‘Raise Your Voice’ Archives
Raise Your Voice: The world within us
By PETER MOLENAAR Peter Molenaar From the passenger side window of the adjacent vehicle, an elder Native man called out: “Hey! Where are you from?” At the time, I was fetching 30 Alley papers for deposit at the Native American Community Clinic, after having dropped 30 at the Ancient Traders Market. Detecting the sleight of hand humor, I quickly decided not to delineate my four original nations of northern Europe. So, I responded, “I grew up in Cannon Falls, Minn., if that”™s what you mean.” Then to clarify, “It”™s upstream from Prairie Island on the Cannon River.” In the span of about 15 seconds, the elder Ojibwe pondered the not-so-ancient conflict with the Dakota, then registered delight that a white man would place his origin relative to Native Americans. Note: The “cannon” of Cannon Falls is an English mumble of the French word for canoe. Then a Somali woman walked between us. He quipped, [...]
Mind-numbing Janjaweed
By PETER MOLENAAR Peter Molenaar On the western fringe of Alley News territory, there exists yet another progressive church. Was it more than 10 years ago that Plymouth Congregational (1900 Nicollet Ave.) hosted a sizeable public meeting in response to the Darfur Genocide? Indeed, events in this western province of Sudan, Africa had provoked the presence of such notables as Tim Walz and Keith Ellison. The genocide was carried out by the Sudanese government”™s “Arab” militias, known as the Janjaweed (translation: “devils on horseback”). The Janjaweed systematically destroyed Darfurians by looting and burning their villages, murdering, raping, and torturing”¦ and then, polluting their water supply with decomposing bodies. Over 480,000 were killed, 2.8 million displaced. Why, at the present time, would one choose to write about these things? Well, the stench of burning Janjaweed has returned now to waft among the reeds of [...]
Raise Your Voice: Days of May
By PETER MOLENAAR Peter Molenaar The word from Senator Jeff Hayden”™s Capital Update, May issue: “Senate Republicans are staunch in their position that programs providing giveaways for corporations and the wealthy”¦ should be continued. But every dollar spent on the wealthy”¦ is a dollar taken from students, healthcare programs, and crumbling highways.” Speaking of May, May 1 was a workers”™ holiday for almost everyone on the planet but us. However, some local events did honor the spirit. Prominently, there was the May 1st Coalition for Immigrant Workers”™ Rights, which mobilized forces to our state”™s capital, and there was the UNITE HERE union labor rally in Minneapolis. In the build-up period, the May 1st Coalition threw down a splendid fundraising banquet at the Walker United Methodist Church. When asked to speak, I made the following points: 1.) Every school child should come to appreciate the [...]
