POLITICAL MATTERS: Feb 2018
By Mordecai Specktor Bde Mka Ska On Google Maps, the large body of water on the western edge of Minneapolis now is marked “Bde Maka Ska.” Formerly known as Lake Calhoun (named after slavery proponent John C. Calhoun, a former U.S. vice president), the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) approved the name change on […]
POLITICAL MATTERS: Jan 2018
By Mordecai Specktor #Resist in 2018 In 2017, President Dumbass didn’t start a nuclear war, and for that we can be grateful. His administration – an unsavory gang of right-wing zealots, white supremacists, craven opportunists and grifters – did, however, begin an assault on the natural environment and on American Indian sacred lands. In January, […]
POLITICAL MATTERS: December 2017
By Mordecai Specktor Remembering Dennis Banks When I started writing about American Indian issues, about 40 years ago, I began hearing stories about Dennis Banks, a co-founder of the American Indian Movement (AIM). In the aftermath of the recent police killings of young, unarmed, people of color in the Twin Cities –Jamar Clark, Philando Castile, […]
POLITICAL MATTERS: Nov 2017
By Mordecai Specktor The politics of mining After straddling the fence for years on the introduction of copper-nickel mining to northeastern Minnesota, Gov. Mark Dayton came down on the side of PolyMet’s open pit mine and processing project on the Iron Range. In late October, Dayton told St. Paul Pioneer Press reporter Rachel Stassen-Berger, regarding […]
POLITICAL MATTERS: Oct 2017
By Mordecai Specktor The next Standing Rock Enbridge Energy’s proposed replacement of its Line 3 oil pipeline is meeting popular opposition – and some nonviolent civil disobedience. On Aug. 29, six opponents of the oil pipeline were arrested for obstructing construction. Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) reported: “Alexander Good-Cane-Milk of the Yankton Sioux Tribe in South […]