In Minneapolis and St. Paul, it’s time to build opportunity for the African American children. It’s clear that all the recreational things other communities have make a difference in a youth’s life.
To begin with, we’ve got to have some real drop-in centers for these children where they can have dances and other social activities to help teach how to interact in a social environment. Maybe it’s time to bring back a teen nightclub like “Mr. Lucky.”
We must find ways to create consciousness, like it was when we adults grew up. Give them something to look forward to. We need a place like Dave and Busters; we must try a skating rink again.
We have men and women who still want to coach, teach and train our youth in sport activities like football, basketball, softball, baseball and track/field. We might need each church to sponsor a team so our children can continue to be exposed to these athletics, as well as our social clubs like the Elks and Estes Funeral Home — they too should be able to sponsor a team.
The people and businesses in our community make money off of the people in our community, like US Bank, TCF Bank, CUB, Mervin Drugs, Walgreens, Subway, CVS, Hooks, Pizza Hut, etc. We’ve got to put together committees to get our small businesses and their big corporations to help our young people.
Stop being uncomfortable: Go to those businesses that make the most money off us. Remember, we are a cash cow to all those businesses, which only speaks to our fair share. Some of you have to make a real commitment to create an organization to bring up Black business from the ground all over our neighborhoods. The more business you create, the more opportunity for our adults and children to work.
Although I’ll agree I want our people to stop engaging in crime and drugs, we must create the alternative, which is a real job and someday a career with benefits. There is no way Brooklyn Center should have gotten a Walmart before us. That would be a real opportunity to create meaningful jobs with benefits for our people.
Although President Obama has proposed raising the minimum wage to $9, the truth of the matter is that you need $10 to $20 an hour just to be able to pay your bills and have something left for yourself. No different than the very newspaper I’m writing this column in, the Spokesman-Recorder, or the Insight News, we must receive our fair share from advertisement in these papers just like the Star Tribune.
The more revenue the papers generate, the more opportunity for them to create jobs for mothers, fathers and children. It’s our responsibility to our newspapers to encourage others to buy the subscription; you must talk to everyone you know about buying a subscription to this paper.
Build on what we have until we have what we need. Stop encouraging us not to shop or patronize us, our businesses, but instead encourage us to shop or patronize us, our businesses. The more jobs we can create, the more children we can save. Let’s do what we possibly can to save them from the madness in the streets. Let’s save them from jail and prison.
There have been many organizations and corporations promising to build businesses in our community for us, but we really need our own organization or business board to do that. The White majority has been given large grants and loans to develop business on Plymouth Ave. for us, but they stay for five years, then sell the business and leave. We want businesses to stay and maintain an economic base for our people in our community.
This should be the year the African American hollers out, “JOBS… JOBS… JOBS…JOBS… NOW!!!” Hold everybody accountable like the State, Hennepin County, the government and businesses. You can change lives when you move people from poverty.
I love my people. I love when they’re up, I love when they’re down. I may not love all that we do, but I love my people.
Look for me to have another real talk with you real soon. Love, peace and power.
Spike Moss welcomes reader responses to Uhuru_So lutions@yahoo.com.
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