Somali Women To Flex Political Muscle At MN Caucuses

Party precinct caucuses can be puzzling to long-time political activists. It is democracy in action but some of the rules and procedures can be confusing.

Imagine what the process is like to people living here with a different cultural background, U.S. Somalis for example. Not many Somalis have participated in the caucus.

Somali activist Fartun Weli says, “The process is confusing and Democrats have not reached out to us.” Fartun and the leadership of DFL Senate District 44 decided to change that situation.

DFL produces political action training videos for Somali community … Continue Reading

Appeals Providing Sick Immigrants Life Saving Care Says MN Governor

Poor, sick undocumented immigrants in Minnesota on dialysis and cancer treatments are being kept alive thanks to appeals being filed with the help of state employees. A provision drawn up by Republican lawmakers and slipped into the state’s special session budget bill cut off Emergency Medical Care funding to undocumented immigrants at the beginning of the year.

Hospitals and the State Department of Human Services only became aware of the change in state law in December. That set off a panic filing of appeals for the immigrants to extend the treatments. Appeal filings became complicated because many of the immigrants do not speak English.

On Tuesday Governor Mark Dayton praised his Department of Human Services Commissioner Lucinda Jessen for filing the appeals.

“Commissioner Jessen has rightfully used her discretion to allow people who are directly effected, who really are in emergency situations to make appeals and that continues their health care while that process is going on”, said Governor Dayton. “But that can’t occur indefinitely. So it is going to require a legislative action and possibly some additional funding.”

On Thursday, House Speaker Kurt Zellers defended the Republicans who wrote the anti-immigrant provision into the state’s budget, but promised the law would get reexamined. Governor Dayton says Commissioner Jessen has had some “very preliminary discussions” with the House and Senate leadership about changing the law.

Transcript of Governor Dayton’s comments on the Emergency Medical Care crisis. … Continue Reading

Anti-Immigrant Law To Be Reevaluated Says MN GOP Leader

A law that tossed seriously ill undocumented immigrants off Emergency Medical Care will be reevaluated promises Minnesota House Speaker Kurt Zellers. The provision in the Republican authored legislation which never had a public hearing was added to a large budget bill during a special session in July.

“We’ll evaluate it. And if there needs to be a fix or correction. We’ll do that,” Zellers told a press conference on Friday.

Governor Mark Dayton who signed the legislation says he was not aware of the provision when he signed the bill into law. He says the several pages of provisions that targeted immigrants were intentional and came from the Republican chairs of the committee that drafted the legislation.

“I think there was an intentionality there,” said Governor Dayton. “So it’s really incumbent on them to say what their intentions was and whether this was the outcome that they intended, and if so why. And if not, let’s go back and correct it.”

The law which went into effect this month essentially forces undocumented immigrants on life-saving kidney dialysis and cancer treatments to seek more expensive care through hospital emergency rooms.

“I think some of it really goes beyond the pale of what Minnesotans think is fair treatment of fellow human beings, which is to discontinue people’s emergency treatment and threaten their lives,” said Governor Dayton.

Hospitals forced to swallow costs on uncompensated care, government transparency issues … Continue Reading

Not “Yes HE Can”, But “Yes WE Can” Says Rep. Ellison

Despite Republican congressional resistance that’s made it difficult to make headway on progressive issues, Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison is optimistic about 2012.

“America is ready” Representative Ellison told a supportive crowd at the “Blue State Ball”. “This is a progressive moment.”

Republicans have made a lot of mistakes since winning a majority in the US House. The latest gaffe of opposing a payroll tax cut has hurt their standings in polls even more than Democrats. However Representative Ellison says despite that, and a group of Presidential candidates that even the Republican base finds uninspiring, Democrats need to unite and fight or they will not take advantage of the moment.

“We cannot depend upon the incompetence, ignorance and bigotry of our opposition. We have got to hang together and move forward. We are in a progressive moment, y’all.”

Movement needs to power Obama, not the other way around … Continue Reading

Somalis Close Wells Fargo Accounts To Protest Bank’s Lack Of Support

Wells Fargo Bank isn’t backing the Minnesota Somali community’s fight to send money back to their starving families, so the Somalis are pulling their money out of Wells Fargo.

About 100 people, Somali Americans with their supporters from labor unions, and from citizen activist groups staged a noisy rally in front of the Wells Fargo branch at 3030 Nicollet Avenue, Minneapolis on Friday January 13, 2012, to draw attention to the serious humanitarian crisis in Somalia and to plead with Wells Fargo to take the leadership to resolve the issue.

Since late December, Somali Americans living in Minnesota have been unable to send financial support — a much-needed lifeline — to their loved ones living in East Africa. At that time, a small community bank stopped working with Hawalas, the community-based financial institutions that are the only practical method to transfer funds to famine-stricken Somalia. There was a large rally at the State Capitol January 6, 2012 highlighting the desperate plight of Somali families.

Despite the cold temperatures, Wells Fargo would not allow the entire group into the building. Instead people who wanted to withdraw their money from the bank were admitted one-by-one until all had withdrawn their money.

Why Wells Fargo draws Somali Community’s wrath … Continue Reading

Mr. Obama,This Is Not The Change We Voted For

Civil rights activists gathered again at President Obama’s campaign headquarters in Minneapolis to protest his signing of the NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) that among other provisions allows the indefinite detention of US citizens at home or abroad. Many of the protestors were enthusiastic Obama supporters in 2008 and are now lukewarm about support in 2012.

“This is not change we can believe in,” yelled a woman into a microphone outside Obama’s campaign office. “This isn’t the change I was voting for and is certainly not the stuff we’re going to be suckered in for again.”

One of the protestors, a member of WAMM (Women Against Military Madness) spoke to the campaign staff in the office. She reported that they too were concerned about the President’s action.

A veteran, grandfather, teacher who had enthusiastically supported Obama in 2008 said, “If we want the Constitution shredded, we’ll vote the damn Republicans in.”

More photos from the protest … Continue Reading

Banks Block Somali Financial Lifeline, Minnesotans Protest

“Peoples’ lives are at stake. People are dying.” said a young Somali to a crowd gathered at the Minnesota State Capitol. State Senator Jeff Hayden agreed, “This is an injustice. This is a crime.”

Members of the largest Somali community in the United States have been wiring their money to their home country for years to support family members who live in poverty with no formal banking system. They are now fighting banks who are refusing to wire the money because they fear the U.S. government would label the banks as supporting terrorism. The very last financial lifeline was cut at the end of the year when the last community bank providing the money wiring service to Somali shut it down.

The action brought immediate protests from Minnesota’s Somalis. On Friday, they were joined by unions and political groups at the State Capitol demanding that something be done to reopen the economic lifeline.

Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison pledged support in Congress to solve the problem. Minnesota Legislative Representative Karen Clark and State Senator Jeff Hayden pledged continued support and promised to introduce legislation on the first day of the 2012 session stating, “We are with you…” Clark also described efforts to create a Somali-American Bank to provide a long-term solution.

A financial lifeline since 1993
… Continue Reading

We work hard for this country

Meet Mr and Mrs Antonio Guerrero. Both have worked and lived in Des Moines for over 10 years. A few years ago they ran into some trouble with house payments made gone missing. When the bank said, “You need to leave,” they turned to Iowa CCI for help. Since then, Elvira has been a leader in the community helping others with similar problems.

2011 UpTake Stories With The Most Impact

Workers' Rights Supporter In Madison Wisconsin - Photo by Natalie Rosen	Representative Steve Simon talks about gay marriage
Sparking Occupy Wall Street-Robert Reich debunks six right-wing "lies"	Tornado Hits Economically Depressed Minneapolis Neighborhood

At the end of every year at The UpTake we’ve traditionally highlighted the most interesting videos of the year. But this year, several big stories transcended any one video. So instead, we’re looking back at those stories we covered that have had the most impact.
… Continue Reading

New MN Anti-Immigrant Law Targets The Sick

Video by Bill Sorem

UPDATE: Because of there have been so many appeals, the Department of Human Services has postponed implementing the new policy until January 8, 2012.

A provision stuck onto a Republican authored bill during Minnesota’s one day budget special session this past July may mean death for seriously ill undocumented workers. The law which goes into effect on January 1, 2012 prevents undocumented immigrants from receiving medical care under Minnesota’s Emergency Medical Assistance program.

Immigrant rights groups, community leaders and Representative Karen Clark (DFL-St. Paul) are calling on Governor Mark Dayton to take executive action to assure that nobody dies because of the law change.

About half of the people who would lose their medical care are in Hennepin County according to Hennepin County Commissioner Gail Dorfman. ” It’s an impact of 22 million dollars on lost emergency medical assistance in Hennepin county alone. So we’re really worried about folks who are in nursing homes, folks who are on dialysis, chemotherapy, have a serious mental illness or rely on emergency medical assistance for their care and for their medication and they will lose that on January First.”

County officials are scrambling to notify people who have only until tomorrow (Thursday December 30) to file an appeal with the Department of Human Services to prevent a cutoff of lifesaving services. Complicating the matter is many of the people don’t speak English.

If funding is cut off, it is possible hospitals will have to absorb the cost of providing care to the undocumented immigrants said Representative Carlos Mariani (DFL 65B). “But frankly its very unfair for them to have to do that, because it makes it harder for them to provide medical care for everyone in the community.”

Representative Karen Clark (DFL-61A) says Governor Dayton has told her he is “‘distressed” to find out this was in the omnibus budget bill. “So it’s clear that most of us who would never support this, including the Governor, on any full blown discussion were taken a bit by surprise.”

So how did such a draconian provision get inserted into a major budget bill, get passed and then signed by Governor Dayton?
… Continue Reading