City of Minneapolis, MN Black History Month 2023, 2 Feb 2023

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From YouTube: February 2, 2023 Moving to Minnesota The Migration and Immigration Experience

Description

For Black Americans, the Great Migration was one of the largest movements of people in U.S. history. Approximately six million Black people moved from the American South to northern, midwestern and western states from roughly the 1910s to 1970s.

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Thank you very sick. Okay,.

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um I, don't know what it is.

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They thank you very much.

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Good afternoon.

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I want to welcome you to the first of our monthly, our weekly programs for Black History Month, for.

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2023., this is.

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A program that we'll talk about the moving to Minnesota the migration and immigration experience.

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My name is Daryl Spears and somebody told me I was a moderator and I'm still trying to figure that out.

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Has always been important and as we come to February and Black History Month Dr Carter G Woodson. uh It started off for those of us that have been around a while. It was a week and.

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Now it's a month, but in.

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Actuality it's every day, but.

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I'm gonna do is, if you know it, I'd like you to join with me in.

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The Negro national anthem.

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Which is just every voice and sing, and would you please stand Lift Every Voice.

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Let me see sing a song full.

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Of the faith that.

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Thank you so much as we begin today.

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We must remember that we're here, standing on the shoulders, we're standing on the shoulders of our ancestors and as I pour Libations to honor them. I want to talk about those ancestors and mention some that have laid the path and the soldiers that we stand. I talked about Dr Carter, G, Woodson,.

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Brother George bunga.

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Nellie Stone Johnson Glover.

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Clarence wiggington.

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Roy Wilkins Whitney Young.

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Maxine Smith, Roger, Neal and all of our ancestors that have allowed us to be here, I want to invite them in and I want you to look around the room, because now the room is full. Your ancestors, my ancestors, who come in to.

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And know that they are here holding.

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They're, propping us up on every leaning.

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Much thank you.

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You know, we've got, we have the honor of.

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Having some discussion and dialogue but.

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Get to that I want to introduce our speaker. His name is Dr Leon Rodriguez. Not only is he.

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An Educators educator he's.

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I call a wonderful human being in this. In this space we call it Earth. You know we don't run into people that that have that kind of caliber of life and.

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Brother Leon.

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Educator, the University of Minnesota, um he was with the system and I'm not even going to read his bio I'm, just going to tell you about he's, been a part of a movement around the world and right now he is currently the vice president for equity and inclusion and the dean of students and Luther Seminary.

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Brother has just returned.

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And being in South Africa to say farewell to his father, so.

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Want you all to send your well wishes and your blessings as I introduce Dr.

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Rodriguez foreign.

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And it's amazing how our.

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Stories intersect with each other.

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That my brother Tony has done this libation and.

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Spoke about the shoulders.

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uh In my tradition, we.

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Introduce ourselves without introducing the.

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Shoulders, which.

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Stand well if I did that today.

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That is my tradition, but I do stand on the shoulders of many strong men.

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Women in the country of South Africa, where I am originally.

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As Tony said, I've just been to South Africa returned two days ago after the death.

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Of my father and uh people often ask me: how are you doing well I'm really doing well, my father lived very, very good and Rich Life as.

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A minister as a.

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Community leader, he was 93 years old, I'm very happy that he is sleeping in Heavenly peace, so.

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Doing really well and I'm excited thanks.

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For the invitation.

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To share my share my immigrant story with you today, even though I'm an immigrant for the past 28 years in Minneapolis, we.

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Out in the Southeast Minneapolis currently I reside in Saint Paul, the city of really love and wish you could live there.

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But I have been here before.

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Jamaican slaves.

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And moved to the Southern United.

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As soon as reconstruction uh was happening, he decided to leave the United States to go to South Africa.

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Where he met my my.

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Grandmother and his name was John.

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And my grandmother, my great-grandmother was Caroline, whom.

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Not have the privilege.

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Of meeting because.

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He died before.

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I was born, but.

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I do remember my.

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Hear from my mother and others about.

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Him was there was this American who lived in our neighborhood.

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And he was a blacksmith.

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Under the colony.

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Well many many years.

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Africa and.

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Which I was a young activist as a college student um when that was over? I decided that I wanted to.

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My education and uh while I did a master's degree in.

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Many of my professors said: don't.

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Yeah um life uh as a segregated.

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Which was pretty hot and.

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uh So we had to.

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Deal with many many attitudes when you wanted to pursue higher.

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Because, obviously um There Was Fear by the white population that we would take their jobs well.

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Apartheid was over some of those prejudices, attitudes.

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um A wonderful story of reconciliation, but.

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Decided to come to the United.

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States because I didn't want to study so that I could make a contribution back in South Africa.

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Be involved in.

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In the country and.

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To be able to make a contribution, so my migration story, my immigration story- was that.

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Other refugees or others immigrated to the United States I was not forced to come to the United. States I did not see anything to.

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Come to the United States to.

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Get an education, but.

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I University of Minnesota, my department asked me if I would apply for a particular position. I.

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Working in the Center for Youth Development at the University of Minnesota and.

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So I was asked.

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um To become the first Multicultural uh used, um professor in.

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The University.

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Around how we build any more diverse population and how we can.

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People well I felt very honored to be called to.

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That to that role, because, as I looked at many of the.

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Establishments uh I.

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Could not see a lot of diversity and.

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With the University of Minnesota extension.

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Service throughout.

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The state of Minnesota educating um what.

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Was then called foreign.

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Background and a different culture and.

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uh You know there's a saying: if you build it, they.

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Will come well, they.

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Did not come because many.

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Did not trust and I said the.

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First step we.

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Have to take is to build trust so.

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I worked for the university for eight.

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Everything will be okay, well completely, neglecting to understand the.

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Cultural experiences of people, the racial experiences.

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Of people completely.

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At them, and so when we, when we talk about who started eager.

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Weeks program in 1926, Woodson.

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Was concerned about the fact that it was a look.

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The groundedness.

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That makes people.

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That bring hope.

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um People were.

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They were, they were seen as invisible.

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And this is why you instituted something like.

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The black history month.

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So that we could recognize and acknowledge uh the culture and and.

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Things that give meaning to people that was also my experience. Coming to the United States I said in classes. We were like three of us. We were people of color. Often one of them was a Native American and.

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It was quite intrigued.

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By the fact that there.

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Was sort of a hostility.

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I um second classes, often.

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About microaggressions there were several microaggressions committed by professors.

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I had to grow up and I. Think many of you might be familiar.

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With that you might, you might know that um when.

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Somebody comes from from another.

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Culture, you first have to take.

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Know that person right and I think in America you have the same.

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Is so true when.

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We work with different.

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Cultures, people just didn't get.

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Me I spoke with a strange accent which kind of indicated to people that.

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um I mean not as intelligent.

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To the work of equity and the work of.

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Experience yeah well because of that work. um I continue to do that. My.

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Children were growing up my first, my eldest daughter then said uh I.

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Want to go to university as.

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Well and she started out at the University of.

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Wife always said.

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When are we going home.

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You try to um right right, um I,.

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That sometimes, as a.

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Skill in order.

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To build trust but.

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Very outspoken when I see things and I.

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From an Educators perspective,.

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Are open to hearing that.

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Also have something called Minnesota nice, where, even though they agree with you right.

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In that conversation, they.

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Still go back and do the same. The.

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Also, people don't tell.

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You when they're uncomfortable, we.

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About each other and our differences.

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But minnesotans.

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Have this ability.

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A deeply endemic racism in the society because we just don't commit and.

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Me living in the United States sort of one foot back.

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Africa in the African continent is a commitment. It's.

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Huge commitment, it's.

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Commitment because I have to pay a.

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Of money to Delta every time.

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Also, a financial commitment, because living.

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In the United States we do live a.

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Much better uh much more Advantage right.

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And we have family members who have tremendous need so.

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It is a financial commitment, it.

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Social commitment we.

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Want to contribute in the society, we want to see the society better.

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Two years ago,.

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Ago I was flying back from South, Africa and I saw this. There's this article in.

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It said Minnesota.

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Second, to last, in.

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The nation for racial.

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And I was deeply shocked by that and.

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That made me commit even more to.

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And equity in our society and I will.

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Never time people say how could you do this work for so long and.

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You keep doing it uh I.

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Will never tire from doing this, because.

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This is how we fought the apartheid struggle.

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In South Africa foreign.

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To continue to have this conversation.

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How we Are Family.

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We are relatives, we are all one and I want to leave you with that message today. Thank you, foreign.

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So now we've got some questions for the panel and I'm going to ask each panelists to introduce themselves.

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Hello, everyone um salaam. My name is African engagement, specialist with the neighborhood and community relations department,.

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Hello, um my name is the.

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Center director thank.

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You and I have already been introduced, but I'm Leon, Rodriguez.

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Hi, my name is Faith. I am from the City of Minneapolis assessor's office, I'm.

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An assessment there.

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And I'm part of the minis City of Minneapolis team.

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A it's a special thank you for me, um because one of the things that Dr.

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Rodriguez mentioned.

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Ties back to Africa was um 25 years ago.

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Took them to church and when I took him to church, he looked at me and as we were leaving he said Daryl that African is still in you. He said, because you have to speak to everyone here, but.

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Go and that helps tie me back to that to the to the native land, to.

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Ancestors came from and what I have now are some questions that I'm going to ask our panelists and.

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It doesn't matter.

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Who wants to come time in first, but the first question I'm going to ask is what factored into your decision to immigrate to the U.S and, more specifically, why Minnesota.

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Right, um my father um hosted a group of missionaries a while back when I was a little bit younger. um He was um in the church business. He was a pastor and.

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So the mission, the.

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Happened to have come from Minnesota and.

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Years into his.

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He decided to pursue his mastiffs, and so they told him about a university called Hamlin University and that's where he came to do his master's program and.

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The oldest child.

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In the same uh University that he was at and that's how I ended up in Minnesota.

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um Yeah so I immigrant um immigrant Refugee family, um my family immigrated when I was about eight years old um from Somalia because um of the refugee status. We were fleeing from the Somali Civil War um back in 1990 293. When we landed in San Diego um and we lived in San Diego for about a year and then we came to Minnesota.

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A sister that wanted to work so I had I come from a very Dynamic, um blended, family and I. Don't know why we came here. To be honest, it.

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Cold and I, remember being in the third grade and all I wanted to do was go sledding with, like all the kids and I didn't have winter. Here you know and I remember telling my mom. We.

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We need clothes and snow.

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And everybody's got.

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That's why we ended up.

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Sponsored the family through social immigrant.

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Social services.

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She sponsored all of us, and we were just grateful to be at peace. Finally, after living in a refugee.

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For about two years and in some horrible conditions, so.

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Too, hey I wish I had a kind of like a smooth.

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Sailing story, but I have a couple two different.

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Influences that led me to America.

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And then that led me.

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I, like the United Methodist, my mom was a big United Methodist um leader and she boy.

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You know she passed.

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Away a couple years ago, but the story is that to tell about the.

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Of that woman School.

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Last night was.

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Battle she was fighting 25.

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Ago, when women had a voice but.

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Really didn't have a voice and.

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Wanted to see more out of me than what she had had so Coming.

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America we first landed in.

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um Missouri, that's why I went to school I.

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Went to a Methodist, School uh uh Central.

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Missouri and.

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Then from there, so that's first influence number one: the woman in my life, who did that part and.

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A woman number.

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Two was my sister, who was already kind of out here now. Whenever everything got love, when you come to America, you don't have that sibling. Foundation I come from my families, my dad had 12 siblings, but you don't you never have that. So you stick to what.

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You know it might.

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Move to Minnesota was my.

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Minnesota came.

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Into play, but.

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It's still coming into Minnesota. The eye opener was opportunity.

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To even be better than the world expected so.

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Found that Foundation I slowly found my own, and here we are in Minnesota, it's been for.

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Me 15 years, but.

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Is not just my.

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Home, my home is only Minnesota.

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That's our home, that's the immigration story. Behind my life.

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My immigration story is my: my migration story is almost same. My family came out of my mother came from a little town in Mississippi, and you.

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Know for for someone.

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To tell you that uh a black woman graduates from college in 1953 is amazing in Mississippi and comes to Chicago. That's where she meets my dad, and um you know.

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Dad was from a little town outside.

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Of Oklahoma City that was founded.

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By free slaves, you are looking at the direct descendant of those those folks, my great uncle. He was named after the town, my father, Oklahoma and Uncle. Bully was my great uncle. So that's about my my component and I only came to Minnesota to be here for my wife and I four or five years.

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Ago, well, the worms that got us here has kept us here. The family and I have one blood relative in this town aside.

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Have brother Leon my.

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Community folk here has.

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Kept me here and.

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uh He ain't going nowhere yeah my.

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To you is how your experience differ from.

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Hopes or expectations you had when you came foreign.

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Child and an expected different only to come and get dropped into a.

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Where nobody really you're you're, like yeah I, know um my sister, so I always had one thing: that what do you expect out of people is not.

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Still learned that wanted golden witches and the whole nine yards, but instead it together tonight where at home we value.

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Grocery store is.

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Closed at seven because by 7 30, you should be at home with yours and after that, nothing else.

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You don't need to be out there, so it was.

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Your experiences everybody at Arms left so.

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Was my thing that was my.

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Was an open heart and.

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What I got was arms.

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Expectation and what.

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Received this is where the two were different.

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Of my hopes have been exceeded, um but um when I came to the United States I realized that there's a huge contradiction in.

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Society um what we believe in other countries when we look at the United States of the United States is a great place. We were shocked to see poverty. Extreme poverty in the United States people would have.

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Been overlooked.

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Communities that were neglected- and um we were very shocked about that Paul.

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And he took us on a trip to Chicago where his family is from and.

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My eyes opened.

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Beautiful thing.

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I saw there was how we.

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Are connected when.

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At the culture of his.

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Grandmother and his aunts.

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How the kids would get whipped.

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Okay, I'm I'm at home and.

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That's created a very.

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Strong bond between myself.

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Of you probably know Melvin Giles, he was the person that took us.

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We had never traveled in the United States and.

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Question was: how did you come to Minnesota I.

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Had no idea where Minnesota.

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Was and what it was that there was a scholarship that he was uh at.

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The University of Minnesota and that's the scholarship I got to.

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Come to the University of Minnesota.

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I'm still friends with uh his daughters, one which lives in Tennessee.

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We're very good friends.

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The warmth that.

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So the people you meet and the people you become friends actually become your family.

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um For me, like say, I had huge expectations.

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um Having a competent in my first degree, I thought: okay, I'm coming in and I will just.

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Right in because uh Kenya being a British colony, uh we grew up. Learning English, though I think English is my third.

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Thought it's gonna be easy. I.

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Will get a job while still.

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Going through my master's program and everything will be damned um and also because um my parents were well troubled, they had talked about racism and it happens, but I thought my.

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Just don't get it.

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They're, okay, but the reality was that the difference of what my expectations are and the reality that I got into was.

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Very Awakening because.

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um That was the first time that I realized that I'm.

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Not thought about it.

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Because think about it,.

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Coming from Kenya, it's.

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Black country, yes, we were colonized by the British assistant, the British. We still have the struggle of living in that or stop getting away from that, but the realization that I'm, actually a minority.

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I'm black I got it when I got it when I started, seeing the differential.

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Being followed in stores or even in class, where my opinions were not being um accounted.

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And, like doctor talked about thought that immediately when I opened my mouth to see that I was not smart enough, so.

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Was the reality and so then also the language barriers having an.

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Finding how fragmented it is and how it's very individualistic I was not ready for that, and it quickly became very, very lonely um and I cried every night wanting to go back home because I just could not do it I've, given all the challenges that we were facing and just the not being seen or heard or valued. It just gets to you and um it's something that you learned to live with. It's something that you I I, think for immigrants, because we are constantly trying to figure the system we tend to.

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Where we get creative on how to navigate through it and survive.

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Because one thing that I.

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Understood I kind of figured out uh by experience moving through it is that though I was black because I was not a native born American I was still different. I was not even fitting in with the native online community here, and so there was that not figuring out who my true identities and for the first time coming.

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Kenya I did not know who I was, and yet I knew what it was, but it stretched me to think about where it is coming from what my identity was, how it's being challenged here and who do I want to be. Do I want to embrace the long situation. It really gave me an understanding of where I'm coming from and who are really young and to be proud of who I am to be part of my link.

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I did not think about that, but after the experience, I am so proud to be black.

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That part right.

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It was none of that; it was really none of that and and I.

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Little bit of what I wrote like I, really like known defeat and.

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And loss, and have really found my way out of the depth of addiction, and let me tell you this: it.

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Pressure, imagine being you know, um a young 13 year old in middle school and you're being peer pressured into doing drugs or smoking weed or smoking cigarettes, and the important thing for me to understand was I wanted to fit in and in fact, like you said, I lost my own identity because.

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Was two different people? The web? The little girl that left out of her home to go on the school bus took her hijab off on the school bus and put it into her backpack and I dressed in my jeans.

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My hair out, because.

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Wanted to be an American, and that was what I thought was going to make me proud, because now guess what I was part of it. Kids and.

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In and nobody can mess with me but.

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I went home, I had to put my hijab back on I had.

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Little skirt back on and act like I was uh I.

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Somali girl at home and my mom had no idea.

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And today, I embraced that it took me a long time to really speak in front of people to share my own recovery story, because I am a woman in long-term recovery. And what that means to me is that I can first show up for myself and to show up for my family and.

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Then I show up, for others.

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In the community.

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That are struggling with the same experiences.

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That I have gone through, and that is where I get my motivation every single day. So my experiences have really really changed because now I see the world different. When we came those experiences 1993 1994, when we landed in Minneapolis, my family was staying in Saint Ann's shelter. That was when we first and.

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I watched it to television and Rodney King was getting getting beat up by the police and Los Angeles was lit up on fire and.

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And that was what I saw, that was what I saw and then 9 11 came and I mean the rest. Was history y'all, so I'm gonna, I'm gonna.

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It's unfortunate I think we can have this discussion for a long time, but yeah as we're coming to the end. I got one question and y'all can see I love to eat.

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How, and what did you do to make up for missing that food from home? What did you do? I mean I know what mine was like when my sister came here in 1973.. They didn't even sell grits in the store. It was a hard thing to do yeah.

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What is it? What is it you do home.

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Heavy suitcases.

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It took a while to fight.

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That um the cornmeal we used back home for garlic or in our country, which we call putu, um and we could make a decision that we really loved.

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Did find some immigrant stores, like the Indian stores in on Central Avenue, sold a couple of products like.

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Things that we use back home it made us it comforted us, but we had to also do without something. One day we went to Rainbow. You guys remember rainbow and.

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Was a sausage: this is a sausage in South Africa. This is sausage. It looks so much like the one in rainbow and.

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Were so excited, we got home and we cooked it and.

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We tasted it everybody we couldn't tolerate it.

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Modify things to survive.

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I just found a man.

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From Louisiana.

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You know there's something about your mother's cooking, that you can never replace uh tomatoes and onions and Curry.

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Kind of place we're not.

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Of the other African countries that had that.

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Bunch of more okay.

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But you know when it comes to food, you know you just to be honest in.

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It's been a while and, like I said, until I met my insignificant other. It had been a long.

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Time since I had.

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I'm hungry um for us: um well, we always have a lot of Curry and lots of different spices, and um we just make it here. I mean.

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When I was growing up, I did not, like so I mean I loved American, Burgers I used to tell my mom like I, don't want to eat you know and now that I've grown up and I have my own kids. You know it was important for me to learn how to cook and and to.

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Bring that culture into teaching my kids, how.

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To cook and to get that.

B

Right food, so um if you ever ever want to eat some Somali food, yes,.

B

Or just you know, let me know, and we can we can, we can eat together.

H

A

H

Our custom foods are also have that Indian influence and then also the Mediterranean stores are helpful for us, because uh slaves were being shipped from the beginning Coast by.

A

The Arabs um so.

H

We have so he actually is Arabic, but it's it's languages. So.

E

A

H

That food we also have Mediterranean Foods the Currys and whatnot, so we're able to visit their stores.

D

Oh I wanna I wanna thank everybody. It is.

D

um To the panel, what can I say, I'm coming to eat.

D

Thank you appreciate it.

A

All right: well, uh this was uh week one, so we.

H

A

Few more weeks to go uh next week join us back here same time same place, 12 o'clock, uh we're going to embrace our youth, so uh the next one will be focus on. uh Are you and the trends that they're facing? And things like that? So.

H

Please join us back.

A

Here next week, at 12 o'clock, um the week after that, we will be 11 o'clock at the Capri theater. But the history makers uh ceremony and.

E

A

H

Know don't miss.

A

That I think we have some very exciting awardees this year and then we were wrapping up right back here, uh 12 o'clock on the 23rd somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but the third, the fourth Thursday of the month, and we are going to rock our grounds.

E

A

Black hairstyles and in a past present and uh the creative, so don't miss that. So uh thank you all for coming and see you here.