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Alright – so, Rep Winkler from Golden Valley, MN says he is leaving the state legislature and I for one am happy about that. This representative has been an obstacle to justice and equity. As usual, a Caucasian reporter from MPR tells us that Rep Winkler was a sharp tongue legislator.

Ah, excuse me but having a sharp tongue should not describe Rep Winkler, more like juvenile and immature in my humble little opinion. I always love how we are told when a minority person is passionate about something – we are called angry, emotional, blah blah. When a White person is passionate about an issue then it is sharp tongue, smart, fighting for justice, yada and yada. Oh please.

Rep Winkler has called Justice Thomas whom I personally disagree with –  uncle Tom. I know now what now – why would a White Minnesota legislator make such insensitive remark about a current Black U.S Supreme court justice. To give a hilarious lift – Rep Thissen stated Winkler was inpatient about injustice. Ahhh. now what now. Winkler was a member of Education policy and Public Safety and Crime Prevention committees in the House.

Let’s put this into context. Minnesota has one of the worst education gaps in the whole country and he was a member of a committee that is suppose to fix that. But, we are told he cares about equity. Come on now.

Don’t get me started on public safety and Minnesota’s issues with racial disparity in the justice system. Of the 87 counties in Minnesota – only one district attorney is a minority – Ramsey county. Zero is Black. The police cameras we hear so much during campaigns never pass in real time. The discretion of district attorneys are never recorded and there is no data or accountability for it.

Yet, Winkler cared about justice….come on now.

On a related note – Sen Bakk, (my other least fav legislator in Minnesota) was talking end of the session about the State Senate building and body history. It was condescending and almost painful to watch him describe how it was all White men senators and how women came in decades later. He even mentioned having the first openly gay senator, yet he did not mention the measly two Black senators, one of which was sitting behind him. He did not mention the hardship minorities go through daily in this upper body nor did he mention the voting rights act for Blacks. He did mention the women voting right though.

Both Sen Bakk and Rep Winkler have consistently and persistently voted against autism bills and equity for low income and minority autism children and families. I am glad Winkler is leaving and hope Bakk is defeated in the 2016 election. If Sen Bakk is sooooo good for minority issues in Minnesota – why do we have the highest racial disparities in almost every category? Think about it and please vote differently and wiser next election.

Above words do not reflect any candidate, agency or committee

Idil – Somali Autism Mom & Minority Advocate

Alright – so, if you live in Minnesota and have a child with autism then you probably heard of Ron Carey. If not – here is a brief explanation. Ron is the previous chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota, he also has a child with autism. In addition, he is the chair of the biggest ABA center in Minnesota. And, the icing on the cake is the director of the …….wait for it….The fake MAC school.

Here is the full story, the MAC school tells autism parents and autistic children they are a public school located in Eagan. Then they tell the state education department they are a private school, then they tell the state Medicaid agency they are an ABA center. Confused….don’t be, this is the Ron Carey way. You know that folks that tell us pull your darn-self by your bootstraps. Mr. Ron Carey makes about $270,000 a year by charging….wait for it….the state Medicaid agency. uhm..why is Medicaid paying for any education skills? good question for DHS. And, since when do students in a private school use medical transportation and my favorite since when is a private school free. All sound confusing and complex, right? It is not.

Mr. Ron Carey might run for office one day – I personally can’t wait for that. How will he explain The MAC fake school to the poor voters. Unless of course he is not counting on running or asking for the poor vote.

I have seen Minnesota Department of Human services have for lunch minority owned child care centers by breakfast if they don’t have their emergency books in the right location. Yet, Mr. Ron Carey can run a fake, free private, non public school, charge Medicaid and get paid quarter a million and no one blinks.. come on and give me a bleeping break. I get it James Brown said it is a man’s world, but really DHS ….surely you can’t be blind or deaf here.

The best part, no one in the fake school seems to know who Mr. Ron Carey is. Maybe he is the invisible director that directs from his mind and soul than actual presence. How lovely.

Here is the info for MAC who pulled in almost $20 million of public funds and if you scroll down – you can see Mr. Ron Carey’s salary for doing an invisible job at the fake MAC school.

Above words do not reflect any agency, committee or agency.

Idil – Somali Autism Mom & Minority Advocate

Alright – so, have you ever heard when someone says born again blah or an artist tries to change their name or image to sell their new products. Well – Minnesota Department of Health, you know the state agency that has failed minority health for years and decades is trying to re-invent itself with a new name division.

MDH had office of minority health which has not really decreased racial health disparity in Minnesota. In fact, racial health disparity has increased despite millions of dollars into Minnesota health department’s eliminating health disparities initiatives. So, now MDH wants more millions for their new and “improved” Center for Equity. They have eliminated office of minority health. Imagine if they actually “eliminated” racial health disparity.

No, that is not their plan. Their goal especially under Governor Dayton and Commissioner Ehlinger is let’s just go back to the state legislature and explain our brand new idea of creating or renaming office of minority health and while we are there – let’s just ask a staggering ten million dollars. Oh, and this time – we will say and use a lot of jargons like equity matters, minorities should be at the decision making table and my favorite we “talked” to many minority communities to get their input. And, we will even put in our useless report that came out over a year ago that the reason for Minnesota’s horrible racial disparity is because of “institutional racism”.  Sound all good, right – the devil is always in the details.

MDH Commissioner Ehlinger (who is up Monday for senate confirmation without anyone asking his failed policies) but is a very nice person and probably cares went to the state legislature along with the new butt kissers, and testified their hearts out more like begged for millions of dollars for their Center for Equity division which has about 14 people. The director is a Native American, they also have African American specialist and staff, Asian staff, zero Somali staff and some Caucasians. My humble little opinion – why do they need Caucasian staff in Center for equity anyway – don’t they already hog other departments like the child and maternal health that has over 117 staff and less than 1 percent are Blacks, zero Somali as a permanent staff and zero person of color in a leadership position. Yet, children and women are the ones facing the most racial health disparity. Think about that. If MDH really cared – they would’ve hired diverse staff in positions of influence, but they don’t because if they did they would’ve have hired a diverse person in their legislative office which has two and both are Caucasian. They even had a Somali intern last year and guess what they told her instead of hiring her….wait for it….drum roll please “nothing available now”. That is their usual line to our community – not hiring now, not a good fit, we will call you, don’t call us. You get my drift here.

On the other hand, similar Caucasian interns like Dayton’s current health policy adviser can move on up. This kind of deliberate hiring is called White privilege and happens in Minnesota more than any other state. Hence, the high gap between Whites and people of color in every category.

The icing on the cake is when MDH hired their new deputy commissioner Mr. Pollock. I think he is the poster picture for White privilege. Mr. Pollock has been given opportunities that minorities don’t even dream of from DLF house leadership to DHS to Gov Dayton’s office to MDH now. He is also the perfect example of a smiling and un-emotional liberal that creates disparity policies in a subtle and friendly manner. Pollock is the reason the MN autism task force got Rep Norton – you know the queen of autism disparity, he is the reason – the house tried couple of years ago under Rep Huntley to pass an autism legislation that said low income and minority kids get autism therapy up to age seven and wealthier and more Caucasian autism families get autism therapy unlimited in age and in coverage. He is the reason that back in 2010 DFL house in Huntley’s committee voted to help only wealthier and more Caucasian autism families with private insurance while they told Medicaid autism families – kiss the air and nothing for you. There is more, but I am getting a headache thinking about the obstacles and arrogantly bias autism policies Pollock has tried to inflict us with. The good thing is we defeated him in all of those bias legislations, but as a MDH deputy commissioner, things will get worse for minority health.

And, now this guy is number two in charge of our health department, Are you bleeping kidding me. You see Minnesota department of health has zero desire to address or change any racial health disparity. Heck, they create it and maintain it. Their sole goal is to keep asking for more money and produce no results.

In sum, giving any funds to Minnesota department of health’s newly created division – Center for Equity is like milking a camel in the sand. It is worthless, un-necessary and will for sure not decrease any racial health disparity at all. All they have done is fire the last two previous directors from office of minority health a Hispanic one and the African American one before him. Now they have another minority director who in time will be fired too after the funding is all gone and wasted.

Sadly, no one in state legislature including the few minorities we have ever ask them any good questions or deny them funding because insanity is giving more money to MDH and expecting different outcome.

Even more sad is our communities of color have no idea how the legislative process works and how our votes are connected. We don’t bargain with our voices and our votes. We don’t ask what the heck they did when we last voted for them and if there is no improvement – we don’t tell policy makers that have for years and even decades failed our communities to take a flying leap. Therefore, it is truly our fault, albeit – due to lack of understanding of the process, but still our fault.

So, what happens now. Well, Gov Dayton has nothing to lose because he already got the minority votes last year and said he is not running again. His Lt. Governor Heartless Hammer Smith could care less and never has even though she will probably run that is unless and more likely Dayton steps down and hands her the veto pen. I think the area (that is if minority communities had lobbyist or advocates) we can make a dent is the House and the Senate who are both up for election next year. In reality, no one in our minority community will ever testify against this worthless division at MDH. Well – I suppose I could, but really I rather not have that headache since this is not solely for autism.

I guess my question to minorities in Minnesota is – why don’t we have lobbyist and advocates at the state legislature. This is where the meat of the bone is in all things good and bad and we are still in la la land.

As usual, above words do not reflect any agency, candidate or committee.

Idil – Somali Autism Mom & Minority Advocate

Alright – so, sadly Bernadeia Johnson who is the superintendent for Minneapolis public schools decided to leave her post. Friday was her last day – Jan 30, 2015. To say Bernadeia has my gratitude and appreciation is an understatement. I visited her yesterday at her office to tell her our thanks and to let her know that it is Black leaders like her that made my day in my little autism advocacy.

If you can believe it – this was only my second meeting with Dr. Johnson. The first time we met Bernadeia was when she first started and we were also starting our autism advocacy journey. As we all know now – I took my son to Mpls public schools after another Somali autism mom told me how good their autism program was. My first phone call there – I spoke with Anne Harrington (yes, Anne and I go way back) who invited me to a meeting and I went. What I saw there was the beginning of our advocacy journey. There were dozens of other Somali autism parents just like me. I felt good because I wasn’t alone, yet sad because autism was so high.

To make a long story short – we contacted Bernadeia and asked for a meeting. She said yes and invited everyone in Mpls public schools that had anything to do with autism including the director of special education Ann Fox, Said Garaad & Abdirahman Adam among others. She asked what we needed – we told her data. We needed the numbers because no one believed us at that time that autism was higher in our community. In less than short few weeks – they sent us the numbers which said While Somali kids make up 6% of Minneapolis public schools, they made up 25% in autism classes.

That was it – one meeting and one request which was the biggest and the best for us because then we took those numbers to any reporter that would talk to us which at that time was only WCCO’s Mike Caputa. And as they say – the rest is history.

That was the first time I met Bernadeia and she was right to the point without any sugar or salt. I have admired her since that day and she has energized me in my little advocacy. To see a person of color in a position of power does something good to one’s psyche that is hard to put into words here. I am saddened that she is leaving and felt so much pressure from every corner. First of all – it is tough for a Black person to lead anything in Minnesota. Every failure in whatever agency you are leading becomes your personal failure. This harsh and different standard is not used in more male and White agency leaders. For example, we know Minnesota has a horrible health racial disparity, but you don’t see the media reporting how Commissioner of MDH has failed and must be replaced. You also don’t see average Minnesota citizens blame him for that record. And, when was the last time you saw Mayor RT being blamed for Mpls having the worst gap in every category? There is this subtle double standard here that is sort of standard. Blame the Minority leader for whatever is wrong and give the Caucasian leader the benefit of doubt or even promote them.

On the other hand, the fact that Mpls schools have wide achievement gap between Black and White students was solely on the personal shoulders of Bernadeia. Then add that when Black Minnesotans join ganging up and blame the only Black leader we have. Then add that when Mpls public school board many of whom take their own kids to private schools join this ganging up. This can take a toll on you was some of Dr Johsnon’s words to me yesterday. Now, I am in no way or shape in her shoes, but I told her about my little autism advocacy in when they say – she does not speak for us and to that she should ‘ve said “unless you have better or different ideas then step aside”. To those that doubt your ability and try to bring you down – take all of their negative words and energy and drink it like was the best latte, vodka or energy drink you ever had.

I think Dr. Johnson is a powerful Black woman who is articulate, educated and full of ideas that Mpls and its school board failed to see. Who else would’ve had the backbone to say “before you suspend any more Black or Brown students – you better check with me”. We all know when a black child acts out in school as all kids do, they are suspended or expelled. But when a White child acts out – well then they are just being kids. Oh please – kiss my you know what. Bernadeia had the guts to stand up to this horrible disparity that is from school to prison pipeline for many Blacks especially boys.

Who else would’ve supported the LIFO (last in first out) bill that Dayton vetoed which said schools can not just keep a bad teacher because they have been there a long time, rather they will hire and retain good & effective teachers. ” If you have last in first out then you are not looking at quality, you’re just looking at a seniority number” she said to Minnpost reporter. Plus who are the teachers to be hired last and to be fired first – minority ones. Who else would’ve supported public charter schools and close failing public ones.

Dr. Johnson – please know that you are a trailblazer and a hero to so many parents and students. It was Bernadeia and Hussein Samatar that started teaching Somali language in Mpls public schools and put extra resources for ELL. In her office was a gift she received from those Somali students.

Whatever your next chapter is in life – I am sure you will make a huge difference and people will respect you for it.

I cannot thank you enough for your help, support and guidance in our autism advocacy – it took one meeting which is rare in Minnesota. I wish you well and luck and please keep your head up and know that every journey starts with a small single step.

Above words do not reflect any agency, candidate or committee.

Idil – Somali Autism Mom & Minority Advocate

Alright – so, maybe not in hillbilly land of 10,000 lakes knows this or even cares – but CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid) administrator announced that she is leaving CMS after Congressman Darell Issa’s committee constantly kept harassing her. Let’s put this in an autism context.

Darrell Issa was the chair of the very powerful committee of house oversight and government reform in Congress who did that one autism hearing couple of years ago – the Federal government’s response to autism. In this committee, Issa calls all White men to talk about autism, not one single minority or woman was part of that panel. When I asked them, why the Sandra Fluke thing again – their response was they did not intentionally exclude autism mothers and minorities, right – I did not believe them. In the interest of fairness, minority ranking Cummings from MD had the ability to invite and his office also did not even think of the lack of diversity in that panel.

Issa also got campaign donation from autism groups including a MN ABA owner as noted and blogged many times in many autism national blogs. The good news is Issa is no longer committee chair – goodbye and good riddance is my take. The new chair seems low key, but I don’t have enough information on how if any his autism actions will be different.

Tavenner on the other hand – I respect and admire her. She along with her team starting with Mann are the reason – millions of autism families will now have access to autism interventions under EPSDT. Before Tavenner, CMS was led by Berkwic from MA. I have to say, I had such a hard time advocating in his office even after the White House sent couple of emails on my behalf. (I know how weird is it the White House validated my advocacy) Berkwic’s office always told me CMS can not authorize ABA therapy unless Congress changes rules for EPSDT. So, at that time – I advocated to then not have ABA coverage under ACA because I thought that would create more unequal and racial disparity. No, it was not easy since Autism Speaks and every other big organization wanted ABA to be part of the new health care law. Their take was once we pay for it under the private market then it will automatically trickle down to the poor and Medicaid. Of course that is wrong and stupid – since when has giving more to the wealthy trickled down to the poor.

Needless to say, we prevailed then and ABA coverage was taken out of ACA by the Obama Administration. My take here to the Obama Administration was if you want to force private insurance companies to cover ABA therapy then force CMS to cover ABA for the poor who are disproportionately minorities, otherwise it is unfair, unjust, un-equal and un-American. And what do you know – they listened and got the message, awesome and I am grateful. At the time, they said no coverage for ABA in private insurance or Medicaid. In other words, do it for all kids or don’t do it for any, especially those that can afford the therapy.

Then came Tavenner so I decided to ask the same questions again of can CMS cover ABA under EPSDT. And as we all know July of 2014 – CMS announced – Yes, they can!…..drum roll please, this was probably the happiest day in my little advocacy journey. The icing on the cake – CMS announced this fantastic news on the last day at IACC’s full meeting. It did not get better than that. I think I hugged everyone from CMS that day.

As a result, I have the highest respect for Marilyn Tavenner and so should every autism family. Without her leadership mixed with kindness and compassion – we would not have this wonderful coverage for all children with autism.

It saddens me that she is leaving CMS next month. I will for sure miss her! And, I thank her so much from the bottom of my heart for listening, validating and always respecting autism families. She is one of a kind!!!

As usual, above words do not reflect any committee, agency or candidate

Idil – Somali Autism Mom & Minority Advocate

Reginald Latson is an African American autistic young man. I heard about his story through Breaking Brown news site that posted an article by Ruth Marcus of Washington Post. After I read what he had to go through and how simple this all started – it woke me up. Given the recent tension between law enforcement and the Black community nationwide, I think it is important that we are vigilant in assuring our autistic children are protected and save when they become autistic Black boys and autistic Black men.

Neli as he is called lives in Virginia and on a regular day went to the library which happened to be closed at the time. As with almost all autistic people, coming back is often not an option. In other words, a nuero-typical person would’ve said since it is closed now, I will just come back later. For autistic individuals, they have to have or get what they asked or want and don’t always comprehend the come back part. So, as Neli waits in front of the library, some ignorant person calls the police and says there is Black man waiting around wearing a hoodie (that must be a dress code for a thug). When the officer shows up – like any officer, he asks his name. And, Neli being autistic does not readily give his name. Let me put this in a context that those not dealing with autism can understand. When your child is first diagnosed with autism and if you are lucky enough to take him/her to an early intervention therapy, such as ABA – the first and only thing they often teach for months is “compliance”. You ask and the child complies. Simple things like “come sit”. or “what is your name”. In other words, non compliance is a characteristic of the autism disability.

The difference is when a child is in a therapy environment and they are non compliant, they don’t get their reinforcement such as candy, swing or tickles. When that child grows up becomes an adult or teenager and is non-compliant especially towards an officer, the consequences can be unimaginable which is exactly what happened. Nelli and the officer fought whereby the officer ended up with severe injuries.

As a result, the autistic teenager got arrested, charged and convicted which I am still trying to figure out how a prosecutor in his right mind would ever charge a person with autism for doing fight or flee which is a characteristic of their disability. But, that is what VA prosecutor Eric Olsen did. I am also confused how a jury would then convict Neli and did not instead recommend that he is sent to a mental health treatment facility. This is why Neli’s story got a lot of national media attention, the pure bias in the justice system towards Black and Brown Americans even when they have a disability.  As we all know which I hope politicians and justice advocacy groups lobby and change this stupid law is that a prosecutor has the “discretion” to charge or not charge. To me that seems a privilege power that is unchecked and often unreasonable. If you research prosecutorial discretion and racial bias, you will find how it has benefited non-minorities while it has harshly been applied to minorities. Statistic after statistic in Minnesota and nationwide clearly state how a prosecutor’s discretion has led to unjust justice for minorities while it benefited nonminority communities. Here is that statute for Minnesota and my hope is that data is collected and this law is repealed or amended to assure equal justice for all actually means equal justice for all Americans irrespective of their race, ethnicity, nationality or disability. I also hope minority community leaders use their votes as a negotiating tool during elections of prosecutors/county attorneys.

For instance, in Minnesota there are 87 counties that have elected 87 county attorneys/prosecutors and guess how many are minorities? really guess – you will be shocked. Zero are Black, one is Asian, Ramsey County attorney and most of these counties have almost no Black or Brown county staff attorneys. So, next time a Nelli happens and it is up to the discretion of the county attorney – guess how he will use that discretion. Insanity is having the same policy and expecting different outcome. If we want equality then we must change and vote differently – period. The county attorneys/prosecutors must reflect the diversity of this nation.

So what happens now for Neli?

One option is for Governor of VA – Terry McAuLiffe (previous DNC chair – Democratic National Committee, the party that tells us they are compassionate and kind towards disabled people and minorities) who won majority of the Black vote to pardon Neli. Another is for this prosecutor to act like a human being and send Nelli to a treatment center that has been recommended by every therapist and professional that testified. I am also hopeful this clearly out of touch prosecutor who lacks compassion is defeated in next election because voting for the same people and expecting different outcome is insane and stupid.

If you want to help – you can send a letter to Gov of VA by simply asking to pardon Reginald Latson. (address is 1111 East Broad Street, Richmond, VA 23219 or call 804-786-2211) Many autism advocacy organizations have sent letters and have advocated for Nelli including Arc in Virgina which has been amazing. I spoke with Arc and all I can say is wow!. Autism Speaks co-founders also sent a support letter and Neli’s story has attracted lots of national media attention highlighting the need to educate law enforcement about autism. I think preventing another Neli is through education and awareness. I ask Autism Soc of Minn, Arc Twin Cities and Pacer to reach-out to all 87 county attorneys, department of public safety, and police chiefs around the state and educate them that not giving their name is non compliant which is a part of their disability, running means flight or flee which is a part of their disability, not looking at you in the eye is part of their disability, not responding to their name is part of their disability, etc. Law enforcement cannot punish people with disabilities because of their disability. We must have compassion for those that are disabled and find ways to help them to live to their God given full potential. There is a great agency in Minnesota called Twin Cities Diversity in Practice that helps law enforcement with diversity staffing and training.

I also encourage parents to put some kind of bracelet or clothing that lets the uneducated eye know this person has autism. It is a tough world for Black boys and men and autism just adds to that already bias lenses. I would also recommend having an aide or PCA with your child if you think they can’t effectively communicate or maybe a communication device and teach them how to use it if approached by law enforcement.

Finally, I hope the Federal Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) holds a meeting about autism and law enforcement and invites department of justice along with advocate groups that do training and education for law enforcement.

Above words do not reflect any agency, candidate or committee.

Idil – Somali Autism Mom & Minority Advocate

Alright – so, unless you live under a rock, we have all heard the systemic problems from racism policies that are often subtle or not subtle towards minority communities. For those of us in the autism world, we also know how hard autism by itself is, then when you add bias and prejudice law enforcement then all hell can break loose. So, what does this mean and what can we as minority autism advocates do so that our children and our community get equal justice.

For starters, we have to understand how the system works. We always assume the police officers or state troopers are the problem. In my humble little opinion, they are the fish in a big ocean dominated by sharks. For example, the police chief who oversees the police is hired by the city mayor. Mayors also hire attorney’s to represent them and to bring justice for that city’s citizens. Then there is the state patrol folks on the highway who I am sure commit lots of racial profiling and they are under the state public safety agency who usually is hired by the governor. Finally, there is the county prosecutor and/or county attorney who are elected officials themselves.

This all means if minorities really understand this and connect it to their votes in a united and cohesive manner, then we can bargain with our votes. For instance, Dakota County which has lots and lots minorities including thousands of Somalis has a county attorney Mr. Backstrom who rarely has any competition and keeps winning elections, despite his horrible minority outreach efforts and hiring diverse attorneys to represent the diversity of Dakota county.

My take is Mr. Backstrom does this because he knows we are asleep, don’t understand the system and don’t make the connection to our votes. One group of folks, I really admire their advocacy is Jewish Americans. They don’t care if a person is democrat, republican, woman or man – they make their needs very clear and any politician that does not support them or deviates from it pays for it deeply politically.

Why can’t minorities do the same, especially Black voters. If we used our voting block power to push our issues – such as asking each and every county prosecutor or county attorney to hire diverse staff to reflect where they serve, then we would not have this high and shameful disparity in Minnesota and nationwide. We all heard of the saying a county attorney or prosecutor can indict or charge a ham sandwich, if they want to. I am certain that is true because if no one looks like us there, then justice will never be fair and equal. We also all heard that when Sen Amy K was an attorney, how her discretion led to high racial disparity. This can be corrected if states or there was a federal law that said we need to track how county attorneys and prosecutors charge or not charge and the race/ethnicity of those cases. I bet there would be a lot less bias if they know they are being tallied.

Dakota County attorney’s office is notorious for discriminating against minority communities because they know our voices and votes will never affect them. WE CAN CHANGE THAT. We can get a coalition with either Mpls NAACP and/or Council on Black Minnesotans as well as national agencies to fight the likes of Jim Backstrom, Eric Olson, Bob McCulloch, etc.

United we can bargain with our votes and voices. Divided justice will never be served and we will remain a community that is showered with injustice, despair, disparity, discrimination and bias policies.

As usual, above words do not reflect any agency, candidate or committee.

Idil – Somali Autism Mom & Minority Advocate

Alright – so the election is finally over for 2014 and we are now reflecting how we voted and what they will do. As a minority autism mom that usually advocates to change policies regarding autism – I’ve had a love/hate relationship with many legislators. Sadly, most legislators preach all kinds of good campaign words, but rarely remember them once elected.

Minnesota House of Reps for the last two years has been hell for me to advocate – not kidding. I had to drink so much coffee or Somali tea to even go to this building. If I drank other stuff – I might’ve become alcoholic. Starting with Speaker Thissen to Asst majority leader – Rep Murphy to their staff to committee administrators to legislative aids have been mostly snobs and rude. I could not get one thing done for minority autism families and communities for the last two sessions. Luckily, the senate is the sane voice of reason and they are the upper chamber that mostly supported our autism policy positions, with the exception of few Senators, i.e Eaton.

If you remember when MN GOP were in charge of the house back couple of years ago that is when I was able to advocate for much of what we have now including the new DHS autism benefit coming soon which all started with then chair of HHS finance – Rep Abeler. (this guy rocks!) Abeler and Hann also funded the UMN/MDH minority autism services study and this is when the MN Autism Task force passed. (you know the task force the current Speaker Thissen and company wanted to eliminate because Norton asked).

As I said before which I am sure will make many happy, I will not be going back to advocate in Minn legislature this coming session. But the fact that Thissen and Murphy are not in power anymore is icing on the cake. These two preach so much sugar coded words while they practice and write salty policies. Remember when Mpls Tribune political reporter told us where Thissen’s tongue rested. Rest assured we won’t hear where the new Speaker’s tongue rests or how his lean body is leaning on his desk. My guess is the media will tell us how wonderful MN DFLer’s were for the minority communities and how we miss them. I would believe this, but meeting them and seeing differently diminished my believe of that.

The new Speaker Kurt Daudt is mildly mannered and more laid back from what I can tell. The house committees will be less in numbers and for health, they nominated Rep Mack and Rep Dean to head the policy and finance health committees. Rep Mack – I know her well and she is actually the reason there was a minority language in the MN autism task force which she authored and she fought to save it last session during conference committee. I think she is soft spoken, but fair and reasonable. Rep Dean – I think I only met him twice and he voted to save the task force. He also voted with us during the ABA and autism bill last time and before. To me he seems quiet and measured. I am hoping he will vote the same because I am fairly certain those blood sucking ABA therapy providers and their K street type lobbyist are trying to figure out how to dismantle all the good autism policies we helped pass last few sessions.

The best icing on this win is that Liebling (Norton’s BFF) is not chairing any committee and Huntley retired. These two drove me nuts. One would never imagined their unfair and bias health bills that consistently passed out of their committees because they hid them under really sweet words to minority communities.

Have you ever wondered why Jonathan Gruber would say such hurtful things about the average American voter? The answer is because that is what he and others like him such as Dan Pollock who worked for assistant majority leader Rep Murphy think of us. I think Mr. Pollock is Minnesota’s Jonathan Gruber. This guy always looked at us like we were inferior and beneath him or knew less than him. In my humble little opinion he is the perfect example of White privilege. My take – goodbye and good riddance to him.

Finally, while MN GOP house members have voted on the side of minority autism families – it is important that they hire and give equal opportunity to minority staff in their caucus and committees. MN DFL had one minority committee administrator and if MN GOP does not have even one then that can only look bad on their record.  So far, I have not seen the committee CA’s, but the house leadership lacks diversity which is not good either. I hope neither party ignores or takes the minority votes for granted because without them – no political party can survive. The new committee list also does not have housing committee and re-named one of the current ones to greater Minn economic and workforce development which to me sounds that they are leaving out urban and inner city economic and workforce development especially when Minn has one of the highest gap in those areas. Not that MN DFLers did anything significant to improve that, but the new MN GOP house leadership ignores that completely.

Above words do not reflect any agency, candidate or committee.

Idil – Somali Autism Mom & Minority Advocate

Alright so – you are thinking what does the secretary of state office have to do with autism. Well, let’s explain since our goal should be to support those that supported autism and our community.

 VOTE FOR DAN SEVERSON – YES                                                                         STEVE SIMON – NO

Severson says he will streamline voting by creating “express lane voting system that would allow Minnesotans willing to present identification to skip through Election Day lines”. “This is another way in which we can secure our system and actually accommodate voters more effectively” Severson told Mpls Tribune. Personally, I think this is a great idea because those with ID and don’t have time to wait those really long election lines can still vote. I know that many autism parents don’t have the time to stand in line for hours to vote and would rather use the “express lane”. It is sort of like the express lane on the highway because the driver took the time to get someone else to carpool. Or waking up earlier and going for an oil change at 7am and going through the express lane. In other words, if some voters want to get ID – then I think they should be rewarded for that extra step and vote through the express lane. By the same token, those without ID can use the regular lane and still vote. I think this is a win – win scenario.

Whereas Simon just wants to use one size fits all voting – everyone stand in those loooong lines including autism mothers who simply can’t leave their children that long, the student who has a class, the worker who would rather vote and still be on time to work, the disabled person who might not tolerate those lines or the senior who might be too tired to stand in those long lines.

You see – Simon will make voting hard and complicated. Severson on the other hand will make voting fast, efficient and friendly.

In addition, Severson has come to our community sharing his ideas for the business side of SOS office. There are many Somalis and other minority business owners and Severson will make that easy, fast, efficient, cost effective and friendly for ALL business owners. Simon is elite, arrogant and out of touch whereby Severson is kind, compassionate and caring. I remember begging Simon to help us with autism at the state Capitol and he would always look at me like as if he was better than us and now that he needs out votes, he is coming around to our community – come on we can’t have amnesia.

MN League of Women Voters will host the final debate between Severson and Simon on Tuesday Oct 28th, 2014. Please come and show your support for Severson. It is worth noting that for an agency that preaches equality – Minnesota LWV has zero African American staff or board member. I wonder what that means because MN is no longer Lake Wobegon – rather Lake diverse and for this agency to not reflect the diversity of Minnesota is sort of hypocrite. Well, maybe there is hope if they fill the open positions with women of color.

On Tuesday November 4^th, 2014 – PLEASE VOTE FOR DAN SEVERSON. HE HAS BEEN THERE FOR US AND HE WILL BE THERE FOR YOU. (Fadlan U Codee Dan Severson – aan u hiilino wuu noo hiiliyee, MAHADSANID!)

Above words do not represent any committee, candidate or agency.

Idil – Somali Autism Mom & Minority Advocate

Alright so, Council on Black Minnesotans (COBM) in my humble little opinion is the backbone of the Black community in Minnesota and was created decades ago by state legislators. It is an independent body that is suppose to advice the legislative body and the Governor on the state of Black Minnesotans.

Last state legislative session, COBM came up with lots of great legislative ideas to decrease Minnesota’s racial disparity in health, education, employment, housing, etc. Sadly, none of their bills got out of committees nor went to the floor for votes. Why you ask? good question. In other words, if MN state legislators say they are committed to diversity, committed to decreasing disparity and committed to equal opportunity, then why didn’t even one bill pass out of any committee including the one that was authored by Rep Kahn whose district has thousands of Black Minnesotans. We all know Rep Kahn preaches equality, yet barely passes any equal opportunity legislations for her minority voters. (Note to Somalis in this district – insanity is voting for the same people and expecting different results)

How can I say this diplomatically – because preaching equality is easy. Eliminating inequality actually takes heart, mind and soul and I must say those are qualities many state legislators either lack or they simply just don’t care. COBM is currently led by Edward McDonald who I think is amazing. We in the Somali Autism community received plenty of support from COBM as far back as from its previous director. They have always stood with us in fighting autism racial disparity and equal access. They have written many support letters and have been to many meetings with us with various government officials including the HRSA grant that MDH did not want to share the resources with any minority owned agencies. If you remember, we fought that and now MDH will get this grant of $300,000 this year and MUST allocated $70,000 to minority owned agencies to help minority autism families. COBM is not under any state agency and that is great because to get equal access – we need independent thinkers and independent minds.

On the other hand, Minnesota department of human rights (MDHR) is a state agency led by Commissioner Kevin Lindsey. This agency is suppose to fight discrimination in Minnesota which is like a fish fighting sharks in an ocean. It is grossly under-funded, severely under-staffed and totally not in the loop about many issues of discrimination including autism. Personally, I like and have met with Commissioner Lindsey. But this agency has too many things it is tackling and is not independent. It is under the Governor’s cabinet which if you think about it is not good. For example, the Governor’s cabinet is made up of about two dozen state agencies and there is not one single agency that has a good diverse workforce or fights racial disparity well. They all say the usual (we mean well, we understand, we are committed to diversity, we care, we blah blah).

You see most of these state agencies are led by non-minority commissioners who often hire those that reflect them as suppose to those that reflect the diversity of Minnesota. Then there was that silly audit that said council on minorities not functioning well and must be disbanded because there is a lot of disagreement and people are not coming to the board meetings. Gee, I wonder where I heard that before. Why is it when minorities debate issues and disagree on results – it is called dysfunction that must be disbanded and when Whites do the same-thing – it is called having an adult heated conversation. Really I have always wondered that.

So, as a result, our state legislators instead of being actual adult law makers decided to introduce a bill….wait for it…..to dismantle the council on Black Minnesotans and put it under the already under-funded & overwhelmed MDHR. That bill did not get a hearing last session, and I will for sure testify against it if it has a hearing next year. The good news is communities of color are fighting this injustice and COBM’s director Edward has been vocal in making the case that we need an independent council to fight inequality. One that is not under the Governor since most of his departments barely fight their own disparities. I think Edward is right and we should all support in saving our Council for Black Minnesotans.

Another good question is why does Governor Dayton want to eliminate the only Council for Black Minnesotans? When Candidate Dayton comes to communities of color, he says he cares, he is committed to equality, etc. Yet, Gov Dayton wants to eliminate the only independent council fighting inequality. C’mon  Governor – mean what you say and say what you mean.

Here are some articles about this

Putting COBM under MDHR is a bad idea

Above words do not reflect any agency, committee or candidate.

Idil – Somali Autism Mom & Minority Advocate