by David Beckford | Jan 14, 2020 | Uncategorized, Voices from Recast
Interview of Gretta Maxwell
Interviewer: 01:10 All right, thank you. So before we begin, can you spell your first and last name?
Gretta Maxwell: 01:15 First name Gretta – G R E T T A. Last name Maxwell – M A X W E L L.
Interviewer: 01:24 All right, you mentioned that you lived in North Minneapolis, how long have you been living there?
Gretta Maxwell: 01:26 I’ve been in North Minneapolis since 2001, so 18 years.
Interviewer: 01:30 Where did you move from?
Gretta Maxwell: 01:32 Chicago. Chicago. When I first came here, it was so nice, I just wanted to visit but my sister stayed up here. It was quiet, compared to Chicago it was so quite. Nice. Everybody was in at ten. And all that until I got up here. Like totally good, but it’s nice, I like it.
Interviewer: 01:51 Okay so thinking back from when you first to this area to today, what changes have you seen, positive or negative?
Gretta Maxwell: 01:58 Oh there’s a lot of things changes. The neighborhood changed. I guess the kids got older, so the neighborhood changed. Everything changed, it’s like the buildings, we got a lot more abandoned buildings than we had when we first got here. It’s a lot more things that happen now. I think the kids were younger then so it wasn’t a lot of, it wasn’t as much killin and shootin as it is now. I think they’re doing more shooting now, they killing each other now more than they was when we first got here. So it’s been over ten years, there been a big change in ten years.
Interviewer: 02:31 Yeah, what do you think caused all these changes over the years?
Gretta Maxwell: 02:31 It’s more just the kids gang-bangin. I don’t know what it is but they just against each other. Oh that’s mine, good Lord. They just against each other. I guess that’s what it is, the drugs.
Interviewer: 02:57 Yeah, so I’m just gonna read off the paper. All right. So we’re gathering these stories to increase understanding between the city of Minneapolis and North Minneapolis, the community here, on the impact of historic, discriminatory government policies in areas of housing, transportation, economic development, and examples like that and the war on drugs and things like that. So the question is, what impact have these policies affected you or others in the community.
Gretta Maxwell: 03:39 It’s probably the drugs and the housing. The housing, I don’t think when, it ain’t up to standard for a lot of people and then the ones that is, they’re probably going to tear down anyways. There’s not enough housing, then they ain’t got enough schools, and then there’s a lot of drug selling. On the north side there’s a lot. It’s mostly, I think it’s the housing, they ain’t gotta look like, the housing, it’s not enough that they can afford. There should probably be more low-income housing for the people in the neighborhood or something.
Interviewer: 04:12 If you don’t mind me asking, have you personally had any experiences in the housing area?
Gretta Maxwell: 04:19 Where I’m in, I been there for a minute so I ain’t really had that problem but it have been when I couldn’t find, it have been a place where you can’t find no where to go. Ain’t no where to go and if there is somewhere to go you can’t afford it and the ones that probably could afford it, their credit score or something not high enough. I have struggled before I moved out of where I was, I struggled, had no where to go. I lost my job. Folk here is no work. Times get hard we just got to work through it.
Interviewer: 04:50 Mm-hmm (affirmative) Yeah. So what changes in this community raise your level of stress or concern you about the future in North Minneapolis.
Gretta Maxwell: 04:57 The guns in the neighborhood. I think it’s the guns. If they can do more, I don’t know how or what they can do, but if we get rid of a lot of the people with the guns, get the guns out the neighborhood, that’s probably sellin the drugs, get the drugs, well all the drugs, I know you can’t do that but I know it might be different. They got to stick together and get the neighborhood, more a place like this, community things to get together so people can stick together and do things. A lot of people gotta get involved, once they get involved and see what’s going on, it might be a change but a lot people ain’t really involved in a lot of stuff.
Interviewer: 05:31 Yeah, what part does the city of Minneapolis need to play in relieving the stress and fixing the things? The City of Minneapolis?
Gretta Maxwell: 05:44 What part of it?
Interviewer: 05:45 Yeah, what can they do to help the community here?
Gretta Maxwell: 05:50 Get more programs, get more activity for the kids, somewhere for them to go or something to do. You gotta have something for them kids to do. The YMCA and stuff is good but a lot of kids parents probably can’t afford it so they don’t send their kids there so their kids just be out runnin around. You gotta get something for the kids so they can go and play computer games and video games, they don’t have to be outside. You gotta find something the kids gonna get them involved in something. A lot of more free activity for the kids. Then open up places where people can drop off their kids is this kind of activity one for the kids without the drugs and all this and everything it might change, it might be a change, I don’t know.
Interviewer: 06:30 Yeah. What gives you hope about this community?
Gretta Maxwell: 06:31 What gives me hope? I’ve been here for a minute. I’ve been in this community so I’m used to it and I like it, I like the North side. I like being on the North side, but I don’t know, I guess the whole just being here, I don’t know what gives me hope for being on the North side. I just like being, I been here all the time. I’ve been here and then my kids, I’ve raised my kids and I don’t have no trouble with it but my kids I know we go through problems it’s a lot of things that do happen I know my kids have problems. It’s just something they just got to work through.
Interviewer: 07:07 I should finish up, do you have any last thoughts? Things you wanna add?
Gretta Maxwell: 07:13 Any last thoughts?
Interviewer: 07:13 Yeah
Gretta Maxwell: 07:15 No, we just need to, no I ain’t got no last thoughts. I just think they should come up with more things, just something to do. They need something on the North side for the kids, there ain’t nothing on the North side for them to do. You know? Ain’t no where for them to really go or hang out and play. No gangs. More parents gotta get involved. People gotta get involved in something, do something for them. Maybe that, I don’t know.
Interviewer: 07:43 Well thank you so much for your time, thank you for coming here. And that’s it for the interview.
by David Beckford | Jan 14, 2020 | Uncategorized, Voices from Recast
Interview of Gloria Reese
Interviewer: 00:01 Can you say your first and last name again and then spell it.
Gloria R.: 00:05 Gloria Reese. G-L-O-R-I-A. My last name Reese, R-E-E-S-E.
Interviewer: 00:16 Do you live on the north side?
Gloria R.: 00:17 I don’t now, but I did. I just moved about five years ago.
Interviewer: 00:22 Okay. Where did you live when you were here?
Gloria R.: 00:25 I lived on Vincent Avenue North, about three blocks from the golf course, the Chalet.
Interviewer: 00:32 What made you move?
Gloria R.: 00:34 Divorce and my house went into foreclosure because of my ex-husband. But I loved the north side.
Interviewer: 00:46 Yeah. So thinking back from when you used to live here and now what positive or negative changes have you seen?
Gloria R.: 00:56 The positive changes are they are getting rid of a lot of the slumlord houses, and they’re building. And I would like to see more people of color. There’s one thing that a lot of people don’t know about north Minneapolis. They think it’s predominantly African-American. It’s always been predominantly white. It’s starting to look a lot nicer. What they’re doing with Plymouth Avenue. They’re still, you know, some things that could be improved. And Broadway is the big one I would like to see. Broadway and Lowry Avenue. Okay.
Interviewer: 01:49 How long did you live in north Minneapolis?
Gloria R.: 01:52 Oh, my goodness. I was born in 1948 and I lived in north Minneapolis until my first marriage and we went to Seattle and I lived there for a year and I came back and I lived. And then I raised my children in Brooklyn Park for 13 years and then I came back. So I’ve always come back.
Interviewer: 02:16 Yeah. So going back to the changes, what do you think caused the changes that we see?
Gloria R.: 02:28 Well, the first change was, I think it was ’66 or ’67, and the riots. Plymouth Avenue completely changed. All the Jewish people, which I grew up with, moved to St. Louis Park or Golden Valley. They left their stores and storefronts. That’s when it first started changing. And then they started building apartment buildings over north. And then, I can’t remember exactly. I think it was the 80’s where they started tearing down the projects and they built Heritage Park. That was a good thing.
Interviewer: 03:23 So we’re gathering these stories to increase understanding between the City of Minneapolis and the community on the impact of historic discriminatory government policies and practice and areas like housing, employment discrimination, the war on drugs, and others. So what impact have these policies, or others, had on the community and you personally?
Gloria R.: 03:48 In the community. I’m trying to think. I’m sorry.
Interviewer: 04:02 Oh, that’s alright.
Gloria R.: 04:02 I think the war on drugs was the reason why they tore down the projects because a lot of the people from out of the states would come here as welfare is much better here and women would come with their children and the children were, their young, their boys, were either not in school or halfway in school and they would come here. And you know when you were in maybe St. Louis, Chicago, Milwaukee and you weren’t going to school and you were on drugs, and then you could come here, and then they would start. So Minneapolis got, I should say yes, Minneapolis got pretty smart about that and told a lot of the woman and families if your children aren’t in school there and you bring them here, we can’t have that.
Interviewer: 05:03 Oh.
Gloria R.: 05:06 They did a lot. And, what was her name? Sharon Sayles Belton and Cherry Home. When Sharon Sayles Belton was the mayor she got on the slumlords so that they had to either fix their property or sell it. And that was one of the main things that was really good because people could come in here and, you know, drug lords they rent for cheap and have these drug houses and stuff like that. But that was the reason because the slumlords would let anybody live there. They didn’t check backgrounds, anything like that. But once that started happening things started getting better in the north side.
Gloria R.: 06:02 But, there’s still a lot of changes that had to happen. The schools. A lot of our African American families were sending, when open enrollment, they would send their kids to the outer suburbs to go to school because it was a better education. You know when the money leaves the city that hurts your schools. So once you start taking care of the schools in the inner city and the properties and tear down all the raggedy homes and start building, more money starts coming back. People, the Europeans, are coming back now. So, it’s like they leave, they come back. And they want to live … all of us like to live closer because they want to go to work downtown, they don’t want to ride forever. But that’s some of the changes I’ve seen since.
Gloria R.: 07:07 And I forgot. When Ellis was Alderman I worked with him in his first caucus and that was so much fun. But he didn’t win his first one, but he did call me and ask me should he keep running. And I told him, “Yes, keep running. Just because you lose one doesn’t mean you have to stop.” And he said, “Well, what could I do for the north side?” I said, “You could get us a supermarket.” So, that’s when … well Target was here and they left, you know on Broadway, and then he got the Cub there. So, that has helped a lot because all the supermarkets left. We had plenty. And then we were left with none so people had to… there was a new market, or SuperValue but they were so expensive. So, they built The Cub and it helped a lot. It didn’t solve everything, but it helped.
Interviewer: 08:16 How do you feel about the North Market?
Gloria R.: 08:20 I haven’t been there. I haven’t been there yet. So, yeah. And that’s right on Penn and Boom Valley. That one. Oh, no. That’s on 40-
Interviewer: 08:30 Camden Area-
Gloria R.: 08:31 Yes. That’s right there.
Interviewer: 08:31 -and Humboldt.
Gloria R.: 08:32 Yes. I haven’t been there yet.
Interviewer: 08:38 What changes have you seen in this community that raise your stress level or concern for the future?
Gloria R.: 08:47 It seems like they’re forcing all African Americans out and all the Europeans are coming in. And the housing, the prices on them, are so high that it’s unaffordable. Okay.
Interviewer: 09:02 And then what part does the City of Minneapolis seem to play in relieving that stress?
Gloria R.: 09:18 Helping them. Helping African Americans to be able to afford their homes. Helping them with down payments and stuff. And I think there are plans out there for that. Some banks have that. But they could help them.
Interviewer: 09:34 So what gives you hope for this community?
Gloria R.: 09:40 I’ve always had hope for north Minneapolis. I think the Light Rail would help. Not necessarily going up Broadway, but I know going up Wilson Highway it would help. Bring back more stores, storefronts. That would help a lot because if there’s more stores people will buy and the money is here so it stays in the community.
Interviewer: 10:21 Before you ask all the questions. So as a finish up, do you have any last thoughts?
Gloria R.: 10:34 My last thoughts are south Minneapolis has a lot of apartments that are affordable and condos. We don’t have that over north. And that is something that not everyone wants to purchase a home. But a nice town home, or condo would really be nice. And nice, beautiful apartments. That’s my take on it because if I come back and live here maybe I’ll buy a small home. But a nice town home would really be nice.
Interviewer: 11:18 Yeah. That’s great. Thank you.
Gloria R.: 11:21 Hm-mmm.
by David Beckford | Jan 14, 2020 | Uncategorized, Voices from Recast
Interview of Floyd Smaller
Interviewer: 00:06 Could you spell your first and last name please?
Floyd: 00:08 F-L-O-Y-D S-M-A-L-L-E-R.
Interviewer: 00:14 All right. And reference to the map in front of you there, do you currently or have you ever lived in or near this part of north Minneapolis? And if so, how long?
Floyd: 00:22 Yes, I live at 1121 Vincent. Approximately, I’d say 49 years.
Interviewer: 00:29 Any other places have you lived? I think, I can’t talk today.
Floyd: 00:33 It’s okay, no I haven’t.
Interviewer: 00:35 Okay. Thinking back from when you first came to this area to today, what changes have you seen, positive and negative?
Floyd: 00:45 Negative it’s like, I mean all the blacks have, they’re moving a lot of black people out, and it’s like gentrification. They’re moving a lot of white people in, and it’s like they’re taking over the community, and some of them are nice, some of them are not. It’s different now. I don’t understand what’s really going on. But when I was coming up as a youngster on the north side, it was basically balanced. You had your whites and you had a lot of blacks, and you had black businesses that were flourishing. We don’t have that anymore, and we don’t have a store close to the Northside right here. You have to] go all the way to Cub Foods to get groceries, and for the people that live down this way it’s extra hard. But if you had – I think it would help out a lot – if we had a grocery store closer to the community. When we did have a grocery store it was black owned. But I helped get rid of it because the guy was selling drugs to little kids in the store.
Interviewer: 02:13 Wow. What was the name or location of it?
Floyd: 02:17 It was down here on – what street was that? Close to Russell down here. It was the Sweet Shop, that’s what i was called. Yeah it was a long time ago, you guys probably never heard of it.
Interviewer: 02:31 I’m doing some historical research on north Minneapolis so it’s good to know those things.
Floyd: 02:35 Yeah it was called the Sweet Shop and this guy, this black dude who was in there, I think his name was Jesse. Me and this other guy got rid of him. We got the police involved. I didn’t like what was going on because young kids shouldn’t be exposed to that. Messes up your mind, you can’t think straight. You get confused and a lot of things happen to you. I think the north community has a lot of good things too. People work together and show love towards one another and there’s a lot of good things happening here. I think if we all just took together and made things work out right, we could all make things work.
Interviewer: 03:29 Definitely. So I hear you saying there was some positive and some negative changes. Could you identify what caused some of those changes?
Floyd: 03:40 Well, let’s see. I say people moved from Chicago or in Indiana to get on this easy welfare up here, not really wanting to work, not really wanting to produce. It brings the community down. When you really don’t produce things and do things for yourself and try to do anything, you don’t get any good results. Part of that is hard work. When you do hard work, you get results. I learned that as a young kid and I know how to work, and knowing how to work is a good thing because you can always produce for yourself. Do something, live for others too, like this old lady I help her all the time. She lives by herself. She can’t really move things. Can’t really do things. So I help her out a lot. But I know there’s a lot of people that don’t care about the elderly here on the north side. They don’t try to help them. They play their bang bang music, I don’t like that. Ride down streets smoking dope, smoking weed. That’s bad for a community.
Floyd: 04:59 I mean if you want a nice community, you want educated people in your community. People that are doing things. People that are trying to help one another. Educated people – doctors, lawyers, businessmen. You don’t want dopeheads running around messing with your children and messing with the community. [crosstalk 00:05:24] I think another negative aspect is that thing that where the buses run, that they’re like little blocks of something, with poles standing up. I don’t know if you guys noticed them when you’re driving in your car. Where the buses run now, you guys know what I’m talking about? That’s a hazard because that can cause accidents for bikers. If you got a biker on the side of the road driving, the bus comes, don’t see them – bam! He’s gone.
Interviewer: 06:06 You’re talking about that little indent that goes from this. They did so much construction right there on Oak Park.
Floyd: 06:13 I don’t understand that.
Interviewer: 06:14 They just literally just extended the sidewalk, and then continued it.
Floyd: 06:18 Yeah. Why would they do that though? Do you guys know?
Interviewer: 06:20 No. I don’t understand. I never understood why they did it. That’s the type of question I should be asking because they took so long just to do that.
Floyd: 06:30 That is so retarded dude. I don’t get that. Northside has changed for some better though, because it used to be a lot of gang violence here. I don’t know if y’all know that or not. That has slowed down a lot. The north side got some good parks, good recreation, good community centers. North High School, that’s a good high school. I went to Saint Paul Central, I ain’t go to North. I live over north, and I have to function over north, and I like it over north, so I’m not going to move from over north. I like the people over north. But I don’t like some of the things some of the guys do. But ain’t nothing I can do about that. I’m not God. I have to deal with it just like everybody else. I ain’t nothing special out here. I love my people though. I ain’t gonna lie about that. I love my black people. That’s just the way I feel.
Interviewer: 07:39 So we’re gathering these stories to increase understanding between the city of Minneapolis and the community on the impact of historic discriminatory government policies.
Floyd: 07:56 Yeah, discriminatory is right because another thing I want to bring up. There was a McDonald’s here years ago, up on Pin and Plymouth. I worked up there and I was discriminated against. I was fired because the white manager told me to do something, but it was like, “G outside and pick up the garbage.” And I looked at that like, “Wait a minute.” It’s like he had an attitude about saying it. And I was young and in my teens, so I took an attitude I’m saying, “Wait a minute. Go outside and pick up the garbage? Stay out there until it’s all picked up?” I took like it’s not my dad. I’m here to do burgers and fries, dude.
Interviewer: 08:49 Right, and not to pick up garbage.
Floyd: 08:51 I’m not out here to pick up garbage and throw it in the garbage all day long. So he got rid of me. That’s how life is. So I got fired and I lost that job. It was a good job at first, until the black manager left and then the white manager came. I was like, “I’m done with this. I’m done.” Then I went looking for another job. Then I worked at Mars and Building Maintenance Company.
Interviewer: 09:19 I worked there before.
Floyd: 09:22 I messed my hands up, so I was gonna sue them, because the chemicals got on my hands. I got a big rash. I’ve been through some changes y’all.
Interviewer: 09:34 I see you talking about employment. Some of the examples I was going to give like transportation and housing.
Floyd: 09:40 Yeah, transportation – I take the bus everywhere because I don’t have a car. But I manage, and I do yard work now to relax me because I’m old. 53, I mean I ain’t no teenager no more. I try to make it best I can. My mother is sick right now. She could go at any time.
Interviewer: 10:05 I’m sorry to hear that.
Floyd: 10:16 Oh boy. I don’t know. Life is funny. Real funny.
Interviewer: 10:24 Appreciate the time we do got.
Floyd: 10:24 I appreciate your time you gave me. It turned out to be a good thing. I got to release all my tension. I am a little pissed off. These white folks moving up here, taking over shit.
Interviewer: 10:37 That’s part of my next question I was going to ask you. What’s going on in the community that raises your level of stress?
Floyd: 10:49 Well, the white folks moving up here. They act like they run everything. It’s like they don’t have to speak to you. They can belittle you. I don’t like that. I have the Audi you don’t, so I’m better than you are.
Interviewer: 11:04 Absolutely.
Floyd: 11:06 I have the Mercedes you don’t, I’m better than you are. I moved into your neighborhood, I’ll take it over. I’ve been living here for 40 years. I might not have the Audi, I might not have the Mercedes, but I got a house. I got a place to live. I got a roof over my head. I eat everyday. Ain’t like them begging in the streets. So I feel I’m just as good as you.
Interviewer: 11:29 That’s true.
Interviewer: 11:29 Absolutely are.
Floyd: 11:31 God gave us both the same insides, so how are you so much better? What makes you so much better? My ancestors suffered for 400 something years. They made this country for you to live in. But you push us to the side. What’s up with that?
Interviewer: 11:59 What gives you hope for the future of this community?
Floyd: 12:02 Black people get together and stick together. We can rule this mother.
Interviewer: 12:07 That’s what I’ve been thinking everyday.
Interviewer: 12:17 How to build the community and how to make everybody continue to be on the same page.
Floyd: 12:18 I see we on the same page.
Interviewer: 12:19 Absolutely.
Floyd: 12:22 I’ve told you before, I love my black people. I don’t never turn on black people. I’ll be downtown, and somebody will say, “Dude, can I get change?” If I got it, then you got it. Now if you’re white, I figure you already got money. You don’t need to ask me for money.
Interviewer: 12:37 If you ain’t got money, you got privilege. You got something.
Floyd: 12:40 Privilege, man. You came from rich. What do you need me for? You know what I’m saying?
Interviewer: 12:48 Can I get a dollar?
Floyd: 12:49 Kick me out some 20’s, man! Shoot. I don’t turn on my black people. A girl yesterday went out to my mom’s house. She’s in foster care, and her parents kicked her out of the house. She ran to our house, so we took her in for a minute. Then my mom talked to the foster kid. The parents, they came back and got her. She was crying and scared, and when you in the foster program, you don’t see your real parents. You don’t know what it’s like to really have real parents. I think that’s unfair too. I think it’s unfair that a lot of black men don’t get to see who their fathers are. Their mothers. Or if they come from a single parent home. I think they deserve the same rights as a person with a two parent home. I think they deserve that right. I don’t think black kids should be cheated. I don’t think none of that should be happening. I don’t like that kind of stuff.
Interviewer: 13:54 These next couple of questions are just –
Floyd: 13:59 You can shoot as many as you want.
Interviewer: 13:59 Absolutely. They’re just meant for quick and short answers. So first question I’m going to ask is when you think about this area today, what impact do you still see from these historic government policies that we talked about?
Floyd: 14:14 What impacts? You mean positive?
Interviewer: 14:15 Positive, negative, just the ones you were talking about like the war on drugs –
Floyd: 14:20 Well the negative is they got rid of the black barbers shop on Plymouth. The reason they did that is so they could get a white person to buy the place so they can take it over and make more white businesses. That’s negative. Now, far as positive, we got a barber shop on Broadway that’s black. Black owned, black everything. That’s where I get my haircut at. I ain’t letting a white boy cut my hair, I’ll be looking like alfalfa probably. Shit, the part down the middle. I ain’t pulling that. I do need a haircut and I’m getting one this week. But now as far as positive things is going, we got a nice downtown. Broadway is flourishing with more stores for blacks. People like y’all. Nice people you can open up to. I feel like I can open up to y’all, I feel good about it.
Interviewer: 15:24 That’s good.
Interviewer: 15:24 We appreciate that.
Interviewer: 15:24 Appreciate that.
Floyd: 15:29 I could sit here with y’all all week. I ain’t lying.
Interviewer: 15:36 Next question for you. How would you describe the relationship between the city of Minneapolis and the community over the last couple of years.
Floyd: 15:44 That’s hard to say. The relationship between the community and Minneapolis. I’d say crime has went down. Crime has went down. I don’t know what else to say about that one.
Interviewer: 16:06 That’s fine.
Interviewer: 16:06 We can go and stop it right there.
Interviewer: 16:11 No, I’ve got one last question.
Floyd: 16:12 You can shoot me with three more if you want.
Interviewer: 16:15 I hear you talking about you’re for the people a lot and want to do positive things for black people. So what part do you feel you can play in creating a more hopeful future for our community?
Floyd: 16:26 Create more activities for black kids to get into, and help them to get along with one another better and not hate on one another. That they call hate unity more, because that’s what’s messing us up. Some kid will have a nice pair of tennis shoes on, and you’d look at him and roll your eyes at him. Mean mugging, they call it. Because he’s got something better than you got on. All you gotta do is get a job and go get the same thing. You ain’t gotta go do that. We’ve got a lot of that going on in the community. Lot of mean mugging. That could lead to fights, and then later on, a murder. Occasionally it happens. That’s why when I’m out I don’t roll my eyes, mean mug, or cutting my eyes at people because you don’t know what could happen.
Floyd: 17:25 It feels good to be on the safe side when you’re trying to live longer, because a lot of guys get in these hip hop cars and hip hop things, and they want to handle it. It goes to their head, and I don’t know man. I got a cousin that got shot in Saint Paul. Getting in that hip hop life, it couldn’t handle it. Shot right over by White Castle. I miss him dearly. But he was killed because he was out there. When you’re out in that life, a lot of things happen to you. A lot of guys on the north side are in that life, that drug life. That’s not a good life. But you got a lot of positive black women here. A lot of positive black men here. So I can’t knock the north side at all on that. A lot of black men are taking care of their kids. A lot of black men are working. A lot of black men are doing a lot of good things. There’s a lot of good things happening here, y’all.
Floyd: 18:40 There’s a lot of bad things happening, undercover things. Abuse from kids. A lot of things go on. That’s unheard about, and that’s not good either. But I have a daughter now. I’m a grandfather.
Interviewer: 18:57 That’s a beautiful thing.
Floyd: 19:00 I’ve lived a long life. Some of my high school friends are dead that I went to high school with. I’m still here. I thank God every day for waking m up. Bless you, Lord. He don’t have to wake me up. He can put me to sleep any time. Put you to sleep any time. We all could take a nap tomorrow. But he brought you in and he said, “I want you to interview somebody. You can interview them.” Thank God you’re here. Thank the Lord that you are here.
Interviewer: 19:31 We definitely appreciated and your story.
Floyd: 19:40 I appreciate you too.
Interviewer: 19:41 Unfortunately that is the last question we have for you.
Floyd: 19:46 Well, ask me one more. How do I feel today?
Interviewer: 19:49 How do you feel today?
Floyd: 19:51 I feel great. How do you feel?
Interviewer: 19:51 I feel wonderful.
Floyd: 19:53 I feel wonderful too now.
Interviewer: 19:53 I appreciated that.
by David Beckford | Jan 14, 2020 | Uncategorized, Voices from Recast
Interview of Donald Johnson
Interviewer: 00:01 Okay, we’re going to start off with you having, give me your first and last name spelling, please.
Donald Johnson: 00:11 Donald Johnson. D-O-N-A-L-D J-O-H-N-S-O-N.
Interviewer: 00:16 Nice to meet you Donald. Do you or have you lived in this area in the last 10 years?
Donald Johnson: 00:22 2006.
Interviewer: 00:25 2006? Okay, thinking back from when you first came to this area to today, have you seen any changes?
Donald Johnson: 00:33 Worse.
Interviewer: 00:34 Worse?
Donald Johnson: 00:34 Yeah.
Interviewer: 00:36 What makes it worse?
Donald Johnson: 00:38 The drug activity and stuff like that.
Interviewer: 00:45 Okay. What do you feel caused the changes you’ve seen over the years?
Donald Johnson: 00:47 Construction.
Interviewer: 00:47 Construction?
Donald Johnson: 00:47 Yeah.
Interviewer: 00:47 Okay.
Donald Johnson: 00:47 They do a lot of construction over here.
Interviewer: 00:56 What makes you feel that way?
Donald Johnson: 00:57 Cause I can see it.
Interviewer: 00:58 You can see it?
Donald Johnson: 00:59 Yeah.
Interviewer: 01:00 Okay. So, we are gathering these stories to increase understanding between the city of Minneapolis and the community on the impact of historic discrimination government. I’m sorry, the discriminative government policies and practices in areas like housing, trepidation, economic development, and more examples including housing and employment discrimination in the early 20th century. What impact have these policies or others had on the community in general? So to break it down, if you’ll have a clear understanding.
Donald Johnson: 01:35 Yeah, break it down one more time.
Interviewer: 01:38 So basically, what changes have you seen in the last 10 to 20 years about housing, transportation and employment?
Donald Johnson: 01:49 Well, housing-
Interviewer: 01:50 Anything that’s been like discriminatory in housing that you’ve seen.
Donald Johnson: 01:56 Yeah, I see that all the time-
Interviewer: 01:57 Or in jobs.
Donald Johnson: 01:59 Oh, well jobs, I don’t think it’s that bad in the jobs, but a lot of people say there’s not no job because they don’t go look for one. What I did, I didn’t have no job, I joined the military. That was a job enough for me, you know. So, other than that, as far as the jobs, there’s jobs, there’s a lot of jobs. You just gotta get out there and get it. You know, that’s what I can see.
Interviewer: 02:31 Do you have any feedback on the housing part?
Donald Johnson: 02:33 You can get a house. I done and had two houses since I’ve been here since 2006, you know.
Interviewer: 02:40 Okay, okay.
Donald Johnson: 02:41 A lot of people just don’t wanna, “Well I can’t get no house, I rather choose to go stay at the Salvation Army” and stuff like that. You know, but I didn’t want to do that. You know what I’m saying. But like I said, the military helped me out a lot.
Interviewer: 02:55 That’s good.
Donald Johnson: 02:56 Yeah.
Interviewer: 02:58 What impact have they had on you or your family personally?
Donald Johnson: 03:04 See my nephew, he got four or five buildings, so I would stay in one of his houses, you know and stuff like that. Housing wasn’t really a problem for me. You know, cause the military helps me out still, you know. So housing for me wasn’t a problem. But, like I said, people just want to choose to stay at Salvation Army, or live under the bridge.
Interviewer: 03:26 They ain’t trying to go get it, they just trying to…
Donald Johnson: 03:26 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It get cold out there, partner.
Interviewer: 03:36 Okay, so what changes have you seen in this community that raise your level of stress or concern about the future?
Donald Johnson: 03:42 My level? Stress, jobs, housing, that stress people out, you know. Robbery, drugs, you know, all that kind of stuff.
Interviewer: 04:05 So how did that effect you personally? How does it like, bother you?
Donald Johnson: 04:13 Cause I see it happening everyday, and I feel sorry for them, but I can’t do that all the time because you gotta help yourself. You know what I’m saying. And so, I can just say look at this, look at that over there, you know, okay, he about to go stay up under the bridge, go to the Salvation Army, or go out there and work for McDonald’s. You know, put a couple dollars away and got your family to help you out, you know, it’s stressing me out thinking. I hate to see people do that. You know, but if live, it’s up to you in, join the military. Go to jail. You know, I see a lot of guys do that.
Interviewer: 04:50 Go to jail?
Donald Johnson: 04:51 Go to jail through the winter.
Interviewer: 04:52 Live there for free.
Donald Johnson: 04:53 Some states, you gotta pay to go to jail. Yeah. Like Colorado and stuff, if they put you in jail for like three or four months, and if you getting a check, you don’t get that check while you in jail. The government get that check.
Interviewer: 05:07 And they pay … Oh my God.
Donald Johnson: 05:10 You pay to live there.
Interviewer: 05:10 Right basically.
Donald Johnson: 05:13 Right, yeah. You know
Interviewer: 05:14 Okay what part of the city of Minneapolis needs to play into relieve that stress?
Donald Johnson: 05:19 South side and north side and the south side.
Interviewer: 05:23 So like, what should they do specifically to help you relieve that stress?
Donald Johnson: 05:28 Well, get me a job.
Interviewer: 05:30 Exactly.
Donald Johnson: 05:30 Get me a job.
Interviewer: 05:33 Okay. What give you hope for the future of this community.
Donald Johnson: 05:46 Well, give me some hope, well, I can’t answer that one right now.
Interviewer: 05:50 Okay. We can just come back to it.
Donald Johnson: 05:51 Yeah, come back to it.
Interviewer: 05:51 When you think about this area today, what impact do you still see from these historic government policies?
Donald Johnson: 06:00 The government take a lot of money and put it, I’d say schools. They need to improve these schools. And they got enough construction going on. They cutting out a lot of bus stops. And that’s not going to help them, cause if you gotta get off right here to go to work, you gotta go way down here to get off and come back. Or get off here and walk way down there. You know, but really just the schools and the churches and stuff.
Interviewer: 06:32 Okay. How do describe the relationship between the city of Minneapolis and the community over the years? Specifically talking the north side.
Donald Johnson: 06:40 The north side is, it’s improving, but like I said man, they need to put some jobs over here. You know, that’s the only thing I can see. If you give a person a job and keep them off the street, they’ll stay off of drugs and breaking in your house. You know.
Interviewer: 06:59 I agree with you.
Donald Johnson: 06:59 Okay. All right. Yeah.
Interviewer: 07:05 What are your expectations of the city of Minneapolis relative to this community?
Donald Johnson: 07:08 What is it?
Interviewer: 07:10 Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Donald Johnson: 07:11 I just like to move around. You know.
Interviewer: 07:14 So, what do you expect from the city of Minneapolis?
Donald Johnson: 07:17 To give me a job. Let me be a firefighter and all of that, you know.
Interviewer: 07:26 So, to what extent do you trust the city of Minneapolis to deliver those expectations?
Donald Johnson: 07:32 None.
Interviewer: 07:33 Okay.
Donald Johnson: 07:33 Nope. Nope. Not right now.
Interviewer: 07:35 Not at all?
Donald Johnson: 07:36 Not right now.
Interviewer: 07:38 What makes you not trust them?
Donald Johnson: 07:40 Huh?
Interviewer: 07:40 What makes you not trust them?
Donald Johnson: 07:40 Do I got a job? No, I just, well the city, they’d rather put five or six police on the street and then get one person a job to work watching the police car. You know what I’m saying. I don’t trust that, you know.
Interviewer: 08:01 Okay, what part do you feel you can play in creating that more hopeful future?
Donald Johnson: 08:07 I’m going back to the same thing, get me a job. Let me work, let me work. And get with some people up on the ladder and then I can help them, you know.
Interviewer: 08:20 So, if you was already up there at the top of the ladder what specifically would you do?
Donald Johnson: 08:23 What would I do?
Interviewer: 08:25 Yeah, if you had a job, if you was at the top of the ladder.
Donald Johnson: 08:25 You know what I’d do?
Interviewer: 08:25 What would you do?
Donald Johnson: 08:29 I’d build an orchard. And y’all wanna pick some apples, tomatoes, that’d give you something to do.
Interviewer: 08:33 Right.
Donald Johnson: 08:37 Instead of standing on the corner. People can’t even ride the bus stop cause you got five or eight people in the bus stop, you gotta stand in the rain, you waiting on the bus to go to work. They just want to sit in the bus stop and drink.
Donald Johnson: 08:49 You know what I’m saying? That’s what I would do.
Interviewer: 08:51 Okay, well back to the other question.
Donald Johnson: 08:53 Okay, bring it on.
Interviewer: 08:55 What gives you hope for the future of this community?
Donald Johnson: 09:00 What give me hope? Can I tell you what I hope for then?
Interviewer: 09:03 Yeah.
Donald Johnson: 09:04 like I said, I would hope for the kids to be more protected on the buses. You know, and you got the dogs running around not chained up. I went walking down here today, this lady let her dog go, I went to the store, I came back, there’s a big old turd about that big [inaudible 00:09:24]. I would have her to clean that up. You know what I’m saying. But hope, [inaudible 00:09:30] what would I hope for? I would hope that kids can just be kids in the park and all that, without all this gang banging and all of that stuff.
Interviewer: 09:40 Yeah, grow up a little bit too fast.
Donald Johnson: 09:40 Keep them in the house then. But you can’t. How you gonna keep kids in the house in the summertime? They gonna run out that backdoor.
Interviewer: 09:49 Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Donald Johnson: 09:49 You know. I know that.
Interviewer: 09:49 Yeah, me too.
Donald Johnson: 09:56 But the north side is, the north side I think is a lot better than the south side. You know, cause I done lived over there too and you know, yeah.
Interviewer: 10:09 What part does the city of Minneapolis need to play in creating
that more hopeful future?
Donald Johnson: 10:15 What part of Minneapolis?
Interviewer: 10:17 No, what part of the city of Minneapolis, like the city of Minneapolis, what could they do to make our community better?
Donald Johnson: 10:28 Back to the same thing man, get a job and more activities, a job is activity, but just give them something, you know, to help old ladies cross the street, you know, go to Cub Food, and that old lady, help that lady to her car.
Interviewer: 10:46 Put her groceries in the trunk.
Donald Johnson: 10:49 Exactly. You know what I’m saying man? I used to do that kind of stuff.
Interviewer: 10:51 I do every blue moon.
Donald Johnson: 10:54 Okay, yeah.
Interviewer: 10:57 I don’t do it too often.
Donald Johnson: 10:59 But you know, I would go to Cub Food, we didn’t have Cub Food in Chicago, we had Jewel. I go to Jewel, sit around for them ladies to come, or “do you need some help ma’am?” You know, and stuff like that. It makes you feel good. And the lady might say, “Well, here go $2 dollars, $3 dollars.”. “No, you keep your money.” You know, something like that, you know. Go cut some grass for them. Shovel snow for them, stuff like that. All that man. You know, it helped me a lot. Where’d you end up? I still went to the military.
Interviewer: 11:34 Maybe that was your time, it was good for you.
Donald Johnson: 11:36 That was something I wanted to do all my life though, go to the military, play G.I. Joe.
Interviewer: 11:41 Well, that’s my last question that I have for you.
Donald Johnson: 11:43 Okay.
Interviewer: 11:44 Thank you for coming and…
Donald Johnson: 11:43 All right, man. Have a good one.
Interviewer: 11:45 Enjoy the rest of your…
Donald Johnson: 11:44 Okay.
Interviewer: 11:45 Thank you for your time.
Donald Johnson: 11:50 Okay. All right, y’all got my picture?
Interviewer: 11:51 Yeah I got your picture.
by David Beckford | Jan 14, 2020 | Uncategorized, Voices from Recast
Interview of Deseria Galloway
Interviewer: 00:28 Before you start, my name is… What’s your name?
Speaker 2: 00:37 Deseria Galloway.
Interviewer: 00:38 Nice to meet you.
Deseria : 00:39 Nice to meet you.
Deseria : 00:42 Okay, Deseria Galloway.
Interviewer: 00:45 Okay, so [inaudible 00:00:46].
Speaker 3: 00:45 Well thank you for coming in. We just want to go over some of the questions just about your experiences in North Minneapolis.
Deseria : 00:58 Okay.
Interviewer: 01:01 Okay, so can I have you say your first and last name with the spelling, please?
Deseria : 01:07 Deseria Galloway. D-E-S-E-R-I-A, Galloway, G-A-L-L-O-W-A-Y.
Interviewer: 01:15 Okay, so referring to the map right there, do you currently live or have you lived near this part of Minneapolis?
Deseria : 01:24 I lived in North Minneapolis for approximately 12 years.
Interviewer: 01:27 About 12 years?
Deseria : 01:28 Yes.
Interviewer: 01:30 Okay. So part two, thinking back from when you first came to this area til today, what changes have you seen, positive or negative changes?
Deseria : 01:40 I would have to say they’re negative.
Interviewer: 01:42 Negative?
Deseria : 01:43 Yeah.
Speaker 3: 01:45 What type of changes?
Interviewer: 01:46 Yeah, I was just going to say that.
Deseria : 01:54 Respect, level of respect for the elderly or the older persons in the community. The youth are disenchanted and feeling like they have nothing to lose so they live their life like that. So they don’t respect themselves and they don’t respect others. And will say, not just youth, I think that our adults and our elderly …Our older persons, not necessarily our elderly, but the older persons in the community have contributed to that because whether they’re just working two or three jobs to keep ends meeting, keeping food on the table, whether that is just going out to the bars on the weekend getting a break from their kids. All those factors contributed to the deterioration of North Minneapolis.
Interviewer: 02:44 Okay. What do you feel caused the changes you’ve seen in the area?
Deseria : 02:49 Well, as I just said some of them.
Interviewer: 02:50 Yeah, you did.
Deseria : 02:55 And I guess part of it is the deterioration of the family. You’ve got young mothers having young kids and then that continue to spiral out of control. And so I will say that I do believe that service providers in the area don’t always provide services equitably to everyone, especially children of color or youth of color, whether they don’t … Whether they’re fearful, whether they don’t care about them I don’t know, but i have seen agencies get the money but they don’t do the work.
Interviewer: 03:39 Right. You don’t know why you feel this way?
Deseria : 03:44 Because I’ve seen it happen.
Interviewer: 03:46 Okay.
Speaker 3: 03:46 And what type of agencies?
Deseria : 03:50 Human services agencies and that includes the medical professionals in this area as well. Our mothers, our young moms are afraid to go and get prenatal care, fearful that they’ll end up in child protection. I understand the importance of child protection. I used to do it for 24 years as an investigator, but I think we need to figure out a way to engage with our young people in a different way, in a creative and innovative way so they’re not afraid to come forward and get the help that they need.
Interviewer: 04:28 Okay. So I’m going to this?
Speaker 3: 04:28 Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Interviewer: 04:35 All right. We are gathering these stories to increase understanding between the City of Minneapolis and the community on the impact of historic discriminatory government policies and practices in the areas like housing, transportation, and economic development and more. Examples including housing and employment discrimination in the early 20th century, the War on Drugs in the 1990s and others. What impact have these policies or others had on the community in general? What impact have they had with you?
Deseria : 05:25 Well, wow. The War on Drugs I think was manipulated and abused, and they targeted our youth and our families. A lot of the mass incarceration has contributed to the War on Drugs. And so, with that in mine, I understand the need to manage illicit drugs in the community but the way it was done … There could’ve been another way to have done that. We have hundreds and hundreds of young men who now have felonies. They cannot get a job. They cannot get houses. It starts with that … The War on Drugs … a lot of them got those felonies and now they’re stuck. And if they don’t have a second chance program, such as Wellspring or other agencies then it makes it difficult for them to be able to move forward, propel forward, to live their life even after they’ve changed, even after they’ve gotten their second chance scraping and scrambling and getting the churches in the community to come forward to help them.
Deseria : 06:41 Housing, discrimination as far as employment, they all go hand in hand. Housing is just one major factor. Why is it that North Minneapolis has an outrageous number of sex offenders in the area? Can somebody tell me why they drown this area with that? How can an area like North Minneapolis thrive and be successful when you overly populate that community with those kind of people? You know what I mean? I know they have a need to place to go, but it should be equitable across board All communities should get a piece of that, not just North Minneapolis. It’s an excessive amount of people in this area with those charges.
Deseria : 07:31 The war on drugs I think … the issues with drugs, because I’ve served the community of North Minneapolis … People say I do the drugs … Some do the drugs so they can just go home and not have to contend with tomorrow or the [inaudible 00:07:50] next to them. People do it to escape. People do drugs to feed their kids because they can’t get another job because they have a felony. So it’s a cycle that continues to go through the washer and it doesn’t get clean. You just have to keep washing it and washing it and it never comes clean. The stains remain and they’re not given a second chance. Even though we say we give them a second chance, the felonies does not allow them to get a second chance.
Deseria : 08:22 So our housing discrimination is allowed to continue because that is a discriminatory practice. Just because they have a felony does not allow them to … They’re not dogs. They’re not animals. They deserve a place to lay their head. If a person does not have a place to lay their head, how do you expect them to get up and go to a job? To go get a job? That’s a basic staple in a person’s life, to be able to lay your head down safely in a clean apartment so you can get up in the morning and go look for a job, but if you don’t have that staple as housing, that’s a problem.
Deseria : 09:01 Transportation, that’s a joke. I can speak to that all day. The transportation for North Minneapolis … I think they’re targeted. The police wait for them to get off the buses and they watch where they go and that’s a done deal. So transportation, which a lot of our people of color in North Minneapolis has depended on is a problem. I don’t put my kids on public transportation. I wouldn’t put my kids on that public transportation due to the behaviors that go on on the bus. So I know that the police is necessary on what part of it but on the other end I think there’s some issues there, too.
Deseria : 09:43 People have a tendency to do like the Romans do. So, if one person’s acting like that, they’re all going to act like that. So, that’s kind of my spill on the … The War on Drugs I think was a catapult to some of the other problems that we’re seeing though.
Interviewer: 10:01 Okay. What changes have you seen in this community that raise a level of stress or concern about it’s future?
Speaker 3: 10:06 And what part does the-
Interviewer: 10:09 Yeah, what part does the city of Minneapolis need to play in relieving that stress?
Deseria : 10:13 What part does the City of Minneapolis need to play? Give our young men and women jobs, livable wages, not minimum wage, livable wages. And give everybody … Everyone deserves a second chance. A person’s mistakes should not define them. Jobs, that’s a huge piece. I know there’s some brothers out here that would take a job if they were offered a job, okay? So, that’s number one. Employment is one. The other one is housing. If you’re going to give them a fresh start, give them a real fresh start. You know what I mean? We can do a pilot even of housing for ex-offenders. If you’ve got a felony we’ll rent to you but it’s kind of like on a pilot. If you can demonstrate that you’re working and you’re trying to do better then let them get the apartment just like normal Joe could get an apartment, okay?
Deseria : 11:16 So I think those are the kind of things that we need to readdress. Housing for everyone, equal opportunity. You know what I mean? Equal opportunity employer, give them a job. You know what I mean? The homeless, we should be … They wouldn’t be homeless if we gave them a job. They stand on the corner for sometimes eight hours collecting money. Give them a job. Walk up to that young man or woman and say, “Do you need a job?” That’s what the City of Minneapolis … If you’re going to put some money into something let’s direct it to those disenfranchised individuals like the homeless, like the people with felonies, like single moms who can’t get a job because they don’t have no day care. Day care’s just … That’s a huge … That’s why we leave our babies with people that shouldn’t have our kids, crack addicts. That’s why we leave our kids with people that don’t need to care for our kids for day care.
Deseria : 12:11 These are things … If you want to invest, make it affordable for everybody who wants to work to have their kids in day care, not just some people, those that can afford it. Everybody should have a right to put their kids in day care. So that’s just … The City of Minneapolis, if you want to do something and contribute to the recovery and help this community thrive again, you’re going to need to be creative and innovative and willing to give everybody a fresh start no matter what their background is.
Interviewer: 12:44 Okay, you basically said it, but what gives you hope for the future of this community and what part does the City of Minneapolis need to play in creating a more hopeful future?
Speaker 3: 12:56 It sounds like we got the City of Minneapolis part.
Deseria : 13:00 Well, and stop putting us … Why don’t we do stories on people who are doing well in the community? It is so discouraging to see the news and watch the news, and when a crime is committed we shiver in our boots saying, “I hope they’re not black.” We shouldn’t have to say that. That is so sad. And so, giving hope to the community would come with honesty and transparency. We’re here to help, not to judge. I think the City of Minneapolis needs to work a little bit more closely with community organizations, non-profits. Not just give funding to the designated few that provide the services now. It needs to be more equitable, minority lead, women lead, male lead that are of minority descent. Give it to those who are doing the work and who’s out here hitting the trenches doing the real work instead of giving it to the agencies who keep getting money on top of money and they do less and less work.
Interviewer: 14:21 When you think about this area today, what impacts do you still see from historic government policies?
Deseria : 14:32 Historic government policies. Well, we talked about it. There’s rules on the books that prohibit people to get jobs and that’s the felonies. We got Ban the Box. I congratulate us in our success as the State of Minnesota. We got that Ban the Box, but there is other ways that people are figuring out how to eliminate that person with a felony. And actually, to be honest with you, the talent pool of people who have felonies is huge. What am I saying? Those that made a mistake when they were teenagers or near teenagers, 18 years old and they got that felony that’s now on their record as an adult, that’s a talent pool that we’re missing. You know what I mean?
Deseria : 15:26 We got artists, we got engineers, we got people with creative minds that could be doing some great things in the City of Minneapolis if given a chance. That is a talent pool that we need to tap into. We’re missing the boat when we eliminate them. So we need to tap in and maybe come up with some kind of program. If you have a felony, we got jobs for you. You know what I mean? And there not just … I’m not talking about McDonald’s and Burger King. I’m not talking about those kinds of jobs. I’m talking about livable wages jobs. If they have a felony, some of them can’t even go to school, get a higher education because of their felonies. That’s the kind of stuff that we need to be working on, changing rules and regulations that are prohibiting them to live their life like a normal human being.
Interviewer: 16:22 How would you describe the relationship between the City of Minneapolis and this community over here over the years?
Deseria : 16:28 I don’t think people trust the City of Minneapolis. Look at some of the people that have been killed in the North Minneapolis area. And so I don’t think that it’s communicated effectively and with transparency and authenticity that they care about this community. We are a rich community. Pull the covers back and you’ll find them. You know what I mean? So I think that the relationship right now is strained. I think that we need to do a better job of hitting the streets, talking to the community agencies that are doing the work and asking them, how can we help? How can we better collaborate to make a greater impact within the city of North Minneapolis? You sitting down at City Hall, you don’t have a pulse of North Minneapolis. You need to be talking to the persons who have the pulse of North Minneapolis, those that are providers in this area, community agencies that are providers. The faith-based community is huge. These are starting points. Listen to what we have to say so you can get a better understanding so we don’t keep going in this spinning wheel and not getting anything done. So, it’s strained. I would just have to say it’s strained.
Interviewer: 18:00 Yeah, I feel you. What are your expectations of the City of Minneapolis related to this community? To what extent do you trust the City of Minneapolis to deliver on those expectations?
Speaker 3: 18:11 You kind of touched on that.
Deseria : 18:14 Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Deseria : 18:20 I don’t think North Minneapolis believes that they care. If they cared they would do something about it.
Interviewer: 18:28 Yeah. So last question. What part do you feel you can play in creating a more hopeful future?
Deseria : 18:40 I’m a philosopher of second chances as you’ve probably already picked up. I truly do believe that everybody deserves a second chance. This community unfortunately is overwhelmed with people with felonies, overwhelmed with people with issues whether it be addiction, whether it be homelessness. This is the community that’s getting hit at a higher rate than any other community, and until we address that … And I think that community agencies such as ours, we will continue to work very hard and diligently trying to extend hope and let them know that we are here. You know what I mean? But in order to continue the work we have to get the monies to continue the work. The churches have to continue in collaboration with the City of Minneapolis. The community agencies need to be in collaboration with the City of Minneapolis. I’m hopeful because I happen to be a community agency. I’m hopeful because I know my … I legitimately love the City of North Minneapolis. I attend Shiloh Temple International Ministries. I love my church and I watch us put the energy into the community. Sometimes it’s come back because we don’t have the funding to continue. We can start something, to launch something, but if you don’t have continual funding that makes it difficult.
Deseria : 20:10 So the community agencies such as Shiloh Temple, that’s a faith-based organization but there are many other organizations such as Wellspring Second Chance and Antioch Ministries that does the work but we can’t do it all by ourselves. It’s going to take a collaborative effort and funding, monies, time, energy to do that, to bring that to pass. I’m hopeful that if they’re doing this that the City of Minneapolis will listen and hear our cry in the plight of North Minneapolis.
Speaker 3: 20:47 Well thank you for sharing with us today.
Interviewer: 20:48 Thank you for sharing.
Speaker 3: 20:49 I really appreciate it.
Deseria : 20:51 Thank you. All right.
