Alright – so, the chairs of human services in the Minnesota Senate and House (Hoffman & Noor) along with the state Medicaid agency commissioner (Harpstead) held a community town hall meeting on August 15, 2024. I know I am writing this blog a bit late, I am trying to retire and all.
Anyway, like an African wedding, they start unfashionably late. Then all three of them praise themselves on how good they are and have done. They tell us they passed this bill and that bill and they are yum yum. Most of the people, including me are thinking – what planet are they living. What now?
Ok fine, in the interest of fairness, they did pass some good legislation but not enough to praise them when they finally opened the mic to the public.
First, Noor tells all of us Somalis to make our comments short – I tell him – don’t dream. The commissioner tells us – thanks for your candid and frank comments. Well, her words were that, but her body language was saying to us “screw you”. No worries, we are used to this by now.
Finally, the public was allowed to speak. I had a long speech prepared for how racist and heartless DHS has been under commissioner Harpstead towards minority autism families and providers, then I heard so many others with real heartbreaking stories one after another, not that racism isn’t heartbreaking, but I bit my tongue and did not say what I wrote. Instead, I asked them to address clear disparities in DHS and hire more people who reflect the communities they serve. I also asked which is more important to me – lack of services for adults with autism. There is literally nothing for children like mine. When children age out of EIDBI and school, there are maybe less than 10 agencies that provide services – none of them look like us and they all have endless waitlists. This reminds me of the state of Minn before EIDBI when we had five agencies. Let me rephrase that – five blood sucking greedy racist crap autism therapy agencies. Ufta.
Sen. Hoffman said to me – Idil what is your deal with me, why do you keep writing negative blogs about me. What I find really interesting is when people are advocating at the state capitol, there are a lot of raw emotions and we all speak from our perspectives. However, when the session ends and you win some and lose some, it is all fair in love and politics. But when anyone who is black or maybe brown is advocating and says their opinions, white legislators and white state agencies take it personally, but they don’t take it personally when a white person does the same thing. I remember when I was advocating at the state legislator, I would see white autism families looked at as passionate and caring for their children. On the other hand, they would think I am angry, should have no right to have emotions or feel what I felt. Such double standard and they do not even realize it.
I also remember the level of disrespect they sometimes had for each other, but it was never personal – it was simply part of the landscape. One time, long ago, Rep. Thissen was in the health conference committee with Sen. Yvonne P Solon, and he told her “To come down of her high horse and walk on the ground”. I was sitting next to one of the health insurance lobbyists who said, “they are just tired now and insulting each other”. That was it, none of the legislators even noticed or commented on that disrespectful comment. Another time, maybe multiple times, the chair of the education finance committee in the house (CY) would scold and demean the members especially the republican ones and no one would blink or call her out. One time, she had a teenager meltdown and said to Rep. Peggy “not right now, I haven’t had my coffee yet”. Imagine if a black legislator said that it would make the news.
You see this double standard of I can say my feelings and my opinions as a white person, and they should be looked as my heartfelt opinion and perspective but God Forbid if a black/brown person says the same thing then – they have a meltdown.
Here is my say to Hoffman, Merz, Thissen and all those elite liberal white and privileged either publicly elected officials or work in a publicly funded agency – get over yourselves, it is not about you, if you want no one to be mad at your horrible policies then please find a job in a shoe store or maybe an ice cream shop. I am sure everyone is happy at those places. But if you choose to work in a publicly funded agency or are a publicly elected official then the PUBLIC in every race and ethnicity has the right to criticize, critique, and comment on your policies or lack thereof.
Now, I did say to Hoffman that I will write good review blogs if/when he does something good for autism. In 2024, he supported us when we needed to add QABA to EIDBI behavior analysis. Thanks for that. He also met with several Somali autism parents and promised them he will hold DHS accountable for their deliberate and subjective biased policies towards Somali autism centers and families.
The above words do not reflect any candidate, agency, or committee.
Idil Abdull – Somali Autism Mom & Retired Advocate