Flip Saunders’ good calculations will replace David Kahn’s poor ones

Because of my November 7, 2012 column (“The smartest White team in the NBA: T-Wolves team return to the 1950s?”), we took heat from those who took exception with our prediction that there would be a “day of reckoning” (being fired) if David Kahn’s “smartest White team” strategy didn’t result in at least 45 wins (it was disastrous; they won only 31).

As I wrote in that November 7 column: “Play the best players, whether all White, all Black or a combination. To have the best game possible, Commissioner Stern has insisted on ‘color blind’ drafting/signing. So why not the Timberwolves?” Thus, get the fans “the best players playing so their teams have the best chance to win. It is quite clear that owner Glenn Taylor is of the same mind set.”

My prediction was the fruit of my being a life-long sports analyst/journalist/fan with a deep sense of the game’s history. Kahn’s great sin: compromising Glenn Taylor’s dreams. Kahn didn’t get it that it isn’t about race or money; it’s about winning, it’s about Taylor’s passion in his love for the game, the fans and his team. For Taylor it is not about making money; he has money. It’s to win. It’s to get rings.

In reaching back to Flip Saunders, Taylor overcomes his admitted mistake in firing Flip in 2005, the one who brought the team its greatest successes. Flip knows the game. Flip understands talent. Flip has personal roots here in Minnesota. I’ve known Flip since he first came to town. I know Flip can again lead the Timberwolves organization to success.

One of the most important features of franchise success is being able to evaluate available talent. Flip Saunders will display the kind of knowledge and intellect needed on NBA Draft Day. Flip is the best combination of being highly confident but not arrogant about it. Consequently, there will be a greater degree of harmony within the organization that will resonate harmony from ball boys and girls to trainers, to assistant coaches, to the coach, general manager, and as Flip said in the press conference officially introducing him, the most important key to harmony: keep owner Glenn Taylor happy, break the proverbial jinx, and win.

Clearly, working closely with the owner and the other integral parts of the franchise, Flip will bring back the level of respect that the Timberwolves organization deserves.

My November 7, 2012 column was not personal, only a concern for the future of this historic and once respected franchise. We Minnesotans reserve the right to speak out and to give our point of view. Some tend not to understand that doctrine, and some tend to cloud that doctrine by falsely assuming not all of us bleed red, white and blue.

David Kahn never understood the history of professional basketball in Minnesota. He didn’t understand the giants of the game here: George Mikan, Jim Pollard, Vern Mickelson, and Elgin Baylor.

Kahn didn’t understand the sacrifices of the first Lakers team owners (Ben Berger and Morris Chalfen) who purchased the Detroit Gems in 1947 and brought them to Minnesota as the Minneapolis Lakers, which was helped by Sid Hartman and General Manager Max Winter; Max later brought the Vikings to Minnesota. Nor did Kahn understand the sacrifices of T-Wolves’ first owners, Marv Wolfenson and Harv Ratner, who brought back professional basketball to Minnesota in 1989, after a 29-year absence.

Kahn didn’t understand the enthusiasm when over 1,000,000 attended games at the Metrodome the first year before the opening of the Target Center for season two. He didn’t understand the history of the enthusiastic years of a young Kevin Garnett and a young Flip Saunders, a great player and a great coach, how both enjoyed and respected the game. Flip has great respect for the basketball knowledge of Minnesota fans.

And don’t forget the Lynx. I would be remiss in not reminding people of the support that owner Glenn Taylor has given to our own Minnesota professional women’s team. Glenn supported the WNBA during the lean years, and that wasn’t too long ago.

I remember listening as a little boy to the Minneapolis Lakers in the 1940’s (before games were on TV) and I was there in the mid-1950’s as George Mikan was wrapping up his great career, and I can fondly remember the talents of future hall of famer from the University of Seattle, Elgin Baylor. I know Sid Hartman remembers those great basketball games.

Recall how devastated we were when the Lakers left to relocate to Los Angeles, California when an arena could not be worked out (which is why the NHL team, the North Stars, moved). It always costs more to get a new team. See Star Tribune writer George Mikan’s 2000 book, covering 50 years of stadium games, where state legislators and city councilpersons made poor decisions at the expense of fans.

The jinx that some talk about has not always been present in professional basketball in Minnesota, and I just feel that Glenn and Flip and the young talent of the future, will end the jinx and bring winning professional basketball back to Minnesota.

Stay tuned for a bright Timberwolves future.

Ron Edwards hosts “Black Focus” on Channel 17, MTN-TV, Sundays, 5-6 pm, and hosts Blog Talk Radio’s “Black Focus V” on Sundays, 3-3:30 pm and Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm, providing coverage about Black Minnesota. Order his books at www.BeaconOnTheHill.com. Hear his readings and read his columns, blog, and solution papers for community planning and development, at www.TheMinneapolisStory.com. Columns are archived at www.theminneapolisstory.com/tocar chives.htm.

While we cower and agree to give up more of our hard-earned rights as citizens, the real bogey man the real terror of our lives gets little notice, and that is the system of economic exploitation called capitalism. I realize for a lot of folks living in the U.S. this is no real concern because they live off the cream of this exploitation. But to those who are victimized by its demands for low wages and little protection it’s a different story, especially in the Third World.

The death toll as the result of a garment factory collapse in Savar, Bangladesh has reached 800 — that’s right, 800. And the story gets worse.

Not only has it been revealed that the factory building had been inspected only days before and found dangerous cracks had developed in the walls and the owners were encouraged to shut it down. Not only did they keep the factory open but the owner of the factory, Mohammed Sohel Rana, who had previously added three floors to the eight-story building, encouraged workers to return to work in the building. Police had ordered the building to be evacuated but factory managers told workers it was safe and encouraged them to go back inside and the building collapsed only hours later.

Now this is a tragedy that gets sadder every day, yet there has been miniscule coverage by the U.S. media. There has been no prayers offered or monies donated to these poor Bangladesh workers who, for their troubles, receive an average of $38 a month. And that’s not for a normal U.S. work day; that’s for a long Bangladesh work day.

In return for their cheap labor we in the so called First World get to enjoy cheaper clothes as been noted by others. But even more beneficiary from the cheap labor and cheap clothes are the enormous profits reaped by the clothing industry.

In the past the U.S. and European manufacturers used to go to Third World countries, construct the buildings, provide the machinery and simply make a killing off of underpaying the workforce. And they would respond to critics who questioned the slave wages by saying they are better off than they were before we got there; our wages fit into their standard of living.

Now the manufacturers figured out how to make even more money by subcontracting the work, so they no longer have to invest in buildings or machinery. Life is good. But now the subcontractor has to find ways to squeeze on his end so he can make maximum profits.

So he skimps on even the building and of course he holds wages down. And the government that seeks to use its power to exploit the workers as well and make as much money from the industry works with the greedy factory owners to hold workers down by suppressing dissent in the form of worker-organizing drives. Sometimes they go as far as killing union organizing.

One of the main organizers of the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity was found dead, and according to those who saw his body it was clear he had been tortured. In this system those who seek to get more workers are made dead by the allies of capitalism.

Against this backdrop of exploitation Slate.com blogger Matt Yglesias in writing about this tragedy in an editorial entitled, “Different places have different safety rules and that’s Ok,” said “Bangladesh may or may not need tougher workplace safety rules, but its entirely appropriate for Bangladesh to have different — and indeed, lower — workplace safety standards than the United States.” Incredibly he wrote this as bodies were still being pulled from the rubble.

Why in the world would anyone think that it’s okay for one group of human beings to have a lower safety standard than another? The remark and the editorial struck me as extremely callous, but then I realized he is not alone, this is what we really believe. We really think that as Americans we are entitled to more, even if that means others have less.

Yglesias pours it on. He actually wrote — again the disaster was still unfolding — “The current system of letting different countries have different rules is working fine.” But Matt, 800 people just died in an accident because the rules of building safety were not adhered to, and because corruption in that country motivated by profit allowed it happen.

And the writer does not let up. He continues his arrogant cold-hearted treatise with even more incredible statements. He states that, “Bangladesh is a lot poorer than the United States, and there are very good reasons for Bangladeshi people to make different choices in this regard than Americans…. Safety rules that are appropriate for the United States would be unnecessarily immiserating in much poorer Bangladesh.”

No doubt Yglesias is a good example of just how blind and unaware most Americans are of how things really work. The Bangladeshi workers didn’t make a choice to work for slave wages or to work in what, for all practical purposes, are sweat shops. They were forced in by their need to feed themselves and it is their government, while trying to make as much money as they can, that has instituted these so called “different choices.”

And did he really say immiserating was my first thought when I read this? In other words this young American fat cat thinks that better safety rules would make the Bangladesh’s workers “miserable” or “impoverish” them.

He concludes his article by unbelievably saying that, “the current system of letting different countries have different rules is working fine. American jobs have gotten much safer over the past 20 years, and Bangladesh has gotten much richer.”

Clearly this guy is either cold hearted or out to lunch. By any stretch of the imagination the system is not working fine in the Third World. In Bangladesh workers have suffered from not just this building collapse, but factory fires as well, as a result of the owner’s disregard for the safety of the workers.

Unfortunately, this writer voiced what a lot of folks believe. But it’s not true that this system of exploitation and oppression is working for working classes in the Third World or in our local world. The only folks benefiting are those who run the system.

Mel Reeves welcomes reader responses to mreeves@spokes man-recorder.com.

To read more stories by Mel Reeves click HERE

By Donald Allen

Contributing Writer

The Minnesota House of Representatives have enacted a bill attempting to establish a “13th” grade pilot project based in north Minneapolis. The bill, H.F. 1149 is part of an education and employability solution for young adults who are unemployed, underemployed and not enrolled in postsecondary education.

Co-authored by Senators Jeff Hayden (D-SD 62), Bobby Joe Champion (D-SD 59), Representatives Ray Dehn (D-HD 59B) and Will Morgan (D-SD 56B), the bill is said to potentially impact over 3,000 young adults ages 18-26, placing them on college and career pathways by 2015. It states the commissioner of education shall develop a one-year 13^th-grade pilot project, with one site being operated by the Minneapolis Urban League.

The “13th” grade proposal is problematic because a one-year pilot program is expected to eradicate generations of educational failures in poor minority communities and the parties involved seem not to understand Minnesota’s employability issues and current status of K-12 education [if any] in the Minneapolis and St. Paul Public School systems.

The Minneapolis Urban League (MUL), who currently operates the Urban League Academy in Minneapolis, has not shown any success in their private educational ventures. The school, according to U.S. News and World Report, shows test scores (U.S. News calculates these values based on student performance on state exit exams and internationally available exams on college-level coursework) of 27 percent reading proficiency with math not reported and college readiness omitted from the report.

It is not educationally sound for an agency like the MUL to be involved in a venture of this nature when they cannot communicate, represent, or show positive outcomes for the people they currently represent, if any. In 2013, the MUL does not speak for many residents as it pertains to Minnesota’s education system or successes therein.

This leads to the second challenge in Minnesota’s K-12 education system. Last week, outgoing CNN reporter Soledad O’Brien toured the Northside Achievement Zone (NAZ) facilities for an upcoming report on “Black in America.”

O’Brien and CNN, seeking to answer questions on Minnesota’s challenges with the achievement gap, was in Minneapolis to celebrate the NAZ program, which identifies poor families with pre-K children in a predetermined pilot area of north Minneapolis. The parents are channeled through a variety of different classes with the award being a t-shirt for their pre-K children that reads, “College Graduate 2035.”

The Northside Achievement Zone, which in December of 2011 received $28 million from the U.S. Promise Neighborhood Program, has yet to show how they will report successes in 2013 with promises of graduates from college in 2035. Pre-K children in the NAZ project area and surrounding neighborhoods are more likely to be dropouts, expelled, or killed by violent crime according to Ronald A. Edwards, a Minnesota historian and the longest seated chairman of the Minneapolis Urban League.

Edwards states, “The Minneapolis Urban League has not seen much in the area of educational success for its now closed elementary school or their high school. The Urban League is attempting to make themselves relevant in 2013 — not because of their concern for the education of Black youth, but to get money — they’re broke.”

The NAZ program from the U.S. Promise Neighborhood grant only lasts for five years; after $28 million is spent — mostly in administrative costs — what real results will north Minneapolis see in education?

The Minneapolis Urban League’s 13^th-grade proposal at the Minnesota State Legislature and NAZ both feature a boutique community engagement piece reminiscent of many past failures in Minnesota’s education system. It could be important to ask the question, “Who represents students in the Pre-K and K-12 public school system?”

The duty should fall upon the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) and the local districts, but in the last 10 years, the MDE has done little to nothing in the area of addressing the achievement gap while celebrating more “performance art” initiatives in a failed attempt to solve a problem of educational equity from the top down.

What both programs and program leaders fail to recognize are the facts. There is too much racial discrimination in Minnesota to adequately address the achievement gap and issues of unemployment. According to a story in the Star Tribune: “Minnesota has the worst joblessness gap in the country between whites and blacks according to the Institute on Public Policy in Washington, DC.” The 2010 City of Minneapolis Disparity Report states the same: “We conclude that the statistical evidence presented in this report is consistent with these anecdotal accounts of contemporary business discrimination.”

Minnesota’s public school system has problems also. Minnesota — more specifically the Minneapolis Public Schools — has one of the largest achievement gaps between Whites and Blacks in the U.S. If one were to combine the issues, based on fact and sound logic, there is no way either of these programs will work given the current methods of perpetual poverty in Minneapolis, especially the city’s north side.

This is nothing more than moving chairs around on the Titanic.

Donald Allen is editor-in-chief of OurBlackNews.com.

Columnist Lucky Rosenbloom’s commentary [column of April 11] on abortion and its devastating effects on Black America is the dirty little secret Black activists, most Black clergy, Black scholars and, of course, the liberal White left are silent about. There’s no virtue in supporting abortions, just what is vile to the human race, regardless of its legal status in America and numerous other progressive nations.

Furthermore, the vast majority of abortions in the U.S. are for “convenience” or a way of contraception. Abortions on Black women per year (about 40 percent of the total abortions) exceed all other Black deaths (murders, AIDS, heart attacks, cancers, strokes and accidents) combined.

I’m amused, if not unimpressed, at Susan A. Cohen’s and Oliver Steinberg’s statements [letters to the editor, MSR, April 25] defending Planned Parenthood and the anti-Black Margaret Sanger of yesteryear. Neither one has the guts to quote her racist statements on sterilization (abortion included) of Blacks even getting Hitler’s ear.

Steinberg states many famous African Americans, i.e. Martin Luther King, Jr., WE.B. DuBois, Mary Church Terrell and Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., as if this makes Planned Parenthood legitimate. It’s likely these Black giants didn’t know altogether what went on behind the shadows (or in the agendas)of  Planned Parenthood, the successor to Sanger’s diabolical work to stop the ”weeds” from growing, namely, Blacks from having babies.

Rosenbloom is correct in his inference that the defense of Planned Parenthood as the ”paragon” for women’s health is sophistry. The babies get the worst end of the abortion mills, one must not forget. Rather than sugarcoat the abortion issue in Black America, in particular, let’s call abortion by its real name: reproductive racism.

Howard A. McQuitter lives in Minneapolis

My May 2, 2012 headline was about the April 21, 2012 assault by the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) on the Ames Elks Lodge. What a shameful MPD disgrace. My subheading: “A 150-year-old Black Fraternal Organization was brutalized by police raid.” It has been 54 weeks since the last contact by the MPD with the persons who were assaulted and brutalized.

The MPD assaulted 11 African Americans, male and female, the youngest 50 years of age, the oldest 73: beaten, assaulted with weapons and verbally abused with racial epithets.

In a complaint I personally filed, as I was one of the victims, I detailed the events surrounding the assaults by over 60 White Minneapolis Police officers. This was definitely not one of MPD’s finest moments.

Approximately two weeks later, Ms. Lisa Miller, the Exalted Daughter Ruler, and I did a reenactment for the internal affairs officer assigned to the investigation. That was the last time that we heard anything from the Minneapolis Police Department. Seven African Americans, attempting to work within the system, also filed complaints stating the circumstances of the racially motivated April 21 assault upon them.

The lodge was attacked verbally by WCCO News. WCCO falsely maintained that guns had been fired within the lodge: untrue, without foundation.

The verbal part of the White officers’ attack included such epithets as “ni**ers,” “Black bastards,” “Black SOBs” and other derogatory terms. What has been so troubling about this on-going cover-up are the awards to those who helped to facilitate the assault.

For example, the head of Internal Affairs on April 12 was promoted to deputy chief. The lead investigator was promoted to a very cushy job in training. In fact, it appears that Internal Affairs did not even provide a case file number for my complaint.

There is more to this cover-up. Some of it is reflected in confidential correspondence dated October 8, 2008, to then-10th ward Minneapolis Council Member Ralph Remington. It is privileged correspondence, and if Mr. Remington agrees to release the contents of the letter, he and I will jointly do so.

The letter was in reference to Lt. Michael Keefe, whose lawsuit against the department is still pending in the federal courts. We have written columns on the saga surrounding the attempt to destroy Lt. Keefe because of his commitment to stand up for Black police officers in the Minneapolis Police Department.

For those who may not remember, Lt. Keefe is White. See my columns of May 30, 2012 (“Tensions within the MPD revealed in the case of Lt. Michael Keefe”) and August 29, 2007 (“A profile in courage and integrity — the saga of Lt. Michael Keefe”).

The events of the April 2012 assault and the yellow journalism of WCCO News and the Star Tribune did irreparable harm and damage to the reputation of the Ames Elks Lodge. And I cannot even begin to express the damage that was done both emotionally and physically to Ms. Miller, to her brother, to Mr. Powell, and the others who were beaten and threatened on that tragic night.

Many who read this column will have no idea that seven Black Americans filed formal complaints with the Minneapolis Police Department. Many who read this column will have no clue that for 54 weeks there has been no contact. In, fact, I doubt if a new investigator has been assigned to the case.

Seven months ago, the investigator of record was transferred out of Internal Affairs to a less stressful position within the department. As I wrote in my complaint of May 2, 2012, at least one of the female sergeants acting as a superior that night rained down upon us racial epithets and threats. She was also very much involved, along with current high-ranking officers in the administration, in destroying the African American Police Officers Association.

These same officers renewed their hostility and lies against the integrity and the professionalism of Black officers in the celebrated trial in May of last year — see my May 30, 2012 column cited above. There are clearly significant rewards in this city for the abuse of the rights of African Americans, be they Black citizens or Black police officers.

Let me take this occasion to apologize to the six members of the fraternal lodge that filed official complaints in their commitment to justice and their pursuit of justice. They stood with me in the quest for justice and the quest to clear the good name of a Black fraternal organization. No White fraternal organization would be treated in the manner as was the Ames Elks Lodge.

But it is quite clear that the racial animus and hatred of Black citizens by the MPD is the order of the day no matter who is the chief or mayor. Will this be another part of Mayor Rybak’s legacy that he passes on to his successor?

Stay tuned.

Ron Edwards hosts “Black Focus” on Channel 17, MTN-TV, Sundays, 5-6 pm, and hosts Blog Talk Radio’s “Black Focus V” on Sundays, 3-3:30 pm and Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm, providing coverage about Black Minnesota. Order his books at www.BeaconOnTheHill.com. Hear his readings and read his columns, blog, and solution papers for community planning and development, at www.TheMinneapolisStory.com. Columns are archived at www.theminneapolisstory.com/tocarchives.htm.

The tragic bombing that occurred at the Boston Marathon cannot be looked at in only black and white terms. Conspiracy theorists and political hacks are having a heyday with this. I am content with saying I don’t know what exactly happened or why the bombing took place.

History tells me that when one is dealing with the U.S. government and the free marketers, who place profit and power before people, almost anything is possible. But the bombing does raise some questions and some eyebrows!

Like some other folks, the announcement that the authorities were looking for a “dark-skinned” suspect made me go, “Uh-oh.” It was a curious description considering that the suspects are really Caucasians. Chechnya includes much of the Caucasus mountain area.

Clearly, the Tsarnaev brothers are insane. Only insane folks would bomb and on purpose try to kill or maim human beings, especially other folks who had not harmed them personally. It’s not clear what their motives were, though early reports have said that the youngest bomber who is in custody said he was motivated by religious reasons. If so, that makes it more insane, since the basis of most religions is peace and improved relationships between human beings.

It’s not yet clear whether the brothers were carrying out the attack in retaliation for the U.S. taking the side of Russia in its struggle to continue to rule over Chechnya. The Russian Chechen conflict started in the mid 1990s when the Chechen’s — who are primarily Muslim — attempted to break from Russia and declare themselves independent.

Tens of thousands of lives were lost as that conflict reached its peak in the mid 1990s. While Russia has regained control through the current Chechen prime minister, groups still fighting for independence have resorted to terror tactics.

The Chechen rebels have said they had nothing to do with the bombing and are not taking credit for it. But not knowing has not stilled the propagandists in our society or the novices who have begun to blame immigration policy for the bombing. Whenever I hear it, I want to say to the people having the conversation, “When should the country have stopped letting folks in? Right before your parents got here?”

That’s right, everybody here came from someplace else except for Native Americans, who the foreigners tried to wipe out. In fact, I have heard Black folks talking about, “We let too many of them in.” Of course, it’s a curious use of the word “we,” since Black folks are still catching hell at the hands of government policy.

Black folks are still being victimized by mandatory minimum drug laws and the system can’t find a way to educate most of its children. Just recently the government couldn’t bring itself to force gun peddlers — who, by the way, bring most of the guns into the “hood” — to at least submit to background checks.

And, “the” government could barely find it in its heart to at least examine what happened to our departed brother Trayvon Martin. But we still run around saying “we.” Curious people, those African Americans.

Speaking of propaganda, it’s certain that the U.S. government will use this to attempt to take away more of our liberties in the name of protecting us. I was amused by the young people who took to the streets waving flags shouting, “USA! USA!” I can only hope their blind devotion is rewarded.

Even the cops got in on the good feeling. I noticed during the celebration in Boston folks were kissing and hugging the police. I even saw some young Black women hugging and cheering on the police. My skeptical side wondered, “Will they still be hugging in Roxbury tomorrow?”

Police and other authorities’ efforts to apprehend the suspects broke new ground. Authorities were able to shut Boston down, which has to be hard to do, but they succeeded. I suspect that if things get really tight in the good ole U.S. of A., then we will have witnessed a foreshadowing of things to come. I can’t help but see it as a test run for that day, if it comes, when folks have seen all the way through the American lie and say enough is enough.

Just as importantly, I hope this tragedy gives thinking people a chance to look at why someone might want to take a shot at the U.S. The U.S. government has acted as insanely as these two hapless brothers, murdering human beings to make a point — human beings who, by the way, in most cases hadn’t done anything to them.

Does anyone know the real reason the government attacked Afghanistan or Iraq? Most likely most North Americans have no idea the amount of terror that was rained on those societies by U.S. forces. Thousands of people have died for no good reason considering they weren’t taking part in any conflict and just happened to be trying to live in their country.

U.S. drone warfare supposedly targets enemies of the state. Maybe it would be more acceptable if they didn’t kill so many innocent bystanders and then shrug it off, as if loss of human lives can just be dismissed with a shrug. Or even worse, a policy that says a certain number of innocent deaths (collateral damage) is acceptable. Who says?

The bottom line is that as long as this government kills for the sake of power and profit, nothing and nobody in our country will be safe. It’s still true that “violence begets violence.” Even the U.S., with all its sophisticated technology, is not immune — or safe — from retaliation.

Mel Reeves welcomes reader responses to mreeves@spokesman-recorder.com.

By A.J. Briscoe

Guest Commentator

“Incubation: to keep under conditions favorable for development.”

There is a glorification of destructive behavior and habits formed around bad monetary management. These decisions are plaguing our culture. This abomination is encouraged through the material we read, entertainment (music), role models (athletes, artists, male presence), and the belief we are conditioned to place our belief into the media.

The acknowledgment of our achievements is obscure. I don’t see articles on our youth who maintain an A grade average, but you can pick up the paper and see how many points a high school student scored in sports. I don’t see community volunteers being recognized for mentoring the youth in the supposed most-troubled areas in the community, but I am informed every time a young man is arrested for a crime.

Attention seems to only be found in the realm of negativity. This allows an opinion to be formed on the character of the individuals on whom this focus is directed. This invites a reputation to be formed.

The passage of manhood should not be associated with prison. It needs to be associated with family and social responsibility and making a contribution to community development.

Manhood shouldn’t be associated with how many guns you have or girls you have sex with. It should be associated with how many social and academic accolades you have acquired, and how many women you have assisted in overcoming the challenges they incur. Reputations should not be admired based on aggressive and violent behavior, but they should be based on intelligence and sound decision making.

We have to go to war with the trend of insolence, destructive habits, and inferior thinking. We must glorify productivity in the form of entrepreneurship, building business models, and community development. Thug life and prison is counter-productive to our progression.

Nevertheless, in order for this to become a reality, we must replace the old with something new. I have found myself being disturbed by the trend of underachieving. Youth have a higher interest in how to spend money opposed to how they can generate it. In fact, earning money legitimately is frowned upon. Unless obtaining money has some illegal involvement, it is of no interest to most.

Crime is the alternative to jobs. Money is spent effortlessly on unneeded material possessions that do not have the potential to generate income. The same funds could be invested in a business with the potential to generate enough income to purchase the things that money is squandered away on irresponsibly.

Making wise decisions with money, along with managing money, needs to be ingrained into our culture, especially our youth and our educational system.

A.J. Briscoe lives in Minneapolis.

I appreciate responses from Spokesman readers regarding the truths being provided in my column. The documentation is irrefutable. I challenge anyone to disprove the content of my column by focusing on other mentions instead of Ms. Sanger. I ask anyone to disprove other mentions in my column such as that Blacks make up 12 percent of the population but 35 percent of abortions in America.

Disprove my suggestion that Ms. Sanger was friendly with the KKK and other racist groups. Disprove my opinion that without abortions the Black population would now number 41 million, and it is this fact — not Voter I.D. — which is a threat to the Black community.

Prove me wrong that in 1993 a Howard University study showed that African American women over age 50 were 4.7 times more likely to get breast cancer if they had any abortions compared to women who had not had any abortions. I care about my people, our unborn babies, and the fact that if this evilness continues by 2040, Black America will reach a population number that the KKK would party over.

Here are comments from Rev. Brian Walker, who is program director of Pro-Life Action Ministries and cofounder of Everlasting Light Ministries:

The pot of collards in the room

“After a day at work you’re finally home. Your spouse has a pot of collards cooking. Just the right mix of smoked meat, a little vinegar, and of course that secret ingredient. You’re ready to dig in.

“‘My, those greens smell good. I can’t wait!’

“‘What greens?’

“‘You know, the greens that have been cookin’ for hours!’

“‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t see any, and I don’t smell any!”

“You walk away wondering if your spouse has lost his or her mind or is in deep denial.

“The pot of abortion in our community has been simmering for some time. Its aroma fills our communities and is ignored and denied: For every 100 live births in the MN African American population, 41 were aborted.

“Since 1973 (Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton), 35 percent of the abortions in the United States are performed on African American women, while they represent only 13 percent of the female population of the country. Since 1973, the African American population has been reduced by approximately 14 million.

“Abortion is a public health issue, an economic issue, a cultural issue, and as a pastor I definitely see it as a spiritual issue with dire consequences. Women, men and minor girls are left in its wake to fend for themselves. It’s real and in the room. Brothers and sisters we need to talk.”

Black pastors must address abortion in Black community. Pastors must use their pulpits to address the murder of Black babies and assisting Black women deciding on abortion in the Black community. Pro-life pastors must stand with God and not have fear or feel guilty to take the lead by making a silent issue a loud issue of discourse. We see Black pastors in Ohio and other areas taking on this issue, but like always, Minnesotans are last.

We need to organize a pro-life conference as other Black pastors have done in other areas called “Blacks Against Abortions.” The name “Blacks Against Abortions” is a direct threat to Planned Parenthood. Tell me that murdering our kids at an alarming rate is not at issue for discourse.

Pastors, there must be a judgment before God for this silence. Black pastors must play some role in opening this conversation, because abortion is a direct attack on Black women and the Black family. We can go all over this country such as in Ohio and see 37 percent of the 28,123 abortions performed. Black pastors are still influential in our community, and I am asking you to be heard on this issue within my column if needed, because abortion is a moral issue, not a political issue.

Pastors, the work of the body of Christ is being in the Black family with respect to abortions. We can do more, because while legal, abortions are not lawful in the Spirit of God.

Planned Parenthood  targeting Black women

Fox News reported that Planned Parenthood was involved in raising money targeting abortion of Black babies. Some of the recorded conversation is as follows.

Donor: ”I really face trouble with affirmative action. I don’t want my kids to be disadvantaged…”

Planned Parenthood representative: ”Yeah.”

Donor: ”… against Blacks in college. The less Black kids out there the better.”

Planned Parenthood representative: ”Yeah, yeah, it’s a strange time to be sure.”

Read more at www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,348649,00.html#ixzz2Rte8rqET.

Abortion is a silent killer in the Black community. We have the highest abortion compared to surrounding counties in Minnesota. We have to have ongoing serious discourse on this issue, and I’ll continue to educate readers within my next three columns on this subject. In the interim, to attend our focus groups on this subject, call 651-917-1720.

Lucky Rosenbloom welcomes reader responses to 612-661-0923, or email him at l.rosenbloom@yahoo.com.