‘Commentary’ Archives
The Quiet Time for Friendship
from the series Peace House Community Journal... By MARTI MALTBY Marti Maltby I recently attended the 2026 Nonprofit Leadership Conference, hosted by the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits. During the opening keynote address, Ryan Vasquez (Executive Director of the Minneapolis Highrise Representative Council) commented on how important it is to develop friendships when you don’t need them. The middle of a crisis, he said, is a lousy time to find out who you can count on. His comment reminded me of a related statement by Robert Lilligren (CEO of NACDI and then-Chair of the Metro Urban Indian Directors). During Operation Metro Surge, the Native American community collected and distributed literally tons of groceries and other supplies to families who were too threatened to leave their homes. Robert said something along the lines of, “A lot of people see how many supplies we are sending out and think, ‘You guys are really well funded.’ We aren’t. The Native community [...]
Democracy Defense Networks Loom
from the series Raise Your Voice!... By PETER MOLENAAR Peter Molenaar To begin once again on a personal note: subsequent to his having a stroke, the writer here continues to reconnect a broken brain to a broken body, a body broken by 35 years of heavy labor at Smith Foundry, an enterprise which famously polluted the lungs of children (now totally absent from the zone near Cedar Ave. and 28th Street). Which is to say: he will continue to march with the masses, with a cane in hand, but the rapid-response mode is not in his future. Even so, he took part in a UNIDOS assembly held at El Colegio (4137 Bloomington Ave.) where, in keeping with the rapid-response networks that engaged the ICE occupation, democracy-defense networks were envisioned. Naturally, our polling places will be defended, while a list of triggering possibilities is pondered, such as: cancellation of mid-term elections, or perhaps another violent episode of election result denial. PETER MOLENAAR [...]
