Rebuilding with art
I just read the piece on the downing of the Columbus statue in St. Paul. I understand it was erected in 1931 as a gift to the State of Minnesota from Minnesota Italian American associations. I’m sure those who paid for the statue were taught the same history I learned many years ago. That history excluded the violence and genocide against Indigenous people. Those who gifted the statue had no ill intent. They merely wanted to be accepted into the mass of people who occupied Minnesota. Although the subject matter may be condemned, it was nevertheless a well-intended gift of art.
Well Columbus is gone and with a smile we can rebuild together and rebuild with new statues. I agree with the lieutenant governor that we should take a hard look at the statues that adorn our communities. But on a lighter side, I’m not sympathetic to anyone with an office window. Before we fill our Capital grounds with even more government buildings let us create statues that celebrate the goodness of all people. In honor of the Italian immigrants, let’s put a statue of Mother Frances Cabrini on the pedestal where Columbus once stood. She dedicated her life to caring for the poor, sick and homeless. Let us create statues honoring the Indigenous people, persons of color, and even all those Scandinavian groups who gave us lefse, lutefisk and meatballs without red sauce. And of course, we can’t forget Prince.
Let us give Minnesota the gifts it needs. Gifts of unity in a paradigm shift.
Mark Cosimini, St. Paul
Then what?
As a child living on the west side of St Paul during World WarII there were two things that were common knowledge, one was that there are bullies but bullies were usually cowards who would pick on people’s kids and animals only when they were at a very strong advantage. A common comment of
the time was “why don’t you pick on someone your own size?”
The other thing that was common knowledge was that if you got in an accident or someone broke into your garage or vandalized your property, you could call the police. Back then that was quite commonly done waiting for the operator to get on the line and say, “number please.” Then you would say, “please connect me with the police.” All the years since then that’s the way it’s been done but it got sufficiently better when the 911 system was developed.
For some time now many people have been buying guns in case they need to protect themselves or their property. If these people start getting a busy signal when they call 911 for any reason and lose faith, they will take those newly purchased guns and take matters into their own hands.
Then what?
Bernie Beermann, South St. Paul
Who does and doesn’t get the memo
In a recent letter to the editor, the writer apologizes for not “getting the memo” on white privilege (“She taught us to do what we could,” June 11). I want to assure her that she has nothing to apologize for. White people do not get this memo; it is not addressed to us. The memo is addressed to people of color.
Not getting the memo allows white people to go about their daily lives believing that the rights and privileges guaranteed under state and federal constitutions and laws apply to them. And because we never see the memo, it never occurs to us that other people, people of color, can have a vastly different experience.
Not getting the memo allows us to have confidence that a landlord’s decision to rent us a home is based only on our ability to pay the rent, not the color of our skin. If we wish to purchase a home, our whiteness is likewise no barrier to qualifying for a mortgage. If we wish to meander through a store, even perhaps picking up and examining merchandise as we shop, we are not followed or harassed by store security. If we get pulled over for exceeding the speed limit or having a burned out taillight, the officer will not haul us out of the car and ask to search it. We may even get off with just a warning.
Not getting the memo allows us to interpret “privilege” in largely economic terms. While the wealthy are privileged, those of us of modest means are not, but as long as we work hard we can succeed.
Because we don’t get the memo, we can, therefore, go through life never understanding that white privilege is not so much about being given extra benefits; it is about not being given extra burdens.
Patricia James, St. Paul
Derelict
I have only one thing to say about Gov. Walz’s handling of the rioting, looting, and destruction of both public and private property in Minnesota: The definition of “dereliction of duty.” The state of becoming abandoned and become dilapidated. The shameful failure to fulfill one’s obligations.
Gary O’Neill, May Township
Property destruction
A tainting to the protesters who toppled the Columbus statue on the Capitol grounds and to the politicians who did not stop it. I believe in free speech but that does not include destroying public or private property. Anyone with their hands on the ropes should be prosecuted.
Allen Eldridge, Maplewood
Sinking
Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, has now said that when he joined President Trump in Lafayette Park the other day, he had been told they were going to inspect National Guard troops. Instead, demonstrators were cleared from the park for the president’s infamous Bible photo.
Let us think about that for a moment: The Commander in Chief (or his people) lied to the nation’s highest military officer so he, Gen. Milley, could be used as a campaign prop. Can the presidency sink any lower? Of course it can, and probably will, so long as Trump remains in office.
Paul Nelson, St. Paul
Standing in the schoolhouse door
In 1963 Gov. George Wallace stood at the door of Foster Auditorium on the campus of the University of Alabama and repeated his inaugural promise of “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever” while attempting to block the enrollments of two African American students. The hatred underlying his words in what is now famously known as the “Stand in the Schoolhouse Door” is as evident in Stillwater School District ISD 834 today as it was in Montgomery, Alabama, over half a century ago.
On June 11, 2020, the 57th anniversary of Wallace’s famous speech, the ISD 834 Board of Education voted in favor of a separation agreement with Superintendent Denise Pontrelli, an advocate for equity in the public schools. Pontrelli’s BOLD initiative squarely confronted a decades-old tension between all-white schools in the northern sections of the district, and diverse, overcrowded schools in the southern part of the district. She did what three superintendents before her wouldn’t.
Pontrelli’s closing of under-utilized schools has made her the target of unrelenting retaliation by Sarah Stivland, Mike Ptacek, Liz Weisberg and Tina Riehle. This Board majority has been empowered by an elitist community of wealth and pedigree to de-stabilize the district in the hopes of re-opening tax-supported designer schools, while denying adequate space for music and art in the schools with more diverse students. The campaign to oust Pontrelli is an affront to all students of color in the St. Croix Valley.
With the rest of the world in shock over the death of George Floyd, the community of Stillwater barely flinched when his murderer was greeted at the neighborhood prison. The same community that elected this current board majority.
Elections matter. Voting is the most powerful means we have of eradicating racism in our district. We have a civic responsibility to elect boards that uphold principles of equity for all students. Complacency is not acceptable. We must change.
We must not allow ISD 834 Board of Education to stand in the schoolhouse door.
Kate Niemann, Stillwater Township
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