Jonathan Kozol called the crowd to action, as did John Kuhn, Superintendent of Perrin-Whitt School District in Texas

Matt Damon was there and gave a speech that got a mention in the Washington Post.

   Here’s Matt Damon with his History teacher.

Here is his speech introduced by his mom.

Carlos was a Filipino Poet who came to America in 1930 in his early 20s hoping to find fulfillment of the promise of America.  He admired Americans and believed that opportunity and success awaited his arrival and his willingness to work hard.

Carlos found a very different America than he expected, “I came to know afterwards that in many ways it was a crime to be a Filipino in California . . . I feel like a criminal running away from a crime I did not commit. And this crime is that I am a Filipino in America.”  Last nights vote placing the question about the legitimacy of Gay marriage made me feel that that was the true question on the ballot.  Is it a crime to be gay in Minnesota?

In spite of the prejudice and hatred that Carlos Buloson endured he was able to write the following:

America is not a land of one race or one class of men.  We are all Americans that have toiled and suffered and known oppression and defeat, from the first Indian that offered peace in Manhattan to the last Filipino peapickers. America is not bound by geographical latitudes.  America is not merely a land or an institution. America is in the hearts of men that died for freedom; it is also in the eyes of men that are building a new world. America is a prophecy of a new society : of a system that knows no sorrow or strife or suffering. America is a warning to those who would try to falsify the ideals of free men and women.

America is also the nameless foreigner, the homeless refugee, the hungry boy begging for a job and the black body dangling from a tree. America is the illiterate immigrant who is ashamed that the world of books and intellectual opportunities is closed to him. We are all that nameless foreigner, that homeless refugee, that hungry boy, that illiterate immigrant and that lynched black body.  All of us, from the first Adams to the last Filipino, native born or alien, educated or illiterate – We are America!

To that litany I add my gay and lesbian friends that are now at risk in Minnesota of finding themselves Criminals because of who they love.  They too are America and they too are Minnesota even though some would have them feel they are not.

At church today the sermon was based on John 14:1-15. “God is love. God created us and all that exists so that He might have something to love.  God loves all of us, all of his creation. God enters us that we might love each other and all of his creation.” Too often we fail in our love and fail to love each other and God’s creation.  In my view this amendment is just such a failure.

To join the effort to defeat the amendment on Nov. 6, 2012 click here.

If you are outside the KYMN Radio listening area you can listen online by going to the KYMN website and clicking on the livestreaming button or connecting to this link. You listen to the archived show.

Everything about Budget Projections
Ken Tschumper; former State Representative, 31B

Cuts in Programs for Low Income People.
Beth Stanford; Director, Headstart at Semcac

If You Can’t Exploit People, Exploit the Environment,
David Williams; Chairman, Minnesota Environmental Partnership

Leaving Victims of Domestic Abuse Down and Out.
Robin Yaffe Tschumper; Executive Director, Bluff Country Family Resources

Income and Wealth Inequality.
Dennis Dekeyrel; Retired Software Developer

Cut the Schools, Teachers and other Public Employees.
Mike Gjere; Educator, Norway Township

Doing Without Fire and Police Protection.
Deb White; City Council, Winona

The Wisconsin Epic-Public Employees under Attack
Joe Mayer; Social Justice Activist, Rochester

The Inside View, Governor Dayton and the Republican Majority
Rep Tina Liebling: Rochester

I talked briefly about my work with the Middle Class amendment and my impressions of what’s been happening in Wisconsin. It was a very comprehensive presentation of what our Progressive tradition in Minnesota has been about. It covered a range of issues from protecting the environment from exploitation (which is really about exploiting people as David Williams said), to destroying our social safety net and undercutting public employees and teachers to make sure that those who already have tremendous advantage continue to have the benefits of society flow up to them.

One presenter illustrated the difference between the super rich and the well off by stretching a string 23 feet across the room to show Joe Mauer’s annual salary to the one inch that represented someone making $100,000 and then halved that to half an inch to show the $50,000 many public workers make. This is what Republican governors across the country are doing giving those at the very top a break at the expense of those who make a living wage.

From Minnesota’s Department of Natural Resources:

If candlelight events are not already an annual tradition for you, let this be the season where you get out and experience winter adventure in a whole new light. Short, easy trails will be lit with lanterns or luminaries, and you can drop in any time during the events to go whatever distance is comfortable for you. Then warm up with refreshments by a crackling fire.

A list of dates, times and places, as well as a link to snow conditions, can be found in the Winter Activities section of the DNR website.

Regional workshops are available on how to develop partnerships around cultural heritage tourism. Get some good ideas and network with others in your community and region.  These workshops are geared towards staff and volunteers from community arts organizations, art studios/galleries, history museums, heritage festivals, lodging businesses, visitors bureaus, chambers of commerce and other tourism marketing organizations.

Dates and times are as follows, and more information can be found on the Explore Minnesota website:

Saint Paul: Monday, October 5, at Minnesota History Center, from 9:00am – 3:30pm
New Ulm: Wednesday, October 14, at Turner Hall, from 9:00am – 3:30pm
Paynesville: Monday, November 9, at Bug-Bee Hive Resort, from 9:00am – 3:30pm