th Grade
Co-Ed. Fees: $50.00 per child
(pre-register) $65.00 (walk-in). To
register or for more info: el-
aminbasketball.com, (952) 933-
1786.
Beauty That Speaks - Ongoing
(Aug. - Oct.)
A series of exhibitions and
presentations addressing the basic
needs in communities that make
for wholeness and justice for all,
from August through October,
2008. For more information, visit
http://beautythatspeaks.blogspot.c
om/
Non-profit or Ministry
Leadership classes - Ongoing
The Greater Mpls Council of
Churches is offering a series of free
classes to help build organizational
capacity and support emerging
leaders in nonprofit management.
Registration can be done by e-mail
by sending a message to Sandra at
svaughn-kelly@gmcc.org.
Registration is required and limited
to 50.
Pangea World Theater presents
The Chairs - Now thru Oct. 19
Runs Thursdays - Sundays 7:30
pm at Pangea World Theater
Studio, 711 West Lake St. Suite
101, Mpls. Tickets $15/ $10
students/ seniors. Box office
number: (612) 203-1088 or online
a t
www.pangeaworldtheater.org/ticke
ts/.
GLBT Host Home Program
information sessions - Oct. 13,
15
Mon., October 13, 7-9 pm at
Midtown YWCA, 2121 E Lake St.,
Mpls. www.ywca-
minneapolis.org. Weds., Oct. 15, 6-
8 pm at Common Roots Café, 2558
Lyndale Ave. S. Mpls.
www.commonrootscafe.com
Senior Learning Series - Oct. 14
Tues., Oct. 14, 1 - 2 pm at The
Raptor Center, 1920 Fitch Ave.,
Saint Paul. $5 per person. To
register or for more info, call (612)
624-9753.
St. Thomas information
sessions about graduate
program in art history - Oct. 15
Weds., Oct. 15, in the university's
Luann Dummer Center for
Women, Room 103,
O'Shaughnessy Educational
Center. Info: call the UST
Graduate Art History Program
Office, (651) 962-5640, send e-
mail to gradarthist@stthomas.edu
or visit the Art History Department
Web site at
http://www.stthomas.edu/arthistor
y/graduate.
Health care policy experts
discuss health care reform at U
of M - Oct. 15
Weds., October 15, 12:30 - 2 pm in
the Cowles Auditorium at the
Humphrey Institute on the
University of Minnesota campus in
Minneapolis. For more info or
directions, visit www.fpamn.org
and click on the Financial Planning
Week icon, or contact Lucas Bucl:
(952) 841-2230,
lucas@accredited.com.
Movie Night in Brooklyn Park -
Oct. 16
Thurs., Oct. 16 at 7 pm at
Edinburgh USA Golf Course, 8700
Edinbrook Crossing, Brooklyn
Park. Come join teens from all
over the city and watch "Ironman".
Adults welcome. More info at
www.brooklynparkyouth.com
Zion Baptist Church honors
Pastor Brian Herron, Sr. - Oct.
15, 16, 17, 19
Zion Baptist Church will be
honoring and celebrating the
Second Anniversary of Pastor
Brian Herron, Sr. with services on
Weds. - Fri., Oct. 15 - 17 at 7 pm
and Sun., Oct. 19, 11 am and 4 pm.
Services will be held at 621
Elwood Ave. N., Mpls. 612-377-
5436.
Coleen Rowley, FBI
Whistleblower, Time Person of
the Year, Congressional
Candidate, and peace activist
speaks - Oct. 16
Thurs., Oct. 16, 7 pm at the
Robbinsdale United Church of
Christ, 4200 Lake Rd,
Robbinsdale. Sponsored by
Northwest Neighbors for Peace
and hosted by the National and
Global Ministries of RUCC. FFI,
Linda at or Carole at (763) 546-
5368.
If not for ourselves...then at
least for our children - Oct. 16
Thurs., October 16, 6 - 8:30 pm at
Hallie Q. Brown Community
Center, 270 N. Kent St., Saint Paul.
Ideas and solutions to this on-
going problem that is affecting all
of our
communities
Naked Stages I - Oct. 16 thru 18
Thursday-Saturday, October 16-
18, 2008, 8 pm at Intermedia Arts,
2822 Lyndale Ave S, Minneapolis.
Four artists' personal journeys of
finding, nurturing, and celebrating
their authenticity. To make
reservations, please call (612) 871-
4444, www.intermediaarts.org.
Minneapolis Urban League
Guild's Arts and Crafts Fair -
Oct. 17 (vendor deadline)
Event is Sat., October 25 from 10
am - 5 pm at the Minneapolis
Urban League, 2100 Plymouth
Avenue N., Mpls. For more
information, or to reserve a table:
Contact Lucretia, (612) 730-1904,
lsudduthwood@mul.org.
Registration deadline for vendors
is Tues., Oct. 17.
African Development Center
2008 Annual Event Celebration
- Oct. 17
Fri., October 17, 2008, 4:30-7:30
pm at Park House (2120 Park Ave.
Mpls., MN 55404). For more info.,
please contact ADC at (612) 333-
4772 or 1-877-232-4775.
7th Annual International Youth
Conference - Oct. 18
Sat., October 18th, 9 am -12:30 pm
at Higher Ground Academy, 1381
Marshall Avenue St. Paul. Free.
For more info or to register your
youth group:
www.internationalleadership.org.
Stevens Square Community
Hosts Fall Harvest Festival -
Oct. 18
Sat., Oct. 18, Noon to 3 pm in
Stevens Square Park, East 18th
St.and 2nd Ave. S., Mpls.
www.stevensarts.org, (612) 879-
0200.
18th Year Celebration of the
African American Breast
Cancer Alliance, Inc. - Oct. 18
Saturday, October 18, 4 - 7 pm,
Tickets $5 at the door. Midtown
Global Market, Mpls. Businesses
or organizations related to cancer
awareness, education, and
treatment are invited to be
exhibitors. aabca@aabcainc.org if
interested in purchasing a vendor
table ($25).
Kitchen Window's Festival of
Knives - Oct. 18, 19
Sat., Oct. 18th and Sun. Oct.19th,
from 10 am to 5 pm at Kitchen
Window, Calhoun Square, 3001
Hennepin Ave., Mpls. An
educational and interactive
culinary cooking event that focuses
on, the knife. (612) 824-4417,
www.kitchenwindow.com.
Jordan New Life Hub hosts a
political candidate forum - Oct.
20
Mon, Oct. 20, Meal begins 5:30
pm, Forum begins 6 pm and ends
at 8:30 pm. Jordan New Life Hub ,
1922 25th Ave N. (corner of 26th
and Newton Ave N.)., Mpls.
Invited candidates include
candidates from 5th Congressional
District, District 58B and
Minneapolis School Board.
Health
From 4
tell you what to think, but they're
really successful in telling you
what to think about' - so I would
guess if you were to poll people in
this room and ask 'What do you
think are the big issues facing us
today?' there'd be a pretty strong
correlation between that and what
was on the front page of the Star
Tribune. It's really critical to see the
role of the media in setting the
agenda for what a eventually
becomes political action. Al, you
talked earlier about the idea of
power. I think that's really, when
we talk about the media, that's
really what this is all about. I do
think that the media are more than
just simply telling you that this is
an important topic; I think the
media also frame up the way we
think about issues and it's
important the way news stories get
framed, because they're framed in
ways that encourage us to think
about things in one way and not
another way.
AM: Juan, you say that the medical
establishment has an interest in and
a policy and strategy of treating
individuals. The model is
intervention and treatment, not
public health. And you made a
huge distinction between
intervention on the one hand, and
public health, on the other. If we
were genuinely committed to
pursuing public health as opposed
to only intervention, what would
we be doing differently?
JJ: I'll go one step further and link
it back to identity and power.
Prevention is about human
behavior change. What counts in
one community as behavior, may
not count in another community as
behavior. So it's real serious to ask,
is there Black sexual behavior that
is causing the disparity in Africa
and in these Black communities of
the United States versus white
sexual behavior or other sexual
behavior? It's also important to ask
-- and it's a question of power -
what is a human being? Who gets
counted as a human? Because
resources will go toward those that
are counted as human more so than
others.
For a long time in Minnesota
when we looked at our numbers,
the Black numbers for HIV and
STDs just went up, up, up and up.
In particular, the numbers for HIV
were just up like an escalator and
so myself and others asked, 'You
need to look at that more closely…
Who is in that group? What is
Insight News • October 13 - October 19 • Page 9
Answers from page 8
Seniors have programs to help
them remain in their homes -
Oct. 22
Weds., Oct. 22, 10 - 11 am,
Brookview Community Golf
Center, 200 Brookview Parkway,
Golden Valley. $2 fee per person
collected at the door by the Golden
Valley Seniors to cover the cost of
refreshments. To register, go to
www.co.hennepin.mn.us/forms/cfa
sd/DDcontact.htm or call (612)
596-6631. Call 763-512-2340 for
directions to the location.
'Informed and Engaged: Civil
Rights, Social Justice and the
2008 Elections' topic of law
school forum - Oct. 22
Weds., Oct. 22., 4 to 6 pm at
University of St. Thomas, Schulze
Grand Atrium located at 11th
Street and Harmon Place in
downtown Minneapolis.
Participants are asked to register
(free) at
www.stthomas.edu/law/rsvp . For
more information, call (651) 962-
4960.
West 7th Neighborhood
Spaghetti Dinner - Oct. 23
Thurs., Oct. 23, 4:30 to 7:30 pm in
the West 7th Community Center
gym located at 265 Oneida Street,
St. Paul. Tickets are available at the
door for $8 ($4 for children), with
$1 advance ticket discounts
available through October 17th.
(651) 298-5493, www.west7th.org.
LEAP Landscape Awards and
Going Native - Oct. 23
Thurs., Oct. 23, 6:30 - 8:30 pm at
H.B. Fuller, 1200 Willow Lake
Boulevard in Vadnais Heights.
Light refreshments will be served.
Please RSVP to Shelly at (651)
792-7965 or
shelly.melser@rwmwd.org.
Wenso Ashby featuring Zsamé -
Oct. 23
Thurs., Oct. 23, 6:30 - 9:30 pm.
The club party "Urban Jazz Affair',
hosted by Babalu, 800 Washington
happening there?" Now it took
them about five years from when
we started those conversations to
actually have the epidemiologists
to pull out the data. African
American Minnesotan rates were
basically flat. They were flat but
still they're disproportionate. They
were not going up. They were not
going down. All of the movement
came from African immigrants.
The entire movement was African
Immigrants. They have the highest
health disparity in Minnesota
compared to any group, including
African Americans. But you would
not know that story unless you're
able to get data that is consistent
across many groups. But you're not
going to get data consistent across
many groups, because data is
contested. Science is contested.
People have different
understanding of what those things
mean. Different people at the
university may create that data, but
they actually have through media
and through the way that they're
educated, a thought line that looks
nothing like the one that I use in the
community or the one that we need.
So they're not going to count
Asians in a way that really would
look at 45 different Asian groups.
So I remember when I was
applying to medical school and got
the official medical handbook for
minorities going to medical school
- there are no Asians in it. They're
not a 'minority' in medical schools.
They're not a 'minority' in many
secondary and college and graduate
schools and so that is the issue.
Identity and power do come back
to politics. What we do plays out in
a way that media creates. It's a
dominant narrative that even
minorities, even minority media,
usually accept, because even
minority media can work against
the very grain that they're trying to
solve by categorizing things only
as racial, or only as gender, or only
as sexual preference and other
kinds of things, when the
categories may not be that. It may
be poverty. It may be geography. It
may be education. It may be what
you believe to be love and trust.
One of the things that I used to
say all the time about Black
communities is, if you really look
at us more as protective, what are
the protective things that we have
in the community? Many of the
things that are most protective
about us are the very things that put
us disproportionately at risk for
HIV.
AM: Meaning?
JJ: I'll say it very bluntly - but of
course it may not play so well with
the FCC or maybe others in the
Ave North, Mpls. $5. (651) 428-
7118.
Management workshop for
rental property owners - Oct. 23
Thurs., Oct. 23, 5 - 9 pm
(Registration at 4:30 pm), at St.
Mary's Greek Orthodox Church,
3450 Irving Ave. S., Mpls. RSVP
by Thursday, Oct. 16 ($20
registration fee). Registration:
www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/safe/w
orkshops.asp, (612) 673-2812.
Sanford Middle School Alumni
1924 thru 2008 Class Reunion -
Oct. 24
Fri., Oct. 24, 6-9pm at Sanford
Middle School, 3524 42nd Ave S,
Mpls. RSVP: Vicki Jones, (612)
668-4914 or
liaison0102@yahoo.com
4th Annual Teen Relationship
Summit - Oct. 25
Sat., Oct. 25, 9 am to 2 pm at
Camphor Memorial United
Methodist Church, 585 Fuller
Ave., St. Paul. Info: Call Juliet
Mitchell at (651) 224-0341;
Ujima@camphorfoundation.org.
Lex-Ham Music Festival - Oct.
25
Sat., Oct. 25, 1 to 5:30 pm at the
Jimmy Lee Rec Center, Marshall
Ave. and Lexington Parkway, in St.
Paul. Free. Info: LexHamArts.org
(651) 644-3366.
Photography reflecting Hmong
culture on display at the
Hennepin Gallery - Now thru
Oct. 29
"Journey through the Lenses: A
representation of the past, present
and future" will be featured in the
Monday through Friday, 7:30 am
to 6 pm, at the Hennepin County
Government Center, A Level, 300
S. Sixth St., Mpls.
www.hennepin.us.
room, but Black people are much
more trusting, I would say, in
general than white people. And
you can see that just by the fact, to
quote Malcolm X, that we have
accepted a dominant narrative that
we are only American and that
we're not African and not
connected to the continent. That
was able to be accomplished as
probably the greatest behavioral
modification in the history of the
world and was able to be
accomplished in just a few
generations. If I went around this
room right now people would say
"I'm Irish, I'm English, I'm
German, this, I'm that, Black
people are Black. There's
something really troubling and
damaging about that. But it's also
protective. And we do that same
thing with sexual behavior. There
is a kind of trust, and a kind of 'I am
often pressed in work, I am pressed
in school, I am pressed
everywhere, I don't want to be
pressed in my bedroom.' If I have
to say to my spouse, partner, lover,
or other, that there has to be some
barrier between you and me, isn't
that what I'm dealing with sixteen
hours out of the day? And now I
gotta come home and I can't even
trust the person I'm sleeping with?
It isn't going to happen. That will
not happen. I don't believe that
Black people will do that. But that
will never fit in any of our models.
It doesn't fit in any little "yes, no",
kind of categories. It just does not
fit the models in the dominant
narrative.
AM: So what do we do?
JJ: Who defines the problem often
also has defined a solution. You
have to begin with the largest
possible conversation around
defining the problem. HIV is not
the problem. You really have to
begin there. HIV is not the
problem. In many ways it's just
preparing us for even greater
problems to come. What's
happening with the credit crunch
right now, that is not the problem.
That's providing a lens for us to
figure out what the real problem is.
You have to go back to power
and identity, because those issues
focus on who defines the problem.
We cannot solve big problems and
you gave one when you said earlier
that we have the disease and the
malaise and we have the misery
and others get to get resources, to
not cure or solve it, but to just work
around it.
When we incorrectly define
problems or narrowly define
problems it's impossible to work on
what the real issues are.