August 2021 Newsletter
Dear Mom
by Al Brown
Vacation is going great with your grandson the history nerd and your great-grandson the Marine.
We stopped in Springfield, Ill, to visit Honest Abe’s law practice, presidential museum and old stomping grounds. His tomb was a bit overwhelming. The sadness and joy. Sadness in his passing at an assassin’s bullet. Joy that in the country’s greatest need came a man with the exact talents, grit and unique sensibilities to save a young democracy from the ravages of slavery.
One cannot help but wonder if today’s division would be what it is had he survived. President Andrew Johnson let racism again rise to power in the South when there was the briefest of a time that the country and the Union Army could have put an end to it.
I thought about this when we attended the National Sports Collectors Convention. Once a year, collectors gather at a single site to display memorabilia from the 19th century to the present. Even earlier. You can see all kinds of stuff beyond sports. Grandson picked up a Civil War reunion ribbon for his history professor wife.
The ribbon had faded a bit around some of the letters. The tin button had some rust. Overall, though, you could put it on the uniform – blue or gray – and march proudly in the war that cost more lives than all other US conflicts combined.
He had to grab it because the other five pieces from that period were snatched in the first hours of the convention. The Civil War is a popular topic here as it is in a lot of places. Too many forget slavery is at its roots. Bring that up in a conversation among Civil War buffs and be prepared for an argument. I’ve had to show the constitutions of succeeding states to demonstrate in black and white where states left because of slavery. Funny how many argued the validity of that simple truth over a 155 years later, North and South.
Not one of those who disputed this were black.
We also picked up a George Wallace campaign flyer from the 1968 Democratic primaries. I know you voted for him and didn’t see him as a racist. He was. We’re going to have to just disagree here.
He didn’t see himself as racist when he claimed he was a segregationist, and black Americans were less than white Americans. That was bull then, and it is bull now. It is the definition of racism.
Same is true of Trump. Anyone who wouldn’t rent to African Americans in 1973, encouraged the death penalty against the innocent Central Park Five, and promoted the Birther movement is a stone cold racist. Period.
I can’t call you racist even though you voted for two racist presidential candidates. Someone else will have to do that. It is one of the few things I would have to duck my head and take.
Fact is I’m a racist. Since George Floyd’s death, I’ve had to take a hard look in the mirror.
As a journalist, an entrepreneur and a corporate employee, I would have thought I was anything but that hated word. The thing is I was a racist by comfort.
I’d grown comfortable in my assumptions that our battle against racial prejudice in this country had largely ended with the election of what I consider one of our greatest presidents, Barack Obama. The fact that we could come together and elect President Obama to two consecutive terms led me to believe we on our way to solving the disease of slavery and racism that has poisoned the democratic experiment in this country since the beginning.
Only to see that illusion shattered by an orange-skinned promoter of hate, lies and an attempted coup.
Donald Trump would never have been elected without the support of racists.
Donald Trump would never have been elected without the support of those like you, people I love and respect, but who deep down will not vote for a person of color. It is uncomfortable for me to bring this up, but I will continue to do so.
There is no simple answer to this bloodiest of issues other than to never grow comfortable in a country where those of a different color are imprisoned, are homeless, are jobless, and are infected by illness at greater numbers than others.
I’m going to quote a Republican here.
"Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it." Abraham Lincoln
Love you,
Your Democratic son
SENATE DISTRICT 26 DFL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETS AUGUST 9
Our next Executive Committee virtual meeting will be Monday, August 9 from 7-8:30 PM on Zoom. DFL meetings are public, so if you want to “attend”, contact the Chair at mark.liebow@gmail.com. We will hear officer reports, discuss our budget for 2021, and continue planning for the precinct caucuses to be held on February 1, 2022.
We are looking for a Vice Chair and for four Directors, three of which must be filled by people who live in House District 26B. The Vice-Chair and two Director positions must be filled by people not identifying as male. Please contact the Chair at mark.liebow@gmail.com if you’re interested in running for one of these positions.
DONATE TO SENATE DISTRICT 26 DFL AND YOU COULD GET IT BACK
Not everyone will be able to donate right now, but if you can, we need your help to make the DFL a bigger presence in Rochester. We have a year-round office, which is expensive, but is crucial in a battleground area like Rochester. While one-time donations are welcome, we especially need monthly donations. We don’t get money from the national Democratic Party. The state DFL only contributes $500 a month, less than 1/3 of our rent. We rely on our local supporters to keep us going and to get the DFL message out. We need the money and you want an active DFL. If you give, there will still be an office for DFL events and meetings when those are possible soon, DFL participation in events and parades that require entry fees, technology that makes the DFL work better, and outreach into underrepresented communities.
Donate to Senate District 26 DFL and you can get up to $50/person or $100 per married couple back from the state of Minnesota if you are eligible to vote in Minnesota. Do it now. Make your donation via ActBlue (https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/senate-district-26-dfl-party-1?refcode=sd2). If you prefer to write a check, make it payable to Senate District 26 DFL and send it to:
P.O. Box 9044
Rochester, MN 55903-9044
After you send us a donation, we’ll send you a receipt. Send the receipt and the form needed to claim the reimbursement (https://www.revenue.state.mn.us/media/59866) to
Minnesota Revenue Political Contribution Refund
St. Paul, MN 55146-1800.
File a claim and you’ll get a check back in a few weeks.
If you send a check, please include whether you are retired, self-employed or employed. If employed, include the name of your employer and your job title. The Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board requires us to collect that information. If you use Act Blue, the appropriate information is collected.
KEEP UP ON WHAT’S HAPPENING POLITICALLY WITH FREE EMAILS
The Minnesota DFL has several free email publications:
Weekdays-In The Know-A news digest divided by topic.
Mondays-DFL Party Monday Memo- Talking points about current issues and key “stories to share”
Wednesdays-DFL Toolkit- Key stories with suggested social media posts and graphics
Fridays-DFL Dispatch- Newsletter with a deeper dive into some topics, some within the DFL
To subscribe, email Brian Evans (bevans@dfl.org) and let him know which publications to which you want to subscribe.
ROCHESTER DFL OFFICE
The office, at 1500 1st Ave, Suite A, in Rochester does not currently have scheduled office hours. We monitor telephone messages regularly. If you have a question or concern, call us at 507-536-9785 and we will get back to you.
SD26mn.dfl@gmail.com AND OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA
This is a monthly newsletter. However, events often happen on short notice, so we may not be able to include them in the newsletter. Check our website and Facebook pages for the latest news.
Official communications come from SD DFL (though the full address is above). Watch for them.
We tweet from @sd26dfl and have a website at www.senatedistrict26dfl.com
We have a closed Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/144866495637545/
We share an open Facebook page with Olmsted-25 DFL and Senate District 25 at
https://www.facebook.com/sd26sd25olm25/?fref=ts
Our Instagram account is at dflsenatedistrict26.
Our office is unstaffed for now because of the pandemic but you can leave a message at 507-536-9785. We are monitoring the messages.
The Minnesota DFL’s website is at www.dfl.org. If you go there, click on the I am a … and choose Voter, you can enter your address and find out how your DFL elected officials are. If you click on Click here to join in the Senate District 26 box, it will take you to a secondary website that is currently out-of-date, but should be synchronized with our primary website soon.
The 1st Congressional District DFL also has a website at https://www.dflcd1.org/
