Harping on this, however, might diminish the real foundation of the outrage being vented. Do we know for a fact that the unrest is not organic, not coming from the very real wellspring of anger? Can anyone really quantify the unrest attributable to those "outside agitators." Might a lot of the rioters be in a gray area, venting a mix of outrage over the specific incident and a more general disapproval of the inequality in our society, the duress felt by the underclass?
And of course that duress is accented for persons of color.
Me? I'm of Scandinavian stock. I live in outstate Minnesota. A small community to boot. For us folks it can seem like watching some sort of apocalyptic or sci-fi story: the scenes from Minneapolis. Oh, I was baptized at Central Lutheran Church in that Gotham place. My family took trips to shop at the Dayton's department store. Remember picking up the in-store phones to call "Holly Bell?" I remember the talking parrot! The coin collecting department fascinated me.
We'd pass through Paynesville and South Haven on our trip to Gotham. You knew you were getting close when you saw billboards for the Curtis Hotel. We actually stayed at the Drake Hotel at least once! Years later I heard on the news that it housed the homeless. The Drake had a nice restaurant as I recall.
The years rolled by and there was always reason to visit "the Cities" occasionally. Then those reasons diminished for me. Is the metro a more foreboding place now?
Made one of my rare trips there last fall for the University of Minnesota Heritage Society Supper at the McNamara Center. One of the highlights of my life, an opportunity to memorialize my late parents for whom the U of M was basically everything. You might say that everything our family has, is because of the University. So, there is a fund established in their name now.
New Heritage Society members' names appeared on a big screen. Mine had the middle initial "R" in honor of my father. Eric Kaler spoke. Since then he has moved on and we now have Joan Gabel with the reins. My, what an unexpected and awesome challenge she and other administrators face now. The pandemic is a game-changer to say the least. The last thing any administration is going to anticipate is the possible shutdown of the traditional model. And yet this is the specter as of early-summer.
Yes there are optimistic and heady suggestions from the administrative people. Cannot blame them. My cynical side suggests there's some personal job protection going on here, as motivation. The more realistic stance is probably presented by the current article in "The Atlantic," with the headline about how colleges are "deluding themselves" if they think they can reopen in the fall.
Heck, we all hope - I won't say pray - that the glum projection is wrong. Certainly it cannot be dismissed. So the U of M's top people are scratching heads and scurrying as they look at the multiple possible scenarios.
Whither music now?
For yours truly the cause of anxiety is especially marked, as a donor/benefactor. Why? The funds in our family's name are directed to music at the U of M-Morris. How in the absence of a vaccine can we expect band and choir to resume anywhere? There is no guarantee there will even be a vaccine.
Students seated or standing shoulder-to-shoulder, in band and choir, emitting moisture particles as a necessary part of performing. To be more graphic, I can affirm as an old brass player myself that you "empty spit" from your instrument. I have suggested to one of my contacts in UMM's giving department that maybe ensembles could be re-organized in this funky new online format: each musician in a little square on the screen. How practical could that be for re-creating the experience? Surely some important qualities could be lost. Ensembles would have limited size. No revenue from ticket sales.
I couldn't care less about sports, I'm concerned with music. And certainly this extends to high schools. I wonder if Wanda Dagen is losing sleep over this. I wonder if UMM's Michelle Behr is losing sleep. None of us expected that something like this would happen. Our more immediate concern is unrest in the Twin Cities.
Misplaced rhetoric?
I do not like seeing our leaders harp on this theme of "outside agitators." It has the effect of dismissing the base of the grievance at hand. If we peel away what transpired with the actual incident, I think it boils down to the two guys - the cop and the victim - having had a shared background with a certain Minneapolis nightclub. A backstory of conflict? Prejudice built on a past incident or interaction?
Well, I think quite possibly so. I know how workplace grudges can get unreasonable. Some people can just lose their heads. Regardless of what Officer Chauvin did, can you imagine how he feels now? He might as well be dead. Even his wife has left him! Now it sounds like a country music song. Maybe his dog died too LOL.
Am I distressed by the alleged crime by the late George Floyd: trying to pass a fake $20 bill? Was it obviously fake? To what extent is this documented? If it was a fake bill, can we be sure Floyd knew it was fake? If it was real-looking, well. . .
But hey, this wasn't even suspicion of assault. Suspicion of violent crime would be reason to be a little physically assertive. But a pure money matter? Money or property are no reason to abuse someone to the extent of risking the death of that person. Are we now ruled by the god of money and property to this extent, so beholden to "the markets" as the device for giving all of us health and happiness?
Market principles are definitely important, primary. But this has to be weighed against more transcendent values like the inherent worth of life itself. We need to back down from "the markets" sometimes. Being ruled by markets can become depressing. A lot of us feel the weight of that and we don't even know it. Look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself about that. When we have Thanksgiving dinner, we share equally with all and don't divvy it up based on one's "productivity."
People might scream at me that theft by deception is just not forgivable. Oh, cool your jets. Exercise your brain and think about what Mark Cuban wants to do: give everyone in the U.S. a magic little debit card by which to, well, spend money. Oh, and where would the money come from? Guess what the magic source always is: the Federal Reserve. The Fed creates money already, and Cuban's idea is to just get $ accelerating through the economy more.
In other words, let the "common" people have it and just spend it. This turns into "theft" through the inflation that is created, according to undisputed economic theory, when money simply appears as if by magic. It chases the same number of goods. So what would you expect would happen?
I was a young adult in the '70s and I know full well about inflation, then considered a primary issue. Paul Volcker solved that. Who would come around to solve it this time? Would our president even allow for an appropriate solution? Would he allow for the likes of Paul Volcker?
Nobody talks about inflation now. This could change diametrically, I assure you. I didn't come into town on a turnip truck.
And to remind: inflation is theft, though just not prosecutable as a street crime would be. Just as prostitution most certainly exists all around us - wining and dining, perks or whatever - but is not really prosecutable except on a "street" level.
I will opine that the "outside agitators" in the Twin Cities are an overestimated element. And just because some people are from "out of town" is not proof they are disingenuous. There are broad issues to be addressed now. These are trying times for the "common people," however you want to define that class. The pandemic exacerbated things to be sure.
I pray - OK let's pray now - that the U of M fund in my parents' names finds its appropriate niche even if the music discipline has to be fundamentally re-structured. And I can't imagine how all that is going to shake out.
Don't I recall "outside agitators" as a cliche from the Vietnam war era? Was Martin Luther King Jr. an "outside agitator" when he went to Birmingham AL? Hmmm.
Addendum: Listing more Minneapolis memories: the three times I ran the Twin Cities Marathon in the 1980s, the first time rather well in particular. I mean, for my size, my time of 3:01.11 I think was pretty decent. Oh, to shave off just one minute more! In springtime my parents came with me for two or three "Get in Gear" 10-kilometer runs which started and ended in Minnehaha Park. One of these coincided with a U of M St. Paul School of Agriculture reunion, a defunct institution where my father taught in the 1950s. So too did our WCSA in Morris become defunct: a closed chapter in MN education history. My father told me about how important tradition was there.
We enjoyed attending the St. Paul reunion.
I remember visiting Minneapolis with high school friend Art Cruze for the Mill City Music Festival one year. Especially memorable: hearing the late Etta James sing in front of her fine big band. Art and I also attended a stretch drive game of the Minnesota Twins in 1987, when the homer hankies were out in force. Priceless memories!
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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