In the most recent legislative session Black Minnesotans were left out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That was the take Sen. Jeff Hayden (DFL-Minneapolis) expressed July 1 during a Facebook Live \u201cFront Room Sessions at the Marcus Garvey House\u201d hosted by Al McFarlane, editor-in-chief of Insight News. Hayden said despite flipping the House from red to blue and retaining a Democratic governor with the election of Gov. Tim Walz, the Republican-controlled Senate \u2013 controlled by a difference of two members \u2013 was able to block several key bills that would have positively impacted the lives of the state\u2019s Black population. Hayden said the only true accomplishments of the legislature were passing the budget and getting a 2 percent increase in education funding. But when it came to other initiatives Hayden said the legislature was virtually operating in quicksand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe weren\u2019t able to find agreement on things such as restore the vote, the African Preservation Act; any of those type policy initiatives we weren\u2019t able to find real compromise,\u201d said Hayden. \u201cI would say we did the bare minimum in passing the budget and not letting the government shut down. I would say we left three-fourths of (our work) on the table and many of the things for the African-American community; we weren\u2019t successful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hayden is one of just two Black senators in the state, with Sen. Bobby Joe Champion (DFL-Minneapolis) the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Justin Terrell, executive director for the Council for Minnesotans of African Heritage agreed with Hayden\u2019s assessment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe jobs bill Sen. Hayden worked on last year was $34 million; this year it dropped to $24 million and with additional community groups being added to the mix the cost\/benefit opportunity is less,\u201d said Terrell. \u201cDr. Abdul Omari \u2013 who led the charge on the University of Minnesota Board of Regents to find a new president \u2013 and who was the only person on the Board of Regents who voted for changing the names of several buildings named after racists, which was in alignment with the student body and staff, was not reappointed. So not only do we see a session where the governor only signed 65 bills, but one in which, our community got left out in multiple ways.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the thoughts is Blacks Minnesotans were not actively engaging the legislature, thus the reason for lack of progress regarding issues, initiatives and funds benefiting Blacks in the state. Hayden pushed back saying the level on community engagement was not at issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe governor faced a really regressive Republican controlled Senate leadership,\u201d said Hayden. \u201cThe Black community showed up at the legislature this year. At the end of the day we need to show up at the ballot box to bring people in \u2013 whether they look like us or not; but are allies \u2013 to say our issues are priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hayden and Terrell are encouraging residents to come out to a community forum this Wednesday July 10 at the University of Minnesota\u2019s Urban Research and Engagement Center (UROC), 2001 Plymouth Ave. N., Minneapolis from 6 p.m. \u2013 8 p.m., to hear more from the state\u2019s Black legislators and members of the Council for Minnesotans of African Heritage. The event is free and open to the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFront Room Sessions\u201d can be viewed on the Insight News Facebook page.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the most recent legislative session Black Minnesotans were left out. That was the take Sen. Jeff Hayden (DFL-Minneapolis) expressed July 1 during a Facebook Live \u201cFront Room Sessions at the Marcus Garvey House\u201d hosted by Al McFarlane, editor-in-chief of Insight News. Hayden said despite flipping the House from red to blue and retaining a […]<\/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":[29,2402,169],"class_list":["post-3520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-minnesota","tag-sen-jeff-hayden-dfl-minneapolis","tag-tim-walz","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\/3520","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=3520"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3521,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3520\/revisions\/3521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}