The legacy of Jamar Clark and Philando Castile continues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this instance their legacy is in the form of a comprehensive report compiled by the NAACP highlighting the economic disparities that exist between Minnesota Black and white residents and the ways in which those disparities negatively impact Blacks and the state as a whole. And while many in the state know the realities of the multiple achievement gaps, having the nation\u2019s oldest civil rights organizations focused on the problem could bring a heightened sense of urgency from state and local officials. As for how Clark and Castile play into this, NAACP senior director of Economic Development, Marvin Owens, Jr. said the community\u2019s response to their killings at the hands of police caused the organization to take a deep-dive look into the root causes of the unrest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThree years ago we were going around the county in respect to police violence and we began to realize we needed to pay attention to the economic conditions fueling some of the unrest that was on the ground,\u201d said Owens at a Dec. 7 meeting at the Minneapolis Urban League. \u201cThe disparities in wealth, in home ownership, in economic inclusion were actually fueling the frustration on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Owens said similar reports were done in Baltimore, Ferguson, Mo. and St. Louis \u2013 all sites of civil unrest following police killings of Black citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 47-page report, \u201cThe Twin Cities Economic Inclusion Plan<\/a>,\u201d details the may disparities in wealth, income, housing\/home ownership, unemployment, business ownership, education, health and criminal justice. It also focused on solutions. And while most are at the federal level, Owens said the state has an opportunity to provide tangible solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis plan is to see who\u2019s going to be with us. Minnesota announced a $1.3 billion surplus in the state budget. This is not a situation where the state can say there\u2019s no money to get things done,\u201d said Owens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Area NAACP leaders agree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat\u2019s happening with the economic disparities in Minnesota is unacceptable,\u201d said St. Paul NAACP President Farhio Khalif. \u201cThe economic disparities are real and unacceptable, and we must come together to change things. The gun violence in our community is unacceptable. In St. Paul we have lost 30 young men to this violence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Minneapolis NAACP President Leslie Redmond said the violence stems from the noted disparities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen we talk about gun violence affecting our community, if we were providing these young people with jobs, opportunities, hope, we wouldn\u2019t see it as much,\u201d said Redmond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She said \u2013 as with most instances \u2013 to find the root, follow the money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe live in a state where white people, white privilege and white supremacy is thriving,\u201d said Redmond. \u201cBut I always say don\u2019t complain, activate. This plan is a form of activation. It contains tangible action items to move forward in a world where these disparities do not exist. If you follow the money long enough, you\u2019re going to get to the problem and to the solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n To watch the townhall meeting in its entirety, go to Insight News\u2019<\/em> Facebook page at www.facebook.com\/Insight-News-145233765561468\/<\/a>. To view the report, visit the St. Paul NAACP website at www.naacp-stpaul.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The legacy of Jamar Clark and Philando Castile continues. In this instance their legacy is in the form of a comprehensive report compiled by the NAACP highlighting the economic disparities that exist between Minnesota Black and white residents and the ways in which those disparities negatively impact Blacks and the state as a whole. And […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2238,29,422,32],"class_list":["post-3506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-minneapolis-urban-league","tag-minnesota","tag-naacp","tag-twin-cities","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3506"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3507,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3506\/revisions\/3507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}