Speaker 1 00:04 <inaudible>
Speaker 2 00:30 Tell me what does that <inaudible>
Speaker 0 00:53 Across turtle Island from coast to coast. That's all the Indian canoes out on the Lake sentence. See, this is indigeneity rising hurdling only on KFC. I appreciate air radio. We are 42 years of radio without boundaries. I'm Roy Taylor Pawnee nation of Oklahoma. Your host for news conversation, commentary analysis, and inspiration about indigenous and native identity, reality and experience. This is the episode for Wednesday, June 10th, 2020. I'm in studio stronghold on the banks of the beautiful Minnehaha Creek in South Minneapolis, Minnesota turtle Island. We're sending our signal out into the mega verse and we're going to make our ancestors proud. Well, I don't know if you like that to opening there. We've got a guest already on the line, but that's an old Walter windshield line. He used to say from coast to coast across the nation. It's all the ships at sea, but I tried to indigenize it there as well.
Speaker 0 01:54 So many of our brothers and sisters come from nations around turtle Island that rely upon the canoe boat, uh, on the ocean and on lakes for much of their sustenance and transportation and social relations. So I like that, that opening there, I'm going to be focusing on a particular individual, a profile. We do this occasionally, this a young man. I'll call him a young man, cause I can keep an eye on about the same age court, uh, Michael <inaudible> from Wisconsin. And, uh, we're going to talk just a little bit in the beginning about himself and then about his work, but also some recent events that he was involved in. I've been following him on Facebook. So I wanted to bring you up to speed on a lot of what he's been doing, but before we get to that, let's just give a few shout outs here.
Speaker 0 02:44 Well, first of all, I wanted to acknowledge, let's see here if I can bring it up. Yes. Uh, you know, last week I mentioned that Mark Anthony Rolo, who is also from Wisconsin, I believe he was bad river though, uh, that he had passed. And yes, we can confirm that. I mentioned that we didn't have all the information, but if there's a wonderful obituary, uh, he was a staff writer or consulting writer at the progressive out of Madison. So go take a
[email protected], dispatches the life of Mark Anthony Rollo. And, uh, he authored a column called going native and he passed away. As I said, uh, last week, that was a couple of a couple of days ago. So he was an author journalist playwright and the educator and the newspaper column, this very active in the native American journalist association and our local connection was that he was a former editor of the circle newspaper as well.
Speaker 0 03:39 So we're going to miss him and his voice in his writing. Uh, also, uh, just wanted to give you an update. Sherry Tim's Reimer is out of the hospital, you know, she had suffered a stroke. So she's now back at home recuperating there. So that's great news. Um, hopefully she'll be back on her feet and back in the community very soon, but she's at home convalescing with her family and her equine companions, those courses on their farm there as well. So, and then a couple of other, uh, points that I wanted to bring up for you. I just, I told Adrian Benjamin from alax that, uh, we had, uh, I had announced this. You want masky M a S K I E. This was a mass that she made for all my relations arts. And it was in a New York city competition, the Coney Island USA nationwide mass contest for COVID-19 at one, the judge's choice category.
Speaker 0 04:32 And she was also up for historic and best in shows. So Andrea, congratulations on sewing that mask with that traditional mission, ABI a design this. So take a look at that also on Facebook and then also finally a big shout out to them first, graduating eighth grade, graduating class that, but don't tell your learning center, if you want to know more about this and some of those wonderful young people there go to the circle for June 18th on cat Whipple has a profile on that graduating class now moving into semi adulthood with high school attendance there. So congratulations to all of those people in our condolences to those people who have lost relatives this past week, since we've been on, all right, Michael goes, how are you?
Speaker 3 05:22 I am great. I just wanted to say a couple of things. You know, I, I knew Mark Anthony a role from being in, in the cities and, uh, always, always respected his, uh, his work. And, uh, so I was already here that he, he passed on. Um, I also reached out to Sherry, uh, just a couple of days ago, the other night to see how she was doing. And, and, uh, Sherry is a strong woman and she, you know, she will make it back and, uh, for people, I just think it was nice for, to reach out for her. I think she, it, um, just to let people know that we care and, um, uh, just this unfortunate happened that family has had a lot of, uh, tragedy in the last, a short while. Um, but again, strong families seem to make it through, um, the difficult times.
Speaker 0 06:19 Yes, absolutely. You know, that I wanted to mention her and I did last week as well, where we got the person who's about her, uh, her, uh, uh, condition there that, you know, she was very helpful to me and very supportive, uh, during my, uh, convalescence when I was injured about two years ago. So she's just a wonderful woman and the whole family is as well. So a beautiful family, uh, you know, I was just going to read off the American Indian community development corporations, uh, staff files. And this is from Michael Gosey chief executive officer. I don't want to embarrass him, but he's a member of the whole chunk mission of Wisconsin, responsible for strategic planning, policy development and implementation of AI CDCs program and services. His background includes serving as a whole chunk nation legislator. He worked with the office of the assistant or secretary of Indian affairs in Washington, D C and he started a tribal housing program there during his tenure.
Speaker 0 07:15 He's worked in the area of chemical dependency for over 20 years in the detox setting, as well as with the homeless and chronic populations. Mike is a Minnesota licensed real estate sales person. That's certified pathways, home buyer educator, and the Minnesota home ownership center, certified home ownership counselor. And we all know, as it says that his leadership in the native community here in Minnesota, in particularly in the twin cities has been very, uh, has been buried and terrific. And I, you know, I know that you've got started though, uh, on a construction working in your younger years. You know, I tried that through college as well. That's what motivated me to finish, to get my degree, because I knew I couldn't handle that, but you must be a better man than I am, but you worked your way up from that. Now you're an administrator, certainly a leader and a voice in the community and activists, and just, it's so many different ways. And we can talk a little bit about that, but I'll, I'll let you describe your role there at AIC DC. And we see it around the community here with many of the physical structures that you've been involved in, but you have such a big heart for native people for Indian people. And that's very evident in some of these social services that you're also instrumental in helping to provide. So just go ahead and describe the AICC and how it emerged Mike. Well, I've been at AAS AACC for 13 years now run my 13th year.
Speaker 3 08:44 And, uh, and we've had, we've, we've really developed a lot of growth in that period of time. Um, creating new housing opportunities of strengthening of our other programming, adding more outreach and, and really, uh, looked at how we could be there's no, there's no rule book or playbook. And so, um, we really have to be adapt to what is, what comes our way. And I think, uh, with the support of the board of directors that I have, which is, uh, primarily all native American, um, you know, we've been able to, to really, you know, move quite quickly to, um, address some of the things that come to, to us, uh, you know, with the encampment, we did the hygiene service area across the street, um, and again, got a wink and a nod about, uh, uh, receiving funding for it, but they're still winking and they're still not, we were able to get it done.
Speaker 3 09:47 Um, and then when we saw the trouble this summer, we really came up again and decided it's something that we need to do just to provide basic services, uh, to the homeless folks, as far as showers and bathrooms and, and then, uh, opportunities for housing and treatment or healthcare, uh, services that we believe are really basic to, um, any individual, whether homeless or not. And so that's up and running over in 23rd and Bloomington. Um, we opened up a drop in center because there was a need for overnight, um, places for our people to be, and, and, uh, going through the, the hoops for a shelter, uh, was not something we, we felt we could do. So we opened up, uh, overnight drop in center. We put in recliners and vers instead of beds and my thought or pats, you know, they put cots on the floor.
Speaker 3 10:49 My thought was, I, I sleep better on my recliner at home. Sometimes they might do on my bed and it gives you the flexibility to sit up or lay down and be comfortable. It gives you a, a, a level of protection. And, uh, so that's been, that's been a very important piece in the success of, of, uh, the drop in center. We are dropping center. We've been very fortunate, um, through all of our housing programs. We we've dealt with the COVID a virus, the best way we could in providing, um, the PPE that we can, uh, uh, cleanliness, making sure we clean up after everybody and, uh, before and after, really. Um, and, and we've been able to limit the amount of exposure we've had, uh, which I feel is very telling because a lot of, lot of the community or communal, uh, living situations have had a lot, um, more problems.
Speaker 3 11:47 And we have, um, the drop in center is very successful. We opened up for 25 people night. We had to go to social distancing. We were able to do that to 20 people a night. We average, you know, uh, generally over that. Cause if somebody leaves, we refill the space and, uh, it's been very successful. Some people say it's the best shelter in the city, but it's not a shelter. And, uh, and so we were very fortunate enabled to do that. And, uh, when we, when the people come in, we check their temperature, we ask them if they've been around anybody, that's, that's been has the virus. Um, we ask everybody that comes in there, take a shower, we provide the hygiene, um, things, they need toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoos, and things like that. We also offer underwear and socks to give people a, you know, an opportunity to, to feel a little fresh.
Speaker 3 12:39 And, uh, and, and again, I think it's, it's, we feed them also a soup and sandwich, or, um, if we have something else, sometimes you have some lunches from the other programs. Um, so, uh, we, you know, it seems to be working really well. All, we, we were a funder for a couple of months. I think we're gonna be able to extend that a little bit. And now with the new homeless issues that we have, uh, you know, there's more of a need for it. We really have to figure out how we're going to deal with how is the providing housing for all the folks that need it, uh, both native and nonnative. So it's a longer conversation, no doubt.
Speaker 0 13:20 Right. You know, uh, when I first became aware of AI CDC a years ago, I kind of saw it as that's the bricks and mortars portion of serving the data population here. And then when, um, uh, NAC D or native American community development Institute came along, they were pursuing, uh, some community development or community solidarity. And then also arts programming. I saw that as more of the human services or the, the human centered, but it's become clear to me over the years that you can't separate the two that AIC can see your organization. Uh, even though they aren't involved in the bricks and mortars, you've got the, uh, the shelter they're on Franklin Avenue, you've got the, uh, low income housing there on 24th street and Bloomington, there are, uh, what they refer to in social services, uh, lingo as wraparound services. We can't turn your back on those because many people who have that housing need also have those other needs that you're describing. And now we're at, when you were talking about, uh, the wall of forgotten natives encampment on Franklin Avenue, near highway 55, which for all of our listeners who are not familiar with the twin cities is very much in the heart of the native community. And you were talking about the temporary hygiene services area that you set up there as well. Uh, you know, basically out of the resources of yourself and, uh, AIC BC, as you're saying, you know, some of these supporters who so
Speaker 3 14:52 Promise something, you know, which we're all used to as native people, you know, we're still waiting for them to deliver. So it keeps sending that invoice to them, but you were involved, you were involved with that. I mean, that's, that's what I mean. You just, wherever you see a need, you jump right in there, pitch in and try and do the best to try and meet the needs of the native community. And so now we've got this with the COBIT virus, and we'll talk more about this in a minute about the hygiene services area there, just right down on Bloomington, then I believe 23rd or, or 20 seconds. So, but you know, what, what is the, what is the motivation? I mean, what is it, tell me, I know you have a good heart, but it, you know, is it a, something out of your own story or, or what exactly that motivates you?
Speaker 3 15:38 Well, I'm kind of, I'm kind of an interesting, uh, um, specimen myself, you know, I'm a product of a mixed marriage. My father's native, my mother was white and, and I would go back and forth, uh, much like a lot of people that are out of divorced families and separated families. I would go back from living in Chicago, with my mother, which, um, was going to normal living in that regard, I guess, um, to go to live with my grandfather, uh, who actually lived with my father. And, and so I, I, I was in both sides of the spectrum and there was my grandfather. We didn't have running water. Um, you know, uh, in fact I was a senior in high school before I actually moved into an apartment that had running water. I played sports all year round, so I could take showers. Um, and so I, I, and, and I, I've been involved in at my tribal level for, for years, um, and, uh, very close contact with my relatives in Wisconsin.
Speaker 3 16:45 I serve as a commissioner on the porch and housing and community development associates, uh, agency. And so I'm, I'm there on a monthly basis. And, and, and so I just always have had a connection to, uh, my native roots and also connected to the urban roots that I have. Um, you know, I just, you know, I'm just crazy, I guess, maybe the easiest way to put it. Um, but I, I just, uh, when I see a need, I, I feel compelled to, to see what we can do to, to make it better. Um, and so that's, that's kind of a blessing and my wife would say maybe a curse on occasion, because sometimes it takes the place of, of the community. My community response sometimes takes the place of my family response when it's not, I saw it, I got to learn to balance that I try my best, but I do have problems on occasion.
Speaker 3 17:42 Um, but you know, it's just, it's just so important to me that, um, you know, I remember my grandmother, you know, always looking for her Indian money, you know, uh, and she, you know, died looking for that then. So many of my relatives get, you know, and say, Oh, geez, we're going to get our Indian money. And then everything will be good, you know, and it never came and I don't think it's coming yet today. Um, but at the same time, um, we have a, a community that, that, uh, needs, um, the people that, that can provide a level of, of help to, to have those people, you know, continue to do that. I see, I see a lot of, of, of challenges, but I see a lot of opportunities. I know, I just feel that, um, our community has the capacity in the ability to really stand up for itself and what we have to be, uh, together and doing that our AIC D C's relationship with Nacky, you know, is, is one that's, uh, you know, we understand each other's position and we have some boundaries that, yeah, they, they will co-mingle, but not the main focus of it.
Speaker 3 18:58 Um, we are a bricks and mortars. No, I committed to acting that whenever there was a piece of property on the Avenue, in the cultural corridor that, that we could look at, uh, grabbing, we would do that. Uh, I know all the development that we do, we look at how it fits into the community blueprint that was established. I think in 2000, I don't know what year it was now. Um, but that was a lot of input from the community members. And we, uh, look to that is how we provide, uh, more opportunities and, and really a way of, you know, enhancing our community to the benefit, not only to the native community, but to the communities as a whole, because we, we're not in a bubble. And we have to realize that, um, you know, we have to be part of a larger solution to, to all the problems that we find.
Speaker 0 19:54 Right. Right. Well, especially these historic times, and it kind of reminds me of the old adage. Uh can't remember who said it, but one of our ancestors in the past about let's put our heads together and see what good we can do for our children. I think, uh, you're certainly a good example of that, what we could do for our community as well, with all of your collaborations and your, uh, your activities. I want to get into this next half. Uh, Mike talking about these specific incidents or instances, as we were talking about him being, living through historic times, you know, we're always wanting to do, uh, you know, a strategic, uh, approach to whatever it is that the needs are in the community, but all of a sudden we've had this global pandemic. Then on top of that, who knew that Minneapolis st. Paul would be the center of attention for a major racism, anti or multicultural effort to address police brutality.
Speaker 0 20:55 I mean, we've, we, you and I have both lived through these instances where the Minneapolis police department has been involved in the, uh, harassment, uh, the, uh, roughing up and even the shooting of native peoples. And now we have this instance with, uh, mr. George Floyd, uh, and, uh, uh, basically a public execution by the Minneapolis police department. So live on, uh, on Facebook. So, uh, I want to take us first through why don't we go to George Floyd because that's been the most pressing one. And that's where I noticed when you were putting in a Herculean effort. And then, and then we'll go back to, uh, the COVID-19 response with, uh, you know, the hygiene services area. But, um, tell me what, uh, you know, where were you at when you heard what was going on and, um, you know, what, w what did you feel like your response had to be before we even began to see the protesting, the demonstration and the riots?
Speaker 3 21:54 Well, for me, I have to start, um, a long time ago. Um, you know, violence to our community is nothing new. Um, and to the black community, it's nothing new. Uh, I'll share with the REU audience that my father was killed by the Chicago police in 1969, you know, uh, in a domestic, uh, uh, highly, uh, domestic situation. And so, um, I've been aware of, of, um, violence, um, for all of my life as a, as a, from being 16 years old. And when I see things like what happened to mr. Floyd, it just brings back, uh, you know, some memories from a long time ago and a lot of anger, a lot of hurt. Um, but at the same time, a lot of, um, of interest in, in, in, you know, how do we change that, um, you know, Thursday, the Thursday, the 28th after a would happen.
Speaker 3 23:00 Uh, I knew that the unrest were going to be, uh, you know, fairly significant. Um, and I put out a Facebook post and I just said, protect Franklin Avenue, AIC DC has a lot of, of holdings, buildings, bricks, and mortars on, on Franklin Avenue. We also have a lot of businesses. We have a lot of people that live in the housing. We have a lot of people that really, um, depend on us for a lot of different things. And, and I just couldn't let those people down our experience in our community is that the third precinct, you know, when it was in its best, uh, still didn't have enough, uh, of a police force to, to tackle the size of location area that it had. And, um, and our community was left to fend for itself an awful lot. Um, and knowing that based on history, not only in, in, um, you know, the recent history, but for a long time that, uh, we, we really can't depend on other people to, to stand up and, and be as protective as we can for ourselves.
Speaker 3 24:19 And so I, I said, protect Franklin Avenue, I'm going to be on Franklin Avenue. Um, and I was asking for help, um, people that are willing to come and protect the Avenue, and a lot of people show it up, you know, um, my wife and I went and got hotdogs and hamburgers, and because I was taught and in my tradition, you feed people. And, um, and so we did that and, and we, um, had about 50 people. And then we kind of broke off into little areas. We've identified 14 different, uh, buildings that we wanted to protect. Um, more and more people joined on over the course of the nine nights that we were out. Uh, we probably had a couple of hundred people that had actually spent all night in one place or another. We had several, a hundred other people that were just there to support us.
Speaker 3 25:11 Not everybody could spend, spend all night with us that I'd hate to say how many hamburgers and hotdogs I cooked over those eight days. Um, and, um, but we chose the Fe feed people. When we started, we chose to feed people at midnight or, you know, one o'clock in the morning to help them get through the night. Um, we were at locations where we were in intimate danger. We were at DIW when U S bank building burned. We probably had 40 people in the parking lot there protecting, um, DIW. We had people at McKinsey, unfortunately the fire, uh, got ahold of McKinsey, and there was nothing that anybody could do to stop that. Um, you know, when I look up and down the Avenue, I had breakfast at Maria's this morning, and Maria is, is a little restaurant owned by a Colombian lady. And, um, and she was one of the reasons that I, I really reached out for people cause she looked at me, I went, I saw her and she's Michael.
Speaker 3 26:10 I, I redid my whole place, new floors, new ceilings, new bathrooms. I spent all my money and, and I can't lose it all. And so we decided to protect that. And, and, uh, at the same time, the, all these store on Franklin Avenue is the only one open the city, uh, in the city of Minneapolis. And so we were able to protect the Avenue, um, and, um, you know, it was important. We were both armed and unarmed. Um, you know, uh, and, and, uh, several committee members do have concealing carry permits. And so the people that did have, we, we did bring out, uh, arms, you know, can't bring a rock and a stick to a gunfight, you know? And so, um, but it showed that when, when the community chooses to stand up and be counted, we can, and then we have to continue to do that.
Speaker 3 27:07 We have to see how we can make our community the best they can be. And we have to do that ourselves. We can't count on other people. We have to look for their resources, but we have to, we have to have them instead of them deciding, designing your program and asking us to apply, we have to design the program and ask them to apply. You know, it is the way I looked at it. And so, um, I think that we put ourselves in a better position. I know that, you know what, we have a letter by the governor and we got a letter by the mirror stating that we could, we were, we were waived from the, the curfew. So we could do the work we wanted to do to protect this community. I think that was a, a real important piece that they recognize that we were, we could do that.
Speaker 3 27:58 Um, when the police went by our location at polo grounds coffee, they waved at us in a gesture of thank you. You know, the national guard when they went by in their big machines, uh, from the tourists on top would wave at us, you know? Um, and yeah, there were some other issues, you know, uh, when the national guard looked at people, they didn't know whether they're good or bad. And so they start with the bad. So sometime that's a, that's a problem. Um, but all in all, I think we weathered the storm very well. We stood up against, uh, an old number of odds and, um, we don't have to spend our time rebuilding, like they do on Lake street. We, we could spend our time building up from where we're at and that whole, that was the whole plan, you know? Um, and I just hope that we don't get lost in the, in the resource shuffle because of that, you know? Uh, and, and sometimes that happens. You almost, you know, uh, you know, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.
Speaker 0 29:04 Right. Right. Exactly. Well, you know, you've mentioned some of those Maria's cafe, uh, the, uh, Hennepin County, uh, Franklin Avenue branch, uh, all my relations, art gallery, Palo grounds, uh, the offices of the Minnesota Chippewa tribe, the Indian center, uh, and then, you know, on and on, I think, uh, AI OYC Joe Hobart's organization, he was on last week, you were able to provide a security there, maybe the Indian health board at Michigan. You win a pharmacy now, unfortunately, like you said, big, easy down on Lake street and division of Indian work, uh, while that was not, uh, destroyed big, easy was because of a fire at the, uh, uh, post office right next door. So I think you guys did just an admirable job, uh, particularly the long hours. And, uh, as you say, the uncertainty of the end, the native people are always kind of in that circumstance.
Speaker 0 29:59 So it was a real challenge, I think, communicating and getting cooperation from the state and from the law enforcement authorities. So I commend you on that as well. Uh, let's take a little pivot here at back towards COVID-19 because just before all of this started, you had been, again, instrumental in bringing a hygiene services area there on Bloomington, right across from the all nations Indian church to begin to try and assist, um, uh, homeless, maybe, uh, uh, new Brits and other just community members who maybe not have access to, uh, cleanli, uh, surroundings and the ability to add excess water and soap, mass gloves, all of that. Again, what was it involved in that other than, you know, you know, responding to a global pandemic as it hits real close to home here in the twin cities,
Speaker 3 30:54 Uh, you know, the, you know, again, some of it's selfish, I go home at night and I take a shower and I just, I, every time I go in there, I just kinda put a big sign, you know, Oh, this feels great. And I just feel that that's important to any of us, you know? And so the, the shower piece is just something that gives, uh, you know, our community members, an opportunity to, to just, you know, uh, be one with water, nothing else. And, um, you know, I have between all the supportive housing that we have, that deals with a lot of folks that have suffered homelessness in the past. Um, you know, we have 140 some units of that type of housing. And so, um, we just really know the, the need and, and, and some of the clients, uh, some of the people on the street, or have been past clients of ours, that some of them will be future clients of ours.
Speaker 3 31:54 And so any way we can make connections to the people is a positive piece. Um, you know, we, we never give up anybody. Um, we just try to support them where they're at best we can, whether that's a bottle of water or, uh, or in some cases, a shower or I'll have opportunity to get on services. We have a Henoch McCone working there and the County worker there, uh, signing people up for MAA services so they can get some food stamps and get some help. In that regard, we have housing assessments, so we can get people looked into housing, we have treatment, uh, opportunities for people to get into treatment. So we really look at at what the folks need and the pandemic, you know, it, again, again, we've, we've had cases, I've had staff that have suffered through a COVID-19, all of them have recovered.
Speaker 3 32:48 I, we have clients, uh, in a number of our places that, that have suffered through COVID-19 and every one of them are as, as, as recovery. Um, and so I think early detection helps, uh, supervision helps the end, uh, nutrition in and, uh, and just, uh, providing water, all these things help in getting people to get through the, the virus period. You know, my thought myself was, I never thought I wouldn't get it. Uh, but my goal was if I got it to live through it. So, um, and that's the way we looked at it and, and we continue to do that work. We, we don't, we've given away hundreds and hundreds of masks. Um, we've given away gallons and gallons of hand sanitizers, um, gloves. We, we try to provide anybody, anything, anybody would need to keep them safe. And most importantly, we provided a lot of information, you know, wash your hands, cover your face, don't touch your face, things like that, that are just basic information that will help people, um, you know, stay away from the virus as much as possible, but as we know, nobody's immune from it and it shows up, uh, places kind of unannounced.
Speaker 3 34:10 And so it's, it's a, it's a difficult situation, but all in all, I've been very, very, uh, very, very thankful for the way that we've been able to address it. And to the staff, you know, we have ACDC, AACC has 120 staff people. And so, and we didn't, we didn't lay anybody off, you know, cause we have 24 hour facilities, we run the County detox, um, and, uh, serving food for, you know, close to 300 people three times a day. Um, so we, we didn't have an option to stay home. Um, and so we had to do what we could to, to make it work for everybody understanding that we were all in harm's way. We were able to provide a, uh, and still providing today, uh, a little, uh, opportunity, uh, hazard pay because we know we're putting people in harm's way and feel that it's important that they, you know, at least feel secure financially for this period of time.
Speaker 3 35:14 So they, they can, uh, you know, provide a level of stability to their families. Yeah, that's great. That's great. That's fantastic. Speaking of family. So how are you and your family holding up under, uh, it sounds like you're, you're back in the office or at least working from home part of the time. How are you holding up under, <inaudible> been in the office most, every day, you know, um, my family, my, my wife is at home with, I have a 10 year old daughter, uh, and, and, uh, and then my grandkids spend the days there too. And so my wife is very busy at home, so I really can't get much done at home. Um, with, with the bed. I'm always having to be there when I can. Um, my son, uh, one of my sons was get, did get the virus and he was down for 14 days and he had eight days of a fever. Um, and he said, he's been sicker, but never as this sick for so long, but again, he made it through it and, and, uh, we had his children with us through that time. Um, and so it's, it's been a, you know, sacrifice on every, every angle. I mean, that's, that's what, uh, again, uh, in this type of situation where it's the pandemic or, um, the services we're seeing, there's a lot of sacrificing that goes on. Um, not only by me, but by so many community members that really put the community first. Yeah.
Speaker 0 36:43 Okay. That's good to hear then. And we'll, uh, hope, I'm glad he's recovered now as well. And so I know you've been active with, uh, the metropolitan urban Indian directors. We had Joe Hobart on last week to talk about a letter that went to, uh, interested parties about, uh, the murder of George Floyd. And so I know you'll be active with them. We've got a potential, a special session coming up in which it was supposed to be bonding issues. I know that MUID had, uh, pursued bonding requests in the past, and this is particularly important for AI CDC, as well as they look at projects in the future. Anything else we can, you can tell us about for the future, you know, personally or, uh, uh, in the community?
Speaker 3 37:26 I think we're very fortunate that Jennifer Holt, who is in charge of the Minnesota housing finance agency, MHS is very in tune to the fact that, um, supportive housing and affordable housing has been ignored for the last decade by the legislature. Um, most of the money that's went into housing has went into market rate or mixed income housing versus a supportive housing and affordable housing. And so in order to, to make a difference in the housing, we have to really create more opportunities for affordable and supportive housing. And, uh, now with the pandemic and with the, whatever, all this, you know, the finances, the financial picture of the state is a lot different than it was, uh, four months ago when we were fighting them over billions of dollars, whether to send it where to send it, you know, now maybe that's the reason it would all happen because now we don't have to argue about that anymore as it's gone, you know?
Speaker 3 38:27 And so, but we have to make a better plan. You know, my feeling is Roy and I've said it, you know, for a while now we can't go back to normal. You know, before the pandemic, before the unrest, we, we, we can't go back to the way it was because it didn't work. Then it was broke. Then we have to look at how we go back better. And I think what the community needs to do is to stand strong, stand tall, and we have to be vocal. We cannot, we can't afford to be invisible. We have to be noticed and heard in what we need to make our community the best it can be. And it's going to take a lot of resources and a lot of time. And again, a lot of sacrifice from the people that are on the ground and making things work.
Speaker 3 39:18 Um, we need more people to show up the world is run by people that show up. Uh, we need more native folks to show up in every, uh, place they're at. I know this is a broad, Jessica was out farther than Minneapolis because in every community we have to be visible. We have to be vocal and we have to be, you know, we have to show up, you know, that's it, you got to run for offices in leadership roles. You know, um, I, you know, we have some native American women that have come up. We need some native American men to jump in to the spotlight and, and, uh, but we have to do it in what we consider a good way. Um, and, um, you know, one thing we have for us is our spiritual beliefs and our, our ability to reach back, or, or when you first opened up, you talked about the elders and I tell you what, um, you know, being with all the people that we're with. And I had relatives from black river falls from the hood nation, uh, come up here and stand with us. And it just made me think of our elders and how proud they would be, uh, of what we're been able to accomplish. The fact that we're still here, but we can no longer just survive. We really have to look at thriving.
Speaker 0 40:41 Yeah. Well said, well said, well, Mike, I appreciate you coming on with us this afternoon and telling us a little bit more about what you've been up to. I know you were originally on with this years ago on a first person radio. I think this is the first time I've had you on indigeneity rising, but it won't be the last time. I have a feeling about that as we go into the rest of this year. So I appreciate so much all of your work, your spirit, and just getting a chance to see you. I don't, I haven't been out as much as well under the COVID-19 restriction. So I'll look forward to that spending time with you, maybe a cup of coffee or something like that. So they are lost for words.
Speaker 0 41:20 That's, that's what we need on radio. All right. I'll let you go then. Thanks again for inviting me. Bye bye. Okay. Quickly, I've got a couple of announcements, new native theater, Thursdays. This is something that's out of New York city hosted by the American Indian community house. So tomorrow you've been January or June the 11th, and that's at 8:00 PM. You can log on to that through Facebook. So that's the native theater Thursdays, and then something local here. And my good friend, Rihanna, Jase, natives, and playwriting. She's going to be hosting that class on Saturday at 2:00 PM. Again, you can find out more about that at new native theater on Facebook, as well as sign up. There's a small, a nominal, uh, contribution they're asking for. They've got some great classes coming up in the rest of June. So check that out at new native theater as well.
Speaker 0 42:15 And I know that a center for native American youth every Wednesday for the next couple of weeks, it's sponsoring a native youth in wellness, health, and wellness webinars. So check that out. It's center for native American new thought. Oh, aren't you all right. Well, I want to think again, my guest Mike go see from the American Indian community development corporation listing with us about, Oh, just about everything, his history and also AIC D C plus what he's been up to during this time of, uh, stress and anxiety here related to COVID-19 and also the recent, uh, uh, unrest here in twin cities over the brutal killing of George Floyd. So, uh, we'll have him back soon here. And, uh, just a reminder then, uh, I'll be right here right next Wednesday at 1:00 PM.
Speaker 4 43:10 So check us out on Facebook. You'll find out more about, uh, yes and other future topics coming up. Well, you know, who comes up next to lead us out? That's um, for the keys to Cola with Indian cars and be all just remind you remember in <inaudible> now, and it's maybe forever and visionary biasing. See you later at the 49
Speaker 2 43:33 <inaudible> please. Mr. Up. I got to make it to <inaudible>.
