The First Minnesota Community

and Ethnic Media Awards

Honoring Excellence in Grassroots Journalism

December 5, 2008

Twin Cities Media Alliance

..:: Many Thanks to our Generous Sponsors ::..

Brant Houston
Knight Chair in Investigative &
Enterprise Reporting
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Minnesota Press

The First Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Awards

Presented by the Twin Cities Media Alliance and New America Media

Edited by Sarah E. Bauer

Page Table of Contents
4 Introduction
5 About the Winners
Best In-Depth Coverage
7 Anna Pratt, Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder - First Place
“Striving for Inclusion” Series
8 Jeremy Stratton & Liz Riggs, The Bridge - Second Place
Seward Neighborhood Series
10 Wameng Moua, Hmong Today - Third Place
“Are Hmong Schools Making the Grades?”
Arts & Culture
13 Anne Holzman, Korean Quarterly - First Place
“Standing at the Edge of Asian-American Theater”
15 Anna Otieno, Mshale - Second Place
“Runway Africa”
16 Wameng Moua & Louisa Schein - Third Place
“Hmong Actors Making History” Series
Global/Local Connections
18 David Zander, Asian Pages - First Place
“The Other Face of Bhutan”
19 Issa A. Mansaray, The African News Journal - Second Place
“Minnesota’s Lonely Elders”
20 Martha Vickery, Korean Quarterly - Third Place
“Korean Studies from the Ground Up”
24 Lisa Steinmann, Park Bugle - Honorable Mention
“Volunteering Matters” featuring Fritz Morlock
Community Service
25 Lauretta Dawolo Towns, Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder - First Place
Three-part series on the Service Employees International Union strike
26 Natalie Zett, The Park Bugle - Second Place
“Catholic Charities opens new facility”
28 Martha Vickery, Korean Quarterly - Third Place
“Teens take a stand against human trafficking”
29 Anna Pratt, The Bridge Newspaper - Honorable Mention
“Framework for the future, or failure?”
Commentary/Editorial Writing
31 Matthew Little, Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder - First Place
“Obama authenticates hope of 1965 Voting Rights bill”
32 Ron Edwards, Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder - Second Place
“Why Blacks are not allowed to command”
33 Barb Kucera, Workday Minnesota - Third Place
“Why we take a stand on anti-immigration language”
34 The Bridge Newspaper - Honorable Mention
“In our own words...” Column

The First Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Awards  

 Introduction
The Twin Cities Media Alliance is proud to present the winners of the first an-
nual Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Awards. These awards, presented
in partnership with New America Media, are our effort to bring recognition to the
best work by local grassroots journalists. The news organizations that they represent
make a vital contribution to the health of the communities that they serve, and also
to the vitality of the larger Twin Cities community. Many of these publications oper-
ate on very limited budgets even in the best of times, and in the current economic
climate, they face enormous challenges.

An important part of our mission at the Twin Cities Media Alliance is to support
the work of local grassroots media. We accomplish that mission by offering citizen
journalism classes and media skills workshops; by helping these media organizations
reach a larger audience through republication in the Twin Cities Daily Planet, and
through publication of our Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Directory.*

The awards, presented on December 5 in Minneapolis by Anthony Advincula of

New America Media and Sarah Bauer of the Minnesota News Council, were given
in five categories: Investigative / In Depth; Editorial/ Commentary; Global/Local;
Community Service; and Arts and Culture.

The top winner in each category received a $200 award, a trophy and a certificate,
and are automatically nominated for New America Media’s National Ethnic Media
awards, which will be presented on June 4, 2009, in Atlanta, Georgia. Second place
winners received $100 and a certificate, while third place and honorable mention
winners received a certificate.

Major funding for the awards was provided by New America Media, with additional
funding from Everyday Democracy: Ideas and Tools for Community Change; the
University of Minnesota Press; and Brant Houston, Knight Chair in Investigative &
Enterprise Reporting, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Please join us in saluting the winners of the 2008 Minnesota Ethnic and Community
Media Awards!

Mary Turck, editor, Twin Cities Daily Planet

Jeremy Iggers, executive director, Twin Cities Media Alliance

*(Available online at http://twincitiesmediaalliance.wordpress.com/media-directory.

For printed copies, call our operations manager, Emily Pearson Ryan, at 612-436-
9188.)

  The First Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Awards

About Our Winners:
The Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder led a strong field
with three first-place awards, but nine different publica-
tions received honors, including Hmong Today, Asian
Pages, Korean Quarterly, African News Journal, The
Bridge, Park Bugle, Minnesota Women’s Press and
Workday Minnesota.
Matthew Little won first prize in the Editorial/Com-
mentary division for his Minnesota Spokesman-Re-
corder weekly column, Little by Little, which focuses on
civil rights issues locally and nationally. Matthew Little,
now 87 years of age, is an infantry combat veteran of
WWII, and has 40 years of civil rights leadership, during
which he edited an in-house monthly publication called
“NAACP Today” while president of that organization.
He has been a “stringer” for the Minnesota Spokes-
man-Recorder since 1965, and has contributed a weekly
column since 1974.
Second place in the Editorial/Commentary division
went to Ron Edwards, also writing for the Minnesota
Spokesman-Recorder, for columns addressing chal-
lenges Black police officers face, fighting for equality in
the Minneapolis Police Department. Barb Kucera of
Workday Minnesota won third place for Why we take a
stand on anti-immigrant language, which explained the
publication’s use of terms like “undocumented immi-
grant,” or “undocumented worker” instead of the term
“illegal,” saying that the latter promotes divisiveness and
bigotry. The Bridge won an honorable mention for “In
our own words,” a regular column that features personal
essays and reflections from people in the neighbor-
hoods they serve.
The In-Depth / Investigative division selected in-
depth or investigative stories or series that identified
and explored important issues largely ignored by the
mainstream news media. Funding for the In Depth /
Investigative Reporting awards was provided by Brant
Houston, Knight Chair in Investigative & Enterprise
Reporting, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
First place went to Anna Pratt, writing in the Minnesota
Spokesman-Recorder, for a two-part series looking at
diversity in workforce of the state’s courts. Anna Pratt
is a Twin Cities-based freelance journalist who writes
for a variety of local publications covering social issues,
including race and class, civil and human rights and im-
migration.
Second place went to Jeremy Stratton and Liz Riggs of
The Bridge for their ongoing coverage of the Seward
Neighborhood Group’s financial problems, from
October 2007 through July 2008. Third place went
to Wameng Moua, writing in Hmong Today, for Are
Hmong Schools Making the Grade?, which took an
in-depth look at Hmong-focused charter schools in the
Twin Cities.
The Community Service division honored coverage of a
particular issue that has had a significant impact on the
well-being of a community, covering issues of public
health and safety, social justice, human rights, civil liber-
ties or criminal justice. Lauretta Dawolo Towns won
first place in the Community Service division for her
three-part series, published in the Minnesota Spokes-
man-Recorder, which covered the Service Employees
International Union strike in Minneapolis at critical
junctures during and after the strike. Towns, a native of
the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans, LA, formerly
the news director at KFAI, is now a “full-time mom”
who also contributes to the Minnesota Spokesman-Re-
corder and the TC Daily Planet.
Second place went to Natalie Zett’s article in the Park
Bugle for Catholic Charities opens new facility, which
profiled the impact of Catholic Charities’ new facility
opened in 2007 in south St. Anthony Park that houses
chronic substance abusers and the homeless. Third
place went to Martha Vickery and the Korean Quarterly
for Teens take a stand against human trafficking, which
profiled a Woodbury High School project, “End Slavery
Now.” Anna Pratt, writing in The Bridge, won honor-
able mention for Framework for the future, or failure?,
which covered differing opinions on Minneapolis’ plan
for sustained neighborhood funding as the 20-year
Neighborhood Revitalization Program ends in 2009.
Anne Holzman, writing in the Korean Quarterly won
first place in the Arts and Culture division for her fea-
ture, “Standing at the edge of Asian American theater.”
Holzman explored the development of Asian American
theater, profiling playwright David Henry Hwang, best
known for his award-winning play “M. Butterfly.” Holz-
man is a Twin Cities-based freelance journalist.
Second place in the Arts and Culture division went to
Anna Otieno, writing in Mshale, for Runway Africa,
which looked at the annual international fashion show,
“Runway Africa” featuring African fashion, music and
art – a “display of Africa’s talents, skills, abilities and
The First Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Awards  
 culture.” Third place went to Wameng Moua and Louisa
Schein, writing in Hmong Today. Their two-part series
profiled the search for Hmong actors in the upcoming
Clint Eastwood film “Gran Torino” – including a look
at the five young Hmong men cast into the production.

The Global/Local Connection division honored an

article or series of articles that best illustrates the inter-
connections between global and local: the impact that
Minnesotans are having on the global stage, and/or the
impact that globalization is having and global forces are
having on local communities.

David Zander, writing in Asian Pages, won first place

for The Other Face of Bhutan: A Report on the Latest
Refugee Arrivals in the U.S., which outlined a talk by
Bhutanese refugee Mangala Sharma who gave a first-
hand account of life in refugee camps, oppression of
ethnic minorities in Bhutan, and tips to help Bhutanese
families resettle. Zander is an anthropologist at the State
Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans and a frequent
contributor to Asian Pages.

Issa Mansaray, writing in the African News Journal, won

second place for Minnesota’s Lonely Elders, which pro-
filed the aging immigrant populations facing isolation,
loneliness, boredom and challenges finding adequate
healthcare, transportation and other resources. Martha
Vickery, writing in the Korean Quarterly, won third
place for “Korean studies from the ground up,” which
profiled University of Minnesota Korean language
professor Hangtae Cho, and the development of the
school’s Korean Studies program. Honorable Mention
went to Lisa Steinmann of the Park Bugle for her “Vol-
unteering Matters” column.

-Mary Turck, editor, Twin Cities Daily Planet

  The First Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Awards

First Place
Best In-Depth
Striving for inclusion in the halls
of justice: Some minority employ-
ees in Ramsey County courts say
workplace lacks diversity
By Anna Pratt
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Published August 1, 2007
Arthur Guess, 39, a law clerk in the
Ramsey County courthouse who is Black,
says few of his peers are people of color.
Guess has been a clerk to Judge George
Stephenson, one of four Black judges in
the county or District 2, for about a year
and a half. In the judges’ chambers, there
happen to be several people of color
employed (including Guess and a court
reporter), which Guess has found to be
otherwise abnormal.
By contrast, the vast majority of those
who arrive as customers to the St. Paul
courthouse every day are minorities, he
said, pointing to a line of people sit-
ting in the lobby on the third floor, the
juvenile detention center, which included
mainly Blacks and Latinos, among others,
on a typical morning in late July.
Some state officials from the Minnesota
Judicial Branch (MJB), which took over
the courts from individual counties a
couple of years ago, claim that the make-
up of its workforce reflects the broader
population of a state dominated by
White residents. Only about 11 percent
of Minnesotans are minorities, based on
U.S. Census Bureau statistics from 2000.
Minnesota has long been a role model
for other states for the pains it takes to
keep itself in check when it comes to
racial bias in the justice system, officials
point out, citing a lengthy 1993 study
that closely examined statewide courts.
Naturally, there’s always room for im-
provement. Deputy Court Administrator
Jeff Shorba said in a meeting at the MJB
building in St. Paul, “We’re trying to build
on a strong foundation. We have a pretty same district, who is also Black, said over
diverse workforce,” he said. “We want to the phone that she felt White customers
mirror the community.” got more help than Blacks. Addition-
ally, she said negative stereotypes about
Many challenges lay ahead for the judicial
Blacks were uttered at times among
branch, though, beyond the sheer casel-
White coworkers. Subsequently, “If
oad, in carrying out these goals. For one
you’re a person of color, you feel iso-
thing, the number of languages being
lated. You don’t feel comfortable going
spoken in courtrooms across the state
to work,” she said.
continues to escalate. Last year, inter-
preter services were used in over 30,000 Judge Stephenson agreed that Ramsey
hearings while unrepresented litigants County has a reputation for being un-
are also on the rise, according to MJB inviting to minorities, especially Black
information. To cope with the changing people. He acknowledged that while
dynamics and to boost minority partici- there has been a successful push to
pation, numerous initiatives are underway encourage Asians (Hmongs, in particular)
as part of a long-range strategic plan to apply for city, county and state jobs,
MJB adopted last year. there are still too few Blacks, Latinos and
Native Americans working in the court
“Enhancing diversity in the courts is a
system. But he believes the court is mak-
major initiative of ours over the next few
ing strides. “I’m assured of a commit-
years as the Baby Boomers retire and we
ment to diversity. The courts are taking
have a lot of new openings in the court
steps to do a better job. I’m confident
system,” Kostouros said, via email.
it’s being taken seriously,” he said.
Too few minorities? On the walls
There’s a ways to go, however, consider-
throughout the Ramsey County court-
ing that many more Whites are entering
house — a modernized building that
the legal profession than any other racial
boasts plenty of natural light — over-
group. Altogether, a little over 14 percent
sized photographic prints hanging on
of the district’s staff belongs to minority
the walls depict people who appear to be
groups (excluding judges, who are elected
distressed. Guess pointed to one photo
officials) according to a recent MJB de-
in the entry to the juvenile detention
mographic analysis. Out of a total of 284
center. It portrays a Black family seated
employees in the district, there are four
on a couch. Their facial expressions seem
Native Americans/Alaska natives; 15
troubled while the orientation of the
Asian/Pacific Islanders; 15 Black/African
black-and-white photo is skewed. “The
Americans; seven Latinos/Hispanics;
artwork makes me uncomfortable…Is
and 233 White people (10 people didn’t
this sending the right message about mi-
specify their race).
norities?” he asked, scratching his head.
Statewide, 2,442 people of 3,006 employ-
Guess said that sometimes when he is
ees working in various locations of the
roaming the hallways at the courthouse,
judicial branch are White. In the coming
he gets comments from young Blacks,
years, however, there’ll be more and more
surprised to find a Black man working
minorities, state demographers predict.
there. He has heard them call a judge or
Between 2005-10, nearly 38 percent of a
others in the courts racist, an excuse he
projected 255,000 new Minnesotans will
said he doesn’t buy. “I say to them, ‘Hey,
be non-White, a report from the State
you’re here,’” he said. “If we had a more
Demographic Center reads. It states that
diverse staff, people wouldn’t blame their
non-Whites will account for more than
problems on race. They would see they
half of the increase in population from
are responsible for their own actions,”
2025-30.
said Guess.
What are the courts doing? Currently,
Brenda Jackson, a former clerk in the
The First Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Awards  
when advertising a job opening in the
courts, postings are sent to law schools,
minority bar associations and ethnic
newspapers, among other places, said
MJB Human Resources Manager Nancy
Griffin. Jobs are listed on the MJB web-
site for 10 days (sometimes longer). Oc-
casionally MJB representatives attend job
and resource fairs. Hiring is done district
by district.
Thus far, Griffin said, no complaints
have been filed with the federal Equal
Employment Office (EEO) about a lack
of diversity in any of the districts. An
equal opportunity employer, MJB policy
dictates that “all decisions regarding re-
cruitment, hiring, promotions, and other
terms and conditions of employment
be made without discrimination on the
grounds of race, color, creed, religion,
national origin, gender, marital status,
status with regard to public assistance,
membership or activity in a local hu-
man rights commission, disability, sexual
orientation, or age.”
District 2 Human Resources Manager
Charlotte O’Connell said one obstacle to
reaching out to minorities is the state’s
electronic job application system, which
leaves out anyone who doesn’t have easy
computer access. Other stumbling blocks
to minorities deal with the union status
of many of the jobs; candidates from
an internal pool are given first choice,
while outsiders come second. That means
walking a tightrope, because “You want
to promote from within and support the
people you have, but you also need to be
mindful of bringing others in,” she said.
To make a difference, O’Connell is
concentrating on educating manag-
ers who do the hiring. Often, they may
claim they hire the “best” person for
the job, but they’re sometimes unaware
of unconscious biases that influence
their decisions. For example, she said,
an ethnic-sounding name may trigger
certain assumptions. She has brought in
a psychologist to do trainings that shed
light on those kinds of things.
  The First Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Awards
O’Connell said one district department
that is making good progress is the Viola-
tions Bureau, where four of 23 employ-
ees are minorities. Susan Bownds, who
leads it, said diversity should be part of
the fabric of everyday life. “The Viola-
tions Bureau is where most people go, so
it’s important that we reflect the commu-
nity. We want to hire, train and retain the
best-qualified diverse workforce that we
can get our hands on. If we can’t retain
them [due to being recruited elsewhere],
we need to encourage people to talk up
the court so others will apply.”
All in all, “It’s an ongoing challenge that
can only be solved one hire at a time,”
she said.
Recently, a top-level diversity specialist,
Melanie Larsen Sinouthasy, was hired
to focus a statewide effort to encourage
diversity. Sinouthasy is charged with the
task of developing and recommending
strategies to attract and retain a diverse
workforce across the whole branch.
As has been done in the past, representa-
tives from the judicial branch will visit
high schools, colleges and job fairs to talk
about law-related professions. Occasion-
ally, some judges make appearances at law
schools. To further ensure that people are
treated equally, the Minnesota Supreme
Court has both Race Fairness and Gen-
der Fairness Implementation Committees
while district-level courts have Equal
Access Committees that bring together
leaders from a wide cross-section of
state agencies to problem-solve in areas
regarding diversity.
Ramsey County Chief Judge Gregg
Johnson said the committee is a place
for ideas to be exchanged about how to
better serve the community, make staff
more aware of cultural differences and
instill the competence needed to provide
quality service.
Soon, the Ramsey County court will
undergo a fairness survey project, which
the National Center for State Courts
developed to test customer satisfaction
with the courts. Local diversity expert
Lila Kelly said creating a diverse work-
force can be accomplished by performing
unconventional outreach tactics, such
as through attending community events
that spread news about jobs by word-of-
mouth and help establish trust, among
other strategies.
As funding fluctuates and programs
come and go, diversifying the workforce
isn’t likely to be easy, though. “There
are so many organizations trying and
struggling with this, but they don’t know
how to do it. People are way behind, but
demographics are changing. This is such
important work,” Kelly said.
Next week: Read about diversity in the Hen-
nepin County courts (District 4) and some
initiatives that are underway.
Note: This is part one of a two-part series.
Both parts were entered in the contest; only
the first part is printed here.
__________
Second Place
Best In-Depth
SNG looks to rebuild after finan-
cial collapse
By Jeremy Stratton
The Bridge
Published October 3, 2007
After apparently pulling itself out of
debt in 2003 after the mismanagement
of Neighborhood Revitalization Pro-
gram (NRP) funds, the Seward Neigh-
borhood Group (SNG) once again finds
itself in the red.
Since July 2003, when recently resigned
Executive Director Lori Stone took the
helm, SNG has raised roughly a half
million dollars in foundation grants,
employed full- and part-time staff and
managed a number of community
programs.
The success has proven unsustainable,
however. By mid-September — less
than a month after Stone left the organi-
zation — the group’s checking account
was overdrawn by $1,000, said current
Board Treasurer Kevin Brown, and
there was no money to meet payroll. On
Sept. 14, the SNG Board of Directors
was forced to lay off all its paid staff,
as more and more evidence of financial
trouble began to surface.
Compounding the problem is the
$135,000 penalty likely to be levied on
SNG for the “unauthorized expendi-
ture” of NRP housing funds between
1998 and 2003, according to an Aug. 1
letter from NRP Director Bob Miller.
Furthermore, current Treasurer Kevin
Brown said a line of credit listed in fi-
nancial statements at $25,000 is actually
almost $9,000 higher than was reported
to the board.
Finally, in its officially released state-
ment, the SNG board stated: “We
believe that funds from several of our
institutional and foundation funders
which were dedicated to certain pro-
grams have in fact been spent on gen-
eral operating expenses, in violation of
the funders’ conditions and, potentially,
state law.” The amount may exceed
$80,000, stated the board.
Stone denied that she spent funds that
should have been dedicated to pro-
grams. The Bridge was unable to con-
firm the $80,000 in unallocated founda-
tion funds that the board claimed had
been spent on general operating funds.
Stone said she believes SNG’s current
problems stem from the board’s inability
to come up with a transition plan after
she left at the end of August. However,
a review of SNG tax filings shows that
the organization has ended the past two
years in increasing defecit — $17,269 at
the end of 2005 and $63,072 at the end
of 2006.
Although some board members seemed
blindsided by the collapse, there had
been discussion over the past year about
the possibility that SNG was overex- The problem stems from deposits and
tended. transfers of revenue, garnered from
housing programs, into SNG’s main
Since 2006, Stone had twice recom-
account between 1998 and 2003. The
mended a reorganization “to increase
funds — mostly from a deferred loan
efficiency and decrease the staffing
program through which SNG gave
budget deficit we were heading for,” she
small loans to Seward residents for
told The Bridge in a recent interview.
home improvements — were intended
That reorganization — largely based on
for use on housing-related programs but
the elimination of a housing program
were used for other purposes, accord-
coordinator’s position — was rejected
ing to Jack Whitehurst, Seward’s NRP
by the board, said Stone.
contact.
During a discussion of 2007 organiza-
As the official city-recognized neighbor-
tional goals at a February board meet-
hood organization for Seward, SNG
ing, current Board President Jean John-
receives and administers NRP dollars
stad said “It is important to break down
— public funds generated by projects in
the costs of staffing and running the
tax-increment financing districts — for
programs, [and] learn exactly what… we
a wide range of neighborhood projects
can afford to continue and what needs
and some staff funding.
to be cut back.”
While such fund transfers are com-
The late-summer crisis brought all this
mon with NRP dollars, they require a
to a head, however, and forced a heavy-
“plan modification” and approval by the
handed reorganization that has left
publicly elected neighborhood board
SNG as an all-volunteer organization, at
and/or NRP — neither of which were
least for the near future.
aware of the transfer of the funds in
Johnstad said she hopes SNG’s pro- question, according to both Brown and
grams — which still have some funding, Whitehurst.
according to the board statement — will
Whitehurst said it is likely that the orga-
be able to continue. Committees contin-
nization will have to return the $135,000
ue to meet — including a newly formed
to NRP, possibly by giving up NRP
Revitalization Committee — and she
funds available but not yet contracted
thanked community members and
from SNG’s Phase I and Phase II plans.
former staff who have volunteered to
make sure events like the recent King’s In 2003, an NRP contract administrator
Fair and upcoming Seward Arts Festival met with Stone and Housing Coordina-
take place. tor Bernie Waibel to request a report
from SNG with financial details of the
Johnstad has also pledged better trans-
programs, according to the Aug. 1 letter
parency and communication with the
from Miller. Despite several subsequent
neighborhood about SNG’s operations
requests and an offer of NRPassistance
and standing. “This organization has
in the audit, SNG did not submit the
been around for 47 years,” she said.
reports until April 2007.
“We’re not going to go away.”
Pending the completion of the reports,
NRP problem goes back almost a decade
NRP froze SNG’s unspent housing
While the $135,000 penalty from NRP program funds — more than $82,000
was largely inherited from a previous intended as home improvement loans
executive director and board, delays for Seward residents. That money will
in reconciling the housing program’s likely be returned to NRP, said Whitehu-
financial details drew the problem out rst, along with $32,000 still unused from
for four years. SNG’s completed Phase I NRP plan
and other remaining Phase II dollars, to
The First Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Awards  
cover the $135,000 owed to the city.
Current Board President Johnstad
— who came on as chair in January
after less than six months on the board
— pressed Stone and Waibel to com-
plete the NRP reports, which Waibel did
over the course of several weekends, on
his own time.
NRP has given SNG until January 2008
to come up with a proposal to pay back
the dollars in question, said Whitehu-
rst, who stressed that the current SNG
board is “working very diligently to sort
it out.”
Accounting and accountability
The current situation raises questions
not only about SNG’s past financial
management, but about how much
the Board of Directors — a revolving
group of neighborhood stakeholders
publicly elected and charged with the fi-
duciary duty of sustaining the organiza-
tion — has known about the apparently
overextended organization.
“Boards can ask questions of staff and
feel like they’re getting the information
fully and accurately when they’re not,”
said Whitehurst. “Boards can also not
ask enough questions to stay on top of
the organization’s finances.”
Asked if the executive director or the
board of directors is responsible for
the mismanagement of the NRP funds,
Whitehurst said, “I think the buck stops
with all of the above.”
Since January, Johnstad and the current
board have taken steps toward better ac-
counting of the organization’s expenses.
In July, they approved a Financial Proce-
dures Manual toward this end.
As The Bridge went to press, Board
Treasurer Brown was working with the
organization’s contracted independent
bookkeeper to sift through SNG’s fi-
nances. “The filing system appears to be
fairly random,” he said.
By mid-September, Brown had yet to lo-
cate tax filings from years prior to 2006.
10  The First Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Awards
He did provide an unsigned copy of a
990 form for 2006, which shows the
$63,000 shortfall at the end of last year.
The 990 also reports only $27,000 of
credit line liability, which Brown said
was documented at $34,700 in Janu-
ary 2007, just after the 2006 fiscal year
ended.
Some money is currently coming in, ac-
cording to Brown, who said the board’s
first priorities are to pay its former staff
and contractors and to pay its rent.
Despite the dire financial straits, board
members are hopeful that the organiza-
tion can carry on its work.
“We intend to make every effort to
maintain at least some of our pro-
grams,” states the SNG Board in its of-
ficial release, which expresses gratitude
to “capable and hardworking” program
staff that may be asked to continue on
as independent contractors.
The board is “actively working with
the NRP program to resolve their
concerns…” and to get a full picture
of their financial condition, states the
release.
Johnstad said members of the com-
munity have come forward to volunteer
help to SNG. Brown said that “a slim
but positive benefit is that everybody on
the board is very committed to having
SNG return to its roots of grassroots
organizing.”
Details were still emerging as this is-
sue The Bridge went to press. We will
continue to report on the events that led
up to the situation, and we will follow
the organization’s efforts to rebuild.
Watch this website for more coverage
this month.
Note: This is one part of ongoing coverage.
Three stories were entered in the contest;
only one installment is printed here.
Third Place
Best In-Depth
Are Hmong Schools Making the
Grades?
By Wameng Moua
Hmong Today
Published February 16, 2008
There are seven Hmong-focused charter
schools in the Twin Cities, each are filled
beyond projections. Even with limited evi-
dence to suggest these schools are performing
at adequate standards, Hmong-focused
schools continue to be a huge draw. Take
for instance the Fresno Hmong community
and their highly publicized effort to charter
the state’s first Hmong-focused school.
With the large numbers of Hmong
students switching over to these schools,
millions of education dollars are following
them to their new institutions. This drain-
age of Hmong students has played a huge
role in the ever increasing budget deficit that
the public schools in Minneapolis and St.
Paul are suffering.
While both public school systems are
attempting to slow down the exodus of
students by creating their own Hmong-
focused magnet schools, all of the existing
Hmong charter schools are continuing to
grow at astonishing rates with new charters
in the works.
Are the Hmong schools succeeding? Does
the lack of diversity in these schools
constitute self-segregation? And even when
test scores continue to linger behind tradi-
tional schools, why are educators calling the
Hmong-focused schools a great success?
Hmong Today takes a closer look at
Hmong-focused schools to try and demystify
this increasingly popular school choice. Is it
a short-term trend or are Hmong-focused
schools the solid choice of the future. You
decide:
On an official visit from the United
States Department of Education, Todd
Zoellick walked through the hallways of
the Community School of Excellence
(CSE), a Hmong focused charter school
that opened this school year in St. Paul,
MN.
As the Deputy Secretary’s Regional
Representative, Zoellick travels through-
out the nation to tour schools and as-
sess what he called, “Federal education
issues.”
His visit to CSE, he revealed, is the first
time he has visited a culturally focused
school.
“We heard so much about this school
and I had to see it for myself,” Zoellick
explained while confirming that cultur-
ally focused schools are quickly becom-
ing a popular option for to families to
consider.
Mo Chang, the school’s founder and
head administrator, leads the tour by
pointing to the intricate designs that are
painted along the walls.
“These colors and designs can be found
on traditional Hmong tapestries,”
Chang explained of the detailed swirls
that adorned the walls. “We wanted to
surround our students with cultural
artwork to emphasize the importance
of where they came from, sending the
message to each student that he or she
is appreciated here.”
As part of the tour, the group visited
a third-grade classroom. As the guests
entered, each child in the classroom
stood up and politely bowed, palms af-
fixed in the traditional South East Asian
greeting.
Immediately after being introduced,
Zoellick warmed up to the kids by
asking simple questions about their
class and in particular what they were
learning.
A number of hands eagerly shot-up,
some waved in the air with the anticipa-
tion of being picked.
Politely picking one student at a time,
Zoellick continued asking questions,
only now with more detail.
“We learned about human bones,”
answered one bright-eyed youngster in
response to a question about science
class.
“How many bones are in the human
body?” Zoellick asked the girl.
“Two hundred and six,” replied the girl
after a slight pause.
Acting surprised to get an answer, the
visitor from the Department of Educa-
tion smiled and thanked the girl for the
answer, jokingly revealing that he hadn’t
known the answer up until now.
Jeneane Miller, a teacher at the school,
explained to Zoellick that in a tradi-
tional public school setting, Hmong
children would unlikely raise their hands
and assert themselves with such vigor
and candor.
“I’m so proud of our kids!” exclaimed
Ms. Miller, whose teaching background
spans across a variety of different
school systems. “One of those kids
who had his hands up came to us with
a learning disability. Today, I didn’t see
any disabilities!”
“Our children can be themselves.”
Ask any teacher, parent or student
about the benefits of attending a
Hmong-focused school and you might
receive a variety of answers. However,
the one answer that will pop-up most
frequently will have to do with the
student’s new found confidence.
This new attitude doesn’t just stay at
school, comments Kou Xiong, 39, par-
ent of nine-year-old Matthew Xiong,
who is attending his first year at CSE.
“He speaks Hmong now,” the elder
Xiong remarks about his son’s transfor-
mation at home. “He has confidence to
speak to guests with respect and cour-
tesy—in Hmong. That’s not the same
Matthew we used to know.”
Though the Xiongs live in White Bear
The First Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Awards  11
Lake, an affluent suburb of St. Paul,
they make the extra effort to get Mat-
thew to school each morning. “We like
this school so much we will enroll our
youngest child here as well.”
Educators such as Sally Bass, director
of the SEAT Program at Concordia
University (Southeast Asian Teacher
Licensure Program), believe that chil-
dren who are allowed to gain a better
understanding of their culture, also gain
a better understanding of themselves as
a person, which she says leads to better
learning.
“When kids are more firmly rooted they
have a stronger self-esteem. When they
have a foundation to stand on, they are
better able to explore, learn and devel-
op,” Bass reflected on her 30-plus years
as an educator. “At some of the tradi-
tional schools, there are natural barriers
in place that don’t allow for some of
these roots to be planted properly.”
More than just a casual observer, Bass
acts as the liaison between Concordia
University and CSE, one of six char-
ter schools that Concordia sponsors
(CSE and Hmong Academy are the two
Hmong-focused schools).
As the sponsoring agency, Concordia
continuously works with the charter
schools to respond to deficiencies. As
Bass illustrates, when CSE had issues
with lower than expected test scores,
Concordia facilitated a professional
development program to better pre-
pare teachers to the adapt to the testing
environment.
“There’s no such a thing as a perfect
school,” Bass continues, “But what I
can say about the charter schools that
I’ve been involved with is that the level
of commitment from the administra-
tors all the way down to each student
is tremendous. These charter schools
remind me of an old-time school,
centered around a common religion or
culture where everybody is involved in
the education process.”
“Low test scores don’t reflect the true success of
Hmong charter schools”
According to the website www.uschar-
terschools.org, “Charter schools were
developed according to three basic
values: opportunity, choice, and respon-
sibility for results.”
Minnesota pioneered the first charter
school in America, the St. Paul City
Academy which opened in 1992. From
the very beginning, the Hmong were an
integral part of that school and oth-
ers throughout the Twin Cities metro
area (besides the seven Hmong-focused
schools).
When HOPE (Hmong Open Partner-
ships in Education) Academy, the first
Hmong-focused charter school, opened
its doors in 2001, the doubters won-
dered if enough Hmong parents would
want to send their children to a mostly
Hmong populated school.
More than seven years later, the school
has grown beyond expectations, recently
adding a $3 million multi-use building
to expand on its existing campus. More
importantly, the school is credited for
being the model for other Hmong-fo-
cused schools to follow.
With growing enrollment rates and
community accolades on the positive
side, HOPE Academy and the other
Hmong-focused charter schools seem
to be headed on the right track.
That is, until the declining test scores
are brought to light (see “No Child Left
Behind” table).
Take for instance the reading scores for
the Hmong schools which calculate to
an average of 21.75% of the students
being considered proficient readers.
Compare that to the state average of
68% proficient readers and the deficien-
cies are alarming.
Pao Yang, operations manager for
Hmong Academy, doesn’t discount the
importance of numbers. What he wants
to point out, however, is the fact that
12  The First Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Awards
those test scores don’t take into consid-
eration that a good number of students
at Hmong Academy arrived from other
schools, thereby diluting the numbers
put up by more established Hmong
Academy students.
“Realistically we’ll need to wait a few
more years to test our products,” Yang
insisted. “Because if you track the stu-
dents who have been with us from the
beginning, you’ll see successful num-
bers. It’s just a matter of time before we
are able to see the total numbers rise as
well.”
Yang points to other numbers that are
not reflected in test scores. Having
graduated its first class of seniors last
year, Hmong Academy boasts a 90%
graduation rate. Furthermore, numbers
such as the attendance rate and reten-
tion rate of students, Yang argues, far
exceeds the same categories at public
schools.
Beyond the numbers, there are more
important factors to consider when
assessing the success of a school, says
Neal Thao, principal of Noble Acad-
emy, a first-year Hmong-focused charter
school in Brooklyn Center.
“We have 99% parental participation,”
Thao asserts. “That says a lot about
how important education is at a particu-
lar school.”
From a historical perspective, Thao is
quick to note that this is the first time in
history that the Hmong have been able
to create their own schools which par-
ent especially have learned to appreciate.
“In our homeland, we are too busy
trying to survive day to day. This is the
first time we have the tools, the money
and the political will to educate our
children. This is an important step for
the advancement of our culture and our
language.”
Most parents interviewed for this
article did indicate that one of the most
important factors that lead them to
enroll their children in Hmong-focused
schools was the cultural and linguistic
regiments that are mandatory at these
schools.
These sentiments have been picked
up by the public school systems in St.
Paul and Minneapolis whose declining
enrollment have forced them to create
their own versions of a Hmong-focused
schools.
Hmong International Academy is Min-
neapolis Public Schools’ answer to the
Hmong dilemma. Only in its second
year, the enrollment has already grown
too large for its current building at the
Lucy Laney building in North Minne-
apolis.
The school’s principal, Chai Lee, is
adamant that a Hmong-focused school
within the public school system is the
ideal way to educate children because
of the resources available in the public
school system as opposed to the upstart
charter schools.
“We have access to the top teachers and
learning tools,” Lee continues. “And
it’s a great feeling to know that we have
the support of an entire school district
rather than individual schools out there
like islands.”
In St. Paul, the district will transition
Phalen Lake Elementary into a Hmong-
focused magnet school with the new
name, Phalen Lake Elementary Hmong
Studies and Core Knowledge Magnet.
Hoping to keep the school’s current
level of diversity, principal Catherine
Rich—in an interview with the Twin
Cities Daily Planet—explains that the
school will not become a Hmong im-
mersion school as some may have mis-
understood it to be, but rather a school
that combines the Core Knowledge
curriculum with Hmong and Span-
ish language and cultural enrichment
classes.
“We are very excited about the changes
and about the opportunity to enrich our
curriculum in Hmong studies and more
broadly represent a very rich and diverse
culture,” says Rich.
“Are Hmong schools too isolated from the rest
of the world?”
Sally Bass from Concordia chuckles
when she contemplates the irony of a
culturally focused school.
“I thought they tried to get rid of this
kind of thing with Brown Vs. Board
of Education,” Bass asks rhetorically
about the reverse des egregation aspect
of the Hmong-focused schools. “But I
guess in this case, separate isn’t too bad
afterall.”
In her MinnPost editorial, Lorena Du-
arte asks a number of pertinent ques-
tions in regards to culturally specific
schools.
“The idea of a culturally-specific public
school raises complicated issues and
intriguing questions: Is it a focused ap-
proach toward student achievement and
enrichment, or is it a form of isolation?
How do we deal with cultural diversity
in public education? And what is the
best environment to prepare students
to become successful in diverse set-
tings? Do students at culturally-specific
schools have enough interaction and
knowledge about other cultures to suc-
ceed in an increasingly diverse nation
and an increasingly interconnected
world?”
To help her answer these questions,
Duarte asks Lesa Covington Clarkson,
assistant professor at the U of M’s Col-
lege of Education & Human Devel-
opment, who has worked with both
African-American and Hmong charter
schools in the Twin Cities.
“They are valid concerns,” says Clarck-
son, “But people need to look at the flip
side of this — what happens if students
never understand their own culture?”
Neal Thao may have said it best in
reaction to questions of being isolated
within the Hmong schools.
“Traditional schools might have diver-
sity, but in many situations, the door
hasn’t always been open to our com-
munity.”
First Place
Arts & Culture
Standing at the edge of Asian
American theater: David Henry
Hwang meets up with other Asian
American playwrights in Minne-
apolis
By Anne Holzman
Korean Quarterly
Published Summer 2008
Fresh off the New York run of his latest
show, Yellow Face, and in negotiations
to bring the show to cities including
Chicago and possibly the Twin Cities,
playwright David Henry Hwang said he
was enjoying a bit of a vacation as he
settled into a chunky black couch in an
upper-floor Guthrie Theatre lounge on
the first Friday in June.
Best known for his award-winning play
M. Butterfly, Hwang lives in Brooklyn,
NY, and has a son, 12, and a daughter
seven; he is married to actress Kathryn
Laynge. In spite of his international
career, he said, “I do try to be home.”
Hwang traveled to Minneapolis to
participate in the Second National Asian
American Theater Conference. The first
such conference ---- known as the Next
Big Bang ---- occurred in Los Angeles
in 2006, followed by a festival of Asian
American theater in New York last sum-
mer. Conference organizer Rick Shiomi
of the Minneapolis Asian American
Theater company Mu Performing Arts
said the plan has been to alternate
conferences with festivals, more or less
annually. Accordingly, another national
Asian American theater festival is in the
works for 2009.
The conference featured first showings
of new plays and works in progress,
including a production of local Korean
American playwright Ed Bok Lee’s Glow,
and some works in progress by Sun Mee
Chomet. The conference hosts were
Mu Performing Arts and Pangea World
Theater.
The First Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Awards  13
Hwang’s M. Butterfly ran on Broadway
in 1988 and won a Tony award. It was
nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Hwang
also wrote the screenplay for the film
Seven Years in Tibet, and a revision of
Rogers and Hammerstein’s Flower Drum
Song produced in 2003. As a librettist,
he has collaborated with composers
Phillip Glass, Bright Sheng and Osvaldo
Golijov and also with Korean composer
Unsuk Chin.
Hwang made a quick trip to Minneapolis
back in April, to receive an Award for
Achievement in Asian American Arts
from Mu Performing Arts. He said that’s
more the pattern of his travels these
days, flying in, appearing somewhere,
and flying back out, so he was pleased
to settle in at the Guthrie among theater
colleagues for two days in June to dis-
cuss the trends and the future of Asian
American theater.
Born in Los Angeles to immigrants from
China, and educated at Stanford and Yale,
Hwang has traveled frequently to China
in recent years and spoke warmly of his
reception there. His plays have not, so
far, been produced there, partly because
he writes in English, and partly because
the political climate might not welcome
his brand of social criticism ---- he said
that might be changing.
Although he’s clearly American and
needs translators, Hwang said, he is still
embraced in China as Chinese. “They’re
proud of me,” he said in a voice soft
with wonder. “I find that moving.” He
has not traveled to Korea ---- but he said
he hears about it all the time. With its
film and music stars, he said, “Korea has
become the pop engine of Asia.”
His work has also been performed in
Singapore, he said, where the political
atmosphere is more open and English is
more commonly spoken.
All over Asia, he said, there seems to be
a disengagement from American culture
balanced by “an increasing sense of
pride and security.” But that also implies
nationalism, which can be both good and
bad. In China, for example, he sees “a
sense of Chinese pride, at least among
the Han, who are the ethnic majority.”
Growing discrepancies between socio-
economic classes could tear that ethno-
centricity apart, he added. He travels in
and out of Shanghai and Guangzhou a
couple of times a year.
“I’m interested in the kind of artistic
work that’s being done there,” he said of
his travels in China. He has visited the
Dong minority group, which figures in
his newest play, Yellow Face, in which a
white actor reinventing himself as Asian
finds his place among Dong hosts for an
extended stay. The script also calls for
recordings of Dong music.
Hwang said that in addition to U.S. cities,
there are plans in the works to produce
Yellow Face in Mexico City, in Spanish.
An earlier Hwang work translated into
Spanish, the libretto for Ainadamar, was
based on the murder of Spanish poet and
republican hero Federico García Lorca.
Argentine composer Osvaldo Golijov,
who ranks securely among the world’s
top living composers of classical music,
translated that libretto as well as writing
the score.
In a world where it’s even harder to get
a new opera produced than a new play,
Ainadamar appears to be holding its own,
with recent performances in Philadelphia,
Chicago and Phoenix and a recording
on the Deutsche Grammophon label.
Hwang approaches all this global activity
with enthusiasm, but also with his usual
critical wariness. “Internationalism is the
new multiculturalism,” he said in a tone
heavy with irony.
In Yellow Face, Hwang explores the
limits of our ability to define other
people’s identities. A character named
David Henry Hwang mistakenly casts the
white actor Marcus G. Dahlman as Asian,
becomes furious at the fabulous success
of newly staged-named Marcus Gee,but
gets the last laugh as race-tinged scandal
brings about something resembling jus-
tice. In the end, they remain on speaking
14  The First Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Awards
terms ---- as author and character, if not
as producer and actor.
The play reads like an extended “found
poem,” interspersing news reports,
e-mails and other texts and drawing on
Hwang’s actual experience protesting a
Miss Saigon production as well as the
story of physicist Wen Ho Lee’s incar-
ceration for suspected spying. A clear
---- and very funny ---- story emerges
from a tangle of names, ethnicities, iden-
tities and prejudices. Nobody looks good,
especially not the author’s namesake char-
acter, but an audience might take solace
from the feeling that our own multi-culti
fumbling can’t possibly be that bad.
While the play draws on Hwang’s own
Chinese American experience, it ad-
dresses many identities. (The title reflects
both the Asian cultural concept of “face”
as the way one presents oneself to others,
and the now-shocking American stage
practice of white actors cavorting about
in “blackface.”)
Writers these days learn to be wary of ex-
ploiting other people’s backgrounds and
possibly misrepresenting or capitalizing
on someone else’s pain. I asked Hwang if
he worries about crossing those boundar-
ies. “I think crossing lines is important,”
he answered. “I would like to cross more
lines! ... Having said that, I think when
we’re going to cross boundaries, we have
to do our homework.”
Also, he said, a writer exploring contro-
versy can expect criticism. “Even when
you write about your own culture, you
have to be open to criticism,” he pointed
out, adding that American artists and crit-
ics seem able to debate “aesthetics” but
not “content,” and the issue of ethnic
sources seems to be tied to that distinc-
tion. Perhaps, he reflected, that’s the
result of a society that values free speech.
In a country with censorship (such as
China), he noted, “it’s all about content.”
Hwang did take some sharp aesthetic
criticism when his latest play ran in
New York. “Yellow Face feels less like a
fully-developed work than a scattershot,
personal venting of painful emotions,
still waiting to assume a polished form,”
wrote New York Times critic Ben Brant-
ley on Dec. 11, 2007.
Race isn’t the only theme in Hwang’s
writing; his plays are also about power,
interpersonal as well as social. “There’s a
lot of fluidity between who’s the servant
and who’s the master,” Hwang observed,
which is true on the stage as well as in
life. “A lot of works are about the ser-
vant becoming the master.” And on the
other hand, he said, “a lot of times the
things we do to get power deprive us of
power.”
Where Yellow Face resembles memoir
and feels postmodern, M. Butterfly drew
on a venerable opera, Puccini’s Madama
Butterfly (as perhaps did Miss Saigon,
with its Asian woman falling in love with
a white colonial agent, bearing a child
with him, and killing herself after losing
him). Hwang took a news story about an
espionage case involving mistaken sexual
identity, bathed it in the opera’s musi-
cal passion and borrowed from its plot
structure, and came up with a winner.
While it has a few funny lines, M. But-
terfly shows its characters struggling for
high ideals of truth, love and faithfulness,
the material of operatic tragedy. Hwang
said that in working on the play, “I really
came to actually love the music.” And
even though M. Butterfly can be taken
as satirizing the opera, Hwang said it is
important to continue producing and
seeing canonical pieces like Madama But-
terfly, as well as Shakespeare’s plays and
other frankly racist, sexist material from
the past.
He noted that we should remember that
many classic dramatic works were actually
viewed as progressive in their time. Hav-
ing drawn the assignment of updating
Flower Drum Song for the civil-rights-
conscious era, he said, “I really came to
respect the work that Rogers and Ham-
merstein had done.”
“We have to try to understand these
works in their historical context,” Hwang
said. “It’s important to understand the
ways in which they started or perpetuated
cultural imperialism.” He said we should
also enjoy them, as he does, trying to “ex-
perience them both ways.” Hwang said
he writes his plays about difficult ideas
that he wants to explore, and race in U.S.
society is an important one. “Yellow Face
taught me that we have to hold in our
mind these contradictory concepts,” he
said. We seek a postracial society, and at
the same time, we still live with racism
and have to go on fighting it. “It’s hard
to do both,” he said. “The true task is to
balance the two.”
He said he did not bring up the topic
of race with his two children until they
raised the subject themselves. “Young
children understand a post-racial world,”
he said, and he does not think we should
rob them of that innocence.
Hwang said he sees Asian theater redefin-
ing itself to meet a increasingly open
cultural definition of what it means to
be Asian. “I like the fact that we’re going
into this very wide-open period for what
constitutes an Asian-American play,” he
said. The term meant one thing in the
1960s, he said, but because of intermar-
riage and increasing diversity within the
boundaries of the term “Asian,” subse-
quent generations have a challenge to
redefine themselves.
And it’s not just happening in Asian
theater ---- mixing of ethnicities and
genres is increasingly acceptable and even
popular. Hwang gave the example of
the musical In the Heights, which won a
Tony this year with an exuberant mix of
rap and Latin musical materials.
“The more we can get to self-definition,”
Hwang said, “I think that’s good. ... I like
to think that we choose the categories we
need.”
Second Place
Arts & Culture
Runway Africa
By Anna Otieno, Mshale Special
Correspondent
Mshale – The African Community
Newspaper
Published September 20, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Magenta, yellow,
coral, gold, kente, stripes, peacock, mesh,
cheetah, red, black and green. Rarely have
I witnessed this myriad of colors and
prints in the same place at the same time
and liked it. But this time it was different.
This time it was rich and beautiful. This
time it was deep and vibrant. This time it
was Africa.
On Saturday September 15th I headed to
the French Embassy in Washington DC
to attend Runway Africa – an interna-
tional fashion show with a humanitarian
base. The official title of the event was
Inspiration Africa, LLC partnered with
The South African Embassy, presents
RUNWAY AFRICA 2007, presented by
Amarula Cream Liqueur, but I think I’ll
stick with “Runway Africa.” It’s simple. I
walked into the gratuitously lit embassy
and was greeted by photographers, a mini
red carpet, international fashionistas,
diverse hues, and eclectic music. I saun-
tered around for a bit scanning people’s
outfits and looking for the press room
– the press conference was scheduled
for 6pm and I had a load of questions to
ask: what is Runway Africa? Who are the
designers? Where are the proceeds going?
What is Africhic? The press conference,
however, was cancelled which gave me,
my friend Simone, and photographer An-
drea a good two hours before the runway
show to search for answers on our own.
This should be interesting…
I first noticed a series of “I AM AFRI-
CAN” posters along the wall – all part
of Keep A Child Alive – the recipient
of the evening’s proceeds. Iman, David
Bowie, Seal, Heidi Klum, Sarah Jessica
Parker and other celebrities adorned in
The First Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Awards  15
tribal paint and jewelry – all to make the
symbolic point that Africa’s issues are
our issues...it’s amazing what a celebrity
nod will do for exposure and coverage. I
admired the posters, yet wondered if this
campaign would gain as much attention
and support using a regular person like
me for the artistic ads. The marriage of
celebrity and humanitarianism simulta-
neously excite and concern me. Excite
because it’s amazing when an individual
uses his or her celebrity for the benefit of
a critical cause such as AIDS in Africa;
concern because using celebrity for a
cause is all too often the cool thing to do
– a fad. And we all know that AIDS in
Africa is not a fad. I found myself getting
a little off track with my thoughts so I
peeled myself away from the posters and
continued on…
I strolled around more – people-watch-
ing, taking mental notes, and looking
for a place to sit because my high heels
had a one-hour standing limit. As soon
as I found a seat and got comfortable,
five models strutted out of a room and
walked around the lounge area. They ar-
ranged themselves in a line and displayed
their ensembles: a canary yellow halter
dress, kente print leg warmers, a baby-
doll printed dress, gold jewelry, and more
– all items from various designers sub-
mitted for the silent auction. I thought to
myself, ‘If this is just a taste of what is
yet to come, I can’t wait for the runway
show!’
Eight o’clock rolled around, the seating
process began, the room filled-up, and
the anticipation for the show height-
ened…
Demain, demain, demain
Si il reste un lendemain
Demain, demain, demain
Je le veux en paix pour les miens
Les Nubians, the French/Cameroonian
Afropean Hip/Hop and R&B duo, was
blasting on the speakers, setting the tone
for the pan-African show that was soon
to begin…
A series of organizers, sponsors and sup-
porters got up on stage to explain their
roles in the program. With each speaker
I understood the unique significance
of Runway Africa and the notion of
Africhic more and more: humanitarian-
ism, responsibility, creativity, kindness.
Elizabeth Santiso, the Vice President and
Director of Communications of Keep
A Child Alive, read statistics on AIDS
in Africa like The World Health Report:
Shocking, disheartening, yet truthful. She
left the audience with one vital charge
of empowerment: “We want you to help
save your people in your way.” Yes. How
important it is to heal from the inside
out.
Perhaps the most lasting words were
voiced by Tyrone Marc Gunnie, the
Second Secretary of Public Diplomacy at
the Embassy of the Republic of South
Africa.
“[Runway Africa] allows a platform to
present the wonderful tapestries we have
on the continent…it presents us with an
opportunity to carve-out opportunities
for ourselves…,” he said.
And that was the true essence of the
evening – a display of Africa’s talents,
skills, artistic abilities, and culture – which
all have the potential to open-up doors
for other considerable opportunities such
as economic development, healthcare ac-
cess, and community empowerment.
Gunnie went on to discuss the impor-
tance of creating niche markets and not
waiting on the government to do so. Was
I at a fashion show or a rally? It was a
little bit of both and it was the perfect
pair.
Clarissa Abban, a young and spirited
Ghanaian-American and Creative Direc-
tor & Producer of Runway Africa, clearly
poured her heart into this project; for it is
one that she had envisioned for years.
“I just wanted to manifest the beauty of
Africa…We have so much to offer…be-
yond AIDS and poverty. Take it all in.
I’m sure you will all love it,” she passion-
ately explained.
16  The First Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Awards
And love it folks did!
Independent and agency models worked
the runway in various African-inspired
designs. The show commenced with
designs by Sika. Strutting to Jay-Z’s
“Show Me What You Got,” the models
presented Sika’s Wonderland line: baby
doll dresses, jeans and blazers – all with
Afrocentric designs. Sika, created by
Phyllis Taylor of London, used her rich
Ghanaian roots for inspiration and labor
- she has all of her clothes manufactured
in Ghana by skilled seamstresses and
tailors.
Next up was South African lingerie and
accessories line Ruby, designed by Robyn
Lidsky. And as part of an initiative to cre-
ate more jobs, Ruby employs 30 women
from Cape Town (known as “The Ruby
Beading Circle”) to handcraft the beaded
jewelry. So where does one go for fun
and funk? Harriet’s Alter Ego. Designers
Ngozi Odita and Hekima Hapa brought
their Brooklyn-based label to the run-
way with denim, tie-dyes, embroidery,
and Kente prints - a taste of tradition
with a foundation of flair. In the future,
Harriet’s Alter Ego hopes to open a
sewing cooperative or factory in Nigeria.
Fashion with a cause…I was beginning to
see a pattern.
Khaki leisure suits, modern designs,
and evening gowns…all with serious
panache…or shall I say, Africhic? These
pieces, which were part of Teddy Leg-
bedion and Patrick Osaghae’s Blokes “N”
Divas label, delivered style and edginess.
But jaws dropped and hands clapped
when Angela Asare, Ms.Universe Ghana,
stepped out in a colorful peacock dress
capturing the beautiful essence of Africa
in just a few graceful strides. The evening
ended with the African and Asian-in-
spired designs of Bezemymailan of Paris
– perhaps a symbolic message of where
we must go to truly progress collectively.
With the “I am African” tribal designs
on their faces, the models marched-out
to Soul II Soul’s 1989 hit “Back to Life.”
It was as though every single culture on
the planet was represented in the eclectic
designs. I could identify several different
cultures in one outfit alone – perhaps
another attribute of Africhic.
At the end of the fashion show, I flipped
through the program to read more about
the designers, their influences, and their
goals. A quote from Aba Kwawu of
The Aba Agency piqued my attention:
“Africhic is a term that’s used to describe
African textile and design, but it’s more
than that, it’s the style and grace with
which Africans carry themselves.” And
it all came together – Africhic is a way
of life. Africhic is wearing bold colors
and African prints with pride. Africhic
is using creativity and style in your daily
life to bring creativity and style to others.
Africhic is heeding the responsibility
of healing your African roots. Runway
Africa is Africhic.
Africa is not just a continent in need of
international attention. It’s in need of
appreciation. Culturally, creatively, eco-
nomically and artistically it has so much
to offer the rest of the world – and this
is proven through the African influences
we witness internationally in music, food,
fashion, culture, and more. Take notice
– pretty soon you may see the presence
of Africhic all over the world. You will
certainly see it at Runway Africa 2008.
__________
Third Place
Arts & Culture
Hmong Actors Making History
Part I: The Bad Guys of East-
wood’s Gran Torino
By Louisa Schein
Hmong Today
Published August 16, 2008
Legendary actor/director Clint Eastwood
is making history in the Hmong com-
munity with his upcoming film Gran
Torino. But this is not only Hmong news.
By creating a mainstream Hollywood film
that features mostly Hmong leads and
supporting actors (other than Eastwood’s
character), he’s giving unprecedented vis-
ibility to Hmong Americans. Says veteran
Hollywood actor Wa Yang, who worked
with Eastwood through a small role in
Letters from Iwo Jima, “It’s creating
exposure in Hollywood, where no one
knows who the Hmong are. Hopefully it
will pique interest and one day the story
of how we came to the US can be told.”
The film is being shot in and around
Detroit this month. From the publicity
so far, it centers on a grumpy Korean
war veteran (Eastwood), who is estranged
from his family after his wife dies. He
meets his new Hmong neighbors, espe-
cially teens Tao and Sue, and eventually
gets involved in trying to shield them
from the Hmong gang that wants to
recruit Tao. Whether he succeeds is the
best kept secret, but in the process his
friendships with Hmong transform and
soften him.
How did this production get off the
ground? After open casting calls were
held in Fresno, Detroit and Minnesota,
interested Hmong Americans waited with
baited breath to see who would be cast.
As days turned into weeks, fear spread
that Hmong would be passed over for
more experienced Asian actors. But then,
in early July, people who least expected
it started getting the calls. Elation spread
with the news that ten key roles had gone
to mostly first-time Hmong actors, and
that Hmong extras, production assis-
tants and others were also going to be
on set. Eastwood seems to be putting a
mountain of faith in Hmong talent, and
it looks like he will be well rewarded for
it. Working on Gran Torino is stretching
the actors - many of whom have back-
grounds in other art forms like music - to
reach potentials they didn’t know they
had.
This article is the first of two to intro-
duce the people behind the characters in
the production that everyone is following.
In this issue, get to know the five guys
in the Hmong gang. In the September
1 issue, watch for leads Bee Vang (Tao)
and Ahney (Formerly known as Whitney)
Her (Sue) plus other cast members.
The Boys of Gran Torino
Who are the bad guys of Gran To-
rino? Five Hmong actors, chosen from
several states and from five different
clans, make up the gang that is menacing
Tao. Most of them have little experience
acting. Sonny Vue, born in Fresno and
now from St. Paul, plays the ringleader,
“Smokie.” At 19 years old and only 5’5”
tall, he was a surprise pick for the gang’s
toughest guy. Even he was surprised.
He’d taken an acting class at Vessey Lead-
ership Academy but never been in front
of the camera before. He even confesses
he has stage fright.
Sonny was playing around with his cousin
when they found the casting call on the
internet. He boasted that he thought he
could get Smokie. He describes driving
by the HAP open auditions that week-
end in May. It was Friday night and the
guy was there. “I got a private audition.”
They were looking for a Hmong Ameri-
can look. He was wearing a brown t-shirt
that said ‘I’m hiding from the cops.’ Ev-
eryone was trying out for Tao, the good
guy. Instead, he showcased his bad boy
persona. “I think it’s the way I talk,” he
explains in a familiar Hmong street voice.
He sounds like he still can’t believe it.
“Exhilarating” is how Lee Mong Vang,
Gangster No. 3, describes the experience
of Gran Torino. The 26-year-old was
born in Dallas, moved to Toledo, then
spent most of his childhood in rough
neighborhoods on the east side of De-
troit. “You grow up all your life thinking
you’d never be able to do anything like
this. Going on set, seeing Clint East-
wood…it’s really awesome.” Lee Mong
ended up in the show because a friend
who studied acting told him he was
“personable and talented and should give
it a try.” An outdoorsman, he remembers
with amusement that he skipped the first
open call. “I went fishing,” he chuckles.
But the second audition reeled him in.
He was cast without even a callback. He
The First Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Awards  17
knows this had to be a blessing from his
deceased grandma who had just passed
away before the audition. “I’m her oldest
grandchild,” he muses, “She loves me.”
Lee Mong had no acting experience but
he had done some singing so he had no
stage fright. As a self-described jokester,
he hopes to introduce some humor onto
the set. He says he’s the muscle of the
gang since he’s 5’7” and a brawny, heavier
guy. Before this experience, he’d been
working in manufacturing and studying
to do auto cab design. Now he wants to
go back to his music and maybe even
pursue acting. “Live your life like it’s your
last,” he wants to tell the young people
out there, “You can’t predict the future,
so go for it.”
Doua Moua, 21, hails from New York
City, where he moved when he was 18
to pursue his acting career. A towering
5’11”, Doua plays Fong, aka Spider, Tao
and Sue’s older cousin and an ambiva-
lent member of Smokie’s gang. Born in
Thailand, he grew up in Minnesota where
he got into acting in middle school. He
started college, but dropped out in order
to refocus his heart and energy. He got a
manager, and started auditioning around
New York for both theater and film. His
success rate speaks for itself: He’s been in
numerous films and theater shows hold-
ing large and small parts.
“My dream is happening,” says a thrilled
Doua, “I have to appreciate every mo-
ment that I’m riding this ride.” He wants
to be part of a new generation that will
make strides in getting Hmong people
and Hmong art known. But even as
he wants to impact the mainstream, he
remembers the sacrifices and hard work
of his parents. He wants to give back to
his community. No matter where else his
career takes him in the future, he affirms,
he’d love to have a chance to work with
Hmong filmmakers making movies for
Hmong audiences.
Jerry Lee, 22, 5’9 ½” is a native of Chico,
California who moved to St. Paul only in
2002. He’d done choir and acted in a play
and a musical in high school and later in
a 48-hour film festival short. When his
girlfriend told him about the casting call,
he’d already moved on. He had studied
Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement
and was going on to do Business Admin-
istration. But he decided to try out. He
thought about Smokie, his off-the-chart
pride. “I can portray myself as someone
else,” he recalls. It happened: He got the
part of Gangster No. 2. Jerry treasures all
his time on set, “Eastwood’s a real hum-
ble guy, not what I expected,” he says
with reverence. “I’m picking up things
from other cast members. And what’s
most important is building networks and
friends….Kids, never stop chasing your
dreams. And hold on to your contacts.
Jerry’s personal passion is writing stories
and screenplays. He’s written a comedy
short to be posted on Youtube. Now
he’s working on a feature-length screen-
play about sexuality. It focuses on how
Hmong culture adapts to the modern
world by looking at lesbian and gay
Hmong and how hard it is for them to
come out.
Elvis Thao, 26, plays Gangster No. 1.
Born in Kansas, he moved to Modesto
and then Milwaukee. “I’m very pas-
sionate about my city,” he says, “My
heart is set on community issues.” The
bald-headed, 5’6” powerhouse burns the
candle at both ends. A member of the
hip hop group RARE, he is co-owner of
Shaolin Entertainment and a veteran of
the Hmong music industry. Meanwhile,
he takes philanthropy courses, lectures to
youth at universities, and runs summer
programs for kids.
“I’m based on revolution,” says Elvis.
He is critical of corporate control in the
music industry and “not too fond of
Hollywood.” “What I hate is stardom.”
If you call his cell phone the voicemail
recording taunts: “Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So what? So I’m shootin a movie with
Clint Eastwood. Woo woo. What’s all
the fussin for?” Instead he is inspired by
Michael Moore and Don Cheadle, and
sees the potential for real life documen-
tary to create change. He almost didn’t
18  The First Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Awards
audition for Gran Torino, but people in
his network kept calling him. At 8PM on
the Friday night before the Minnesota
auditions his head was pounding. He got
in the car and said “Let’s go or I’ll regret
it forever.” And he has no regrets despite
the gangster image he’s been hired to
recreate. His vision is that audiences will
see that they are actors playing characters,
that they are examples of professional
excellence, at being who they are while
they create someone else. The income he
makes will be used to promote awareness
of the issues he cares most about – from
police brutality in Milwaukee to human
rights in Laos… “I’m going to be speak-
ing out against gang violence after this,”
he adds with determination.
Remaking the Image?
One of the things that makes this pro-
duction so historic is that Hmong have
been targets of others’ negative images
for as long as they’ve been in the United
States (or even much longer). Hmong
gangbangers…Chai Soua Vang’s kill-
ings…Guerilla warriors in Asia…Unco-
operative new immigrants in The Spirit
Catches You and You Fall Down. These
are the kind of images that Hmong have
had to deal with as newcomers to the
American scene. The presence of these
actors will make audiences see that there
is somebody behind the role…and that
somebody is a person of substance.
In Gran Torino, much of the dialogue is
being created through improvising even
though the original lines were written
by white Minnesotan Nick Schenk (with
Hmong input). Hmong actors describe
ad-libbing their own lines on camera.
They talk about drawing on their own
grassroots experiences to make their
characters authentic. They’re advocat-
ing for cultural accuracy, even when the
Hollywood spectacle might be produc-
ing distortions. With so many talented
Hmong working together, the ground is
laid for the creation of three-dimensional
people, a much more realistic portrayal
of Hmong by Hmong for American
audiences. Will it work? We’ll have to wait
for the movie release…
Louisa Schein teaches Anthropology and
Women’s and Gender Studies at Rutgers
University. She is writing a book about
Hmong media. She can be reached at
louisaschein@gmail.com
Stay tuned for Part II where we meet
the star teens, Bee Vang and Ahney Her,
along with others.
Note: This is one part of ongoing coverage.
Three stories were entered in the contest; only one
installment is printed here.
__________
First Place
Global/Local Connections
The other face of Bhutan: a report
on the latest refugee arrivals in the
U.S.
By David Zander
Asian Pages
Published May 5, 2008
As news media heightens awareness in
the Western world of human rights viola-
tions in China, Tibet, and Burma, one
country’s record seems to have managed
to stay hidden, the Himalayan Kingdom
of Bhutan.
Westerners have an image of Bhutan as
an exotic ideal Shangri-La in the remote
Himalayas, a country ruled by a monar-
chy trying to minimize and control influ-
ences from the outside world. Visiting
Bhutan is an expensive outlay for tourists.
The government imposes a high fee and
controls the numbers allowed entry visas.
In contrast to this picture, a less idyllic
glimpse into life behind the scenes comes
from the Bhutanese refugees arriving in
the US. Ms. Mangala Sharma, herself a
refugee from Bhutan, and a recent arrival
in Minnesota, gave a talk to members of
the Minnesota refugee consortium, April
10, 2008. She gave a first hand account
of the torture, rape and oppression of
ethic minorities in Bhutan, life in the
refugee camps and tips to help Volun-
tary Agencies assist Bhutanese families
resettle.
Persecution and torture of Ethnic Nepali in
Bhutan
The Nepali had been living in Bhutan
peacefully for over two hundred years,
six or seven generations, But conditions
started to change in 1988, when the
government census revealed the size of
ethnic Nepali. They numbered about
35% of the 700,000 total population.
Alarmed by the figures, the government
forces have wanted to decrease Nepalese
influence. The split in Bhutan is polarized
between the dominant majority Bhutan in
the north and the ethnic Nepali speaking
minorities in the south. Over the last two
decades, under a policy of ‘one nation
under law’ the government enforced on
the Nepali the same dress code, reli-
gions and same rituals. Following brutal
government crackdowns on their dem-
onstrations in 1990, the ethnic Nepali
minorities in Bhutan have been fleeing
across the border into Nepal. There are
now over 100,000 refugees from Bhutan
living in seven refugee camps in Eastern
Nepal. Some have been there for seven-
teen years.
Bhutanese Refugees Demographic Profile
* Hindu (largest group) (60-70%)
* Buddhists ( 20-25%)
* Kirat (indigenous/animist) (5-8%)
* Christians (2-3%)
Average family size ranges from 6-8
members. 100% speak Nepali. 35% of
the population speak some English. 25%
have little or no education, although
about 5-7% have University or College
level higher education.
Resettlement
Following the instability in Nepal, one of
the world’s largest resettlement opera-
tions started in March 2008. The U.S.
had announced in 2006 a plan to resettle
60,000 refugees from Bhutan. Over 100
refugees have been resettled in Arizona,
Georgia, Maryland, New York, Nebraska
and Chicago. Anticipated arrival is much
higher. Over 12,000 names have been
submitted by UNHCR to the U.S. Forty
people are expected to arrive in Min-
nesota in the next few months. About
200 more might come over the next year.
Ms Sharma said, “This is a multi-year
resettlement program.” As Minnesota
does not accept any ‘free cases,’ all the
families coming to Minnesota are friends
and relatives of the Sharma family. Ms.
Sharma described life in the camps in
Nepal as very well managed and well
structured. As students graduated from
the camp schools, they went on to de-
velop teaching skills through teaching the
younger students in the camp schools.
Ms. Sharma had been very active helping
refugees organize their life in the refugee
camps and now is an anchor for new
arrivals.
Cultural conflicts and challenges
Ms. Sharma said that the elderly are the
most vulnerable. “My greatest concern is
that they feel isolated and experience de-
pression.” There are people with physical
challenges, and people with a history of
mental health issues. There are a signifi-
cant number of torture victims, and vic-
tims of gender based violence. Currently
Ms. Sharma is organizing support for the
families who are new arrivals. She said
that the old caste system still has some
impact for social life among the older
Bhutanese, and may affect housing ar-
rangements, but caste is a lesser issue for
the younger generations. Many Bhutanese
are vegetarians. Rice, dhal and vegetables
are food staples. They don’t touch beef
or pork and would not want jobs in meat
packaging. There are strict taboos in the
home around kitchens and foods. It will
take them time to adjust to new cultural
differences even in basics like eye con-
tact, hand shakes and greetings.
Refugee Skills and Talents
In addition to teaching and interpreting
skills, some of the refugees have skills
that will help them transfer to employ-
The First Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Awards  19
ment here in the U.S. such as tailoring,
weaving, sewing and shoe making. Ms.
Sharma said they were excited to see the
Hmong vendors and Asian produce in
the farmers markets in St. Paul, Min-
nesota, and they welcome access to
community garden plots so families can
continue farming. Like the Karen and the
Tibetan refugees, the Bhutanese families
will settle close to each other, develop
support groups so that they can help
each other.
Ms. Sharma is one of the first refugees from
Bhutan to reach Minnesota. She is a dynamic
spokesperson and an inspiring community leader.
To assist in Bhutan resettlement please contact
Ms. Magala Sharma at: Sharmamangala@
gmail.com.
David Zander is an Anthropologist at the State
Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans and can
be reached at David.zander@ state.mn.us.
__________
Second Place
Global/Local Connections
Minnesota’s Lonely Elders
By Issa A. Mansaray
The African News Journal
Published October 18th, 2007
An increasing number of elderly immi-
grants from Africa and other countries
are bored and lonely, said a report Caring
for Elderly Immigrants, from the Min-
nesota Medical Association.
Aging may be defined using a functional
or formal definition. A functional defini-
tion is based on biological deterioration
and decreased ability to care for oneself
the report said.
Elderly immigrant patients may find
minor technical tasks difficult and over-
whelming. Societies that define aging in
this term isolate or abandon elders who
are unable to care for themselves. In for-
mal definition, aging is base on external
events not necessarily related to physi-
cal aging that may include the birth of a
grandchild or reaching a specific age such
as 60 or 80 years, the report said.
Elders are mostly isolated in their apart-
ments. Probably alone in the country
without any immediate family members,
said Dr. Alvine Siaka, executive director
of African Health Action Corporation,
a local organisation that assists recent
immigrants in various issues. Many of
these elders lack knowledge of proper
diet, especially those that are supposed
to eat foods instructed by doctors. Some
elderly immigrants are diabetic and need
special food, but they are encouraged to
eat whatever is available to them. Many
need emotional support.
The report also shows an increase in
population in Minnesota from 1990 to
2000. Much of the increase is because
of the growth in ethnic and minorities
groups in the Upper Midwest. There are
health problems also associated with this
increasing immigrant population. Lack
of communication, and information
training skills for elders are some of the
problems.
In recent years, from 1900 to 2003, the
African-American population increased
from approximately 77,000 to 142,000,
according to the report. The Latino and
Hispanic population also increased from
53,000 to approximately 143,000. In the
past 10 years, other ethnic groups, espe-
cially from Africa have experienced sharp
increases in their population. From the
514,000 colored people living in Minne-
sota, 24,336 (about 4.7 percent) are aged
60 or older. There is also a Demographic
change within the region, especially in
Olmsted County, which is typical of Min-
nesota, the report said.
In Rochester, for example, the report
revealed that 88 percent of those who
moved there during the 1990s were not
white. And, about 75 percent of these
new residents were not native English
speakers. Of the 12,000 people of color
residing in Olmsted, 524 (about 4.4
percent) are 60 years or older, the report
said.
20  The First Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Awards
With such a rapid growth in minority
and multicultural populations, Minne-
sota faces health care challenges to help
immigrant elders. Immigrant communi-
ties, according Multicultural Healthcare
Alliance lack health care access skills,
Elderly immigrant patients often have
serious medical needs that require special
attention from physicians and health care
institutions said the report. This requires
a review of their needs and basic con-
cepts in understanding and caring for
these patients.
In 1997, Multicultural Health Care col-
laborated with Mayo Clinic Rochester,
and Olmsted County Public Health Ser-
vices to address the needs of immigrants.
The main goals of the alliance are to
help elder immigrants access health care
services, and promote
cultural competence in local and public
health institutions.
In June 2000, the alliance initiated a
Pathfinder Program to improve health
care access for the Somali, Latino, and
Cambodian communities of Olmsted
County. The program trained bilingual
and bicultural workers to help their com-
munities acquire knowledge, and inde-
pendent skills needed to access health
care services. Many in these communities
speak little or no English.
One of the main issues confronting
elderly immigrants is communication.
Most elderly immigrants face a language
barrier, said Dr. Joyce Onyakaba, head of
the Minneapolis based Crown Medical
Clinic. Lack of knowledge keeps them
away from getting the resources that are
available to them. The majority of these
elders stick together and that limits infor-
mation. They are old and the only people
they can communicate with properly are
their families or members of their com-
munities. Because of language limitations,
to fit into the system is big problem to
them, said Dr. Onyakaba.
Note: This is part one of a two-part series.
Both stories were entered in the contest; only the
first installment is printed here.
Third Place
Global/Local Connections
Korean studies from the ground
up: Minnesota program makes
beginners its top priority
By Martha Vickery
Korean Quarterly
Published Spring 2008
Second generation Korean Americans
and Korean adoptees can be good college
classmates in all but one kind of course
---- learning the Korean language.
That was the conclusion of Korean
language professor Hang-tae Cho more
than ten years ago when he took over
the leadership of the Korean language
program at the University of Minnesota.
In analyzing the demographics of the
classes, Cho made a couple of decisive
steps that changed the direction of Ko-
rean language learning at the University,
improving it so that today the program
is nationally known in one specific area
---- teaching the Korean language to true
beginners.
The Korean language is a “window
into everything Korean,” Cho said, and
through that window, glimpses of Ko-
rean culture, history and language can be
seen. In becoming a department that can
offer a Korean Studies degree, the Uni-
versity of Minnesota is striving to offer
students Korea-related courses and ways
to travel to or live in Korea. The Asian
Languages and Literature Department
has enriched its offerings by inviting
Korean Studies scholars from all over the
U.S. and from Korea to visit, lecture, and
participate in projects to create interest in
Korea as a global subject.
In rounding out its offerings, Cho’s
department has also put energy into of-
fering topics that are both Korean and
Minnesotan, including a history of Ko-
rean adoption course offered in 2006 and
2007, the first of its kind in the country.
Although many universities in this coun-
try offer Japanese Studies or Chinese
Studies, relatively few offer a real Korean
Studies departments, where students can
get a major or a graduate degree in the
topic, according to Cho. The University
of Washington is the oldest such pro-
gram, followed by Harvard University.
The University of California (UCLA) and
University of Hawaii are also well known.
Other universities have Korean language
programs in related departments ----
Asian Languages or Global Studies, for
example ---- but not enough Korea-re-
lated culture, history or literature classes
to allow for students to obtain a Korean
Studies major.
The University of Minnesota’s Korean
Studies program is somewhere in the
middle of this continuum, and has
been gaining proficiency and numbers
since 1997, when Cho took over a small
non-academic class offered as continu-
ing education. The Korean language
program joined the Department of Asian
Languages and Literature in fall of 2000,
and can now offer enough courses in Ko-
rean literature and culture classes to allow
students to earn a Korean Studies minor.
Offering a Korean Studies undergradu-
ate major is still in the future. But it is
coming.
Before Cho took over at the University
of Minnesota, the language course had
been taught sporadically since 1993 in the
after-hours program University of Min-
nesota Extension. There were around 10
students per quarter at that time.
Cho, who earned his Ph.D. from the
University of Minnesota in linguistics
last year, had taught English as a second
language in Korea, and linguistics on the
university level in the U.S. He had never
taught Korean, but he had some ideas
of his own about language learning. His
main worry at that time was not about
teaching, but about marketing ---- who
would be interested in learning Korean,
and how could his program find those
students?
The program had “many challenges,” in
1997, Cho said. He soon decided that
some hard decisions had to be made
which would either kill the program, or
save it. One problem was its very low
visibility in the University. Another chal-
lenge was the dual nature of the language
students in the program. “Half of
students were Korean adoptee students,
and half were second generation students
who can speak quite well but cannot read
and write correctly,” he related. “So, we
were in a dilemma. Obviously, it’s almost
impossible to teach to those two groups
in one class. But the University requires
us to have at least 15 students to offer
the class. So, I thought, if I give up one
part of the student body, the class will be
cancelled.”
He found, upon further scrutiny, that
the class, as offered, was the wrong
level for both groups of students, which
explained why the course enrollment had
not grown. “A lot of Korean-speaking
students thought the language class was
just a grade booster, while the adopted
Korean students and white American
students got very frustrated” because
the course went too quickly for them, he
said. The level of the course was some-
where between the so-called “heritage”
students and (the students who know
some Korean through their ethnic heri-
tage) and the true beginner students ----
the non-Koreans and Korean adoptees.
After the 1998 academic year, he said,
he decided to “give up” the so-called
heritage students, at least at the begin-
ning level. He simply told the students
they would not be allowed to register
for the course. This decision bucked
the national trend of Korean studies
programs, most of which were (and are)
designed for the “heritage” students.
However, Cho perceived that a program
to introduce students to Korean language
and culture would be right for Minne-
sota, because of the higher percentage
of motivated beginner students, about 30
percent of whom were Korean adoptees.
In exchange for losing the heritage
students, he hoped he would gain a class
The First Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Awards  21
where the students were more similar
to one another in their language level.
He talked up the program, encouraging
Korean adoptees, Caucasian Americans,
Hmong Americans, other Asian Ameri-
cans and African Americans to enroll.
Then, he waited for the enrollment num-
bers to be announced. Luckily, enough
students enrolled that he did not have to
cancel the class. A new kind of program,
designed for students who never saw a
Korean letter before, was underway. Cho
uses a three-word slogan in describing his
language program “Scientific, Easy, and
Fun.”
Is it all those things? “Of course,
Korean is very scientific. It may not be
so easy for students at the intermediate
levels, though,” he admitted.
The Cho program grew, and it joined
the Department of Asian Languages
in Literature in 2000. In that depart-
ment, there were programs in Japanese,
Chinese, Hindi, and since 2004, Hmong.
The Korean program is the third largest.
Joining the department allowed Cho to
add courses in Korean literature and cul-
ture, which made it possible for students
to obtain a Korean Studies minor.
In fall 2007, he said, there were 159
students enrolled, and this spring, there
are 113, with 29 in the culture course.
This does not include the intensive sum-
mer course in Korean language at the
beginning and intermediate levels. The
University of Minnesota is the largest
“non-heritage program” in the nation
now, and, Cho believes it is the second or
third largest Korean language program
overall.
Ross King, professor of Korean Stud-
ies at the University of British Columbia
in Vancouver, and dean of the Korean
language program at the Minnesota-
based Concordia Language Village, said
Cho has “pulled off something close to a
miracle” at the University of Minnesota.
“His program demonstrates that Korean
language programs can get along without
heritage learners just fine,” which is a
step in the right direction in marketing
Korean language as a “global language.”
A well-equipped Korean Studies pro-
gram should be able to attract the same
students who would also be interested
in Chinese Studies, Japanese Studies, or
studies in any other important language,
King said.
King, who has been applying the same
marketing principle to the Concordia
Language Village’s Korean program,
geared toward middle school and high
school students, said foreign language
programs in general, and Korean in
particular, tend to be under-emphasized
and under-funded in both the U.S. and
Canada. “Koreans love to brag that
Korean is taught in 140 institutions
in North America, but that number is
meaningless,” because the language is not
taught for the number of years necessary
to allow students to build their language
proficiency to a third or fourth year level,
he said.
The fact that Cho has built the language
program “from the bottom up” means
he is doing it “the right way,” King said,
by building language proficiency first,
starting with the beginning learners, and
adding culture and literature courses later
on, after the language program was estab-
lished.
Slowly, Korean Studies is building
legitimacy as a university field in North
America, King said, but it has been a
long struggle. “Always, we have been in
the shadow of programs in Chinese and
Japanese. Always, we had to fight to be
taken seriously. But fortunately, that’s
changing. In the last few years, universi-
ties have discovered that they cannot be
regarded as a top-flight Asian Studies
department without Korean Studies.
Although Cho was making a risky deci-
sion in 1998 by eliminating the heritage
students, in retrospect, he can see that he
was on the leading edge of a trend. At
that time, about 80 percent of the Ko-
rean language students at the college level
were heritage students, but that percent-
age is now falling off. “A lot of universi-
22  The First Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Awards
ties have started seeing that they cannot
survive just by serving Korean heritage
students in college. They have to out-
reach to the mainstream,” he observed.
“In some ways, our program contributes
to Korean studies and Korean language
education in U.S. by setting a kind of role
model for the non-heritage speakers.”
Because in 1997, most Korean language
classes were taught to students who
already had some background in the
language, Cho found that the textbooks
were also inappropriate. They did not
begin at the beginning of how English
speakers learn Korean. There have been
improvements in revisions of various
textbooks over the last 10 years, how-
ever, and Cho is now co-authoring a new
revision of eight textbooks and their
corresponding eight workbooks “to make
the material more accessible to non-heri-
tage speakers,” he said. This textbook is
used by about 70 percent of college-level
Korean language programs nationwide,
he said.
Although language learning is the most
basic part of Korean Studies education,
the depth and breadth of Korean-re-
lated topics offered is also important in
offering a top quality program ---- that
is the next challenge at the University of
Minnesota.
Over the last five years, the program has
been able to offer one or two Korean
literature or culture courses every semes-
ter, Cho said. These course have been
offered through temporary arrangements
with graduate students majoring in areas
like speech communication and compara-
tive literature, and by visiting professors
in foreign policy from Korea. During
fall 2007 and spring 2008, post-doctoral
student Ji Yeon Lee has been teaching a
course on women in literature and film.
Before that, Ph.D. candidate Kim Park
Nelson taught a course on the history of
Korean adoption, the first such course in
history.
Lee said there has been a lot of interest
in her course Making Women in Korean
Literature and Film: Representations of
Women, Men, and Gender Issues. She
attributes the interest, in part to the gen-
eral interest in Korean popular culture,
particularly films and TV dramas. The
course includes readings of depictions of
women and men and their roles in Ko-
rean society, both ancient and modern.
The readings include fiction, memoirs,
myths and some related films on parallel
themes to the readings of the week.
Her students have been demographically
diverse as a result of the wide popular-
ity of Korean media in U.S. culture. I
never had this many male students and
this many Caucasian students,” said Lee,
who has a Harvard Ph.D. and has taught
at Dartmouth College and the University
of British Columbia at Vancouver. “I
have a lot of Asian American students,
especially Hmong students, who watch a
lot of Korean dramas.”
For an instructor, there is a dark side
to having so many students who have
watched purported representations of
Korean society on TV. Dramas are more
or less cartoons of Korean life, and stu-
dents are often loathe to accept the more
complex or conflicting representations
found in literature and films, Lee ob-
served. “Students will often say “I know
this because I saw it in a drama. But it’s
not always correct. Yet, they already have
their understanding of what Korea is
about or what Korean women are about,
and it’s difficult to correct those assump-
tions. Because they are reconfirming their
beliefs in drama after drama! When I
show something else, and try to shake it
up a little bit, it’s sometimes hard.”
Lee said she’s even been accused of be-
ing out of touch. “Sometimes, they argue
that I came to the U.S. 10 years ago, so
I don’t know!” Kim Park Nelson, who
taught the first-ever course on the history
of Korean adoption in 2006 and 2007,
is earning her Ph.D. in American Stud-
ies at the University of Minnesota. Her
thesis is entitled Korean Looks, Ameri-
can Eyes: Korean American Adoptees,
Culture, Race, and Nation. Part of the
Ph.D. research makes use of 73 oral
histories of Korean adoptees about their
own life experiences. She is finishing up
her Ph.D. now, and will probably leave
Minnesota after she completes her degree
this spring.
Nelson said the two years she taught the
course was a significant time in her life
and a unique opportunity to teach a topic
she has been researching. “It was an op-
portunity for teaching that I will probably
never have again, and I am so grateful to
have been able to do it,” she said.
Nelson said the tradition of Korean
Studies, part of the so-called “area stud-
ies” discipline, started with predomi-
nantly white, male academics who first
learned about Korea culture, history
and language through their time in the
Peace Corps. In contrast, Asian American
Studies was inspired by ideas of the civil
rights movement, like African American
or Native American Studies. These ethnic
studies disciplines were designed as a
grassroots approach to teaching a people
about their own history. In Korean
Studies, in contrast, students have tradi-
tionally learned about Korean culture as
outsiders looking in, she explained.
Her course, she said, was taken from the
Asian American studies model, and was
designed to suit the needs of adopted
Koreans, many of whom had never heard
their own history before. “I designed
the class to tell adoptees about the 50-
plus year history of Korean adoptees. I
wanted to give them an idea of what was
written about them, and for them to read
what people in their own group have had
to say about their own experiences.”
There were some challenges, including
the difficulty in marketing this course or
any new course among the huge array
of new courses offered every year. How
to find the Korean adoptee students and
market the course to them was a market-
ing puzzle they never quite solved. They
posted flyers about the course, but the
publicity proved to be inadequate.
There was also a lot of literature and film
to choose from written by adopted Ko-
reans, however, some of the older books
are out of print, since they are not used
in college courses as a rule. She had to
eliminate some readings because of lack
of availability of the books. Overall, she
said, the class was an academic success
as well as a personal accomplishment.
Although the class was not offered this
spring, Cho is strategizing about how to
make it a permanent offering.
Last year, in addition to a three-year-
long Korean language program, and one
graduate-level seminar course in Sino-
Korean (Chinese writing which is used in
more advanced Korean written language),
the program offered one Korean culture
course. Starting with the 2008 academic
year, a seventh and eighth semester of
Korean will be offered. The full four
years of language is key to students’
readiness to study literature in the origi-
nal language, Cho said. The staff of five,
from a variety of backgrounds, adds to
the strength of the program, he said.
With the higher-level courses added, the
program can also accommodate students
who study abroad in Korea, and rejoin
the program for their third or fourth year
of undergraduate coursework, he said.
It will also allow some of the “heritage”
students and other higher-level students
back into the language program.
Students can also take Korean Studies
courses at the University of Minnesota
while attending Macalester College, Uni-
versity of St. Thomas, Augsburg College
and other universities.
The changing demographics of the
Korean Studies students are both a chal-
lenge and an opportunity. The Korean
language program grew, in part, because
of the interest of Korean adoptees. “In
the past, about 30 percent of students
were Korean adoptee students. In recent
years that number is drastically dropping.
…Now, Korean adoptee student popula-
tion is 10 percent of student body in the
program,” Cho said. It has to do with
the phase-out of the number of Korean
adoptees, he said, which started in 1988.
The First Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Awards  23
However, the number of students overall
in the program has not decreased, a fact
which indicates more students from a
variety of backgrounds are interested in
Korean studies. “We have more Viet-
namese American, Chinese American,
Hmong American and African American
students too,” he said.
To make the Korean Studies program
interesting to future Korean Studies
majors, the program must make a leap
to the next level, Cho said. “We cannot
grow just as we did for last 10 years. It’s
not about who will get more students.
Now it’s an issue of quality. In the past, I
have focused on quantity, just to survive
and build a solid foundation. To build
quality, to make the program solid and
valuable, we need more Korean culture
and literature.”
The key to offering the coursework for
a good Korean Studies major is the ad-
dition of at least one new faculty mem-
ber with broad knowledge of Korean
literature, history and culture. The Asian
Languages and Literature Department
is obtaining the funding for the position
from the Korea Foundation, Cho said. It
should be a win-win fit for the person,
he remarked. The candidate should need
the opportunities offered by the growing
program, and the department should be
able to benefit from their background in
adding courses and collaborating with
other Asian Language and Literature
faculty.
The list of candidates for this position
is a short one, Cho said, because there
are few native Korean scholars in this
field able to lecture in English, and few
“home-grown” Korean Studies scholars
able to read literature and history in its
original Korean language form.
In increasing the breadth of the pro-
gram, additional cultural programs have
been added in recent years. The Asian
Languages and Literature Department,
as a member of the Consortium for the
Study of the Asias, offers opportunities
for Korean Studies scholars to visit the
University of Minnesota’s campus, for
students to go to Korea on a Korean
Studies summer trip funded by Depart-
ment of Education, and for a semester
abroad program in Seoul.
At the moment, Cho said, there is plenty
of money to fund foreign studies because
the Departments of Defense and Educa-
tion are both offering funding for studies
having to do with so-called “critical
languages,” which include Korean, Farsi,
and Arabic.
Opportunities to travel are important,
Cho believes. Over the 10 years of the
program, he has seen the study abroad
program change students’ lives for the
better. For every student, the study
abroad program offers an opportunity to
experience a culture that is very different
from Minnesota. Students often decide
on an area of academic interest because
of something they experienced during
their time in a new culture. Some have
gotten jobs in Korea and some have even
settled down there, he said. “They can
better understand themselves after study-
ing in Korea, and have better and clearer
picture of their own future.”
Many Korean universities offer stu-
dents opportunities to take courses in
East Asian economic topics, cultures or
literature taught in English. The course
offerings are varied, and students can
transfer that credit to the University of
Minnesota.
In general, Korean Studies is a young
field of study. The oldest programs date
only from the ‘70s, and many of the U.S.
scholars in the field are Japan Studies
scholars who come to Korean Studies
through studying Japanese texts about
colonial era Korea. Others read only
translated English texts, and many of
those are written by scholars who have
a Japan-centric outlook, Cho remarked.
Few U.S. scholars of Korean history or
literature are able to read texts in the
original language. “That’s why we need to
invest in Korean language education in
the U.S. and that’s why should serve the
true beginners of Korean language so
that they can read and have access to real
24  The First Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Awards
Korean documents. Not just English-
written things. It’s a serious problem.”
Beyond raising up Korean-literate schol-
ars for the future of the field, Cho looks
more broadly how to prepare students
for a more global society. While, in the
recent past, a global outlook was not
needed to get a high-end job, “Now, even
at the manager level at someplace like
3M, that person has to be ready to work
abroad, and has to be ready to manage
foreign workers,” Cho asserted. The
participation of many Carlson School
of Management students in the Korean
Studies program attests to the awareness
of the business community of preparing
for a global society.
Being in the position of preparing stu-
dents to meet the society’s future needs
is challenging, and even risky. But, Cho
thinks, it is the responsibility of universi-
ties to anticipate these needs. “I am a
country boy. I grew up in a very rural
area. My parents were not educated. My
mom was basically illiterate. My father
could not really advise me about the fu-
ture. I was sometimes complaining about
that. But, I am starting to recognize that
it’s impossible for parents to advise their
kids. Students need to choose what path
to take.”
This kind of advice needs to come from
students’ professors and advisors in
their field of study, he said the university
should guide students to the topics they
will need and help them get exposed to
strategic experiences and influences.
Cho is in the position of not just teach-
ing language and not just planning a pro-
gram for the future, but in encouraging,
guiding, and sometimes gently pushing
his Korean Studies students toward a
future that will be tougher and even more
competitive and interconnected than it
is today. Cho works on the principle that
learning the Korean language will be at
least a horizon-broadening experience,
and at best, a life-changing choice.
Honorable Mention
Global/Local Connections
Volunteering Matters
By Lisa Steinmann
Park Bugle
Published September 2007
“Beautiful” is the word Dr. Fritz Morlock
uses most often to describe the aban-
doned children of Cochabamba, Bolivia.
He encountered them last March when
he and his wife, Lynda, traveled to Bolivia
as members of an annual humanitarian
and educational expedition that provides
dental care in clinics serving homeless
and orphaned children in Cochabamba.
During a two-week period, they worked
in clinics that are part of Amanecer, a
program run by the Sisters of Charity of
St. Vincent de Paul that offers shelter,
education, and medical and dental servic-
es. Foreign volunteers like the Morlocks
work alongside Bolivian doctors, dentists
and nurses.
Fritz Morlock learned about the program
through the work of Dr. David Crane,
of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Crane
runs a seminar program, Dental Seminars
& Symposia, that includes international
continuing education and humanitarian
endeavors for dental professionals.
The program works with the Internation-
al Smile Power Foundation and supports
its mission to restore and sustain dental
health around the world.
When he retired a year and a half ago,
after over 20 years as chief of dental
services at HealthPartners’ St. Paul clinic,
Morlock found himself with some dental
supplies he no longer needed. Crane’s
international program came to mind.
When Morlock contacted Crane and
mentioned the donation he wanted to
make, Crane said he wasn’t interested
in simply taking the supplies. He said to
Morlock, “You need to come down [to
Bolivia] and be a part of the program.”

“It took us a little time to decide,” says
Morlock. Neither he nor his wife speak
Spanish. Although retired, they are active
in the community and stay busy help-
ing care for parents and grandchildren.
Ultimately, they decided they “could and
should” travel to Bolivia.
Morlock describes the Amanecer facilities
as “orphanages” but explains that since
most of these children have parents, they
will never qualify for adoption. Because
of poverty and related problems — alco-
holism and domestic abuse — children
are often abandoned or run away from
home. Some fall into drug abuse, delin-
quency or prostitution.
Children as young as two, three and four
years old are found wandering in bus sta-
tions and at public markets. Staff or the
police bring the children to Amanecer,
where they are placed according to their
ages and needs.
Morlock spent time filling cavities and
performing root canals for teenage boys
who came for one of Amanecer’s day
programs. The boys are provided with
meals and a place to clean up and do
homework. If they stay off drugs, they
can move into a residential facility and
study vocational skills.
Some of the boys Morlock treated
would arrive “high” for their dental
exam. Morlock says that “huffing glue”
is a big problem. He saw kids sitting on
the streets of Cochabamba with their
T-shirts pulled over their faces as they
breathed in glue vapors.
Lynda Morlock worked at a residence
for girls and women with children who
are extremely poor and striving to make
a better life for themselves. Her skills as
a St. Anthony Park block nurse came in
handy as she helped in this program that
offers assistance with health, education
and employment.
The Morlocks brought along tubs of
supplies donated by Marcus Dental Sup-
ply and HealthPartners.
They also brought quilts created by
Wisconsin students who learned about
the children of Cochabamba through an
educational program designed by a U.S.
artist who volunteers with the Bolivia
program.
Students draw pictures on scraps of fab-
ric that are sewn together into quilts to
send to the Amanecer homes. The Mor-
locks were honored to bring the 2,000th
quilt with them to Cochabamba.
“The children were beautiful, friendly,
easy to work with,” says Morlock. “They
loved attention. They climbed all over
us.”
So much for retirement. The Morlocks
are planning another trip to Bolivia.
It’s the kind of volunteering that Fritz
Morlock says is a case where “we gained
more than we gave.”
__________
First Place
Community Service
Security officers strike for a living
wage — and respect: Seventy per-
cent have no health insurance
By Lauretta Dawolo Towns
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Published February 28, 2008
Twin Cities security officers called a
one-day strike for Monday, February 25,
against the three largest security contrac-
tors in the area — Securitas, American,
and ABM. According to officials of the
Service Employees International Union
(SEIU), the strike was called after these
companies and others walked out of
negotiations last Saturday night without
addressing affordable health insurance
for security officers and their families.
Multiple rallies of hundreds of striking
workers and community allies were also
held Monday in order to highlight the
The First Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Awards  25
need for affordable health care for all
Minnesotans and the lack of action by
security contractors on this key issue, ac-
cording to the union.
“No one ever wants to have to go on
strike, but we have been given no other
choice,” said Donna Alexander, a security
officer for Securitas in Minneapolis and a
member of the union bargaining com-
mittee, in an SEIU press release. “We
have to stand up now for what’s right for
us and right for our community — af-
fordable health care for our families and
for all Minnesotans.”
Javier Morillo-Alicea, president of SEIU
Local 26, and several dozen security of-
ficers gathered at the Minneapolis City
Hall rotunda last week with this central
message to security contractors: “Let’s
get the job done, or we will strike.” That
“job” is a new contract that should in-
clude livable wages, affordable healthcare,
and respect.
On February 9, members of SEIU Lo-
cal 26 voted to authorize the bargaining
committee to call a strike at any time due
to unfair labor practices. SEIU has main-
tained that they’ve been willing and ready
to negotiate since December 1, 2007,
but the contractors have been “dragging
their feet” and have even cancelled one
bargaining date.
Up until now, the SEIU security officers’
bargaining committee has come to the
negotiating table seven times. On Febru-
ary 23 they returned to the table and
again failed to reach an agreement.
With political allies such as Minneapolis
Mayor R.T. Rybak, Congressman Keith
Ellison, Rep. Willie Dominguez, Rep. Joe
Mullery, and even Frannie Franken, wife
of U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken, se-
curity officers have been rallying support
and haven’t stopped yet. Minneapolis
and St. Paul council members gathered
together in the Minneapolis City Hall
rotunda on February 21 to support the
workers’ efforts. Council Member Lee
Helgen announced that St. Paul passed
a resolution entitled “Support for Twin
Cities Security Officers.”
Twin-Cities security officers have been
working without a contract since January
1, 2008. After the union administered a
survey to identify priorities for the next
contract, they discovered that only a
small percentage of its security officers
were able to afford health care.
Security officers are not only fighting to
protect people every day on the job; they
are also fighting for their livelihoods. At
an average hourly wage of $11.76, 10
percent have filed for bankruptcy, and
only two percent have family healthcare
coverage. Seventy percent of security
officers have no health insurance cover-
age or medical assistance for the families
from any source.
Henry Loewe, a security officer for 20
years, works for ABM Security in Min-
neapolis’ parking ramps. Loewe explained
that he is part of the two percent of
security officers who pay for the pro-
vided health plan — the coverage is too
expensive for most officers to afford.
Loewe said he does so only because has
no choice: His wife, whose story he freely
shared, has a breathing disorder that
has kept her in and out of hospitals and
nursing homes over the past year.
Renita Whicker, who also works for
ABM security in LaSalle Plaza, says she’s
been in security since 9/11. “I started out
in airport private security because I felt as
a citizen I should do what I could to help
with public safety,” she said. Whicker,
who sits on the bargaining committee,
talked about the extent of their request
and its importance.
Besides affordable health care, security
officers are asking for better training,
living wages, a three-to-five-year contract,
an annual pay increase to keep up with
inflation, and night differential pay for
second- and third-shift workers who, in
many cases, are exposed to more danger-
ous situations.
Another request workers have is for
dignity and respect. Many workers like
26  The First Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Awards
Loewe feel that by virtue of waiting
nearly two months for a new contract,
they are not valued and even become
“insurance buffers” for large companies.
“They knew since October to have the
paperwork [ready] for a new proposal.
We’re not being taken seriously and
respected at all,” said Whicker. Other
officers have expressed feelings of be-
ing intentionally silenced from speaking
about public safety issues on the job.
According to SEIU, the turnover rate
of private security officers in the Twin
Cities is over 100 percent. The reason is
partially due to low wages and benefits
for a job with fairly high risks.
Twin-Cities security officers have been
bargaining with security contractors
ABM, Securitas, Allied-Barton, Ameri-
can, Viking and Whelan for months. If
unfair labor practices continue, the work-
ers are prepared and authorized to strike,
continuing their unified protest: “Stand
for…security.”
Lauretta Dawolo Towns is the news director
at KFAI-Fresh Air, Inc. She welcomes reader
responses to ldawolo@yahoo.com.
Note: This is one part of ongoing coverage.
Three stories were entered in the contest; only one
installment is printed here.
__________
Second Place
Community Service
Catholic Charities opens new
facility
By Natalie Zett
The Park Bugle
Published December 2007
The four-story rectangular building —
with a hint of Bauhaus — at 902 Hersey
St. stands out in an otherwise industrial
zone north of University Avenue and
east of Raymond in south St. Anthony
Park.
Inside, the sparking floors, vibrantly
colored hallways and spacious rooms
bring dorm life to mind, belying the fact
that this dual-purpose facility, operated
by Catholic Charities, houses chronic
substance abusers and the homeless.
The building is new but Catholic Chari-
ties has a long history in this area. They
operated a nearby facility at 2300 Wycliff
St. for 20 years. According to Bill Hock-
enberger, program supervisor, that build-
ing was overcrowded and inadequate.
City, county and state officials worked
with Catholic Charities to create a new
facility, one that’s more home than insti-
tution. The result is the St. Paul Resi-
dence and St. Anthony Residence, which
were completed in September.
According to Tracy Berglund, director
of housing at Catholic Charities, the
new facility is one building that serves
two different populations. The 60-unit
St. Anthony Residence is for late-stage
alcoholic men. The St. Paul Residence,
also 60 units, serves homeless men. Half
of these units come with a lease.
One need look no further than Bill
Hockenberger for an example of how
Catholic Charities can change a life.
“I’m a chronic alcoholic myself who has
been in recovery since 1995,” he said.
For Hockenberger, the residents at the
facility aren’t simply clients. “I pretty
much drank with these guys,” he said,
“and I’ve been around the corner with
them. I even went to school with some
of them.”
Hockenberger said he went through six
attempts at treatment before one finally
“took.” He started working at Catholic
Charities in 1995 as a janitor and eventu-
ally moved up to his present position.
“Working here helps keep me sober,” he
said.
Hockenberger said that “harm reduc-
tion,” the treatment model used at St.
Anthony Residence, differs from the
total abstinence approach of Alcoholics
Anonymous.
“These are late-stage alcoholics,” he said,
“and our goal is not to stop them from
drinking. We’re working with them on
reducing the harm by moving them away
from drinking rubbing alcohol to drink-
ing vodka, for instance. Then we might
get them to cut down on the vodka.”
Berglund added, “We do this because
it’s humane. Many of the men who are
unable to stop drinking end up going
through treatment and failing over and
over.”
Berglund said that St. Anthony Resi-
dence is less expensive than most of the
alternatives.
“If they weren’t here, they’d be using
detox, and that’s $218 a night,” she said.
“Or they end up in ER at $500 a night.
If they land in jail, that’s $80 a night, and
if they need an ambulance ride, that’s
$800.”
In contrast, it costs $46 a night to house
someone at St. Anthony Residence,
which is funded by Ramsey County.
Residents get three meals a day and case
management services.
“We meet them where they are,” said
Berglund. “We’re not trying to change
anybody. We have people who sober up
and move on to an independent living
situation. That’s not typical and we don’t
expect it, but it is possible. This is a cost-
effective and humane way to address a
problem that has been with us through-
out our history.”
Berglund said that Catholic Charities’
harm reduction model has been imple-
mented by other groups, including the
city of Duluth, which has a similar facility
called San Marcos.
Hockenberger said that most St. Anthony
residents come to realize that “this is the
end of the line for them. If the county
has a client coming in every seven days to
detox, instead of spending thousands of
dollars on detox, we offer a setting where
they can do maintenance drinking. As give a tour of his room, which includes
long as they follow house rules, we have a a bed, wardrobe, refrigerator and night-
nice safe place for them.” stand.
“It’s pretty nice being here,” he said,
Berglund said the staff helps residents
“kind of like being in a penthouse. Until
get to medical appointments and makes
now, I’d been pretty much going back
sure they get the benefits they’re eligible
and forth between Dorothy Day and
for.
Union Gospel.”
“They receive preventive medical care,
Jim said he started using drugs at age 13
so they’re staying in good health and are
but now has four years of sobriety. “I’m
not taxing the system,” she said. “Giving
going to be seeking some employment
them safe, secure housing is the biggest
and eventually some permanent hous-
thing because then they’re off the streets
ing,” he said. “I’m going to get back on
and less likely to come to harm.”
my feet and get going again.”
Berglund said the Catholic Charities
Though the building was designed to be
philosophy includes the idea of empow-
functional, said Hockenberger, attention
erment. “We don’t do something for
was paid to appearance as well. Hallways
someone if he can do it himself,” she
are red, yellow and blue, and there are
said.
plenty of windows. Other amenities
She added that case managers meet with include a lounge and computer room, as
clients to set measurable goals. The case well as a hospice for those making the
managers also meet as a team to review final journey.
clients’ files. Rooms are checked twice a
Catholic Charities is a 501c3 organization
day.
that’s open to those of all faiths — or no
“No one disappears here or slips through faith.
the cracks,” she said.
“We have an ecumenical spiritual care
Berglund started with Catholic Charities department for those who want it,” said
in 1999, running a shelter in Minneapolis Berglund. “Sometimes, if there’s no fam-
for 100 men. She laments the lack of af- ily available, we’ll do memorial services
fordable housing in the Twin Cities. and provide plots for people. We want to
serve the whole person: mental, physical
“I feel a passion for trying to build a so-
and spiritual.”
lution to homelessness, and that solution
is permanent housing,” she said. “We also Both Hockenberger and Berglund en-
need services and supportive housing for couraged neighborhood residents to visit
those with mental health and chemical the new facility.
health problems, low income and bad
“We’ve been very involved with the St.
credit history. We need to provide op-
Anthony Park community for 20 years,”
tions besides a mat on the floor.”
said Berglund. “Overall folks are pretty
She said the St. Paul Residence, which accepting, and we also want to be part of
is for homeless men, has received 85 the neighborhood.”
applications, 51 of which are from the
The St. Anthony and St. Paul Residences
Dorothy Day Center, a Catholic Charities
are located at 902 Hersey St. More infor-
facility in downtown St. Paul providing
mation is available at 646-0934 or www.
temporary shelter, food and services for
ccspm.org.
the homeless.
Jim, one of the first men to move into
the St. Paul Residence, came from the
Union Gospel Mission. He was happy to
The First Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Awards  27
Third Place
Community Service
Teens take a stand against human
trafficking: End Slavery Now will
advocate for invisible victims of a
rising crime in Minnesota
By Martha Vickery
Korean Quarterly
Published Summer 2008
Two Woodbury High School students
have taken on a project to organize both
an educational conference for teens
about human trafficking and a benefit
concert for Twin Cities area organiza-
tions that help victims of the crime.
The project, dubbed End Slavery Now,
is the creation of sisters Joan Park (15)
and Grace Park (17), and now includes
a planning group of about 24 teen girls
who will hold an educational conference
July 25 and 26, with an expected atten-
dance of 50 to 60.
The participants in the conference will
also be invited to participate in a fund-
raiser concert to benefit the organizations
that work with victims.
Human trafficking is real in Minnesota,
according to Yae Joon Kwon, an advo-
cate for the anti-human trafficking pro-
gram administered by the Korean Service
Center in Minneapolis. Kwon has been
raising awareness among youth, in com-
munity groups and in law enforcement
in educating about this emerging crime
since she took the job in January.
Minnesota has been named as one of
the 13 states in which human trafficking
incidents are the highest. The existence
of an international border and a large
rural area, contribute to human traffick-
ing here, according to information on
the website of Civil Society, a local legal
advocacy group that works directly with
human trafficking victims.
The highest-profile law enforcement
action on human trafficking in the recent
28  The First Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Awards
past took place in December 2007, Kwon domestic abuse. These cases are referred
said “where there were 100 women, all to Civil Society; the Service Center pro-
of Chinese and Korean descent, all in vides support when asked.
the uptown and the St. Louis Park area.
Civil Society’s website also notes that
The women slept in massage parlors and
there are an estimated 20,000 trafficked
were not allowed to leave. Their visas and
passports taken away. They were under
persons brought into the U.S. annu-
ally. In addition to being used in the
video surveillance. They did not speak
sex industry or in “servile marriage,”
English ---- their clients were upper-mid-
the website notes, trafficking victims are
dle-class men between age 35 and 55.”
often involved in industries where they
Internationally-trafficked victims are are “invisible,” including domestic ser-
often kept under control through “debt vitude, sweatshops, restaurant and hotel
bondage,” Kwon said, where the cap- businesses, farm work, construction, and
tors tell the victims they have to work begging and peddling.
off their debts of flight tickets, visa fees,
Grace and Joan said they were compelled
or other costs incurred by the trafficker
to do something to aid trafficking victims
to bring them to the U.S. The captors
after seeing a film that dramatized their
may tell the victims their family will be
situation and after hearing a presenta-
told and/or that children or other family
tion that Kwon made to the youth group
members will be hurt if the victims do
at their church, Korean Presbyterian
not cooperate. “They feel like they have
Church of Minnesota. Their mother,
no other options,” she said. “Oftentimes,
Mee Ock Park, who works at the Korean
they are physically abused or raped. They
Service Center, recommended they orga-
are in an environment where they are
nize a youth concert.
under threat.”
After Kwon’s presentation at church
This past December’s bust was “good”
“only a couple kids were interested ---
she said, in terms of law enforcement
- my sister and me and one other girl,
reaction to the situation. “The police
Angela Hwang. We met as a group …and
treated the women not as prostitutes,
we did some on-line stuff. We decided
but as potential victims. Often, when
we would do a retreat. It was originally
police see a woman who seems to be a
going to be for Korean girls, but as it
prostitute, the woman is treated as a law
went on, we decided to do it for every-
breaker. Now that [police] are becoming
body because the more people we have,
more educated, they are taking the neces-
the better. After meeting a few times, we
sary steps to treat the women as victims,
decided we wanted to have more people
and get them the help they need.”
in the planning committee. The three of
Trafficking also shows up locally in ways us grew into 24 people.”
that are more difficult to identify and
The End Slavery Now conference, open
respond to, such as through so-called
to all high school students, will take place
“international marriage brokers,” Kwon
at Woodland Hills Church, 1740 Van
said, where individual women, some from
Dyke St., in St. Paul. Attendees will regis-
Korea, are purchased as wives through
ter at 2:30 p.m. on Friday July 25 and will
internet commerce sites. They end up
stay overnight at the church. The confer-
in rural areas of Minnesota where they
ence will end at 11 a.m. the next day.
are kept away from other people, not
permitted to travel, to learn English, and It will include awareness games, discus-
especially are not allowed to have any sions, and speakers who work in different
connection to their ethnic community in areas of human trafficking, including
the U.S. They are basically prisoners at victim advocacy, law enforcement, educa-
home, she explained. The lines become tion, and research and policy matters.
“fuzzy” she said, between trafficking and The group will also make hygiene kits,
Grace said. The kits will contain donated
soaps, shampoos, and cosmetic items,
and can be handed out by the organiza-
tions working with the victims.
Early in their research process, the two
girls inquired about making contact di-
rectly with victims and were advised not
to do that, Grace said. “We were told that
if we did, and the traffickers found out
what we were doing, they could be hurt
or we could be hurt too.” Instead, any
proceeds the teen group can generate will
benefit local organizations that reach out
with hotlines and professional outreach
workers.
Joan said they want conference attendees
to each make two bracelets that will con-
tain a bead with an inspirational word,
such as “hope.” The conference attendee
gets to keep one bracelet, and its twin
will be given to a victim through the Civil
Society advocacy organization. “It is a
way to make a connection.”
Another subcommittee of the organizing
committee will collect children’s clothes
and books, to be given to the victims’
Honorable Mention
children.
Grace and Joan are also creating a simula-
Community Service
tion game that will raise the conscious-
ness of the participants about the frustra-
tion and lack of choices of the women
and children who get caught up in human
trafficking rings. “We will have the lights
off so that it represents the darkness
the victims are experiencing, and how
they don’t know what to do and what is
happening to them,” Grace said. Often
the victims of human trafficking know
nothing about what they are getting
themselves into until it is too late, she
added. In fact, she said, they often are
told and believe that they are accepting a
legitimate job.
The conference will also include an open
mike session or small group sharing
which will give participants a chance to
voice their thoughts about what they
learned. The participants will also draw
a huge poster, with their names, and
words of encouragement or poems,
which will become a decoration at the
benefit concert for victims of human
trafficking, which is tentatively set for
August 23. The concert performers will
be other students invited by the planning
committee members, she said.
Kwon said that she did not know any-
thing about human trafficking when she
was a teenager, and that these teens are
taking a big step to create a conference to
educate about this topic. “With any issue
like this, it’s important and crucial that
law enforcement and policy makers are
educated about it, but it’s equally impor-
tant that next generation start thinking
about these issues. Ideally, I would love
to have someone involved at a young age
and become the next advocate or lawyer
who helps victims …It’s a huge problem.
It won’t end in one generation.”
For more information about the conference,
contact endslaverynow@googlegroups.com
__________
Framework for the future, or fail-
ure?
By Anna Pratt
The Bridge Newspaper
Published March 3, 2008
City officials are collecting public com-
ments on the framework through March
17. For more information or to down-
load the Framework for the Future, visit
www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us and search
“NRP beyond 2009.” The City Council
will review the public comment on April
3. A second draft of the framework is
due sometime this summer.
As the City of Minneapolis prepares for
the end of the 20-year Neighborhood
Revitalization Program (NRP) in 2009,
it has released a “Framework for the
Future” that proposes a major reworking
The First Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Awards  29
of that existing community-engagement
model. While city officials claim the new
plan will empower people, some commu-
nity members argue it represents a shift
from grassroots activism to centralized
city control, and they’d like to see a con-
tinued, fully funded NRP instead. Critics
of the plan have even taken to calling
it a “framework for failure” that would
diminish citizen participation, while pro-
ponents are optimistic about streamlining
the way residents get involved with local
government.
A framework work group — consisting
of city officials and NRP staff —
charged with addressing NRP’s “focus,
funding and governance” delivered the
eight-page framework to the City Council
late last year.
According to the report itself, the Frame-
work for the Future “represents broad
agreement on the outlines of a structure
for the continuation of the NRP” and
its “connection to the broader commu-
nity participation work of the city.” (The
NRP question is one part of a larger
retooling of community engagement,
undertaken by the city since 2006.) Under
the proposal, $2 million would go to sup-
port the administration of neighborhood
groups every year. Right now, they receive
about $1.6 million annually for admin-
istrative costs, according to the report.
Funding would flow to groups based on
need and size, as it does now, said Ward
13 Council Member Betsy Hodges during
a Feb. 4 informational session that was
open to the public.
The framework also proposes estab-
lishing a pool of discretionary dollars
called the Neighborhood Investment
Fund (NIF), from which organizations
could draw dollars through either a lo-
cal planning process or a competitive
micro-grant program. However, funding
sources for NIF haven’t been identified,
said Hodges. Currently, neighborhood
organizations receive about $3.25 million
for discretionary purposes, according to
city information.
The framework would also create a new
community participation governance
board, similar to the existing NRP Policy
Board, to provide oversight to various
community-engagement actions. How-
ever, the framework doesn’t stipulate the
number of seats; some spots would be
filled by neighborhood elections, with
other representatives appointed by the
City Council or mayor. The ratio of
elected to appointed seats is unclear.
While NRP is currently administered
by an agency separate from the city,
the framework proposes a community
participation division in the city coor-
dinator’s department, with a $1 million
budget to administer money and services
to neighborhood groups.
An extended hand, or a power play by City
Hall?
The NRP has funneled $300 million
through city-designated neighborhood
groups for improvements in housing,
parks, schools, environmental initiatives
and other programs, while supporting
some organizations with funding for
part- and full-time staff. However, NRP
funding — which comes from tax incre-
ments of local development projects
— has dwindled since changes in state
property tax laws in 2001. In October,
the City Council agreed to secure at least
70 percent of NRP’s second, and final,
10-year phase allocations — about $73
million.
NRP can be credited for increasing the
number of active neighborhood or-
ganizations in Minneapolis; before its
inception in 1990, only 46 the current 72
neighborhood organizations existed.
Ward 6 Council Member Robert Lilli-
gren, who serves on the framework work
group, said that, despite NRP’s accom-
plishments, the program has polarized
the city and community, which should be
working in tandem. “Neighborhood ac-
tion plans should be influencing capital,
policy and programmatic decisions in
City Hall,” he said. “Right now, it’s very
internal to neighborhoods. They don’t
affect broader city decisions.”
30  The First Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Awards
Lilligren acknowledged that, while
“there’s a perception in neighborhoods
that City Council members want to hog
money and authority, we want more
coordinated ways of working together,
not to co-opt neighborhood authority …
At the core of this is trust, or distrust,
between City Hall and neighborhoods, or
City Hall and NRP,” he said.
Advocates of a growing “save NRP”
movement, however, claim that the
framework adds an extra layer of bureau-
cracy that shifts power away from the
neighborhoods to City Hall. Wendy Men-
ken, president of the Southeast Como
Improvement Association (SECIA)
board, said volunteerism will go down if
people feel they are only advancing the
city’s agenda. She questioned the ratio-
nale behind the framework. “The only
reason to take apart an effective working
system is that the city wants to retain
control of money or citizen processes,”
she said. “Where is the cost-benefit
analysis for this?”
A Coalition of Neighbors 4 NRP is
circulating a petition to sustain NRP;
the Longfellow Community Council
(LCC) and SECIA have both signed it.
Meanwhile, voters at 20 of 139 precinct
caucuses in Minneapolis passed resolu-
tions on Feb. 5 to keep NRP alive; the
resolutions are expected to move on to
city- and state-level conventions, said
Menken.
Hodges said the proposed framework
would bring more transparency because,
“it would more closely resemble the
funding structure of the entire enterprise
… it would be more tied with Minne-
apolis government.” She also introduced
the idea of opening representation on
the board to NIF donors, a point that
Ward 2 Council Member Cam Gordon
disagrees with. Although he does support
the framework, Gordon said the com-
munity participation governance board
would need to be primarily devoted to
community members to be truly “resi-
dent-controlled,” as the framework states.
“Right now, there are some foundations
represented on the NRP Policy Board. I
even question how appropriate that is,”
Gordon said, pointing out that residents
don’t represent a majority on the Policy
Board, which he would also like to keep
intact.
Gordon and other city officials say the
framework’s provision for a community
participation division will better coordi-
nate staff and neighborhood representa-
tives, providing a clear path for people to
get help or learn about the city’s decision-
making.
Still, how much power the governance
board would have is debatable; work
group members disagreed about who
should hire and supervise the director
of the new community participation
division. Without that kind of authority,
some community members at the meet-
ing pointed out, it takes on more of an
advisory role. To that, Ward 1 Council
Member Paul Ostrow responded, “The
NRP Policy Board structure today is
advisory. Every action comes before the
City Council,” he said. “If it’s indepen-
dent, it’s not accountable to the city
structure.”
Neighborhood organizations react
Incorporation into the “city structure”
would also mean the new division would
be pitted against police and fire depart-
ments for resources, making it vulnerable
to cutbacks every year, critics say. With
81 neighborhoods, each group could
receive something around $24,000 of the
$2 million promised for administration
(some will get more or less), estimated
Justin Eibenholzl, environmental coordi-
nator for SECIA. That will barely cover
costs above and beyond hosting meet-
ings, he said.
Wendy Menken, SECIA board president
and a volunteer, said the framework’s
plan could mean as much as a 75–90
percent reduction in the group’s capacity.
Currently, funds from NRP and the city
comprise about half of its total annual
budget, which ranges from $120,000–
$165,000 in any given year. Grants make
up the other half, and only about 20
percent or less of NRP dollars are used
for administration, according to NRP
guidelines. “Over the years, we’ve man-
aged to leverage almost dollar per dollar,
at the core level,” said Menken.
SECIA has two full-time workers and
one part-time staffer; grants help pay for
the salaries of Eibenholzl’s full-time posi-
tion, for example. If the city became its
sole funding source, the impact would be
two-fold, said Menken. “We’d be hard-
pressed to have full-time staff … much
less the discretionary money to leverage
those dollars,” she said, adding that the
change could cause SECIA to revert back
to a volunteer-driven operation, like it
was pre-NRP.
“It could kill some neighborhood organi-
zations in some communities,” she said.
“I could see whole neighborhoods giving
up and saying they’re not going to fight
anymore. That’s what it was like before
NRP. Back then, the whole goal was to
react to whatever city was doing. There
wasn’t time or energy or capacity to do
creative things.”
Without getting into the details of the
proposal, Melanie Majors, LCC’s execu-
tive director, said the whole process has
her and other neighborhood leaders
scrambling. She believes the question
of neighborhood funding is important
enough to warrant more discussion over
a longer timeframe. “This is about the
stability of the city in the future,” she
said. “This is really an example of the
city not really caring much about what
happens in neighborhood organizations
… There’s a lot of disenchantment about
the city’s ability to facilitate community
engagement.”
Unlike many of his fellow neighborhood
representatives, Sheldon Mains, president
of the Seward Neighborhood Group
(SNG), said NRP should change, and
he supports at least some aspects of the
framework. That way, the real decision-
makers aren’t hidden from public view.
Plus, neighborhoods already count on a
council member for any sort of influ-
ence. “I actually kind of like it being
directly inside of city government. It may
help with coordination,” he said.
NRP Director Bob Miller said he is glad
the city is acknowledging the importance
of neighborhood groups, but he be-
lieves the city is taking a step backwards.
“Other people would like to emulate
what we’re doing, yet we’re moving in the
exact opposite direction,” he said. “No
one else anywhere put this much control
in the hands of citizens for this long …
Look at what people did with it, how it
influenced their attitudes toward their
neighborhood. It had a significant impact
on people.”
__________
First Place
Commentary/Editorial
Obama authenticates hopes of
1965 Voting Rights bill
By Matthew Little
Minnesota Spokesman Recorder
Published February 14, 2008
Forty-three years after its enactment and
54 years after the Civil Rights Movement
that, under the leadership of Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr., included the right to vote
as one of its demands, reflections of the
Voting Rights Acts of 1965 are again vis-
ible. More than any time since its passage,
in my judgment, the true meaning of that
law is on display today.
The bold, undaunted and resourceful
pursuit of the presidency of the United
States of America by Barack Obama
exemplifies in so many ways the very
essence of the Voting Rights Act’s intent.
Not since its passage has this been dem-
onstrated more clearly.
Regardless of the results of this political
campaign, with all of its many nuances
affecting its outcomes, voting in America
The First Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Awards  31
will never be the same.
Barack himself is the example. He has
given proof to the old cliché that, as our
Constitution so clearly states, any Ameri-
can citizen with the ability, the credentials
and the will to do so can run for the
highest office in the land.
More specifically, the Constitution
through its 15th Amendment, passed
in 1870, provided that the right to vote
shall not be “denied or abridged on the
basis of race, color or previous condition
of servitude.” However, intimidated by
White terrorist organizations such as the
KKK, the Knights of the White Camel-
lia, and later the White Citizens Council,
states and regions passed legislation to
obfuscate the 15th Amendment.
The NAACP and other organization
of the day had brought lawsuits against
many states and had gained a few histori-
cal victories; but, the issue could not be
solved on a piecemeal basis — there
would have to be a national law enacted
by Congress to solve the problem once
and for all.
This was not to come to fruition until the
massive Civil Rights Movement of the
’60s.
Lest we forget, however, the achievement
was not without pain, sacrifice, and in
many cases even death — the fire hoses
in Montgomery; the storm trooper-like
state highway patrol on horses who tram-
pled the peaceful marchers crossing the
Edmund Pettus bridge in Selma; vicious
dogs turned loose on peaceful marchers;
the death of the three civil rights workers
in Mississippi; and many other actions
depicted in the famous documentary
Eyes on The Prize.
It was these incidents and the inter-
national outcry that forced President
Johnson to call for a strong Voting Rights
Act that would preserve the dignity of
the U.S. Constitution.
A cadre of Minnesota civil rights activ-
ists can admit with some pride to having
played a minimal role in this drama. After
having participated in the historic March
on Washington, in which Martin Luther
King, Jr. gave his immortal “I Have a
Dream” speech, we were so imbued as a
group that there was a strong compulsion
to maintain connection with the national
movement and help in any way possible.
It was decided that our contribution
would be aiding with the voter registra-
tion in the South — specifically, Missis-
sippi. With the aid of some legal interns
among our group, we were able to
incorporate as The Minnesota March on
Washington Committee and started rais-
ing funds for the mission.
We solicited funds from individuals, but
our primary funding source was from the
sale of campaign-like buttons depicting
a black and white handshake. We called
them “Brotherhood Buttons” and sold
them for a dollar each.
We chartered a bus and solicited idealistic
young people from the U of M and some
out state colleges to travel south and
participate in voter registration. The Faith
Community was extremely helpful in this
regard.
Perhaps our biggest surprise was that so
many young people answered the call
— not only helping with the fundrais-
ing, but signing up to make the trip. That
makes me not so surprised today to find
that Barack Obama is surpassing all other
candidates with young voters.
Today, when I observe the Obama victo-
ries in southern states like South Caro-
lina, Georgia and Alabama, states that
were among the most stringent in disen-
franchisement of Black voters, its hard
not to perceive that maybe, just maybe,
a portion of Dr. Martin Luther King’s
dream is gradually coming to realization.
But the Obama surge cannot and must
not be taken in any way as an anti-Hill-
ary rap, for the Civil Rights Act of 1965
provided a source of liberation for
women also. Anyone who has even casu-
ally observed the political process in this
country must acknowledge that female
32  The First Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Awards
participation in politics has increased
precipitously since its passage.
Previously, women were primarily
relegated to sealing envelopes, prepar-
ing lunches for fundraisers, etc; and
today, state and federal governments are
becoming almost gender-equal. The U.S.
House of Representatives has a female
majority leader (as does the state of Min-
nesota), and now we have Hillary Clinton
as a viable candidate for president of the
United States.
It is certainly undeniable that the Voting
Rights Act was the motivating factor for
these advances. Barack Obama’s support
by so many across the country could
turn out to be illusionary, but it certainly
seems to have the earmarks of what Dr.
King dreamed America could become.
Matthew Little welcomes reader responses to
mlittle@spokesman-recorder.com.
Note: Three columns were entered in the contest;
only one installment is printed here.
__________
Second Place
Commentary/Editorial
Why Blacks are not allowed to
command: The bleaching of the
Minneapolis Police Department
By Ron Edwards
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Published August 16, 2007
Twelve months ago, the Minneapolis
Black community stood proud at the di-
versity finally achieved in the Minneapolis
Police Department (MPD). At long last,
the police department was joining the
Minneapolis Fire Department, renowned
as the most diverse fire department in the
United States.
The MPD command structure a year ago
was as follows:
* Don Harris, deputy chief of police;
* Don Banham, inspector of the
Fourth Precinct;
* Valorie Woorster, inspector of the
Second Precinct, soon to be appointed a
deputy chief and brought downtown;
* Lee Edwards, head of Homicide;
* Mike Davis, commander of Internal
Affairs;
* Lt. Larry Doyle, head of the Of-
fice of Compliance and responsible for
recruitment, training and hiring;
* Lt. Mario Arradondo, commander of
the STOP unit (Street Tactical Opera-
tions Patrol), soon to be detailed to the
FBI academy in Washington, D.C.;
* Mike Roberts, a 28-year veteran of-
ficer, most senior and longest serving
Black police officer in the history of the
department, looked at for appointment
to sergeant;
* Patrol Officer Tony Adams, 16-year
veteran, like Roberts born and raised in
North Minneapolis, being considered for
appointed rank of acting sergeant;
* Sgt. Charles Adams, Tony’s brother
and a respected homicide detective being
recognized at a Washington, D.C., confer-
ence as one of the top homicide detec-
tives in America;
* K9: For the first time in the history
of the department, African American of-
ficers are assigned to the K9 Corp.
Much of this had been put in place by
the previous chief, William McManus,
now chief of police in San Antonio,
Texas.
Eight months ago, in our January 17,
2007, column, we warned of “the end of
diversity in the MPD” as signs suggested
that the McManus Doctrine of Diversity
was about to be reversed.
It was. Pride turned to anger as:
* Harris was demoted from deputy
chief to lieutenant;
* Banham was demoted from inspector
to lieutenant;
* Davis was given the status of a junior
lieutenant;
* Arradondo was not returned to his
post as head of the STOP unit;
 * Lee Edwards became inspector of
the Fourth Precinct, losing the position
of head of Homicide to the African
American community;
* The Homicide unit lost two Black
investigators, leaving just one (but for
how long?);
* The first African American supervi-
sory sergeant was no more;
* Lt. Arradondo will be removed from
his command in two months;
* Deputy Chief Val Woorster will be
retiring, according to some, at the end of
December.
And so, by January 2008, as this city pre-
pares to receive the Republican National
Convention in September 2008, we will
have a command structure that will be as
White as the new driven snow that will
rest on the ground of this city straddling
the Mississippi River.
The Strib reported that Lee Edwards
helped make some of North Minneapo-
lis’ most crime-ridden neighborhoods
safer, and in only nine months. Abraham
Lincoln, told of winning General Ulysses
S. Grant’s drinking, said, “Send him
another bottle.”
It appears that only City Council Mem-
ber Ralph Remington (DFL, 10th Ward)
understood the coming of the apoca-
lypse, the night of the crystal, the raging
fire of nullification and reversal. The
Black “command” structure in the MPD
is being cleansed, with none in line being
groomed for command. Radio callers,
somehow clueless before about such
racism, now understand our longstanding
warnings.
The hopes and faith that we were moving
toward not only equality but fairness and
justice and a level playing field, have been
betrayed. Stay tuned.
Business as usual: Blacks need not apply
The deadline has taken place. The bids
are being let. The bridge is going to be
rebuilt (and some say completed just
before the beginning of the Republican
National Convention), with the new
bridge getting 10 lanes.
It’s going to rejuvenate the economy; yet,
it’s also going to make damn sure that
African Americans get neither contracts
nor jobs. Welcome to Mississippi Planta-
tion North, where Minnesota Nice hides
Minnesota Ice, the freezing out of the
African American.
We understand that some power brokers
are upset with us in this column. But,
facts are facts. They will lead to the
harsh judgment of history. Don’t be mad
at us; be mad at yourself for not standing
up and asking for a piece of the Ameri-
can Dream.
Oh my, how we need Nellie and Cecil
and all the other great voices of social
change and social justice carrying the
banners upholding the right of the
Negro, the Black, the African American,
to be included in Martin Luther King’s
“I Have a Dream” speech, declared again
in that Memphis church the day before
Black America’s dream of inclusion was
again shattered when his life was taken.
Today’s power brokers are angry because
we don’t cry out for Massa to continue to
beat us, and because we have the audacity
to seek opportunity, diversity and justice
in the name of the Bill of Rights, the
Constitution and God.
Pray for yourselves, White Minnesota, for
the day of reckoning will come for the
pain and the denial that you inflict upon
us under your doctrine of exclusion.
Ron hosts “Black Focus” on Channel 17,
MTN-TV, Sundays, 5-6 pm. Formerly head
of the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission
and the Urban League, he continues his “watch-
dog” role for Minneapolis. Order his book, hear
his voice, read his solution papers, and read his
between-columns “web log” at www.TheMinne-
apolisStory.com.
Note: Three columns were entered in the contest;
only one installment is printed here.
The First Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Awards  33
Third Place
Commentary/Editorial
Why we take a stand on anti-immi-
gration language
By Barb Kucera
Workday Minnesota
Published November 20, 2007
MINNEAPOLIS - Northland Poster
Collective has a bumper sticker that reads
“An injury to Juan is an injury to Al.”
In a lighthearted way, that twist on the
classic labor motto captures the meaning
behind a resolution adopted at this year’s
International Labor Communications As-
sociation convention.
Delegates to the New Orleans conven-
tion discussed the way language is being
used in the current debate about immi-
gration and how labor media can play a
role in both educating union members
and building solidarity.
The resolution notes that phrases such as
“illegal immigrant” and the grammatically
incorrect usage of “illegals” as a noun
promote divisiveness and bigotry. In our
resolution, ILCA urges all ILCA mem-
bers and labor communicators in general
to instead use the terms “undocumented
immigrant” and “undocumented worker.”
The resolution was introduced by Work-
day Minnesota, which has long followed
this practice.
Why is this important? It’s not just a
matter of semantics. As the National As-
sociation of Hispanic Journalists notes,
“illegals” and other pejorative language
“crosses the line by criminalizing the per-
son, not the action they are purported to
have committed.” Millions of people in
the United States have engaged in illegal
acts, from failing to pay a parking ticket
to committing murder, but they are not
referred to as “illegals.”
As the NAHJ also notes, “Under current
U.S. immigration law, being an undocu-
mented immigrant is not a crime, it is a
civil violation. Furthermore, an estimated
40 percent of all undocumented people
living in the U.S. are visa overstayers,
meaning they did not illegally cross the
U.S. border.”
While it’s important for labor com-
municators to be accurate, it’s equally
important we get the whole story. Our
publications, websites, radio and video
productions provide a perspective on the
issues that is woefully lacking in the cor-
porate-owned media. That’s why avoid-
ance of terms like “illegal immigrant” is
particularly important.
Remember the heavily hyped myth of the
“welfare queen” in the Reagan era? She’s
disappeared – replaced by those “illegals”
who are trying to take your job. As long
as workers of different backgrounds
view each other with suspicion and even
hatred, we can’t get together to solve our
problems.
The constant drumbeat about “illegal
immigrants” by politicians, talk radio,
CNN’s Lou Dobbs and thousands of
others also clouds the real issue that
working people need to address. Despite
the rhetoric, immigration is not the cen-
tral question. It’s globalization.
We live in a global economy where mil-
lions of people are forced to leave their
homes and their countries to find work
to feed their families, while millions more
are witnessing steep declines in their
wages, benefits and working conditions.
Meanwhile, corporations pile on the prof-
its, destroying communities, the environ-
ment and people’s lives with impunity.
Is this the kind of world we want? As
long as working people stay mired in
name-calling, they’ll never ask that ques-
tion.
Barb Kucera, editor of Workday Minnesota, is
also a member of the Executive Council of the
International Labor Communications Associa-
tion. The complete text of the ILCA resolution
and guidelines from the National Association
of Hispanic Journalists are available at www.
ilcaonline.org
34  The First Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Awards
Honorable Mention I feel sad about the people who died.
Commentary/Editorial When will it get rebuilt again? I guess the
bridge was weak and no one knew that it
would someday fall.
In our own words...
Pratt students response to the Melaina Bordeaux
I-35W bridge collapse My mother was coming from work and
she was about to go on the 35 West
The Bridge Newspaper bridge, but something in her mind kept
Published November 2007 saying to stay away from the 35 West
bridge. So she did and she took Broad-
This month, The Bridge debuts a new way. But when I was at home I watched
semi-regular section, “In our own the news and it said that the 35 West
words…” In this section, we hope to bridge had just collapsed. I said in my
feature contributions from people in our mind, “That’s the bridge that my mother
neighborhoods — not so much opinion takes.” And before I was about to cry I
pieces as personal essays and reflections heard keys in the door. So I stopped and
on topics or events. it was my mother, and I was so happy
that she was alive. So I ran up to her and
As part of the column, we will feature
gave her a big hug and she said, “Why are
every three months — in partnership
you hugging me?” and I showed her the
with the Southeast Minneapolis Coun-
TV. And then she said that she was lucky
cil on Learnng (SEMCOL) — area
to be alive and then she started telling
schoolchildren responding to a ques-
how she knew why not to go on that
tion or questions on a particular topic.
bridge. She said something bad would
This month, we asked students from
happen and something did, the bridge
Sue Beiersdorf ’s fourth-grade class at
collapsed. So I started knowing when I
Pratt School in Prospect Park what they
cried how much I loved my mother. So
thought about or had been talking about
here’s my advice: give your mother noth-
at school or at home in regards to the
ing but love.
collapse of the I-35W bridge. We will
feature students from other area schools
in the future.
Tayasir Dahir
It looked and sounded like an earthquake.
My mom went over that bridge at about
3:14 or 3:30. My aunty was friends with
that Somali lady that died. And the worst
thing is she had a baby in her stomach.
And she had a 2-year-old in the back
seat. My aunty almost went on it, but she
changed her mind. I feel so very sorry for
the people that came from work that died
and went through that horrible moment.
Eva Shellabarger
Well, what I think about the 35W bridge
collapse is that there were a lot of close
calls. Even my mom was about to drive
on it. You would think that it would
never happen, but it did. I saw the bridge
in the water from the Stone Arch Bridge.