Part I: Are Black Minnesotans better off on the Bottom?

Don Allen, M.A. Ed. (photo: D. Allen, chair surfing a
Hamline University)

If you don't have my phone number to call and speak with me, you don't know me. My agency in this story is to shake you into understanding a new leadership caste must rise in Minnesota before black Minnesotans are cast back to the days of "White Only" drinking fountains. 

By Don Allen, Editorial Columnist

I’ve been called a “coon, sellout, and white-boy,” by black Minnesotans that feel like education will not get them any further than they are today. Mind you, this is not a pity-piece missive, nor does this have anything to do with feelings; but it is my opportunity to explain that something is wrong when every other group (in MN) can look at you and know for sure that your race, color and socioeconomic status, education and housing option are on the bottom in this great state.

While many of “us” do not identify with Minnesota’s black community (unfortunately) and prefer social circles that avoid the lower one-third of the community, it has also set a trend for those who participate with an illusion of agency as another race, not black people. At the end of the day the mirror never lies, so no matter who you hang out with friends and associates; if you are black in Minnesota, you’re consistently qualifying yourself because from your “cover,” you’re not qualified until deemed so by some with less…and these are the black folks.  

I’ve sat by and poked the bear when I watched Minnesota lawmakers put more money and concern into Walleye fishing than homeless school children. I tried to get involved when governor Mark Dayton showered (literally) a dozen white-led agencies with over $100 million dollars to end Minnesota’s veteran homelessness challenge. The majority of the homeless veterans are of color and because I wanted to be paid for consulting and making a plan in those days, I was marginalized by Dayton’s veterans guy and basically never called upon. But still there are hundreds of homeless veterans, families and school children that never get touched by local or state funding that remain in a perpetual loop of nothingness. Unfortunately, and this is not a generalization, in Minnesota, the people I talk about are people of color: Black Minnesotans.

I have a friend who posts stuff on Facebook then says, “trigger,” which I think is absolutely incredibly hilarious; so when you ask what was my motivation, or “trigger” for this missive, you only need look at the photo above of the 2018 Minnesota Super Bowl committee sans any black Minnesotans, male or female.  Of course I don’t want to dismiss the fact that I see no Asians, Hispanic-Latinos, Somali or more importantly for Minnesota, Native Americans; the fact is “surplus with exceptions” seems to be the true meaning of Minnesota Nice. This leads be to ask have people of color in Minnesota not arrived? Is it too easy to outsource racism, exclusion and marginalization via someone in that race-construct? It seems that way.

Examples: 1) In 2016 the Minnesota Department of Human Services spent over $59 million on overtime pay. Our sources tell us that more than 95-percent of the people who receive this pay were white men and women. This could never happen at a black Minnesota lead organization, the overseers have eyes and orders to hover.

The Education Gap is so wide that each year we
wait to address it - it will take five more years to fix

2) A WCCO-TV report, “Minnesota Ranked 2nd-Worst In U.S. For Racial Equality, (2017)” citing that the latest 2017 numbers from the Minnesota Department of Education found that in grades three through eight and tenth, the amount of white students who met the standard for reading and math was about double that of black students. This report also talks about the double-digit gap in household income.

3) From the Politico story, “Something Is Rotten in the State of Minnesota,” the Twin Cities it turns out, are also home to some of the worst racial disparities in the country. In metrics across the board—household income, unemployment rates, poverty rates and education attainment—the gap between white people and people of color is significantly larger in Minnesota than it is most everywhere else. Earlier this year, WalletHub used government data to measure financial inequality among racial groups in each state and found that in 2015, Minnesota ranked dead last overall.

Enough is enough!

I guess my question is, where are the black community leaders; self-appointed or otherwise? How does Minnesota (the state) keep operating in a vicious circle of neglect and malfeasance and nobody black, male or female that has contact with policy makers says a word? Also, what happened to more than 500 Super Bowl tickets scattered out in the Twin Cities? Who received them, why?

With the clear and present danger of not enough black school teachers, college professors, housing nonprofits, where are black Minnesotans headed?

Part II: Still N***a (Jay Z, 2017).

About Don Allen:
"Donny" is an educator in St. Paul and continues his education currently at the University of St. Thomas taking the Education Specialist (Ed.S.) and the Doctorate in Education (Ed.D.). He is also a motivational speaker for topics of black children, teacher licensing in the education system. To contact him, email ibnnnews@gmail.com .