Alright, so if you live in Minnesota and follow local politics then you heard Minnesota state legislatures under the rug and with no public input gave themselves a brand new and expensive with state of the arts everything building. See that here:
Then with the same arrogance yet ignorance say to expanding human rights – no way, no how and not under our leadership. That is the leadership of Speaker Thissen (whose future includes running for governor of MN one day where he will ask and need Minority votes) and Senate Majority leader Bakk, plus current governor Dayton. They unanimously say to equal rights, equal opportunities and equal health care access and equal education for Minnesota minority families – drop dead. I know you are thinking – come on, this can’t be. Well – yes it can be, it is and is a reality in MN which is why we have one of the WORST health, opportunity, education & employment disparities for minorities in the whole country.
Council of Black Minnesotans whose responsibility is advising and improving Black Minnesotans through legislative recommendations asked MN state legislature leadership and Gov Dayton to pass MN Human Rights bill SF2730/HF2173. So, what do Gov Dayton, Sen Bakk and Speaker Thissen say to protecting human & civil rights in Minnesota for All Minorities – Drop Dead and no way. The Council also recommended twelve other legislations that would’ve uplifted Black Minnesotans – guess how many passed through committees -…..wait for it……ZERO. That is right, while all of the bias bills such as SF1864 which will create more mental health discrimination and HF2282/2892 which wants to eliminate a free autism committee that has helped Somali autism families pass with no hurdles – no fair and equal bills pass in MN DFL controlled legislature. Imagine that as you circle the voting ballot this year. How long can we be stupid and vote for the same people that could care less? ask yourself?
Ironically and probably on purpose SF2730 is authored by Sen Eaton, DFLer from Brooklyn Center and is the same legislature who is bent on hell on eliminating the cost free State Autism Task Force and supports more resources & funding for wealthy autism families while she tells the poor “nothing for you”. You see state of Minnesota is controlled by one political party in all three branches of government which means what MN DFLers want they get and what they don’t want does not pass. Therefore, they clearly want a new office building with a price tag of dozens of millions of dollars. They want to eliminate a FREE Autism task committee and they don’t want to protect our civil rights and THEY WANT to keep Minnesota’s horrible racial disparity records.
It is worth noting that Rep Kahn from the largest Somali district in Minnesota authored HF2029 and changed from its stupid name of Black Art – what the heck is that. They don’t call White art, so why label us. Instead – Kahn changed it to Diverse Racial and Ethnic Minnesota artist which is much better label. From what I understand from COBM – this bill along with others has not moved or been added to any Omnibus bill. If Kahn really wanted to, she can add to a bigger Omnibus bill and even talk to her friend Cohen in the Senate Finance to add. We will see what they do because talk is cheap – we need legislations to pass.
I hope this all makes sense to anyone who votes or lives in Minnesota because voting for Dayton and Thissen as well as Rep Norton, Kahn, etc in 2014 is voting to keep racial disparity high for autism and everything else. Sen Bakk and Sen Eaton are not up for re-election, but don’t worry 2016 is just around the corner. Think about this – we all know racial disparity is the result of bias and subtle discriminative policies. In other words, disparity is not an accident – it is carefully designed, crafted, delivered and maintained through bias policies that ever so subtle don’t provide equal access to autism therapy, to other health care, to education, to hiring fairly, to writing equal bills, etc. All the while, we are told “we care, we understand, we know, we hear, blah and blah” – quite frankly if I hear these useless words from one more Caucasian MN state legislature or state agency lead – I am going to scream.
These are clearly words to contain and if they don’t then eliminate or elimination is recommended. At any rate, Council of Black Minnesotans wrote an Op-ed piece on this and below is their post as they wrote it.
Moving from Tolerance to Allophilia By Council of Black Minnesotans
Expand Human Rights Enforcement in Minnesota
50 years ago, on July 2, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson displayed courage and
innovation by taking the unprecedented national step to attack the heart of America’s
close friendship with discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national
origin by enacting the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Minnesotans such as Roy Wilkins, Vice
President Hubert Humphrey and Vice President Walter Mondale played a huge role
with bringing about this historic day.
In fact prior to the passage of the civil rights act, Minnesota passed the Minnesota
State Act for Fair Employment Practices in 1955, which prohibits discrimination in
employment based on race, color, creed, religion, or national origin and in 1961 passed
laws to prohibit discrimination in mortgage lending and in the sale, rental, or lease of
real property.
These acts banned discrimination and represented the beginning of the fulfillment of
the hopes and dreams of many in the costly and painstaking journey to build a society
with equal access and opportunity for all. It also provided an external control
mechanism to move America from Absolute Prejudice To Tolerance. This newfound
tolerance provided a plethora of social, political, and economic opportunities for all
Americans regardless of how you were socially constructed (race, color, creed, religion,
or national origin).
However, today the cry for equity (fairness) goes unheard by policy makers and others.
The plethora of disparities reports document the fact that something is amidst with the
administrative application of state civil rights and equal opportunity laws; that
constructs matters again in Minnesota.
On the anniversary of the historic signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Minnesota
Legislative Leaders ignored carefully crafted legislation that would correct Minnesota’s
dismal commitment to civil rights enforcement under the auspices of Minnesota human
rights enforcement in recent years. Instead of taking corrective action to reverse
growing disparities and address the marketplace cry for fairness, the legislature has
chosen to:
• Only provide an informational hearing on human rights enforcement in the
House of Representatives,
• Not grant a public hearing on human rights legislation, Continue a no-net increase in funding policy for our Department of Human
Rights,
• Ignor
e the 2011 Minnesota Committee of the US Commission on Civil Rights
e the 2011 Minnesota Committee of the US Commission on Civil Rights
report that stated, “The lack of resources for civil rights enforcement in the state
has worsened, leaving Minnesota in a “crisis mode,”
• Continue to allow complaints to linger in the Department of Human Rights for
three years or more unresolved.
• Continue to assign more equal access and opportunity mandates to the
Department of Human Rights (Viking Stadium, DMC, Bonding, Same Sex
Marriage, Minimum Wage, Ban the Box, etc.) with no new money or staff,
• Continue to only allow the Commissioner of the Department Human Rights to
give priority to three of the Department’s administrative functions.
This benign neglect does not match the values, spirit or history of Minnesota’s
human rights enforcement approach. This state’s history of a strong commitment to
human rights dates back to her origins. Minnesota entered the union as a free state
and was among the first to answer the call to fight in the civil war. This state was
the home of Dred Scott, whose Supreme Court decision is credited for building the
momentum for the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments of the US constitution.
Minnesota established the first human rights office in the nation. The legacy of
Governors LeVander and Anderson, Vice Presidents Hubert Humphrey and Walter
Mondale, Civil Right Leader Roy Wilkins and other iconic Minnesotans are built on
the establishment of strong civil rights enforcement in our state.
The Minnesota legislature and governor need to display the courage and innovation
of President Lyndon B. Johnson demonstrated 50 years ago by acting on House
File 2173 Senate File 2730 when the session reconvenes. These bills will strengthen
Minnesota’s human rights enforcement approach to respond to the marketplace cry
for equity (fairness) and to lay the foundation for the eradication of the plethora of
disparities driven by the poor administrative application of this state’s human/civil
rights and equal opportunity laws.
Let’s show the world that constructs don’t matters in Minnesota and return to the
spirit and courage of those who labored so tirelessly to make equal access and
opportunity a practice. Let’s pass House File 2173 and Senate File 2730 to move
our state Beyond Tolerance to Allophilia (loving or liking of the other).
Above words do not reflect any committee, agency or candidate.
Thanks!
Idil – Somali Autism Mom & Minority Advocate