Alright, we have all heard of Minnesota nice. We have all seen Betty White’s character on the Golden Girls show (loved this show) and how really really really and really nice Minnesota really is.
Well – let’s dig deeper at least from minority mom autism perspective.
Minnesota has worst #48 achievement gap between Whites and Black students in the country. This makes me think what the heck did they do when they were worst #20, 30 or even 10. Why wait so long – are they going for a record of #50 worst out of 50 states. I mean that is not a record to be proud of. Yet, everyone is really nice here and couldn’t possibly let such disgrace record go on.
Minnesota has bottom 10 worst health disparity for Blacks and Latinos. So, if everyone in Minnesota department of health is soooooo nice – why such a high gap? Women and children of color fair the worst here – yet child and maternal health keeps hiring clueless village idiots. One can only ask who are they related to up there. Over 115 staff in this department, less 10 are minorities. But again they are all soooo very nice and if you ask them if they have a plan. Their favorite line is “we know we are not doing a good job reaching-out to minority communities”. Then when you ask – OK so what is your plan to reach-out. They have none and god forbid you ask again – well then it turns to angry black person profiling scenario.
Imagine for a second – if the commissioner fired the leaders and managers of MDH’s child and maternal health department and filled it with more caring, diverse and can do people. Well – I guess we can all dream.
Minneapolis has worst Black unemployment in the whole country – I mean think about that. Yet, everyone is sooooo nice. I mean really even the mayor here is very nice and even talks to us. Well – actually only when he is running for an election.
Then there is the new MNsure agency – exchange, whatever the heck they are calling it which we are told is to help the low income people who are disproportionately minorities get access to better health care. Guess what the leaders of this agency lack? Wait for it……minority people. But don’t forget they are all nice, they just don’t need to reflect the actual communities they are going to serve which will need explanation of ACA and how it will work.
My only advice here would be – if all of these “nice” people knew we understood the importance of our votes and how it can change and shape policies, we would not be at the bottom of every pit. We vote for the Governor who hires agency commissioners who bring in their entourage who bring in mostly clueless village idiots like the ones at CMH at MDH.
Why can’t minorities especially Blacks use their votes as an investment stock that should have a high return. In other words, if you invest a stock in a company and that company goes bankrupt or is mis-managed – would you keep buying the same stock knowing your investment will have no sufficient return? I would bet no.
Well – the same can be said for these out of touch politicians in Minnesota who keep taking our votes for granted by never ever having faces that reflect us in their leadership, cabinets or policies.
I hope we start asking with Sen. Eaton of Brooklyn Center, Rep. Norton of Rochester, Sen Hayden & Sen Kari D of the heart of Somali Cedar area, Sen Franken and Gov Dayton.
Otherwise, our kids will keep failing in school, health disparity will still be high, so on and so forth.
Now, this does not mean that we should just switch sides without bargaining because sometimes the other side is not much better. In fact, I find it amusing when I hear “pull yourself up by your boot straps”. ah – what if you don’t own boots or they don’t have straps. Or I will lower your taxes. ah that is like asking a naked person if they would like a washer & dryer or a hungry person what kind of spresso coffee machine they would like as a gift. Huge disconnection here – really.
We should learn from other communities who vote based on what have you done for me and what will you do about my issue and hold them all to it.
To sum it up – Minn dept of health, Minn dept of human services and MNsure now all have non minority commissioners and zero asst commissioners of color even though they all serve low income people who are disproportionately minorities. And, Minn department of education has a commissioner from minority community, but zero asst commissioner from the Black community, even though Black kids are fairing worst here. That is Minnesota NICE for ya! and you betcha nice. Who can ask for more here – really. As long as they are “nice” why bother with little things like policies and diverse leadership.
Thanks!
Idil – Somali Autism Mom & Minority Advocate